Lev. 17 - 23 May 23rd Is Holiness Practical?

Lev. 17-20 constituted a legal code for the people of Israel, touching on many areas of their personal and public life. The emphasis isn’t simply on justice or civic righteousness but on holiness. Israel was God’s people and the law was God’s law. The Lord said to them “Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy for I am the Lord your God And you shall keep My statues, and perform them. I am the Lord who sanctifies you.
20:7-8

The motivation for Israel’s obedience had to be more than fear of punishment. (With our children, we must reach for their hearts to be bent toward a quick heart response of obedience...NOT just a fear of your punishment). The people also needed in their hearts a desire to please God and a determination to be a holy people who would bring glory to His name. Obeying the law and having holy character are not necessarily the same thing.

It takes more than good laws to make good people and a good society. In our world today, not everything that is legal is moral or Biblical. Some human activities are sanctioned and defended by society that are clearly described by the Lord as abominable sin.

24 times in 17 – 20 it is declared, “I am the Lord!” What does that sy to you: He is the final Authority, the Creator, the Designer, the Boss, and on and on. God was giving His people divine laws that expressed His holy will, laws that He expected them to respect and obey. While obedience to the law isn’t God’s way of salvation…Rom 3:19-20, Gal. 3:21,-29 a love for holiness and a desire to obey and please God are certainly evidences that we are the children of God. I John 3:1

17 – 20 deal with 4 special areas of life that must be respected and kept holy: the sanctity of blood, or life, the sanctity of sex, the sanctity of the law, and the sanctity of judgment.

The sanctity of blood 17:11 expressed the Biblical theology re blood…”For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.

When a sacrifice was offered and its blood was shed, it meant the giving of a life for the life of another. The innocent victim died in the place of the guilty sinner. Throughout the Scriptures, it is the blood that makes the atonement.

The offering of food. The Jews did not eat a great deal of meat because it was too costly to slaughter their animals. They were not to kill their animals for food anywhere inside or outside the camp. This law accomplished: * it kept the people from secretly offering sacrifices to idols out in the fields. The blood of an animal must be offered only to the Lord and only at His altar. * the Lord dignified ordinary meals and made them a sacred experience. The slain animal was not just a piece of meal…it was a sacrifice present to the Lord. When we thank God at the table for our food, we are not acknowledging only His goodness, we are also sanctifying the meal and making eating it a spiritual experience. * By bringing the animal to the altar, the offerer was seeing to it that the Lord and the priest each received their rightful portion. The fellowship meal at the house of God would glorify God and satisfy the needs of the offer and those who ate with him.

The offering of sacrifices. Even if you were bringing a legitimate sacrifice to God, it had to be brought to the altar and the blood shed there. No Jew was ever allowed to offer a sacrifice in the fields or at his tent. There was one tabernacle, one altar, and one ordained priesthood, and the people had to respect God’s orders. In Canaan the Lord allowed the people to kill animals for food at home without having to bring them to the altar. All had to be at the altar and nobody was permitted to eat the blood.

The eating of blood. Blood must not be treated like ordinary food. In many heathen religions, it was a common practice to use blood for food, which explains why God warned even the non-Jews in the camp not to violate this law. Before preparing his meal, a Jew out hunti9ng had to be careful to drain out the blood of the animal or bird he had caught. … had to be covered with earth, giving it a decent burial. Kosher meat…blood drained in a prescribed manner.

The eating of animals found dead…blood not drained properly. Exposed to “stuff.” Believers today need to appreciate the importance of the precious blood of Christ. Through His blood, we are justified, redeemed, washed, sanctified, brought near, and cleansed. The church was purchased the blood of Christ – makes very precious to God.

The sanctity of sex. We live in s six saturated society. It smiles at monogamous marriages, encourages abortion as a means of birth control, promotes and endorses kinky sex as a means of entertainment, claims that moral absolutes don’t exist, and really believes that people can violate moral standards and escape the consequences. Fulton Sheen was right when he said, “The Victorians pretended sex did not exist, the moderns pretend nothing else exists. There are several reasons why the Lord gives clear instructions concerning personal sexual hygiene, sexual morality and marriage. For one thing, we are created in the image of God and the Creator knows what is best for His creation. God certainly wants married couples to enjoy the beautiful gift of sex, but He also wants them to avoid the terrible consequences that come when His laws are violated.
Israel was chosen as the channel through which His Son would come into the world, and it was important that the channel be sanctified. Mal. 2:15…The Lord was “seeking Godly offspring…that can only come from Godly marriages. A Christian marriage should be a witness to the world of the love Christ has for His church…Eph. 5:25-33. But if that marriage isn’t pure and faithful, the witness is destroyed. If husbands and wives can’t love each other as Christ loves the church, why invite their unsaved friends to be saved and share in Christ’s love?

When the Lord says I am the Lord. that is all the authority we need for the standards that we hold! The Lord warned Israel not to look back and imitate the sins they saw in Egypt, nor to look around and imitate the sins of the Gentiles. Upon entering Canaan the Jews discovered that the people there were unspeakably immoral; Israel would have to maintain a position of separation in order to be pleasing to the Lord.
The church today must maintain that same position…II Cor. 6:14-7:1; Eph 5:1-14, Col. 3:1-7

Works cannot bring salvation which is wholly by faith, AFTER salvation, obedience to the will of God, as revealed in the Work, is the basis for fellowship with God and enjoying the abundant life He wants us to have.

Ch 18 6:23 Standards God invented sex and ordained marriage, He has established the regulations that control them. Our obedience will help protect these wonderful blessings.

“uncover the nakedness” simply means to have sexual relations with. Not only to marriage but also to casual contacts that were immoral. Incestuaous relationships. Sodomite called a “dog”…Deut. 23:17-18
Prohibitions against homosexuality, bestiality…defiling, detestable, and a perversion. Romans 1:24-32. People who have committed any of these sins can be forgiven and become God’s children is clear from Matt. 12:31 I Cor. 6:9-11 – God expects them to repent and forsake their old lifestyle II Cor. 5:21, Eph. 5:1-10, Col. 2:1-7

The picture here isn’t a pretty one…perversions are like disease germs; they may a society and a nation sick. Land becomes and must vomit out its filthy people the way the human body vomits out poison. Altho not covenant people…the Gentiles were held accountable for their filthy deeds against nature. Rom. 1:18 If God so dealt with Gentile nations, to whom He did not give His law, how much more will He hold accountable those who claim to know Him and possess His Word? There are dire consequences to sexual sins, and the judgment is greatest where the light has been the brightest.

The nation of Israel disobeyed God, defiled their land, and were vomited out into captivity. Today, there are both secular and religious organizations that openly espouse an immoral lifestyle contrary to God’s Word; in God’s eyes, they are making society sick.

The sanctity of law Ch. 19 covers 10 commandments. The sanctity of judgment Ch 20 …penalties imposed on those who broke God’s law.
While the law can be a light that exposes evil and a guard that restrains evil, it can never change the human heart. Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can do that. God has ordained authorities to keep peace and order in society Romans 13. Christians should obey the law, do good, and pray for those in office. “God’s moral law is the revelation of His holy will for humanity and individuals and nations can not dispise God’s law and escape judgment.

Ch 21 – 22…The priest were in charge of the sanctuary of God, they taught the people the Word of God, they offered the sacrifices on God’s altar; when called upon, they determined the will of God for the people. Apart from the ministry of the priest, Israel had no way to approach God. The priests had to meet the qualifications God gave for the priesthood, and they had to serve Him according to His directions. Personal conduct, physical characteristics, and professional concerns, they had to meet God’s approval – There is a price to pay if you want to be a spiritual leader. Last 3 verses of Ch. 22