Holy Living with a Holy God (Leviticus 17-20)

Living lives of holiness...

Holy living starts with proper worship

Holy living extends to rightly relating to one another

Holy living is grounded through observing the 10 commandments

I remember as a kid, for some reason, it was always exciting when a storm knocked out the electricity. Anyone else experience that? Why in the world did we think it was fun, as kids, when the electricity went out? It’s happened a number of times in our home over the years and there might be some initial excitement with our own kids when the power goes out, but that soon devolves into boredom. We miss the electricity.

Electricity changes how we live our lives. The light switch does no good when the power’s not there. Having the power coming into our home changes everything about how we live.

Last week we looked at Leviticus 16 and it was an exciting chapters God is among His people. That’s been the goal of Leviticus. Leviticus solves the problem of how a Holy God can be approached by sinful man and not die. God now dwells with man. What should result from that? Holy living. Now that God has resolved how sinful man can approach Him, now that God dwells within the tabernacle, amidst His people, this should have massive consequences with how the people are to live. They should live lives of holiness. And that’s what Leviticus 17-20 is all about.

But holiness is not just an Old Testament thing. In all stages of history, God’s people are called to live lives of holiness. In our passage, God says: “You shall be holy for I am holy.”

Peter quotes this in 1 Peter 1:14-16 reads...

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he

who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be

holy, for I am holy.”

God is in our midst. That truth should have massive implications on our lives. He is the power we need to radically change our lives. We are called to be holy and that can only happen when God is present within.

So, if you haven’t don’t so already, please turn with me to Leviticus chapters 17-20. If you’re using one of the blue Bibles provided for you, you can find today’s passage on pages 96-99.

As you’re turning there, let me remind you in this series, we’re focusing on the major sections of Leviticus. This section, chapters 17-20, deal with how Israel should live lives of holiness.

So, I need to say upfront, in chapter 18 and in parts of 20, we’ll be dealing with inappropriate, sinful, sexual relationships. This is all under the heading of living holy lives. It’s important for us to see how God views sex and how we should and should not apply that in our lives.

So, the topic may be sensitive to young ears and if you’d prefer them not to hear this, I’m going to pray here in a minute and invite you to take advantage of our children’s ministry downstairs. I will say that I will handle this delicately and respectfully, but I want to be sensitive to any parents whose children may not be ready to hear some of this. The choice is yours. You are the parent and we support your decision. So, let’s go to prayer now and please take advantage of our children’s ministry if you feel so inclined.

Pray.

Again, we’ll be covering chapters 17-20, so we’re back at looking at the major sections of Leviticus. Last week, we slowed down and examined just chapter 16 as we looked at the Day of Atonement. We’re picking up speed again this week. So, I won’t be hitting every ever verse as I normally do. I’ll be lumping sections together.

What should life look like now that God is in their midst? How do we live lives of holiness? It should first look like this: holy living starts with proper worship.

Leviticus chapter 17, verse 1.

17 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the people of Israel and say to them, This is the thing that the Lord has commanded. 3 If any one of the house of Israel kills an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp, or kills it outside the camp, 4 and does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to offer it as a gift to the Lord in front of the tabernacle of the Lord, bloodguilt shall be imputed to that man. He has shed blood, and that man shall be cut off from among his people.

What are we talking about here? This is the killing of an animal, for the purpose of sacrifice, but not following the prescribed regulations for animal sacrifices. All animal sacrifices were to happen at the tabernacle. That’s the place the people were to bring the animals to be sacrificed. Which, by the way, is why the Jews to don’t sacrifice today. There’s no temple. There’s no place.

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The person who breaks this rule, verse 4 says “his bloodguilt shall be imputed to that man”. What is bloodguilt?

Bloodguilt is a term to refer to murder. To try to sacrifice an animal and not follow the ritually prescribed methods laid out in Leviticus 1-7 is akin to murder. Now, let’s be clear, we’re talking about killing for ritual sacrifice. We kill animals for food and when they’re pests and other things and the Bible does not condemn that. But to do kill an animal, for the purpose of sacrifice, without following God’s sacrificial laws, Leviticus says is akin to murder. The result, according to verse 4, is that person is to be “cut off from among his people”.

To be cut off from among one’s own people is to ostracized, it’s to be separated from the people. In the context of Leviticus, it’s to be expelled from the land of the clean. This was a major offense. Keep reading, jump down to verse 7...

7 So they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to goat demons, after whom they whore. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.

The purpose of offering animals only at the tabernacle was to prevent the sacrificial system from degrading into the worship of other deities, other gods. These goat demons were a type of deity believed to haunt open fields. It was a superstition. God is jealous of the sacrifice. They are meant for the worship of Him, not other false gods.

In fact, God goes so far as to say, “if you do this, it’s comparable to whoredom”. It’s as loathsome as prostitution. To worship something or someone other than God is spiritual fornication. God should be our one and only person of worship, just as our spouse should be our one and only romantic relationship.

This theme of blood continues in verses 8-16. I won’t read those verses but I’ll summarize by saying God addresses the despicable ritual of consuming blood.

God doesn’t want Israel to eat the blood. Why? This passage clearly states that the life of the animal is in the blood. It took blood to make atonement for Israel. There is no such thing as a bloodless atonement. Blood represented the life of the animal that was sacrificed in substitution of the person. So, blood was not to be treated lightly.

In addition, the surrounding nations consumed blood. There was a common belief that in blood was life and so a superstition developed from that. To consume blood would enrich one’s life is what they believed. God does not want His people to believe or behave in that way.

All of this goes back to properly worshipping the Lord. Holy living starts with proper worship. If God dwells with His people, that will affect how His people live and the first way we are affected is in our worship. We worship God on His terms, not on ours.

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This is why we, here at Harvest, strive to do church in ways that honor God. This is why the pillars. If you’ve seen the posters on the wall of the foyer as you come into the church, they list the four pillars we believe the church should stand on. Preaching, prayer, worship and evangelism. Those come from God’s Word. I believe an argument could be made that in Acts chapter 2, when the church was born, you have all of the pillars. It comes from God’s Word.

We don’t create things for the church to do, no how matter how good or noble those things might be. For instance, we don’t cater to the unbelievers by watering down the truth or by playing secular music. We’re not a social club. There is a social aspect to church, yes. Community is vital, don’t get me wrong, Christian community should be a part of the church. But we don’t create activities to make everybody feel better about themselves. We proclaim Jesus Christ and Him crucified! That’s our unifying piece.

So, there’s an intentionality for why we do what we do. I’m not saying we always get it right. Of course we don’t! We’re faulty human beings. But we strive to do church God’s way and that’s what motivates our decisions. And that’s why we’ve organized our worship and our activities, small groups and such, as we have because we are striving to do things God’s way. Let’s get on board God’s system. We need to reject our tendency to make the church into something it’s not meant to be.

That’s where holy living starts. How should our lives reflect God’s presence? One: holy living starts with worship. Two: holy living extends to rightly relating to one another. Chapter 18...

18 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord your God. 3 You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. 4 You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God. 5 You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.

Notice, again, the foundation for why we behave as we do. God says several times: “I am the Lord”. Literally translated: “I am YHWH”. Our behavior stems from the character and nature of God Himself. We are to be loyal to Him. We do because of who He is. Secondly, we do not do as the other nations. Those are the nations of uncleanness, of death. Israel is not to be like them, neither are we. And the result of a person living according to God’s statues is life, not death, that’s what it says in verse 5.

So, what does it look like to love our neighbor? It begins with how we relate to one another and so, God begins on the most intimate level. Verse 6...

6 “None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the Lord.

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This term: “uncover nakedness” is a reference to sexual activity. Every language has its euphemisms for sex. Think about it, in English, we might say: “make love”. That’s what’s going on here. Now, I don’t think I need to go into all of verses 7-18, but to summarize, verses 7-18 elaborate on this idea of inappropriate sexual activity, specifically with people who are related to each other, incest, in other words. There is to be no sex between parents and children, brothers and sisters, uncles and nieces, aunts and nephews, in-laws, whether father, mother, brother or sister, children adopted into the family through a marriage, and so on. Family relations are off limits.

Now, most of us are going to think: “yuck”. This is common sense, right? Yes, in our modern, western thought process. But, remember, the Israelites lived in a different time. This practice was not foreign to them. God puts an end to this practice in Leviticus 18. The Israelites were not to do as the other nations did.

Now, let me explain one thing there. If you read through this list, you might ask: “why does it say to “uncover the nakedness of the one is to uncover the nakedness of the other?” For example, at verse 8.

8 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness.

In other words, for a man to have sex with his father’s wife, supposing the woman is not the mother, the father is remarried, is to “uncover your father’s nakedness”. To have sex with the wife is to expose the husband, in other words. You’ll see that all throughout this passage. What does that mean?

It goes all the way back to Genesis 2 and the one-flesh union. God created sex for marriage between one man and one woman. It’s such a close bond in the eyes of God, that to violate one party is to violate the other party. That’s how close a relationship marriage is.

Anyone ever felt the hurt done toward their spouse? You ever felt that? Your spouse is hurt and it hurts you. The relationship is one of oneness. To violate one is to violate the other.

Now, after verses 7-18, this list of incestuous relationships, there are some other regulations to clear up in the succeeding verses. Look at verse 21.

21 You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.

Seem out of place? We’re talking about sexual relationships and then suddenly we’re talking about sacrificing your children to Molech, a false god that some people of Canaan would sacrifice their children to. Why is this here? Probably to two reasons. It could be that children who were born from these kinds of incestuous relationships were offered to Molech. So, it would make sense to include this prohibition here. Secondly, it’s possible the worship of Molech included such sexual rituals, which again would make it appropriate to include.

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In any case, God makes it abundantly clear, offering child sacrifices profanes His name because that child is created in His image and is meant to be an extension of God’s kingdom. The destruction of children violates God’s claim on human lives.

Two more things, verses 22 and 23.

22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 23 And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is perversion.

Homosexuality and bestiality are forbidden. Why? Because, they go against the natural order God has created for sex and its purposes.

Now, let’s just be clear about something here. What I just said about homosexuality is very countercultural. It was countercultural in Israel’s day and you know it’s countercultural today. Why is this such a big deal in our day and age? Happiness. People are looking for satisfaction and they think they’ll find it in such relationships. I’m going to say this about the sexual revolution and I’ll include LGBTQ+ crowd into this because it’s all based on the same idea- freedom of expression for the purpose of happiness. They’re looking to fill that void. The void within that we all have. There has been a lot of hatred, expressed by professing Christians, toward homosexuals and the LGBTQ+.

Probably all of us knows at least one person who identifies with one of these camps. Probably, someone here in this room struggles along the lines of same-sex attraction or even gender confusion. And the word I want to say is this, and I say this gently, we do stand on what God’s Word says. God calls homosexuality an abomination. God creates male and female and we don’t try and change that in any way. And that’s the truth we stand on because it’s God’s Word, but also, we stand on this truth and we proclaim this truth out of love. Following your own impulses is not going to satisfy you. Striving for freedom of expression for the purpose of happiness won’t satisfy you. It won’t. Just like for those who pursue heterosexual relationships in order to find happiness, it won’t ultimately satisfy.

The only satisfaction is found in Jesus Christ, He for whom you were made. If you want happiness and satisfaction, don’t pursue that in any relationship, homosexual or heterosexual or any expression whatsoever. Come to Jesus! Find your joy and peace and satisfaction in Him! He waits with open arms for you. If you want to know more, please come talk to me at the end of the service.

But to get back to the point, be holy toward people through properly relating to others. What is the outcome if a people were to follow these restrictions in Leviticus 18? Properly relating to one another. Family behaving like a family. Not taking advantage, not pursing for gratification. Holy conduct toward each other is an expression of love.

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Relating properly to one another, being holy in our conduct toward one another, is an expression of love. What happens when the people within a family, and I’m going to broaden this to the people within a church family, what happens when their conduct is holy toward one another? Relationships are healthy. There is safety. There is growth. There is protection. There is purity. There is trust. All things needed for healthy relationships which can grow properly.

And that’s not just a call for familial relationships. It’s a call for the church. We are, after all, the family of God. Our treatment of one another should be pure. Our conduct toward one another should be holy. We should treat one another as brothers and sisters, because in Christ, that’s what we are.

Pursue holiness in your relationships toward one another. Holy living extends to rightly relating to one another

So, we fight for sexual purity through God’s Word which gives us promises of something better. Let me say that again. We fight for sexual purity through God’s Word which gives us promises of something better. Let me explain.

In Matthew 5:8, Jesus says: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

The promise here is that those who battle for sexual purity “will see God” and I take that to mean experience the presence of God. There is nothing that disrupts the sense of the presence of God in our lives than when we are in sin. And the presence of God, as we have been studying in this series, is the most precious thing we could have. So, we resist sexual temptation and cling to the promise that Christ and His presence is far more valuable and enjoyable.

We fight sexual temptation by believing that God offers us something better, that Christ is our something better. That what we have in Christ is a far better treasure than gratifying some sexual impulse. Believe that church. Fight for that and let’s relate to one another appropriately. Memorize that verse, Matthew 5:8 and use it to fight these temptations.

Last point, Holy living is grounded through observance of the 10 commandments. You say: “what?” I say: “yeah”. Let’s look at chapter 19, I’m not going to hit everything but a few things.

19 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.

Again, let’s remember this idea that God is holy and because a holy God dwells among His people, the people should be holy. The following verses are really expansions on the 10 commandments. Look at verses 3-4.

3 Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. 4 Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.

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As we go through these verses, you will see that these are repeats or expansions of the 10 commandments. In fact, if you looked at the whole law from Exodus 20 on, you could trace each law back to one of the 10 commandments.

Right here in verses 3-4 you have honoring father and mother, worshiping God alone, not making an idol, sound familiar? These are commandments 1, 2, and 4. But continue, verse 5.

5 “When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted. 6 It shall be eaten the same day you offer it or on the day after, and anything left over until the third day shall be burned up with fire. 7 If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is tainted; it will not be accepted, 8 and everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned what is holy to the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from his people.

I would argue this is another expansion of the first commandment, not having any other gods apart from YHWH. Leviticus 7 outlines what the priests are to do with the peace offerings. Part of it was to be eaten. Remember, the point of the Levitical system was to be able to draw near to God in fellowship. We have a relationship with God and no other god. That relationship was symbolized by a meal. To eat together was to accept one another in that culture. God is reminding them: “you’re eating with Me because I accept you.” However, there are regulations here. Don’t eat the meat after a couple days. Again, this goes back to proper worship procedures that God has set in place. To disregard this is to disregard God.

Let’s continue.

9 “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. 10 And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.

Part of loving your neighbor is not stealing from them, but providing for them when it’s possible. The Israelites weren’t to harvest all the fruit of a field. They were to leave some for the poor and sojourner and the implication is, they were to be generous as God is generous. Be as God is.

Let’s keep reading, verse 15.

15 “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. 16 You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord. 17 “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

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You know what this sounds like? The golden rule. Matthew 7:12...

Do to others as you would have done to you. This has got to start here in the church. Can I say something? We have an opportunity to create a community here in the church that is different than any other community you are a part of. You have community in your family, community in your neighborhood, community in your work place, classroom, you name it and those are fine. But the church community is to be radically different.

Just some things I’ve observed. We have had a staggering drop in small group participation. I know people are busy and I’m not here to be hard on people but I do wonder, is discipleship a priority? We’re called to be and make disciples. You’re going to stand before God one day and He’s not going to judge you based on your human accomplishments. He’s going to judge you based on what kind of disciple you were. Discipleship grows best in small groups because there we can be real and raw with each other and spiritual growth can happen. Let’s make this a priority.

Keep reading...

19 “You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.

Now, we don’t pay attention to these specific laws today. Why are they here and what’s the big deal? Remember the goal was to remain holy, unmixed. God didn’t want Israel to mix with the nations and this was exemplified in so many ways in the law, right down to how the fields were planted and how they dressed. God wanted this holy, unmixed idea to be ingrained in His people. That’s the idea. Don’t think you have to live like this, Jesus fulfilled the law making some things unnecessary. The Gentiles are included now, but for His people, in this day, this was important.

Go to verse 23.

23 “When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten. 24 And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. 25 But in the fifth year you may eat of its fruit, to increase its yield for you: I am the Lord your God.

26 “You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. You shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes. 27 You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard. 28 You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord.

So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the

Prophets.

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Let me just say, again we don’t practice these cuts and tattoo laws. These things, in the days of Leviticus, were probably associated with pagan worship and therefore were forbidden by Israel who is to be holy as God is holy.

We could continue going through these, but the idea is to be holy as God is hoy. Be holy toward God and people through observance of the 10 commandments. I could tie these back to the 10 commandments, but you get the idea. The ten commandments are a great summery of the law. And Leviticus 19 fleshes out some of those commandments. By following these, we are striving for holiness in how we relate to God and one another.

There’s lots of ways to apply these today and I’ve spent some time on that, so I’m not going to belabor that point but let me just challenge you to listen to where the Holy Spirit might be convicting you in these areas, repent of how you may have failed to be holy toward God or others and let’s strive for holiness together, as God’s church.

Now the last chapter is on punishments for breaking the regulations set out in chapters 17-19. I just want to read through some of them, please follow along.

20 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Say to the people of Israel, Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones.

Verse 6

6 “If a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.

Verse 9.

9 For anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood is upon him.

Verse 10.

10 “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

Verse 22.

22 “You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. 23 And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them.

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Verse 27

27 “A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones; their blood shall be upon them.”

This seems grim and perhaps harsh in our day and age. But this was the cost of defying God and His holiness. There is no room for unholiness in the presence of God. To draw near to God is not possible when one is unholy.

I just want to say that punishment for sin is real and serious and spelled out in scripture. The Bible says Romans 6:23 reads: “for the wages of sin is death” and that’s eternal death. That’s hell, a real place with real torment forever and ever. With all those punishments listed in Leviticus 20, hell, by far, exceeds them all.

But, for those in Christ, punishment is not something we need fear because the wrath was poured on our Savior Jesus Christ as He hung upon the cross.

I just want to stress right here for those who may have messed up in areas like these, sexual sin, harm toward others, failure to love in any way, there is grace. There is forgiveness. There is restoration. You don’t have to face the punishments listed in Leviticus 20 because Jesus took the punishment for you. I’m not saying you won’t face consequences for your actions. We all have to face consequences. That’s the way life works. But when we bring our sin to Jesus, it’s wiped clean, as we saw last week.

You know, when you look at the all the regulations for holiness in Leviticus 17-20, when you boil them down, what is at the bottom of a life of holiness? Love. Yes, this is about holiness but what is the motivation for holiness? Love. We don’t strive to be holy for holiness’s sake, that’s legalism. We strive to be holy because we love God and love others.

Isn’t it interesting in Matthew 22:27-29, it reads...

Do you remember the first sermon I preached this year? It was a challenge to love others, to be holy in your behavior toward other people. That was taught in the Old Testament and it was repeated by Jesus who is the example of love both toward God and others.

When Jesus went to the cross, He was loving His Father by faithfully fulfilling what the Father had called Him to do. He was a guiltless man, completely guiltless. He did not deserve what He received. However, He was also loving us. He took on the penalty meant for us. He fulfilled the requirements of the law, perfectly, for us. He was simultaneously loving God and loving us as He hung there, bleeding and broken.

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul

and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You

shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

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The punishments do no fall on us, because they fell on Him. God set His face against His own Son. Jesus was cut off. Jesus was brutally executed. Jesus’ blood was poured out because our blood, which should have been on our own head, was on His instead.

And so, because of Christ’s life and death, we have God dwelling within us. He is with us in an even more intimate way than He was with the Israelites in the holy of holies. He is the power that we need. And so we can now strive for the holy life God demands. He is here, let’s live like He is here.