back to index2018-09-19 Wed Bible Study: Lesson 22
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All right, let me pray for us and we'll jump right in. 00:00:33.880 |
Heavenly Father, we want to thank you again for just the privilege that we have to be 00:00:41.760 |
We know that there are parts of scripture, especially in Leviticus, that are difficult 00:00:47.880 |
Help us not to shy away from digging, asking, and even if we don't get the answers that 00:00:53.840 |
we want and hoping for, help us, Lord God, that in our pursuit that we would get a greater 00:00:59.920 |
glimpse of who you are and that we would come closer and closer, Lord God, each week to 00:01:07.980 |
Help us to have a greater understanding of the gospel, what you have done, and all of 00:01:11.880 |
this, Lord, prepare for the coming of Christ and what he has done for us. 00:01:15.880 |
Help us, Lord God, as we have a deeper understanding of your mercies, that it would have a deep 00:01:20.320 |
effect on our thoughts, our worship, our singing, our giving. 00:01:24.200 |
Our very lives, Lord God, may truly be offered up to you as a living sacrifice. 00:01:28.400 |
So we pray for your blessing this afternoon, this evening. 00:01:32.880 |
All right, so we're looking at Leviticus chapter 22. 00:01:38.820 |
Chapter 21 and 22, you probably already noticed that in your outline it belongs together. 00:01:45.000 |
So chapter 21 was about the regulations on who can and cannot be priests, what kind of 00:01:51.740 |
defects or whatever impurities that the priest would have and that would disqualify him. 00:01:57.100 |
In chapter 22, we get to the talking about who are able to handle and eat and participate 00:02:04.260 |
in the meals that were, or the meats that were sacrificed to the tabernacle. 00:02:12.040 |
So really in outline, it really belongs together. 00:02:16.340 |
But I want to jump in, so I want to give you enough time with as small a group as possible. 00:02:22.260 |
The first part of it, verse 1 to 3, starts as an introduction and basically the outline 00:02:28.340 |
is that no impure priest may present a sacred offering, that he's not able to touch it, 00:02:35.600 |
Just as a quick, broad overview, the book of Leviticus is an instructional manual on 00:02:44.300 |
So back in seminary, we had to take classes, depending on which seminary you go to, they 00:02:50.980 |
have different classes on this, but the theology of worship. 00:02:55.380 |
And depending on which tradition you come from, whether you're Baptist or Presbyterian 00:02:59.100 |
or whatever background, there's long history and theology behind why they do what they 00:03:05.740 |
So if you grew up in a Presbyterian church or a Methodist church, you'll notice that 00:03:12.940 |
The middle, there's a kind of an altar where they do communion and then you have on the 00:03:16.980 |
left side, typically, you have on the left side, you have where the presider comes and 00:03:21.820 |
gives announcements and maybe a prayer and then the pastor typically gives his message 00:03:27.940 |
on the right side, the pulpit that's standing on the right, because the philosophy behind 00:03:34.580 |
And so that's where the communion takes place and everything else takes place on the side. 00:03:39.600 |
If you go to a typical Baptist church, you'll find that the pulpit is in the middle. 00:03:44.820 |
And the theology or the philosophy behind that is that the foundation of the church 00:03:50.760 |
So behind everything that we do, we want the word of God to be centered. 00:03:54.060 |
So if you typically go to a non-denominational church, you'll see a pulpit in the middle. 00:03:58.200 |
If you go to a traditional Presbyterian church, I've noticed that more and more Presbyterian 00:04:02.660 |
churches are kind of bringing the pulpit to the middle because of a call to make the Bible 00:04:08.420 |
But again, if you go to a traditional Presbyterian Methodist church, you'll see it on the side. 00:04:13.700 |
Now all of this to say that the book of Leviticus really was meant for the Jewish community 00:04:18.860 |
an instructional manual on how to worship God, because that's what the tabernacle ultimately 00:04:24.740 |
We're talking about giving sacrifices and different kinds of offerings and all of that 00:04:28.420 |
is a manual as to how a sinful people can approach a holy God for the purpose of worship. 00:04:37.740 |
And so everything that we're learning here are instructions on how to approach this holy 00:04:44.860 |
The Lord made sure that no one ever approached Him in a casual manner. 00:04:48.580 |
So He didn't just give general instructions and say, "Make sure that you're clean. 00:04:58.740 |
And remember what happened in Leviticus chapter 10? 00:05:01.340 |
The very first offering that was given, it just says, "There was a sense of seriousness." 00:05:32.860 |
And again, every part of the book of Leviticus was to instill in the people when they were 00:05:40.580 |
In fact, the word for glory literally means to be weighty. 00:05:46.180 |
That's a literal understanding of the word glory, is to be weighty. 00:05:52.040 |
So everything about approaching the glory of God was meant to instill something very 00:05:58.940 |
So you were never to casually approach the throne of God. 00:06:04.420 |
You know, you've just played BBA and then you just wiped off sweat and you just kind 00:06:11.260 |
And God did that deliberately so that when it was your time to go to the tabernacle to 00:06:16.540 |
make the sacrifices, there was plenty of preparation that took place to examine yourself, examine 00:06:21.740 |
the animal, examine to see what you came in touch with, what kind of clothes you wore. 00:06:27.460 |
Everything you did, you had to be thoughtful and careful because if you went in there nonchalantly 00:06:32.660 |
and you didn't follow instructions, there was sometimes capital punishment. 00:06:38.780 |
So everything about worship was to instill a sense of heaviness that you're approaching 00:06:47.640 |
And that's why all of these instructions that are given, even though it may be tedious and 00:06:51.640 |
difficult to understand, the overarching theme behind it is don't come to God nonchalantly. 00:07:03.980 |
Verses four to nine, no impure priest may eat of the sacred offering. 00:07:10.420 |
Chapter 21, again, as I mentioned earlier, was dealt with who was able to serve as a 00:07:17.220 |
Those who did not qualify were still able to eat of the sacrifice food. 00:07:22.700 |
But chapter 22 gives guidelines as to who can and cannot participate in eating of the 00:07:28.460 |
So that's basically the outline of the rest of the chapter. 00:07:30.700 |
Chapter four through chapter 22, verse four through 30. 00:07:44.580 |
Holiness in the book of Leviticus is symbolized with wholeness. 00:07:49.940 |
So we've already gone through maybe about six or seven different lists up to this point 00:07:55.100 |
of what kind of defects disqualify the priest, what kind of defects disqualify the animal. 00:08:02.380 |
And so again, the overarching teaching is that whatever you bring to God, whether it 00:08:07.500 |
is the person representing the people or the animal sacrifice itself, it had to be perfect 00:08:21.000 |
So I'm not going to go through every single one of these, but no man is to come if he's 00:08:25.540 |
a no man who is a leopard is allowed to touch the sacrifices. 00:08:32.400 |
No man who has a discharge and now none of these things are new to chapter 22. 00:08:36.560 |
It's all been mentioned previously, but it just kind of, he just kind of rapid fire. 00:08:40.680 |
No man who touches anything unclean by a corpse, no man who has seminal emission and no man 00:08:49.400 |
So all of these things would cause the man to be defected and to be unclean. 00:08:58.240 |
Now we talked about this last week, that all of this ultimately is not to say that if you 00:09:03.400 |
have leprosy, that somehow you're a greater sinner than somebody who doesn't have leprosy, 00:09:08.000 |
or if you had certain kind of discharge or somehow you came in contact with, with a dead 00:09:12.200 |
animal or human being that you became defiled and you became a greater sinner than somebody 00:09:20.440 |
This, if this doesn't mean that you are a greater sinner because you have these things, 00:09:26.840 |
Every part of this is a shadow of the reality that was coming in Christ. 00:09:33.120 |
So when it says that anything that is not completely pure cannot be in the presence 00:09:37.840 |
of God, all of this is to point to what was going to happen in Christ. 00:09:44.400 |
If you became unclean and it was something that you were able to rectify, he says in 00:09:50.760 |
verse 6 and 7 that you are to go through a ritual bathing, then he will be considered 00:09:58.120 |
And again, all of this is mentioned in the previous chapters and he's just reiterating. 00:10:07.560 |
No man shall eat any animal that dies or is torn by wild animals. 00:10:14.080 |
Only meat that is sacrificed officially to the Lord. 00:10:18.000 |
An animal that may have been killed is lying on the street and may be perfectly edible. 00:10:24.880 |
But purpose of doing that is to make sure that whatever sacrifice that is given to the 00:10:30.920 |
It was not just something worthless that was picked up and then you just threw it on the 00:10:37.760 |
He says God, the sacrifice that we offer up to God ought to be intentional. 00:10:45.040 |
And then he says if any priest profanes the sacrifice of God, his penalty is death. 00:10:51.160 |
Again, for the priest, so imagine if you're a priest and if you violate any of these things, 00:11:00.800 |
just like Neydevin and Nebiu, it wasn't just a slap on the hand saying, okay, you're going 00:11:04.920 |
to get punished, time out for a month and you can't serve. 00:11:07.920 |
He says if the people who are representing God, these priests, and a greater consequence 00:11:14.320 |
for the high priest, if you come before the Lord nonchalantly without taking seriously 00:11:20.360 |
the position that he's in, he says that the penalty is death. 00:11:25.600 |
So imagine what was going through the mind of a priest every time he came to the altar. 00:11:33.240 |
I mean, I could imagine that the priest, that even if you had only one hour of sleep, if 00:11:40.320 |
you were approaching the altar, that nobody fell asleep on duty. 00:11:48.940 |
My guess is nobody came into the tent nonchalantly, nobody touched the animal nonchalantly. 00:11:58.400 |
Just like if you're going into an operating room, right, having open heart surgery, you 00:12:06.000 |
You don't walk in there because any little taint, anything that happened, you don't chew 00:12:17.020 |
Everything has to be scrubbed, it has to be sterile. 00:12:20.880 |
So if the surgeon says, "Give me this," they have to jump and give it to you right away. 00:12:24.480 |
I mean, everybody is supposed to be on high alert when they're in that room. 00:12:30.880 |
That's the kind of atmosphere that was created by all these commands. 00:12:34.680 |
Anybody who was in the tabernacle, it was kind of getting into the operating room and 00:12:38.280 |
it's sterile and it's perfect and everything has to be done exactly the way God wanted 00:12:46.280 |
As tedious as it is, again, because the consequence ultimately was death. 00:12:51.640 |
Verses 10-16, "Who may or may not eat of the sacred offering?" 00:13:00.000 |
And it's limited to the people who are connected to the priesthood, the Levites. 00:13:04.760 |
So one, no one outside of the priest's household could eat of them. 00:13:12.440 |
The priest did not have the option to say, "You know, we have so many left over, why 00:13:17.440 |
Because the sacrifice was considered sacred, the only people who were able to participate 00:13:24.440 |
No guests were allowed to come, no sojourners, nobody who was hungry. 00:13:32.320 |
A slave is given the privilege to eat the offering since he is considered family if 00:13:39.880 |
In other words, again, our idea of slavery, at least because of the evils that we've seen 00:13:47.480 |
in modern history, but a lot of the things that there were then, if you could have been 00:13:52.880 |
a good master, and maybe for financial reasons to help that family, he said if the person 00:13:59.740 |
was purchased to be a slave, he was treated like a family member and he was allowed to 00:14:06.600 |
Because if they didn't, there was no other way for them to eat. 00:14:09.480 |
So slaves were considered within that family where they were able to handle the sacred 00:14:16.360 |
If the priest's daughter is married to a layman, she will be disqualified to eat of it because 00:14:22.560 |
So she no longer is able to be connected and to eat of the sacred food. 00:14:30.040 |
A daughter who is widowed or divorced may eat of the father's food. 00:14:33.760 |
Again, because of their widowhood and divorce, they had no other place where they can be 00:14:38.960 |
connected so God allowed them to be able to participate in the sacred meal. 00:14:47.440 |
If the holy gift is eaten unintentionally, he must follow the requirements given in the 00:14:53.400 |
sin offering by adding a fifth to the cost of the holy gift that was consumed to the 00:15:01.480 |
Sin offering, or another word for it is reparation offering. 00:15:06.120 |
When you taint the offering and as a result of that you have to pay them back, you pay 00:15:10.180 |
them back and you're supposed to give one fifth back to them. 00:15:14.080 |
So it said if you eat of it unintentionally and you defile it, you're supposed to pay 00:15:20.880 |
Then finally, they must not treat the sacred offering as everyday items by allowing lay 00:15:29.600 |
And to disrespect the sacred offering was to disrespect God himself, verse 15 and 16. 00:15:35.800 |
Repeatedly, over and over again, it is emphasized. 00:15:41.240 |
If you disrespect the sacred, anything that is sacred to God, God took it as you are disrespecting 00:15:52.520 |
Remember why David, he would not slay King Saul? 00:15:57.680 |
Even though he had an opportunity, even though Saul was just committed to get rid of David, 00:16:02.680 |
Because Saul was an anointed of God, because he was anointed from God, he was afraid that 00:16:08.400 |
he was disrespecting God by disrespecting his anointed. 00:16:15.000 |
David understood this because this was embedded into Israel's history, Israel's day to day 00:16:22.680 |
Anything that was set apart for God was to be considered belonging to God. 00:16:31.460 |
So in this way, God took care of the Levites. 00:16:39.220 |
So if you, some of you guys who may, I'm assuming most of you are probably hazy with the book 00:16:44.420 |
of Numbers, but the book of Numbers is about inheritance. 00:16:47.680 |
You entered into the wandering of the desert with 600,000 men, and then they walk out with 00:16:54.120 |
But each of the tribes, they grow or they decrease depending upon their faithfulness 00:17:01.000 |
So when they finally get into the promised land, based upon the number of people in your 00:17:08.540 |
So it was divided into various pieces of land, but the Levites did not get any. 00:17:14.720 |
Levites got pieces of land within the large pieces of land. 00:17:20.940 |
So their inheritance was that whatever was given to the temple, the tent, the grain offering, 00:17:31.940 |
And so God basically said that whatever is coming in, because that's the only portion 00:17:41.120 |
So when Jesus says in Matthew 6, 31 to 34, that idea of "Seek ye first the kingdom of 00:17:48.180 |
God and all these things shall be added unto you," really was embedded before Jesus said 00:17:56.140 |
So we're talking about the Levites, that because they were dedicated for the Lord's 00:17:59.740 |
service, the Lord will take care of their family. 00:18:03.020 |
At least it's not a direct connection, but the idea is embedded into what we see here. 00:18:16.020 |
Proper animals for sacrifices, chapter 22, 17 through 25. 00:18:22.500 |
The first thing that he mentions, the votive or the vow offering and freewill offering, 00:18:29.220 |
which sometimes we call it the fellowship offering, given as a burnt offering must be 00:18:34.160 |
a male, cattle, sheep, or goat without defect. 00:18:37.900 |
Again, none of this is new to you because this was all mentioned before, but when you 00:18:43.000 |
choose to give this offering, give the burnt offering as a freewill or a vow offering. 00:18:49.580 |
It has to follow the stipulations and the commandments given in the earlier chapters. 00:18:59.340 |
Those that are blind or fractured or maimed or having a running sore, eczema, or scabs 00:19:04.460 |
will not be accepted as a sacrifice to the Lord. 00:19:08.140 |
Again, the sacrifice, not only the priest, but the sacrifice itself has to be without 00:19:20.260 |
For a freewill offering, an ox or a lamb with overgrown or stunted members will be accepted. 00:19:27.000 |
Only a freewill offering, God accepts a defected animal, but not for a vow offering. 00:19:37.180 |
Why does God give room for a defected animal for the freewill offering? 00:20:00.180 |
A freewill offering was out of thanksgiving, right? 00:20:03.700 |
And so God wanted to give from the abundance of your heart, so God gave room. 00:20:11.100 |
So only in the freewill offering, God gave permission to give a defected animal, but 00:20:16.340 |
everything else had to be exactly what God told him, without defect. 00:20:23.140 |
Any animal with crushed testicles are considered corrupt and with defect and will not be accepted 00:20:31.640 |
You probably will never read that phrase anywhere else, maybe in your life, or maybe if you 00:20:40.580 |
go into, you're going to be a veterinarian or something. 00:20:46.740 |
Maybe go to the medical field, like those of you in the medical field, do you read this 00:20:52.740 |
Like how to treat people with crushed testicles? 00:20:55.940 |
I mean, you probably, this statement, you probably only hear it in the book of Leviticus, 00:21:07.700 |
It's mentioned several times with the priests, with the animals, and it starts and ends sometimes 00:21:22.380 |
And certain other diseases that are emphasized, like leprosy, right? 00:21:28.620 |
Leprosy ultimately pointed to sin and the damage of sin. 00:21:34.740 |
And he specifically mentions all the things that he could mention. 00:21:37.100 |
It's like, oh, you can't bring an animal with one ear, right? 00:21:46.940 |
There's so many things that you could have mentioned, but specifically crushed testicles, 00:22:02.580 |
So it's directly connected to when God created Adam and Eve, he's told them to be fruitful 00:22:09.780 |
So remember the whole holiness is represented in wholeness, right? 00:22:14.460 |
And one of the key qualities of being whole is to be able to carry out what God intended 00:22:22.260 |
And so a human being and an animal, again, all of these are symbolic and shadow of what 00:22:29.500 |
So again, just because a man or an animal had crushed testicles doesn't mean that it 00:22:37.540 |
But basically in the symbolism, in the shadow of the fall of man and not being able to carry 00:22:44.440 |
out what God commanded them to do, that in the end it's highlighted, right? 00:22:50.100 |
They are not able to be fruitful and multiply. 00:22:52.060 |
So it emphasizes that these animals and these human beings who have these defects cannot 00:23:02.900 |
In Malachi chapter one, seven through eight, Malachi highlights the sin of Israel. 00:23:07.140 |
And he says, "You are presenting defiled food upon my altar, but you say, 'How have we defiled 00:23:12.140 |
you in that you say the table of the Lord is to be despised, but when you present the 00:23:21.100 |
He says, "When you do not follow the command of the Lord, it is considered evil. 00:23:25.420 |
And when you present the lame and the sick, is it not evil? 00:23:32.520 |
Would he be pleased with you or would he receive you kindly, says the Lord of hosts." 00:23:36.700 |
In other words, you have these defected animals. 00:23:41.340 |
If you're going to a governor, like, would you ever give a defected animal a sacrifice? 00:23:46.240 |
He's going to look at it and, you know, and sees that this is something that is not as 00:23:52.960 |
If you're going to the governor's house to present the gift, wouldn't you choose what 00:23:57.860 |
Why would you not have the same reverence or more when you approach the Lord? 00:24:03.880 |
Think about that, how that translates in the way that we approach God. 00:24:08.440 |
The kind of reverence that we have toward job applications, right? 00:24:16.640 |
Into certain things like, "Oh, I can never be late. 00:24:19.760 |
And you dress up and you make sure everything's great. 00:24:22.640 |
But for whatever the reason, when we come to worshiping God, we have a lax attitude. 00:24:26.160 |
I remember somebody saying, you know, making fun of me because I wear, you know, suits 00:24:30.520 |
on Sunday, you know, especially we live in SoCal, California, where it's just casual, 00:24:38.200 |
And again, the Bible doesn't say, "Bear wearing suits makes it more reverent." 00:24:46.240 |
It doesn't mean like you can wear a suit and be completely irreverent. 00:24:50.440 |
But the general idea of approaching God with reverence, if you're going to, if you are 00:24:56.200 |
a person who is casual all the time, maybe, right? 00:25:00.400 |
But in other words, he's saying, if you come to a governor, you would never come to the 00:25:08.120 |
Now, I'm not applying and therefore saying that you have to wear a suit, you have to 00:25:19.240 |
In the attitude that we have toward worshiping God, we should show a greater reverence toward 00:25:33.000 |
Everything that he says here, it directly parallels the teachings about the priest. 00:25:40.320 |
So chapter 22, it talks about the blind, fractured maim, right? 00:25:44.760 |
The skin disease and scabs and then it ends with crushed testicles. 00:25:51.160 |
So it starts with the blind and then forbids crushed testicles. 00:25:55.160 |
Leviticus 21, like these are the qualifications of the priest that he must not be blind or 00:26:02.080 |
And then eczema, scabs and then crushed testicles. 00:26:06.440 |
So the same defects that disqualifies a priest, it will disqualify the sacrifice itself. 00:26:15.200 |
Fifth, the proper procedure for sacrifice for 26 through 30. 00:26:34.840 |
When an ox or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall remain seven days with its mother and 00:26:39.120 |
from the eighth day on it shall be accepted as a sacrifice of an offering by fire to the 00:26:45.800 |
Some have argued that maybe this was God's way of showing compassion. 00:26:52.640 |
And I've read that in commentaries and some people think that maybe that's the reason. 00:26:58.360 |
I don't think it was necessary for compassion because giving the mother eight days to nurse 00:27:03.920 |
the child or whatever you want to call it, right? 00:27:07.840 |
And then to take it away, I would think that that would be even more cruel. 00:27:12.560 |
I think the reason why is to make sure that the offering that you're giving to God is 00:27:21.120 |
Now, today, if the child is born without any kind of defect and health issues, you know, 00:27:27.560 |
But a long time ago when there wasn't good medical facilities, you know, and doctors 00:27:32.360 |
around, you know, it was a big deal that the children made it past 100 days. 00:27:38.560 |
And so in different cultures, and I know in Korean cultures, they have a 100-day celebration 00:27:43.160 |
because not that long ago, children didn't make it past 100 days. 00:27:47.800 |
And so I think that the reason why this is given is to make sure that the sacrifice that 00:27:53.040 |
was going to be given to God wasn't a sacrifice that was going to die anyway. 00:27:58.600 |
To nurse the child, that it is a sacrifice that is going to qualify as what God has been 00:28:11.020 |
That is a sacrifice that's going to cost something. 00:28:15.040 |
The animals and its young could not be slaughtered on the same day. 00:28:21.480 |
"For whether it is an ox or a sheep, you shall not kill both it and its young in one 00:28:28.320 |
There are similar prohibitions that are given in other parts of the Bible. 00:28:31.800 |
It is forbidden to take a bird and its egg together. 00:28:38.280 |
In Exodus 23, 19, it says it is forbidden to cook a kid in its mother's milk. 00:28:45.560 |
There are other parts of the Bible that kind of mirrors this commandment. 00:28:53.120 |
Now again, we're not exactly sure why this was given. 00:28:58.420 |
It seems like to me that there is something sacred between a mother and child. 00:29:08.640 |
But clearly this principle is repeated in other parts of the Bible, in other areas. 00:29:18.480 |
The sacrifice of Thanksgiving must be eaten on the same day and not leave any of it for 00:29:24.080 |
Because this was not considered just food for you to store up. 00:29:27.000 |
It was a sacred food that was offered to God and you were to rely on God's provision. 00:29:34.560 |
So if you remember, in the Lord's Prayer, what did he say? 00:29:38.560 |
He said, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. 00:29:43.080 |
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:29:52.600 |
One, it points to the time that Israelites were in the desert, right? 00:29:58.360 |
And then God gave them miraculous food and God told them only pick up the food for that 00:30:05.080 |
And anything else that you pick up more than that will be rotten. 00:30:08.560 |
And only on the day before the Sabbath, you are to collect for the Sabbath because you're 00:30:14.560 |
But even before the miraculous manna happened, God told them here. 00:30:20.920 |
Because this tabernacle happened before the 40 days wandering. 00:30:24.960 |
Before they went and entered into the desert. 00:30:27.560 |
So the idea of depending upon God for daily sustenance is embedded into their culture. 00:30:41.040 |
That the primary, one of the primary reasons why Israel kept on drifting away from God 00:30:45.400 |
is when they were fed, they became proud and they what? 00:30:53.080 |
And that was the pattern that you saw in the nation of Israel over and over again. 00:30:56.600 |
When they were desperate, they cried out to God. 00:31:01.240 |
And then once they get fed and they're comfortable, right? 00:31:07.880 |
Then as soon as they're comfortable, they forget God. 00:31:10.880 |
And then once they forget God, they begin to drift out into the idols. 00:31:15.720 |
So God embedded into the Israelites culture to be dependent upon him. 00:31:21.660 |
That's why Jesus said it is harder for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven 00:31:29.500 |
Because a rich man is constantly proud that he is good. 00:31:37.220 |
Does that mean that all poor people are desperate for God? 00:31:39.380 |
Does that mean that all rich people are proud? 00:31:47.460 |
So give us this day our daily bread is not simply limited to the manna in the desert. 00:31:53.100 |
This was actually embedded into God's principle. 00:32:03.780 |
Concluding remarks in 31-33, two biblical reasons are given as motivation for obedience 00:32:13.980 |
First, the Lord is their Redeemer who brought them out of Egypt to be their God. 00:32:22.100 |
Verse 31, "So you shall keep my commandments and do them. 00:32:28.260 |
You shall not profane my holy name, but I will be sanctified among the sons of Israel. 00:32:32.220 |
I am the Lord who sanctifies you, who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your 00:32:38.420 |
So first, he says, "Remember why you're here." 00:32:41.940 |
Every time things got tough, what did they do? 00:32:51.280 |
But when things got tough and they started grumbling, they said, "Oh, I remember how 00:32:56.580 |
And God says, "I want you to obey my commandment because I'm the one who delivered you out 00:33:05.060 |
And I think this principle is so important for us as Christians. 00:33:11.780 |
And this is why in Romans chapter 12, verse 1, it says, "In view of his mercy." 00:33:17.060 |
As soon as his mercy becomes just an afterthought or we become apathetic toward our salvation 00:33:23.220 |
and what he has done, our attitude toward God becomes nonchalant. 00:33:28.860 |
Our desperateness and thankfulness, it disappears because after a while, it just becomes old 00:33:35.540 |
And that's why it's a constant necessity as Christians to remember. 00:33:47.740 |
Remember the bondage that we were under before we met Christ. 00:33:51.420 |
And he says, "It's the Lord who delivered us out of Egypt." 00:33:56.220 |
Secondly, "The Lord who redeemed us is a holy God. 00:33:59.860 |
Therefore, Israel must not profane his name." 00:34:08.260 |
Redemption and obedience to the Holy Redeemer go hand in hand. 00:34:11.380 |
So this kind of reminds me, like if you ask a child under a certain age, I don't know, 00:34:17.060 |
I forget exactly when that happens, you know, probably around 11 or 12, you ask them, you 00:34:33.900 |
And they'll tell you the things that you did for them. 00:34:36.260 |
And they'll say, "That's why I love you, because you did these things." 00:34:40.300 |
If you ask a 19-year-old, you know, "Do you love mommy or daddy?" 00:35:07.780 |
You don't, if somebody in their 20s and 30s saying, "Well, I love you because you bought 00:35:12.740 |
me this and you bought me that," you know, meaning that if you stop giving me this stuff, 00:35:17.260 |
I don't know if I'm going to keep loving you. 00:35:20.020 |
That's okay as a child, but as you mature, hopefully they'll mature enough to understand 00:35:24.980 |
that you have these things because you have your parents. 00:35:28.200 |
And you love your parents because they're your parents. 00:35:33.020 |
He said, "Remember that I'm the one who delivered you out of Egypt, but the ultimate reason 00:35:44.700 |
But at some point, every Christian needs to mature beyond, "What did God do for me?" 00:35:49.540 |
And if a Christian doesn't mature, his affection for Christ is always going up and down based 00:35:57.620 |
If he has a good job or not good job, if people are nice to him, if his circumstance is great, 00:36:04.940 |
And he has an infant understanding, an infant relationship with God the rest of his life. 00:36:10.560 |
And so when the Bible says, "Be holy for I am holy," it's never a real motivation for 00:36:13.700 |
them because, "What have you done for me lately?" 00:36:17.180 |
Ultimately, the reason behind our obedience and wanting to be holy is when God is the 00:36:23.460 |
one who provides, God is the one who delivers, but ultimately it's because he is holy. 00:36:34.460 |
Christ ultimately is both the perfect priest and the perfect sacrifice. 00:36:39.700 |
As we mentioned last week, that all of this ultimately points to Christ the perfect priest, 00:36:49.820 |
Hebrews chapter 7, 26, "For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, 00:36:56.060 |
undefiled, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens." 00:37:01.700 |
Hebrews 9, 14, "How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit 00:37:05.300 |
offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the 00:37:14.340 |
1 Peter 1, 18, 19, "Knowing that you are not redeemed with perishable things like silver 00:37:18.980 |
or gold from your futile way of life, inherited from your forefathers, but with the precious 00:37:23.180 |
blood as a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ." 00:37:27.340 |
So all of this ultimately points to Christ perfect priesthood, Christ perfect sacrifice. 00:37:34.540 |
So, a Jew who read these passages would have automatically connected it to the tabernacle. 00:37:40.940 |
You see why the book of Leviticus is so important? 00:37:43.340 |
There's so much language in the New Testament that if you knew it, when you read it, it 00:37:50.260 |
Because a Jew would have read this and automatically connected to everything that they were doing 00:37:58.780 |
And then they may have said, "Well, God told us to do this." 00:38:01.220 |
And can you imagine having done this for generation to generation to generation, having it embedded 00:38:06.820 |
into your culture, and it didn't make full sense until Christ came? 00:38:12.440 |
And then when this revelation started to really unfold, you start realizing, "That's why 00:38:26.680 |
That's why they had to be clothed in this way. 00:38:29.640 |
So everything that was a shadow, all of a sudden, they came out from behind the curtain 00:38:35.520 |
That's exactly what it says, Hebrews chapter one. 00:38:38.320 |
Christ is a radiance of God's glory, exact representation of who God is. 00:38:47.760 |
Finally, his perfect priesthood and his perfect sacrifice was to redeem for himself a perfect 00:38:55.880 |
As it states in Ephesians 5, 25-27, "Husband, love your wife just as Christ loved the church 00:39:03.400 |
and gave himself up for her so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing 00:39:08.000 |
of water with the word, that he might present to himself a church in all her glory, having 00:39:13.280 |
no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless." 00:39:20.120 |
So again, the whole point of this tabernacle and all these tedious requirements and weightiness 00:39:27.520 |
and without blemish, without defect, all of it, so that Christ's perfect priesthood would 00:39:34.220 |
give Christ perfect sacrifice to establish Christ's perfect church, covered by his blood. 00:39:44.720 |
So again, as we wrap up for this evening, I'm going to give you time to have time for 00:39:55.920 |
So clearly it's fulfilled in Christ, but imagine what this did to the nation of Israel. 00:40:02.320 |
What kind of mindset did they have when they approached God? 00:40:05.000 |
How did they look at sacrifices they offered up to God? 00:40:07.840 |
What kind of teaching did they give to the priesthood, anybody who represented God? 00:40:11.840 |
And how does that translate into how we ought to view God and the things of God today? 00:40:17.680 |
So the three questions, do you think your attitude toward worshipping God is done in 00:40:22.760 |
What does that look like on Sunday and in private worship? 00:40:26.720 |
Number two, 2 Timothy 2.20-21 says that, "In a large house there are items that are honorable 00:40:31.680 |
and dishonorable, and that we ought to rid our lives of dishonorable things to be prepared 00:40:37.720 |
What is the first thing you think of when you think of what is dishonorable in your 00:40:42.280 |
So I'm not asking you guys to take all night to talk about every little dishonorable thing, 00:40:48.720 |
and it doesn't necessarily have to be something external. 00:40:54.680 |
What's the biggest thing that you think of when you think of dishonorable? 00:40:58.580 |
And what way are you making an effort to purge yourself from that? 00:41:02.160 |
Three, if Jesus died to make us perfect worshipper, why do we still experience so much struggle 00:41:10.460 |
What does Christian perfection look like in the Bible? 00:41:13.480 |
When I say Christian perfection, I'm not talking about like somehow after we become Christian, 00:41:18.320 |
we have the ability to be absolutely perfect. 00:41:23.320 |
God says His church is without blemish, without a spot. 00:41:31.440 |
Is it simply being forgiven to do whatever we want, or does God actually command and 00:41:35.720 |
expect the church to practice holiness in our lives? 00:41:38.320 |
Explain your answers with Scripture if possible. 00:41:42.320 |
Hopefully, that's self-explanatory, but let me pray for us, and then you can break up 00:41:48.920 |
Father, I pray for your blessing upon our small group time. 00:41:54.200 |
I pray for our leaders, Lord, that you give them wisdom to be able to guide the discussion. 00:41:58.720 |
I pray that you would bring fruitfulness in all the things, Lord God, that we have gleaned 00:42:03.040 |
from your Word, that it would be fortified, strengthened, and to have a deepening effect 00:42:13.280 |
So I pray, Father, your Holy Spirit would lead and guide us.