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Text mainly from Leviticus 19, with references to chapters 17 and 18.
Comment
Details
Text mainly from Leviticus 19, with references to chapters 17 and 18.
Comment
Text mainly from Leviticus 19, with references to chapters 17 and 18.
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The speaker discusses the importance of reading and studying the book of Leviticus. They explain that Leviticus contains laws and commandments given by God to the Israelites, and although the civil and ceremonial laws may no longer be in force, the moral law still applies. They touch on Leviticus chapters 17 and 18, which detail instructions for animal sacrifices and the proper consumption of blood. The speaker emphasizes the importance of sharing testimonies and being respectful in our actions and consumption, as these are still valid moral principles. I know it's like drinking out of a fire hydrant. I get that. It's tricky, but here we go. We're going to have a couple more times. We'll be in this great and glorious book, challenging as it is, yet fundamental to our faith. And so today, Leviticus chapter 19 is our text, and it's a longer text, but it's a great text. And let's attend it to God's Word this morning, shall we? Leviticus chapter 19, this is God's Word. The Lord said to Moses, Speak to the entire assembly of Israel, and say to them, Be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy. Each of you must respect his mother and father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God. Do not turn to idols or make gods of cast metal for yourselves. I am the Lord your God. When you sacrifice a fellowship offering to the Lord, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf. It shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it, or on the next day. Anything left over until the third day must be burned up. If any of it is eaten on the third day, it is impure and will not be accepted. And whoever eats it will be held responsible, because he has desecrated what is holy to the Lord. That person must be cut off from his people. When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the Lord your God. Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not deceive one another. Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. Do not defraud your neighbor or rob him. Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight. Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord. Do not pervert justice. Do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. Do not go about spreading slander among your people. Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life. I am the Lord. Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so that you will not share in his guilt. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Keep my decrees. Do not mate different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear cloning woven two kinds of material. If a man sleeps with a woman who is a slave girl promised to another man, but who has not been ransomed or given her freedom, there must be due punishment, yet they are not to be put to death because she has not been freed. The man, however, must bring a ram to the entrance to the tent of meeting for a guilt offering to the Lord. With the ram of the guilt offering, the priest is to make atonement for him before the Lord, for the sin he has committed, and his sin will be forgiven. When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regard its fruit as forbidden. For three years you are to consider it forbidden. It must not be eaten. In the fourth year all of its fruit will be holy and offering a praise to the Lord. But in the fifth year you may eat its fruits. In this way your harvest will be increased. I am the Lord your God. Do not eat any meat with the blood still in it. Do not practice divination or sorcery. Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard. Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord. Do not denigrate your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will turn to prostitution and will be filled with wickedness. Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord. Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God. Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly, and revere your God. I am the Lord. When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the Lord your God. Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight, or quantity. Use honest scales and honest weights and honest ethos and an honest hymn. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt. Keep all my decrees and all my laws and follow them. I am the Lord. The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Please be seated. Wow. What a text. We are continuing our study. Yes, we'll gather at the river. It's the wilderness journey of God's people as they come through the wilderness and into the promised land. Today we're titled, The Holiness of God. What else would it be? We'll look at this text today. First, as we looked last week at chapter 16 of Leviticus, it's also important for us to take a quick view, a brief consideration of Leviticus chapters 17 and 18. We don't want to miss those. And then Leviticus 19, verses 1 and 2, it's the call to imitate God. And then Leviticus 19, 3 through 37, it's the opportunities to imitate God. And then we'll look at Jesus in the wilderness. Working our way through a sample of the text of the book of Leviticus, the third book attributed to Moses, the question often asked, of course, why do we read Leviticus? And we have multiple answers for this question. We, of course, read Leviticus, the main reason we read Leviticus, because it's in the book. It's there. It's part of God's Word. We would not remove part of God's Word. When God, by His Holy Spirit, added the New Testament, He didn't jettison the Old Testament. We read all 66 books because this is what God has given us. When we engage in the study of God's Word, we know that when we read the Old Testament, we find contained within the promises of God, which are fulfilled by Christ. So in the Gospels, when we read of people hearing about Jesus or meeting Jesus, and they'll often ask the question, could this be the Christ? They ask that because the dialogue of the Old Testament is running through their minds. This is what they're thinking, and they meet this guy, and they see what he does, and they hear what he says, and they say, could this be the Christ? Because it's the Old Testament that promised a Savior for God's people. It's the New Testament that describes the fulfillment of that promise. So we read the whole thing in order to get the whole picture. Leviticus, of course, as we know, details for us the law that God gave Moses to the Israelites, law that is to be followed by God's people while they're traveling through the wilderness, when they cross into Canaan, when they occupy the promised land. And as we've seen before in Israelite law, there is civil law, which law has governed the people during this time in history. There's ceremonial law governing their worship, the Old Testament worship of God. We hold, of course, that civil and ceremonial law no longer in force, but there's also a moral law of God, and that moral law does remain in force for God's people. The Ten Commandments, as we've seen, are an example of the moral law of God. And the moral law actually gives foundation to the civil and the ceremonial law. So as one of these laws may longer be in force, one of these civil or ceremonial laws may not be in force. It's the moral law that gives them foundation. And it's that that still has validity for us. For example, we don't have to conform to Jewish dietary restrictions, yet we are responsible to eat in a proper manner. See, our bodies, of course, are the temple of the Holy Spirit. They are a gift from God, so we must watch what we eat and how much we eat. We have a moral responsibility to partake and consume in a proper manner, so we continue to study the law of God, the law given in Leviticus, so that we might comprehend the moral law found within, and we might apply it to our lives. With that, let's take a brief consideration of Leviticus chapters 17 and 18. First, we'll look at 17, the text gives instruction concerning animal sacrifices, the manner in which they're to be given. Before the institution of the Israelite sacrificial system, it appears that people would just give individual sacrifices of animals at various places, and here God is saying to the people, let's bring all those sacrifices in and let's do them at the temple. And the reason that we're doing, why would God order that, why would God direct that? Well, we notice chapter 17 in verse 5 of Leviticus, it says these words, this is so the Israelites will bring to the Lord the sacrifices they are now making in the open fields. They must bring them to the priest, that is to the Lord, at the entrance of the tent of meeting and sacrifice them as fellowship offerings. Fellowship offerings. The sacrifices are to be considered fellowship offering. A fellowship offering was celebrated and observed by all of God's people. A fellowship offering is like a testimony. If we were to say, listen to what God has done in my life, and you would make a fellowship offering, it's a testimony. So we do the same thing today. We might not bring a fellowship offering and put it on an altar and light it up and burn it, but we share what God has done for us. We share about the good news of grace and mercy of Christ and how He has blessed us. It's a fellowship offering. The chapter here also includes God's command that the blood of any creature is not to be consumed by man. Man's use of blood of animals is for sacrifices, not for consumption. So with regard to the laws found in this chapter, we're no longer following that ceremonial system of sacrifices, but we are obligated by God to declare publicly our testimony concerning God, His goodness to us, and to be respectful and proper in the way we consume that which God has given us. So you see how the moral law informs the civil and the ceremonial law, and the moral law is still valid for us. It's still in force. Let's also briefly review Leviticus chapter 18. Here we find God's moral law in great detail. And notice in the text God's reasons for these commands. God does not owe us an explanation for anything He decides. Nevertheless, He gives us His reason. Notice Leviticus chapter 18 and verse 3. Notice what it says. It says, You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. As we've seen, as we've studied, the Egyptians were guilty of a host of deviant sexual practices, and they even included these in the worship of their deities. We learn this in our study of the story of the golden calf. And so here God says to the Israelites, Do not bring those deviant sexual activities with you. And then, of course, there's the Canaanites, not to be outdone. Here they are. As we know, they employed the sacrifice of children in their worship system. They're bowing to the detestable god, Molech, and God says, Don't do this. So to the Israelites, God says, Do not adopt their abhorrent behavior. Forget about the Egyptians. Forget about the Canaanites. Do not follow their practices. And is not Leviticus chapter 18 moral law that God commands still which we are to follow today? Chapter 18 Leviticus clearly condemns sexual activity which is not between a husband and a wife. And further, God's word here demands that the lives of all children ought to be honored and respected and cherished. God's people are never to act in a manner which is profane and detestable. Of course, our society today has largely thrown out Leviticus 18. If you put Leviticus 18 on a bumper sticker or on a t-shirt or on a billboard, you're going to get some criticism, are you not? The culture has given its endorsement to many of these practices. And we would say that people are being deceived to think that these behaviors are good and they're permissible. For example, verse 6. No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. Or verse 22. Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman. That is detestable. Or verse 24. Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. In our world today, churches are being attacked and persecuted for teaching these very things. In our world today, pastors have been arrested and prosecuted for teaching these very things. But here, God's word is unmistakably clear. And we would be derelict in our duty if we failed to communicate God's word to this world. So still enforce the moral law of God in place for the people of God. So in our day, when we read God's law as found in the Old Testament, and we ask the questions about how we are to consider it as Christians and apply the law of God today to our lives and in the world, we would do well to apply it in this manner. We can say that we're no longer responsible for God's civil law. It was given to the nation of Israel as it traveled through the wilderness. We're no longer responsible for God's ceremonial law, for the ceremonial law pointed to its fulfillment, which was fulfilled by Christ. But God's moral law remains in force. And it must instruct the conduct of our lives. The law of God for the people of God. Now, that brings us to chapter 19, where we are for today. And I would say also that it's not by accident that chapter 19, especially verses 1 and 2, but right up to chapters 17 and 18, they're connected. There's a reason why they're right next to each other. They're to be understood in that context. Our text today, chapter 19. Many of our contemporary Bibles, they're a bit misleading in here because most of us are reading the New International Version. And at the beginning of the chapter, the publishers have included a description of the text. It's probably in italics, and it's the beginning of the paragraph of chapter 19. And it will be a description of the text. This description is not part of the original Bible. It's been added by the publishers later to try to help us to find our way through the scriptures. In this particular case, just before verse 1 of chapter 19 of Leviticus, you probably see the title Various Laws there in your Bible. If you're reading the King James Version, the heading should say something like A Repetition of Sundry Laws, sundry meaning various. You should see that little italicized title there in your Bible. Here the publishers are trying to be helpful. They really are. But unfortunately, they missed the big picture of Leviticus chapter 19. Yes, this chapter is largely made up of the repetition of God's commands, and at first glance it seems like it's kind of random how it all appears. We'll consider the text here in a little bit. But let's look again, and let's see that this chapter presents us a bigger picture, because this chapter gives us the context for God's laws. Why does God communicate His law to man? Why is God adamant to declare these truths for His people to follow? And here's why. Notice verses 1 and 2. Let's not skip over this. Let's not regard it lightly. Verses 1 and 2 are absolutely profound for our understanding of God's expectations for us, God's commands for man. Notice the text. "...and say to them, Be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy." The Word of God for the people of God, and what's the command? There's a command. Be holy. This is an imperative. This is not a suggestion. This is not a cute idea. This is a command for God's people. Yes, we don't list it in one of the Ten Commandments, but nevertheless is it not a command? Is it not an imperative? Be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy. Alright, let's break this verse down. Let's break down that line and let's see what it says for us. First, notice that God here describes Himself as God, and not just God, but THE God. There's a definite article in that verse, is there not? THE God. Recall the words of the prophet found in Isaiah, chapter 45. THE God. THE God. Also, we hear read of the personal connection that God has with His children. God here recognizes Himself as the Lord your God. And this is not the only time in Scripture that we have seen this. Psalm 81, I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Isaiah 41, do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. Now, following this, God here provides further self-description. Notice the last phrase of verse 2. God says, I am holy. You and I serve the holy God. He's not just a holy God, because there aren't other holy gods. There is one holy God, He is THE God, and He is THE holy God. He says, I am holy. What do we mean when we say that God is the holy God? Well, one commentator I found describes the holy God in this way. He says, holiness is the quintessential quality of God. In the entire universe, He alone is intrinsically holy. That God is holy means that He is exalted, awesome in power, glorious in appearance, and pure in character. This is the God who we serve. This is who this God is. This is when God says, I am holy, this is what He claims to be. This is how He has described Himself. This is how God has revealed Himself to man. We ask the question, how has God made Himself known? This is one way He's made Himself known, by saying, I am the holy God. Now, when we use the word holy in these days as part of our conversation, we might describe someone as holier than thou. Maybe you've heard that phrase before. Maybe it's been thrown at you before. And, of course, when we use that description, it's generally used in a derogatory manner. It's used to be critical of someone, especially someone regarded as subordinate, or perhaps acting towards us in a condescending manner. So the term is certainly thrown around loosely. Someone may be unfairly criticized as being holier than thou, when what they're truly trying to do is to be honest, and truthful, and even compassionate. Of course, some people are just never comfortable with hearing the truth. Truth often hurts. It often hurts. In this case, considering God, you know, God really is holier than thou. Now, I don't mean it in the way we say it. I don't mean it in a derogatory manner. God is holy in a way that you and I can never be. God is unique in His holiness. He stands above His creation, and He is the holy God. And everything He does is right. Every decision He makes is right. Every emotion He projects is right. Every care and concern and plan He has is right. And it's always carried out, and it will be carried out, and it will be fulfilled. Why? Because He is the holy God. Holiness, therefore, is one of God's attributes. When we affirm that God is holy, we have an understanding that He is God, and so we rightly attribute holiness to Him. So verse 2 makes this absolute claim, that God's Word makes this absolute claim, I, the Lord your God, am holy. Just think of a minute. We have a privilege every Sunday to gather together and worship the holy God. And then on a daily basis, on a minute-by-minute basis, we have an ability to have a communication with the holy God. And we have the revelation of this holy God for which we can read. And we have opportunities to share something about this holy God to a world which desperately needs to hear it. Because this is the only solution. God's it. No one else is presenting a solution. The rest of it is doom and gloom, is it not? Go watch a movie. See how the future is being projected. No. God is God. God is holy. God is bringing His plan forth, and He will fulfill that plan. And He will do so, He will carry it out, because indeed He is holy. Now, why does God want us to have this certainty concerning His holiness? Why is He so taking pains here to describe Himself so that we would know that He is the holy God? Why does God desire to describe Himself in this way? Well, let's look again at verses 1 and 2. And we see here that God is instructing Moses. He's giving Moses the information that Moses, of course, is then to repeat before all the people of Israel. And before God recites the laws, which He's going to do here in a minute, what does He give as the primary imperative of this chapter? We've said it before, be holy. Be holy. So it is God's plan that His people would be holy people. His hand is upon His children so that His children would be holy people. Now, this is really strange, because just a few moments ago we said that God is unique in His holiness. God is clearly separate and distinct from all His creatures. And that certainly includes man. And yet, in spite of God's uniqueness, here's the amazing truth. Because God, the one who is the holy God, and He is unique in that way, is nevertheless reaching out to His people. And He's drawing His people unto Himself. And then He's calling them, and He's calling them to mirror His holiness, to mirror this aspect of His character. The children of God are to be imitators of God. God's people are to live in a life and a manner that reflects God. Be holy, just as I, the Lord your God, am holy. So the children of God are to be imitators of God. We will not be little gods. That's not the plan. God is God. But we are to be, in this life, in this world, imitators of God. Yes, I understand we can't quite do that. I get that. Nevertheless, that's the call. Be holy, as I am holy. So before we go forward and take a few minutes to briefly consider God's commands in detail, think about this big picture. God's commands do not exist solely in regard to the thing commanded. When God directs, remember the Sabbath, honor our parents, do not steal, do not covet. Those are commands for us, and they describe the detail in the context of the command. But when God gives those commands, He's also looking beyond those things, is He not? He's looking beyond Sabbath, and beyond our parents, and beyond stealing, and beyond coveting. Because when God says, do these things, He is saying that because through these things, God is telling us that He is making us holy. Through doing those things, through engaging in those things, God is making us holy. So the way we remember the Sabbath, and the way we honor our parents, and the way we refrain from stealing, and we refrain from coveting, God is doing that in us, directing that in us, and guiding us through that, because He is making us holy through this process. He's working on us. This is the process of sanctification, and God is at work. In these ways, the people of God will be God's children. They're taking on something of the character of the Father. There's something about the image of the Father that continues to be more and more a part of our own lives, of who we are. So in consideration of each of God's imperatives given to man, we can say that the law itself describes the letter of the law, and then holiness, the holiness of God, describes the spirit of the law. So there's a law. There's a command. That's the letter of the law. Do not cheat. Do not steal. Do not covet. Honor your parents. That's the letter of the law. It's the holiness of God that is the spirit of the law. And this not only goes for the commands articulated in chapter 19, but let's make no mistake. The call to holiness extends over all of God's command found throughout the scriptures. So this includes the Ten Commandments. This includes the declarations of Leviticus chapter 17. This includes Leviticus chapter 18. This includes all of it, all of the imperatives of God, all of the commands of God. There's the letter of the law, the command itself, and the spirit of the law, which is the holiness of God, which drives them. So in all things, in all of life, God's commands to his people are found in what? Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy. So this is a call to imitate God. So then we come to the rest of the chapter, verses 3 through 37, and we're obviously not going to take time to go through each of them, but here we pause for a short visit. And in our analysis of this part of the text, it's difficult to find categories. Many commentators have endeavored to do just that. They've tried to figure out how are these various laws organized, and do they have connection? So rather than search for an outline, I thought let's just take the remaining text here today, verses 3 through 37, and let's look at it as a whole. And with this, I think there's four significant things that kind of jump out at us when we read this text. First, all the Ten Commandments appear somewhere in some form or another here. We've seen them. They're here somewhere in the text. We've noticed the language. It's familiar to us because we know where it comes from. So the Ten Commandments appear somewhere here in various places. Not in the same order, not in the same language, but it's clear that they appear here in Leviticus chapter 19. So this is not unfamiliar territory. The Israelites are already familiar with these laws, and we are too. Second, we notice that even the most basic and practical commands found here have a deeper meaning. Let's pick on one. Look at verse 27. Probably the one line that stuck out at us is saying, why is that there, verse 27 of our text in Leviticus 19? Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard. Okay, what is that? Why would that be in ā why would that make it even in the Bible? Why is that a big deal? Now, at first glance, it seems like a petty little command, especially when you consider it's put betweenā¦ ā¦ verse 26 and verse 28. So verse 26, do not practice divination or surgery. Verse 28, do not cut your bodies for the dead. And then verse 27, don't shave the sides of your head and don't trim your beard. It just doesn't seem to make any sense. Why the command of verse 27? Well, of course, there's a context to it, so here it goes. So back in Egypt, Egyptian aristocracy, both men and women, had a common practice of shaving the sides of their head. Egyptians back in the day ā and you'll see this in hieroglyphics and paintings in Egypt. They would shave the sides of their head, so the sides of their heads would be clean-shaven, and all would be left would be the hair on top. That's kind of the fashion of the day, and both men and women practiced that particular fashion. And then further, Egyptian men would very closely and neatly trim their beards. And you've seen that picture as well, where it's kind of a square beard. They kind of just spot this long, and it hangs like this, and then it cuts off very short. And they would very closely and carefully trim their beards. So here's what happens. When the Israelites were captive in Egypt, they began to employ Egyptian popular practices, and that included grooming. It included the way they kept their hair, and the men, the way they kept their beards. And so among the Israelites traveling through the wilderness, one would see Israelites that looked very much like Egyptians because they continued that style and that practice. To which God says, don't imitate the Egyptians, imitate me. Be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy. You're gone from Egypt. You have left Egypt. Leave Egypt behind. And now the command to lose the imitations of the Egyptians sandwiched between the command not to practice divination or sorceryā¦ ā¦ and the command prohibiting the cutting of one's body at a burial service, another Egyptian religious practice. Now it makes sense that that line is there in the text where it is, and that's just one of them. You can take these other very common things, very practical things, and say, why is it in there? And with some study you can find the details on that. Third, we can't help but notice that what is repeated here throughout the textā¦ ā¦ what's repeated at the beginning of verses, verses 1 and 2, is repeated 15 more times in Leviticus chapter 19. I am the Lord. I am the Lord your God. I am the Lord who brought you out of Egypt. I am the Lord. 15 more times God repeats this in the text. And all this week I couldn't help but thinking of somethingā¦ ā¦ maybe God is saying something like, rule number 1, I am the Lord your God. Rules number 2 through 16, I am the Lord your God. If you don't like rules number 2 through 16, go back and re-read rule number 1. That's just kind of the dialogue running through my head. But over and over and over again in this text, we find God reminding us, reminding his people why these rules are here. Fourth, it's important to understand these commands of God, the moral law found in God's word. The moral law has not changed. It has not expired. All of God's moral law is still in force. This includes the Ten Commandments. This includes Leviticus chapter 18. This includes the laws found in chapter 19. This includes it. So the civil and ceremonial laws aren't quite applied the way they were in the past. But God's moral law has not changed. It has not expired and it never will. Now, certainly, we are called to be holy as God is holy. Yet, as we have said, we can't achieve holiness in this life. It's not going to happen. There's never going to be a time when we say, Gee, God, I don't need grace and mercy anymore. I've got it figured out. Thank you very much. No, we are all sinners saved by grace. And as the children of God, we too go forward in this life under this command of God, the call to be holy, to engage in all things as they would fit under the call to holiness. So these are all opportunities. Opportunities to imitate God. Think of all these rules and regulations. Just the ones in Leviticus 19. They are all there as opportunities for us to imitate God. Let's take a few minutes then to conclude with considering Jesus in the wilderness. Because it's about now, when I'm standing here with my hands clasped together, looking at my shoes, and I'm thinking, God's call to holiness? I'm not even close. I know that some of us, perhaps all of us, might be thinking something along the same lines. So let's fast forward some 1500 years. And let's read the Apostle Paul. He's writing his letter to the Ephesians. And let's consider how Paul opens up his letter. So let's turn forward to the New Testament, turn to Ephesians. We'll look at chapter 1, verses 4 through 8. So after the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, then it's Acts, Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, then Galatians, and then Ephesians. So we're going to look at the book of Ephesians. If you get to Philippians or Colossians, you've gone too far. It's okay to use the index at the front of your Bible. That's why it's there. Find the page number. So Ephesians, chapter 1, verses 4 through 8. And let's notice what Paul says, and this is God's Word. Here it is. Ephesians chapter 1, starting at verse 4. Speaking of God, So listen, child of God, this is what God is now doing in you. Do you see that? God is doing this in you. God chose you, and when He chose you, He chose you to be holy. And if you're a child of God, then God is making you holy. And what God has started, He will finish. He will make you holy. Yes, you might not feel, I don't feel like it. When I look in a mirror, I don't see holy. Nevertheless, God's command is also God's declaration of what He's going to do. I am making you holy. You will be holy. You will. I'm going to finish what I started. I'm going to do what I promised. What God has started, He will finish. And you might say, but Master, my record is really bad. It's going to take a lot of work to get me there. Yes, I get it. I feel that exact way. Absolutely. It's going to take a lot of work to get me there. How's God going to do this? How's He going to do it? Well, look at verses 4 and 5. This is great stuff. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His children, His daughters and His sons, through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will, to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the one He loves. He's going to do it through His Son. He's going to do it through His Son. Through the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are those who are adopted into the family of God. We belong to God. He owns us. His fingerprints are all over us now. He ain't letting go. We belong to Him. Okay, so how did Jesus accomplish this? How did He do it? That's nice, but how did He accomplish it? Well, look at verses 7 and 8. See what it says? In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us. He didn't just give us a little bit. He lavished it. He poured it out. The image is an image of a pitcher where the water is being poured out. And once it's poured out, once you tip the pitcher over and you pour it out, there ain't no bringing it back. It's out. There's no stopping it. And that's the picture here, that God's grace has been lavished upon us to cover us, to soak us in grace and mercy, to envelop us. We'll look like a wet puppy when we're done, because we've been covered by grace. And this is how it is done. This is how Jesus does this. We have redemption through His blood, which of course is the cross, His sacrifice, His death on the cross. There we find forgiveness of sins. And the forgiveness of sins is in accordance with the riches of God's grace. Yes. Am I forgiven? Yes. How do I know that? Because it's in accordance with the riches of God's grace. Yes. This is the promise of God's word. Yes, this is what's been given to all who believe. So my friend, follower of Christ, believer in Jesus, sister and brother, this is precisely what God is doing in you and me. He is making you holy, and He is making me holy. And He will not stop until He's finished. Let's bow our heads and pray, shall we? Heavenly Father, in the text in Leviticus, we at first read the promise, and we think it's quite grand, and then we realize the weight of it, and we say, how could this be? I can't be holy. I'm not that way. I don't feel like that. And my record tells me and reminds me all too often that I'm not holy. But you're making me holy because you've adopted me, and you've brought me into your family, and you are making me holy. That's according to your word, your promise, and you're not going to stop until you're done. Thank you, Father, for this gift. Thank you, Father, that we might be the holiness of Christ. We might experience God's righteousness. We might see something of this in our lives. So, Father, thank you for forgiving us all the times that we fail. Thank you, Father, for equipping and strengthening us for the times that we finally get it right. And thank you, Father, for helping us to grow in grace and grow in knowledge of you and grow in our obedience to you so we might grow in this holiness which you are bringing about according to your plan and according to your will and for your glory. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Let's stand for our final song this morning.
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