Good evening, brothers and sisters. Please forgive me if I sound a little off. I walked in here tonight with a cold, although after speaking with Terrence for a few minutes, I'm convinced I have something much worse, because he just puts those thoughts in people's heads. Did anybody not receive a handout to write notes or questions? OK. So we'll begin. We're studying the book of Leviticus tonight. Going through the whole book. Over the past several weeks during worship, Pastor Bob, rather, has been taking us through his Church Essentials series. We've been going over what it looks like, what the local church looks like, how it functions, and what membership looks like. This past Sunday, we went over the role of discipleship within the body. And since we began that study, I've had a number of conversations with people about why we would go through a study like that. why we would take so much time to look at what the church is and what it means to be a part of a church. And the reason is quite simple. Aside from that, it's that which the Bible teaches. It's because God has always made a distinction between groups of people. He's always put people in one of two categories. From the beginning of the Bible to the end, God has always distinguished people by one of two categories. He will deal with people in one way, and then he will deal with another group of people a completely different way. We've seen this take many forms. Back with Adam and Eve, they were in the garden, and then they were cast out of the garden. There were those whom God allowed into the ark, and those whom he did not. There were those that received the covenantal promise of Abraham, and those who didn't. There were the cursed and the blessed. There are the clean and the unclean. There are the Jews and the Gentiles, the circumcised and the uncircumcised. Even going on into Revelation, the book of Revelation, people are divided into two categories. They're either referred to as the beloved or those who dwell on the earth. And that's because the Word of God has never been bashful about making that distinction, dividing people into two different categories. God is a God of division. He divides people, He separates them, and then He chooses one or the other. This book of Leviticus is all about making that kind of distinction. It's about God teaching His chosen people to distinguish themselves from those whom God hasn't chosen. It's about demonstrating through word and deed and practice that these men and women are set apart from all others on the world. That they're guided by a particular set of principles, and that they follow a certain set of rules, and that they worship a unique and holy God. This is, in fact, a book about holiness. If we were to single out a verse or passage that demonstrates what the entire book is about, we could find that in Leviticus chapter 11. If you turn in Leviticus chapter 11, verses 44 and 45 say this. For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth. For I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God. Thus you shall be holy for I am holy. So that's the purpose of this book. It's to instruct the Israelites how to carry out this command. To show them what it means to live a holy life, how to consecrate themselves and to be holy as they've been commanded. Now, if you aren't already aware, I should warn you that this book of Leviticus has a really bad reputation. It's pretty widely known, it's almost a punchline at this point, that many a yearly Bible reading plan have died a slow, agonizing death in the book of Leviticus. People find them... Yeah. Yes. Those names get lost in the mix after a little while with the genealogies. But yeah, Leviticus is a tough book. You know, people read Genesis, and they open up about the creation, and they see the garden, and they see the flood with Noah, and then they see Abraham and the patriarchs, and then they get to Exodus, and they talk about Moses, and we see the burning bush, and then we see the plagues of Egypt, and then the parting of the Red Sea, and the Ten Commandments are given, and then after the tabernacle is built, we turn the page to Leviticus, and for the next 27 chapters, we read about animals being sacrificed, how to choose them, how to kill them, what parts of them you can eat and what parts you can't. Then there's a whole section on what things are clean and unclean. There's a whole very long disgusting portion on how to determine whether or not a sore on a person's body is leprous or not and how to clean it. Then we go through all these feasts, none of which we celebrate as Christians. And then we get to blessings and curses. If you read it, it's not all in like a terms and conditions portion that you'd read on iTunes or something. So the question I ask then is, why should we study this book? What, if you had to guess, would you expect to gain from such a study in Leviticus, knowing what you know? Anything? Go ahead. Yes, go ahead. Yeah, I mean, and even in the ways in which it's not distinct, you know, through sacrifices, it's not perverted like it is through other people, you know, and the difference is holiness. There's a moral quality to how we worship Yahweh in which other people do not have. Yep, absolutely. Fiona, you had a question? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I mean, I think when Solomon dedicated the temple they used something like 40,000 goats or something like that. You have to wonder how many animals are truly on the planet that could cover all the sin of the people. Yeah. Wasn't there... Yeah, it's amazing. But yeah, there's so many things we can get out of this study of the book. The holiness thing is the primary thing. The more we understand about God's holiness, the more we understand about our own, what we're to achieve as human beings, how we are to be holy. We can get a deeper appreciation of God's atoning provision for people. The fact that he even allows us to make sacrifice, or that he gave people the opportunity to make a sacrifice to cover their sins. is a huge thing. That's a tremendous mercy for the people. That He is merciful in allowing people to partake in His worship. That you see God's goodness reflected in His law, which protects the people from the lawless people. And finally, we see the law of God being fulfilled once and for all through His Son, Jesus Christ. There's a great deal that we can get. Yes, Amory? Yeah, absolutely. All those animals and they didn't accomplish anything on their own. It was only the blood of Christ. Yeah. Amen. But that's good. That's a lot of good answers. My hope is that the next time you read through the book of Leviticus, that you'd be encouraged to read through it. That we'll gain not just a more thorough understanding of the book, that the next time you're going through this book, that you'll be able to see all the things we're talking about here, and you'll be like, yes, there's Christ. Yes, there's Christ. There's Christ. There's salvation. There's redemption. There's holiness. There's God. There I am right there. Yeah. It's non-stop. Yes, thank you both. So if we're just going to set up the context of this book though, when we start Leviticus, let's go back real quick into Exodus. The last thing we see in Exodus is the erection of the tabernacle. Moses was given the charge to erect it back in Exodus 25. He was told to build the tabernacle, and he was told to make the things that would go in the tabernacle, and he was told to consecrate the priests that would worship within the tabernacle. And then we read in the last few verses in Exodus 40, verses 34 to 38, Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not sit out until the day when it was taken up. For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel." So that's it. That's how the book of Exodus ends. The people of Israel were in the wilderness, God was in the wilderness, and the tabernacle was in the wilderness. But don't pass over that. Listen to what we're talking about. The people were in the wilderness. God was in the wilderness. The tabernacle was in the wilderness. The tabernacle was God's means so that he could specifically dwell with his people. That's one of the most remarkable themes in the entire Bible. God dwells with his people. Remember the garden? What do we read in Genesis 2.8? That God created Adam and he placed him in the garden. In Genesis 3.8, we hear that God was walking in the garden. He was dwelling with Adam and Eve. Sorry, I lost my place. He was dwelling with his people. We see that same thing here in Exodus and Leviticus, that God is dwelling with his people, and this continues all the way up until Christ. throughout all the time where God dwelled in the tabernacle, till the first temple was built, to where it was torn down and the second temple was built. The tabernacle and the temple were where God dwelled with his people all the way up until Christ. But then what do we read in John 1, 14? That Jesus Christ, who was the Word of God, that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Christ dwelt with all of his people. Then we're told in 1 Corinthians, Paul tells us, or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? And then, wait for it, in the book of Revelation, chapter 21, verse three, we read, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and he will dwell among them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be among them. That's a really important piece of information. We can't forget that God isn't merely an observer here. He is not watching these things from afar. He's not looking at these Israelites to see if they're going to obey his commandments or not. He's an active participant in every act of worship that's taking place among the people. Remember what we saw back in Exodus 3, when Moses was approaching the burning bush, what did it say? It said, do not come near here. Remove your sandals from your feet for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. Moses couldn't even approach a burning bush with dirty shoes on. He had to take them off because no unclean thing can approach God. It can't be in the presence of God. Now imagine dwelling with God every day and every night throughout all your journeys for the entire time that you're dwelling there with God. And you can see his presence as a pillar of cloud or a pillar of fire every day, every night. It's always there. God is always there with you. And don't forget what we've been talking about in Isaiah. God isn't just holy, but he's holy, holy, holy. He's a particular holiness. He's the most holy. He's far above any other and certainly far removed in his moral qualities from every man, woman, and child that are dwelling with him in that city, in that camp. So as we look at the first 10 chapters, one of the ways in which God demonstrates his separation, his holiness apart from the people is through the implementation of sacrifices. But it wasn't started here in Leviticus, it was actually started much sooner, back in the garden after Adam and Eve had sinned. Right? Right after that, we hear that Adam and Eve, their eyes were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves to cover their, you know, as loincloths for themselves. We read that in Genesis 3-7. Later, after God declares the curses, we read in verse 21 that the Lord made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. Garments made of skin. Skin from what? Skin from an animal. God sacrificed the life of an animal in order to properly cover the shame of Adam and Eve. And from that moment forward, a sacrifice was required, at least in instruction, to cover over the sins of men. We see that right away in Genesis 4, when Cain and Abel were already bringing their sacrifices to God. Cain had brought the first fruits of his harvest, and Abel brought the first of his livestock. We see that later on in the book of Job, which is considered to be the oldest book in the Bible. We see Job making sacrifice for his sons in chapter 1, and then in the final chapter, Job 42, God instructs his friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, to go to Job with their sacrifices so that Job can make it on their behalf, because God won't accept their sacrifices. He'll only accept Job's. And then back in Genesis we read that Abraham, when he went to sacrifice Isaac at the request of God, that Isaac even asked his father, where is the lamb for the burnt offering? So this was no new thing to the Israelites. This was happening all along. But now God is dwelling along with them. He won't allow anyone to approach who hasn't been cleansed or consecrated or sanctified. The sacrifices were the primary way that this was accomplished, and there were many different types of sacrifices, as Bob was already telling us. There was the burnt offering. That was a general sin offering, also used in dedications. There was the grain offering, which was the first fruits offered as an offering of thanksgiving. There was the peace offering. It was likewise a thanksgiving offering, which was meant to acknowledge a particular blessing or the fulfillment of a particular promise. It was also known as the shalom offering. That word shalom has a particular context. It doesn't just mean peace. It doesn't just mean you're not warring with somebody. It means you have this harmonious relationship with somebody. Next, there was the sin offering, which was made when one was convinced that he or she was guilty of a particular sin and wanted to demonstrate repentance. They would prepare this offering. This offering was also closely related with the purification of the sanctuary itself. And then there was the guilt offering, which was also offered in response to sin, but this sacrifice was more specific as to which sins. Did you have a question, Mo? Okay, sorry. The ones mentioned for the guilt offering were when somebody was committing an act that was expressly forbidden, when somebody had desecrated something that was holy, or also in sins that involved sinning against your neighbor. Other places in Scripture we see the drink offering, but that really isn't mentioned much in this book, so we'll just skip over that for now. And I don't have time to go into all these offerings, there's just so much in this book. But I think what's important is, as Pastor Bob was already doing for us, is to look at a few of the distinct characteristics that these offerings all have in common. First, there's the nature of that which is being offered. Whether it was animal or grain, that which is being offered was expected to be at least symbolically perfect. The animals which were offered were generally to be mostly males and without blemish. Any mark or any deformity and the animal would be considered unfit for sacrifice. And the Lord said, try to do that to your daughters. Try to do that to those who collect taxes, which you will offer to me on my altar, and let me sacrifice this. How often do you give God that kind of worship? Um, yeah, and that's, he requires perfection, right? He needs the very best. He, he will settle for nothing less. Um, ultimately we see that in order to cover the sins of one requires not just a sacrifice of life, but the transfer of sin from the imperfect to the perfect. When you wash your car, do you use an old dirty rag? No, you use something that's new. And when you wash the car, what happens? The car is clean and the rag is dirty. It's the same thing with sacrifices. You need something perfect, something spotless, something that can absorb the sin of another. The instruction of the cakes that are prepared without leaven serves the same function. Everywhere you see the word leaven, just replace that word with sin. That's what it represents. That's what the letter represents, sin. God will only accept a perfect, sinless sacrifice for covering of sins. Second, in regards to the sin offering, the shedding of blood was required. Blood was very important in the act of sacrifice. It says in Leviticus 17.11, for the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls. For it is the blood, by reason of the life, that makes atonement. Blood equals life. In addition to the sacrifice being perfect, it also must lose its life. This representation of blood and life is so strong that God even goes further in Leviticus 17 to bar anyone from eating something that had its blood still within it. Next is the portioning of the sacrifice. It was a provision for the Levitical priesthood. The Levites were a tribe without an earthly inheritance. These men had no land, nothing which they could leave to their children. God had set them apart as a holy tribe specifically for the working and keeping of the temple and the things that they worshipped. It's actually also interesting to note that that same That same word, it's not used in Leviticus, but it's used in Numbers, that the Levites were constantly working and tending the temple. There's only one other place where that type of language is used, and it's back in the garden, where it says that Adam worked and he tended the garden, sort of showing Adam to be sort of like a precursor, sort of a proto-priest in some way. But when people would bring their sacrifice that God had always allowed, except in the case of a burnt offering, God had always allowed a portion to be given to the priest so that they could consume it. That was their food, that's how they ate. And then finally, the penalty for mispracticing the sacrifice. Chapter 10, we see one of the few narrative portions in Leviticus where we read about Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's sons, who burnt strange fire on the altar of God. And he destroyed them instantly. It said he consumed them and destroyed them utterly. It's a bit jarring to read. such an account after reading all these chapters about sacrifices and instruction. But when we consider just how much time God has spent talking about all these sacrifices and how specific they should be and what can be killed and what can't be killed and how much portion, what parts of the animal are even to be divvied up and how, it's not really that striking to see that God would be that offended that somebody would go against his instructions. There's only three occasions in scripture where God starts people dead. who, as you say, were given some specific instructions that they presumed that they could work it out on their terms. In other words, they thought, how important is it that I mix the right concoction of instances? Because that's what they were instructed for. People at Strange Fire, they concocted their own incense mixture, rather than getting the specific instructions from God. But I think that this is a lesson for all of us, because we don't take seriously what we've got. We want to take and choose what we want, or we want to adapt it to our own, or make it say what we want it to say, depending on our own sinful indignation. We can't do that. And specifically about worship, you know, the regulatory principle that when we come to church, we should be governed by the word of God, not by feelings, not by traditions, not by liturgy. The word of God should govern our worship, and when we're not doing that, we're off in a strange path. And the interesting thing, it sort of brings me into my final point on sacrifices, is that we understand what about these sacrifices in the first place. That they didn't truly accomplish anything, they were a shadow, they were a type, they were a picture of the one true sacrifice that God actually would accept, and that was his son Jesus Christ. In the book of Hebrews it says, in Hebrews 10.4, it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. But then we're told about that true sacrifice later on in verses 10 through 12. By this we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices which can never take away sins, but he, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God. Oh, I'm sorry, Amber. What I want to share is that the sacrificing of the blood of animals reminds me very much of the culture wars that the Jews followed and continue to follow. And even as a child growing up, my mother used to soak the chickens Yeah, well yes, I mean ultimately Christ said that it's not what enters the body that makes a man, that defiles a man, but what comes out. You know, but I mean, these things are all representative, but yeah, we should be mindful of everything in terms of doing right by our bodies. Yeah, we are to take, we are to see ourselves as a temple of the Holy Spirit, and we're to do right by our body. That's an act of worship in how we treat ourselves. Any other questions, comments? Okay. So in our next section, verses 11 to 15, we get into the chapters that sort of deal with things that are clean and unclean. These chapters begin to distinguish the things that are clean from the things which are unclean. And I would hope by this point that you might have a sense as to why, right? Why would God spend five chapters describing the things which are either clean or unclean? Well, he does so because whenever we see the word unclean, we should see sin, just as we saw with lemon, just as we saw with everything else. The phrase cleanliness is next to godliness is a stupid saying, but it's kind of rather apt in this case. To be unclean didn't just mean you were dirty, it meant that you were corrupted, that you were corrupted by sin down to your very core. It meant that you were defiled, you were cut off, you were separated from God. If you were declared to be unclean, you were cast out of the city. To be unclean meant that you were no longer holy. It was a very important thing to be clean in the presence of God. One of the first things to receive this distinction is animals. There are a number of animals that are listed as being either clean or unclean. The Israelites were only to eat the clean animals. If you ate an unclean animal, then you needed to be cleansed. So there are two things that we should note about the clean and unclean animals. First, there are a number of people that have gone on to talk about This merely being a provision of God to protect the people from diseases. That God was simply trying to protect animals like pigs, right? They carry trichinosis and stuff like that. And people want to say that this is merely an instruction that God gives to the people so that they would be protected from getting all these kinds of diseases. That has nothing to do with it. Most of these animals were unclean because of their very nature. Some of these animals were scavengers, like vultures, which ate the dead. To come in contact with something dead means that you were unclean. To touch or handle the dead meant that you had to be cleansed. Other animals, those that hunted their food, like wolves, those that had paws, They ate the animals alive that had the blood still within them. As we just saw, that's an unclean act that would make you unclean. Likewise, the fish of the sea, things that scavenged like lobsters and ate the dead things were unclean and therefore should not be clean. These animals were unclean because of their actions. Their actions made them unclean. Therefore, to eat or to touch one would make you unclean. And two, once again, these were restrictions that were put in place for people who were always present with God. All diligence had to be made to ensure that no unclean thing came anywhere near the dwelling place of God. After Christ's sacrifice, something changed, though. The Apostle Peter, when he had his vision in Acts 10, saw unclean animals, and he was told to eat. But he said, by no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean. But then the voice responds, and he hears this, what God has cleansed no longer consider unholy. There is no longer any such thing as a clean or unclean animal. After the animals, we read a lot about things on or within the body that could make somebody unclean. It talks some time about women and the cycles they go through, often with a discharge of blood, or the same which is noticed through childbirth would make the woman unclean, and then she would have to go through a cleansing ritual. And then it goes on for some time about leprosy, and this is another instance where we should see the word sin. Where you see leprosy, where you see sores, you should see sin. It's very representative here in the book of Leviticus. We, uh, man was not created to be a host of diseases. We were created clean. We were created, uh, without spot or blemish. It is sin, the sin of Adam and Eve that has corrupted us and left us exposed to these things, which attack and destroy and even kill us. Go ahead, Bob. Yes. And I would agree to an extent, I would say this, that all these things are a symbol of sin. they may not have a practical benefit to the issue they like at the time. But that was sort of like, you know, one of the things was, like, you know, don't boil baby dope in its mother's milk. That's not, that's not like, you know. Well, that's kind of Celtic origin, because Egyptians didn't know how to say it. They sort of encompassed the depth of it, but it doesn't seem like there's any one pattern that fits at all. were very often made of wood. And the milk was sour, and when interacted with meat, it would be toxic. So some of the moths were also very practical at times. Like leprosy. Clearly, you want to alienate somebody. That's the word, amen. Absolutely. I mean, from what I read in the context of Leviticus, it seems primarily that these animals were unclean because of how they interacted with dead things or with things with the blood still in them. Possibly, yeah. I don't want to say it's impractical. In my studies, everybody that brought it up like that, as if it was a practicality, seemed very liberal in the way they were trying to portray it. That was the only purpose in it. God was merely trying to protect these people, and that's why God could just brush it off after Christ came. I wanted people to understand that there's a purpose, and that it's right here in the text, that you couldn't touch anything dead, or you were unclean, and therefore these animals that ate the dead, that clearly would make them tainted by that. So I'd like to read more. I had very little time to study. I'd love to read more, and I'm sure there is practicality to it. There's a practicality in a lot of things God does. God is wise, but just go ahead. I need more water. Yeah, and I mean, as deformities, I mean, even the Levitical priests, if they had any deformities, they couldn't even worship. They couldn't carry out any worship. The only thing they had to look forward to was the meals of the burnt offerings. That was it. There was nothing. They had no inheritance. They couldn't worship. They couldn't carry out any worship. All they had to do was eat. That was it. Yeah, that's true. Earmuffs, Terrence, earmuffs. I've heard stories, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But lobster's one of the most delicious, filthy animals I've ever eaten, I gotta tell you right now. It's so good. Yeah, you filthy animal. But ultimately, everything that we're talking about here, it's not about cleanliness. To be unclean or clean doesn't have anything to do with cleanliness. It's merely God's way in which he separates people from the whole in order to either bring them closer to him or drive them further away, right? The next section is chapter 16, the Day of Atonement. I really, really wish I had more time to get into this. We're only going to touch on it. I heard some commentarians say that this is one of the most important chapters in all the Bible. The Day of Atonement was a very important sacrifice that happened in Israel. It took place only once a year, and with it, the sins of the entire camp of Israel were covered. It's also the only time in which the high priest was allowed to actually enter into the most holy place, the Holy of Holies. And he would go in there and he would offer two sacrifices. He would go there and he would offer one sacrifice for himself. He would cleanse himself through a strict regimen first. He would cleanse his whole body. He would dress himself in these fine linen robes. And then he would bring in a bull and sacrifice it to make atonement for him and his family, the entire Levitical priesthood. And then he would go in again and he would make a second sacrifice. And he would take the hyssop and dip it in the blood and sprinkle it on the mercy seat. of the Ark of the Covenant, and that would cover the sins of the people. There's no more clear representation of Christ than that. The one who's able to enter into the presence of God and truly make that one sacrifice that covers the sins of everyone that he's chosen. There's no greater sacrifice than that. The other interesting thing about this celebration is that there were two goats used. There was one that was sacrificed and given to God. That was his lot. And then there was another one where the priest would put his hands on the goat, and he would confess all the sins of the people. And all of those sins would be placed on that goat, and then they would drive that goat out of the city. And he was a scapegoat, or a zazel, as some translations call it. That was probably the desert spirit, they called it. Yeah. No, I hope not. I'm guessing they took somebody, somebody took him far away before, hope he got lost. Really? But that's such a clear picture of what we're talking about. That's just another instance where the thing that is considered holy is brought into the place of God, and the thing that is considered sinful is driven out of the city as far as possible. It's driven out of the presence of God. Like I said, I'd love to get into that more, but I just didn't have time for this study, I'm sorry. But next section we go into is chapters 17 through 22, which is also known as the Holiness Code. They're called that because of what they contain, which is various rules and laws and commands for the people of Israel, but also how often the term holy is used. As well as how often the Israelites are commanded to do these things unlike the nations around them who were actually practicing these things quite a bit. It's in this section that we read about the blood as we looked at earlier. We read about the children that were being sacrificed to Molech. We read about men who were practicing homosexuality and other sexual sins. And we read a number of laws which were given regarding neighbors. It's here where we actually receive the command to love our neighbors as ourself in Leviticus 19.18. And that's what true holiness should produce, love, love towards our neighbors, but also towards God. Now, there's so much application to be found in any one verse of this portion of text that I could be here till next week. But our purpose is to understand, it's not to go into homosexuality or abortion or incest per se. Our goal is to find out why these things are here in the book of Leviticus. And there's one passage that I think does that very well and also is very applicable to us here in our study. And that would be Leviticus 18. Leviticus 18 verses 24 through 30. And I'd like somebody to read that for me, please, when you get there. Leviticus 18 verses 24 through 30. Thank you, Fiona. So, like I said, there's so much application you can get in any one of these verses, you know, person to person, but there's just no time. I literally spent hours listening to James White, who has an entire sermon series on the Holiness Code. It goes on for like 20 or 30 sermons. There's so much that can be gotten out of just this. And he doesn't go through the book of Leviticus, he just goes through the Holiness Code, just these few chapters of Scripture on homosexuality. There's such a resource there where if you're interested in learning about how these things can be utilized for us in talking with individuals, I would highly suggest you check out those sermons. They're really terrific. One of the arguments that people who want to become Christian make is that that's the What about all these other horrible practices that are mentioned? Yeah, and I believe, I didn't actually take a count of it, but I believe in 18 and 19 that every commandment is reiterated. Both about if you dishonor your parents, you should be stoned, if you worship other gods, if you commit adultery, if you commit murder. Every single one of the commandments, I believe, is listed in 18 and 19 specifically. Yeah, Brother Steve? No, except for the Sabbath. But the Sabbath is reiterated here, though. Go ahead, Amory. Paul answers that in Romans 6-15 when he says, what then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace by no means? Yeah. People don't realize it's like before the law was condemned, the law was condemned, three testaments condemns it. It's straight through Scripture. It's not one shred of evidence. And actually, you study Noah's sons, specifically Ham, that the period when he was in, because when you look at his father's nakedness, it actually is a situation that there was a homosexuality. At least it was a homosexual gaze. Plus, some people claim that the Bible was failing the fact that he went in and actually violated his father. It's the same language used as what was actually discussed in a couple of years. Constance Davis' youth memorial was sexual immorality. So I mean, before he was considered a politician, and his son, Gene, was a terse boy. Yeah, the Bible seems to be pretty clear that it definitely sees homosexuality as a clear sin against God. But like I said, in addition to those ways in which we would see these one-on-one, the only thing, like I said, I couldn't get too specific here, but I just wanted us to see here, in the verses that Fiona just read for us, It talks again and again about how the nations defiled the land, and that's why they were being cast out. It is possible for us as a nation to become defiled with sin. God has allowed judgment to come upon the nations mentioned here. He has allowed judgment to come upon nations since, and he could very well allow our nation to come under judgment for the sins that we are now calling good and legal and healthy in this country. Go ahead. Well, he was, but the people that were inhabiting that land were... Well, he certainly, I wouldn't, I don't believe he's blessing this country anymore. I mean, I think there definitely seems to be a sense in which he, you know, it seems like Christianity is taking, now we could say whether or not that's legitimate Christianity, because there's definitely a lot of You could make that argument. We'd have to have more discussion. We'd have to study more about it, I think. I mean, from what I've seen in it, though, I mean, So that way it's symbolic. I mean, I see it as being here in the midst of it. You have to be blessed. I mean, you have to be so gracious and merciful. It was referring to the divine covenant that God had established with the people of Israel, blessing the Pharisees. So God entered into a covenant with the people of Israel, and for specifically Islam. And Israel had opportunities to impact the world for good. And so while principles of holiness, principles of honor and God are going to bless any country, there seems to be a specific, special interest in this piece of land. And I don't think we can go to the United States and say, oh, because we're Well, just to make a point on that, my implication was not that we are a Christian land and that we are specifically set apart from God as some kind of holy land. You're right about that, and that wasn't my statement. I'm sorry? Well, I don't know about that, honestly. But my point in all this is simply to say that God has never ceased to bless a nation when it repents of sin. You know, even the Ninevites, when they repented, God blessed their land. I think they eventually turned against him again, but anytime they're called to repentance, even the Israelites, you look at 1st and 2nd Kings, right? Every time the land repented, you look at Judges, every time the people repented, God blessed them, God returned to them, God blessed them. Go ahead. I'd like to get a little comment. I've seen you get around this issue in the distance. When you look at the prophets of the Old Testament, God's judgment is on the nations, and because of their weakness and sin, he's going to impose it. He's going to overthrow it. And that's his job. And ultimately, he's going to find a way, right? Possibly, he's going to have to expose it. Possibly, he's going to say, well, somebody's done it. But when God was doing it in Judah and Canaan, that's part of the reason he had the covenant. And two comments on it. Yes, the land was absolutely, the land of Israel was absolutely part of it. Abraham and Tubby, and God sold the land as holy. So much so, that the land had to rest every seven years. There was a Sabbath year for the land to rest. God was concerned about blood to follow the land. He knew that, and he talked about it. God consecrated, just like he consecrated the tabernacle, just like he consecrated the ark. Nothing could be called holy, or consecrated, or clean, David wasn't even allowed to build the temple. But when we're talking about Israel, it is a unique entity in itself. However, I think we should be careful, because many people think Israel today, the nation of Israel that exists, is God's fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant and purpose for the land. And I think we need to be careful there. Some have different opinions. I'm not going to debate each one. But I think there's good evidence in the New Testament to show us that the whole Abrahamic covenant was supported by Christ. Israel is no special state that is the land of America or the land of Iran or the land of Baghdad. I'm not saying that Israel is a country of bad people. I love the people of Israel. I think it's the only democracy and good country in the Middle East that exists right now and that's our ally. But what I am saying is that Israel, they're not going to build a temple in Israel. God doesn't have this plan to restore You know, we have to see that in Christ, all of this is fulfilled. You know, Abraham looked for a city whose builder and maker was God. It wasn't an earthly city, it was a heavenly city. And I'm afraid too many people put too much emphasis on Israel, even today, to the fact that they'll send money to certain issues. I think I'm going on a bunch of everybody. I'm having to get out of here. People like Michael Pence, for instance, is a dispensationalist. A dispensationalist. that Israel must be, you know, has this theological progress. And I think the Trump administration should be informed by dispensations around this. A lot of Americans are, I would think. I'm not a dispensations. I don't think it's good theology. I've reached out and I think revelation. But yeah, but on the other hand, I think Israel is a good country. I think that we should be allies and protect them, because they're the only Western democracy in the Middle East. And, you know, they've got their own problems. But who am I to tell you that they're just as wicked, addicted, their culture, as here in America, homosexuality, drugs, the same nonsense is going on there. So don't think of it like this holy place where prophets are running around and prophesying the word of God, and everybody's going to the temple. It's just a sinful movement. But relative to most of the countries that surround it, you know, the night may be worse. So Stephen, I was just wondering, because I thought that's where you were going with the terms of Canaan. No, no, no. What I was saying is that some people will imply that these promises or these codes, because we're Christian and we're a Christian nation, we go ahead and we can claim the promises of that for our land as well, like the Puritans did. And I think there are Republicans, too. I think there are Republicans who believe that this is a Christian religion. Yeah. And especially down south, if you ever go down there, I mean, I've heard so many sermons on, if we humble ourselves, God will restore our land. That famous line, you know, seek my faith, you know, and humble yourselves. Okay. Yeah, and it wasn't wrong for you to make the distinction, but that wasn't the point I was trying to make. Ultimately, it was a call for evangelism. I never got to that, but that's okay. Yeah, but ultimately, we're called to repentance. And I wasn't trying to say that we had promises coming to us, but that the way our country's going, there's clearly a downward spiral we're in, where we're falling further and further into sin. We're calling evil things good. Just look at the past 10 years, and it's striking the things that we were calling evil 10 years ago and the things we're calling good today. So that was my point. But I'm running out of time. I'm going to hopefully get the rest of this done in five minutes. Okay. Well, the second to last section was the Feasts of Israel. This was another thing I didn't get a chance to go into very much. In chapters 23 to 25, we talk about the Feasts of Israel. There were many feasts, among those being the weekly Sabbath, the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Trumpets, the Feast of Firstfruits, the Day of Atonement was another that we already looked at, and then there was the year of Jubilee. And though we could teach an entire lesson on each of these, there's actually a wonderful book, if anybody wants to read about the Feasts of Israel, there's a book I read a few years back called Meeting Jesus at the Feasts by John R. Satima. A really good book about how you can find Jesus in all of the feasts, how all of these things sort of point to a Savior and a Redeemer and a Christ. But ultimately, there's just a couple of aspects of these I want to look at. First of all, these were feasts that were implemented by God for God. God was the one that told these people to have these feasts. He's pointing everybody during these feasts towards Him. He wants everybody to see holiness. He wants people to see sin. He wants people to see redemption. He doesn't want people to lose sight of what's important. We can see that in this country, not to make it another country thing, but we can see what happens when we don't give reverence to something that used to be given reverence when you look at Christmas. It's just a sensational holiday now where people just spend ungodly sums of money and they do so starting at Thanksgiving, another holiday that we used to use to come to church and we used to pray and worship God. Now that's the day people start shopping. That's when people get the best deals on things. But God didn't make these feasts for that. He didn't make these for presents. He wanted everybody to take time throughout their year to stop and think about the things that God had done for them. The things that God had either by providing means for atonement or protection from judgment or by providing them with harvest and food, providing them with rest and ultimately redemption. And as I said, Christ can be found in all of those things. You can see Christ readily in all of these feasts if you just look. The final section in the Book of Leviticus is chapters 26 and 27. 27 seems to be just sort of an appendix. Yes, go ahead. You know, honestly, I hadn't until this past Saturday. I was at my niece and nephew's graduation party, and my other niece, who is a Christian, said that she recently celebrated a Passover feast at her church. And she said, you'd love it. It was good. And I was like, I don't know if I'd really appreciate that. I mean, I appreciate the idea of looking and celebrating and worshiping God. But these feasts were something, I see them as the sacrifices. These were things that were supposed to point us to Christ. That's why we don't commit sacrifices now, because now we have the Lord's Supper, which points us back to Christ, as opposed to having these feasts that point us forward. I say, if you want to have a Seder feast, you have it every time you have the Lord's Supper. It was all a Passover feast. That's where it was implemented. That stream, that theme that runs through the Passover to the Lord's Supper, it's all pointing towards Christ from both ends. So I don't think I would be too keen on that unless somebody could give me another reason why. Okay. Thank you. So like I said, this final section was the blessings and the curses in chapter 26. Like I said, 27 seems to just be an appendix about vows and taking oaths. But it's really chapter 26. There was a lot I got out of this, and I'm not going to talk much about it because I want to read more of it than talk about it. There are far more curses in here than blessings, I can tell you that, but there's so much mercy as well when you look at it. I'm gonna start real briefly with the promise of blessing. When I read Leviticus chapter 26, I'm gonna read verse three and then I'll read verses nine through 12. If you walk in my statutes and keep my commandments so as to carry them out, skip ahead to verse nine, so I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will confirm my covenant with you. You will eat the old supply and clear out the old because of the new. Moreover, I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul will not reject you. I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be my people." That is quite a blessing. I think that's some of the strongest language I've ever seen in the Bible. It's almost Eden-type language, isn't it? almost reminiscent of what we also read in Revelation 21. God is dwelling with his people. It says he will make his dwelling place with the people. He will make them fruitful and multiply. This points to, especially when you consider that the Garden of Eden is reflected in the new heavens and the new earth. The tree of life is there. God is there. He's walking with his people. All this imagery, this sort of takes us right through there. It's sort of like a jumping off point. But then in verses 14 through 45, another three-fourths of the chapter, I'm sorry, just about to the end of the chapter, are where we find the curses. But I don't want to look at the curses themselves. As you'd expect, they're filled with promises of wrath, and disease, and judgment, and slavery, et cetera. But rather, I want to focus on the opening line of each part of the curse, and there are seven of them. I'll read them out as I go. Leviticus 26, I'll start with verse 14. But if you do not obey me and do not carry out all these commandments. Then verse 18, if also after these things you do not obey me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. Verse 21, if then you act with hostility against me and are unwilling to obey me, I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins. Verse 23, and if by these things you are not turned to me but act with hostility against me, Verse 27, yet if in spite of this you do not obey me, but act with hostility against me. Verse 36, as for those of you who may be left, I will also bring weakness into their hearts, and the lands of their enemies, and the sound of a driven leaf will chase them, and even when no one is pursuing them, they will flee as though from the sword, and they will fall. And then verse 40, if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers in their unfaithfulness, which they committed against me, and also in their acting with hostility against me. And then I think this all culminates in verses 44 and 45. Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I abhor them. as to destroy them, breaking my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God. But I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the Lord. Despite these people being described as unfaithful, disobedient, and hostile against God, he still offers them mercy. He gives them chance after chance after chance, and even then, when they still refuse to repent, he is still patient and willing to give them yet even another chance. He is still willing because he is faithful, he is loving, and he is not like man that he should lie, but he keeps his promises. That's a really important thing. Even in the midst of curses, there's blessing from God because he's a merciful and loving God. So we can conclude this study by summing up the book of Leviticus much in the same way in which we defined it. It's a book about holiness. It was God's instructions for God's people for how they were to act and interact with those around them. in order to show themselves as being set apart, not just set apart from the world and against its inhabitants, but as people who are set apart for God. A people who dwelled with God and worshiped God and depended on God. If I were to encourage you in only one thing through this study, it would hope that you would be encouraged to seek to make yourself holy as the Lord is holy. show that you are truly set apart from this world and towards God, and to love the Lord with all your heart and all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Amen? Yes. Well, that holiness means to be set apart from. That God is separate. He is set apart. He is truly separate from the people. There's nothing within God that is anything like the people that he's dwelling among, and yet he's present with them. At all times, he's present. In a way, it's vice versa, too. We're separate. We're unholy. We're unrighteous people, and yet we're still present with God. But that's by His mercy, not ours. That's by God being a loving, merciful God that wants to dwell with His people. Any other questions? Okay. Do you know something about the prosperity preachers? They use the blessings and curses of Leviticus and Deuteronomy all the time in their preaching. That's the basis of their prosperity theology. They misinterpret the blessings and curses as being applicable under the new covenant. And so they say, if you obey God and keep his commandments, God will keep you alive. Amen. Anyone else? Okay. Brother Terrence, would you pray for us? I'm studying. You want to touch me? Yeah. You're unclean. I'm unclean. I'm cast out. Thank you, guys. I could tell you studied and did your work, and I really enjoyed your teaching tonight. Thank you. Thank you. You're going to press out? Oh. Once again, thank you for bringing us here to hear this book about the people of Madison. Thank you for that. What we learned tonight that we remember. And we encourage to study deeper and much more. And there are studies that we don't do right now. We just thank you for this time. And we ask, oh Lord, for mercy for each and every one of us trying to respect the poems. Until we meet again on a Sunday, we ask and pray. And bless your holy name and my precious name we pray. Amen. Thank you guys. Have a good night.