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Leviticus 17: Parental Controls on Sacrifices 0:09 Good morning. Well, if your day is just beginning, let's get it off to a good start as our journey takes us to Leviticus chapter 17 and 18 verse 4 of chapter 18. You shall observe my judgments and keep my ordinances0:21 to walk in them. I am the lord your god. Now this is 1 of those occasions where I cannot help but be passionate about this passage. It's so powerful and timely. And I'm certain what I'm0:33 gonna share this morning is gonna give the, the scoffers a, a good workout. Chapter 17 our laws concerning sacrificing. Alright. Here's the long and the short of the chapter. God was creating what0:45 we might call parental controls. Okay? If they were going to slaughter an animal to eat it, it had to be at the door of the tabernacle as a peace offering. So let's look at verse 3.0:57 Whenever whatever man of the house of Israel who kills an ox or lamb or goat in the camp or who kills it outside the camp and does not bring it to the door of the tabernacle of meeting to offer an offering to the lord1:08 before the tabernacle of the lord, the guilt of bloodshed shall be imputed to the man. He has shed blood, and that man shall be cut off from among his people. To the end, that the children of1:20 Israel may bring their sacrifices which they offer in the open field, that they may bring them to the lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting to the priest and offer them as peace offerings1:31 to the lord. So what's this about? Remember, they were able to eat a peace offering. Alright? So this was kind of a time of, they would do the sacrifice, but then there was a time of celebration. The1:43 priest would get a portion, but, the 1 making the offering was free to consume the rest. Now to keep things in perspective, they didn't eat a whole lot of meat. The consumption of1:55 meat was generally around the feast. This requirement of bringing the animal to the tabernacle was primarily to keep them from falling into idolatry.2:07 Animal sacrifice had been common in Egypt. It was in their history. And so God was breaking them from the ways of Egypt, and he was keeping them from the ways of the land that he was going to take them2:19 into into Canaan. Now let's move, to chapter 18, a chapter often ridiculed, okay, and rejected as many by many as kind of ancient moralizing withLeviticus 18: Called to Holiness and Abundant Life 2:31 no application, to us today. Why do they make such a claim? Because it is primarily about sexual behavior. Right? I I I want to take this up, though, a2:42 notch in terms of our focus. It's about our relationship with the Lord. Remember, the book of Leviticus is a call to holiness. It's about worshiping God.2:54 This is about separation, the sanctification, and the success of God's people. Verse 1, chapter 18, and the lord said and the lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the people3:06 of Israel and say to them, I am the lord your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan to which I am bringing you.3:18 You shall not walk in their statutes. You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the lord your god. Right? It continues. Verse 5. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my3:30 rules. Now listen to this. If a person does them, he shall live by them. I am the lord. Now, again, don't miss this. This is the prescription for life. Look again at verse 5.3:42 And this is from the Christian Standard Bible. Keep my statutes and ordinances. A person will live if he does them. I am the lord. Here it is. There is life3:54 in the word of God. God's word provides life. It's not about restrictions. It's about giving us the abundant life. Proverbs 12 28, in the path of righteousness is4:06 life, and it is in its pathway, there is no death. Jesus said this in John 10 10. I have come that they might have life and that they may have it more abundantly. How? How is that4:18 true? John 14 23. Jesus said to them, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.4:29 But we need to realize that this prescription for life, for success, runs counter to the prevailing culture. Now for over 400 years, the4:41 children of Israel had lived in a place where it was saturated with idolatry. Remember we talked about that in in in Exodus, about about all of the the the gods that they worshiped?5:04 Idolatry and we're gonna see this over and over and over in the Old Testament, as spiritual adultery. Now among Egypt's many gods and goddesses were several fertility gods and5:15 goddesses, including Apis, talked about this before, the the the bull that was most likely the motivation or the inspiration for the golden calf, which according to various5:27 interpretations of Exodus 32 6, which we've looked at before, was followed by eating, drinking, and sexual playing. Now this is the morally and5:39 spiritually corrupt environment the children of Israel came out of, and they were headed into a land dominated by the same type of idolatry. Baal of Peor5:50 that, we we're gonna read about in, numbers 25 was a fertility god, and the worship of this idol included temple prostitution. Now have you noticed6:02 that the forces of darkness use sex? What do we see happening today? Now let's look at the progression of evil because evil never stands still. Now verses 6 throughThe Slippery Slope: From Incest to Child Sacrifice 6:14 18 talks about sexual relations with a close relative. The the the term we see here, uncover their nakedness, was a euphemism for sex. Okay? But there's more. Let's look at verse6:26 18. And you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness as long as she is in her customary impurity. Now what's this doing in the list? It's about self control. Verse 20. Moreover, you shall6:38 not lie carnally with your neighbor's wife to defile yourself with her, And you shall not let any of your descendants pass through the fire to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your god. I am the lord.6:50 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. Nor shall you mate with any animal to defile yourself with it, nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is perversion. Now7:02 talk about a slippery slope. Here it is. Incestuous relationships, adultery, child sacrifice, homosexuality, beastuality. Many ask, you know, what's7:14 this verse about descendants being passed through the fire doing in the middle of a passage about sexual immorality? It's a good question. There are biblical, archaeological, and other7:25 historical records that show that child sacrifice was a common practice in Phoenicia, which was part of Canaan. It was then exported to Carthage where thousands of burial7:37 urns of sacrificed infants were uncovered about 100 years ago. There's also evidence that the worship of these fertility gods, which included sex with temple prostitutes, provided7:49 a supply of unwanted children that could then be sacrificed. And I'm not I mean, where where do we come up with that? Look at Ezekiel chapter 23 verse 37. For they have committed8:01 adultery, and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols and even sacrificed their sons whom they bore to me passing them through the fire to devour them.8:14 Is this starting to sound familiar? A rejection of God's word and his ways leads to a progression of evil that is unspeakable.8:25 Modern day abortion has provided a similar means to dispose of the so called byproduct of sexual immorality. The same demonic principality behind Molech8:38 is behind abortion today. Now without this spiritual understanding, it's difficult to understand why the supreme court's decision overturning Roe v Wade did not end abortion or8:50 even reduce it. In fact, it's gone up. Abortion is not about politics. It's not political. It's spiritual. Right now but our policy should9:02 align with the word of God, not facilitate the works of spiritual darkness that will bring judgment upon our nation. I mean, look at the penalty for sin. Look at verse 24. Do not defile yourselves9:14 with any of these things, for by all these, the nations are defiled. Notice this. By all these, the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. For the land is defiled.National Judgment and the Call to Speak Truth 9:25 Therefore, I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. You see, the children of Israel, we read this back when Abraham was told by God that he was going to9:37 inherit the land, but he said that the lord said the fullness of their evil is not there yet. And he was hoping they might change, I assume. God is long suffering, but their own sin9:49 led to their downfall. And we're gonna look at this more as the children of Israel move into the promised land. So you say, why would God cast these people out for violating laws that10:01 he was just now giving to the Israelites? Okay. These inhabitants are not being kicked out because they violated ceremonial laws of God. They10:13 violated the moral law of God, which is written upon the human heart. Sin had suppressed the truth of God, which was written on the heart of man, so God had to revive that understanding10:25 with the written commandments. But the moral law of God is universal, which it means it applies to everyone. It applies to us today. It's not just some Old Testament God and his rules. Paul10:37 says this in Romans chapter 2 verse 14. For when Gentiles who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves. Even though they do not have the law, they10:49 show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. So here's the question for you. If God cast out the inhabitants of Canaan for violating God's11:00 moral law, which was not written down for them or shown to them, where does that leave us today? So God goes on here and gives the preventative11:12 for decay. Look at verse 26. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments and shall not commit any of these abominations either any of your own nation or strangers who dwell among you. Notice the reference here11:24 again to strangers. Once again, they were to assimilate into a god honoring society. And in case we're tempted to think that, you know, we can just close the doors of our church, bury our heads in our in the sand, and11:36 say, you know, we're not involved, so it's okay. We're not a part of this. We're not facilitating. Let me jump ahead to chapter 20 because that has a little bit more on this topic. Verse 4, and if the of chapter 20 of11:48 Leviticus, and if the people of the land should in any way 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 face11:59 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 with Molech. We must not be silent12:12 about what is happening in America today. No matter the hostility we face or the rejection we experience from the left or the right, we must not fear the cancel culture,12:25 lest we be seen as complicit in these abominations, leading god to cancel this whole experiment in self government that we call America.12:37 Martin Luther King Junior, I think, summed it up this way. He said, he who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it, end12:49 quote. God in his mercy and his grace tells us that yielding to the word, his word, brings life, whereas accommodating the prevailing culture is a13:00 progressive path that leads to devastating consequences for individuals, for families, and, yes, for nations. We have a duty to live according to the13:12 truth and to make this truth known. For in this truth is life. Father, we thank you for your word, and I do pray that through the power of the Holy13:24 Spirit, we would yield ourselves to it. We can't even do this in our own strength, but I pray father you would help us to yield ourselves to your word and to your ways and to walk in it. That,13:36 lord, that we might be a testimony to those around us and to this nation. For we pray and ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for joining me this morning, and until next time, keep standing on13:48 the word.13:51 Today's study comes from the stand on the word bible reading plan available for free at frc dot org slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you14:03 can read through the entire Bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at frc dot org slash bible.In this video 0:00 Leviticus 17: Parental Controls on Sacrifices2:20 Leviticus 18: Called to Holiness and Abundant Life6:08 The Slippery Slope: From Incest to Child Sacrifice9:18 National Judgment and the Call to Speak Truth
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