Leviticus 19

hey hey good morning good morning welcome to coffee and devotions this for every day you and I we get together we have a little bit of coffee we get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together in this year 2023 Lord willing will'll make it from Genesis through Leviticus I'm so glad to be with you today why don't we have some coffee we'll pray and we jump into God's word let's pray father we thank you so much for this day what a joy and a blessing it is to get to hear from you we come to your word and we confess to you Lord that we sometimes don't want to sometimes our days are crazy some days our hearts are hard and our minds are slow so we pray Lord that your holy spirit will help us that we might understand and believe and that your spirit would apply these things to our lives in Jesus's name amen all right so we are at Leviticus Leviticus chapter 19 so uh this is moral and ceremonial laws this is one of those chapters that's hard to parse out right there's uh there are different chapters in Leviticus and well Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy and they're typically categorized in three different ways right first is the moral law that's some summarized in the Ten Commandments right these are these are laws that are Universal amongst all cultures all people all Nations all times right and you shouldn't murder don't commit adultery right these are the universal laws uh second are ceremonial laws right all sorts of laws that were really peculiar in particular to Old Testament Israel right how they were to be ritually clean how they were to be ritually different than everybody else the dietary laws are part of this and then there's civil laws right or sunry laws these are things that applied to Israel as a nation right if you build a roof you a house with a roof and it's going to be a roof that you live on you got to put a parit you got to put a balcony around it to protect people you're going to build uh you know a pit you got to put a warning around the pit you have an ox of course people you got to be responsible for that right so there's all sorts of civil laws if they were to function well well today and we get to a mismatch it's kind of like a grab bag of all sorts of different moral laws and also ceremonial laws so why don't we go ahead and jump in and we'll kind of work through them as we go so here we go Leviticus chapter 19 and the Lord spoke to Moses saying Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel and say to them you shall be holy for I the Lord your God am Holy what's rooting this Jesus Christ what's rooting this the Holiness of God right so it's these These are because God is Holy and so they are to be Holy Verse three every one of you shall rever his father his mother and his father and keep my sabbaths I am the Lord your God right so remember the fifth commandment remember the fourth Commandment okay so these are moral laws do not turn to Idols nor make for yourself molded gods for I am the Lord your God right the second commandment so here we have again moral law verse 5 and if you offer a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord you shall offer it of your own free will it shall be eaten the same day you offer it and on the next day and if any remains until the third day it shall be burned in the fire and if it is eaten at all on the third day it is an Abomination it shall not be accepted therefore everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity because he has profaned the hollowed the hallowed offerings of of the Lord and that person shall be cut off from his people so this is one of the ceremonial laws the sacrificial laws if you have a sacrifice you're to eat it the first day you got leftovers the second day but never the third day burn it and if you eat it that's an Abomination the person who does that is to be cut off from their people verse n when you reap the Harvest of your land you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field nor shall you gather the gleanings of your Harvest and you shall not glean your Vineyard nor shall you gather every grape from your Vineyard you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger I am the Lord your God right so if you're a farmer you got a field don't try to get every single kernel of corn don't try to get every single uh bit of The Barley right leave some for the poor people to come by through and go afterwards this is what we find in the Book of Ruth right this is showing Mercy same thing with Vineyards go through Harvest your grapes they're yours enjoy them but don't go through a second third fourth time no leave that or others leave it for the poor why the Lord's their God it's rooted in who God is and God is merciful remembers the poor and The Afflicted verse 11 you shall not steal nor deal falsely nor lie to one another again moral law right you shall not steal one of the Ten Commandments don't deal falsely with with one another ninth commandment not bearing false testimony and you shall not swear by my name falsely nor shall you profane the name of your God right Third Commandment you shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God for anyone who misuses his name will not be held Guiltless right the Lord remembers his name why should they do these things why is this moral law true because I am the Lord again it's rooted in who God is verse 13 and 14 you shall not cheat your neighbor nor Rob him the wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning you shall not curse the deaf nor put a stumbling block before the blind but you shall fear your God why I am the Lord so this is again God saying right you you can't take advantage of people who work for you right they work for a wage give them their wage don't hold on to it right if you if they're they're needing to buy bread they need to pay for their rent they need to buy clothes all these things that's necessary you're the one who's hired them you need to pay them don't hold it right and if you if you're going to don't curse the deaf don't put a stumbling block behind before the blind right the Lord takes note of those things verse 15 you shall do no Injustice in judgment you shall not be partial to the poor nor honor the person of the mighty in righteousness you shall judge your neighbor you shall not go about as a tail Bearer among your people nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor why again I am the lord it's rooted in who the Lord is you can't show partiality to the poor and you can't show partiality to the mighty you got to have Blind Justice it's not about the person but it's about righteousness and Justice and so they were to be a people of Justice this is a moral aspect of the law in their civil laws and that was rooted in who God was in his being verse 17 you shall not hate your brother in your heart you shall surely rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because of him you shall not take Vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your people but you shall love your neighbor as yourself I am the Lord the Lord Jesus Christ himself pointed to this commandment as summarizing all of these Commandments as love your neighbor as yourself the second greatest commandment and he points this out here to tell them you not to have a grudge against your neighbor you're not to hate your neighbor but you're to love them as yourself if you love your neighbor as yourself are you going to steal are you going to cheat are you going to kill no you're you're not going to do those things right this is why Jesus points out specifically this verse Leviticus 19:18 as a second greatest commandment verse 19 you shall keep my statutes you should not let your livestock breed with another kind you shall not sew your field with mixed seed you shall nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you now this is interesting right now we have a ceremonial law right this is not moral law we're not talking about not showing Justice to poor Rich now we're talking about you can't have different types of seeds in your field right so you don't sew corn and you sew barley or maybe here you know you SE corn and wheat and soybeans right no no you have monocrops right that's what this is saying and and also your clothing right cotton polyester not alloud what was the point of this right it was meant to be a ceremonial sign of them that they were to be pure and holy their garments were to show it their fields were to show it this was God's plan for them to show forth Holiness this is not one of those statutes of morality this is a statute of ceremony notice what this did not say right it didn't say I am the Lord it didn't have that refrain in it because I don't think this is a moral law this is a ceremonial law and often you'll even hear people who say to Christians right well you you'll sew different seeds in your field and you'll wear cotton polyester blend why are you picking and choosing from the Bible because there's a difference in the Bible Jesus fulfilled the these ceremonial laws Jesus fulfilled the dietary laws Jesus did these things we don't need to follow the ceremonial laws anymore but we do need to follow the moral laws okay well let's go ahead and keep on going verse 20 whoever lies carnally with a woman who is betr to a man as a concubine or who has not at all been redeemed nor given her freedom for this there shall be a this there shall be scourging but they shall not be put to death because she was not free and he shall bring his trespass off offering before the Lord to the door of the Tabernacle of meeting a ram as a trespass offering the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the Lord for his sin which he has committed and the sin which he has committed shall be forgiven him right so if you're going if there's a man and he goes and he sleeps with a concubine that's a sin she's not his and he's done something wrong he's committed a sin and he's got to atone for for that sin not be put to death but he is to be scourged and have to pay a sacrifice verse 23 by the way I think some of these commands are are laws that God gives for people because of their weakness and their sinfulness not because he thinks it's good for them to be sleeping with a concubine not because he thinks that this is what's moral and and and perfect he's dealing with a sinful people and a sinful World verse 23 when you come into the land right he's given all of this to them while they're still on the other in the desert they haven't crossed over the other side of the Jordan River yet when you come into the land and have planted all kinds of trees for food then you shall Count Their fruit as uncircumcised three years it shall be uncircumcised to you it shall not be eaten but in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy a praise to the Lord and in the fifth year you may eat its fruit that it may yield to you its increase I I am the Lord your God the Lord is taking ownership here he's saying when you go into the land you're going to find trees you're going to find all sorts of fruit bearing trees that's going to be great you got three years three years you can't eat any of it you can't do anything you just let it fall to the ground this is going to be what's going to happen I'm going to feed you don't worry about it you're going to be fine the fourth year all that goes to the lord it's his the fifth year have at it boys right I'm gracious to you I'm giving it to you it's going to be great right why how can you trust this because he says I am the Lord your God he's giving them the land and he's giving them the produce of the land but they need to do it his way verse 26 you shall not eat anything with the blood nor shall you practice divination or sooth saying you shall not shave around the sides of your head nor shall you disfigure the edges of your beard you shall not make any cuting in your flesh for the dead nor tattoo any marks are on you I am the Lord right this is the type of things again right non-christians point at Christians they say hey look you got tattoos hey look you got uh you know you you got the corners of your beard shaved you you've cut the corners of your hair you must not actually believe the Bible either well again hold on I think these are ceremonial laws and I think they are specifically tied to what other nations around them were doing they were to be visibly different than the other people when somebody in the culture of Canaan died they would actually go and take their ashes mix them with oil and mark their bodies for the dead they would especially do this with people that they have conquered to show that they are are are stronger than that person the Lord saying that's not how you're going to behave why because I'm the Lord your God you're going to follow in the ways that I've set for your life I think these are ceremonial laws okay verse 29 do not prostitute your daughter to cause her to be a harlot L the land fall into a into a harlotry and the land become full of wickedness right if you want to say this is all just ceremonial law though you got a problem because then we can be witch doctors and we can sell our daughters into harlotry but no these are moral laws right you don't want to sell your daughter to be a harlot and nor do you want to become one who binds yourselves to the doctrines of demons with witchcraft so some of these are moral laws even as they're baked into the ceremonial Parts also right you have you have both of these as this grab bag in in Leviticus 19 and this is the chapter this is the chapter so many unbelieving people will say see they don't follow the Bible and we say no no no at least we're honest enough to parse the Bible the way the Bible the New Testament tells us to parse the Bible so we want to go and we want to figure out what is applicable to us and what is not applicable to us what has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ but what remains today for Christians to obey verse 30 you shall keep my sabbaths and reverence My Sanctuary I am the Lord give no regard to mediums and and familiar spirits do not seek after them to be defiled by them I am the Lord your God right you're going to go go to the Lord go to him only don't go to the spiritist don't go to the the horoscopes don't go to the Palm readers don't go to the tarot cards don't go to the the astropol don't go to any of this stuff right go to the Lord he is our God you shall R rise before the grayheadedgamer verse 33 and if a stranger dwells with you in your land you shall not mistreat him the stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you and you shall love love him as yourself for You Were Strangers in the land of Egypt I am the Lord your God right they're they to remember they were sojourners they were strangers so when when they have strangers living with them they didn't like being treated as slaves they didn't like how Pharaoh treated them and so when they strangers amongst them they're to treat them well they're to even love them Leviticus 1918 above applies here here and then in verse 35 and 36 you shall do no Injustice and judgment in measurement of length weight or volume you shall have honest scales honest weights and honest an honest epha and an honest hin I am the Lord of your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt right you got to be honest when you're selling stuff and buying stuff you have a weight it says a pound it's got to be a pound you have uh you have a a jar it's supposed to be an epha a flower it's got to be an epha a flower don't change stuff around right have a standard therefore you shall observe all my statutes and all my judgments and perform them again for the last time why I am the Lord your God now let's just count this here uh I am the Lord your God verse three I am the Lord your God verse four I am the Lord your God verse 10 I am the the Lord verse 12 I am the Lord verse 14 I am the Lord verse 16 I am the Lord Verse 18 uh I am the Lord your God verse 25 I am the Lord verse 28 I am the Lord verse 30 I am the Lord your God verse 31 I am the Lord verse 32 I am the Lord your God verse uh 34 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt verse 36 I am the Lord verse 37 he is yahovah he is Yahweh how does this apply to us he is the Lord Our God he is the one who has redeemed us with more than just precious silver or gold but with the very blood of Jesus Christ he is the Lord Our God he gets to call the shots because he's redeemed us because he's loved us he gives us the laws because he is our Lord we follow after him we don't just cast this aside the world loves lawlessness though there's even teachers who will tell you that the law just completely goes away but there's still a moral law right the law convicts us of sin the law restrains sin but the law also is a teacher of us of what it means to be righteous and so when we come to laws like this we want to be careful we want to parse these things out figure out what applies to us what was for Old Testament Israel but if it applies to us we need to follow it because this is what is good this is what pleases Our Redeemer and our Lord so what is it in these laws that you need to follow let's pray father we thank you so much that we could never fulfill all these laws we can't do all of these but you sent your only son and he fulfilled every single one of these Commandments perfectly gave us his righteousness we're not trying to earn our own righteousness Lord no we have been saved by grace through faith and it's a gift not of works we can't brag about it or boast about it Lord but we pray that we would do the good works that you have called us to do help us to walk in your ways in Jesus's name amen well may God bless you I know it's been a fast one but may you rest in Jesus Christ I talk to you later bye thanks for listening to this week's message from God's word for you a Ministry of Sharon RP Church in rule Southeast Iowa we pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week if you'd like to get more information about us feel free to go to the website Sharon rc.org we'd love to invite you to worship with us our worship time is 10:00 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue mornings Sun Iowa 52640 may God richly bless you this [Music] week