Okay, so obviously, hopefully you have your Bible with you. If you don't, you really need it. Okay? See, if you didn't bring it, I encourage you to bring it. It's a Bible study, so you should be bringing it, right? But if you have the electronic version of it, you're going to have to turn it there and keep it there because we're going to just be going through the passage systematically.

And so I'm going to be reading some of it, and I'm just going to be going over some of it. So again, I encourage you to just open it up to Leviticus 19, just keep it there because we're going to go over the passages verse by verse. And as I mentioned to you, we're going to be in the NASB.

Okay? So I'm not saying you have to change, but your life will be much easier. All right. All right, let me pray for us and we'll jump in. Heavenly Father, we just want to thank you, Lord, for to be able to come together. However we've spent our week, however the rest of the week will look, we know that we need to be constantly reminded of who you are so that we do not drift.

We live in a physical world, Lord, with temptations all around us. We need you, Lord God, to continually open our eyes, soften our hearts, Lord God, that it does not harden. We are so easily distracted. So we pray, Father God, that your word would grip our minds, our hearts, and our lives, that we would be guided not by our flesh, but by your spirit.

So we pray for your blessing. We pray for insight and wisdom as we study your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. So Leviticus chapter 19, I wanted to just kind of look at the kiastic structure just so that you know where we are at. So I found another picture that I thought maybe would be helpful, the kiastic structure of the book of Leviticus.

So if you look at it, this one instead of just kind of going over the outline, it gives you a pyramid. And on the bottom, chapter 1 through 7, is about the rituals, right, about the five different offerings. And then chapter 8 through 10 is about the priesthood, 11 through 15, about all the purity laws of different animals, what's clean and unclean.

And at the peak of it was the day of atonement. So the main thrust of the book of Leviticus is explaining the day of atonement, right? And then it works backwards. We're talking about purity where we are now, chapter 17 to 20. So chapter 17, we talked about the blood.

Chapter 18, we talked about sexual purity. And then chapter 19, we're going to be talking about what does it mean to be holy. And then chapter 20, and vice versa. So what is the difference between the structure to the left and structure to the right, if it mimics, right?

If 11 through 15 and 17, 20 is talking about purity, remember, what is the distinction between the chiastic structure to the left versus the right? What does the left emphasize and what does the right emphasize? I hear murmuring, but I don't... What does the right emphasize? Huh? Application. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Good. So the left side is more of a pure ritual in the context of the tabernacle, right? So what is pure and impure and why do you need to be pure, impure? Because you need to get into the tabernacle. You can't come in and offer sacrifices or give worship to God if you don't have these things.

So the right is about life within the context of the Israelite community. So you can already see that. Chapter 18, we talked about sexual immorality and that specifically is pertaining to the community. So chapter 19, when he says, "Be holy," he's talking about in the context, again, of the community.

Just so that you understand where we're at. So the primary theme of this section and the whole book of Leviticus is found in verse 2, which is, "You shall be holy for the Lord your God am holy." Obviously, this is repeated several places in the Bible, in particular in the epistles of Peter.

It says, "Be holy for I am holy." See, this commandment is the central commandment of the book of Leviticus. And it's probably, you can say that this commandment is really the central commandment of the Bible. Everything that God is doing is to make us holy, to be set apart, to become more like him.

But why would this be a motivation? Underlying the motivation of this commandment, "Be holy because he is holy." A non-believer of Yahweh, non-worship of Yahweh, this would not be a motivation. This motivation to be holy because he is holy, there's a prerequisite that you or he is talking to people who are already worshiping God.

Let me give you an example. I'm not really much into shoes, but I've read in, I think it was a Facebook article somewhere that new Kobe Bryant shoes is coming out, the Mamba shoes, number 24. You guys know anything about that? I know you do. I heard that it's coming out and it has his name, it has his number, it has his little logo and he sells millions of dollars worth of shoes because of his name.

Now why would people buy his shoes? If you put my name on it, no one's going to buy it. Why do they buy his shoes? Because his name and his number is on it. Yeah, they idolize him. There's something about Kobe. Maybe that's your favorite player. Maybe even worship him.

And so if that's a person that you admire and you worship and you enjoy watching him play and having his name on that shoes makes it attractive. And so when God says, "Be holy for I am holy," there's a preconceived understanding that that would only be a motivation towards somebody who has already an affection for God.

Why do you want to be holy? Because he is holy. So if you're not worshiping God, there's no affection for him, that is not a motivation. I don't have any desire to become like him. I don't have any desire to reflect him. So this command in and of itself, it's a central command, but it would only be a motivating factor that he is holy so I need to be holy because he's talking to people who are already worshiping him.

So when we come to the New Testament, when Peter says, repeats the same phrase, "Be holy for I am holy," for the Lord your God is holy, he's talking to people who have already been restored in worship. So the prerequisite for any sanctification, prerequisite for any desire to honor God and to live a holy life is a desire to worship him.

An affection for him has been restored because of the blood of Christ. He opened our eyes, regeneration already happened. And so again, Jonathan Edwards says in his book, Religious Affection, one of the greatest marks of a genuine Christian is that there is a genuine affection for God that's been restored.

So the beginning of this chapter begins in verse 12, "Be holy because he is holy," and that's the motivating factor and that's what we're going to continue to see. Only those who already worship God would this motivation be of any relevance. We were originally created to be God's image bearers.

Israel's calling was to reflect his image, to restore the large image of God in the world. So the whole point of redemption is to restore that image. The whole point of calling Israel and what makes them unique is that he called them, set them apart, made them holy to be different from the world, not simply for their sake but by God restoring that image upon them that they would restore that image in the world.

Israel was a tool for the purpose of restoring image in the world. So everything about what God is doing is really wrapped up in this command, "Be holy for I am holy," because that's what was lost at the fall and that's what he's trying to restore, holiness in his people.

The phrase, "I am the Lord your God," occurred 16 separate times. Now we talked about that in chapter 18. He mentions, "I am the Lord, I am the Lord," and so when he says that, it is to emphasize his authority, right? These are not just suggestions, these are not just things that we're hoping, like Proverbs, the good rules to follow.

He says, "No, I am your God, I am your King." So it's to establish his authority and to remind Israel whose command that they need to follow. Remember last week, to not to be like the Egyptians, not to be like the Canaanites. He says, "I am the Lord, you are to follow my statutes, you are to follow my rules, my judgment." And so he, again, establishes that here 16 separate times, right?

These commands are central. So up to this point, Leviticus, holiness primarily referred to ritual holiness related to the tabernacle. Remember we talked about that, the chiastic structure? When he talked about holiness, he's talking about how to stay pure so that they can offer sacrifices. From this point on, there is a transition that takes place where holiness will be used primarily in reference to a personal or national moral quality.

Again, the chiastic structure to the right. Left is for the purpose of tabernacle, right is for the purpose of community. So most, if not all of the Ten Commandments are mentioned in the call to be holy in chapter 19. So if you studied chapter 19, you probably already saw that, right?

Now when I say most, or if not all, it really depends on how you interpret that, right? But you can easily make the case that in chapter 19, all 10 of the Ten Commandments are repeated, right? Most of the application of being holy in the context of human relationships.

Let me stop right there. Usually when we think of holiness, we think of what you shouldn't do, right? When you say, "Man, I need to really live a holy life." Like, what does that mean? Right? "I should stop watching certain movies. I should stop doing certain things. I should maybe, if you're cursing, I should stop cursing." So there's things that we say, "Well, we shouldn't do it because these are things that are dishonorable to God." Well, in chapter 19, he calls the nation to be holy, but the practical application of holiness is in what context?

It's the context with how we interact with people, right? He said, "I don't know, when was the last time you really considered holiness is the way you treat people, of being gracious and compassionate?" Because we typically think holiness and mercy and grace are two different things. So whenever we talk about holiness, we say, "Well, you know, I think we need to emphasize mercy and grace." Or maybe if somebody emphasizes mercy and grace too much, "Hey, what about holiness?" And we talk about it in the church as if these are two separate things.

That's not how the Bible talks about it. The word holiness does mean to be morally upright, right? That is the overarching meaning of the word holiness. But there's another word for holiness, a literal understanding of the word holiness. What is the literal understanding of the word holiness? To be what?

Set apart, right? To be set apart. So an article that was set apart from common for God's use became holy. An individual who became a priest when he was anointed, it was set apart for God's use, he became holy. So the overarching meaning of the word holy is to be set apart, unique, right?

Different, dedicated to the Lord. That's the overarching meaning. In the overarching meaning, there are specific things what God tells you to do. There's certain things for you not to do, right? So in the meaning of the word holy, love and mercy is also holy. Now why is it holy?

Because it's supposed to be set apart. It's different. So when we talk about the love of God, the love of God is holy because His love is unlike the love of the world. His mercy is also holy because His mercy is unlike the mercy of the world, right? His justice is holy justice because His justice is unlike any other justice in the world.

It is set apart. So within the understanding of the word holy, love is incorporated in that. These are not two separate terms. Are we going to talk about holiness or are we going to be talking about love? Holiness encompasses love, right? So people say, you know, oftentimes you'll see people saying like, oh, you know, the Bible says God is holy, holy, holy.

He never says He's love, love, love. And the reason why He doesn't say love, love, love is because holy, holy, holy encompasses love. Do you get, do you understand what I'm saying? Okay. Okay, some of you do. All right. You understand what I'm saying? The reason why I'm saying this is because the application of holiness in the chapter 19 is primarily about what?

Primarily about mercy. If you read it, right? If you haven't read it, you'll find out, right? So the primary application is that be holy for I am holy. Well, what does that mean, God? Well, I'll tell you. And so that's where we're headed. You don't have this on your outline because I just couldn't fit it.

I'd have to print another 120 pages just because of this. I didn't print it. Okay? So this is the sphere, the arena of life where holiness is to be practiced to the left. In your family, in worship, business practices, treatment of poor, disadvantage, in the court, ritual practice, all of these are in the context of showing mercy and compassion, to be generous to the left.

And these are the passages that describe that. And this is the application of holiness. You follow? So what I'm going to do is, again, I'm going to go over all these passages. There's more than 30 separate commands given in chapter 19. So I'm not going to go over every single one of these commands.

So I grouped them so it's easier for us to follow. So as we're going, so there's a lot of it. So if I stand, sit here and just spend even two minutes on these, it's going to take us over an hour. So I'm not going to do that. So I'm going to go over pretty quick.

But I'm just going to go over verse five. This is where you need to have your Bible open. Okay? So if your Bible is not open, if your phone is not too in that text, I encourage you to do that now. So in 1 Corinthians 4, it deals with fifth, fourth, first, and, fifth and fourth, I spelled the fourth wrong, and the first of the Ten Commandments.

The commandments to be holy begins with the first of the horizontal relational aspect of the Ten Commandments, instead of the first of the vertical relationship with God. Let me tell you what I mean by that. He says to practice holiness, and the application of that practice is to show mercy and grace and love to the community.

So if you look at verse three, "Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father and you shall keep my Sabbath and I am the Lord your God." Right? Do not turn to the idols or make yourselves molten gods. I am the Lord your God. So there's three commandments that are mentioned here.

Honor your father and mother, which is the fifth commandment, right? Keep the Sabbath, which is the fourth commandment, and then don't worship any other gods, which is the first commandment, right? He starts, typically if you were to list the Ten Commandments, the very first thing that you would think when he says God says to be holy for I am holy, you would think the very first commandment would be the one that comes out, right?

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Don't make any graven images." You know, you would think that that's the first thing that comes out. But instead, it's flipped, right? The fifth commandment is the first of the second set of commandments, which deal with what? Loving your neighbors, right?

Loving people. So the first four commandments is loving God with all your heart. And then the number five through ten is love your neighbors as yourself. But he starts by saying the first of the second set. So it kind of, you understand where I'm going with this, right? So he begins with that, honor your father and mother, which comes with the promise if you want to live long and prosper, you must honor your father and mother, right?

The fourth commandment to keep the Sabbath bridges the vertical relationship, right? It's the fourth commandment, right? The first three commandments is commandment to God, and then the fourth commandment bridges between God and man. The way it bridges it is because the Sabbath was to be set apart to rest, to give worship to God, corporate worship to God.

But it was meant to be done in the context of community, right? So that's why keeping the Sabbath bridges the first four commandments with the second six commandments. And then he ends with the first commandment, okay? Now why, I'm not going to spend this kind of time with all of these, all of this section, but I'm telling you this because this sets the tone for what he's about to say for the rest of the chapter, okay?

I want to make sure you guys are following, so I don't want to go too fast and then you're just giving me a blank stare like you're doing right now, all right? You follow, tell me you're following up to this point. Okay, you get it. All right, all right, good, okay?

So that's how it begins. Verses five through eight. Now when you offer sacrifices of peace offerings to the Lord, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted. It shall be eaten the same day you offer it. So five through eight basically is about the peace or the fellowship offering, right?

Now what's unique about this offering? Right, it was the only offering where they actually ate the meat. They burned up the things that are not edible and then they saved the choicest part and then they went to the side of the tabernacle and they had a picnic. So the point of this offering wasn't simply about God, but it's having our sins forgiven by God and the ramification is restored fellowship.

Okay? Do you see this theme? Be holy, right? Honor your father and mother, which is the beginning of the second set of commandments, right? And then the second set basically says to make sure that you do this peace offering correctly. And then he repeats what he says in the earlier chapters about the peace offering.

Okay? All right, now you follow. You see where he's going with this? This offering was given to remind the Israelites that holiness is directly linked to the community life of God's people. And again, 1 Corinthians 3, 16, 17 reminds us that do you not know that you are a temple of God and the spirit of God dwells in you?

If a man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him for the temple of God is holy and that is what you are. So what context is this text written in? A group of people in Corinth who are being divided. And he says, do you not know that your community is a temple of God and is holy?

So if you do not acknowledge them, if you do not care for them, if you do not work to keep the unity, you are defiling the temple of God. Okay? You follow? Okay. So this is all linked to practice of holiness, community. Verses 9 through 10 teaches Israel to be mindful of people who are in need.

Let's look at verse 9 and 10. Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest, nor shall you glean your vineyards, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyards.

You shall leave them for the needy, for the strangers. I am the Lord your God. And this was given strictly for the purpose of the people who are walking through your fields and who are poor. I mean, I don't know about you, but when we think of the Old Testament God, superficially, we think of, you know, the Jericho, we think of him conquering Pharaoh, we think of the flood where he kills, you know, the nation because he's angry.

And so a lot of times we have an image of this God who is vengeful and wrathful, and then he kind of disappears in the New Testament, and then we see that same God in the book of Revelation, when you read it superficially. Right? But when you really dig into the Old Testament, this is what you see, right?

This is what you see. Why would a God be concerned about poor people walking through someone else's field in a foreign land? But that's the God that he wanted to make sure was restored. So when he says, "Be holy," restore the image that was lost at the fall, right?

That's what being holy means, to restore the image that we lost. Part of the image that God wants us to restore back to us individually and as a community and for the world to see is this, right? What God does this? So again, this is a crucial part of God desiring to be represented in the world as being merciful because this is who he is.

This is his nature. And it is because that is his nature why you and I are alive. Verses 11 and 12, right? It deals with stealing and bearing false witness, right? And how the Israelites are commanded to practice holiness by practicing honesty and having integrity with one another. You see how any one of these things, right, can either ruin the community by not practicing or practicing it, right?

Every one of these commandments, if we practice it the way God practiced it, what kind of community would we have? And this is what was lost at the fall. Every man for himself, right? Every man for his own glory. Every man to be acknowledged. And so imagine if you live in a community where everybody is just looking out for themselves, right?

And the only reason why they're being nice to you is because they got something to gain from you. All of that was a result of the fall. So what God is doing is restoring what was lost because of sin, right? Verse 13 and 14, dealing with integrity, okay? 13 and 14.

You should not oppress your neighbors nor rob him. The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning. You should not curse a deaf man nor place stumbling block before the blind, but you shall revere your God, I am the Lord. Okay? Again, when you just read it out of context, it may just seem random, but basically he's restricting people who have authority to abuse their authority, right?

Because that's just a natural tendency, right? If you happen to be the boss, if you're not careful, you can abuse your authority, like for your own benefit. And so he's restricting them. If you're in a position of power, right, be careful that you're not wielding that for selfish purposes.

Then you're not oppressing people simply because you can, right? So part of the reason years ago why I stopped going out to feed the homeless, and I shared this with you before, that we were doing this for seven years and then there was another larger church that came down on the street and they started feeding the homeless.

And then we said, "Hey, we've been here seven years, but they were a larger church. They had better food than us, so we ended up joining them." So we're feeding them one way or the other, who cares what name we put on it? So we just joined them for about a year or two.

Then after about a year of doing that, I noticed that when they were feeding the homeless, the lady that was in charge of it would end up yelling at the homeless, "If you want to eat, you better listen." And she would just chew them out. Sometimes she would be in the middle of singing or something, and then if somebody's not paying attention, she would go like 10 minutes just ripping into them.

"And if you don't listen, I'm not going to give you the food. If you don't shut your mouth, we're not going to feed you." And I remember just sitting there thinking, "Man, I don't want to be a part of this." So I would, for a time, wait until the feeding is done, and then we would wait until they're eating and then we would sit down and talk with them.

But more and more, I could tell that people were being offended, but they had to eat, so they would put up with it. Or they would stay away from the preaching, and then they would come and get the food later. This is exactly what this section is talking about.

When you're in the position to be able to give, and you're domineering and you're abusing the position that you're in, and he's warning against that. Verse 15 and 16, "Prohibit unjust legal actions. You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbors fairly.

You shall not go about as a slander among your people, and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor. I am the Lord your God." So this is about unjust legal action. Verse 15 addresses those charged with responsibility of deciding cases that they don't, again, use their position to be unfair.

Verse 14, 16, "Deals with witnesses who may be tempted to pervert justice by slandering people, causing damage to their life. Right testimony was crucial during this time to carry out justice." This is before videotapes. This is before cameras, right? And so an eyewitness, if he chose to say something and completely ruin somebody's life, and again, it is to prevent all of that, okay?

Again, let me just reiterate, all of this, when you study it individually, it's so tedious, 30 separate commands, just rapid fire. But again, don't forget the big picture, right? He's talking about a holy community, and holy community is not just a community who does not do perverted things, right?

We talked about that in chapter 18. Cultural immorality, like God wants us to be holy, and he's telling us that you shall not do this, you shall not do this, but in chapter 19, right, he's building a community of grace and love, right? And fairness, and righteousness, and justice.

Ultimately, this is what God is going to restore in heaven. What we have now, what everything that he's saying here is a picture of what God desires in his community. To us, in the new covenant, the church. In the old covenant, obviously, he desires a nation of Israel, right?

So we experience it now in part, but all of this will be experienced and be glorified in the new covenant. Verses 17 and 18 teach the Israelites how to respond when wronged. You shall not hate your fellow countrymen in your heart. You may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him.

In other words, if you've been wronged, you can try to correct that by confronting him and talking to him, but do not sin. You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

That's where that commandment comes from. Love God, love your neighbor as yourself, right? This is the Old Testament. This is not Jesus in the New Testament. This is God saying that. What Jesus was saying was repeating of this. So again, I mean, he doesn't just say love your neighbor.

He describes what it looks like, right? When Jesus said, "Love God and love your neighbor as yourself," like, "Well, what does that look like?" Well, he tells you, chapter 19, right? "Well, who's my neighbor?" Chapter 19. So next time you go back to that passage and somebody asks that question, read chapter 19 because he describes it, right?

Again, they are allowed to rebuke for the sake of restoration, but ultimately to love. Verse 19, "Prohibits attempt to breed and fertilize across categories." On the surface, this is one of the strangest things. You can't wear material with two separate materials woven together, right? The meaning behind this is not 100% sure, but most scholars believe that the breeding of animals had to do with some sort of a cultic idol worship and the weaving of two materials.

It's found in Exodus chapter 28, 6 through 8, where it says that the only garment that was allowed in the nation of Israel that was able to have two separate materials woven together was the priestly garment, right? So God is prohibiting the nation of Israel to separate the servants of God who are priests who are allowed to come into the tabernacle versus those who are not, right?

So again, no one knows that for 100%, but to me it makes the most sense. The reason why he gives that command is to separate from the common and uncommon through those materials. Again, for the priest to be set apart. In this section, I'm going to go pretty rapidly.

You got it? So verses 20 to 22 gives guidelines on how to deal with a man who had sexual relations with a female slave. They are not to be put to death if she was a slave. If he is to bring a guilt offering for violating someone else's slave.

Again, let me just summarize real quick. Basically a slave was considered property. So if the slave girl was betrothed to be married and a man comes in and violates her, basically he's committed adultery. And so committing adultery requires putting up death, right? If she was not betrothed and if she is violated, she is considered property.

So therefore, the restitution for what happened is the guilt offering as mentioned in the beginning of the book of Leviticus. Do you understand the rationale? I'm not saying it makes sense, but do you understand what it's saying here? The distinction. Again, not a single nod. Do you understand the distinction between the two?

Because she was considered property. Now I'm not explaining is that fair, is that not fair, why is that okay, why is it not okay? I'm just explaining what he is saying, distinguishing between when is it adultery and when is it a violation of someone's property. So if it is an adultery, then the man is put to death.

If it is a violation of someone's property, she needs to be compensated. I'm not going to explain that. I want you to talk about it in your groups. You're probably frustrated now, but pay attention. Verses 23 to 25 teach how to behave in the Canaanite land as it pertains to fruits from trees they planted.

You notice in verse 23 to 25, "When you enter the land and plant all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden to you, it shall not be eaten. But in the fourth year, all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord.

In the fifth year, you are to eat of its fruit that its yield may increase for you. I am the Lord your God." So he says when you go into the promised land, first year you plant, first three years that you plant, they are not to eat it. Fourth year, it's to be offered to the Lord as an offering.

And on the fifth year, whatever fruits come out on the fifth year, you are free to eat. You understand that? To explain, when they go into the promised land, the first three years, he's not saying let the fruit grow and then just dry up and die. What do you think is the reasoning behind why for the first three years?

And what are they supposed to be doing? For the purpose of pruning, to strengthen. That before you begin to enjoy its fruit, to take time to cultivate and to prune. That's what the first three years are for. Not to abuse the land, not to abuse the fruits. Wait till it's time.

That's what it's talking about. And then when it is time to enjoy it, before you enjoy it, you give it to the Lord. That's the fourth year. And then the fifth year, after you have cultivated the fruit, after you have offered it to the Lord, then you can enjoy it yourself.

And that's the principle that he told the nation of Israel when they go into the promised land. Now what does this signify? Now remember we talked about that, that when Adam and Eve fell, what fell with Adam and Eve? The land. The land also is corrupt. Remember we talked about that in the book of Romans?

How creation eagerly waits for the sons of God to be revealed. And then how when we get to the book of Revelation, there's going to be a restoration of the earth. So along with the fall of Adam and Eve, so did creation. And so part of redemption, redemption of mankind, is tied to the land.

And the final glorification is also going to see the land also be restored. So the principle here, again, it's not just the restoration of mankind, but just general principle. I might be milking it, but I see a clear, to me, I see this pointing to something very important in the New Testament.

Do you see it? Or is it just me? Maybe I was staring at this too long. Maybe somebody in this room thinks like me. Do you see? I see justification, sanctification, glorification. For the sake of time, I'm not going to go into it. You can make the connection and I'll try to explain more later if you come and talk to me later.

But I see justification, the initiation, and the cultivation, regeneration, repentance. And then I see sanctification, dedication, declaration. And then I see glorification, where we're seeing the final fruit of our salvation. I'm just going to leave it at that. I was staring at it for a long time today, and that's what it seemed to point to, to me.

Verses 26 through 28, again, prohibition against a series of pagan practices. This is where you get, "Do not tattoo yourself." So if you have tattoos, you are in violation of verse 27 and 28. I see you. Now obviously here, when he's talking about a prohibition against tattooing, it is connected to the cultic worship.

Obviously that's not why people do it today, so it is not the same. But there are people today who will take this literally and will not practice this. I am neither condoning it or saying it's okay. But it is not a direct connection to what we see being done today.

Verse 29, prohibits offering their daughters as prostitutes, and by doing so, defiling the land. So remember, we pointed that out last time, how what defiles a man also defiles the land that he is on. Verse 30 is a calling to keep the Sabbath and to revere God's sanctuary. Not only the Sabbath, but to keep the sanctuary, revere it.

Verse 31, prohibits Israel from going to those who perform divination. A medium is one who conjures up spirits, who speaks to the dead. A spiritist is one who communicates to the dead for the sake of power. So it may sound similar, but the difference is a medium is the one who is just for the purpose of talking and getting information.

A spiritist is the one who is trying to get the power of the dead. And he says that this is an abomination to God. So I was just kind of thinking about that, like how many games that we play, and when I say we, I'm talking about just people in general, that play on this thought, idea, even if it's just a game of conjuring up spirits.

I don't know the games. I became a Christian early on enough and I was never into these games, but I remember hearing pockets of things, and if I mention it, I know some of you guys will already know. Magic? You don't know? Maybe it's a previous generation, some of you guys may or may not play.

Again, tell me if I'm wrong, but it was explained to me that it was casting spells and spirits. No? Yeah, okay, so you don't know. All right, whatever. But there are games where you play, whether it's the Ouija board or magic or, I don't know, Dungeons and Dragons like that?

I don't know. I don't know these games. Oh, yes? No? Okay, but I got saved in a charismatic circle where this was very sensitive, right? We didn't play around with this, but that has nothing to do with being charismatic or not charismatic, right? I think Christians need to be more discerning of what we are entertained by and what we allow, right?

I'm not saying that these are things you can't do and these are things you can do, but if it is an abomination to the Lord and it is messing around with the spirit world, even as a joke, even as a game, we shouldn't do it, right? Yes, right? I'm not asking for your opinion.

I'm telling you, yeah, you shouldn't do it, right? Because it is, even as a game to call up spirits to cast spells on people, this is not a joke because that's the real world, right? Verse 32 calls Israel to show respect for the elderly. So let me read that.

You shall rise up before the gray-headed and honor the age and you shall reveal your God, I am the Lord. Now why is honoring the elderly revering the Lord, right? Because if we don't know how to honor the people who are right above us, how do we honor a God who is way above us, right?

Usually somebody who can't handle authority usually has a problem with the authority that's closest to them, right? They don't shake their fists at God. God's too far. They usually shake their fists at whoever is right above them. That could be your husband. It could be your parents. It could be, you know, like a manager, right?

It could be the police officer, right? Typically when we have a rebellious heart and we have a problem with submission, it usually is shown with whoever is right above, whoever is nearest to us. He says honoring the gray-headed, right, honoring elders is a way of revering God. So when we talk about submission to God, we say, "Oh, I submit to God.

I'm a follower of Jesus Christ." Typically, the way the rubber meets the road is whoever is nearest to you, right? And he said, again, so he says respecting elders is a way to respect God. I'm going through it real quick. Again, 33 and 34 teach us not to mistreat aliens in the land, verse 33 and 34.

When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

This is God teaching his nation to be kind to aliens, right? I mean, and all of this is what was lost at the fall. And he says, "Be holy, for I am holy." This is part of it, right? Love them. Strangers, people who can't possibly pay you back, right?

People who are not your family, they can't pay you back. There's no reason to do it because they're strangers, they're aliens, they're just passing by. But he says, "Be kind to them. Be neighborly. Be hospitable." Right? This is our God. So everything that we see of the kindness and grace and mercy of God in the New Testament, it's because he's the God of the Old Testament.

He said, "Treat them as if they were our own." I think every religion calls people to be kind, right? At least most of them. But you cannot compare, right? It's one thing for God to say, you know, "Love your neighbor, love your family, but love your enemies," right? That is not something that our world can even understand.

And yet that is not a New Testament concept. That's an Old Testament concept. And then finally, one more. 35 to 36 teaches us to be honest in doing business, to wait. So he keeps saying, "Just balances, just waits, just ephah, and just hymn," right? To be righteous in all that we are doing, right?

And this is what he means to be holy, to be set apart. That the people of God, the nation of Israel, the church is to be set apart in our grace, set apart in our integrity, right, set apart in our mercy, set apart in generosity, right? Set apart in not taking vengeance, set apart in turning the other cheek, set apart in being concerned for the poor, set apart by being generous, right?

So that's what he says. When he says to be holy is to be unlike the world. Everybody else in the world will give a little bit, right? They live their life, you know, like selfishly self-focused, and then when they have abundance, they give a little bit, right? So everybody practices some generosity.

Everybody practices some compassion. Christians are called to deny ourselves and live for God, meaning to live for other people, right? That's what it means to be God-centered. To be God-centered means to be other-centered. How are you God-centered? On church, you're God-centered because we worship God. Outside the church, we're God-centered because we're other-centered.

That's what sets us apart from the world, that we are no longer pursuing our glory, our safety, right, our retirement. Our goal as Christians is to ultimately glorify God by loving others first, right? That's what he means in chapter 19 by being holy, not simply not watching movies and not, you know, being hooked on pornography.

That's the prohibition side, right? But this side of it, in his grace and his mercy, we are to be different than the world, okay? So verse 37, the concluding remarks, "You shall thus observe all my statues and all my ordinances and do them, I am the Lord," right? You're not to pick and choose some of this, right?

You're not to pick, "Well, I can do the first part, but I can't do the second part, and I do, I can obey the three commandments, but the other seven commandments is not for me." He said, "All of them," right? This is what it means to be a follower of Christ, a worshiper of God.

So the three questions I have for you tonight, have you ever considered holiness and compassion to be of the same? In what area of holiness do you struggle the most? And I want you to include both chapter 18 and 19 in this, right? Because both is talking about holiness.

How much time, effort, and even money do you think you deliberately allocate for the purpose of serving the needs of others? Now, some of you guys are just generous by nature, right? Some of you guys are just kind and giving every time by nature. But the question that I'm asking, number two, is how much of it is deliberate planning, right?

That you plan to live your life for other people, for God's glory, right? How much of that is deliberate? Or do you just end up using your time and money for yourself until there's an opportunity, and then you give some, right? And there's nothing wrong with that, right? But you can live a self-centered life and give a little money.

You can live a self-centered life and then be compassionate, right? But we're not talking about that. We're talking about a life centered around glorifying God by living other-centered, right? How much of your time, money, and effort is deliberately for that purpose? Third, how do you respond when you think you are wronged?

Do you tend to react? Do you tend to make efforts to reconcile? Or do you have a tendency to sweep it under the rug, right? And this is, again, because it's mentioned in chapter 19, all right? So let me pray for us, and then I'll give you time for your small group.

Heavenly Father, we thank you again for your word. We pray, Father God, that all that we have studied in chapter 19 would take its root in our hearts and in our minds. And I pray that in our discussion, help us, Lord God, to be open and vulnerable, that in our weakness that we may find strength in Christ.

So we pray for your blessing and your Holy Spirit to guide us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.