Leviticus 19:17-21:12 - 2012 - Skip Heitzig

[Music] welcome to expound our weekly worship and verse by verse study of the Bible our goal is to expand your knowledge of the truth of God as we explore the Word of God in a way that is interactive enjoyable and congregational somebody once said that God didn't give us 10 suggestions but Commandments and though we're far from the book of Exodus which gives us a listing of the Ten Commandments in the 20th chapter of that book in Leviticus where we are studying and you can turn in your Bibles to Leviticus chapter 19 we have those Commandments restated but really fleshed out in real-life situations for the people of Israel to know how to apply them and we left off in the middle of Leviticus 19 last time in verse 17 we continue the Lord says you shall not hate your brother in your heart you shall surely rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because of him so don't keep it pent up inside and hold a grudge against someone go tell your neighbor the offense and then it's done with but don't hate him in your heart the worst thing to do is to not say anything and passively aggressively give the cold shoulder which could lead to the most damaging emotion which is that of hatred you shall not take vengeance verse 18 nor bear any grudge against the children of your people but you shall love your neighbor as yourself I am the Lord the most often quoted Old Testament phrase verse statement is this one and it's in Leviticus it's the most often Old Testament verse quoted in the New Testament and it's in the Book of Leviticus you shall love your neighbor as yourself it's the second greatest commandment when Jesus was grilled by the leaders what's the greatest commandment he said you will love the Lord your God with all your heart mind soul and strength but the second is like unto it you shall love your neighbor as yourself in these two said Jesus are all the law and the prophets so Leviticus 19 you will love your neighbor as yourself don't miss the important principle in this chapter and in particular in this verse don't begin to think that the law of God is given simply to govern your outward actions rather than your inward attitude here we see in Leviticus that the law is given not merely to regulate what people do but how people think don't think these thoughts in your heart don't hate somebody in your heart before a sin has ever committed outwardly it's committed inwardly that's the point of the Sermon on the Mount you have heard that it was said in ancient times you shall not murder but I say unto you if you hate your brother you're guilty of murder lust begins in the heart it leads to an adulteress heart covetousness which begins in the heart can also lead to stealing in and so to hear murder can begin with hatred you shall keep my statutes verse 19 you shall not let your livestock breed or some translations say mix with another kind now here is a principle that Paul pulls out of the New Testament in 2nd Corinthians 6 and highlights for believers when he says don't be unequally yoked together with unbelievers don't be miss mated as other translations put it with unbelievers beasts separate be devoted the verse continues you shall not sow your field with mixed seed nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you I believe that the the principle here is one of separation I don't totally understand every verse of scripture and there are some passages of the Bible that don't give any explanation as to why God says it but since the basic principle of these chapters seems to be knowing the difference making the difference and being separate that it's the same principle here of separation don't so mix seed in a field if you were to take this and press it just a little bit spiritually you remember in Matthew 13 that Jesus said that the seed in the parable is the Word of God that the sower goes out to sow seed in the field and the seed said Jesus is the word of God I find Christians from time to time who want to so mixed seed yeah this Bible study thing you guys do is okay but I'd like to explore other belief systems and other religious systems and other ideas under the umbrella of Christianity so I'll sow the seed of Scripture but seeds of other good thought and we can all get the best Pickens from world religions that can be dangerous verse 20 whoever lies carnally with the woman who is betrothed to a man as a concubine and who has not had all been redeemed nor has given her freedom for this there shall be a scourging but they shall not be put to death because she was not free that is she is still an indentured servant a slave but he shall bring his trespass offering to the Lord to the door of the tabernacle of meeting a ram of a trespass offering so this man who has sexual relations with somebody who's an indentured servant a slave girl who's engaged he is the one who has to bring the trespass offering cos he's the one who committed the trespass the priest shall make atonement for him with the RAM of the trespass offering before the Lord for the sin which he has committed and the sin which he has committed shall be forgiven him instead of the death penalty in this particular case a trespass offering was instituted which would take the place of the death penalty for either one of these it's an act of graciousness on God's part now some would dispute that go this is gracious because it says in verse 20 that they will both be scourge so if it's his trespass and again we're not told a lot of extra explanation I can only infer that you have somebody who has control over a slave girl and either persuades her or strongly urges her threatens her to have sexual relations so the onus the responsibility falls upon him and both of them are scourge now it could be perfectly consensual again were not told but he has to bring the trespass offering and again you might say how was this gracious if she is scourge along with him all I can see here beyond this is a principal guys that when you sin sexually no matter how it comes out or no matter what the motivations everybody gets hurt it will leave in its wake painful circumstances and in this case as well when you come into the land and have planted all kinds of trees for food that is the promised land they were in the wilderness they had come from Egypt they're on their way to the land of Canaan when you get into the land that I promised and you've planted all kinds of trees for food then you shall count their fruit as uncircumcised the NIV renders it forbidden don't eat it don't touch it three years it is forbidden or uncircumcised to you it shall not be eaten but in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy a praise to the Lord so three years it's forbidden the fourth year you're also not to eat it because it's the Lord's so for four years when you get into the land of Canaan and you plant your trees you can't eat of it you have to wait till the fifth year in the fifth year you may eat its fruit that it may yield to you its increase I am the Lord your God first of all this would serve to remind the children of Israel that the land in which they're going into is a land that is a gift from God to them it is God's land that he is giving to them he is dispossessing the Canaanites as a free gift he's giving it to them it's a reminder that the land and its produce belong to the Lord but number two from what I've been told and what I've read when you first plant a tree the maturation doesn't really come for a few years that is it's not the produce isn't mature for several years so you have to wait for a few years before it really can kick into gear and reach its potential ultimate yield and then it's best to eat of it then now what's true in the plant world is also true in the Christian world the Bible says Paul the Apostle tells Timothy not to lay hands on a man a person for ministry suddenly but to watch that person to see if they bear fruit now they might sound fruitful praise God hallelujah look at my Bible listen to me saying listen to watch my knowledge of the Bible but give them time and watch that life to see if over a period of time it continues to be fruitful you're to watch to see if there's genuine maturity you shall not eat anything with blood we've already covered that you shall not practice divination or soothsaying we've kind of touched on that don't call the psychic hotline don't go to miss Cleo's website don't consult astrology for your future God has your future in his hand consult him father knows best you shall not shave around the sides of your head you shall not disfigure the edges of your beard you shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead nor tattoo any marks on you I am the Lord tattooing and body piercing not a lot really has to be said because notice the qualifying phrase in the verse for the dead it's referring to Egyptian death cult practices whereby gashes were made on the legs on the arms upon the face to appease the gods of death so that the person engaging in the tattooing and body piercing could live longer and be spared death impending death that has overtaken somebody in the mourning process they would often gouge themselves tattoo themselves cut themselves to appease that God or those gods all based on superstitions that a person might gain strength and live long so don't follow the Egyptian or the Canaanite death cult practices by these things do not prostitute your daughter or cause her to be a harlot lest the land fall into harlotry and the land become full of wickedness you shall keep my Sabbath and reverence my sanctuary I am the Lord give no regard to mediums or smalls are large for that matter and familiar spirits do not seek after them to be defiled by them I am the Lord your God you shall rise before the gray-headed and honor the presence of an old man and fear your God I am the Lord I'm growing to enjoy this verse more and more as time goes on when I first read it years ago in my teens late teens I thought all that's nice sweet little verse but this time around as I read it it has more weight to it I like this practice and evidently God liked the practice of giving honor to whom honor was due we live in a culture virtually obsessed with youth it's all about trends of the youth thinking of the youth music of the youth ideas of the youth hey I can relate at one time I was a youth and the church background I come out of ie Calvary Chapel was largely based around a youth movement but Mark Twain said something interesting he said the trouble with used youth is it's wasted on the young by the time you get life down pat and your content and confident and just happy with where the Lord has you it was it's over so what's left honor you shall writ rise before the gray-headed and honor the presence of an old man the first time I went to the South the southern United States especially the southeast I was amazed now I'm a Californian so we don't even know what a manner is and you know it's like somebody watching them dude what's up that's about as good as it gets hey but I remember when I met the Graham family the Billy Graham and Franklin Graham and and my wife entered the room and they they stood up and it made such an impact on me and really made an impact on her I said boy isn't that that's wonderful any day and then they said ma'am I thought you know weird my wife a man Linnea ma'am but it again it struck me that the kind of manners and again it struck her the kind of manners she said you could use some of those manners so I've tried if a stranger dwells with you in your land you shall not mistreat him the stranger the foreigner who dwells among you you shall shall be to you as one born among you now read this carefully the person who's a foreigner living in your country you are to treat as a believer as being under the Covenant of God as one born among you and you shall love him as yourself here's the reason why for you were strangers in the land of Egypt I am the Lord how do you feel when you're around foreigners who are in your country don't have to answer that out loud just think about it do you think thoughts like they should at least learn to speak our language or they should go back to where they come from that doesn't sound like loving your neighbor as yourself here we have fleshed out loving your neighbor as yourself and here's the reason here's the rationale you the children of Israel of all people should figure this out you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt and you're going into a land of which you're also going to be foreigners so of all people you should treat them with love and respect by the way you and I are foreigners the Bible says we're just passing through this earth this world is not our home our citizenship is in heaven this is God's earth not yours this is God's land not yours I'm not saying don't be patriotic I'm saying share the wealth certainly share the love of Christ in Hebrews 13 it tells us that brotherly love should continue and then something very interesting be careful how you treat strangers for some have entertained angels unaware foreigners may be angels I don't know I think angels speak English love your neighbor as yourself you shall do no injustice in judgment in measurement of length in weight or in volume in other words integrity in the workplace integrity in the marketplace this was one of the Prophet Amos big beefs with the children of Israel in that little minor profit Book of Amos he says you guys are offering sacrifices going through the ritual but you're cheating one another in the marketplace you shall have honest scales honest weights an honest Aoife that's a dry measure of 5.9 gallons dry weight and an honest Hin not hen don't uh saying keep your chickens honest but an honest hen that's a liquid measure of about a gallon I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt therefore you shall observe all my statutes at all my judgments and perform them I am the Lord let me just give a quick pitch a quick challenge before we get into the next chapter of integrity in the workplace be the kind of a worker who watches the Lord not the clock whose eye is not on the boss as the boss coming around the corner smiling looking busy but you're thinking I'm doing this to honor the Lord here's why the workplace is the staging area of the Christian faith it's where unbelievers get the opportunity to look to study us they don't get to study as a church they don't study us at home but at work they get to study us and unbelievers have questions like how do Christians act Monday morning what's their attitude in the workplace like when changes take place all of those things you may not know it but you are being studied with those ideas in mind in the New Testament first Peter chapter 2 Peter writes live such good lives among pagans that though they accuse you of wrongdoing they may see your good deeds and glorify God several years ago when I was in my 20s and I lived on a kibbutz in Israel it was a volunteer program where we were going over there to work the land and we get free room and board I told you a lot of those stories about living there we lived on a kibbutz on this collective farm in the north of by Lebanon and when it got close to Passover season now our job began we were out on the fields at about 5:00 in the morning 5:30 that's when work began got off about 2:00 in the afternoon and we were working the fields out in the cotton and the avocados and grapefruit etc Kiwis planting those but around Passover time they take some of the chickens that were raised on the kibbutz and they want some of the workers to volunteer to work extra hours putting the chickens creating the chickens and getting them off to market for the Passover one of the members of my team I remember Randy had this bright idea he said hey we ought to volunteer every single night during Passover season and be the workers that put those chickens into crates anyway all said Oh Randy I mean that's a beautiful Christian thing to do but we get up at 5:00 in the morning we're out in the field that you know 5:15 5:30 work till 2:00 this is about every night from 11 o'clock at night to about 1:00 2:00 in the morning so we could do this a couple of days go snow we had to do it every day for the whole Passover season because they're looking at us and they want to see why are Christians in the Land of Israel first of all and they're gonna see how hard we work and we're going to get an opportunity to share our faith with them like never before so he that's all into it and I'll be honest I didn't go okay good great idea i drugged my feet as well but we did it we get off work we'd have a meal in the afternoon go to bed really early get up do the chickens go to bed couple hours of sleep get up do a regular we did this for like a month the end of the month they came to us said we want to talk to you American Christians we want to know what makes you tick we want to know why you volunteer for all the hard jobs we want to know why you love us so much golden opportunity couldn't get a better opportunity than that because now they were willing to listen by seeing that kind of work ethic well after I came home back to the United States and I was reading some church history I came across this quote from the second century AD Justin Martyr not Justin Marbury Justin Martyr told of something similar that happened in the second century he writes many who have come in contact with us as Christians were overcome and changed from violent and tyrannical characters either from having watched the consistency of Christian neighbors or from having observed the wonderful patience of Christian travelers when overcharged or from simply doing business with Christians end quote I've talked to people who owned businesses and they go you know I honestly am hesitant to hire Christians I go you gotta be kidding why is that it goes because I find a lot of times Christians want me to give them special favors because they know I their boss or company owner am a Christian so they're not working on the job they want to read their Bible or they want to do their own spiritual thing and I say come on get to work everybody else is doing your job and they want to go brother come on brother this is reading the Bible broad yeah but you're not paid to do that you're paid to work the best witness you can give is to work hard honesty and scales honesty in business now the verdict is 20 might shock some of you because it's all about capital punishment and the various crimes listed for capital punishment given to the children of Israel to the state basically secularists and liberals will often point their finger at Scripture saying you know the Old Testament law of Israel is not much different from the ancient codes of other cultures other barbaric cultures who also used carried out capital punishment the big difference is looking at the codes of these other cultures versus the mosaic code it's very very different the compassion that is built into the law of Moses and the brutality that is built into other codes and I would just submit a study on your own I don't want to take up our time to go through the brutality versus the compassion as seen here something about capital punishment you should know it didn't come from the law of Moses it predates the law of Moses goes back to the book of Genesis in chapter 9 in the beginning of civilization in Genesis 9 the Lord said whoever sheds man's blood by man his blood shall be shed for in the image of God he made man so you go through the law leviticus numbers deuteronomy and capital punishment was required for murder sexual immorality child abduction or kidnapping child sacrifice witchcraft false prophets astrology magic and idolatry it was never considered murder it was always considered righteously administered judicial execution righteously administered judicial execution not murder so when the Bible says you should though shalt not kill and I've heard you've heard people say well that means you you can't have capital punishment because you shall not kill that word means murder kill you shall not murder this has never seen as murder capital punishment is righteously administered judicial execution so we're gonna look through this we're gonna kind of breeze through it here's why chapter 18 that we've already read and chapter 20 which we're about to read are virtually identical in the sins they cover here's the difference chapter 18 is writing to the perpetrators saying don't do that chapter 20 is written to the congregation saying this is how you handle that verse 1 then the Lord spoke to Moses saying again you shall say to the children of Israel whoever of the children of Israel or of the strangers who dwell in Israel who give any of his descendants to Molech shall surely be put to death the people of the land shall stone him with stones I will set my face against that man and will cut him off from his people because he has given some of his descendants to Molech to defile my sanctuary and profane my holy name and if the people of the land should say in any way or should in any way pardon me hide their eyes from the man when he gives some of his descendants to Molech and they do not kill him then I will set my face against that man and against his family and I will cut him off from his people and all who prostitute themselves with him to commit harlotry we touched on this last week and we saw that there was nothing more repulsive more repugnant to the God of Israel than the worship of the ammonite god Molech that pot-bellied deity that was made out of iron between 4 and 6 7 feet tall and they put a fire in its belly until the arms were incandescent hot and they burned their babies on the arms of that Idol Molik a detestable practice a horrible practice a practice by the neighboring land of Ammon that entered into Israeli practice throughout their history in fact did you know that King Solomon raised up an idol in the valley around Jerusalem the valley of Gehenna Hinnom to Molech and the children of israel according to scripture would sometimes get into that practice and they would have loud beating of the drums in Jerusalem down in the valley of Gehenna also called tow FET if you have read that in your Old Testament the beating of the drum whenever you heard a beating of the drum the beating of the drum was part of the worship to Molech in order to drown out this cries and screams of the babies so you hear that boom boom boom boom drum down in the valley you know that's what they were practicing and it entered into the practice of the children of Israel during the period of the Chronicles and the kings in the Old Testament child sacrifice was quite common in ancient civilizations ancient cultures in Carthage which is modern-day Tunis Tunisia North Africa in some of the archaeological digs they've discovered gardens and in doing the digs of the gardens the corpses the bones of thousands of children from infancy to age for sacrifice to different deities and they were called different things by different cultures around them whether it was Moloch by the ammonites or named something else by a different culture the idea is that I will get wealth or prosperity or pleasure by sacrificing my child to these gods and we touched last time on how abortion mirrors in our modern culture the ancient worship of Molech we don't burn babies in the fire we burn them in the womb with saline because I can't afford this child now or it's just inconvenient for me right now I want to have a life I want to have pleasure and then later on maybe we'll have children we live in a culture in a country in which if you were to tamper with the egg of a bald eagle a preborn eagle a preborn bald eagle to tamper with an egg is a five thousand dollar fine and a minimum one year in prison in Maryland it's illegal to transport pregnant lobsters to market carries with it a fine see where I'm going with this if you're a preborn animal you would fare better in the American court system than a preborn child lord says you're going into a culture that has these practices you've come from a culture that had these practices I'm the Lord I'm the Covenant God don't be like them be holy for I am holy be separate for I am the Lord verse 6 the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits to prostitute himself with them I will set my face against that person and cut him off from his people consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy for I am the Lord your God you shall keep my statutes and perform them I am the lord who sanctifies you do you remember last time I told you the word in Hebrew for sanctified or holy is the word Kadosh or Kadesh Kadosh holy ruach ha'qodesh is the spirit the holy or the holy spirit it means separate it means distinct it means unique it means different means all of those things now there is an interesting tension going on and in this whole section but you see it in this verse on one hand the Lord says you be holy in the previous chapter he said you sanctify yourself I'm the Lord that's a commandment for you and for me be holy sanctify yourself for I am the Lord he says it here again consecrate yourselves and be holy verse 7 and the notice verse 8 i am the lord who sanctifies you question which is it do you sanctify yourself or does the Lord sanctify you both that's exactly right in the New Testament same principle calls you to come out from among them and be separate I am the Lord and yet when Paul writes to the Corinthian church he says you have been sanctified or you were sanctified wait a minute to the Corinthian church have you read the book of 1st Corinthians those people were a mess they had problem after problem after problem and he says they're sanctified you need to see the difference between positional sanctification and practical sanctification every believer from the moment of salvation has been set apart by the Lord positionally you are clean and pure and holy before God because of what Jesus did for you that's positional sanctification you still may have some of the old crud some of the old habits hanging on some of the old ways of thinking hanging on that you and I are called to repent of to turn from - sanctify ourselves in so it's both there has been a theological divider among these lines for some years there is a teaching I remember being told by somebody when I first encountered this teaching that I could be sinlessly perfect they said skip you can attain sinless perfection I thought you you don't really know me do you he said no it's possible for any Christian to become sinlessly perfect that is you can get to a place where you're so dedicated so consecrated so devoted to the Lord that you stop sinning total sanctification the one who first came up with this idea in its nascent form was Wesley John Wesley and he believed there was a method to doing this and if you follow the method it became known as Methodism you could become practically perfectly holy sinless on this earth the truth is you won't be perfect till you get to heaven but God looks at you through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ as being perfect sinless holy whole complete but there still is that work that needs to be done and it takes a cooperation his work and our work work out your own salvation in fear interim that doesn't mean work for your own salvation you work it out you're already saved now apply the truth be sanctified be holy turn from things turn toward the Lord it's both you can't do it without God God won't do it without you verse nine for everyone who curses his father or mother shall surely be put to death PS first his father or his mother his blood shall be upon him I don't believe this verse is primarily refers referring to cussing your parents out in a moment of extreme duress I don't believe it's referring to the fourteen-year-old who gets really angry and says a bad word against his mom's okay that's it you're never gonna be saved you're going straight to hell I believe in the context of this chapter it's referring to attempting to harm your parents by the use of supernatural or occult ik magical means cursing father or mother scripture says in the last days there will become people who are lovers of themselves lovers of pleasure abusive disobedient to their parents just hardened recalcitrant against parents in the United States of America every year more than 8 million serious assaults are made by children on their parents I remember 25 years ago getting a call from a local mortuary said skip we have a very high-profile funeral somebody on the Westside a young boy bludgeoned his parents with sledgehammers buried them in the backyard of the house in a shallow grave for a few days and then invited friends over to their home to party and they asked me to come in and do this funeral heartbreaking as they uncovered and discovered some of this young man's background they discovered his involvement in the occult occultic practices he opened himself up to the dark side to spiritualism to spear Tizen and dart powers so I think that is the idea implied in the context of this chapter now verses 10 through 21 a list of things that we've already discussed incest homosexuality bestiality adultery with your brother's wife so that's verses 10 through 21 we've already uncovered it and discovered it in chapter 18 so look at verse 22 you shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my judgments and perform them that the land where I am bringing you to dwell may not vomit you out you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you for they commit all these things therefore I abhor them but I have said to you you shall inherit their land and I will give it to you to possess a land flowing with milk and honey I am the Lord your God who has separated you from the peoples you shall therefore distinguish between clean animals and unclean between unclean birds and clean and you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or bird or any living thing that creeps on the ground which I have separated from you as unclean all the dietary restrictions we already covered and you shall be holy to me for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from all the peoples that you should be mine a man or a woman who is a medium who has a familiar spirit shall surely be put to death they shall stone them with stones their blood shall be upon them I'll just want to close this chapter by saying that capital punishment is a hotly debated topic even among Christians even among godly Christians even even among Christian leaders so I am NOT gonna solve that riddle tonight I'm gonna solve that problem tonight I do believe that we should love all people and the people should be reached out to and rehabilitated and that there's hope for anyone who's done anything ever and our main goal should be to seek out that person's restoration and salvation I also believe in justice and I believe that the focus after crimes like this are committed shouldn't rest with the person who's committed them as much as the victims upon whom they have been committed and we talk about the violation of Rights most people had their rights violated who were taken advantage of or killed by those people who did it so I'll let you debate it among yourselves but let me just throw something in the mix for you one wonders maybe this is just an Old Testament thing the New Testament surely would not stand for capital punishment well let's listen to the words of a man who was possibly being sentenced to die a capital punishment death and what he said about it in fact his name was Paul the Apostle now listen carefully Paul was arrested in Jerusalem right taken to surgery right two years the Council of Jerusalem follows him to Caesarea they call this court Festus is there the governor of Rome for Judea and they're trying to rig this thing and bring Paul back to Jerusalem so that on the road since they didn't get to do it the first time the second time they can create a ruckus jump him and kill him so they say let's move the trial back to Jerusalem so Festus says to Paul are you willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial for these charges and then Paul knew that it was just a kangaroo court so goes look you governor know perfectly that these are trumped-up charges that I haven't done anything wrong and you know that perfectly well however if I have committed anything worthy of the death penalty I don't object to so there's Paul staring him with his own eyes into a possible death penalty goes I don't object to the death penalty even if it means you kill me if I've done something worthy of death but I haven't done anything worthy of death so I just want to throw that in the mix as you're gonna afterwards have coffee and argue capital punishment I thought there'd be a lot of fun for you to throw in the mix now chapter 21 and I'm glad we'll be able to end somewhere in chapter 21 because chapter 21 and 22 are all about the priest so we'll be able to get it and finish it before we get into the Feast of chapter 23 is the standards the requirements for those who are privileged to serve in the priesthood of Israel but let me tell you something the priesthood of Israel was not God's original intention did you know that God's original intention is that the whole nation have a relationship of intimacy with him or by the whole nation would be priests in the book of Exodus chapter 19 the Lord said to his people if you will obey me me if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant you shall be a special treasure above all peoples you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation that was God's original intention what happened idolatry happened the golden calf happened it was such an affront to God that after that one tribe was selected Levi one family out of the tribe of Levi was selected Aaron and a group of people in that family Aaron Kohath Gershon and Merari that formed the priesthood the high priesthood so now you have a staged representation before God of the people the priesthood but God's original intention was just that direct access but idolatry fumbled that and foiled it now here's what we discover in this chapter the standards that God has for the priests are higher than the standards that God has for the people why because the priest is the link the goal between the mediator between the people and between God so the responsibilities the standards are higher it's like the two men that were arrested for committing a crime by robbing a store one was a college or a high school dropout and the other was a lawyer the judge sentenced the lawyer to ten years the dropout to two years saying the lawyer is more responsible to have known and applied the law than the dropout so the standard is raised when we get to the New Testament the good news is that you and I are a holy priesthood the book of 2nd Peter chapter 2 says you're a chosen generation a royal priesthood a holy nation so we don't in the New Testament need a priest to offer some kind of sacrifice or Sasser total ritual whereby I can approach God if I go to a priest you can go directly to God you are a priest I was raised a Catholic and I was one of four boys the last of four boys my mom wanted a girl and she had three boys I was the last hope of being the girl and I failed in that respect so since I was a boy she hoped that I would become a priest now I just want you to picture me right now as a priest just have a little fun with that some of you aren't having any fun with that but that's okay they wanted my two older brothers to become priests and both of them went to the seminary and were almost ordained as Catholic priests but last minute they said nope we don't want to do it then the other brother Bob he was just he was a Hells Angel he was hopeless he's not going to become priest so I was the last hope that I would be I would be the priest of the family they wanted a priest in the family so they pushed me toward the priesthood I took a different turn obviously became a born-again believer but imagine the shock the day I walked up to my mom and I said mom you have your wish I'm a priest she was shocked I said I knew you'd be shocked but I want you to just listen to this scripture and I read 2nd Peter - you are a priesthood I said mom the good news is that any one of us can have direct access to God through Jesus Christ we don't have to go through a human we don't need that kind of a priesthood we have the priesthood of Christ which mitigates against that and cancels out the need for it thus we can go directly to God and the Lord said to Moses verse one speak to the priests the sons of Aaron say to them none shall defile himself for the dead among his people except for his relatives who are nearest to him his mother his father his son his daughter his brother also his virgin sister who is near to him who has no husband for her he may defile himself otherwise he shall not defile himself being a chief man among his people to profane himself a stricter separation for the priests if somebody in your neighborhood dies you don't enter the house to defile yourself you don't touch the dead body because you're in the priesthood unless it's a closed next of kin you as a priest cannot defile yourself higher stricter responsibilities than those of the people of Israel they shall not make any bald place on their heads they shall not shade the edges of their beers nor make any cuttings in their flesh again this part of the Adept Egyptian death cults God didn't want them to practice they shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God for they offered the offerings of the Lord made by fire and the bread of their God that holy showbread they had to handle that therefore they shall be holy just as there was a stricter category for priests in Israel there is a similar more stringent set of requirements for those in the ministry in the New Testament first Timothy chapter 3 gives a list of any man desires the office of a bishop and overseer he desires of good work it is a good work but then he gives a list of qualifications it's a good work but it's a dangerous work and that's why James says the teachers will receive the stricter judgment so be careful people say oh I want to get into the ministry only after work one day a week first of all you don't know the ministry and anybody who works on the campus that this church can talk to you about what busyness is but it's also stricter and more stringent on a number of other levels you become a dedicated target of the enemy and I've told you before that this latest statistic is that 1,600 ministers per month quit and here's why 94 percent say they feel the pressure to have a perfect family because everybody's looking at him making comments about their kids and their grandkids and you know why do they do this and why don't they do that so they feel this tremendous pressure to have a perfect ideal family and being in the fishbowl they quit 84% feel discouraged by other people 85 to 86% say that they're tired of dealing with complaints whether it's from Elder boards or Deacon committees or disgruntled people or assistant pastors or whatever just that load weighs on them but what a staggering statistic 1600 ministers a month you get into a very interesting category in pastoral ministry you're in a stringent set of responsibilities in character traits you're being observed in under the microscope and the fishbowl by people and you're a target of the enemy so that's why when somebody comes up and goes I want to be a pastor I tell them what Charles Spurgeon and what my pastor told me if you can be happy doing anything else do it it's only if you can't be happy can't be satisfied you are driven and compelled by God to do it then do it but if you can at all be happy doing anything else they both said please do it in fact my Pastor Chuck Smith would often discourage young men from the ministry and we'd ask them how come you just discourage that young guy he smile and go if I can discourage him he shouldn't be in the ministry he's gonna get a lot worse discouragement than that later on that's just the first test they shall not take a wife who was a harlot or a defiled woman verse 7 nor shall they take a woman who is divorced from her husband where the priest is holy to his God therefore you shall consecrate him for he offers the bread of your God he shall be holy to you for I am the lord who sanctifies you I am holy they have to be careful watch who they marry the daughter of any priest if she profanes herself by playing the harlot she profanes her father she shall be burned with fire he who is the high priest among his brethren or whose head on who said the anointing oil was poured and who is consecrated to wear the garments shall not uncover his head nor tear his clothes nor shall he go near any dead body nor defile himself for his father or his mother nor shall he go out of the sanctuary nor profaned the sanctuary of his God for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him I am the Lord to tear the clothes was a sign of grief when Joshua and Caleb and the other 10 spies went from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land member the story numbers 14 and they came back and they had this discussion Joshua and Caleb said come on let's just take the land God gave it to us let's go for it and the other ten said oh I don't think we should go for it there's really big dudes hanging out there big giants and you know they're gonna eat us for lunch it says that Joshua and Caleb tore their clothes in disgust because they were so bummed out at the statement that brought unbelief to sweep over the children of Israel as for chapter 9 after the return of the captives back to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity in chapter 9 when Ezra found out that some of the people and even some of the priests were marrying intermarrying from pagan cultures it says he tore his garments he tore his robe he plucked out hair from his head and from his beard that's radical in discussed the high priest was not to show violence just like the new testimonies not to be an angry man or a violent man a minister not given to violence or outbursts of anger so to tear the clothes of the high priests people would see that as a sign of he's really angry so the high priest in that representation could not do that now there's somebody who violated this who was he Caiaphas in the New Testament when Jesus said he was God's Son the high priest ripped his garment discuss and call the blasphemy let's pray time's up father we thank you for your word we thank you Lord for the ability to gather together as a family as a flock being joined by people in Santa Fe on the Internet as well as just our neighbors our friends or spiritual family gathered here in this room thank you for your love for us thank you that the law of God reveals the heart and love of a God who is concerned about all details of our life father we do pray for pastors for ministers not only in this church but including this church and throughout this community father that you'd strengthen them that you bless them and the work that is done at their hands all of their staffs all of their assistants all of the churches father in this town in this state that are preaching the word pour out your hand of affirmation upon them and strengthen them because we're all on the same team to glorify you in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

Views: 4,035

Rating: 4.768116 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary, Albuquerque, Skip, Heitzig, Jesus, Leviticus, Sermon

Id: QuXQU7xhUfE

Length: 58min 54sec (3534 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 19 2018