back to indexWed Bible Study - Lesson 21
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All right, let me pray for us and then we'll start. 00:00:10.080 |
Gracious and loving Father, we thank you for this evening. 00:00:14.280 |
Help us, Lord God, to glean from your Word, especially, Lord God, in the book of Leviticus. 00:00:19.960 |
There's so many things in here that are hard to understand at times, but we know, Father, 00:00:26.040 |
from what we already have studied, just how important this is to our understanding of 00:00:30.780 |
what you have been doing in preparing, Father God, for the coming of Christ. 00:00:36.460 |
Help us to know the depth of what it is that you have done, what it is that we have, that 00:00:42.480 |
we may have a greater hope, Lord God, for what is coming. 00:00:50.300 |
Pray, Father God, that you would help me not to speak of things, Lord God, that is not 00:00:54.640 |
from you, that I would only be a vessel, Father, that you can use to let your words go out. 00:01:06.640 |
All right, so today, again, in this second part of the chiasm, talking about the ritual 00:01:21.240 |
There's the first part that's talking about the general priest that's pertaining to all 00:01:25.800 |
the priests, and then the second part of it starting from verse 10 to 15 is talking specifically 00:01:31.280 |
And so the high calling of priesthood that is mentioned in this text. 00:01:35.080 |
So again, the general subject here, obviously, is about the importance of leadership and 00:01:42.680 |
So there are requirements for all people who are entering into the tabernacle, but it's 00:01:47.960 |
specifically for people who have been called to represent God as priests and to high priests. 00:01:53.440 |
There's extra qualifications that they needed to be above reproach, according to the New 00:01:57.920 |
Testament, in order for them to not defile themselves, to be able to be in service to 00:02:11.520 |
It's a little bit smaller than I was hoping, but when you talk about the health of the 00:02:21.480 |
church, before we look at the congregation, before we look at the generation or the method 00:02:26.120 |
or anything else we look at, first we have to look at the leadership. 00:02:30.320 |
And again, as one of the leaders of the church, I know the weightiness of what it means to 00:02:36.160 |
be called a pastor or an elder or any type of leadership in the church. 00:02:40.360 |
This is not something that you should take lightly. 00:02:42.440 |
A lot of times we don't consider the weightiness or what it means to be a leader until you 00:02:47.160 |
actually become a leader, and then you begin to see the consequences of it. 00:02:51.080 |
The New Testament and the Old Testament warns very harshly that whenever Israel strayed 00:02:58.120 |
away from God, the first people that God points out that was responsible for Israel's sin 00:03:07.580 |
Before they rebuke the idolatry, before they rebuke sexual immorality, they said all of 00:03:11.600 |
this happened because the shepherds weren't shepherding. 00:03:15.960 |
There are people who are in the position that should not have been there. 00:03:19.680 |
Jeremiah 14, 14, 15, it says, "Then the Lord said to me, 'The prophets are prophesying 00:03:25.200 |
I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them. 00:03:27.880 |
They are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility, deception of their own 00:03:34.240 |
So you notice how it says all these false things are happening, and one of the things 00:03:37.280 |
that they say is that they themselves are deceived, and that's why false teachings 00:03:43.720 |
"Therefore, it says, 'The Lord concerned the prophets who were prophesying in my name. 00:03:47.520 |
Although it was not I who sent them, yet they keep saying, 'There will be no sword or famine 00:03:53.160 |
By sword or famine, those prophets shall meet their end.'" 00:03:55.760 |
So obviously the message that they were continuing to convey was that God is pleased with you, 00:04:00.760 |
and so the reason why the false prophets are saying these things is because no one wants 00:04:05.640 |
to hear that God is angry with Israel because He's calling them out to judgment. 00:04:13.040 |
So if He is preaching not on behalf of God, but He's preaching in order to tickle man's 00:04:18.820 |
ears to gain the favor of man, He has to say things that are favorable to the man that 00:04:25.400 |
And so again, in Jeremiah, again the rebuke first goes to the false prophet. 00:04:32.120 |
Jeremiah 23, 21, "I did not send these prophets, but they ran. 00:04:35.840 |
I did not speak to them, but they prophesied. 00:04:38.320 |
But if they had stood in my counsel, then they would have announced my words to my people 00:04:43.960 |
and would have turned them back from their evil way and from evil of their own." 00:04:47.680 |
So again, if these were my prophets, they would have spoken my words to my people, right? 00:04:52.800 |
Finally, Ezekiel 34, one through two, just a couple of verses. 00:04:57.760 |
"Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 'Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds 00:05:03.160 |
Prophesy and say to these shepherds, 'Thus says the Lord God, "Woe, shepherds of Israel, 00:05:11.200 |
So again, one of the problems with the shepherds were they were first concerned about themselves, 00:05:19.160 |
concerned about themselves, their family, their children, and they weren't concerned 00:05:24.500 |
So therefore, he says, the judgment is going to first come upon the nation. 00:05:27.760 |
I can give you passage after passage in the Old Testament and the New Testament why the 00:05:32.560 |
calling for leadership in the Old Testament and New Testament is a very, very high calling. 00:05:38.660 |
Because the consequence of someone who is in leadership that is not speaking for God, 00:05:44.940 |
that is not right with God, that is living self-centered instead of God-centered, is 00:05:49.960 |
going to have dire consequence in the church. 00:05:54.080 |
And so before we look at the health of anything else, before we look at anything else that's 00:05:59.840 |
going on in the church, we have to first and foremost make sure that if we want a healthy 00:06:07.600 |
This principle is not a New Testament principle. 00:06:09.920 |
This is a principle that is embedded into Israel's culture. 00:06:14.280 |
Again, so that's why for me, I understand the weight of being in a position where I 00:06:21.640 |
have to preach every week because everything that I say, everything I do has more weight. 00:06:26.720 |
And so when I am tempted to sin, I am burdened by the fact that my sins have greater consequence. 00:06:38.320 |
That's why it says in James that not many should seek to be in leadership. 00:06:43.880 |
To be in leadership and not to be right with God, not only do you bring sin upon yourself, 00:06:48.240 |
but you bring sin upon your family and the church. 00:06:50.640 |
And I can't emphasize this enough because that's how it's emphasized in the New Testament. 00:06:55.880 |
If the church is going to be healthy, the leadership has to be healthy. 00:07:01.180 |
That as a base, chapter 21 is the weightiness of the calling of the priests. 00:07:12.360 |
Priests are held to a higher standard than other Israelites for two specific reasons. 00:07:17.320 |
One, the first, the Lord called them to serve in a special role, representing God to the 00:07:25.960 |
Secondly, the priests were to model not only ritual purity, but also moral purity to the 00:07:35.960 |
Because a priest was meant to stand between God and man. 00:07:40.240 |
So if he is corrupted in any way, he's not going to be able to convey the holy God to 00:07:47.640 |
And neither will he be able to represent the people to God. 00:07:50.360 |
Because he's not, how can a man represent people to God when he himself is not able 00:07:57.280 |
So for those two reasons, the standard for the priest was above the rest of the congregation. 00:08:05.920 |
In Luke chapter 12, 48, it says, "For everyone who has been given much, much will be required. 00:08:10.720 |
And to whom they entrusted much of him, they will ask all the more." 00:08:14.080 |
Again, in James 3, "Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that 00:08:25.080 |
So this is not just something that, you know, leadership in the church in any capacity, 00:08:29.560 |
in particular people who are going to become elders or going into a full-time role as pastors, 00:08:36.480 |
these are not something that you should just kind of think and say, "You know what? 00:08:40.520 |
I think I like teaching, so I'm going to become a pastor." 00:08:43.820 |
It says, "Think very carefully, make sure confirmation is there, and look at and examine 00:08:48.420 |
your own life, and to take it very, very seriously." 00:08:56.280 |
Verses 1 through 9 is a requirement for the general priesthood. 00:09:03.520 |
As we mentioned before, the meaning of holiness is not simply to be morally holy, but to be 00:09:10.480 |
So they are to be moral, obviously, they are to keep all the commandments of God that 00:09:14.760 |
Moses gave, but they are also to be set apart in ritual cleansing, above and beyond. 00:09:21.320 |
So he's already given instructions on what they are required to do, and more instructions 00:09:30.040 |
But before we even get to that, he qualifies specifically, these are qualifications that 00:09:42.200 |
In the following verses, he talks about mourning. 00:09:45.960 |
Now he's not talking about taking vacation, he's not talking about frivolous spending, 00:09:49.840 |
he's talking about when a death occurs in the community, the death of an immediate family 00:09:57.180 |
member could call him away from the duties only. 00:10:02.760 |
The priest, because if he spends any time in the presence of, again, someone who is 00:10:09.880 |
dead, in Numbers chapter 19 through 11, he will be considered unclean for seven days. 00:10:14.440 |
That means for seven days, he would not be able to carry out his duties. 00:10:18.840 |
So the only exception that was given to him, the only exception given to him was only if 00:10:30.720 |
it's a father, mother, son, daughter, or brother, or a virgin sister. 00:10:38.580 |
Only if one of them passed away that they were given a period to mourn. 00:10:44.640 |
And then they would have to go through ritual cleansing and then come back. 00:10:47.560 |
In any other case, they were not to participate in the ceremonies that would consider them 00:10:53.640 |
They are not to mourn like the pagans, by shaving their heads or the edges of their 00:11:01.880 |
And all of these things were cultural things that represented signs of mourning. 00:11:07.000 |
And they said, "You're not allowed to be like the rest of the people who can participate 00:11:11.800 |
in the form of mourning, only if it is your immediate family," and those people that 00:11:18.200 |
In other words, in every other instance, their duty as a priest takes priority. 00:11:27.360 |
And that's basically what he is saying to these priests. 00:11:29.580 |
You have to be set apart and make your duty your first priority. 00:11:43.220 |
And he repeats this several times in this text. 00:11:50.280 |
Verse six says, "They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, 00:11:54.560 |
for they present the offerings by fire to the Lord, the food of their God, so they shall 00:11:58.880 |
And you notice how many times he says that in verse six. 00:12:01.160 |
"You are to be holy, not to profane the name of God," and then it ends, "so that you may 00:12:07.160 |
And the whole reason why is because they are on duty. 00:12:12.120 |
Because they engage in presenting sacrifices to God, they must be kept holy as not to prevent 00:12:22.500 |
Not only are they called to be holy, he said, "The wife of the priest also affect the holy 00:12:28.840 |
holiness of the priest, dedicated it to the Lord's work." 00:12:33.280 |
The wife must also be holy by not having practiced harlotry in the past or have been divorced. 00:12:42.520 |
So not only is not, it wasn't enough for the man himself to be kept ritually clean. 00:12:50.580 |
The wife that he chooses, again, there's qualifications for that. 00:12:55.920 |
Because if he chooses the wrong wife, he may be disqualified for the priesthood. 00:13:00.240 |
Again, in verse eight, it emphasizes again the reason for the special dedication. 00:13:07.520 |
Again, he says basically the same thing he says in verse six. 00:13:10.400 |
It's for the purpose so that he may be set apart to serve the Lord. 00:13:14.040 |
So not only does he need to be set apart, the wife that he chooses also needs to be 00:13:22.440 |
You can't have a husband who's called and said, "Well, that's my husband's duty, but 00:13:27.640 |
He says the ritual cleansing and the purity, his wife also affects the husband. 00:13:35.000 |
The daughter of the priest also affect the holiness of the priest, dedicated to the Lord. 00:13:39.800 |
Verse nine, it says, "Also the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by harlotry, 00:13:47.640 |
But because of her sin, her father is also defiled and shall be burned with fire." 00:14:06.540 |
The penalty for this violation, again, is burning with fire. 00:14:10.880 |
Now, again, we see this reflected in the New Testament. 00:14:17.560 |
We see it in First Timothy in Titus chapter one, verse six. 00:14:23.520 |
First Timothy three, four, it says, "He, an elder, must be one who manages his own household 00:14:28.520 |
well, keeping his children under control with all dignity." 00:14:32.040 |
Okay, this is one of the qualifications of an elder. 00:14:35.040 |
Again, Titus one, six, "Namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife, 00:14:39.840 |
having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion." 00:14:45.440 |
So again, this is not a New Testament concept. 00:14:49.080 |
That, again, we live in a very individualistic society, like my sin is my sin. 00:14:58.640 |
I mean, we do, but it's not like the New Testament. 00:15:02.140 |
If you go to Japan or some of the Asian countries, there is a very strong sense that what I do 00:15:07.900 |
affect my parents, it affects my brothers, it affects my family, maybe even my company. 00:15:12.640 |
There's a very strong sense of community, that my action is not private, it is not alone. 00:15:18.820 |
We just happen to live in a society where we're at the other extreme. 00:15:22.500 |
We're individual, it's just us, it doesn't affect anybody else. 00:15:28.020 |
But that is not the culture we see in the Old Testament or the New Testament. 00:15:32.940 |
And so I'm not going to get into the details of this because I know some questions may 00:15:38.380 |
I know elders who have unbelieving children, and so there are some churches that will say, 00:15:43.960 |
if you have unbelieving children, you know, who are adults and they don't believe that 00:15:48.160 |
that disqualifies you as an elder, and then obviously there are arguments. 00:15:53.680 |
We may talk about that maybe in private if you have questions about that. 00:15:58.260 |
But that idea of believing children or obedient children who are submissive as a quality of 00:16:08.880 |
an elder, again, is not a New Testament concept. 00:16:19.200 |
Verses 10 through 15 is a call to complete dedication to the high priest. 00:16:31.460 |
So this whole section, five verses, is dedicated to that one man, right? 00:16:39.100 |
He's the one who represents all the other priests. 00:16:41.180 |
So the quality that he is called for is even beyond the regular priest, right? 00:16:47.740 |
Uncovering his head or tearing his clothes signified great sorrow and anguish. 00:16:54.640 |
But he was not allowed to do that because, remember in the earlier chapters of Leviticus, 00:17:02.340 |
that God went into detail about the clothing of the priest and specific for the high priest? 00:17:07.980 |
So whenever you see the language in the New Testament about tearing clothes or putting 00:17:12.480 |
new garments on, all of this is related to the high priest's garments, right? 00:17:18.700 |
It's being set apart and taking your old garments off, putting new garments on for the purpose 00:17:25.900 |
So that imagery is given in the book of Leviticus. 00:17:28.860 |
So when he says not to take off your, to uncover yourself to be bald and not to rip your clothes, 00:17:37.980 |
he's basically talking about keeping your garments on for the purpose of service, right? 00:17:52.040 |
They were not to approach any dead person with no exception, even for father or mother, 00:17:58.840 |
So the priests were actually, they're given stipulation only for father, mother, daughter, 00:18:05.020 |
But for the high priest, verse 11, nor shall he approach any dead person nor defile himself, 00:18:11.560 |
He couldn't even go to his mother or father's funeral, right? 00:18:17.240 |
I mean, that's how high of a calling the high priesthood was, right? 00:18:22.680 |
Once he put on the garment, he was not allowed to function like everybody else, right? 00:18:29.880 |
I mean, maybe they can protest that, but that's how high this calling was. 00:18:35.120 |
However, he spent the whole section in the first part of Leviticus to demonstrate and 00:18:45.000 |
First two priests who come to him, they don't follow the rules and offer up strange fire. 00:18:52.160 |
He wanted the nation of Israel to know you cannot approach God by your standards, on 00:19:01.440 |
So the priest who represented mankind must come to him also on his terms. 00:19:07.840 |
And the priest who represented all the other priests must absolutely submit to his terms 00:19:20.080 |
All of this is to convey how far God is to us. 00:19:24.680 |
All of this is to convey his holiness, right? 00:19:33.680 |
They're not to leave the sanctuary and by doing so profane or defile it. 00:19:39.320 |
He's not saying that they can never leave the sanctuary. 00:19:41.120 |
It's not like the high priest would never be out of the sanctuary. 00:19:43.600 |
He's saying for the purpose of mourning, right? 00:19:47.160 |
Even father or mother, he had to be on duty, right? 00:20:21.960 |
The priest must be dedicated even in the way he chooses his wife. 00:20:26.160 |
So look at verse 13 through 15 and then look at verse... 00:20:54.680 |
Verse 7 is qualification for the wife of the priest and then verse 13 to 15 is qualification 00:21:08.560 |
What is an extra command that's given to the high priest? 00:21:14.880 |
Okay, so all the things are the same but he added on top of that, she had to be a widow. 00:21:21.880 |
So anyone who's been married for any reason, even if she was widowed, the high priest, 00:21:27.440 |
again, talk about one man, he could not marry her, right? 00:21:33.840 |
She must not be a widow or divorce or have practiced harlotry at any time. 00:21:39.780 |
So the other two qualities were also told to the priest but for the high priest, she 00:21:48.800 |
Maybe she has sympathy for her and falls in love with somebody who's husband has died. 00:21:54.060 |
He has every right to marry her under the Jewish law but the high priest could not. 00:22:01.560 |
She must be a virgin in order not to profane his offering among his people. 00:22:07.360 |
He wanted to make sure that one high priest, that there was no confusion as to his ancestry, 00:22:17.440 |
So as a result of that, he said the qualification for a high priest, that it must be a virgin 00:22:22.580 |
so there's absolutely no question as to his ancestry. 00:22:31.080 |
This is because the next generation of priests would come from the offspring of this marriage, 00:22:43.640 |
So up to this point, he's talking about the very high calling of priests, very very high 00:22:48.720 |
calling of the high priest and then he said these are the qualities starting from verse 00:22:56.160 |
Now if you'll notice, none of these qualities are moral qualities. 00:23:01.100 |
In fact, every one of these qualities are qualities that we would show sympathy for. 00:23:06.960 |
If in our generation, we discriminated against somebody who was handicapped, was born with, 00:23:13.520 |
you know, shorter legs or for whatever the reason, have some kind of deformity, we are 00:23:19.200 |
called in the New Testament to highlight that and show special favor, to be merciful and 00:23:25.400 |
But starting from verse 16 and 24, he says no man with any defect can be set apart as 00:23:36.040 |
So if you have a child and the child is born blind, he's disqualified. 00:23:46.760 |
If he has one leg, has a disfigured face, so here's all the things that are mentioned. 00:23:54.760 |
I mean, think about how hard life would be just being blind, but because he's blind, 00:24:06.000 |
Whether you were lame by birth or lame because you got in an accident, in either case, this 00:24:14.960 |
There's a horrible accident happened or it was a tragic thing that happened when he was 00:24:19.440 |
born, but as a result of that, he can't be a priest. 00:24:26.000 |
A disfigured face, a deformed limb, a broken foot or hand, a hunchback or dwarf, or one 00:24:37.840 |
You have skin disease and that's considered a defect enough to disqualify you as a priest. 00:24:46.920 |
I mean, in my mind, I'm thinking, "Man, this guy has hard enough life as it is." 00:25:09.720 |
Especially, I mean, I don't know any culture, at least that I know of, that wouldn't show 00:25:18.800 |
Yet, in the Old Testament, in the Levitical law, it says they are disqualified because 00:25:34.920 |
They're all born sinners and yet these people have extra consequences because of their deformity 00:25:43.960 |
So the natural question, or before that, so this is not saying that he can't participate 00:25:51.960 |
They're just saying that this disqualifies him as a priest to serve in the tabernacle. 00:25:59.880 |
So the natural question that you should be asking, if you read this and you say, "Oh, 00:26:04.800 |
of course, chrostesical, they shouldn't be priests." 00:26:10.280 |
I don't think anybody sitting here is thinking that. 00:26:15.720 |
Your natural response should be, which I believe it probably is, "That doesn't sound fair. 00:26:24.240 |
Why would that be added on top of the hardship that they were born with?" 00:26:35.580 |
So you have to understand, again, the larger picture, he is not saying that these people 00:26:41.160 |
sinned and because of their sins, they're being punished. 00:26:49.440 |
I mean, what is wrong with the high priest visiting his mom at her funeral? 00:27:00.160 |
I mean, priest trying to comfort those who are mourning at the funeral, who's not their 00:27:10.080 |
So if you remember, in the other parts of it, even the sacrifices, remember? 00:27:15.160 |
You could not give any sacrifice to God with any kind of defect. 00:27:19.400 |
It had to be a male goat, had to be a male bull. 00:27:29.440 |
Do they have specific powers that if you come in and you had some eczema, that somehow that 00:27:34.800 |
disqualifies and it somehow morally taints that animal because the priest has one limb 00:27:41.920 |
shorter than the other or he has a crushed face or broken arm? 00:27:45.360 |
How does that affect the quality of the sacrifice? 00:27:50.000 |
So we know that none of these things morally corrupts it. 00:27:56.440 |
Everything that God is doing in the book of Leviticus is what, according to the New Testament? 00:28:04.600 |
There are shadows to point to something else. 00:28:08.440 |
So when God tells Israel that your sacrifice need to be perfect, what is that a shadow 00:28:23.160 |
All of that is to point to and to reveal what the reality is in heaven. 00:28:32.280 |
There were shadows that pointed to the reality. 00:28:34.520 |
The tabernacle and the things of God were to teach us about the perfection that is found 00:28:39.000 |
in Christ and the perfection he will bring when he comes in his full glory. 00:28:52.320 |
It is not to say that one animal has more power over the other. 00:28:56.720 |
All of this points to the necessity of a perfect savior or perfect salvation to be reconciled 00:29:09.560 |
First Corinthians 13, 8-10, it says, "Love never fails, but if there is gift of profit, 00:29:17.040 |
If there is knowledge, it will be done away with. 00:29:19.000 |
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will 00:29:28.440 |
I think in the NIV, in the other translation, it says "imperfect." 00:29:31.240 |
When the perfect comes, the imperfect shall pass away. 00:29:34.200 |
This is actually a more accurate translation because perfect and imperfect are not Greek 00:29:43.840 |
The meaning is that when the perfect comes, now there is a debate as to what the perfect 00:29:50.960 |
Some people, like a few, very few people will say that is the Bible, which I don't think 00:29:56.640 |
I don't think you can make a grammatical contextual argument for that being the Bible. 00:30:03.360 |
The word perfect means that whatever God intended for our salvation, when God brings it to perfection, 00:30:10.680 |
he who began a good work will carry it on to perfection until the day of Christ, meaning 00:30:14.960 |
what he has intended in our salvation, you and I have not fully experienced that yet. 00:30:24.160 |
We are worshipping God much closer than we were able to. 00:30:28.960 |
We came into the court and we were worshipping God, but yet we are still distant until we 00:30:38.320 |
Until we are glorified with him, we're only experiencing part. 00:30:41.880 |
So that's why the Bible describes our salvation as being saved. 00:30:49.920 |
Justification, sanctification, glorification. 00:30:53.460 |
So when the perfect comes, when God's intended goal of salvation comes, all that is imperfect 00:31:02.200 |
All that is imperfect in an animal, all that is imperfect in a human being was not intended 00:31:10.820 |
Even if it was not a direct result of the sin of that man. 00:31:16.320 |
God made Adam and Eve perfect and every imperfection of the man or of the woman was a reflection 00:31:31.960 |
So when he disqualifies a priest, again symbolically, as a shadow, it is the point to a perfect 00:31:39.380 |
God, to a perfect sacrifice, to make us perfect in him. 00:31:48.380 |
Now this does not mean, just because they kept these laws doesn't mean that they were 00:31:56.440 |
Just because a man was born perfect and everything was right and ritually he was clean, he married 00:32:01.580 |
the right woman, his children were not in rebellion, doesn't mean that he was righteous 00:32:08.260 |
All of these things pointed because they were a shadow of the reality that was to come. 00:32:13.420 |
It was only to teach Israel and ultimately the world to reflect God's perfection and 00:32:19.000 |
ultimately need for man to be made whole in Christ. 00:32:21.900 |
So when we're reading chapter 21, to not to be caught up in thinking, "Well, that's 00:32:25.700 |
not fair," or "This is right," or "This is wrong." 00:32:35.580 |
What does this teach about God's intended purpose of salvation? 00:32:41.620 |
I want to wrap up all of this to show you that God is a merciful God. 00:32:49.540 |
God is not picking on these people who have these defections and say, "You know what? 00:32:54.340 |
If you look at Isaiah 56, 3-5, he describes salvation and at some point when he brings 00:33:00.560 |
perfection, it's described this way, "Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to 00:33:05.060 |
the Lord say, 'The Lord will surely separate me from his people,' nor let the eunuch," 00:33:12.140 |
And this eunuch is a man who is described here as a man who is defected. 00:33:17.100 |
"Let the eunuch say, 'Behold, I am a dry tree.' 00:33:23.660 |
For thus says the Lord to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbath and choose what pleases me 00:33:28.820 |
To them I will give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than 00:33:35.140 |
that of sons of the daughters, and I will give them an everlasting name which will not 00:33:42.280 |
When Philip is caught up in the Holy Spirit and he runs into him and Eunuch says, "What 00:33:54.100 |
The door was being opened to the eunuchs because of what Christ has done, right? 00:34:08.660 |
So the gospel and the perfect sacrifice, the perfect Lamb of God made us perfect in Christ. 00:34:15.980 |
So even the eunuch became perfect because of Christ's sacrifice. 00:34:20.620 |
All of this points to the reality we find in Christ, right? 00:34:28.660 |
So sometimes we read the book of Leviticus and we get caught up in these details and 00:34:32.100 |
we see the bigger picture of what Christ is doing. 00:34:34.540 |
So when you really see God's heart and what God is doing in the big picture, Leviticus 00:34:40.820 |
chapter 21 is really beautiful because he's going to make all of this right. 00:34:52.940 |
All that went wrong because of the fall, he's going to make it right in Christ. 00:35:04.740 |
Okay, again, because we're talking about leadership, why is leadership so important in the health 00:35:09.780 |
And then there's three passages that you can take a look at for references. 00:35:13.980 |
What is the difference between calling out sins of an elder versus regular member of 00:35:18.700 |
In the New Testament, you see the distinction. 00:35:21.180 |
Matthew 18, 15 to 20 talks about dealing with sin in the congregation. 00:35:25.500 |
And then first Timothy 5, 19, calling out an elder. 00:35:29.220 |
So take a look at those passages and see what's different. 00:35:33.600 |
What will the leaders be accountable for according to Hebrews 13, 17? 00:35:37.740 |
And why this is such a high calling that you shouldn't just kind of like drift into. 00:35:43.140 |
And so as a result of that, it says to submit to your elders because they watch over your 00:35:47.620 |
So take a look at that passage and say, what higher accountability is there for leadership? 00:35:53.700 |
And then four, should a leader who has fallen be given an opportunity to be stored back 00:35:59.020 |
Again, you may not have time to get to that, but I just threw that in there just in case 00:36:02.620 |
you run out of time and you want something controversial to talk about. 00:36:07.540 |
So let me pray for us and then I'll let you guys get into your small groups. 00:36:13.620 |
Heavenly Father, we just want to thank you so much for seeing our defects, but loving 00:36:28.140 |
That Christ's perfection covers our imperfections. 00:36:36.580 |
I pray, Father God, that our worship may be a reasonable response to the glory of the 00:36:42.260 |
gospel of Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.