Skip to content Flight LEV01 - Part C Oct 20 · 26 min ...more
Flight LEV01 - Part C
October 20, 2026 · 26 min
Pastor Skip explains why getting close to God isn’t about what you can do for Him—it’s about trusting what Jesus has already done for you.
Series Connect with Skip Heitzig Podcast October 20, 2026 · 26 min · Connect with Skip Heitzig Podcast
Pastor Skip explains why getting close to God isn’t about what you can do for Him—it’s about trusting what Jesus has already done for you. ...more Show the full description Show less Pastor Skip explains why getting close to God isn’t about what you can do for Him—it’s about trusting what Jesus has already done for you.
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Skip Heitzig ministers to over 15,000 people as senior pastor of Calvary Church in Albuquerque. He reaches out to thousands across the nation and throughout the
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0:00 Welcome to connect with Skip Heitzig. We're so glad you've tuned in today. At connect with Skip, we're passionate about helping you grow in your relationship with Jesus. That's why we share verse by verse bible teaching0:12 that's both clear and practical so you can live out God's truth wherever he's placed you. And you can stay connected beyond the broadcast when you sign up for pastor Skip's free weekly devotional.0:24 You'll receive biblical encouragement, exclusive content, and helpful resources to guide you deeper into God's word delivered straight to your inbox. Signing up is quick, easy, and completely0:36 free. Sign up today at connect with skip dot com. That's connect with skip dot com. Now here's today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig.0:45 These were called days of awe. Yom Kippur was not a joyful day. It was a mournful day. It was a day of introspection. It was a day of meditation. It was a day of confession of sin.0:57 Nobody said, Merry Yom Kippur. Happy Yom Kippur. It wasn't happy. It was mournful. It was the one day a year, and still is, where Orthodox Jews fast1:10 for a period of twenty five hours, a whole day. Why twenty five? I want to make sure they cover the entire day. So the ten days between these two festivals, Rosh Hashanah, beginning of the1:22 New Year, Yom Kippur, those ten days are called days of repentance. What happened? The high priest bathed. The high priest dressed in special ceremonial garb. He1:33 sacrificed a bull, sacrificed a ram, and took two goats. And that's where we get into chapter sixteen and seventeen. The first goat was killed.1:46 It was killed because that one goat, the blood was a substitute for the nation. It was receiving the punishment of the nation for their sin1:58 so that the nation wouldn't have to die. The second goat is called the scapegoat. I'm sure you've heard of that. If you haven't heard of the biblical scapegoat, you've heard of the modern idiom who say, well, you're2:07 using me as a scapegoat. This is where it comes from. It was the second goat on Yom Kippur, and the priest walked up to it, laid his hands on the head of the goat, confessed the sins of the nation. So2:18 it was like all of the sins were being transferred to the goat. Then the goat went into the wilderness. Chapter sixteen, verse twenty one, And Aaron laid both2:30 his hands on the head of the live goat, confessed over it the iniquities of the children of Israel, all their transgressions that would take a while concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the2:42 goat and sent it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. I've been in Judea before, and I had the privilege of getting2:54 in a Jeep. And I was taken out of Jerusalem through the Judean desert, through the foothills, to the stations to where they would have fires that would be3:06 signal fires to watch the scapegoat go in the wilderness. So they would let it go in the wilderness. Once it got out of sight, the priest would wave back to the guy upon the little3:18 pinnacle. He'd light his fire. The guy on the next pinnacle, a little higher up closer to Jerusalem, would see that fire. He'd light his fire. The guy on the pinnacle a little bit closer to Jerusalem, higher up, would3:29 light his fire. All the way back to the city of Jerusalem, When the people in the city in the temple when that was built, when they saw that the scapegoat had vanished from sight,3:41 all the people in the temple jumped and shouted praises to God, as if to say, our sins are taken away. Now, quickly,3:53 the scapegoat is the hope of the new covenant. It's the hope of the new covenant. What do I mean by that? Well, this happened every what? Day of Atonement happened every4:05 year, every year. Every year, just like there's a sacrifice or two every day. And there's festivals every few months, every year. This happened every year, every year, year,4:17 year after year, generation after generation. But Jeremiah thirty one predicts a new covenant. Jeremiah thirty one, I will make a new covenant with4:28 Israel. I will forgive their iniquity and their sin. I will remember no more. It anticipates a time in the future4:40 where it won't be like the covenant of the law anymore, having to do this over and over again. But God will take their sin and remove it completely, not cover it over. That's what the blood of sacrifices4:52 animals did. They just sort of covered it over. But remove it completely. The scapegoat, Jesus Christ, once and for all, would take the sin away. That's the new covenant.5:05 Leviticus seventeen explains why. Why was all this done? In fact, why all the blood in this book? Why every chapter it's about blood and sacrifice5:17 and priests going through the ritual? Verse eleven of chapter seventeen explains why. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to5:28 you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. So blood was sacred. Why?5:40 Because blood was its life. The animal's life is its blood. So the basis of approach is by blood.5:52 Now, tells us something about the law. And I think you really get it from Leviticus. The purpose of the law is not to show us how approachable God is, but6:04 exactly the opposite. The purpose of the law is to show us how unapproachable God is. You just don't hop in and go, hi, God, it's me, dead. You have to go to a6:16 priest. You have to bring a sacrifice. It has to be done a certain way. Every little detail has to be in place for that to happen. If you don't approach God with blood,6:29 then what do you approach God with? What do you got? See, this is the thing. And when I have conversations with Jewish friends, I bring this up. Hey, you guys don't have sacrifice6:41 anymore. When was the last time you brought a Levitical sacrifice to a temple and had it killed for your sin? What do you do about your sin? You know what the answer most people is, most religious people? Good works.6:52 Good works. I try hard. I try to outweigh more good works than bad works. That's religion. Religion is about earning your way to God, praying your way to7:04 God, sweating your way to God, making a pilgrimage to please God. The gospel is trust your way to God. Just by simple faith, believe in the lamb slain7:16 for your sin, Jesus Christ. Trust in him. He'll take it away. It's not by your works. It's by what he has done. So chapter one through seventeen, the way to God7:28 through sacrifice. Now chapters eighteen through twenty seven is the second part. A walk with God through what's the word I gave you?7:40 Sanctification. Sanctification. What does sanctification mean? Holiness. Holiness or to be set apart. I heard somebody shout that out. Thanks for the shout out. Holiness is7:51 paramount. You know why? Because God knows the truth that you and I need to know. Holiness is your key to happiness. Holiness is your key to I want to be a happy person.8:03 Get holy. Pursue the Lord. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, not yours, his. And all these things will be added unto you. You want a happy life, live a holy life.8:15 That's sanctification. Leviticus chapter nineteen verse one, the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the congregation of the children of Israel and say to them, you shall8:27 be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. The basic idea of the word holy, kodesh in Hebrew, is what somebody shouted out,8:38 set apart. It's for a particular use. It doesn't mean that you wear a halo, that you float off the ground, that you have a beatific smile. That's not holiness. That's just8:50 goofiness. It just means you are set apart. Your life is now pushed over into one corner to be used for God's purpose and for9:02 God's glory. That's holiness. Example, at home I have a dish or a vessel called a French press. You that are coffee9:13 aficionados, you know what that is, right? It's a little carafe. Mine's made out of glass, has a little filter in it. You push it down. It separates the beans and puts the beans in the water. Good9:25 coffee. Now, my French press unit is holy. What I mean by that is I don't put tea bags in my French press.9:37 I don't do hot chocolate in that. I save it for the holy bean. I put coffee beans ground a certain way in my French press. It is set apart for a particular purpose.9:49 So for instance, in Exodus chapter forty, there are holy utensils, holy garments, holy altars,10:01 holy basins. That's the idea. So the best idea for us when God is saying, I want you to be holy, be different. Be different10:13 from the world. You say, what do mean be different? Be a nonconformist. I remember when I was young grr.10:26 You know, compared to a tree, I am young, so but when I was younger, I prided myself in being a nonconformist. And I discovered that the most nonconformist person10:38 anybody could be in this world is to be a Christian. You are swimming in the opposite direction of this world. You want to be a nonconformist? And that's how God wants you to live. Don't conform to this world, it10:50 says, but to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So be a nonconformist, and that's the idea of holiness. Another way to think of holiness11:03 or being holy is being whole, W H O L E. Wholeness is a good way to look at holiness. Somebody who's whole is11:14 complete, mature, well rounded. A holy person is that kind of a person. What's the first step to holiness? It's called repentance. You're going your way, the world's way. You're11:26 going one direction. God says, stop, turn around, go my way. That's the first step toward being different from the world. So chapters eighteen through twenty deal with moral laws and consequences for11:38 breaking the moral laws. Chapter twenty one and twenty two, more regulations for the priests, more regulations for the high priest, the big kahuna. Chapter twenty three are regulations11:50 about annual festivals, annual feasts.11:53 This is connect with Skip Heitzig. Wanna understand your bible better without getting lost in all the details? Pastor Skip Heitzig's new devotional, Soaring Above It All, takes you through the entire bible in12:05 one year, giving you the big picture perspective you need to see how God's story fits together. Each day offers biblical truth, practical application, and encouragement to help you grow in your knowledge of scripture12:17 and deepen your walk with the Lord. Request soaring above it all as our thanks when you give fifty dollars or more today to help more people know God deeply through his word. Give at connect with skip12:28 dot com slash offer or call eight hundred nine two two eighteen eighty eight. Now let's return to today's teaching.12:37 Now I wanna bring the plane down a little bit again because when we deal with some of the ancient feasts, there's principles here about our celebration, our going to church. Chapter twenty three, verse12:49 one, The Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the children of Israel and say to them, the feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy13:01 convocations. Look at this. These are my feasts. Lord, I'm going go to church. I'm going to my church. God's saying, it's my church. Every church that bears the name of Christ and preaches the13:13 true gospel is his church. It's not your church. It's his church. I'm going for me to get edified. This is my time. God's saying, it's my feast, my time.13:25 Go down to verse forty. Now we're talking about one of the feasts. This is the Feast of Tabernacles or Boots. Remember how they would camp out for a week? It's in the fall. And you shall take for yourself on the first13:37 day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, the willows of the brook. Now watch this. And you shall what?13:49 That's a commandment. You shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. I want you to have a party for a week.14:02 That's why the kids love this week in Israel. It's like we're camping out. We're going to have a party for seven days. And God gives a command, you shall rejoice.14:15 Boy, I wish Christians would underline that verse in Leviticus and make that one of our life verses. To be around some church folks, you think you are witnessing an14:27 autopsy. It's like, I'm a Christian. I'm dead. I have no emotion. I'm serious. I'm sober. Get over it.14:39 Be happy. Rejoice. Man, we have all the reason that the world doesn't have to be rejoicing, joyful people.14:50 Worship isn't an obligation. Did you know that eighteen times in the book of Psalms eighteen times it says make a joyful shout or make a joyful15:02 noise. That's, again, a commandment that God gives. And I've noticed that bars have this thing. I've driven by bars for years. I always notice that same goofy sign, happy hour. When is happy hour anyway? Anybody know?15:14 What I'm not trying you thought I was trying to bust you, didn't you? Okay. Okay. I kind of was, but They call it happy hour. And that's not15:25 happy hour. There's nothing happy about that hour. I'm in a bar for an hour. That's not happy. Church ought to be happy hour.15:37 This is happy hour. Charles Spurgeon said, our happy God should be worshipped by a happy people. A cheerful people is in keeping with his15:49 nature. Now we discover something else. We discover that holiness is practical. Chapters twenty five and twenty six see, we're almost at the end of the book16:01 is so practical. It gives you laws on how to treat workers, people that you have to employ for a period of time to get them out of debt, how to treat them, how to relieve debt16:13 in the tribes and in the culture, and how to let the land recover the farmland after it's been plowed and reaped for a number of years, which takes us to chapter twenty five, verse16:25 eight, which brings up an interesting word called the year of Jubilee. Now, the word Jubilee our word Jubilee comes from a Hebrew word16:36 Yobel. Can you hear that in there? Jubilee, Yobel. Yobel literally means a ram because a trumpet was a ram's horn.16:49 So this is a it's called a shofar, right? You've seen one of these? Usually, real ones are short. They just sell these big ones in Israel because they look cool and they know Americans will buy them.17:00 So this was the trumpet that was raised. And on the year of Jubilee, year of freedom, the year of release, the ram's horn was17:12 blown. Year of Jubilee. By the way, next Wednesday, Yom Kippur also was and as soon as it was done, it was the time to blow the shofar. So should I do it? Yes.17:24 That's it. Shofar, so good. So17:38 the year of Jubilee, as we bring this to a close, the year of Jubilee was a way of bringing equity back to the land. Verse eight, you shall count seven Sabbaths of years for yourself,17:50 seven times seven years. And the time of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be to you forty nine years. So forty nine years, the next year is the Jubilee.18:02 Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, on the Day of Atonement. So we ought to do it again next Wednesday. You shall make the trumpet to sound throughout18:13 all your land, and you shall consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, And each of you shall return to his18:25 possession, and each of you shall return to his family. So the way of getting the land back to the tribes that was lost because of debt that was incurred was every fiftieth year,18:37 push the reset button, goes back to the tribe. It's a do over. Interesting thought. Not only were all slaves free on the Jubilee year, all debts were canceled,18:50 and the land reverted back to its original owner. I read that jubilee years have been recorded since thirteen ninety three BC. That's when they19:01 started counting these forty nine plus one cycles. And that Jesus, when he went into the synagogue in Nazareth, spoke his little sermon from Isaiah chapter19:13 sixty one in the year of Jubilee, which would be very interesting because the wording is this. The spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me to preach the gospel to19:25 the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the19:37 acceptable year of the Lord. And then he closed the book and said, that is fulfilled in your hearing. He came to set the captives free.19:50 Thank you, ten who like that truth. Chapter twenty six is the iffy chapter. The word if is used a lot. If you do this, if you do that, if you do this, if you do that, then I'll do this and I'll do20:02 that. So it's the iffy chapter. The word if occurs nine times. The words I will, that is God saying he'll do something because of it, twenty four times. Now Leviticus ends. And it20:14 ends with, in chapter twenty seven, heartfelt worship. When you want to dedicate something to God, you don't have to do it. You just want to do it. It's like, you know, I want to give this to God.20:26 I don't need this. This is extra. I want to just give it to the Lord. Verse one, Now the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the children of Israel. Say to them, when a man consecrates by vow certain20:38 persons to the Lord according to your valuation. Verse fourteen, and when a man dedicates his house to be holy to the Lord. Verse sixteen, if a man20:50 dedicates to the Lord part of a field of his possession. Verse twenty eight, it says, no devoted offering that's that free will offering no devoted21:01 offering that a man may devote to the Lord of all that he has, both man and beast or field of his possession shall be sold or redeemed. Every devoted offering is21:13 most holy to the Lord. Go down to the last verse, verse thirty four. These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai.21:25 God is saying is, I want worship. That is voluntary. I want you to want to do it. I don't like people who try to pump it up. Come on, you ought to be21:37 worshipping. Just if you're not into it, then just don't maybe you're having a bad day. Maybe you found a horrible diagnosis, so you're not as happy feeling. That's Okay.21:48 Still, even if it's a little bit, just rejoice in the Lord and tell him you trust him, even if you're in a very weak state. But it should be voluntary. And I've had bad experiences. People try to22:00 orchestrate worship and pump it up like a bad tire. Now, by the New Testament times, this practice of devoting things to the Lord22:12 got weird. It's called Korban. Ever heard that term? Mark chapter ten, Jesus nailed the Pharisees on this. He said, you know, the fifth commandment says honor your father and your mother. But if22:24 you say Korban, that is dedicated to God, you get out of honoring your mom and dad. So you could say, well, you know what? My couch, that's Korban. I've dedicated it to22:36 God. That shofar, don't touch that. I dedicated that to God. My eighteen BMWs, Corban, I've dedicated to God. So your parents say, gosh, you've got eighteen22:47 BMWs, I'm starving. Oh, mom and dad, I'd love to help you and give you one of my cars, but I've dedicated them all to God. And I dedicated all my food to God and all my money to God, so you're out of luck, because that's22:59 God's. See how it got weird? So Jesus said, you are dishonoring your father and mother because of that law. Now, how did it get so wonky? As time went on, something called23:10 the oral law emerged. And one of the sayings in the oral law was this, the words of the scribes are more lovely than the words of the law.23:22 That's the tendency of any movement, any religious expression, is to let the sayings or the ideas of man23:34 usurp the authority of the word of God. And I pray this church always stays tethered to the word of God. So as we close tonight, I just want to ask you a quick23:45 question. Are you like my French press? Have you dedicated your life to the Lord? Do you belong to Him? Are you set apart for His glory?23:57 Are you holy? Are you walking with Him in holiness?24:01 We're so glad you joined us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before you go, don't forget about pastor Skip's brand new devotional soaring above it all. This one year24:13 devotional gives you a panoramic view of the bible from Genesis to Revelation, helping you better understand God's word and stay engaged with it every day. Request your copy as our thanks when you give24:25 fifty dollars or more to help bring clear bible teaching to people around the world. Give today at connect with skip dot com slash offer or call eight hundred nine two two eighteen eighty24:36 eight. See you next time.25:00 Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.25:09 What if your next trip didn't just take you somewhere new, but brought scripture to life? Join Skip and Lenya Heitzig for an unforgettable tour of Israel, April five through sixteen, twenty twenty25:21 seven. Walk the streets of Jerusalem, sail the Sea of Galilee, stand at the Jordan River, visit the Garden Tomb, and experience the places where Jesus lived, taught, died, and25:33 rose again. Along the way, enjoy powerful teaching, worship, fellowship, and the opportunity to attend the Epicenter Summit in Jerusalem featuring Joel Rosenberg, Greg Laurie, Anne Graham25:45 Lotts, Jack Graham, and other respected Christian leaders. Visit Israel, strengthen your faith, Experience the Bible like never before. Learn more and reserve your place today at connect with25:56 skip dot com slash Israel.
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