back to indexWed Bible Study - Lesson Week 11
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Alright, my intention was to try to cover chapter 11 and 12, but then each time I get 00:00:10.720 |
into it, I feel like there's too much to cover both chapters. 00:00:16.560 |
I was kind of debating back and forth whether I'm going to try to finish Leviticus in this 00:00:24.200 |
And I, as I was preparing, especially this week, I realized it's not, I don't think it's 00:00:29.720 |
going to be beneficial to try to finish it in one session because each chapter, even 00:00:34.720 |
though sometimes we can get lost in it, there's so much depth inside of it and so much of 00:00:39.280 |
it connects us to a deeper understanding of the New Testament. 00:00:43.000 |
I don't want to skim through it and I think if you really grasp what's happening in Leviticus, 00:00:48.520 |
it will really open up the New Testament to you. 00:00:51.200 |
And so I think it would be beneficial for us to take our time, so we are going to take 00:00:56.040 |
Not that we've been going fast, but we're going to cover chapter 11. 00:00:59.060 |
Chapter 12 is very few verses, but we're going to cover chapter 12 and we're probably going 00:01:05.560 |
And then this session is going to go toward mid-June, mid to second and third week of 00:01:11.240 |
And then there's about a six week, seven week break. 00:01:14.400 |
And then we pick up and then we'll finish the second half after that. 00:01:23.120 |
Chapter 11, I'm sure if you took some time to read it, you probably have come into this 00:01:29.360 |
Like what, how does this benefit and what is the meaning behind it? 00:01:33.120 |
The split hooves and the scales and no scales and what is the meaning behind this? 00:01:42.000 |
One thing that I was thinking about this week before we even get started about, I preached 00:01:46.800 |
through the book of Leviticus maybe about 14 years ago. 00:01:51.000 |
And I know there's only like a very few people who are here, maybe like two. 00:02:09.320 |
And I remember at that time studying through Leviticus, how difficult it was to study because 00:02:13.040 |
there's so little material in the Old Testament, in particular Leviticus and Numbers. 00:02:18.080 |
And so I tried going to the library, looking up commentaries and usually even in the commentaries, 00:02:24.160 |
they would just kind of cover broad sections at a time. 00:02:30.160 |
But this time around, as I was studying, because of the internet, there's so much material 00:02:36.280 |
to cover that I don't have time to read all of it. 00:02:39.920 |
And I was just thinking as I was studying through that, just in the period of about 00:02:43.200 |
10 to 12 years, because of the internet, the resource that has been available to all Christians 00:02:49.000 |
And it just, the only reason why we don't know the Bible is just because we lack the 00:02:54.280 |
You know, but the opportunity to be able to dive into even deep things that would have 00:02:58.680 |
taken a long time to even grasp or understand, it's just a matter of your curiosity and just 00:03:07.800 |
Now just thinking about that, just how much the landscape has changed and how really privileged 00:03:15.560 |
But along with that, as we study, the scripture says much is given, much is expected. 00:03:21.280 |
So in God's economy, there's no other group of people in human history that should have 00:03:29.240 |
a better grasp of God's word than the people who are living in this generation. 00:03:35.600 |
It's just any question you have, you can just type it in. 00:03:42.080 |
The only reason why we may not know is because we're not curious enough. 00:03:46.560 |
We just don't have the will or we're just too distracted. 00:03:48.840 |
But definitely no Christian in our generation should ever be able to say, "I couldn't grow 00:04:00.840 |
Anyway, I was just thinking about that, just feeling blessed to be able to have all these 00:04:07.240 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your blessing. 00:04:12.720 |
I thank you for my brothers and sisters who many of us have come from long day of work. 00:04:19.360 |
I pray that in the midst of physical fatigue, that our spirits may be renewed and that even 00:04:25.280 |
our physical strength, Lord God, may be restored, Father God, as a result of meeting you and 00:04:32.440 |
We pray that you would bless this time and that your grace would truly be sufficient 00:04:38.040 |
Help us to understand the deep things that you have implanted in these verses, Lord, 00:04:42.880 |
that the New Testament and the gospel message may open up to us, that we may have a better 00:04:46.880 |
grasp of what you've been doing in history and how we got here and your detailed plans, 00:04:52.840 |
Lord God, and your blueprints, that all of these things would make better sense to us. 00:05:00.400 |
If you look at your outline or if you look at the sheets that I've given you, on the 00:05:06.280 |
top of it I put the phrase, "Cleanliness is next to godliness." 00:05:09.960 |
I thought that was kind of interesting because when I typed that in or I was looking at that, 00:05:13.900 |
he said that at least in the modern era, modern era meaning the last two, three hundred years, 00:05:18.840 |
okay, that's what I mean by modern era, the first record that we have of this phrase was 00:05:31.280 |
It was basically John Wesley teaching about discipleship and how we need to be disciplined 00:05:36.000 |
So that's interesting because at least the phrase itself, it relates to the text that 00:05:42.240 |
Godliness or cleanliness is next to godliness. 00:05:44.440 |
The whole thing that we're going to be looking at, chapter one all the way to chapter 11 00:05:48.800 |
all the way to 15, is about how God distinguishes what is clean and unclean. 00:06:00.840 |
So this is just a quick review of the outline. 00:06:13.560 |
So you have it starts the first half of it up to chapter 16, you have the laws, laws 00:06:17.880 |
of priest, laws of purity, and then the center of it is the day of atonement, right? 00:06:22.380 |
So if someone was to read this, you know that the day of atonement is the kind of main point 00:06:27.040 |
so everything points to the day of atonement and everything points from the day of atonement. 00:06:32.480 |
What does that kind of look like in God's economy? 00:06:40.360 |
Everything is preparation toward the cross and everything after that is pointing back 00:06:48.560 |
We're kind of in chapter 11 through 15, the different laws of purity and all of these 00:06:53.240 |
things are going to lead us to the day of atonement, right? 00:06:56.160 |
The reason why the day of atonement needed to take place and then from that it's going 00:07:00.480 |
to go beyond and talk about how to fulfill that in personal lives. 00:07:06.480 |
So we're in chapter 11 through 15, the laws of purity. 00:07:11.960 |
So the previous chapter 10, 10 and 11, so if you have your Bibles open just turn there 00:07:16.800 |
real quick, 10 and 11 God says to the priests, you are to distinguish between holy and the 00:07:25.320 |
common and between the unclean and the clean and that was the job of the priest. 00:07:29.280 |
The priest through God's law were to identify what is acceptable, what is not acceptable 00:07:35.200 |
So chapter 11 through 15 is identifying for us what they are. 00:07:42.200 |
So chapter 11 is talking about what is clean and unclean in animals and then chapter 12 00:07:47.840 |
through 15 is unclean and clean pertaining to human beings. 00:07:55.080 |
So if you were to split up chapter 11 through 15 that's how it would be split up. 00:07:58.480 |
So starting from next week's chapter 12 we're going to get into specifics of how God views 00:08:02.520 |
clean and unclean as it pertains specifically to human beings. 00:08:14.840 |
So the previous chapters deal with the ritual dealings with worship at the tabernacle but 00:08:21.200 |
this passage in particular, chapter 11 through 15 is how these laws should be practiced at 00:08:28.920 |
So up to this point it was all talking about the tabernacle and the priesthood and their 00:08:33.120 |
purification and their washing and their ordination but starting from this point on it's specifically 00:08:41.360 |
So these aren't necessarily things that are practiced only in the tabernacle but in their 00:08:46.720 |
So if there's any distinction that's a distinction. 00:08:48.920 |
So in chapter 11, 32 separate times the word unclean is used. 00:08:58.680 |
So you can already tell just by the repetition of this word that that's the theme. 00:09:03.040 |
What is unclean before God's eyes and then it uses the word detestable. 00:09:09.220 |
Some of your translations abomination, 11 separate times. 00:09:14.480 |
So some things are unclean, some things are abominable, they're detestable before God 00:09:22.180 |
Now these distinctions between clean and unclean animals are not new in Leviticus. 00:09:28.440 |
Remember we talked about that, a lot of the sacrifices, these burnt offerings, remember 00:09:35.360 |
That's most likely the offering that maybe that Cain and Abel or Abel offered. 00:09:41.900 |
It seemed like it was a burnt offering that he was given. 00:09:45.540 |
So the distinction is a lot of these sacrificial systems and what is considered clean and unclean, 00:09:53.200 |
it existed but in chapter in the book of Leviticus it's clarifying it and make it into a law, 00:10:02.120 |
I think the best way for us to describe that is when you become a member of the church 00:10:09.580 |
Now that tenfold covenant is not a new thing for Christians at Berean. 00:10:17.200 |
The tenfold covenant in what we ask you guys to sign are things that are commanded in the 00:10:23.040 |
That this is what it means to be a member of the body of Christ, this is what it means 00:10:26.980 |
to be a follower of Jesus and all we've done is identified ten core things that we want 00:10:32.020 |
to make sure that you understand and we're expecting the Berean community church to practice 00:10:38.600 |
But it was not created by Berean community church. 00:10:41.080 |
It was things that was already in scripture that we just kind of collected it and trying 00:10:46.700 |
So that's I think probably the best way to understand that a lot of these regulations 00:10:51.140 |
clean and unclean, we see it before the book of Leviticus. 00:10:55.820 |
Now what they understood, how they understood it, how they applied it, we don't have the 00:11:00.580 |
All we know is that there are passages specifically that mention clean and unclean. 00:11:05.380 |
So in Genesis chapter 7, 1 through 10, where God tells Noah to prepare these animals and 00:11:10.620 |
he tells them to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. 00:11:14.780 |
So that idea and that concept already existed before the book of Leviticus. 00:11:17.980 |
So it wasn't like, you know, they receive the book of Leviticus and all of a sudden 00:11:26.820 |
So again, as I mentioned, this distinction was part of an ancient tradition that antedated 00:11:35.340 |
the Mosaic law, which is what I've been saying. 00:11:40.420 |
The reasons behind these distinctions with clean and unclean animals, there is no universal 00:11:49.700 |
And this is part of the reason why there's so much confusion in the book of Leviticus, 00:11:53.500 |
because there's nothing, no one thing that clearly says, "Aha, this answers all of our 00:11:59.060 |
But some of it makes more sense than the other. 00:12:06.500 |
Maybe you see arbitrary views basically, we throw our hands up, none of this makes sense. 00:12:28.820 |
Obviously, I don't think there's anything that God does that's completely arbitrary. 00:12:33.340 |
When I think about that view, it kind of reminds me of tonsils. 00:12:40.060 |
I had my tonsils taken out because the doctor told me to. 00:12:43.900 |
And then right now, because I think modern medicine, their underlying backbone is evolution. 00:12:52.140 |
So their ideology is that we've evolved, that we don't, certain organs that we don't understand, 00:12:58.660 |
So it just kind of, if you don't see the reason for it, get rid of it. 00:13:01.580 |
But the tonsil was one of those things that they don't really know exactly what it is. 00:13:05.980 |
But after I took it out, I started having really bad breathing problems. 00:13:09.940 |
Then I asked my dad who had the same issue and he took his lung, his, not lungs, but 00:13:17.180 |
And he told me that he had the exact same problem when he took his tonsils out. 00:13:22.340 |
So we don't know exactly what it is, but definitely we start having problems with breathing because 00:13:27.780 |
So it kind of reminds me, the arbitrary view is if we don't understand it, there's no meaning 00:13:32.300 |
I think that's human arrogance to think that if we don't understand, there's no meaning 00:13:41.500 |
The cult, sorry, the cultic view, that this view states that the unclean animals are associated 00:13:50.900 |
Now no one has identified specifically what those pagan worship is. 00:13:54.660 |
There are obviously some, some traces of that in some of the idol worships of the Canaanites, 00:14:00.460 |
but it does not cover comprehensively the things that he's saying. 00:14:04.540 |
But that's one of the views, that maybe God told them not to touch these animals because 00:14:08.100 |
certain animals were sacrificed in idol worship. 00:14:13.220 |
But again, there's no evidence behind that because the list that we have in Leviticus, 00:14:18.540 |
there is no religion or nothing that we can identify historically that has any, any list 00:14:24.260 |
that comes even close to that's mentioned in the book, in Leviticus. 00:14:33.180 |
The third view you may have heard, because this is a view that is propagated in some 00:14:38.660 |
I've heard, I've gotten into deep conversations with Seventh-day Adventists, and they are 00:14:45.460 |
That there's, we don't understand fully, but there's some modern medical things that some 00:14:53.980 |
They're, they're considered less healthy than the clean animals. 00:14:57.800 |
And so some of it we understand, some of it we don't understand. 00:15:01.060 |
So I've, I remember speaking to, in particular, I don't, I'm not sure if all Seventh-day Adventists 00:15:08.900 |
believe this, but, but many of the Seventh-day Adventists believe that the Old Testament 00:15:13.660 |
dietary laws are something that we ought to practice because it has personal benefits, 00:15:19.780 |
There's some people in the Christian community who also believe that, right? 00:15:25.140 |
And it clearly, again, when I was back in college, I read an article from a non-Christian 00:15:31.660 |
who read all of these, again, not, not having medical background, just reading their conclusion, 00:15:37.700 |
and this is coming from a non-Christian, who was questioning the Mosaic authorship because 00:15:45.540 |
the detailed information about what is unclean and clean was so accurate that Moses could 00:15:54.960 |
And so therefore, he rejected Moses' authorship. 00:15:58.740 |
I don't know the details of what animals are good for what or why certain animals are not 00:16:03.060 |
good for eating, but I remember reading an article that that was the conclusion of this 00:16:08.820 |
So that's one of the views, that we don't fully understand it, but God told them to 00:16:12.820 |
do something because in the long run, it was, it was all, it was healthy for them, okay? 00:16:19.420 |
I believe that there's probably a lot of that embedded in there because there's nothing 00:16:22.700 |
that God tells you to do that doesn't ultimately benefit us, right? 00:16:27.860 |
The order in the church telling us to submit to government, I mean, there's all kinds of 00:16:35.940 |
We may not initially understand it, but in the, in the larger scheme of things, what 00:16:39.660 |
God has created in his order that he created for us ultimately is for our benefit, and 00:16:44.260 |
I believe that this probably is one of those things. 00:16:47.060 |
So we may understand some and not understand others, but I definitely believe there is 00:16:51.500 |
some physical benefits from some of the things that he said. 00:16:57.900 |
The most popular view and most wide-held view is the symbolic view, that there's a lot of 00:17:05.660 |
symbolism behind them, and it makes sense because a lot of things that God did in the 00:17:10.860 |
other parts of the tabernacle, like laying on of hands, right, to eating at a certain 00:17:16.420 |
place, sacrificing the whole burnt offering, or the peace offering, and having picnics, 00:17:22.780 |
all of these things are symbolic, pointing to something very specific that was going 00:17:28.520 |
So the symbolic view basically points to that there are symbolisms that are embedded into 00:17:33.260 |
these clean and unclean animals that ultimately point to something that would be fulfilled 00:17:38.820 |
Again, but the challenge that we have is then what are the symbolisms? 00:17:43.860 |
Some are pretty obvious, and some are obviously up to debate, but that's part of the reason 00:17:50.860 |
why we have such a difficult time coming to a final, comprehensive conclusion in this, 00:18:00.540 |
Hermeneutically, it's consistent with the other way that we approach every other part 00:18:04.580 |
of Scripture, that hygienically, there probably is a direct benefit, and maybe some of you 00:18:10.820 |
guys would know that better than I do, but definitely symbolically, it was pointing to 00:18:15.860 |
So that's the way we're going to kind of approach it today, and to see what are some of the 00:18:22.220 |
So to give you an example of that, remember in verse 42, to chapter 11, verse 42, one 00:18:29.020 |
of the detestable things that God mentions about these bugs, whatever goes on its belly 00:18:33.900 |
and whatever goes on the fours, or whatever has many feet and swarms, the things that 00:18:39.420 |
swarm on the ground, you shall not eat, for they are detestable. 00:18:42.820 |
Okay, again, just symbolically, in Genesis chapter 3, 14 to 15, what happens there that 00:18:52.820 |
Satan is judged, and what's one of the judgments? 00:19:00.200 |
So again, it doesn't mean that that's exactly what it is, but that's how certain things 00:19:04.460 |
are being, that for us to understand it, that in scripture, for whatever the reason, God's 00:19:12.660 |
So it could be that a lot of the symbolism is pointing to certain things, just like yeast 00:19:22.260 |
So whenever he says not to have any sin, not sin, but any yeast in your dough, it represents 00:19:27.740 |
to be cleansed, to repent, and to not to have any of that, any kind of defect, in bringing 00:19:35.180 |
And so a lot of these things that are being taught in this, if you search deep enough, 00:19:39.140 |
there are similarities or symbolisms that are embedded all throughout scripture that 00:19:57.020 |
The dietary regulations are divided into three major parts, okay? 00:20:05.140 |
You have the animals that are living on the land in chapter 11, verse 2 to 8. 00:20:14.100 |
The animals that are living on the land are divided into two different sets, clean and 00:20:20.140 |
The clean animals are, they need to meet two requirements. 00:20:24.480 |
They need to be animals that chew the cut and have a split hoof, okay? 00:20:29.580 |
So what's an example of an animal that chews the cut and has split hoof? 00:20:40.960 |
And a lot of it are the animals that God chose for sacrifice, right? 00:20:47.980 |
And then the ones that you can, and it has to have both. 00:20:54.520 |
So you can qualify as one, you can chew the cut, but if it has split hooves, it wouldn't 00:21:01.780 |
What's an animal that would be an unclean animal? 00:21:07.340 |
Rabbit, because it chews the cut but doesn't have split hooves, right? 00:21:23.420 |
So in order for it to be considered clean, you have to chew the cut, meaning it basically 00:21:31.820 |
And then it has to have split hooves, so it has to fit that category, okay? 00:21:37.180 |
So I'm not going to go into detail and say, "Well, you know, what about a lion?" 00:21:41.980 |
We're going to just try to cover it in a larger scale, just try to figure out the meaning 00:21:47.180 |
The second category are the sea creatures, verses 9 through 12. 00:21:54.780 |
In order for it to be considered clean, they have to have fins and scales, right? 00:22:05.860 |
So a lot of the sea creatures that wouldn't fit this category would be what? 00:22:27.940 |
You're going to sin against God if you have lobster again, right? 00:22:35.740 |
So if you love seafood and you love lobster and crabs, shame on you, right? 00:22:42.020 |
But there's good news at the end, so hold on, okay? 00:22:49.380 |
Third are all the creatures in the air, and specifically it's prohibited. 00:22:54.380 |
Birds of prey would be defiled by dead carcasses. 00:22:58.180 |
Birds of prey would be considered unclean, right? 00:23:16.460 |
Okay, those are the only two I know, but I'm sure you can think of more, right? 00:23:23.580 |
Any birds of prey would be considered unclean. 00:23:26.420 |
Chicken, turkey, all that would be okay, okay? 00:23:29.940 |
And then within the flying, there are insects. 00:23:33.300 |
And within the insects, the only provision that is given that you can eat is jointed 00:23:38.100 |
hind legs, which would be locusts, grasshopper, crickets, but all other insects are considered 00:23:49.460 |
So if you remember John the Baptist, his main diet was locusts and honey, because it was 00:23:59.900 |
All cockroaches, flies, and insects are rejected as unclean, right? 00:24:09.860 |
So we're all grossed out by it because the Bible says it's unclean. 00:24:13.520 |
So there's biblical reasons to hate spiders, right? 00:24:24.820 |
So that's the first part of it where it talks about the animals that are clean and unclean, 00:24:30.140 |
And there are, like, the symbolism behind it. 00:24:33.900 |
Now, again, I'm not going to go through, like, this is the symbolism behind this and the 00:24:38.060 |
split hooves, and we're going to talk about that. 00:24:39.780 |
But one of the theories of the symbolic views is that all the animals that are mentioned 00:24:44.540 |
that chew the clut and split hooves are considered natural and normal, okay? 00:24:51.420 |
And this is propagated by a man named Douglas, and he basically says that all the animals 00:24:57.580 |
and the sea creatures and the birds that are mentioned that maybe God had intended for 00:25:03.900 |
a certain way, but they don't function the way they're supposed to, whatever they mean. 00:25:08.540 |
Again, so when I read it, to me, it wasn't airtight. 00:25:12.540 |
But this is, again, this is just my theory, my guess. 00:25:16.940 |
If we were to look at the Old Testament commandment of the regulations on the sacrifices and the 00:25:24.100 |
priests, what is the primary thing that it says that you cannot bring to God? 00:25:29.100 |
What was the word that was used over and over again that you cannot bring to God? 00:25:45.220 |
And then you can't have yeast, and the reason why you can't have yeast is what? 00:25:55.100 |
Basically it's introducing something foreign, and then the bacteria causes the whatever 00:26:01.220 |
I don't bake, but basically for it to change its nature. 00:26:04.300 |
So anything that defiles the original intention, right, whatever it may be, what he said is 00:26:13.060 |
So it's not identify how these animals are defected, but again, one of the theory is 00:26:20.380 |
that God's intent in creation, that the clean are the ones that God originally intended, 00:26:27.020 |
and then the unclean are the things that eventually maybe through, I don't know, some kind of 00:26:37.460 |
But whatever it was, those things that he identifies were considered defective. 00:26:45.940 |
That we don't know why it's defective, we don't know by what criteria, but when we apply 00:26:52.620 |
how God applies clean and unclean to all the other things, right? 00:26:58.420 |
Like whether it's human being or sacrifice or whether it's food, anything that defiles 00:27:03.140 |
God's original intention was considered unclean. 00:27:07.620 |
So if you apply that same principle to these animals, we don't know exactly why they were 00:27:12.660 |
considered not God's original plan, but it seems like that's what he's determining. 00:27:19.800 |
That these particular animals, these birds and these insects, whatever they were, that 00:27:24.500 |
this was in God's original creation, his intent, but these animals for whatever the reason 00:27:29.820 |
are living or acting a different way that God has designed. 00:27:41.540 |
Was weed designed by God as that part of the fall? 00:27:47.260 |
If you look in the Genesis, was Adam and Eve carnivorous? 00:27:53.700 |
We don't see him eating meat, right, before the fall, right? 00:27:56.700 |
Now, it doesn't mean that he didn't, but we just don't see it, right? 00:28:01.540 |
So there's a lot of things that happened because of the fall, right? 00:28:06.460 |
Now we don't know exactly, we say, "Oh, maybe rats came from the fall." 00:28:14.880 |
We don't know for sure, but all we're doing is applying the same principle that we see 00:28:21.200 |
being applied to human beings, to the sacrifices, to the dough, to the food, that he's applying 00:28:35.260 |
Something about it, defective, it wasn't God's original perfect intent, okay? 00:28:41.220 |
And that's about as far as I'll go, because anything beyond that is just a guess and it's 00:28:47.540 |
Because up to that point, it seems clear that that's why he's pointing that out. 00:28:54.460 |
So maybe when we get to heaven, some of these animals, I don't know. 00:29:00.100 |
I don't know what they're going to look like, but it's just a guess. 00:29:05.620 |
So just to kind of give you a visual, clean and unclean. 00:29:08.940 |
So all the animals up there, they're chewing the cod, it's split hooves, right? 00:29:24.460 |
And then everything else down here that doesn't fit that criteria, right? 00:29:33.340 |
Okay, so you have the scavengers, creepy things, dirty things. 00:29:42.500 |
No split hooves, they don't chew the cod, and then no fin and scales, right? 00:29:54.540 |
Now the significance of this, like ultimately, I thought it was really interesting. 00:30:02.180 |
Oh, I forgot to give you one more thing, right? 00:30:05.940 |
Not only are they unclean, it says we can become unclean by touching them. 00:30:15.100 |
So becoming unclean by touch does not necessarily mean that you have sinned. 00:30:21.820 |
Being unclean doesn't necessarily mean that you have sinned and you need atonement, right? 00:30:26.260 |
So when you become unclean by touching something that was unclean, you were unclean for the 00:30:31.300 |
rest of that day and you had to wait until midnight, right? 00:30:38.560 |
So touching dead animals, again, if you were a farmer, how can you not touch dead animals? 00:30:45.460 |
But if you did touch it, you would be considered unclean for the rest of that night. 00:30:48.940 |
So you couldn't go out, go and give sacrifices and do ceremonial things or certain restrictions 00:31:06.940 |
So touching them made them unclean, it rendered them unclean until evening time. 00:31:10.980 |
So again, this is part of the reason why they believe that there were hygienic things, because 00:31:14.980 |
if you touch something that was infectious, it gave it time for that to leave your system 00:31:23.140 |
It doesn't say that, but there's clearly some logical conclusions you can make from what 00:31:28.780 |
he's doing, because if you had certain kind of infectious disease, you were unclean. 00:31:33.560 |
If you were unclean, you had to be isolated for a period. 00:31:36.400 |
So there's some clear hygienic medical purposes for that that's not mentioned. 00:31:40.580 |
And that's why the hygienic view is one of the views, and I think there's a mixture of 00:31:49.980 |
Now to me, the most interesting part of this is why this was implemented. 00:31:55.380 |
There's clearly symbolism that points to Christ, but why this was implemented. 00:32:01.540 |
These dietary laws were temporary and limited only to the Jews. 00:32:07.940 |
We know that the laws are divided into three parts. 00:32:11.760 |
You have the moral laws, which would be the Ten Commandments, and then you have the ceremonial 00:32:17.140 |
laws, which is what we've been studying, and then you have the civil law, which was given 00:32:25.080 |
So the civil law doesn't apply to us because we're not a Jewish nation. 00:32:28.920 |
The ceremonial laws don't apply to us because it was fulfilled in Christ. 00:32:32.460 |
The moral law, the Ten Commandments, all of that applies to us today, and is repeated 00:32:40.440 |
This particular law was specific to the nation of Israel, and even to the nation of Israel, 00:32:50.180 |
Because we get to the New Testament, and Jesus clearly says to Peter in Acts chapter 10, 00:32:56.860 |
9-29, remember he has a vision, and all these unclean animals are brought down, and then 00:33:02.260 |
Jesus says to eat, and Peter says, "I've never touched anything unclean. 00:33:07.420 |
And Jesus says to him, "What I declare clean, do not declare unclean." 00:33:12.500 |
And then he has to say that three separate times in confirmation to make sure that this 00:33:19.180 |
So Jesus confirms that, and then that gets confirmed over and over again. 00:33:23.500 |
Remember in the book of Acts chapter 15, the first Jewish council was that the Holy Spirit 00:33:29.060 |
comes not only on the Jews, but it comes to the Gentiles. 00:33:32.860 |
And so the Gentiles were considered unclean outside of the kingdom, and so when the Holy 00:33:36.860 |
Spirit comes, the Jewish community was confused. 00:33:41.560 |
So the first Jewish council that takes place in Acts chapter 15 was to address this issue, 00:33:47.700 |
that is God bringing Gentiles into the kingdom through Israel, or is he opening up the kingdom 00:33:57.300 |
That was the debate, and it was clearly decided in Acts chapter 15 that the kingdom was being 00:34:03.060 |
opened, that they no longer need to be circumcised, and all the rules and regulations that made 00:34:07.660 |
the Jews Jews were no longer applying to them anymore because the kingdom was opened. 00:34:13.560 |
And so that's what caused Apostle Paul to go to his second journey, to go back to the 00:34:18.180 |
synagogues where he preached the gospel to tell them that they are released from these 00:34:24.060 |
Okay, some of you guys may or may not remember that. 00:34:29.340 |
So Paul, the significance behind all of this was that one of the main things that separated 00:34:41.500 |
How many of you, I know there's quite a few of you, maybe about a dozen of you who've 00:34:46.180 |
been to China with us, but if you go to the western part of China, they're predominantly, 00:34:52.420 |
more than half of them are Muslim, the Uyghur people. 00:34:55.400 |
So some of you guys may remember when we go to the cafeteria, they had two separate sides. 00:34:59.980 |
They had the sides where the Uyghurs would eat, and then they had the sides where the 00:35:04.900 |
And the reason why they had to separate the cafeteria was that the Han Chinese love pork, 00:35:13.900 |
And so not only could they not eat in the same cafeteria, they couldn't enter a building 00:35:20.820 |
So naturally, the Han Chinese and the Uyghurs do not mix, because they can't eat together. 00:35:30.100 |
So if you think about the most fundamental thing that every human being does every single 00:35:39.660 |
But if you can't eat together, you can never intermarry. 00:35:44.980 |
How are you going to marry somebody where one person eats this and the other person 00:35:49.300 |
Because every single day, you can't even be in the same house. 00:35:53.540 |
So Uyghurs would not even walk into a Chinese restaurant. 00:35:57.220 |
If they know that pork is being cooked, they can't eat there. 00:36:04.900 |
That was the situation with the Jews and the Gentiles. 00:36:08.080 |
Because of this dietary law, remember God told the nation of Israel, you get into this 00:36:12.860 |
land, what is the thing that he kept on telling them over and over again? 00:36:25.260 |
They are meant to be Israelites almost in isolation. 00:36:30.140 |
So a Gentile can convert and become a Jew, but a Jew can never go the other way if he 00:36:37.780 |
So by nature of God's law, if they were faithful Jews, he kept them separate from the rest 00:36:44.820 |
And so there's a reason why the Jews didn't want to go through Samaria. 00:36:49.580 |
Because they believed that if they went through Samaria because Samaritans were compromised 00:36:53.620 |
and they weren't obedient to God's laws, that they would be compromised by entering into 00:37:03.100 |
So the Jews, where they ate, where they lived, where they raised their children, were completely 00:37:15.780 |
You understand like God's whole intent for the nation of Israel was to keep them separate. 00:37:21.260 |
And the most basic thing that would keep a whole nation separate from the other nation 00:37:30.460 |
But when the gospel comes, the first thing that happens is these laws are gone. 00:37:41.860 |
And at the fullness of time when Christ comes, the thing that kept the Gentiles and the Jews 00:37:47.300 |
separate from each other, he says he takes the barrier out. 00:37:52.540 |
In Ephesians chapter 2, 11 to 22, he says that the wall of separation was removed because 00:37:59.960 |
So not only was the curtain torn, remember when Jesus dies, the curtain into the Holy 00:38:09.900 |
Because even in the temple, there was a place where the Jewish men can go, women can go, 00:38:15.540 |
And if you had any kind of defect, you were not allowed to come in and participate in 00:38:21.700 |
That's why in the book of Acts, remember when Philip gets carried out and he runs into who? 00:38:43.460 |
So he would not be able to, traditionally, in a Jewish religion, he would not be able 00:38:48.700 |
to enter into the temple and to be able to worship. 00:38:51.140 |
So he could have been a God-fearer who worshiped God from a distance, but he would never be 00:38:55.100 |
able to enter into the temple because of who he was. 00:38:59.660 |
So it wasn't just random that all of a sudden he runs into the Ethiopian eunuch. 00:39:04.180 |
Him running into the Ethiopian eunuch was symbolic of the kingdom of God being opened 00:39:12.220 |
So the Jews were having a hard time because they lived for so many years thinking that 00:39:16.620 |
this diet kept them holy, but all of a sudden, Jesus says to Peter, "What I say is clean. 00:39:23.940 |
In other words, the kingdom of God is being opened. 00:39:26.260 |
Now Gentiles are coming in just like everybody else. 00:39:30.060 |
And the wall that separated the Jews and Gentiles is vanished. 00:39:34.740 |
And the laws were given to Israel to distinguish them from the rest of the world. 00:39:38.180 |
And then the passage in 44 through 46, again, summarizes for us, even if we didn't understand 00:39:44.320 |
the details of how it was applied and why it was applied, Leviticus 44 through 46 gives 00:39:55.660 |
Consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am holy. 00:39:58.260 |
In other words, consecrate means to be separate. 00:40:02.180 |
You shall not defy yourself with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground, for I am 00:40:05.580 |
the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. 00:40:10.740 |
Again, the word holy literally means to be set apart. 00:40:15.580 |
So in this particular situation, to be set apart with your diet from the rest of the 00:40:20.500 |
This is the law about the beast and the bird and every living creature that moves through 00:40:23.740 |
the waters and every creature that swarms on the ground. 00:40:26.420 |
So the whole point of this was to consecrate Israel, to be set apart, and for the purpose 00:40:35.140 |
But we come to the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 6, 14-7, it says, "Do not be unequally yoked 00:40:44.140 |
For what partnership is righteousness with lawlessness? 00:40:51.260 |
Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 00:40:53.940 |
What agreement has the temple of God with idols? 00:40:57.500 |
As God said, 'I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their 00:41:03.740 |
Therefore go out from their midst and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean 00:41:10.220 |
And I will be a father to you and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord 00:41:14.580 |
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement 00:41:18.260 |
of the body of spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God." 00:41:23.280 |
So if you look at the language of 2 Corinthians, he's talking to the new covenant people, but 00:41:27.860 |
he's using the same language of Leviticus, to be set apart. 00:41:32.540 |
But now we're not being set apart because of diet. 00:41:35.460 |
We're not being set apart because of the tabernacle sacrificial system. 00:41:40.180 |
He's saying to be set apart in your moral character, right? 00:41:45.540 |
So the symbolism behind that is Christ fulfilled the barrier, the dietary and the civic and 00:41:52.900 |
civil laws that Gentiles could be the same, but we as a church now is the spirit of God, 00:42:04.560 |
And I think that problem that we get into is we try so hard to make the non-Christians 00:42:09.100 |
feel comfortable in the church that we lose our distinct identity as children of God, 00:42:15.900 |
And we need to be careful that we don't ignore the non-Christians because God calls us to 00:42:21.140 |
be non-Christians, but then we don't ignore what it means to be holy because our primary 00:42:25.180 |
call is to be set apart to worship God, okay? 00:42:28.180 |
So I only put that up there to show you that so much of the language in the New Testament 00:42:32.540 |
for the church comes from the language we see in the book of Leviticus, right? 00:42:40.840 |
The Samaritan woman said to Jesus, "How is it that a Jew asks for a drink from me, a 00:42:45.180 |
woman of Samaria, for Jews have no dealings with Samaritans?" 00:42:49.420 |
Meaning that because of the separation, right, he was surprised that Jesus was spending even 00:42:54.540 |
any time because if he was a Jew, let alone a rabbi talking to a sinner who happens to 00:43:01.540 |
be a Gentile, it says this guy is as holy as you can be, right? 00:43:06.300 |
He's a holy man in the Jewish community who even among the Gentiles was considered a sinner. 00:43:11.180 |
For Jesus to come and even talk to her, she was like, "This is unheard of. 00:43:15.900 |
Because this was a common practice among the Jews, right? 00:43:19.900 |
So that's what he was referring to when he says the barriers have been taken out. 00:43:23.260 |
Matthew 15, 17, 20, "Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the 00:43:30.540 |
But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart and this defiles a person. 00:43:34.440 |
For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, 00:43:39.340 |
These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hand does not defile anyone." 00:43:51.620 |
They're probably referring to this because the Jews thought that if they kept these dietary 00:43:56.500 |
laws that that's how they're going to be holy and Jesus said it's not what you put in. 00:44:00.700 |
The whole point of that was not to make you clean, but it was to point to something else 00:44:06.060 |
But again, I'm showing you this because so much of the New Testament language comes from 00:44:11.620 |
And the Jews would have immediately thought of this when Jesus said this. 00:44:26.060 |
So if you notice the distinction in the Old Covenant, God told the nation of Israel to 00:44:37.980 |
Exodus was God coming out to the mountain and he tells people to stay away. 00:44:43.420 |
We come to Leviticus where he sets up the tabernacle and he begins to prepare and he 00:44:47.180 |
speaks from the tabernacle, but they're not able to enter yet because tabernacle is not 00:44:53.100 |
So chapter 10 was the beginning of the sacrifices, but the very first one, because they didn't 00:44:58.620 |
consider him holy, they didn't take it seriously, they end up dying, right? 00:45:04.080 |
So the whole point of it is this holy God dwelling among sinful people, so he's preparing 00:45:08.660 |
them to come to them, but they weren't ready. 00:45:10.900 |
And if they are going to come to him, they have to follow these rules strictly. 00:45:14.740 |
We get to Numbers where he invites them into the sanctuary, right? 00:45:19.120 |
But even as he comes to the sanctuary, there's a division between where they can go, where 00:45:22.760 |
they cannot go, because the inner sanctuary where God is, they could not enter. 00:45:28.840 |
And that was the system that was taught the nation of Israel. 00:45:34.740 |
You can come to me as close, closer than anybody else in the world, but even you can only come 00:45:41.980 |
In the new covenant, God tears the curtain, he opens the door, and then what does he do? 00:45:50.240 |
He doesn't tell us to come, he tells us to go. 00:45:52.440 |
So last commandment, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations." 00:45:56.700 |
Where before he says, "Separate from them and come to me," right? 00:46:00.340 |
The new covenant, he says, "Now the door has been opened, now you go to them. 00:46:08.820 |
Again, 1 Peter 2.9, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priest, a holy nation of people 00:46:13.420 |
for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of 00:46:19.340 |
So that was the same passage referring to the Old Testament covenant people, now the 00:46:26.060 |
New Testament covenant people, where people, he told them to come, "Declare my glory by 00:46:31.060 |
being separate," but now he says, "Declare my glory by going," right? 00:46:40.740 |
In Jeremiah 31.33, he says of the new covenant, "But this is the covenant that I will make 00:46:46.020 |
with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. 00:46:48.180 |
I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their 00:46:54.060 |
Where everything that we've been studying Leviticus is to how to be pure and without 00:47:01.700 |
But he said there's going to come a time in the new covenant where the laws are going 00:47:07.660 |
Meaning that what defiles you is going to ultimately be internal. 00:47:11.380 |
True worship is going to be in spirit and in truth. 00:47:14.700 |
It's not going to be following regulations in and of itself, but it's going to be spirit 00:47:20.220 |
So these dietary laws existed for a period to separate Israel from the world, but now 00:47:27.620 |
that we are in a period where God's sending us to go, he's again taking that barrier out, 00:47:35.780 |
And then Hebrews 10.16, so this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, 00:47:41.780 |
I will put my laws on their hearts and write them again on their minds. 00:47:49.340 |
So understanding the dietary laws, we may not understand the intricate details. 00:49:05.820 |
It seems like I changed it on your paper and not mine. 00:49:18.100 |
So there's a line here that says biblical meaning of Christian liberty means to be freed 00:49:27.140 |
Dietary laws to be able to go to the Gentiles to spread the gospel and become one in the 00:49:31.700 |
So the Christian liberty in our generation has been used to justify doing whatever we 00:49:40.460 |
The liberty in the context that is used in the scripture is talking about having the 00:49:45.740 |
liberty to be able to go into a Gentile home, to be able to eat meat that was sacrificed 00:49:51.340 |
to idols and not worry about is it clean or unclean. 00:49:58.940 |
And it's in the context of opening the kingdom to the Gentiles, that you no longer need to 00:50:05.860 |
Christian liberty is not you have the freedom to do whatever you want because Christ died 00:50:13.020 |
That's whatever it is, that's not in the Bible. 00:50:18.180 |
Is the wrong application, wrong understanding of that. 00:50:20.380 |
So again, the Christian liberty is we have the liberty where we don't have a barrier. 00:50:25.620 |
We don't have to worry about like is this clean or unclean in the context of evangelizing 00:50:34.900 |
I don't know what else is missing, but that's all I have. 00:50:48.820 |
I just put the verse, but I didn't put the... 00:50:54.860 |
And then point number three, all the laws were to restrict and command external obedience, 00:51:00.060 |
number one, but the new covenant law is written on our hearts to worship in spirit and in 00:51:08.500 |
I put all the verses and I didn't put the main thing. 00:51:14.180 |
I don't know about you, but I thought it was really interesting that at least this is a 00:51:23.860 |
part that I didn't fully understand the first time I preached through it. 00:51:27.980 |
Seeing God's economy, how in the Old Testament his intent was to bring them and then after 00:51:33.780 |
Christ comes now, he's sending us and so he takes every barrier that kept us separate 00:51:38.620 |
from the world to go and to be among them and to preach the gospel so that they can 00:51:44.500 |
And so that's why when Paul says, "Whether you eat or drink, do it all for the glory 00:51:51.100 |
So it's not what you eat and how you eat and how much you eat. 00:51:58.140 |
The point of it is internal, is why you do it, right? 00:52:01.660 |
And all for the purpose of going out and making disciples. 00:52:04.540 |
That's why Apostle Paul, he circumcises Timothy for the sake of the gospel and then he doesn't 00:52:16.140 |
The whole point of it was to become all things to all men. 00:52:18.980 |
Now he has the freedom to become all things to all men by all means that he can save some. 00:52:24.680 |
And that's the point of Christian liberty, right? 00:52:27.900 |
Now that this barrier has been gone, there's nothing that keeps us from going to the world, 00:52:43.740 |
So, question number one, the old covenant people have had very clear lines drawn for 00:52:49.300 |
them to distinguish them from the pagan world. 00:52:51.860 |
If as new covenant people, those barriers have been removed, how do we distinguish between 00:52:57.620 |
Are there any lines that Christians should abide by to distinguish us from the world? 00:53:03.940 |
So I think the error that we can make is since there is no distinguishing line that we can 00:53:09.640 |
And yet the scripture is filled in the new testament and new covenant to be holy, right? 00:53:14.900 |
The commandment to be holy in the old testament, the same commandment is true in the new testament. 00:53:20.460 |
Because in the old covenant, when God said to be holy, they immediately thought of these 00:53:25.340 |
But what does it mean to be holy in the new testament, right? 00:53:31.020 |
Same commandment, but the application is going to look very different in the new testament. 00:53:36.680 |
Number two, in first Corinthians 10, 23, we are told that all things are lawful, but not 00:53:42.460 |
How do you distinguish if something is profitable or not? 00:53:45.940 |
Read rest of context of first Corinthians 10, 20 through 33 for insight. 00:53:49.540 |
Some of you guys probably already know that text, right? 00:53:52.220 |
It's about why you eat the meat, you know, who does it bother? 00:53:56.060 |
So how do we distinguish between something being profitable, unprofitable? 00:53:59.700 |
I think the biggest challenge that most of us have today is not between should I watch 00:54:09.860 |
It's just that we are so distracted by unprofitable things that there's no room for the things 00:54:17.180 |
We're filled with things that don't match, that have no, you know, has no benefit whatsoever 00:54:23.940 |
to our spiritual life, but we're so saturated in our lives with that, that there's no room 00:54:31.540 |
There's no appetite for the things of God, right? 00:54:34.260 |
The other extreme you can go is that you can say, well, where do we draw the line? 00:54:39.340 |
And then, or the other extreme is that you draw every line where you start becoming a 00:54:46.580 |
Verse three, what are some unnecessary barriers that the church has created that may cause 00:54:50.860 |
a non-Christian to not want to come to church? 00:54:53.560 |
How do you balance between taking away barriers versus compromising the church's integrity 00:54:58.300 |
of holiness and worship to accommodate unbelievers? 00:55:01.180 |
So hopefully you'll have some good conversations today. 00:55:04.220 |
So let me pray for us and then I'll let you guys go to your small group. 00:55:12.940 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you, Father God, that what we have today, whether we've been 00:55:20.820 |
a Christian for a short period or long, that we know, Father God, that you've been pursuing 00:55:26.540 |
us before we were ever aware of you, that all of these laws, Lord God, was to prepare 00:55:36.840 |
And I pray that you would help us to glean that even now, Father, that there's so many 00:55:42.820 |
I pray that you would give us an appetite for your word, that we would hunger and thirst 00:55:46.580 |
for it, that we would not be satisfied with just the superficial explanations, but we 00:55:52.340 |
know that it's living and active, that ultimately it's your word. 00:55:55.200 |
So help us, Lord God, to come to it with eagerness, to seek treasure, Father God, and not just 00:56:03.380 |
We pray that you would be with us in our discussion. 00:56:06.260 |
Help us, Lord, that our discussions and things that we say would not be led by our flesh. 00:56:12.800 |
Help us, Lord God, to have discussions that are biblical and that we would apply wisdom 00:56:20.460 |
So we pray for your grace and guidance during this time.