Leviticus 19, verses 15 through 18. If you are following along in the Pew Bible, this is found on page 134. Leviticus 19, verses 15 through 18. Since you've just been told, you can sit down. You can stay seated. Please follow along in your copy of God's Word as I read these verses. And this is what Holy Scripture says. 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. I am the LORD. 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." It's been a while since we've been here in Leviticus 19. Let me just refresh all of our memories. Leviticus 19 is a chapter that focuses on holiness. Really, Leviticus 19 and verse 2 could be seen as the theme verse of the entire book of Leviticus, but even specifically of this chapter. where the Lord says, 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. This command to be holy is not just a preamble to this passage, it really is the major command. And all of the other commands that are given are under the umbrella. This is the reason why I have had this ongoing runnings title for this section of scripture. And that is, what does holiness look like? Because all of these smaller commands are given underneath this big command of, you shall be holy. In other words, they show us in very practical ways what holiness looked, what was to look like for the people of God. Now this is not just a command for Old Testament Israel, is it? In fact, we encounter this very same command in the New Testament. It is a command for every New Testament believer. In 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 16, we are told, well verses 15 and 16, we are told that we are to be holy in all of our conduct, because it is written, Be holy, for I am holy. Now there are some specifics of the old Levitical system which may not have an immediate transfer to our current day. But there are principles in this passage that are timeless. I was thinking this week about that term holy. In common usage today, it's not generally seen as a positive thing when applied to a person. I was thinking the one way in which you will hear that word holy used in our secular culture is usually with this expression, holier than thou, if it's not used as a swear word. And that idea of, okay, that person's holier than thou. And that indicates that they think someone is self-righteous. Well, what God calls us to is not self-righteousness, but he does call us to righteousness. And we should not be afraid of that term, even if it may not be a particularly positive term in today's culture. Again, looking at the big picture in Leviticus chapter 19, we are reminded that holiness is not merely internal. It's something that's visible. Certainly holiness should be internal. But it's not only internal. There are some people that say, well I know who I am at heart. I know I have a good heart." And then they go and do whatever they're going to do, not really caring what God says to do or not do. And they say, well, I'm at heart. I'm a good person. Leviticus 19 reminds us that holiness is not only internal, it's also external. For example, we even just read a few moments ago, you cannot do things like You cannot do things like have a right standard of justice and execute justice properly merely internally. And you read through all of Leviticus chapter 19 and there's so many of these commands that are external visible commands that we must follow. Holiness also is not merely ritual. There are rituals, as it were. There are things that are appropriate for the worship of God's people. But it's not merely ritual. God would give commands, for example, about how sacrifices should be done. For example, the sacrifice of a peace offering is described in verses 5 to 8. But He describes a whole lot more than just that ritual. In fact, much of what God gives commands about in this passage is really about ordinary life. Work, eating, treating people properly. Which brings us to the third big picture thought about this whole chapter, and that is holiness is not merely personal, it's relational. Holiness is not merely personal, it's relational. You read through Leviticus chapter 19, and over and over again, there is this emphasis on the relationship of God's people with God, and with each other. For example, God will give a command, like chapter 19, verse 2, you shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. And verse 3, talking about keeping the Sabbaths, and God says, I am the Lord your God. So this holiness is lived out, not merely personally, but in the context of a relationship with God. It's also lived out in the context of a relationship with others. Read through the passage, relating with our neighbor, with the poor, with employees, with those that may have a difference of opinion with us, with those who are older than us, et cetera, et cetera. Holiness is not merely personal, but relational. And these big picture thoughts are ones that I wanted to repeat today. I haven't gone back to them for a while, but we need to remember holiness is not merely internal, it is visible. Holiness is not merely ritual, but it is normal or exceptional, ordinary life. And holiness is not merely personal, but relational. As we've gone through chapter 19 already, we have asked this question, what does holiness look like? And we've seen some answers to that. We've seen that holiness looks like honoring your parents. We've seen that holiness looks like entering into God's rest. We've seen that holiness looks like resisting idolatry. We've seen that holiness looks like worshiping reverently and obediently. We've seen that holiness looks like compassionate generosity. We've seen that holiness looks like honesty and integrity. And we've seen that holiness looks like treating the disabled with dignity. Tonight we move on, and in verses 15-18 we see a few thoughts. Holiness looks like practicing justice, rejecting tail-bearing and plotting, and resisting resentment. In summary, we could say holiness looks like loving your neighbor. So let's get into this together. First, let's see together that holiness looks like practicing justice. Look with me at 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. Some of you might know this, but the traditional image of Lady Justice shows a lady holding a sword in one hand and holding in her other hand a set of scales. And then the lady who holds this sword and scales is blindfolded. The sword, of course, represents the punitive aspect of justice, the punishment that justice meets out. But it's interesting that in this image of Lady Justice, the two other metaphorical items, the scales and the blindfold, represent the impartiality of justice. That is, two of the three symbols of Lady Justice represent impartiality. Of course, this is what God commands in this passage, doesn't He? 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." Now you might think that the concept of impartiality in justice would seem to be rather obvious. It would make sense that you should not be partial to one side or the other. Anytime you're partial to one side or the other, justice becomes injustice. So you would think that would be rather obvious. Unfortunately, you would be tragically wrong. There is a growing movement today connected to what is called critical theory that argues, and I am stating it plainly that justice should be skewed. And here's why, here's one way that that idea might be expressed. They might say, those that are members of a minority or an underprivileged group are automatically to be considered victims of oppression. This is really key to critical theory in every expression, that when there is a disparity in power, a disparity in influence, the cause of that is always assumed to be oppression. And so, if you have one group that is a minority or underprivileged, the automatic assumption is that they're victims of oppression. One very notable spokesperson for this view actually goes so far as to say the key to injustice in the past is injustice in the present. In other words, he says, well, if someone or some group has experienced injustice in the past, what we must do in the present is skew justice in their favor. So, tilt those scales in their favor. Now this might make some worldly sense, but it is contrary to scripture. Notice the words of scripture. You shall do no injustice in judgment. And the first group it says that you should not be partial to are the poor. And then goes on to say, you shall not honor the person of the mighty. Neither the poor nor the rich should be given special treatment. Neither consideration or compassion for the poor nor admiration for the rich should cloud the judicial process. This is God's standard of what practicing justice means. What is true, brothers and sisters, in the courtroom, ought to be true in our own dealings with our fellow man. Hear the words of James, actually turn there with me if you would, James chapter two. James chapter two. As I say, what is true in the courtroom ought to be true in our own dealings with our fellow man. James chapter 2, James, under the Spirit's inspiration, says, My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings and fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, you sit here in a good place. In a Baptist church, I think you sit here in the good place. That means they get the back seats. You sit here in a good place and you say to the poor man, you stand there or sit here at my footstool. Have you not shown partiality among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brother, and has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, you do well. But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. Brothers and sisters, we have to be very careful in our dealings with others that we do not commit this sin of partiality. That we would treat someone with favor because they may seem to have more status, or may seem to be more rich, or seem to be good looking. Brothers and sisters, to do so is to commit the sin of partiality. Rather, we should love our neighbor as ourself, which is where Leviticus 19 is going to go as well as a summary of this. And so, how do we practically do this? Well, let me just give you a few thoughts really quickly. First of all, we should resist injustice in our thoughts toward, resist injustice in your thoughts toward your fellow man. Resist injustice in your thoughts toward your fellow man. It is very easy, isn't it, to make judgments of someone in our mind, and to sort of Think of them as less than someone created in the image of God. We have to be careful about that. We need to resist that in our thoughts. Long before we mistreat someone in our actions, we have already committed partiality in our mind. Now, I understand that you cannot be best friends with everyone. That's not what I'm talking about here. God wouldn't expect you to be best friends with everyone. But he does expect you to treat people with care and dignity. To not automatically judge a person in a negative way just because they may seem to be more poor. or may seem to be lower on the social ladder. Resist injustice in your thoughts towards your fellow man. One way you can do that is to always bear in your mind that this person is an image bearer of God. Whatever struggles or difficulties or challenges that they have faced in life, they still bear the image of God. And as such, they are due dignity. It's people made in God's image. Second, you should resist injustice in your actions towards your fellow man. Of course, it all starts with thoughts, but resist injustice in your actions to your fellow man. This can happen without us really thinking that we would perhaps ignore someone because someone that comes and visits, because they look different, they act different, they smell different. All of those things might keep us from being fair and kind toward that person, but we must resist that injustice. Beyond that, we must never go so far as to do something negative towards someone for no other reason than the fact that they are different, that they are perhaps in our mind lower. Resist injustice in your actions towards your fellow man. Third, resist injustice in your words towards your fellow man. Studies have shown that this is kind of the natural way of humanity, that people have a tendency to treat those that they perceive as better looking, they have a natural tendency to treat those people better than those that they would not perceive as good looking. And This has shown itself in social interactions with people. If someone, if you're in the, for example, you're in No Frills, which is often crowded, and someone meanders their cart into the side of yours, and in your mind, this person is, you know, they look nice, they're wearing nice clothes, they're a good looking person, the natural tendency is to be less likely to make some sharp comment about them or to them. But if the person is someone that you don't look at as someone that is as good looking, you don't think that their style is as great or whatever the case may be, you're more likely to make some negative kind of comment toward them. All of that may be natural in a certain sense, But it's the very sort of thing that we need to resist. That's the very sort of thing as in uneven scales, isn't it? The same thing happens, one person, oh, it's no big problem. The other person, because they're not as fancy looking or good looking, we might say something negative to them. That's the very sin of partiality. And this is the very thing that it's so natural to us We need the help of God and the work of the Spirit to help us to resist this, don't we? It's something that would afflict all of us. May God give us the grace to resist injustice. So holiness looks like resisting injustice. Second, and I'll move on a little more quickly here, verse 16, holiness looks like rejecting tail-bearing and plotting. Now, tail-bearing is like it sounds. You're bearing a story. You're bearing a tale about someone. The idea of this tail-bearing is going up and down as a tail-bearer. Spreading stories wherever you go. Gossiping. Whispering is another way that this is used in Scripture. Now, contextually, we're not here talking about you going around saying positive things about someone. That's not what we're talking about here. We're not talking about spreading a positive story. It's not about you saying, going around saying, you know, that Gabriel, he's so hardworking, I appreciate all the things that he's done, his kindness and compassion. No, no, no, it's going around grumbling and complaining and spreading negative things about someone. There are at least two forms of this sin. One form of this sin of tail-bearing is spreading harmful secrets. In Proverbs 11, 13 it says, a tail-bearer reveals secrets, but he who is of a faithful spirit conceals a matter. The more that you get to know someone, the more you have the potential of really hurting them. Because you know more about them. You know more of their good and of their bad. It's often in people's experience, people that they know the best and maybe have been the closest to that end up hurting them the most. And one of the ways that a person can be this negative kind of tailbearer is to take something that is private and personal and has no business being spread and going about doing exactly that. Tailbearer reveals secrets. That's one way that a person can commit this sin of tailbearing. Another way is to spread false or incomplete tales. The tailbearer is spoken of often in both the Psalms and the Proverbs. For example, Proverbs 26.20 says, where there is no wood, the fire goes out. And where there is no tailbearer, strife ceases. That person that wants to keep things going, and goes around whispering and spreading stories, false or incomplete stories, that don't tell the whole picture, is the very kind of person that actually causes strife to continue, rather than to end. In fact, the Bible says that it is a perverse man, a twisted person, that sows strife. and a whisperer separates the best of friends. The psalmist in Psalm 41 would say, all who hate me whisper together against me. Against me they devise my hurt. Think twice before you spread that story. Particularly when it's someone that you would claim that that person is your friend. The psalmist says, all who hate me whisper together against me. In Proverbs 6, some of you probably have memorized these 6 things, doth the Lord hate. And one of those things that the Lord hates is a false witness that speaks lies, and he that soweth discord among the brethren. So tail bearing is forbidden. But also in this passage, I think there's the idea of plotting. It says here, you shall not go about as a tailbearer among your people, nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor. I am the Lord. I think the idea here is to spread stories and plot in such a way that you desire the downfall of someone. Really, when you tailbear, you desire the harm of the person you're opposing. But the greatest form of tail bearing and plotting is the kind of plotting of the death of someone. This is a very obvious, to follow verse 15, it's a very obvious example of injustice. Exodus 23.1 says, you shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Proverbs 24 and verse 28, do not be a witness against your neighbor, notice this, without cause, for would you deceive with your lips? So the idea here is not that a person should never testify something that would actually, potentially in the old Levitical system, bring about the death of that person. but rather that they would not testify something that is false, incomplete, untrue. One of the most egregious examples of this in the Old Testament, you might remember, is Naboth's vineyard. Do you remember that story? Naboth had this wonderful vineyard. King Ahab saw this vineyard and he wanted Naboth to sell or give him that vineyard. And Naboth said, I can't do that. Why? Well, because there were laws in place. That vineyard had to stay within his family. He actually was not legally permitted to do so. To do so would actually be a transgression of God's law. Well, Ahab goes home and sulks and cries, and Jezebel says, what's the matter? And he says, I want Naboth's vineyard, and he won't sell it to me. And Jezebel says, don't worry, I'll make sure you get it. And what she does is she actually calls this big banquet, invites Naboth to the banquet, and when this banquet is underway, she has two men, described in Scripture as scoundrels, and these scoundrels witness against him, and they say, Naboth has blasphemed God and the king. And what happened? Well, they took Naboth out, and they stoned him with stones. They executed him for blasphemy. And Ahab gets Naboth's vineyard. Of course, God saw. God saw the wickedness of Ahab and Jezebel, and God would judge them. But there is one example of this. People who spread this false report about Naboth, to bring about his downfall. Of course, we remember the experience of our Lord, our Savior, Remember that the chief priests and the elders, they were all, all the council was seeking for false testimony against Jesus to put him to death. But they were not able to find any. But finally, after many false witnesses have come forward, two false witnesses come forward and they say, this fellow said I'm able to destroy the temple of God and build it in three days. And we of course remember that Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body. But they took this testimony of these false witnesses and they say, what further evidence do we need? He's worthy of death. Well friends, we must be a people who reject tail bearing and plotting. And here again, we need God's grace. Maybe we've never had, never been tempted to plot, to bring about the death of someone. But I guarantee that every single one of us have been tempted to share that little morsel of gossip, or to encourage the gossip by listening to them. And here we are reminded that holiness looks like resisting, rejecting tail bearing. Rejecting it in our own experience that we would not go about as a tail bearer, and that we would not also encourage that. Let me move on quickly. Third, holiness looks like resisting resentment. Holiness looks like resisting resentment. Look with me at 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." You might be amazed at how often over the years, as a pastor at this church, I have had to deal with people's complaints because they would not follow the Lord's commands. Notice in verse 17, you shall not hate your brother in your heart, you shall surely rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because of him. I can remember on more than one occasion listening to a long list of great grievances that one member of this church might have against another. And when they finally paused for a moment and I asked, well, have you spoken about this with the person in question? They had not. Here is God's way for us to deal with those hurts and harms and slights that we experience. Don't hate your brother in heart, rebuke your neighbor. you go to the person and discuss that matter with them. When I would tell that person, well, I would be willing to go with you to discuss that matter with that brother or sister, they would say, oh no, no, no, no, it's not that big of a deal. Well, if it's not that big of a deal, you should not have been holding on to that resentment all that time. I shouldn't have had to listen to an hour long conversation with you where you list all the horrible things this person has done. Yes, you can, by God's grace, in certain matters, overlook things. Proverbs 19, verse 11 says, the discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, and his glory is to overlook a transgression. The person that is slow to anger, that is slow to take offense, that is not thin-skinned, we might say, The person that is willing to overlook a slight against them. That is a person that is a man of discretion. A woman of discretion. it is a mark of their honor or glory to do so. But if you are unable to overlook a matter, perhaps the sin is of such a great nature, or perhaps it is an ongoing thing, or perhaps it's something that is harming more than just your relationship with that person, if you are unable to overlook a matter, you must confront the person about it. Now that does not seem very fun. But it is not only in the Old Testament that you encounter this. I think it is very clear in this passage. Don't hate your brother in heart, you shall surely rebuke him, and not bear sin because of him. Jesus would say this, in Luke 17, verses 3 and 4. Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him And if he repents, forgive him." That's Jesus' way. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day he returns to you saying, I repent, you shall forgive him. This is a very different picture of what we sometimes call forgiving a person, which just conveniently leapfrogs over this matter of confrontation. We say, I forgive someone, but we don't really. We harbor resentment and anger in our hearts. And one of the reasons why that festers in us and that becomes a poison in our own soul is because we haven't dealt with things the way Jesus told us to deal with them. If it is a matter that you cannot truly overlook, you must, as Jesus said, rebuke that person. And if he repents, forgive him. If you do not biblically deal with grievances in this way, you will end up bitter and resentful and hateful. You will, in effect, bring sin upon yourself because of that person. you will bear sin because of them. So it's not just that they have sinned against you, you will now bear sin because of your own resentment, because of your own hatred of that person in your heart. Listen, brothers and sisters, I speak from experience. My own history, even in my youth, I remember a time where one of my young friends did something I took offense at it, and I did not deal with it biblically. And I remember becoming very bitter against this person that had been my friend. Until eventually, it had to be dealt with. I can think about a time, not only in my youth, but in my young adulthood, where there was a young lady that I thought would be the one for me. And in a series of circumstances which involved both miscommunication and deception on her part, I became very, very resentful and angry and bitter. And that tore me up inside. Listen, that is not a good place to live. You can't live on good terms with God and others when you are torn up with resentment and hatred and bitterness in your own soul. No friends, you might know this by experience as well. If you fail to deal with things biblically, you will know it. You will feel that poison of anger and hatred in your own soul. And so, We must, we must, to be biblical people, resist resentment. And one of the key ways we resist resentment is we deal with issues when they come up. While the passage continues, you shall not take vengeance. Vengeance, in one way or another, kind of becomes the natural overflow of internal resentment. Sometimes a person would never actually carry out vengeance, but they might think about it. Well, if I wasn't in the position I am, this is what I might do to them. And sometimes even the things that people do to get back at others, in the end, do less harm to the person that they're getting back at than they do to themselves. You shall not hate your brother in your heart, you shall surely rebuke your neighbor. There's a reason why God puts those together. And why he follows this up, you shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your people. May God give us the grace to be people that deal with problems the way that God has called us to deal with them. How many churches have gone down dark and difficult paths and even gone into splits because they didn't deal with problems properly? How many relationships have been ruined? How much has the testimony of Christ been cast down because people simply would not do what they were called to do? Well friends, We could say in summary, and really this summarizes all of our dealings with our fellow man. In summary, holiness looks like loving your neighbor. This is what the scripture says in verse 18, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Holiness looks like loving your neighbor. You remember in Jesus' life, When the Pharisees gather together, one of the lawyers comes to him, and they say to him, Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law? You remember what Jesus' answer was? First of all, love God with everything you have. And the second is like that, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And Jesus said that on these two hang all of the Law and Prophets. We think about the 10 commandments. Those first four commandments deal with our relationship loving God. The next six commandments deal with our relationship of loving our neighbor. We are called to be people who love God and love others. Romans 13, eight to 10, it says, owe no one anything except to love one another. For he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet. And if there's any other commandment are all summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Love God, and love your neighbor. This is a summary of all that God calls us to do. But as we consider that two commandments, but how daunting those commandments are, To love God with all that we have? To love our neighbor as ourself? As we look in the mirror of those commandments, we see that we have sinned and come short. There is no one upon the earth that is a reasonable and moral person that could say, I have perfectly loved God and I have perfectly loved my neighbor. We have all sinned, and come short of the glory of God. And that Law, which acts as a mirror, reveals for us our need of a Savior. Indeed, our need of a perfect Savior. I've given this illustration before, but it stands that we should be reminded of it again. The Law is a mirror. The person that looks into a mirror and sees that their hair is messed up, They cannot fix their hair with that mirror. You don't comb your hair with a mirror. The mirror shows what the problem is. And there are many people today who think that, well, the law has shown me what I've done wrong, so the way that I'm going to get right with God is I'm just going to do everything right. Well, now you're trying to use the mirror as a comb. The law has shown you that you need a Savior. run to Jesus. Having trusted Jesus, walk in obedience and love toward Him. Follow His commandments. But those commandments are not going to justify you. You need a Savior, a perfect Savior. How grateful we can be that we have a Savior who has loved perfectly. Think about Jesus' experience, even in the commands that we've looked at tonight. Even when Jesus was reviled, He reviled not again. Rather than harboring injustice in Himself, and having this hatred in His heart, rather than responding with anger, no, He did not revile again. But He committed Himself to the One who judges righteously. Jesus is our example, but Jesus is also our righteousness. How grateful we can be that He perfectly obeyed God's law. That He was truly the Holy One. And through His sacrifice, through His life and death, we are saved. Having been saved by Him, let us follow this command. Be holy, for I am holy. What does holiness look like? It looks like loving your neighbor. Brothers and sisters, let's be holy people. Let us love our neighbor as ourself. Amen.