back to index2018-10-10 Wed Bible Study: Lesson 24
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Alright, we're going to be looking at Leviticus chapter 24 today. 00:00:14.400 |
Just a reminder, next week all the leaders are headed out to the gospel coalition for 00:00:22.360 |
the conference, so we don't have a normal Bible study. 00:00:25.420 |
You may have been contacted or at least talked to your small groups. 00:00:29.440 |
You might have some sort of activity or dinner or something going on next week, but we don't 00:00:37.580 |
Alright, let me pray for us and we'll jump right in. 00:00:39.780 |
Heavenly Father, we pray that the study of Leviticus would open our eyes, Lord God, to 00:00:49.940 |
all the things that you have implanted even before Christ ever came. 00:00:55.020 |
That all of these things, Lord, that ultimately to help the Jewish people, Lord, to know who 00:01:01.620 |
you are and for us to look back, Lord God, and to see your sovereign hands in every little 00:01:09.220 |
detail, Lord, how you prepared, predestined, elected, and we pray that you give us insight, 00:01:16.620 |
help us, Lord God, to understand, help us, Lord God, to have a greater grasp of, Lord, 00:01:22.060 |
the new covenant because of the things that you've done in the old covenant. 00:01:25.500 |
So we ask, Lord God, you would give us understanding by your spirit. 00:01:30.740 |
Alright, so today's text, you know, we only have about three or four more chapters left 00:01:37.380 |
in Leviticus, but chapter 24 is at least the three parts that are, it's actually in two 00:01:45.560 |
main parts, but the three parts, if you wanted to break it down and be technical, the first 00:01:49.500 |
part is about the lamp and about how keeping that burning, and the second part is about 00:01:54.180 |
the bread and the 12 cakes that were commanded to make, and then the third part is about 00:02:00.020 |
the punishment for blaspheming the name of God. 00:02:03.200 |
And all three of it, it conveys or teaches to the nation of Israel the seriousness of 00:02:11.240 |
And so all of these things are ultimately the same thing that's been taught all throughout 00:02:14.860 |
the book of Leviticus is to teach that God's holy presence requires that people need to 00:02:22.580 |
And so that's a running theme in everything that he does, whether it's the sacrifice of 00:02:25.940 |
animals or sacredness of the priesthood, even the garment that they wear, every part of 00:02:30.820 |
it points to the fact that a holy God cannot simply dwell among sinful people without consequences. 00:02:39.420 |
So today, the first part of it talks about lighting of the lamp. 00:02:53.700 |
So this is a really bad picture on the computer. 00:02:57.300 |
Looked pretty good, but okay, so I don't know if you can, you see this light? 00:03:04.380 |
So here's the obvious lamp stand, and this is the veil of the curtain. 00:03:11.660 |
It's kind of opened up so that you can see what's inside, but obviously normally this 00:03:17.740 |
And this is the table where the bread is held. 00:03:22.860 |
So everything that they're talking about is talking about in this room. 00:03:25.280 |
So this is called, what room do you call this? 00:03:29.060 |
Holy of Holies, and the outer one is just called Holy, right? 00:03:32.740 |
This is the Holy Chamber, and this is the Holy of Holies. 00:03:36.220 |
So the priests, they can only go as far as this room. 00:03:41.380 |
This is as close to you are able to get before you get to God. 00:03:46.340 |
Holy of Holies, again, obviously all of this is in some sense symbolic, but only the high 00:03:51.140 |
priest is able to enter here on the Day of Atonement once a year, and even that, you 00:03:55.540 |
have to kind of hurry up and do your duty and come out. 00:03:58.900 |
So normally, only the priests can enter into this area, and again, on a regular basis, 00:04:07.020 |
and this is as far as God allowed them to come. 00:04:09.980 |
And so what is happening today in chapter 24 is about what is supposed to be lit and 00:04:17.380 |
made into this room, so that every time they've entered into this room, these light and the 00:04:25.980 |
So the primary thing that these two things, the light and the bread or the cake symbolize 00:04:37.980 |
The lamps were to be kept burning through the night, and again, verses 1 through 4, 00:04:45.940 |
So if you notice that over and over again, it says continually, repeatedly, day and night, 00:04:54.540 |
It is to be a perpetual statute throughout the generation. 00:04:58.460 |
So if you notice, if you study through 24, you'll notice that that language, at least 00:05:02.580 |
the first part of it, verse 1 through 9, he repeats, do this, repeat it over and over 00:05:06.900 |
again, continuously, continuously, morning till night. 00:05:13.580 |
So if you've read it, you probably already picked up on that, that the intent of this 00:05:17.800 |
is to teach the nation of Israel of an ongoing presence of God in the nation of Israel, right? 00:05:25.840 |
So the light represented the Lord's presence. 00:05:31.960 |
And again, this was, the Lord's presence among the nation of Israel wasn't, he just showed 00:05:36.380 |
up to perform a miracle and disappeared, or he spoke to them and disappeared, but all 00:05:40.120 |
of this pointed to the fact that God's presence was with the nation of Israel nonstop, continuously, 00:05:48.640 |
So every time a priest would enter into the holies, he would be reminded, oh, the Lord 00:05:57.120 |
We see that in the Old Testament, Israel is often portrayed as the light of the world. 00:06:03.420 |
We see that Jesus says that he is the light of the world in John 8, 12. 00:06:09.400 |
Jesus says we are the light of the world in Matthew 5, 14. 00:06:14.360 |
And then we go to the book of Revelation, and it says that the church is the lampstand, 00:06:26.580 |
The people of God, the church, our very selves, and all of it, and ultimately God says that 00:06:32.520 |
his light that dwells in us was meant to be the light for the world. 00:06:38.800 |
And that's what that light in the holy place was to symbolize, that this light among the 00:06:44.340 |
nation of Israel was to be continuous and constant, and it was a perpetual statue. 00:06:50.360 |
This was not a statue that God made, and then for a period of time, once it's done, that 00:06:55.680 |
In other words, it was teaching the nation of Israel, as long as the light was lit, God 00:07:03.160 |
And this ultimately, obviously, points to what? 00:07:13.360 |
The Holy Spirit is in us, and as a result of the Holy Spirit indwelling in us, we've 00:07:25.120 |
When does the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us stop? 00:07:37.680 |
That's the difference between the state of Adam and Eve before the fall, and our eternal 00:07:45.040 |
People say, "Well, Adam and Eve fell when they were in the Garden of Eden, what's going 00:07:48.480 |
to prevent us from falling when we are in eternity?" 00:07:51.800 |
The distinction is, we in eternity, our state will be elevated above Adam and Eve, because 00:08:04.080 |
So all of this lighting, this symbolism of continual presence of God, ultimately pointed 00:08:09.680 |
to the Holy Spirit indwelling in us, and us becoming the light. 00:08:13.840 |
And this is the table, and those are the cakes, and again, this is all educated guess. 00:08:24.440 |
I don't know if it was round, and even the size of it, no one knows for sure, and I'm 00:08:28.560 |
going to get to it in a little bit, but they believe that it most likely was stacked up 00:08:33.640 |
because they couldn't, the reason why they stacked it up is because they didn't think 00:08:39.080 |
They put six, six on each side, so they think most likely it was just stacked up that way. 00:08:44.520 |
On here it looks like donuts, but it's an educated guess. 00:08:51.480 |
The second part of it, to make the twelve loaves representing the twelve tribes of Israel. 00:08:58.200 |
It was a memorial portion, it says in verse seven, meaning it not only served as a token 00:09:02.880 |
of offering to God, but it was also a request, like a prayer offered to God for his favor. 00:09:10.920 |
And so that was, it was kind of what they call a meal offering, where they bring it 00:09:15.240 |
to the Lord, and it's something that they ate, but it was also an act of offering to 00:09:21.560 |
That's what a memorial portion usually means. 00:09:25.000 |
It's to be done every Sabbath day as a lasting covenant between the Lord and Israel. 00:09:30.280 |
So every Sabbath, the priest came in, and they presented this, and then afterwards they 00:09:44.200 |
They would give this sacrifice, meaning they were to eat it in the holy place. 00:09:49.880 |
In other words, they weren't allowed to pack this up and then put it in a bag and then 00:09:54.600 |
It was part of the Sabbath ceremony, that they would come, present it, and they would 00:09:59.440 |
And then only the priest would eat it in that room. 00:10:04.160 |
It was given to them as a portion, considered to be most holy, so it wasn't meant to be 00:10:11.320 |
It's like, "Oh, I didn't eat breakfast, so let me go to the holy's and get some cake 00:10:16.880 |
It was meant to be a part of a sacred ritual. 00:10:18.960 |
It was called a most holy to the Lord, because it was, one, right in front of the curtain, 00:10:27.280 |
meaning that symbolically God is there on the other side, and this is as close as they 00:10:33.640 |
That's why this event was considered very sacred. 00:10:42.560 |
So just to kind of give you an idea, a tenth of an effa is about four quarts, maybe a gallon. 00:10:49.040 |
That's why no one knows how big a cake would be. 00:10:52.320 |
Actually, I did bake a cake a long time ago in high school, but I don't remember how much 00:10:57.880 |
So those of you guys who bake, how much would, I don't even know what to use, like an effa, 00:11:06.720 |
or four quarts of flour, four liters of flour? 00:11:10.160 |
I don't know what the measuring thing is, I don't even know. 00:11:13.720 |
How much, what kind of a cake would come out of that? 00:11:24.720 |
I was trying to read to find out how big this cake would look like, and I think all 00:11:46.760 |
Yes, huge, I know what huge means, but what is huge? 00:11:57.760 |
Yes, but when you bake that, how big does that come out? 00:12:14.400 |
This is just for me personally, because I was just curious. 00:12:16.960 |
This isn't going to add to your Bible study at all. 00:12:23.760 |
I mean, it's supposed to feed a lot of people, so I would assume like, you know, there's 00:12:35.000 |
I was trying to find out like how much cake could they make with that. 00:12:44.200 |
The 12 cakes represented 12 tribes, which I already mentioned. 00:12:47.880 |
The table which the cakes were put on was called the table of Shupra, and I apologize, 00:12:52.480 |
I used the word Shupra in your study question, but that word comes from Numbers 4-7 and also 00:12:58.280 |
in Exodus 25-30, and it literally means the bread of presence. 00:13:04.000 |
So again, the light and the bread represented God's blessing and presence upon the nation 00:13:11.520 |
So every time the Israelites came into the holy, or the priests came in, it was a reminder 00:13:19.160 |
They couldn't, but they could never get behind the veil, right? 00:13:23.240 |
And that's why I remember the significance of Jesus dying on the cross was when he was 00:13:28.240 |
Remember what happens, that the veil is torn. 00:13:31.040 |
But the Israelites would, the priests would constantly come in and they would be reminded 00:13:35.760 |
the Lord is here, the Lord is here, but not beyond this point, right? 00:13:40.800 |
But Christ's crucifixion opens that door to go into the inner chamber of God, right? 00:13:47.880 |
So this is what this offering represented, reminding them that God was here. 00:13:54.720 |
We are told in the Lord's Prayer to ask for our daily bread. 00:13:58.280 |
Jesus himself calls himself the bread of life. 00:14:06.800 |
So all of that to remind us, again, to point to God's presence in the nation of Israel. 00:14:13.800 |
Now we can get into a study of how often the Bible talks about the light and how it points 00:14:21.960 |
to God and how often the Bible talks about the bread and points and fulfilled in Christ 00:14:27.200 |
and our sustenance and how God takes care of us. 00:14:31.760 |
But again, just for sake of time, it ultimately pointed to the presence of God in the nation 00:14:38.360 |
So if you remember, again, I didn't go into the study of the ingredients, but every ingredient 00:14:44.080 |
that is mentioned there was to be the finest and the purest and the most expensive. 00:14:54.000 |
And those offering as a meal offering was made into a cake for the purpose of participating, 00:15:00.540 |
So the only light in the holies would have been those candles. 00:15:03.880 |
So if those candles were not lit, you couldn't see anything. 00:15:07.000 |
And then once you get in, you can see because of the light, which was the presence of God, 00:15:11.780 |
and then you see the bread, which is God reminding them that God is the one who sustains them, 00:15:16.840 |
and then you fellowship with God in that room by participating. 00:15:21.000 |
And all of this as an act of offering to God, but never beyond the veil. 00:15:28.680 |
The third part of it reminds the Israelites to take seriously the command given to them 00:15:35.480 |
On the surface, it kind of seems random because they don't seem connected, right? 00:15:40.960 |
But all of this, ultimately, you have to see it in the bigger picture of God making sure 00:15:45.240 |
that all the commandments given to them are taken seriously. 00:15:48.600 |
Remember the first part of the chiasm, right? 00:15:51.800 |
The first part of the chiasm taught holiness where? 00:16:00.800 |
All the way up to chapter 16 and 17, the emphasis was that God is holy, and in order to approach 00:16:09.600 |
him, there has to be blood sacrifice, and the priest had to be set apart. 00:16:15.560 |
The second part of it, the second part of the chiasm, teaches about the holiness of 00:16:21.760 |
So all the laws and commands are about the purity of the people themselves. 00:16:27.720 |
So if you remember, in chapter 10, once the law is given and the priest comes to sacrifice, 00:16:40.880 |
All the instructions are given, all the instructions about the animals are given, and then all 00:16:44.720 |
the instructions about the priest and how they ought to approach God, and then the first 00:16:49.040 |
thing they, first time they practice this, what happens? 00:16:53.160 |
Nei Devin Nebihu is consumed with the fire, right? 00:16:59.040 |
So the first thing that happens is to teach them to take God's command seriously. 00:17:05.400 |
So we come to this side of the chiasm, and then now the commandments are given. 00:17:10.320 |
We're not done with the commandments, but the general commandments to the nation of 00:17:16.480 |
And then they go to the community, and then the first thing that we are told that happens 00:17:25.120 |
And as a result of that, capital punishment happens. 00:17:27.640 |
But the distinction between the capital punishment of the priest and the capital punishment of 00:17:32.560 |
this man is that the capital punishment was carried out by God in the first part of the 00:17:40.440 |
And who carries out the capital punishment on this side? 00:17:45.880 |
So God purges the tabernacle and the priesthood, and then God calls the people to purge sin 00:17:59.240 |
So again, as I mentioned, as the first two priests in Leviticus chapter 10, and it serves 00:18:05.880 |
as a warning to take the Lord's command seriously. 00:18:18.840 |
So again, it says in verse 12, "They put him in custody so that the command of the Lord 00:18:24.040 |
In case anybody says, "Oh, I didn't know," right? 00:18:29.400 |
It was also for the purpose of educating the nation of Israel, what God commanded to make 00:18:35.320 |
it clear to them, that what God says, He does. 00:18:40.240 |
God says He will punish, He will punish," right? 00:18:44.040 |
So God's faithfulness not only points to His salvation, but it also points to His condemnation. 00:18:52.800 |
The son of Israelite woman was not simply using the Lord's name in vain, but was blaspheming 00:18:58.320 |
It wasn't just, he just kind of blurted out the Lord's name. 00:19:02.960 |
The language points to the fact that he was cursing God. 00:19:14.640 |
And it's noteworthy that he is mentioned not as a pure Israelite, but his mom was an Israelite, 00:19:22.120 |
In Exodus chapter 12, 38, it says that when the Israelites left, there were actually a 00:19:29.000 |
So during the time of captivity, during Egypt, while they were slaves, many of the Jews already 00:19:33.680 |
compromised or are intermarried with the Egyptians. 00:19:37.280 |
So when they were delivered and escaped, there was a lot of Egyptians who came out along 00:19:44.680 |
And then a lot of the children, just like this man, who had a father who was an Egyptian, 00:19:48.960 |
a mother who was a Jew, was also mixed up in this group. 00:19:54.480 |
And within that group, obviously a lot of idols were brought from Egypt through those 00:20:01.120 |
people because they brought their God from their home, because it was a lot of them who 00:20:07.000 |
And so this man most likely was one of those people, that he was an Israelite by his mother's 00:20:13.320 |
So maybe he didn't have this kind of loyalty to God that the other Israelites did. 00:20:17.960 |
So when he got mad, he got in a fight, he cursed their God. 00:20:22.880 |
Because his God from his father was probably an Egyptian God. 00:20:27.720 |
So the son of the Israelites was not considered a native-born Israelite. 00:20:34.320 |
And this is the reason why the Israelites asked the Lord to make things clear in verse 00:20:40.020 |
So we know what to do with the Israelites because God made it very clear. 00:20:44.240 |
But what do we do with a man who is not an Israelite, who is not completely Israelite? 00:20:51.400 |
So the first thing that is taught, that the blasphemer was to be taken outside the camp. 00:20:59.760 |
There are three things that God tells them to do. 00:21:16.040 |
The reason why they were commanded to take him outside the camp was because the execution 00:21:24.280 |
was to be carried out and the dead bodies would ritually be defiling the camp. 00:21:29.720 |
So you couldn't have a dead body in the camp, so in order for him to be executed, he had 00:21:37.720 |
Second thing they were told to do, they were told to lay their hands on his head. 00:21:45.880 |
And it was very specific for those people who heard him. 00:21:48.200 |
In verse 14, it says, "And let all who heard him lay their hands on his head." 00:21:57.760 |
Meaning the people who are offended and people who are affected by this man's sin to lay 00:22:03.760 |
And the laying under the hand signified that all the pollution from what he may have caused 00:22:10.380 |
So that kind of reminiscent of Leviticus 16, the day of atonement, right, when the high 00:22:14.540 |
priest would lay his hands upon the goat and it represented the sins of the nation, right, 00:22:22.120 |
and it would be led and the other one would be slaughtered. 00:22:24.920 |
So in the same way, the people who heard him, who was either offended or affected by what 00:22:31.200 |
he said, his sin, would lay their hands on him and that their sins would also be expelled 00:22:38.560 |
Third, the blasphemer was to be stoned to death by the entire assembly to teach that 00:22:44.780 |
the sin was being expelled not simply from the person but from the whole community. 00:22:55.080 |
So if you, again, because you and I were raised in an individualistic society, right, we have 00:23:02.460 |
to work toward understanding group mentality or community because we naturally think, well, 00:23:13.900 |
And it was clear in the Old Testament that when an individual sinned, not only does it 00:23:17.500 |
cause sin for him, it caused sin for his family, it caused sin for the community, and ultimately 00:23:25.040 |
And that's why when sin came into the camp, they wanted to make sure that that sin was 00:23:31.820 |
Does this apply in the New Testament principle? 00:23:41.660 |
And there's a lot of confusion in our generation where we think that any dealing with sin, 00:23:51.340 |
right, any dealing with sin is not of God because God is gracious. 00:23:58.460 |
But principle is clearly taught that God, first and foremost, that his community, he 00:24:06.420 |
Now we have to be very, very careful how we practice that, but we have to be very, very 00:24:17.660 |
Because we err on one side where God is okay with any kind of sin because he's gracious 00:24:23.020 |
and loving God, and as we only say, "Hey, God, forgive me," like everything's okay. 00:24:26.500 |
And then the other end it is where we're examining everybody to make sure that they're doing 00:24:30.260 |
and saying the right thing or we jump on them and discipline them, right? 00:24:40.100 |
First Corinthians 3, 16 to 17, "Do you not know that you are a temple of God and the 00:24:44.940 |
If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is 00:24:50.700 |
He's talking about people who are being divisive in the church. 00:24:54.260 |
He doesn't bring up the issue, he doesn't mention any particular sin up to this point, 00:24:58.260 |
other than the fact that the church was divided. 00:25:01.100 |
They were divided because they were saying, "I like Paul, I like Apollos," and so that 00:25:07.140 |
He says, "If you are the source of division in the church and you are dividing God's holy 00:25:12.500 |
temple," he said, "God will bring judgment upon you." 00:25:16.300 |
First Corinthians 5, 5, "I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction 00:25:19.880 |
of his flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." 00:25:23.660 |
He's talking about a particular sin of a man who was having physical relation, possibly, 00:25:29.860 |
It could be his stepmother, but it doesn't specify, it just says mother. 00:25:35.900 |
Now are human beings perverted enough where that can possibly happen? 00:25:44.620 |
I think most people would kind of rather think that maybe it's not the real mother, but the 00:25:52.020 |
He said the sin was hideous enough that even the people outside of the church was not practicing 00:25:59.340 |
And yet, because the church was divided, they weren't doing anything about it. 00:26:05.700 |
And as a result of that, they just kind of let it be, and Paul's rebuking the church 00:26:11.060 |
And so he says, "When I come, I will deal with it." 00:26:17.580 |
Matthew 18 is talking about church discipline. 00:26:20.980 |
If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private. 00:26:25.460 |
If he listens to you, you have won your brother. 00:26:27.980 |
But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you so that by the mouth 00:26:32.220 |
of two or three witnesses, every fact may be confirmed. 00:26:35.100 |
So I'm not going to go through all of it, but basically it's about church discipline. 00:26:39.140 |
Oftentimes you hear people using those passages where two or three are gathered together, 00:26:45.060 |
You know, like, "Oh, that's great fellowship." 00:26:51.200 |
When somebody sins and refuses to repent, you've gone and sent other brothers with them 00:26:58.620 |
And then to take it to the church basically means to elevate it to the leadership. 00:27:02.380 |
So the whole church knows, the whole community knows, and they still refuse to repent, and 00:27:06.220 |
then he says, "Then you carry out discipline." 00:27:09.580 |
It is dangerous not to practice church discipline. 00:27:16.100 |
And it doesn't make you a gracious and loving person. 00:27:20.260 |
Because if your son is headed down a path that is harmful to him, being gracious is 00:27:33.860 |
We confuse in our churches that being gracious and kind means that you just sweep sins underneath 00:27:41.460 |
You would never do that to somebody that you really love. 00:27:45.300 |
You would never do that to somebody you really love. 00:27:50.140 |
Because again, the confusion is we've talked about grace to the point where God's holiness, 00:27:58.860 |
it's just kind of something that happened in the Old Testament, but it doesn't exist 00:28:02.700 |
God is the same God that gave the commandments at the tabernacle is the same God today. 00:28:07.100 |
The only reason why we are not consumed is because the blood of Christ covers us. 00:28:11.580 |
But it's the same God that demands and desires holiness in the church. 00:28:21.700 |
Because we have a tendency to err on one or the other. 00:28:25.540 |
And I'll talk about that a little bit at the end. 00:28:28.300 |
But again, over and over again, the scripture talks about discipline. 00:28:39.140 |
It's scattered all throughout the New Testament to keep the community of God's people holy. 00:28:46.700 |
This is why a seeker-friendly church is unbiblical. 00:28:55.860 |
I'm sorry if you're offended by that, but it is unbiblical because the church is a gathering 00:29:08.100 |
But the church is not a gathering of non-Christians. 00:29:12.180 |
So for the church to organize for the purpose of non-Christians feeling comfortable in the 00:29:23.320 |
You can call that whatever you want, but that's not the church. 00:29:26.220 |
The biblical understanding of the church is people who have been called out for the purpose 00:29:35.220 |
So I'm not saying that we should ignore the non-Christians, that we shouldn't love the 00:29:38.740 |
non-Christians, reach out to the non-Christians, but the church is a gathering of Christians. 00:29:45.540 |
And that's why the Bible talks about keeping the church holy. 00:29:49.620 |
In fact, the early church took that so seriously, they wouldn't allow anyone who was not baptized 00:29:58.100 |
So they would have communion, and so the people on the outside thought that they were cannibals 00:30:02.820 |
because they were talking about eating the flesh of Christ and drinking his blood. 00:30:06.460 |
And because it was such a mystery, the Christian worship, so people on the outside were saying, 00:30:13.420 |
That's how exclusive the church was because they had to be baptized in order for them 00:30:21.500 |
So we went from that to changing everything in the church so that the non-Christian would 00:30:30.180 |
I can go off on that, and you've heard me go off, and I'm not going to go off on it 00:30:34.460 |
because you already know what I think about that, but I want you to see biblically why 00:30:39.300 |
our church ministry philosophy is the way it is because it's not because we don't love 00:30:45.740 |
In order for us to be a light, the light cannot be mixed with the darkness in the church because 00:30:52.740 |
the church is called to be a light, so the church has to be wholly set apart. 00:30:56.940 |
So there's a reason why God tells the nation of Israel to purge this sin, because God's 00:31:08.380 |
This section teaches three principles about justice. 00:31:10.740 |
This is where you get the eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. 00:31:13.380 |
In carrying out this justice, there's three things. 00:31:15.860 |
First, they underscore the high value of human life. 00:31:24.340 |
If you're a Christian, I don't think there's as much of a debate, and it's not even just 00:31:30.300 |
I think if you're a theist, I think we're all in agreement, no matter what religion 00:31:40.380 |
But sad to say, we do live in a culture where we have Pita who are saying, "Well, we can't 00:31:47.380 |
eat animals because they have equal value as human beings," absolute ridiculousness. 00:31:53.540 |
So the first thing it teaches is that there is a different value to human beings and to 00:31:59.260 |
He says, "If a man kills a," and he repeats this twice, "If a man kills another man, his 00:32:06.580 |
Again, I'm not going to get, like if people say, "Is capital punishment Christian?" 00:32:12.220 |
I'm not going to say it's Christian, but it's biblical, which means it's Christian. 00:32:20.540 |
Capital punishment, again, and the argument against that, argument against it is, "Oh, 00:32:27.180 |
In fact, the reason why God commanded capital punishment is because he valued human life, 00:32:34.620 |
because it was a serious crime, to deter murder. 00:32:39.540 |
So it wasn't, you know, the argument is, "Oh, human life is so important," as well, you 00:32:44.060 |
know, and that's the very reason why he commanded capital punishment. 00:32:49.180 |
Second, they point to the importance of punishment fitting the crime. 00:32:56.340 |
This is where we get the eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, right? 00:33:00.920 |
We find it in Exodus 21, Deuteronomy chapter 19. 00:33:06.740 |
But it was to say that the punishment must fit the crime. 00:33:09.940 |
So in other words, a man, he commits murder, capital punishment is carried out. 00:33:14.940 |
But if he kills an animal, you compensate with another animal, right? 00:33:20.660 |
You don't say, "Hey, you killed my animal, I'm going to kill you," right? 00:33:24.820 |
It's to restrain, because our natural tendency is to give out more. 00:33:30.860 |
Okay, some of you guys may think, "Oh, that's not me." 00:33:35.980 |
It's like, maybe you think that's not you, right? 00:33:39.740 |
But our natural tendency is to, if somebody wrongs me, I want to make sure that they are 00:33:46.940 |
I remember when I was young, when I would get into a fight with one of my brothers, 00:33:52.740 |
my dad would always, he would never lose his temper, he would always be controlled. 00:33:56.860 |
And the way he would punish us, he would have us sit across each other. 00:34:00.440 |
This is if we were fighting against each other, right? 00:34:03.660 |
And it was usually between me and my younger brother, Philip. 00:34:07.020 |
My older brother was too big, he would kill us, right? 00:34:09.140 |
So he would have us stand, and he would have us slap each other, right? 00:34:15.380 |
Because he said, "Well, you guys are fighting, so I want you guys to do it controlled." 00:34:18.780 |
So it would usually start with a tap, and then I would tap back. 00:34:24.120 |
Then I would think, "Wow, that tap was a little bit harder than what I gave," and then I would 00:34:28.540 |
And then now he's hurt, so he would tap back, and then it would usually escalate, right? 00:34:33.340 |
He would escalate to the point where we're trying to literally hurt each other, and then 00:34:37.100 |
that's when my dad would kind of step in, right? 00:34:40.220 |
He would step in and say, "Okay, that's enough, and you guys, if you fight, that's the way 00:34:45.940 |
The reason why I tell that story is, every time my dad did that, it always ended with 00:34:54.980 |
It would never end with a tap, tap, tap, tap. 00:34:59.700 |
At some point, I would think, or he would think I hit harder than he did, the previous 00:35:05.340 |
one, and then as a result of that, he'd need to pay me back, and then he would pay me back, 00:35:10.740 |
and then say, "Wow, I can't believe you did that," and I would pay him back, and that's 00:35:19.740 |
You have a bunch of people who are offended, trying to pay back what they did, and then 00:35:25.100 |
it escalates, and the next thing you know, you have a war, right? 00:35:28.140 |
So the commandment, the second principle is make sure that the punishment fits the crime, 00:35:34.620 |
And again, if you've ever sat through marriage counseling with me, you know one of the principles 00:35:39.100 |
of biblical communication is to never fight when you're angry, even though that's usually 00:35:47.560 |
Because everything coming out of your mouth is going to be escalated when you're angry, 00:35:53.060 |
When you're upset about something, say, "You never do this. 00:35:56.340 |
I wish I never," and then you say these escalated things, and then when you're not angry, say, 00:36:00.900 |
"Oh, man, I shouldn't have said that," but you said it already, right? 00:36:04.500 |
So this is to kind of make sure that whatever the sin was, whatever the punishment was required, 00:36:11.700 |
that it's carried out in justice, not retribution, right? 00:36:18.100 |
Third, it teaches that there is no exception to this. 00:36:25.660 |
So the second principle was, and which was the original question, this guy was not a 00:36:31.860 |
So the one part of it was to punish him, but the second part was to keep the community 00:36:36.660 |
So for that reason, God said, "There is no exception." 00:36:39.740 |
Whether you're a foreigner or whether you are a native, that if he defiles the community, 00:36:50.620 |
All of this pointing to what God desired of his community. 00:36:59.020 |
This is not God saying that if they hurt you, I'm going to completely destroy them, right? 00:37:04.940 |
He's saying, like, if you want to practice righteousness, this is what righteousness 00:37:11.820 |
So in every government, they practice righteousness. 00:37:15.100 |
And he said that's why God establishes authority, because they carry out justice for those who 00:37:22.380 |
deserve it in order to restrain sin, restrain chaos. 00:37:26.780 |
But when we get to the New Testament, the distinction between the Old and the New Covenant 00:37:30.660 |
is the Old Covenant was based upon righteousness or based upon the law. 00:37:38.540 |
And Jesus actually mentions that in Matthew 12. 00:37:46.740 |
In Matthew 5, he said, "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, a tooth for 00:37:52.100 |
But I say to you, do not resist an evil person, but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, 00:37:58.820 |
If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. 00:38:02.900 |
Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him too." 00:38:05.620 |
So the whole point of this is he's not saying that the eye for an eye, tooth for tooth wasn't 00:38:12.540 |
He's not saying, you know what, I changed my mind. 00:38:15.980 |
He's basically saying the Old Covenant, this was the practice of righteousness, but the 00:38:19.100 |
New Covenant, because of the blood of Christ, he's commanding us to do even more than that, 00:38:26.060 |
And I remember a very good description of righteousness, no, justice, mercy, and grace, 00:38:32.820 |
And it may not be the technical term, but I thought this was a great way to explain 00:38:36.940 |
You know, justice is getting what you deserve. 00:38:43.900 |
And grace is getting what you didn't deserve. 00:38:49.660 |
So that's the distinction between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. 00:39:00.620 |
So this is God's teaching what justice looks like, right? 00:39:05.460 |
And God will be perfectly just to wipe out mankind, because all have sinned and fall 00:39:12.740 |
We come to the New Covenant, he practices not only mercy, he goes a step further than 00:39:20.060 |
The fact that he didn't wipe out the nation of Israel, the fact that he didn't come and 00:39:24.340 |
flood the nations over and over again, would have still been mercy. 00:39:29.260 |
He would have still been merciful if Israelites lived as slaves to the Assyrians and the Babylonians 00:39:36.700 |
because they committed sin and God didn't crush them. 00:39:40.460 |
But he went beyond that in the New Testament, where he came and he gave his only begotten 00:39:45.100 |
son and he made us adopted children into his kingdom. 00:39:51.700 |
And so again, that's what Jesus is not saying the Old Testament law is nullified, he's saying 00:39:56.340 |
those things were given, but now I call you to do even further. 00:40:01.060 |
Not to simply practice justice, but to practice mercy. 00:40:05.100 |
Now think about that in our community, as Christians. 00:40:10.300 |
When we are wronged, we feel justified to retaliate, whether through words or through 00:40:22.340 |
And you are right, that may be the just thing to do, that may be the fair thing to do, but 00:40:33.540 |
That's why Jesus says, "If you love as I have loved you, then the world will know you are 00:40:38.060 |
my disciples, and the love that he practiced was not justice, was not simply mercy, but 00:40:45.500 |
And so that's what ultimately points to all of these things God placed in the nation of 00:40:50.060 |
Israel, but ultimately when Christ fulfills it, he doesn't just fulfill it, he fulfills 00:41:02.180 |
So the discussion questions for today, the three of them, what is an everlasting ordinance 00:41:06.460 |
that we've been given in the New Covenant to remind us of God's presence in our lives? 00:41:14.180 |
You can probably think of many, but what is commanded? 00:41:17.580 |
Again, I hear a lot of cliches saying, "We're not about religion, we're about relationship." 00:41:24.220 |
It sounds great, but Christianity is a religion. 00:41:28.500 |
There's a set of doctrines and rules that God has given us for us to follow. 00:41:33.360 |
So it's not like, "Well, as long as I feel this connection with God, all this other coming 00:41:38.020 |
to church and communion, all this stuff is not necessary because that's religion." 00:41:44.380 |
Because Christianity also has boundaries and rules and regulations and commandments that 00:41:52.180 |
What are some things that are given to us in the New Covenant to remind us as an everlasting 00:42:01.020 |
Number two, do you think you live with the awareness of God's presence in your daily 00:42:05.420 |
How does a real awareness of God's presence affect the way you live? 00:42:10.140 |
If you struggle with pornography, if you knew that Christ was sitting right there, how would 00:42:27.380 |
If you're a parent, you know exactly what I'm talking about. 00:42:29.660 |
There are certain things that you may have watched very loosely until you had a kid and 00:42:34.540 |
you have a three or four year old sitting next to you watching the same thing and you're 00:42:41.740 |
As a result of that, you say, "Oh, I can't watch this because of my kids, because it's 00:42:48.820 |
I know because I'm a pastor, there are certain things that you will not do in front of me, 00:42:53.780 |
not because I'm more holier than you are, but because I represent holiness, because 00:43:00.980 |
There are certain things you won't say or do, even though you're very free with your 00:43:08.660 |
I'm just saying, my point is, if you are aware of the presence of God in your life, the Holy 00:43:15.580 |
Spirit that dwells in us 24/7 as an everlasting covenant, morning to evening, all the time, 00:43:23.940 |
as God did with the bread or the cake and with the lamb, how would that affect our daily 00:43:33.460 |
That's my question, is how often are you aware of the presence of God, not just at the church, 00:43:38.820 |
but with you at home, when you sleep, when you're in front of your computer? 00:43:45.980 |
He's there not just to watch us, but as an encouragement, to guide us and lead us, to 00:43:53.660 |
intercede on our behalf, to grow on our behalf, but the Holy Spirit is with us and in us 24/7. 00:43:59.220 |
Number three, how do you establish community that practices grace without creating a community 00:44:08.380 |
Because our tendency is to err on both sides. 00:44:12.140 |
And I'll bet you even in this room, you have some people who are gracious to the point 00:44:17.420 |
where people can literally do anything in front of you and you say nothing. 00:44:28.420 |
If you have somebody who is living in sin, who is walking in sin, and you're so gracious 00:44:33.740 |
that you say nothing, you're not being gracious. 00:44:35.940 |
In fact, you're very selfish, because you're not thinking about that person. 00:44:39.620 |
You're only thinking about what that person might say of you. 00:44:49.380 |
The other side is where you become the detective in everybody's life, and you have to weed 00:45:01.540 |
Every sin, every thought, every behavior needs to be called out. 00:45:08.260 |
And then you have that other, and no one wants to be around you. 00:45:17.620 |
And I'm just going to let you guys take some time to discuss it, but I remember a guy came 00:45:22.300 |
to me years and years ago, and he said, "Does your church practice church discipline?" 00:45:26.860 |
And I said, "Yeah, when it's necessary, we practice church discipline. 00:45:30.060 |
We just don't do it like every members' meeting, we have three people, we need to discipline. 00:45:37.780 |
I'm glad you practice church discipline, because I think the greatest problem in our church 00:45:41.540 |
today is that the churches refuse to practice church discipline." 00:45:46.060 |
And I know what he meant by that, but I remember having that conversation with him, and I don't 00:45:53.460 |
I think the biggest problem is that we don't love each other enough. 00:45:57.860 |
We don't love each other enough where we look at discipline as a punishment, instead of 00:46:07.380 |
And the reason why we just kind of let sin be swept under the rug is because we don't 00:46:17.300 |
If we loved each other the way that Christ calls us to love one another, we would take 00:46:22.900 |
sin more seriously, not only in our lives, but in other people's lives. 00:46:27.780 |
So when you deal with sin in the context of practicing love, it's much easier to balance 00:46:35.240 |
than if you're trying to practice one or the other. 00:46:41.480 |
And if that's a two-option in your head, then it's going to be very difficult to balance. 00:46:47.160 |
So I think the ultimate balance is, do I really care and love that person enough to be involved 00:46:56.040 |
So I want you guys to take some time in your group to discuss these questions. 00:46:59.200 |
So let me pray for us and then I'll have you guys get into your groups. 00:47:06.600 |
Heavenly Father, I ask for wisdom in your Holy Spirit to lead and guide the discussions. 00:47:11.440 |
And I pray that you would help us to be transparent, help us, Lord God, in our weakness, to be 00:47:16.600 |
open, help us to care enough about each other's lives, that whether we need encouragement, 00:47:23.960 |
we need grace and understanding, or we need accountability, help us to do it in a way 00:47:31.120 |
We are unable, Father God, to know how to balance all of these things. 00:47:35.640 |
But as we look at the perfect sacrifice of Christ where holiness was not forfeited because 00:47:43.160 |
of His grace and love, it was demonstrated in perfect union. 00:47:48.600 |
Help us, Lord God, to be a reflection of Christ's righteousness and His mercy and grace. 00:47:54.400 |
So we pray that you would guide and lead us in our discussion.