back to index2018-08-15 Wed Bible Study: Leviticus 18
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All right, I hope you guys had enough time to be able to look through the passages before 00:00:11.280 |
Again, and you're going to hear me say this over and over again, Leviticus is not a book 00:00:21.000 |
This is not a book that you can just stroll in in the middle and then hear about the different 00:00:31.180 |
This is one of those books that you at least need to know the content, what are the questions. 00:00:43.820 |
And you kind of have to come in with those questioning or else when we begin to expose 00:00:49.420 |
it, the chances are it's going to go over your head. 00:00:53.100 |
So again, I just want to strongly encourage you at least try to read it, read it thoroughly, 00:00:59.700 |
And then so at least you can catch the content of it before you come. 00:01:05.940 |
And as you guys know, the primary thing he talks about is the immoral relations. 00:01:11.500 |
And so let me pray for us and then we're just going to jump right in. 00:01:14.580 |
Gracious Father, we thank you for this evening. 00:01:19.120 |
We pray, Father God, that your word would truly make sense and come alive. 00:01:24.140 |
That the study of your word would not just be seeking knowledge or putting in our time, 00:01:29.180 |
but especially Lord Leviticus and the importance of how it connects us to all that you have 00:01:34.860 |
done in the New Testament, the sacrifice of Christ, what it means to be pure and impure. 00:01:41.720 |
What has required Lord God of sinful people to be in the presence of a holy God? 00:01:46.560 |
We pray this evening as we discuss the importance of sexual morality and its ramification, what 00:01:55.500 |
I pray, Father God, for strength, for openness, for tools, Lord God, to be motivated, convicted 00:02:02.900 |
and strengthened that we may be resolved, Lord, to honor you in this way. 00:02:11.020 |
So what I'm going to do is I'm going to go over chapter 18 in parts, in section. 00:02:17.440 |
The first section that I'm going to be looking at is in verse 1 through 7. 00:02:24.760 |
Where it begins by God calling Moses and telling him, telling the nation of Israel 00:02:29.800 |
not to adopt the culture or the status of the nation they left in Egypt or in Canaan. 00:02:36.240 |
So Egypt is obviously where they came from and then Canaan is where they are headed. 00:02:41.600 |
This is actually repeated seven times in this passage over, right? 00:02:47.800 |
It says, "Do not adopt the culture that you are entering. 00:02:51.320 |
Do not look back and imitate where you came from." 00:02:56.040 |
Because this is a common theme, not only in the Old Testament but also in the New Testament, 00:03:01.000 |
in the New Covenant, our constant challenge is to look back from the culture that we came 00:03:07.320 |
from and then to look with envy or wherever it is that we are headed, right? 00:03:13.240 |
So when you're young, when you first become a Christian, there's a lot of baggage that 00:03:17.440 |
you bring from the past before you became a Christian. 00:03:19.640 |
But after you become a Christian, there's a lot of temptations, especially when you're 00:03:24.000 |
You know, when you have money, the temptation is to not, is to be so worried not to lose 00:03:28.680 |
money, but when you don't have money, your temptation is about the money that you may 00:03:32.080 |
or may not get if you make certain decisions, right? 00:03:35.800 |
This is a common theme that we see in the Bible, Ezekiel 20, 18-19, where it says, "I 00:03:41.120 |
said to their children in the wilderness, 'Do not walk in the statues of your fathers 00:03:44.220 |
or keep their ordinances or defile yourselves with their idols. 00:03:48.600 |
Walk in my statues and keep my ordinances and observe them.'" 00:03:53.800 |
So over and over again in this text where it says, "Do not live by their standards, 00:04:00.620 |
Do not live by their ordinance, but my ordinance," right? 00:04:05.600 |
So after having said that and having said that over and over again, what is the primary 00:04:11.520 |
thing that he says not to repeat, which is already in the title, right? 00:04:23.560 |
Do not imitate where you are heading," and what is the primary sin in this chapter where 00:04:36.440 |
So of all the things about greed, about coveting, idolatry, all of these things are obviously 00:04:42.640 |
there, but of all the things that he highlights not to imitate, the primary thing that he 00:04:48.160 |
says is not to imitate their perversion, the sexual perversion. 00:04:52.800 |
So if you've read this chapter, you know, right, especially in our sinful, sexually 00:05:00.720 |
open culture where almost any perversion you can think of, you probably either heard of 00:05:09.840 |
But I'll bet you there are certain things in this chapter that you probably didn't even 00:05:16.720 |
So he goes in and says, "Make sure that you do not copy them," but the primary sin that 00:05:20.600 |
he brings up is their perversion, and he says this phrase over and over again, "You shall 00:05:24.480 |
not uncover," and it is specifically referring to sexual relations. 00:05:40.320 |
This clearly is speaking about sexual immorality, right? 00:05:45.800 |
And why didn't he just say, "Do not commit sexual immorality"? 00:05:50.840 |
Because the word, "You shall not uncover," it covers a lot more than just intercourse. 00:05:58.160 |
You guys are, most of you guys are too young, but many years ago, our former president, 00:06:02.840 |
Bill Clinton, he got caught in sexual relations, and they were interviewing him and said, "Did 00:06:07.880 |
you have sexual relationship with this young woman, Monica Lewinsky?" 00:06:11.120 |
And he said, "I did not have sexual relations." 00:06:13.520 |
Again, you guys are too young to remember this, but he was on national TV, and he denied 00:06:18.680 |
it many times, and then when it finally, it came out that he could not deny it, they asked 00:06:24.920 |
him, "Why did you say you did not have sexual relations?" 00:06:28.080 |
And he basically said, "I did not have intercourse." 00:06:31.280 |
I'm not going to describe what he did, but he did everything else, but he did not have 00:06:38.120 |
So when he said, "I did not have sexual relations," it means, "I did not have intercourse." 00:06:45.560 |
And so at that time, there was a big debate, like, "What does it mean to have sex? 00:06:57.240 |
How far can you go in your sexual encounter, and then say, "No, I didn't have sex because 00:07:04.120 |
we didn't cross the boundary and actually have penetration and intercourse." 00:07:09.920 |
I know it's graphic, but it's necessary because the term that he uses here to uncover covers 00:07:21.980 |
And that's why this term is used, to describe sexual immorality, because again, when sexual 00:07:27.440 |
immorality is being rampant, you kind of start to get technical. 00:07:36.160 |
So even though it talks about sexual immorality, "I never committed adultery because that didn't 00:07:48.080 |
Any kind of sexual activity that is inappropriate outside of God-ordained marriage relationship. 00:07:57.700 |
So this would include being naked, fondling, touching, anything that you, your wife, your 00:08:08.020 |
spouse would consider inappropriate, anything outside of marriage. 00:08:14.060 |
Again, I'm not going to go through all the lists. 00:08:17.100 |
Just in case there's anyone thinking I'm going to wiggle it, all I did was watch. 00:08:30.340 |
The ancient Near East cults all contain some kind of cult sexual perversions as a part 00:08:39.060 |
You ever wonder why the Israelites were so tempted? 00:08:42.100 |
I mean, they worshiped a God that provided miraculous bread, food, that parted red seeds, 00:08:54.460 |
But as soon as they forgot God, they ran to these idols. 00:09:00.080 |
I have a picture of a couple of these idols that were very popular in the Old Testament, 00:09:07.220 |
And it's just, on the surface, it's like, why would you be attracted to that? 00:09:13.100 |
One of the main reasons why the idol worship was so attractive is because there was always 00:09:18.600 |
some kind of a sexual activity attached to the idol worship. 00:09:28.000 |
Why were they so eager to establish the golden calf and worship it? 00:09:32.700 |
Remember when Moses goes up, Aaron creates his golden calf, and he says, "Oh, it just 00:09:40.500 |
This is Yahweh that delivered you out of Egypt. 00:09:45.600 |
The golden calf worship was believed to be an influence from Egypt. 00:09:54.180 |
And the bull worship, which promised great fertility if worshipped. 00:09:57.400 |
So obviously, even to this day, when you think of bull, you think of power, you think of 00:10:07.420 |
And so that's basically what their temptation was. 00:10:10.300 |
Because at that time, in order to be rich, you need to be able to reproduce a lot, right? 00:10:16.140 |
Not just have one or two children, maybe 10, 20, 30 children. 00:10:20.100 |
Your calf, if you're going to have, you know, if you're raising goat or bulls, in order 00:10:25.300 |
for you to be rich, they need to be very reproductive. 00:10:28.740 |
If you're going to plant seeds, they need to be able to produce well. 00:10:31.820 |
So you were completely dependent upon whatever it was that you were raising, whatever it 00:10:39.180 |
And so this calf worship from Egypt basically represented virility. 00:10:44.320 |
That if you worshipped it, the promise was that you're going to be very, very fruitful. 00:10:50.420 |
All your cattle is going to reproduce, like, in a ridiculous amount of number. 00:10:54.420 |
So the temptation for the calf worship was a desire to be rich, right? 00:11:03.980 |
But not only was there a desire to be rich, along with this was, because it represented 00:11:09.980 |
fertility, part of the calf worship ended with orgies. 00:11:17.180 |
And if you look at the New Testament, again, I'm not going to go too deep into the New 00:11:20.800 |
Testament, but much of the temptation of idol worship in the New Testament was the same. 00:11:26.880 |
That at the end of the worship, there will be some kind of sexual relationship. 00:11:30.000 |
So that's why everyone's talking about the temple prostitution, both male and female. 00:11:34.220 |
There's a lot of warning about that because the idol worship and sexual immorality went 00:11:44.840 |
The chief male deity was Baal in Canaan, and the chief female deity was Ashtoreth. 00:12:00.240 |
Baal worship involved licentious sexual activities, which often ended in orgies. 00:12:04.920 |
They would get drunk and have what was called sacred orgies to celebrate fertility. 00:12:14.440 |
And so, again, if you've read the Old Testament any number of times, you'll know that Baal 00:12:18.580 |
worship was at the center of the temptation that Israelites constantly fell into. 00:12:25.460 |
Asherah was the name of a goddess originated in Assyria. 00:12:30.360 |
She was the goddess of fertility that promised health and wealth through sexual perversion. 00:12:36.740 |
So you can imagine, again, that the attraction of these idolatry was related to desire for 00:12:47.520 |
I mean, think about the temptations that we fall into. 00:12:51.780 |
Again, as a pastor, I can tell you that one of the greatest challenges of leading a church 00:12:58.940 |
in our generation is so many people are struggling with sexual purity. 00:13:06.300 |
You can be so committed to God, and then either you get caught in pornography or you start 00:13:12.860 |
dating and you start having inappropriate relationships, and all of a sudden, your spiritual 00:13:20.180 |
You cannot worship God with a clear conscience if sexual immorality is a regular part of 00:13:29.700 |
No matter how much you've compromised it, no matter how much you've justified it, you 00:13:37.980 |
I don't care how much time you spend in reading the Word of God, how much time you spend in 00:13:43.260 |
evangelizing or counseling or serving the church or giving, if sexual immorality is 00:13:50.380 |
a regular part of your life, it absolutely destroys your ability to worship. 00:13:57.720 |
The other part of it is constant temptation to be rich. 00:14:03.340 |
The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and fear of not having enough money 00:14:09.240 |
or desiring money or having money and fear of losing the money is a constant, because 00:14:14.660 |
the Scripture says wherever your treasure is, your heart will be. 00:14:17.820 |
So you don't have to have money to seek after money. 00:14:25.020 |
So we're not talking about that part of it, but at least the part of the sexual immorality. 00:14:35.580 |
Those are the actual pictures of Baal on the left, and this is, again, findings that they 00:14:44.080 |
The pictures of Asherah vary based upon which area of the world that you found it in or 00:14:53.400 |
But most of the Asherah figurines have basically larger breasts representing females and Baal 00:15:03.080 |
So in and of itself, physically, what attracted them to this? 00:15:09.540 |
Why would Israel forsake the living God to worship this? 00:15:14.640 |
So it wasn't anything physical, what they represented, that if they bow down to this, 00:15:19.320 |
that the promise was that they're going to be fertile, they're going to reproduce. 00:15:23.720 |
And then the act of worshiping these idols in and of itself was a temptation. 00:15:29.080 |
So you get pleasure by coming to it, and then if you come to it, you're promised all these 00:15:40.240 |
Sexual sin, even in the New Testament, is highlighted above all their sins. 00:15:45.680 |
In 1 Corinthians 6.18, it says, "Flee immorality." 00:15:49.760 |
The word "immorality" in the NIV says "sexual immorality," because the word there is "pornea," 00:15:57.680 |
It's a general word that refers not only to pornography, but in this context, because 00:16:03.040 |
it's written to the Corinthians, it has the idea of sexual immorality. 00:16:10.720 |
Do you remember any other part in the New Testament where it tells you to flee? 00:16:18.640 |
Where to fight, where to have accountable, memorized scripture. 00:16:22.120 |
But when it comes to sexual immorality, we are told to flee. 00:16:28.360 |
This is not something that you say, "You know what? 00:16:31.560 |
I don't need accountability because I have willpower." 00:16:35.200 |
It's assumed that everybody is vulnerable to this. 00:16:43.360 |
If you are in a constant issue with pornography on the internet, figure out a way to have 00:16:54.680 |
It is better for you not to have internet than to be constantly struggling with the 00:17:01.840 |
I have to have internet," then figure out a way to have some sort of covenant eyes or 00:17:11.400 |
But you cannot, no matter how much you've compromised, no matter how much you've justified 00:17:17.960 |
in it, you cannot worship God and have sexual immorality as a regular part of your life. 00:17:30.440 |
Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but immorality, man sins against 00:17:37.080 |
Now, what does it mean to sin against your own body? 00:17:40.760 |
When you steal, I mean, that hurts other people. 00:17:44.320 |
Typically, when you think of sexual immorality, the reason why people don't take it seriously 00:17:57.200 |
I murder, obviously, I'm hurting other people. 00:18:00.960 |
But sexual immorality is like, "Well, no one's hurt but me." 00:18:04.320 |
But here it says, "It's a greater sin because you sin against your own body." 00:18:13.000 |
Is your body more precious than your neighbors, that if you steal from them, but then if you 00:18:23.440 |
If you look at the context of what he is saying, when he says it's a greater sin because you 00:18:29.560 |
sin against your own body, he's not simply talking about your own body. 00:18:33.280 |
The very next verse says, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit 00:18:36.680 |
who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own, for you have been 00:18:40.520 |
bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your own body." 00:18:45.480 |
The second part of it in 19-20 is talking about the church. 00:18:49.000 |
Previously, before in verses 16 and 17, he's talking about how we have been united with 00:18:56.800 |
And when you unite your body to a prostitute, he says you are becoming one. 00:19:04.280 |
So when he says, when you have sexual immorality, he's not simply talking about how it affects 00:19:09.640 |
your body, he's talking about how that affects whatever body that you've also become united 00:19:18.000 |
So he says, how can an individual who has been united together with God, in the Holy 00:19:23.400 |
Spirit, take that and unite that with a prostitute? 00:19:27.840 |
Meaning, if you unite that body that had been united with Christ, and you unite it with 00:19:33.640 |
a prostitute, in a sense you're uniting the Holy Spirit with a prostitute. 00:19:40.640 |
And then, individually, we are one in the body of Christ. 00:19:51.000 |
So when he says sexual sin, in particular, is a greater sin, because we are a part of 00:19:58.240 |
So my sexual sin doesn't just affect you, what does it affect? 00:20:05.280 |
Meaning, whatever you've been united with, it affects the church. 00:20:12.640 |
Remember what the scripture said, if one hurts, we all hurt together because we are one. 00:20:16.640 |
If we stub our toe, it's not just our toe, it's just a toe. 00:20:20.360 |
He said, no, because we're united, the whole body hurts. 00:20:25.520 |
So your sexual sin plays a part in decreasing the quality of fellowship, decreasing the 00:20:33.680 |
quality of witness, decreasing the quality of worship that we can collectively give to 00:20:40.480 |
That's why he's saying this particular sin is so harmful, because it really erodes the 00:20:50.120 |
He's not simply saying, it affects you, all other sins it affects other people, but this 00:20:54.600 |
particular sin affects you more, so it's a greater sin. 00:21:07.560 |
He says, I am the Lord, and he repeats this over and over again for the purpose of emphasis 00:21:15.000 |
In other words, everything he says comes with authority. 00:21:19.500 |
But when God himself places emphasis on his name, it's just like repeating, saying, Peter, 00:21:29.060 |
What I'm about to say to you comes with great authority. 00:21:38.180 |
This expression is a claim of divine ownership. 00:21:43.820 |
You are not to do with your body as you please. 00:21:48.740 |
Later on, Leviticus 25, 55, for the sons of Israel are my servants. 00:21:53.620 |
They are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. 00:22:00.340 |
And over and over again, he says to obey my statutes, my judgments, my statutes, verse 00:22:07.220 |
4, verse 5, 26, verse 30, that you are not to follow theirs. 00:22:12.620 |
You are not to follow yours, but my statutes, my standards, not your standards, not Egypt's 00:22:18.420 |
standards, not the Canaanite standard, not what you think is right, but what I tell you 00:22:24.500 |
Again, you and I live in a generation where if it feels right to you, why is it wrong? 00:22:32.260 |
Because our standard of right and wrong is based upon if it bothers you. 00:22:36.540 |
So if you hear a particular sentence, if it doesn't gross you out, if it doesn't gross 00:22:42.820 |
you out, it maybe grossed people out in the previous generation, but it doesn't gross 00:22:46.620 |
you out because they are trying to normalize certain kinds of sin. 00:22:50.180 |
So if it doesn't gross you out, then why is it so bad? 00:22:55.240 |
And that's a problem that a lot of even Christians have because their certain kind of sexual 00:23:00.440 |
sin has become a normal part of our society that we become weird. 00:23:09.180 |
So over and over again, he says, I am the Lord, you are to follow my statutes and my 00:23:13.780 |
judgments, and he repeats that over and over and over again. 00:23:17.220 |
God is the standard of righteousness, not us. 00:23:23.620 |
All of that was the introduction and then verse 6 through 9, and we're going to go over 00:23:27.580 |
Verse 6 through 9, he's going over various incestuous relationship. 00:23:39.460 |
And I'm going to go over some of that later on in a chart so you can see it in all one 00:23:48.580 |
He talks about sexual relations between parents and children, parents and stepchildren, between 00:23:56.620 |
siblings by birth or by marriage, and on and on. 00:23:59.300 |
So just in case you say, you know what, maybe what your child is wrong, what your mom is 00:24:04.580 |
wrong, your aunt is wrong, maybe your brother. 00:24:06.900 |
So he just goes down the list in case there's any relation, in case anybody is thinking 00:24:14.940 |
I mean it's almost kind of like he wants to make sure that nobody is looking at these 00:24:19.660 |
laws and saying well, he didn't say this, so maybe he's okay with this. 00:24:22.700 |
So he just thoroughly goes down every relationship you can possibly think of to make sure that 00:24:29.300 |
nobody wiggles out of it, that all of this is a perversion, an abomination to the Lord. 00:24:44.620 |
The reason why he does this is because this perversion, this incestuous perversion is 00:24:55.100 |
We may hear it and say, if you've read it, you look down at the list and you say, what, 00:24:59.820 |
with your mom, your dad, your children, your sister, your brother? 00:25:08.300 |
But if you look at and you study and if you've been around long enough, you know that most 00:25:15.980 |
sexual immorality or molestation of any kind usually happens within the family. 00:25:28.220 |
Sixty-three percent of all sexual assaults on females take place within family members. 00:25:34.860 |
One in five girls and one in 20 boys is a victim of child sexual abuse. 00:25:39.100 |
And 63% or more usually takes place within the family structure. 00:25:44.740 |
So we may read something like that in chapter 18 and say, oh, that's perverse. 00:25:49.700 |
Maybe the Assyrians, maybe the Canaanites, maybe the Corinthians. 00:25:59.860 |
When you are burning in lust, you express it in a way that is the most convenient. 00:26:07.380 |
And so that's why it happens in the context of family, because they are the closest. 00:26:15.460 |
So when lust is not tempered and you just express it without limit, it gets expressed 00:26:27.340 |
So as perverted as it is, if you live long enough, you know just from experience, from 00:26:33.660 |
hearing, from counseling, that this is very true. 00:26:37.860 |
So everything that he says here are not talking about some weird groups of people. 00:26:42.980 |
This is a description of how far our perversion has gone. 00:26:48.620 |
So when the scripture says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," when 00:26:52.140 |
he says, "All have sinned," he doesn't describe every single sin. 00:26:55.580 |
But chapter 18, he goes into detail of the perversion of sin. 00:27:04.020 |
As a pastor, I can tell you when I was younger, I would say, "Oh, you know, I could…" 00:27:08.920 |
When you even just a thought of or hearing about it, it's like, "Oh, that's gross. 00:27:15.780 |
But after all these years of just talking, counseling, and talking to other pastors, 00:27:21.980 |
everything that is talked about here in chapter 18, I've heard it. 00:27:32.820 |
This perversion is inside of us in this room. 00:27:42.740 |
When we sinned against God, when we are away from the author of life, everything, your 00:27:52.460 |
Your sense of justice and fair has been perverted. 00:27:56.420 |
What you consider to be fun, it's been perverted. 00:28:00.440 |
Everything that God has intended has been perverted. 00:28:10.920 |
So when Christ came and he redeemed us, he didn't just redeem us so that we wouldn't 00:28:16.900 |
He's redeeming everything that's been perverted and bringing us back to what he 00:28:25.180 |
Sanctification isn't simply you becoming a better person. 00:28:27.700 |
Sanctification is restoring what got perverted. 00:28:32.700 |
And one of the key things that got perverted is our sexuality. 00:28:38.540 |
At the core of when he created us, he said to be fruitful and multiply. 00:28:45.180 |
You're supposed to have sexual relations with a man and a woman. 00:28:51.060 |
He made it enjoyable to be fruitful and multiply. 00:28:55.120 |
And then when perversion came in, all of a sudden, what God created to give you as a 00:29:00.100 |
gift, all of a sudden, it became an act of rebellion against God. 00:29:04.860 |
At the very core of what he gave us as a gift for our enjoyment and for the purpose of reproducing, 00:29:13.660 |
now the very core of our rebellion is expressed in our sexual perversion. 00:29:24.300 |
The next section, verse 10 through 18, covers anything else that might have been missed 00:29:31.300 |
So he goes through grandparents and grandchildren by blood, talks about uncles, aunts, nieces, 00:29:37.980 |
and nephews, parents and spouses of their children, siblings and the spouses of their 00:29:45.700 |
other siblings, children of a spouse, siblings of a spouse. 00:29:51.340 |
I mean, he wants to make sure that nothing is left out. 00:29:57.100 |
So here's a general chart to cover every relationship. 00:30:08.220 |
Not only does he talk about the blood relationship, he's talking about legal relationship with 00:30:12.020 |
sister, sister-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, that all of these things are perversion before 00:30:28.780 |
God wants us to know that this is an abomination. 00:30:32.300 |
Like in other words, when he says it's an abomination, you know like in the New Testament, 00:30:36.380 |
he says how he despises a lukewarm church and he says he will spew you out of the mouth? 00:30:43.180 |
So whenever we see the word abomination, it means like God sees the stench and what he 00:30:50.460 |
That's more of a biblical way of saying God is disgusted with this. 00:30:54.900 |
That's what he means when he says abomination. 00:31:00.100 |
This is disgusting in God's eyes because again, it is at the core of human rebellion. 00:31:08.540 |
The only lawful sexual relation ordained in Scripture is between a husband and wife. 00:31:13.940 |
Any other sexual contact is considered an abomination to the Lord. 00:31:23.540 |
Think about when there is sexual perversion, which of the 10 commandments, you know how 00:31:30.940 |
the 10 commandments is broken into two, love God and love your neighbor? 00:31:38.820 |
Have no other gods, don't make any graven images, don't use my name in vain and keep 00:31:49.580 |
Honor your father and mother, do not kill, do not covet, do not steal, right? 00:31:53.980 |
Which of the six does sexual perversion break? 00:32:32.540 |
Because you want something that doesn't belong to you, God didn't give you, thou shalt not 00:32:41.540 |
I mean, clearly you're breaking that in that perversion. 00:32:45.540 |
I mean, if you're coveting and then you go after something that doesn't belong to you 00:33:06.620 |
Thou shalt not bear any false witness, right? 00:33:15.380 |
Clearly you're corrupting the other person in some sense. 00:33:28.820 |
The sexual perversion actually even leads to murder. 00:33:35.220 |
So unlawful sexual relations breaks most, if not all, of the horizontal aspect of the 00:33:43.340 |
You can make an argument about slander, about gossiping, but pretty much if you give in 00:33:55.660 |
to sexual immorality, it has greater consequences, right? 00:34:10.340 |
Verse 19 to 23, just in case we missed anything, he goes into further sexual intercourse during 00:34:18.540 |
This was already covered in Leviticus chapter 15, 19. 00:34:26.100 |
Again, this was repeated in Exodus chapter 20, verse 14. 00:34:36.140 |
In verse 21, he says, "You should not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, 00:34:49.300 |
Everything that he says here is about sexual immorality. 00:35:02.380 |
The whole chapter is about sexual immorality, right? 00:35:06.060 |
Adultery, having sex during menstrual cycle, homosexuality, bestiality. 00:35:11.300 |
So everything he talks about in chapter 18 is sexual immorality, and yet here he says, 00:35:35.940 |
The gift of Molech consisted of heating a metal statue representing Molech until it 00:35:41.900 |
Then by placing a living infant on the outstretched hands of the statue while beating drums drowned 00:35:45.940 |
out the screams of child until it burned to death. 00:35:50.180 |
Now, why would a parent do that to their kid, right? 00:35:55.260 |
Again, and why is this here in the context of all the other sexual immorality? 00:36:02.100 |
Often the infants that were not wanted were discarded in this way, much like modern day 00:36:06.820 |
Basically, if you're going to have rampant sexual immorality, and I'm not saying that 00:36:13.820 |
all abortion is done for that purpose, if you're going to have rampant sexual immorality, 00:36:18.540 |
you have to be able to discard the consequences of that. 00:36:27.860 |
And so, not all abortion is done for that purpose, but again, this child sacrifice, 00:36:32.980 |
what was the motivating factor behind it was sexual immorality. 00:36:37.660 |
They would go to the temple and have orgies, right? 00:36:42.700 |
And then they didn't have abortion pills, they didn't have abortion clinics, so they 00:36:48.300 |
And when the child is born, how do they discard a child? 00:37:01.160 |
So we talked about which commandment is broken. 00:37:07.580 |
Even murder was related to this sexual immorality. 00:37:14.700 |
Homosexual intercourse, this is something that again, if you're being raised in this 00:37:17.820 |
generation, almost universally, successfully, the world has been convinced that this should 00:37:30.240 |
When I was back in high school, Christian or non-Christian, this was not a Christian 00:37:35.100 |
It's just like today, if you say, what about child porn? 00:37:42.880 |
I mean, I don't think anybody, I mean, no one would have the guts to be able to stand 00:37:49.880 |
There was a period in majority of the world, in majority of world history, where arguing 00:37:55.320 |
homosexuality would have been received with the same kind of disgust. 00:38:00.600 |
Again, even for me to say that, I have to say it carefully, because it's been sold 00:38:14.560 |
It is highlighted in scripture as an abomination. 00:38:20.880 |
Homosexual sin is emphasized, especially egregious sin, both here and in Romans 124. 00:38:29.120 |
Again, I know you and I live in a culture where bakeries are being shut down, TV, newscasters, 00:38:41.200 |
actors are losing their jobs simply by saying homophobic slurs. 00:38:49.080 |
In the previous administration, there were talks about shutting down churches that refused 00:38:57.040 |
If you say we're not going to perform gay marriages, that you can lose your license 00:39:05.000 |
Up in Canada, if you try to teach your kids, even in your home, that homosexuality is wrong, 00:39:10.900 |
but the government is trying to go after homeschooled kids so that they can't teach their kids. 00:39:17.000 |
They have been so successful in brainwashing the world that you can't even mention it. 00:39:38.360 |
Whether it disgusts you or not, whether you think it's wrong or right, or does God determine 00:39:50.680 |
Are we renewed in the renewing of our mind based upon his word? 00:39:56.540 |
Or our sense of righteousness comes from whatever generation that you've been born in. 00:40:01.200 |
I was born maybe in a previous generation, so that's why I have those morals. 00:40:05.260 |
You were born in this generation, so therefore you have those morals. 00:40:08.960 |
And then when you have kids, what will be accepted in that generation, who knows? 00:40:14.300 |
Considering the sexual perversion that's on the internet, and they're younger and younger 00:40:21.320 |
So by the time you have kids and you're in your 40s and 50s, what is going to be okay 00:40:29.400 |
And then what's going to be by the time you have grandkids? 00:40:31.760 |
Is sexual immorality going to be redetermined by this slippery slope? 00:40:36.800 |
That's why he says over and over again, "It is my statutes. 00:40:48.680 |
I've never heard of anybody arguing for bestiality because they have not pushed this. 00:40:58.280 |
And again, you've probably heard this argument before. 00:41:01.560 |
It's like, "Well, what if they were born this way?" 00:41:05.560 |
There are people born with extra testosterone, which makes them extra aggressive, and they 00:41:13.800 |
But we would never say being angry with people is acceptable because I'm born with extra 00:41:19.680 |
There are certain things that we determine to be right or wrong, no matter how you were 00:41:23.680 |
In fact, the scripture says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." 00:41:26.720 |
Every inclination that we had in our sin was perverted. 00:41:31.960 |
Even our heterosexual sexuality is perverted. 00:41:39.600 |
It's just that homosexuality is highlighted, and it is being pushed. 00:41:44.800 |
And that's why there's an argument, that's why there's a debate going on. 00:41:49.720 |
That study in itself is questionable, but even if that study was true, just being born 00:41:54.600 |
with inclination doesn't make it right or wrong. 00:42:01.160 |
It's not determined by what you think, what we think, or majority thinks. 00:42:07.740 |
You may have talked to somebody who tried to wiggle scripture and pervert it to say 00:42:12.760 |
what it doesn't say, that that's not what it says. 00:42:15.320 |
That's not how this word should be translated. 00:42:16.920 |
That is not—no person who knows any Greek will argue for that. 00:42:34.000 |
Idol worship and Yugra involve bestiality as part of their worship ceremony. 00:42:39.280 |
All of these things are very practical prohibitions because it is embedded into history, even 00:42:50.600 |
The Romans 1, 24-28, "Therefore God gave them over in their lust of their hearts to 00:42:56.680 |
impurity so that their bodies would be dishonored among them." 00:43:01.080 |
God's ultimate judgment is you continue to go down that path. 00:43:10.600 |
If you're going to keep watching pornography, if you're going to keep practicing sexual 00:43:19.040 |
It's like your kid fights, fights, fights, then at some point, I said don't touch it, 00:43:26.280 |
I was having this conversation with a brother today and he was saying like, yeah, you tell 00:43:30.360 |
your child, don't touch that, don't touch that, don't touch that. 00:43:36.480 |
Then they touch it like, and they start screaming their head off. 00:43:46.280 |
I'm telling you not to do that because of the damage it's going to do to you, to the 00:43:50.360 |
church, to your wife, to your children, to your husband, to your kids. 00:43:54.840 |
But if you're going to keep touching that, keep touching, see what happens. 00:43:59.720 |
And you're going to experience the pain that I was trying to prevent you from. 00:44:04.200 |
And so he says, "So that their bodies would be dishonored among them, for they exchanged 00:44:08.760 |
the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator 00:44:14.480 |
"For this reason, God gave them over to degrading passions. 00:44:16.600 |
For their woman exchanged the natural functions for that which is unnatural." 00:44:20.360 |
So you notice how he said the first, when God just gave them over, right? 00:44:26.920 |
And he said when he gave them over, saying express it any way you want, he says homosexuality, 00:44:33.520 |
Now, I'm not saying that all homosexuality is a result of just rampant perversion, right? 00:44:40.440 |
I've met, I met homosexuals who just in tears didn't want to be, but they had these desires, 00:44:48.280 |
But I've also met plenty of people who came into homosexuality through perversion when 00:44:55.400 |
I had a good close friend of mine who told me that his child, who's a college sophomore 00:45:02.880 |
junior now, he came confessed, not to argue with his parents because his dad's a pastor. 00:45:08.980 |
He said that he was having homosexual attractions. 00:45:11.960 |
And so his dad sat him down and says, "Tell me what happened because I want to understand." 00:45:15.840 |
And he basically told him the story how he was in sixth grade, went over to his friend's 00:45:19.360 |
house and his friend had access to pornography and they just started watching pornography. 00:45:26.080 |
Every time he went over to their house, he was watching pornography. 00:45:28.960 |
And then by the time he was seventh, eighth, ninth grade, it started getting worse. 00:45:33.160 |
So just like perversion, like whatever it was you started with isn't enough. 00:45:37.440 |
So you would get more and more with different kind of fetishes. 00:45:41.100 |
And he said that as he was flipping through the porn site, they had all these gay channels 00:45:46.560 |
and out of curiosity he went and he started watching. 00:45:50.500 |
So it was a gradual process that led him there. 00:45:52.940 |
And all of a sudden he realized he was having these, I mean, his desires were so perverted. 00:46:01.380 |
Again, for the sake of time, I'm not going to get into it, but my experience and talking 00:46:07.880 |
to people and what I've observed, there is a connection to this. 00:46:13.120 |
When you allow your lust to be rampant and say, "Well, there's no guidelines. 00:46:17.440 |
And you say, "God just lets you do whatever you desire." 00:46:23.200 |
We don't know where that path is going to go. 00:46:24.720 |
It's just like pouring water into a sloped ground without any kind of channel. 00:46:38.520 |
They got into pornography and they just got worse and worse and worse and out of curiosity 00:46:47.560 |
So the scripture says they exchanged what God desired, what God intended with a lie 00:46:55.880 |
When God gave them over, they started to act unnaturally. 00:46:59.200 |
And in the same way also men abandoned their natural function with women and burned in 00:47:04.640 |
This is all as a result of God turning them over. 00:47:07.840 |
Just allowing their lust to have its full expression, committing indecent acts and receiving 00:47:12.360 |
in their own persons the due penalty of their error. 00:47:14.880 |
And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to depraved 00:47:18.760 |
mind to do those things which are not proper. 00:47:26.960 |
Verse 25 to 30 in conclusion, the urgency of this, sexual immorality, it defiles oneself. 00:47:34.800 |
And we talked about already in 1 Corinthians 6, 18 to 20, what that one self, your body 00:47:39.960 |
It's not just talking about your body, but everything else that we're connected to. 00:47:45.120 |
So it has a defiling effect of anything that we're connected to. 00:47:52.640 |
Sexual immorality, it affects our wives, it affects our friendship, it affects the 00:47:58.800 |
church, it affects our witness, it affects our worship, it affects fellowship, it affects 00:48:08.200 |
Sexual immorality, it says over and over again, four or five separate times, it talks about 00:48:19.080 |
In Romans 8, 19 to 22, it says, "For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly 00:48:26.000 |
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who was 00:48:32.520 |
That the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into freedom 00:48:38.000 |
For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together 00:48:45.560 |
It wasn't just Adam and Eve that became corrupt, that was corrupted. 00:48:52.960 |
Before the fall, they were being fruitful, multiplying, and it was functioning the way 00:48:57.080 |
God intended, but after the fall, what did he say? 00:49:02.080 |
You're going to work and labor, and you're going to buy the sweater of your brow. 00:49:06.000 |
Basically, your life is going to be hard, and at the end of all your labor, what is 00:49:16.720 |
Our sin and where we live, the earth, is connected. 00:49:21.400 |
That's why at the end, when God restores all things, what happens? 00:49:27.480 |
How is it described in Revelation chapter 20 and 21? 00:49:36.840 |
You look at all these people who are looking at the world decreasing. 00:49:39.840 |
You know people talk about like, you know, global warming, and there's a bunch of people 00:49:43.320 |
who are saying global warming is not happening. 00:49:46.200 |
Whether global warming is happening or not, the earth is decreasing, right? 00:49:56.280 |
Whether it's the ozone, whether it's the plastic in the ocean, whether it's overfishing, whether 00:50:01.880 |
it's over farming, whether it's just rampant population increase, whatever it is, or war 00:50:11.080 |
The world that we're living in is not becoming more beautiful. 00:50:20.960 |
The scripture talks about how the land became corrupted along with our sins and is eagerly 00:50:27.260 |
waiting for the redemption of God's children because when we are redeemed and Christ finally 00:50:32.800 |
comes, there's going to be a new heaven and new earth that's going to be restored, right? 00:50:36.960 |
But he says over and over again that sexual immorality actually perverts and corrupts 00:50:48.400 |
And then finally, sexual immorality is an abomination to the Lord, right? 00:50:52.600 |
It's as strong of a term that you can get, you can use, that this is how God feels towards 00:51:07.680 |
Having said all of that, there isn't a single person in this room, young or old, that doesn't 00:51:20.520 |
And the way that the enemy uses this against us is that because it is a sin that we don't 00:51:28.000 |
You know, when you slander somebody or you said something you shouldn't have said or 00:51:30.880 |
you compromise, you know, we're more eager to share that and say, "Yeah, I shouldn't 00:51:36.800 |
have done this or I shouldn't have compromised." 00:51:38.800 |
But when it comes to sexual perversion or sexual immorality, there's shame attached 00:51:45.080 |
to that so Satan uses that to cause us to hide, right? 00:51:52.800 |
I mean, we want to overcome it but we don't confess it. 00:51:56.240 |
And as a result of that, Satan has a hold on that part of our life where we end up creating 00:52:02.520 |
We have this world where we present to God and here's a world that we hide. 00:52:07.100 |
And if we're not careful, we can create two worlds. 00:52:09.440 |
That's why you hear all these people who are so powerful in the pulpit and after 20, 30 00:52:14.240 |
years, you find out there's all kinds of sexual perversion was happening behind the scene 00:52:22.200 |
Now having said all of that, the goal of this Bible study is not to simply say, "Shame 00:52:26.600 |
on you," because we're all under that corruption, every single one of us, right? 00:52:33.040 |
One, to recognize sin as sin, that if we've gotten in the habit of excusing perversion 00:52:39.440 |
in our lives, that needs to be seen from God's eyes to recognize what kind of damage it's 00:52:52.640 |
So we need to see that from God's perspective, right? 00:52:57.240 |
Secondly, just like anything else, the goal of revealing sin is not to simply be shamed. 00:53:03.440 |
The goal of revealing sin is to bring us to repentance because the only answer to regenerate 00:53:09.400 |
and restore and redeem is the blood of Christ. 00:53:13.440 |
So recognizing sin as sin is ultimately to bring us to Christ, right? 00:53:18.680 |
But if you refuse to call it what it is in God's eyes, then there's nothing to repent, 00:53:26.440 |
This is something that everybody struggles with to a certain degree," right? 00:53:30.520 |
As long as you keep that kind of attitude, there's no real repentance. 00:53:34.560 |
True repentance requires us coming before God, beating our chest, right? 00:53:43.300 |
So my encouragement is in our small groups, and if not today, at some point, if you are 00:53:51.280 |
serious about being a worshiper of God and this is a regular part of your life, first 00:53:58.140 |
find people to confess this sin to, to keep you accountable, to pray, and to run this 00:54:06.300 |
So that somebody can regularly ask you, "What's going on with you?" 00:54:13.100 |
And any time you sweep sin under the rug, it ends up growing and defiling every other 00:54:22.760 |
Pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. 00:54:31.380 |
And again, I can tell you, if you are sitting here thinking like, "Oh my gosh, I'm so, 00:54:38.660 |
Look to your left and to your right, the people to your left and to your right are thinking 00:54:44.460 |
There's not a single person in here who has not been corrupted in our lust, right? 00:54:49.980 |
So as long as we keep it a secret, it becomes a stronghold for Satan, right? 00:54:56.220 |
That's why the scripture says to confess to one another, right? 00:54:59.260 |
It doesn't mean tomorrow it's going to be gone, that lust is still going to be there, 00:55:10.740 |
In what way does sexual impurity damage your relationship with God and others? 00:55:15.180 |
I want to, I want to ask you guys to do your best to try to go over all five questions 00:55:23.260 |
In what way does it, right, damage your relationship with God and others? 00:55:29.180 |
When do you feel the most vulnerable to sexual impurity? 00:55:33.340 |
At night, when you're by yourself, when you're watching movies, right? 00:55:37.440 |
If you're dating, right, when you're in a car by yourself, when you're watching movies 00:55:42.660 |
at home on a couch, like when is sexual impurity the greatest, right? 00:55:49.500 |
Has sexual impurity become an acceptable part of your life? 00:55:52.540 |
Do you catch yourself saying like, well, you know, we always stream, when somebody asks 00:55:57.060 |
you how you're doing, it's like, well, you know, I'm struggling, or not good, or, but 00:56:04.720 |
Has it become an acceptable part of your spiritual life, right? 00:56:09.700 |
What practical measures have you taken to combat sexual impurity in your life? 00:56:14.980 |
What have you done in the past that helped you to remain pure, have some success combating 00:56:21.380 |
So if you say, you know what, you know, I got covenant life, or I read a book together, 00:56:26.020 |
I met with a brother, and he called me every week, what did you do in the past that you 00:56:33.900 |
Maybe share that in your group, maybe that's something that you can practice again with 00:56:38.960 |
Take some time to pray and make commitment to keep each other accountable in this area 00:56:42.540 |
by being willing to be asked and ask accountability questions each week, right? 00:56:47.500 |
Again, I can't exaggerate this enough, right, how important this is. 00:56:56.040 |
And when I say that if you ask me what is one of the biggest problems in the church, 00:57:01.820 |
I mean, I could tell you a couple, you know, like constant distraction with entertainment, 00:57:06.860 |
right, constantly just drifting toward lukewarmness, I mean, that's a constant problem, especially 00:57:11.580 |
in Orange County, and I would put this as either number one or two, right? 00:57:17.020 |
And until we take this in seriously, no matter how much we plan and desire and work, like 00:57:25.100 |
this sin is always going to be holding us back, right? 00:57:28.460 |
So I'm going to ask you to take some time to pray and do your best to discuss all five 00:57:34.100 |
of these questions, and especially in the application part, right? 00:57:38.260 |
If you absolutely feel uncomfortable, I don't think I can share this with this particular 00:57:45.900 |
I'll try to help you find a group that you can be together. 00:57:50.940 |
I hope that whatever group that you're in, that you can be vulnerable with each other 00:57:54.580 |
enough to be able to be honest, right, and wrestle with this together. 00:57:58.220 |
Okay, like I said, we're all in the same boat, right? 00:58:02.700 |
This is not a mature Christian and immature Christian problem. 00:58:06.020 |
This is a problem period with anyone who's in the flesh, right, until we get home. 00:58:10.800 |
So hopefully we can acknowledge that and fight and flee together, okay? 00:58:14.620 |
So let me pray for us and then take some time to discuss with your group. 00:58:23.340 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this particular chapter. 00:58:28.100 |
Lord, we live in a generation, Lord God, where the access to pornography has become so easy, 00:58:37.700 |
just sitting in our pockets at any time in any convenience, all kinds of things, Lord 00:58:43.380 |
God, that we couldn't have possibly imagined in the previous generation. 00:58:48.780 |
We need your help, Father God, that our hearts may be changed, that we would see the damage 00:58:54.740 |
of this not only to us, but to our families, our wives, our children, our community, our 00:59:05.260 |
Lord, this particular sin, Lord, we can't do it ourselves. 00:59:15.360 |
Help us, Lord God, to recognize our weakness, that together as a church that we may flee, 00:59:24.460 |
So I pray, especially tonight, Lord God, as we discuss that there will be openness, vulnerableness, 00:59:32.040 |
and asking for your grace, asking for your Holy Spirit to guide, that you will protect 00:59:38.040 |
us, Lord God, from demonic influence, Lord, that desires to hold our feet, who is constantly 00:59:44.280 |
scheming, Lord, to want to protect our reputation more than our true worship. 00:59:50.640 |
I pray, Father, that you would guide and lead us for that purpose tonight.