back to indexWed Bible Study - Lesson 17
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Alright, so schedule-wise, we have this Bible study. 00:00:09.640 |
Next Wednesday is going to be an overview review of the 17 chapters that we've been 00:00:15.240 |
in and then we're going on an extended break for about six to seven weeks. 00:00:21.040 |
And then, but during that break, again, we're going to encourage the small groups and the 00:00:28.000 |
home groups to be intentional with that time because it is a long break. 00:00:32.200 |
We have praise and prayer, we have VBS, we have retreat, and so we have things to kind 00:00:39.440 |
But at the same time, as far as our normal Bible study is concerned, there's going to 00:00:44.360 |
And so we want to encourage you guys to be intentional and we're going to send out an 00:00:48.360 |
email and talk to our small group leaders and to kind of give you some guidance in that, 00:00:53.200 |
but just letting you know that's what's happening. 00:00:55.000 |
So if you look at the bottom of the question, review questions for Leviticus, I made it, 00:01:01.040 |
somebody pointed out on number one, it says, "Try to put to memory chiastic outlining of 00:01:07.400 |
Okay, so if you haven't done that, you're going to have to go back and review Revelation. 00:01:11.400 |
Obviously, I didn't mean Revelation, I meant Leviticus. 00:01:19.480 |
So next Wednesday, we're going to get together and take some time to review the 17 chapters 00:01:27.200 |
So let me pray for us and then we'll jump into the text this evening. 00:01:30.440 |
Gracious Father, we thank you for this evening and we thank you for all the brothers and 00:01:37.520 |
Help us to glean from your word what you desire for us, that we may learn and grow and continue 00:01:45.820 |
We pray for your blessing over this time in Jesus' name we pray, amen. 00:01:50.720 |
All right, so in the chiastic form of the book of Revelation, chapter 17 is the beginning 00:01:57.600 |
So I kind of debated not to do 17 and wait for us to start it next time, but I don't 00:02:03.440 |
think it matters too much because we're going to end up reviewing anyway. 00:02:07.960 |
All right, so the chapter 17 is the beginning of the structure of the second part. 00:02:16.060 |
So if you remember the chiastic form, and again, please try to put that to memory. 00:02:25.020 |
And I'm not talking about, you don't have to know like what's in every single chapter, 00:02:30.860 |
Chapter 1, like A, I, 1A, and then going backwards. 00:02:35.540 |
And then the last two chapters is sort of a blessing discipline response. 00:02:44.380 |
So if I asked you what's in chapter 17, 18, 19, that you kind of have some idea that it's 00:02:53.220 |
If I talked, asked you what was in chapter 11 through 15, that you also know that it's 00:03:01.580 |
So at least have that structure in mind so that you know exactly where we are. 00:03:07.080 |
So let's say in the future you're studying and you're learning about the gospel and you 00:03:10.980 |
say, well, you know, what does the Bible say about blood? 00:03:14.620 |
And then you kind of have a general outline of where you would want to go in the book 00:03:24.380 |
So I'm going to ask you guys to do your best to put this to memory, this outline to memory. 00:03:28.140 |
In chapter 17, fits into the number two, after the day of atonement, laws of clean and unclean 00:03:38.340 |
What was the difference from the first part of the kiastic outline versus the second part? 00:03:48.260 |
What is the distinction between the first part and second part? 00:03:51.140 |
Or is he just going to repeat what he said in the first part? 00:03:55.660 |
We talked about this briefly when we went over the outline the first time. 00:04:07.600 |
So the first part, chapter one, all the way to chapter 15, highlighted in chapter 16, 00:04:12.900 |
if you look at the outline, it says almost the exact same thing. 00:04:16.880 |
But then the first part of it up to chapter 15, the emphasis is at the tabernacle and 00:04:22.780 |
For the purpose of staying clean and pure and their sins atoned for, for the purpose 00:04:31.180 |
The second part of it, the emphasis is in the life of the community. 00:04:36.260 |
So it's going to follow the same outline backward, but the emphasis, it doesn't mean 00:04:40.140 |
it's not going to talk about the tabernacle, it's going to talk about the priesthood, but 00:04:43.340 |
it's working backwards, talking about with the emphasis on the community of Israel. 00:04:51.340 |
Chapter 17 is going to kick us off into that section. 00:04:56.980 |
So after the introduction in verse one and two, we go straight into the regulations concerning 00:05:04.900 |
So the two broad outline of this chapter is regulations on the location of the sacrifice 00:05:16.340 |
And it falls into verses three to nine, the first section, and then eating the blood in 00:05:22.880 |
So that's a broad outline that if you've read it, you probably already noticed. 00:05:28.020 |
So everything that we're talking about is going to be falling under those two categories. 00:05:32.580 |
So the regulation concerning the location is concerning the sacrificial slaughter of 00:05:43.540 |
These are animals that you've probably noticed in the earlier chapters where these animals, 00:05:49.140 |
whether they were goats or whether they were different lambs or ox, all of them were animals 00:05:55.620 |
that were prescribed to be offered as sacrifices at the tabernacle. 00:06:05.820 |
So God regulated that these three animals had to be killed either inside the tent of 00:06:12.940 |
meeting or had to be brought to the tent of meeting. 00:06:17.980 |
So all animals that was being killed had to be sacrificed inside or had to be brought 00:06:28.420 |
Now on the surface, it doesn't seem like, you know, if you were to look at the degrees 00:06:34.940 |
of different sins, right, what made somebody holy or unholy, you would think that the location 00:06:45.960 |
But the consequence of that was very severe if you didn't follow these commands. 00:06:54.460 |
We're going to get back to this subject later part of the outline, but the consequence was 00:07:03.820 |
And we're going to talk about what that means. 00:07:06.440 |
And also that man shall be cut off from among his people. 00:07:08.980 |
So just even on the surface, you can tell that the consequence wasn't simply being unclean. 00:07:14.160 |
So if somebody became unclean in chapter 11 through 15, what was their prescribed remedy? 00:07:29.100 |
They had to go through ritual cleansing and then what else? 00:07:40.140 |
So next day after you've done through ritual cleansing, you can go back into the regular 00:07:45.020 |
So they were impure, but it wasn't a serious consequence. 00:07:52.300 |
If you do not follow this prescribed what God tells you to do, you said the consequence 00:07:58.180 |
And we're going to talk about what that means. 00:08:00.140 |
And then to be cut off from among his people. 00:08:02.540 |
So this was not simply a slap on the wrist saying, "Hey, you didn't follow instruction." 00:08:07.260 |
This would fall into the line of what God told Moses and Aaron. 00:08:17.020 |
Do you remember how the day of Atonement, how does chapter 16 begin? 00:08:24.140 |
He reminds him about the death of Nadab and Nebihu. 00:08:30.300 |
You need to pay really close attention to this because if you don't follow my instruction 00:08:39.080 |
So chapter 17, unlike the previous chapters, remember in the kiastic form? 00:08:45.340 |
Like what led up to chapter 16, it was basically a slap on the hand for not being clean. 00:08:50.820 |
But we get to chapter 17, and if you don't obey this, there's going to be serious consequences. 00:09:01.620 |
He said that the sacrifice, that the animal had to be given to the Lord as a peace offering. 00:09:06.420 |
Now why do you think it was a peace offering? 00:09:13.060 |
He said that if you're going to kill an animal, make sure that it is brought into the tent 00:09:18.100 |
of meeting and it was offered as a peace offering. 00:09:22.260 |
But what was unique about the peace offering? 00:09:30.940 |
I can't tell if it's a blank look because you don't know, you're tired, or you're just 00:09:51.620 |
You burned only the parts you couldn't eat, most of it was shared in a meal, like a picnic. 00:09:56.940 |
So he's saying the animal that was sacrificed outside, bring it to God and offer it as a 00:10:02.700 |
In other words, if you want to have a barbecue, kill the animal, bring it, sprinkle the blood 00:10:07.660 |
on the altar, and then you can have this meal that you're going to have, that you're going 00:10:12.340 |
to do it in the presence of God, share it with the priest and your family. 00:10:16.860 |
That these particular animals were to be eaten together in the context of honoring God. 00:10:27.980 |
But the ultimate reason why he was preventing them to do that, he says in verse 5, that 00:10:36.460 |
this was to prevent Israel from sacrificing to goat demons. 00:10:40.460 |
He doesn't explain specifically what these goat demons are, but we know from history 00:10:46.660 |
that this pagan sacrifice that involved this goat demon that he's talking about was something 00:10:51.940 |
the Israelites picked up when they were in Egypt. 00:11:00.220 |
In fact, Israel wrestled with this as long as they existed. 00:11:08.700 |
Even in the wilderness, even from the very beginning, they escaped from Egypt, they're 00:11:14.460 |
on the other side of the Red Sea, and you would think that they're starting over, we're 00:11:19.300 |
only going to worship God, but right off the bat, before the Ten Commandments comes, they 00:11:26.760 |
And then you would think that after the judgment comes and half the Israelite camp is destroyed, 00:11:31.140 |
that they would have learned their lesson, and then it didn't show up again. 00:11:34.980 |
But if you look at Israel's history, this idolatry was in the camp as long as they existed. 00:11:45.060 |
So this goat demon that I was just talking about was prevalent enough where he was mentioning 00:11:51.740 |
that they didn't want the sacrifices to be given anywhere, right? 00:11:58.620 |
Concerned that it may be something that they would offer up to the goat demon. 00:12:02.820 |
In fact, Joshua, chapter 24, 14 to 15, at the end of his life, I mean, you know this 00:12:09.780 |
famous verse where it says, "Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and 00:12:15.500 |
Put away the gods that your father served beyond the river and in Egypt and serve the 00:12:20.220 |
By the time Joshua is here, they've already gone into the promised land. 00:12:23.580 |
He's at the end of his life when he's saying this. 00:12:25.620 |
So this isn't like a couple of years removed from Egypt. 00:12:29.320 |
So the idolatry that they had in Egypt was never completely abolished. 00:12:34.960 |
And that's why he's saying, it's about time that you make your decision. 00:12:42.180 |
If it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day from whom you will serve, 00:12:45.620 |
whether the gods of your father served in region beyond the river. 00:12:49.220 |
Obviously talking about Egypt and the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. 00:12:55.260 |
But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord again. 00:12:57.940 |
So we know that the Israelites, even at the peak of their success, even out in the desert, 00:13:12.700 |
Where after the kingdom splits, you had King Saul, King David, King Solomon, and after 00:13:20.180 |
that Jeroboam and Rohoboam, the two kingdoms split, the northern kingdom and then the southern 00:13:27.380 |
The northern kingdom, led by Jeroboam, they set up two separate sites in direct rebellion 00:13:36.780 |
against God, where God said only to make sacrifices, where he prescribed it. 00:13:41.820 |
He sets up two different places, Dan and Bethel. 00:13:45.420 |
He remakes the golden calf, introduces that as Yahweh, because he was concerned that after 00:13:52.020 |
the kingdom split, that people were going to keep going down to Jerusalem to worship 00:13:55.860 |
God and he was afraid that he was going to lose his people. 00:13:58.460 |
So in order to keep the people that he took out with him, he set up two separate places. 00:14:07.100 |
All throughout the northern kingdom's history, God continues to mention that as a stench 00:14:12.700 |
And as a result of this rebellion, of this disobedience, that eventually God was going 00:14:17.860 |
to bring destruction upon the northern kingdom. 00:14:21.260 |
The southern kingdom, on the other hand, they were better, but they weren't good. 00:14:27.140 |
If you remember the southern kingdom's history, majority of their kings were evil as well. 00:14:33.180 |
And their problem was, even though they didn't have the same issue as the northern kingdom, 00:14:39.460 |
the southern kingdom kept on establishing the altar in the high places. 00:14:44.860 |
So if you read through Old Testament history, you'll see over and over again in the southern 00:14:49.700 |
kingdom, God says that revival can't be yet, they kept on establishing, kept on offering 00:14:56.860 |
And basically what that means was, the way that the pagans in the places where they would 00:15:02.260 |
offer sacrifices were usually on top of hills. 00:15:05.880 |
And so when the Israelites were making offerings, even when it was to Yahweh, it was done in 00:15:12.740 |
Where God specifically told them in Leviticus chapter 17, that all the sacrifices needed 00:15:25.460 |
All throughout Israel's history, they disobeyed this command in chapter 17. 00:15:32.780 |
This regulation applied both to the Israelites and to the strangers. 00:15:36.100 |
So you'll notice, if you read chapter 17, that he mentions two or three separate times 00:15:41.560 |
that this applies to Israelites and all the strangers and the sojourners that come into 00:15:47.320 |
Which signifies that this law was to be kept, not only for the sake of the individual, but 00:15:55.900 |
That these sacrifices were not simply meant just for a personal relationship with God, 00:16:08.660 |
I want you to really remember this, because I don't know how many of you are reading through 00:16:14.740 |
the Bible this year, whether you're reading two chapters or three chapters. 00:16:18.780 |
This sin is repeated in almost every single book of the Old Testament. 00:16:26.220 |
Almost every single book in every period of Israel's history, where they are worshipping 00:16:33.180 |
And so on the surface, it may look like, "Oh, what's the big deal? 00:16:35.820 |
He gave a sacrifice to God, but he did it in a high place." 00:16:38.540 |
It was a specific disobedience to this particular command. 00:16:51.440 |
This section, chapter, verses 10, all the way to the end of the chapter, regulation 00:17:04.880 |
God warns Israel that eating blood of an animal would cause his face to set against the person, 00:17:12.980 |
What does it mean for God's face to be set against somebody? 00:17:22.260 |
The whole point of Israel's history is to get the blessing of God, right? 00:17:25.700 |
So Psalm chapter 1, remember how Psalm chapter 1 begins? 00:17:38.940 |
Not my peace, not your peace, but may God's peace be upon you. 00:17:41.780 |
So the whole Israel's history, Israel's culture is to receive the Lord's blessing. 00:17:46.820 |
So when God says, "If you do not obey this command, his face is going to be set against 00:17:52.300 |
In other words, God's peace is going to leave you, right? 00:17:55.900 |
So whatever it is that you're seeking from the Lord, you're not going to get. 00:18:00.180 |
Not only is God going to turn from you, he said, "You're going to be cut off from your 00:18:08.520 |
This was not just a slap on the hand saying, "Hey, don't do this again." 00:18:11.700 |
In fact, the two reasons why he gives why you must not eat the blood is one, the life 00:18:19.500 |
of the flesh is in the blood, and then the second was related to it. 00:18:24.060 |
Because the life of the flesh is in the blood, the blood was reserved to make atonement. 00:18:29.100 |
So in other words, in God's eyes, the blood was considered very, very sacred. 00:18:33.740 |
So if you put this in your mouth, he said, basically, you're drinking condemnation upon 00:18:38.940 |
In fact, the blood was so sacred that if a man found an animal who was already dead, 00:18:48.740 |
whether by natural causes or it was eaten by a beast, that that animal's blood was supposed 00:18:55.060 |
to be spilt, drained of its blood, and then to be covered up with dirt. 00:19:01.140 |
You're not supposed to just leave the dirt out in the open. 00:19:04.140 |
So the only place where the blood could be spilt and splattered, both on the altar, on 00:19:13.340 |
the animal, upon the priests, and then the people themselves, was in the context of sacrifice. 00:19:20.340 |
In any other place, they said it was forbidden. 00:19:22.940 |
It was forbidden, even if you spill it, you have to cover it, right? 00:19:28.220 |
And if you do do that, you're supposed to bring it into the tabernacle and give it as 00:19:37.100 |
And then whoever eats this, eats an animal that was killed outside of the camp, that 00:19:42.940 |
he had to go through ritual cleansing, he was considered unclean. 00:19:48.920 |
And this is repeated, I put four times, but if you, depending on how you count it, it's 00:19:55.540 |
actually mentioned six separate times in this passage. 00:19:58.220 |
I mentioned four, but within those verses, there are a couple others that are mentioned, 00:20:04.440 |
So whenever something is repeated repetitiously, what does that tell us? 00:20:10.280 |
Extremely, extremely, extremely important, right? 00:20:19.240 |
So anything said once from God, you pay attention, even if he just says it in passing, you don't 00:20:28.120 |
If he says it twice, you pay very close attention to it because God for sure is trying to get 00:20:34.480 |
If he says it three times, you're supposed to sit there and memorize this thing, right? 00:20:44.700 |
This commandment is repeated over and over and over and over and over and over in this 00:20:52.640 |
So if you were to read this like a Jew, if there was any text that you put to memory, 00:20:59.000 |
that you make sure that you don't disobey, it would have been this part because it is 00:21:04.440 |
repeated over and over and over again, right? 00:21:17.040 |
Any violation of these regulations brought very severe consequences, right? 00:21:24.120 |
With the exception of the last part, what we just talked about, if a man eating an animal, 00:21:29.880 |
this section, it says it was not considered a misdemeanor, but we would probably consider 00:21:39.680 |
In fact, that's the language that's being used here. 00:21:41.920 |
The transgression, in most of the violations, identified as blood guiltiness. 00:21:47.080 |
If you violate it, you will be guilty of blood guiltiness. 00:21:54.880 |
So this was equated with the same consequence as murder, to eat of the blood of the animal. 00:22:02.200 |
That's how serious, that's how sacred this was. 00:22:07.120 |
So if there was anything considered sacrilegious that a Jew would have understood, and it wasn't 00:22:13.240 |
just by chance, it wasn't just part of the culture because this is the way God communicated 00:22:17.120 |
that, that if you eat drink of the blood, God's going to turn his face from you, you're 00:22:23.200 |
going to be guilty of blood guilt, in other words, of murder, and then you're going to 00:22:39.440 |
The consequence of drinking blood in violation of God's command was no different than getting 00:22:49.120 |
That's how sacred, that's how important this was. 00:22:53.720 |
Then the second part of it, obviously, talks about being cut off. 00:22:58.360 |
Now, I want you to think about what you know about the blood and what the scripture teaches 00:23:07.040 |
about the blood in the New Covenant, and now think of it as a Jew. 00:23:14.240 |
If there's one thing that you would have never done as a Jew, you would have eaten blood. 00:23:18.800 |
There's a lot of things you wouldn't have done, right? 00:23:22.040 |
I mean, if you went into a house where somebody was during their monthly flow, you would have 00:23:26.880 |
become unclean, if you eat in certain kind of foods, you would have become unclean, if 00:23:31.520 |
you touch sacred things, you would have been unclean. 00:23:33.560 |
There's a lot of things that the Jew would have avoided, but if there's one thing that 00:23:38.080 |
they probably made sure that they never did was drink the blood of an animal, right? 00:23:48.760 |
At the end of the day, you go through ritual cleansing. 00:23:51.200 |
He says, "God's going to turn his face from you. 00:23:55.040 |
Now, having said that, that's what a Jew would have understood, and then we come to the New 00:24:06.080 |
"If you do not drink of my blood and eat of my flesh, I have no relationship with you." 00:24:14.200 |
So imagine how shocking this would have been to a Jew, right? 00:24:19.360 |
Living for hundreds of years, thinking that if you eat the blood of an animal, that you 00:24:25.760 |
will die, that God is going to curse you, right? 00:24:32.800 |
Now, Jesus says this, if you know John chapter 6, in the context of people whose hearts were 00:24:39.060 |
They were following Jesus, because this is right after he fed the 5,000, and Jesus calls 00:24:43.500 |
them out because he sees ingenuine faith, and he's telling them that, "I am the bread 00:24:49.560 |
So he's talking to a group of people whose hearts were already hardened, and he's talking 00:24:56.060 |
And so he tells them, and obviously this is clearly he's pointing to what he's about to 00:25:00.120 |
do on the cross, and when he says, "Drink my blood, eat of my flesh," obviously he's 00:25:06.640 |
He was going to shed his blood, and his body was going to be broken for our sins. 00:25:15.820 |
And as a result of that, he says, "This is too hard," right? 00:25:20.040 |
And even though they were coming, and these are the same group of people in chapter 6 00:25:25.720 |
who wanted to make him king, just 20 verses before this. 00:25:30.840 |
They were going to forcefully make him king because they ate the miraculous food, they 00:25:35.640 |
saw a lot of these guys saw Jesus walking on water, they saw him healing the lame, opening 00:25:41.760 |
the eyes of the man who was blind, they were convinced that he was the Messiah. 00:25:46.680 |
But because of this statement, they walk away, right? 00:25:50.720 |
So John chapter 6, 66, he says, "Many of the disciples turned away and no longer followed 00:25:57.600 |
So as a Jew, you can understand why this was a difficult thing for them to, right? 00:26:03.080 |
But Jesus says actually quite a bit of things like that. 00:26:09.020 |
In the Old Testament, and some of you guys mentioned how you guys went together for the 00:26:12.900 |
gospel and one of the speakers talked about how God forbid Adam and Eve to eat of the 00:26:17.420 |
tree and yet Jesus says, "You must eat of me." 00:26:20.840 |
If you eat of this, you will die, but if you want to live, you must eat of me. 00:26:24.520 |
He tells in chapter 17 that you cannot drink the blood and yet in the New Testament, if 00:26:29.920 |
you want to live, you must drink my blood, right? 00:26:33.660 |
In every other situation, it would have brought condemnation, but only the blood of Christ, 00:26:39.840 |
only the flesh of Christ, his true bread would have reversed that curse, right? 00:26:45.740 |
You know what's interesting is, again, there's another office that was forbidden. 00:26:50.600 |
Over and over again in Israel's history, whenever a king touched the sacrifices, because those 00:26:55.580 |
offices were never to be mixed, only the priest could make sacrifices and king were supposed 00:27:01.900 |
Kings could not make sacrifices and priests could never become king. 00:27:05.820 |
Jesus comes and he's a king who's a priest, right? 00:27:11.500 |
He comes in the order of Melchizedek, so that particular office was reserved for Jesus and 00:27:16.580 |
Jesus only and anybody else who touched that was judged by God. 00:27:21.580 |
So in the same way, there are things that was reserved that was only meant for Christ. 00:27:28.340 |
You know what's again, interesting is that the sacrifice, where was the sacrifice meant 00:27:38.980 |
Inside the camp at the tabernacle and if you make the sacrifice outside, right, you'd be 00:27:57.500 |
I want you guys to just think through what you see in the New Testament and what you're 00:28:02.140 |
learning in the book of Leviticus because all of these things have significance to a 00:28:07.300 |
So if somebody was sacrificed outside the camp, chapter 17 says you must not sacrifice 00:28:13.300 |
When Christ comes, he sacrifices outside the camp, meaning the sacredness of Israel has 00:28:22.380 |
So Jesus not only is sacrificed outside the camp, what does he do? 00:28:26.100 |
As he's sacrificed outside the camp, what does he say? 00:28:37.740 |
When John the Baptist comes, he comes in and he's a prophet, right? 00:28:42.900 |
And he doesn't come through the system of the Pharisees. 00:28:48.340 |
He preaches out in the wilderness, outside of the epicenter of the Jewish religion, right? 00:28:58.380 |
So what was considered sacred now is because God has turned his face from them, now God 00:29:12.300 |
Don't eat the flesh, but he said no, you have to eat my flesh, right? 00:29:17.140 |
I want you guys to let this percolate in your head because all of this has specific meanings, 00:29:24.140 |
In 1 Peter 1, 18-19, it said, "Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited 00:29:29.940 |
from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the 00:29:34.180 |
precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot." 00:29:37.420 |
So here in 1 Peter 1, 18, it says, "The blood of Christ ransomed us." 00:29:44.380 |
Ephesians 1, 7, "In him we have redemption through his blood." 00:29:48.340 |
Again, all of these things point to the sacredness of the blood. 00:29:51.980 |
Colossians 1, 20, "And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or 00:29:56.020 |
in heaven, making peace by the blood of Christ." 00:29:58.700 |
So we are ransomed, we are redeemed, and peace was brought through the blood. 00:30:05.500 |
And then Revelation 1, 5, it says, "And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn 00:30:09.940 |
of the dead, and the ruler of the kings on the earth, to him who loves us and has freed 00:30:16.780 |
We are ransomed, we're redeemed, we were made peace by his blood. 00:30:24.780 |
And then Hebrews 9, 22, it says, "Without shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness 00:30:32.140 |
So chapter 17 reserves the drinking of the blood as sacred because the life of the animal 00:30:41.580 |
is in the blood, and that life was meant to be for the purpose of atoning sins. 00:30:51.020 |
And so we come to the New Testament, it points to the sacredness, not of the animal's blood, 00:30:57.660 |
but chapter 17 points to the sacredness of the blood of Christ. 00:31:05.340 |
Because all that is happening in the book of Leviticus is to prepare, it's kind of like 00:31:11.620 |
learning the ABC so you would learn how to write poetry and novels later on. 00:31:17.300 |
So the root understanding of the sacrifice of Christ is mentioned in chapter 17 so that 00:31:23.020 |
Israel understood the sacredness of the blood, that without the shedding of blood, there 00:31:28.460 |
is no sacrifice, there is no forgiveness of sins. 00:31:38.000 |
So when Christ comes, he says, "No, this blood you must drink because my life is in 00:31:45.100 |
And if you don't drink of my life, you cannot live." 00:31:50.420 |
And that's the language that we see here in Hebrews 10.29, "How much worse punishment 00:31:54.420 |
do you think will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God and has profaned 00:31:58.660 |
the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the Spirit of 00:32:04.420 |
So if in the Old Testament, profaning the blood of an animal caused capital punishment, 00:32:12.460 |
how much more when somebody profanes the blood of Christ, spurns his grace, in other words, 00:32:24.700 |
Christ shed his blood for them and he doesn't consider it sacred and he rejects it. 00:32:29.180 |
So remember the scripture talks about there's one sin that cannot be forgiven, it's the 00:32:41.820 |
So all of this to teach the sacredness of what it is that we already have in Christ 00:32:52.380 |
And to not to live day to day recognizing what it is that's been done for us. 00:32:58.780 |
You know, we're kind of like, "Yeah, Jesus died for us on the cross." 00:33:01.340 |
And the longer you've been a Christian, the less and less fantastic it becomes. 00:33:05.820 |
Like you were excited when you were beginning, when you were telling your testimony, but 00:33:09.180 |
after you've been a Christian for 10, 15 years, you're kind of like, "Okay, what else?" 00:33:14.540 |
And part of that, or a lot of that, is because we don't understand the weight of what it 00:33:23.020 |
And so the Jews had that embedded into their culture for hundreds and hundreds of years. 00:33:28.920 |
So when they heard, when they understand the blood of Christ, they already had all the 00:33:34.620 |
They went from elementary, you know, from kindergarten all the way up to college and 00:33:38.540 |
they're getting their PhDs in Christ, but they kind of took the proper steps to get 00:33:47.100 |
And so we graduate, but we don't know how to do the math. 00:33:52.520 |
That's why the study of the Old Testament is so important. 00:33:55.900 |
Because we know the answer, we don't know how we got to the answer. 00:34:02.460 |
We went to the back of the book and we found the numbers and we filled in the dots and 00:34:05.260 |
we passed the test and we got our PhD, but we don't know how we got here. 00:34:10.060 |
And so it's important for us to study Leviticus and numbers and different books because all 00:34:14.820 |
of these things were stepping stones that led to the cross. 00:34:20.180 |
And why we're going back, you look at the book of Hebrews and Galatians and Romans, 00:34:24.660 |
why it makes so much more sense once you know what God was doing in the Old Testament. 00:34:30.880 |
So my point is, if you've been sleeping through the Bible study all this time, to 00:34:39.260 |
It's going to affect how you understand the New Testament in a different level, the more 00:34:44.180 |
you understand what we're talking about Leviticus. 00:34:48.420 |
So that's where we're going to be ending it today. 00:34:52.340 |
So if you, some of you, and I know the study of Leviticus is not easy. 00:34:57.420 |
It's not something that you can jump in in the middle and then just kind of, you know, 00:35:00.720 |
like you're doing the epistles, you really need to kind of wrestle with it. 00:35:03.900 |
So I'm pretty sure even if you've been following, there's probably gaps in your understanding. 00:35:09.540 |
So what I'm going to ask you to do is we're going to take some time to review. 00:35:18.840 |
And then the first session that we have after we come back from our break, I'm going to 00:35:25.820 |
So next week I'm going to do an overview study or just a review. 00:35:30.660 |
And then if you can send in, okay, if you can email and send in, like, I don't understand 00:35:38.180 |
And I'm going to try to touch upon some of that to try to get you up to speed so that 00:35:43.060 |
next time we open this up, you'll be at a better place. 00:35:46.660 |
So you don't kind of feel like you're lost and you're just kind of getting bits and pieces. 00:35:51.100 |
So I'm going to ask you to take the initiative if you're lost, say, "Hey, can you cover this?" 00:35:59.700 |
Because obviously I'm not going to be able to do that. 00:36:01.060 |
Be specific and I'll try to target some of that. 00:36:06.100 |
So the discussion question, God made it very clear that he did not want his people to worship 00:36:09.860 |
him in a manner that reflected pagan worship. 00:36:12.620 |
Where do we draw the line between worship that reflects the world and biblical God-centered 00:36:20.380 |
God made it very clear that he didn't want the worship of Yahweh to look anything like 00:36:25.180 |
pagan worship, like the demon goat or goat demon worship. 00:36:31.140 |
So today, and I'm not saying that that's what it is today, but if we're not careful, we're 00:36:36.580 |
so concerned about making non-Christians comfortable in the church that we could easily, not deliberately, 00:36:45.540 |
but easily twist certain things to make it more comfortable and the next thing you know, 00:36:50.620 |
the worship of God starts to look like, you know, some rock concert or whatever. 00:36:57.620 |
Number two, why do we think idolatry was so attractive to the Israelites? 00:37:04.500 |
Obviously, we don't have the same kind of idolatry we have in the Old Testament where 00:37:08.600 |
you actually have figures that they bow down to, but idolatry is described as anything 00:37:22.740 |
Worship money, worship success, worship family, worship children. 00:37:28.900 |
Why were these things so attractive to the nation of Israel? 00:37:32.140 |
They had the living God who was performing miracles and God was speaking to them and 00:37:45.180 |
And then how does that reflect what's happening today? 00:37:48.780 |
Number three, the communion table is partaking of Christ's blood and flesh to remember 00:37:53.780 |
So take a few minutes to read 1 Corinthians 11, 26 to 32. 00:37:58.100 |
How seriously should we be taking the communion table? 00:38:00.740 |
So in 1 Corinthians 11, 26 to 32, basically it says some people were falling sick or even 00:38:06.260 |
dying because they were not taking the covenant cup seriously. 00:38:12.720 |
So even in the New Testament communion table, the communion table was considered very sacred 00:38:17.660 |
and we see that ideology embedded in what we studied today in chapter 17. 00:38:24.580 |
So the blood of Christ that we partake in was considered sacred. 00:38:28.580 |
So anybody participating in a nonchalant manner where unconfessed sins and in that context 00:38:34.260 |
where they were ignoring the poor brothers and it was causing division in the church. 00:38:38.740 |
So as a result of that, some were actually falling sick and dying. 00:38:47.900 |
At least in our attitude that it is a sacred time and that's why we always say that this 00:38:52.820 |
is reserved for people who are repentant sinners. 00:38:56.900 |
So it's not meant for the non-Christians and I know, you know, I know a church, a pastor, 00:39:04.100 |
and I'm not going to say because I think, you know, many of you will know, and I remember 00:39:08.940 |
having a serious conversation with him because he was opening up the communion table to non-Christians 00:39:17.700 |
So I went and talked to him and I said, "Hey, I heard that you're doing this and is this 00:39:24.460 |
And he told me that he was doing it because he didn't want the non-Christians to feel 00:39:32.340 |
And so obviously we had a serious discussion about that and he didn't like what I had to 00:39:36.180 |
say, you know, but it was like even the communion table was open because they're concerned about 00:39:41.860 |
the non-Christians but communion is meant to be a sacred time, a sacred place. 00:39:47.500 |
So take some time to discuss this in your small group. 00:39:49.500 |
Then let me pray for us and I'll have you guys go into your small group. 00:39:57.780 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your blessing. 00:40:00.460 |
We thank you, Lord God, for all these intricate details that help us to understand what it 00:40:09.100 |
The sacred blood, Lord God, that was shed for us and each time we think of our own lives, 00:40:15.260 |
Lord God, it's because you've imputed your righteousness in us and by your sacred blood 00:40:25.540 |
Help us to understand the depth of grace and depth of love that we have in you that 00:40:30.580 |
we would not walk nonchalantly, Lord God, as if it's a peripheral priority in our lives. 00:40:37.180 |
Help us to see the importance of it, Lord, that we may be consumed with it, to understand 00:40:42.420 |
the depth of what it is that we have, that our life would truly be a reasonable response. 00:40:50.540 |
I pray that you would help us to be open and honest and as iron sharpening iron, let us 00:40:54.940 |
be sharpened as a result. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.