Prepare
Opening Prayer
Lord, thank you for the blessing of reading and hearing your Word. Help us understand and apply it to our hearts and lives. In Jesus' name, amen.
Read
Scripture Passage
Ceremonially Unclean Persons Isolated
5 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever becomes defiled by a corpse. 3 You shall put out both male and female; you shall put them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camps in the midst of which I dwell.” 4 And the children of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp; as the Lord spoke to Moses, so the children of Israel did.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Nu 5:1–4.
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
The Lord commands Israel to put ceremonially unclean men and women outside the camp so they do not defile the place where he dwells, visibly signaling that God and his people are holy.
B — Best Verse
Which Verse Best Summarizes the Passage?
Numbers 5:2-3
Bryan explicitly says he has the latter part of verse 2 and first part of verse 3 underlined, summarizing who is removed and why.
C — Called or Christ
C — Christ Connection
Thank God that Christ's blood cleanses sinners and baptism signifies and seals this cleansing. Pursue moral holiness, lovingly call unrepentant people to confession, and seek restoration to fellowship.
Additional Notes
Main Points:
Key Focus: The passage instructs the Israelites to remove anyone ceremonially unclean—due to leprosy, discharge, or contact with a corpse—from the camp to prevent defilement of the community where God dwells.
Main Points:
Ceremonial Uncleanliness: Not just physical ailments like leprosy but any condition rendering someone ceremonially unclean required isolation outside the camp.
Holiness of God: This law underscores God's holiness and the need for His people to reflect this holiness in their midst.
Application for Today: While we no longer adhere to these ceremonial laws due to Christ's fulfillment of the law, the principle of moral purity remains. Believers are called to avoid moral uncleanness and encourage confession and restoration within the community.
Conclusion: The sermon concludes with a prayer for cleanliness through Jesus Christ and a call for personal and communal holiness, reflecting God's holiness.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
hey hey good morning good morning good morning welcome to coffee and devotions this where every day you and I we get together have a little bit of coffee get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together in this year 2024 Lord willing will make it through the books of Numbers Deuteronomy and Hebrews so glad to be with you let's have some coffee we'll pray and we just got four verses to look at today let's pray Lord we thank you so much for what a blessing it is to get to read your word to hear from you and father we pray that you would please help us to understand your word and have it applied to our hearts and lives in Jesus's name amen all right so we're at Numbers Chapter 5 the first four verses when we get into chapter 5 kind of the census part of the book for now is over and so uh now we're going to get into kind of some different laws uh regarding different things so right now where're it's at the law for the unclean person and the Lord spoke to Moses saying command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper everyone who has a discharge and whoever becomes defiled by a corpse you shall put out both male and female you shall put them outside the camp that they may not defile their camps in the midst of which I dwell and the children of Israel did so and put them outside the camp as the Lord spoke to Moses so the children of Israel did so what is this a about B what's the best verse to summarize this and C what are we called to do well this is about people who are to be ol at and it's not just the leper here but it's those who are unclean now we've talked about this before this idea of somebody who has uh you know comes in has leprosy does not mean necessarily Hansen's Disease like we would see today when people talk about leprosy but we're talking about open lesions scabs uh kind of things wrong with their Dermatology or where the Derma right so so they would have to go see a dermatologist and they might have lesions or something going on uh something going on like that and so but it's also people who have a discharge or has become defiled by a Corps right those people are isolated because this is a ceremonial unclean type thing so in the midst of Israel what is to Mark the people of Israel is that they are set apart as holy unto their Covenant King the Lord himself who dwells in the midst of them so God is the most holy and he's in the middle of them right his his Tabernacle his tent his his mobile throne room is in their midst everyone camps around but if somebody becomes unclean they are now Unholy and are to be put outside of the camp and so that's what this is getting at here whether it's a male or a female right you shall put them outside the camp why because they're not to defile the camp uh so that's what this passage is about it's about this visible signaling that God is Holy and his people are to be holy and that uh he's the one who set these bounds what's the best verse to summarize this well in my Bible I have the second half of verse 9 and the first half of verse three underlined maybe you would underline something else for let me know down in the comments what are we called to do though about this right we don't follow the same ceremonial laws anymore we we don't we don't follow the the laws that you know if somebody has a bad skin rash they're not allowed to come to worship right we don't follow those types of things anymore right because Jesus Christ has fulfilled those laws in the New Covenant but however I'm going to take this in a different direction right all of this was not meant to be the the physical washing it was meant to point to the inward reality that we all have sin where there's uncleanness that we bring upon ourselves when our hearts are filled with their lusts and their desires and then we go out and we do sinful things or we have sinful thoughts or we speak sinful words we make ourselves unclean and it's clear if you go through the New Testament again and again and again we're not to be those who are unclean morally right we are washed in the baptism the Waters of baptism we are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ we are Justified but we don't go purposely solely ourselves and so if we find someone even in and this this is where people are going to get really not happy right but even in our own congregations if we find someone who is defiling themselves with moral filth we're commanded in the New Testament to not treat such a person as a brother or sister in Christ right we're we're commanded to not just ignore that type of uncleanness in our own midst and so this is a difficult thing to do but it's a necessary thing to do that we love each other and so whether it's a male or a female we try to love one another and in the New Testament when those people are put outside the church outside the congregation we pray we plead with them that they would become clean again right and we we're honest with ourselves right it's not that we're without sin right he who says he is without sin is a liar it deceives himself and makes God a liar but when we confess our sins he is faithful and he is just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all of our transgressions and so we encourage them to go confess their sins and be washed and restored back to the congregation let's go ahead and pray father we thank you so much that you have given us a way to be clean through the blood of Jesus Christ Lord that which the baptism that you give to us symbolizes and is a sign and a seal of Lord we pray that you would please care for us and teach us to walk in your ways we pray these things in Jesus's name amen well may the Lord bless you may you walk in the joy and peace that Jesus Christ gives you and may you may you seek out in your own heart how to walk in cleanness and in Holiness for he has called you to be holy as he is Holy I'll see you next time bye thanks for listening to this week's message from God's word for you a Ministry of Sharon RP Church in rural Southeast Iowa we pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in 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 Morning Sun Iowa 52640 may God richly bless you this [Music] week