All right, if you wish to follow
along, turn to Leviticus chapter 18. I have been planning on preaching
from this chapter for a few weeks now, but it just never panned
out because we had to cancel services. Leviticus chapter 18. I know this, that the messages,
whether it be a message on TV or whether it was the messages
we preached when we were on the radio or whether it's the messages
we preach here, No matter what the circumstances are, the message
that is supposed to be preached for that moment, whatever moment
it is, is exactly what God ordained to be preached for that moment.
Do you understand what I'm saying? It's exactly the message. Now
in Leviticus chapter 18, I will not read the whole chapter. I
text most everyone about this chapter, and I hope you've had
an opportunity to read it. call it to memory, you will probably
have something like this in your mind. Moses deals with some very
disgusting things in this chapter. Doesn't he not? I mean, he deals
with some very disgusting things in this chapter. Some of these
things I would be hard-pressed to be able to say it without
being overly offensive if I tried to deal with some of these things
in detail. And I hope it will become a little clearer what
I'm saying here in a moment. But without reading this chapter,
there are three verses that summarize this whole chapter. There are
three verses. The first one is found in chapter
18, of course, and verse five. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes,
and my judgments, then here is the phrase, which if a man do,
he shall live in them. Now anyone who's read the Bible
much knows that sounds familiar, right? I am the Lord. But then at the end of the chapter,
it's summarized this way. Verse 29, for whosoever shall
commit any of these abominations, Even the souls that commit them
shall be cut off from among their people. Therefore, ye shall keep
my ordinance. And just a little point for you
to think about later, in verse four, he says ordinances. In 30, he says ordinance. Anyway, think about that. Therefore
you shall keep my ordinance that ye commit not any one of these
abominable customs which were committed before you and that
ye defile not yourselves therein. I am the Lord your God. As I let most of you know previously,
my title and my subject, although I will not deal with these words
over and over, but my title and subject is this, God's law exposes
my corruption. You hear what I said? God's law
exposes my corruption. I fully realize that most so-called
preachers today probably will not preach in such a personal
way in which I will this morning. Most preachers are not going
to stand up and tell you about their personal legal mosaic Levitical
law corruption now are they they're just not going to do so they're
just not going to do so But I must do so but I want to have some
personal I Want it to be somewhat personal concerning myself because
I don't want you to think that I'm preaching down to you If
anybody hears this message later TV or internet, wherever it might
be. I don't want anyone to think
I'm preaching down to them. I know this religious world thinks
that preachers are supposed to be a little bit better or a little
more spiritual than everyone else, but that's a lie. That's
a lie. God doesn't command me to be
any better than you are. But upon that being said, I want
you to know God's law exposes your corruption too. Now God's law is one law with
many commandments, right? I mean, even people in religion
that profess Christianity, you usually don't hear people, I'm
not saying nobody ever has, but you usually hear people say the
10 laws, right? We say, we say, they say, almost
everybody says what? The Ten Commandments, right?
I mean, you hear of arguments, should the Ten Commandments be
put back up in school? It's the Ten Commandments, so
recognize the law is one law with many commandments. The Ten are not called the Ten
Laws. The book don't call them the Ten Laws. They're called
the Ten Commandments. Now, Mosaic law, or as we see
here, Levitical law, because this is the book of Leviticus,
and the Levitical law is more than just Sinai. It's more than
just the 10, because the Mosaic law, or Levitical, and we could
even say the law as given again in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy,
that's what Deuteronomy means, means second law. Now, not a
second different law, but the second giving of the law. So
Mosaic, Levitical, or Deuteronomy, the law of Deuteronomy, that
law has a top-down authority. Let me try to explain. It may
not be the best thing, best phrase, but it has a top-down authority. Let me try to explain briefly. There are two commandments in
the 10 that summarize the 10. Our Lord said so. We'll see that,
God willing, here in a moment. There are two commandments in
the 10 commandments that summarize all the 10 commandments, okay? But then the 10 commandments
summarize the 600 other plus commandments that are given in
Exodus, Leviticus, of course numbers some of them are there,
and Deuteronomy. So there is one law with they say, and I
don't wanna give a number because it varies a little, and I'm not
gonna sit down and try to count them all, but they say there
are over 600 commandments in the law. But it's still one law. But in Leviticus, these 600 are
categorized. Have you noticed that as you
begin to read? If you've read, they're categorized. Now, they're
not given titles for the category, but they're categorized. For
instance, chapter 18, and the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the Lord
your God, after the doings. And almost every chapter, or
sometimes it may be a couple chapters, you will read something
very similar to that statement. And if you read the different
ones, you will see different categories of sins. Correct? You can look at chapter 17, verse
one and two, go all the way back, and then continue on. You'll
still see this verse, chapter 19, look at it. And the Lord
spake unto Moses, saying, speak unto all the congregation of
the children of Israel. Why didn't he give it to them
just in one big foul swoop? Why does he have to keep saying?
Now, some say it was merely a historical thing. Let me explain. And they're
not totally wrong. Israel was encamped at Sinai
for about a year before they moved out. There is one main
reason. They were preparing all the articles
of the tabernacle and the priesthood before they moved out on their
journey. But God still could have, in the book, just said,
and God said to Moses, tell the children of Israel this, and
then give us all these laws. But he didn't. He separated it
up with different categories of these commandments. But, but,
So unified is this one law that doing one demands you got to
do them all. Yes, sir. Right? Yes, sir. So unified is this one law, one
law made up of 600 and some commandments. Yes, sir. And that's what he
says in verse 5, which if a man do, he shall live in them. The Apostle Paul tells us exactly
what that means. Turn to Galatians. Let me find it, Galatians chapter
three. And Paul has got a quote from the Old Testament. And he
will give a direct quote from Deuteronomy 27, 26, which is
the law given the second time. But something's added to Leviticus
18, verse five. in Deuteronomy 27. But he also
quotes Deuteronomy 18, verse five, in chapter three as well. So look at it. Chapter three,
verse 10 of Galatians. For as many as are of the works,
there's all the commandment, plural, of the law, singular. Now look at it. Are under the
curse. For it is written. Now he's quoting
the Bible. I thought Paul wrote the Bible,
he wrote some of the Bible. But there was a lot of Bible
already written. For it is written, cursed, now
this is what you will read in Deuteronomy 27 verse 26. Cursed
is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. So if you're gonna try
to get God's favor by not stealing, you gotta do all the other 600
plus with no failure. But, verse 11, that no man is
justified by the law of the sight of God. Paul said it's evident,
so if anybody tells you anything else, they're blind. Well, Paul
says it's evident. I don't care how much they've
read this Bible, they're blind to what the Bible say. Paul says
it's evident. I believe him being inspired
of the spirit of God other than these terrible trashy preachers
that are lying to men and women today. It is evident for, and
he's now a quote again from the Old Testament, Habakkuk of all
people, one of the most obscure prophets People, Habakkuk's a
prophet, yeah, Habakkuk. The just shall live, how, by
the law? By faith. Even Habakkuk understood that
under the law way back yonder. And the law is not of faith.
Now you're gonna hear Leviticus 18 in verse five, part of it
quoted. And the law is not of faith,
but the man that doeth them shall live in them. You see that? Now where am I going? Here's
where I'm going. Any single infraction, any single
sin, any sin of one commandment constitutes full guilt in all
the law Somebody says, what? What kind
of reasoning is that? That's the reasoning of a God-inspired
writer. His name is James. He was actually the physical
brother of our Lord Jesus Christ, one of our Lord Jesus Christ's
half-brothers. We probably should say that,
shouldn't we? One of his half-brothers. And look at what he says in James
chapter two. And there's more context here,
I understand that, but you check and make sure what I'm telling
you is in the context, verse 10. For whosoever, that means
any one of us, Jew, Gentile, black, white, bond-free, rich,
poor, ugly, pretty, fat, thin, don't matter. For whosoever shall
keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of
the one point. He's guilty of all. Do you see
that? He guilty of all. For he that
said, do not commit adultery, said also, don't kill. Now if
thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become
a transgressor, not just of a commandment, but of what? But of the law. This is what God says about his
law. There is no other passage in scripture that you could get
to to escape this truth. This is a divine order that God
has established under Mosaic or Levitical law. Now, chapter
18. Bear with me here. Don't prejudice your mind against
what I'm about to say. Think about it. I'm gonna use
some metaphors, some metaphors. Chapter 18 equals this, sexual
crimes. Not just sin, I know we call
them sins, that's right, the book, but in the old Hebrew and
the Greek, a sin is to miss the mark. It's a crime. My crimes are great, but don't
surpass, don't you glad, the power and glory of thy grace. They are crimes. And you see,
when God Almighty does something for a man or a woman, young or
old, they're going to begin to realize, my actions are crimes
against God. I'm a criminal. I'm a criminal. They're sexual crimes against
God. There's adultery, fornication, incest, sodomy, bestiality. That's some nasty stuff, folks.
Some nasty stuff. That's morbid. It's disgusting
Even idolatrous orgies Molech Let me stop just a molech you
ever studied about molech Children of God are warned in chapter
18 watch out about molech Why here was molech? Here was the
worship of molech. It was a God a And it had, evidently,
arms outstretched some way or another. And they heated that
thing up till it was just piping hot. And according to historians
who studied this, I'm going by what they say, there was great
drummers who beat large drums. And you know why they did this?
because the people who worshiped Molech would take their little
newborn babies and lay it in the arms of that red-hot God,
and the heat from that brazen idol would flame them babies
and kill them, and they beat the drums so the cries would
be deafened some. And while this happened, men
and women engaged in unspeakable sexual acts. Etc. Etc. Etc. Leviticus chapter 18 Here's
my I will use some a metaphor now these are crimes against
God, you know, these are crimes against God But there are no
more crimes against God than if you steal one of your neighbor's
pigs Or if you stole his coat or maybe
just stole a pair of socks. Did you hear what I said? I said
sodomy is no more condemnable in God's sight than stealing
a pair of socks because they're both condemnable. God's got to save the sodomite
with the same grace that he saves the sock stealer. It takes the
same power, the same blood, the same Christ to save both. God's
got to save the Calvinist with that same blood in Christ as
He does the free will Arminian. My DNA and my fingerprints are
all over the crime scene. You hear me? It's a crime scene. This is a crime scene. And he
says in verses three, verse three and then says it some more on
over in the chapter, this is the way the people you were around
to start with when you were slaves, this is the way they conducted
themselves. And the land in which I'm sending you, the people are
there now, this is the way they conduct themselves. Don't conduct
yourselves like them. But if you do one of them, you
gotta do them all. That's what he says. My DNA and
my fingerprints are all over this crime scene. And God sees
it whether I see it or not. God sees it whether you see it
or not. But I never did this, preacher. I understand that.
There's some things I never did. But there's a whole lot that
I did do. But the point is, if you do just one, if you break
just one, Christ said if you look at a
woman to lust after in your heart, you're damned! You're guilty,
just to think about it. Now you red-blooded American
men here, tell me which one of y'all's never done that. I know
us church folk, we're not supposed to be talking like that, are
we? We do if we're gonna tell the truth about God and the truth
about ourselves. And I don't care what you ain't
never done, we've done enough to condemn us in a million hails. Our Lord Jesus Christ said this,
look at Matthew chapter 22. Matthew 22, verse 34, but when
the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence,
they liked that. The Sadducees and Pharisees,
remember, were enemies. One believed in the resurrection
of the dead, the other didn't. That was one of the major knocking
points. I'm sure there were more, or the major conflicts between
the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the Pharisees did seem to
have the upper hand. But I'm sure the Pharisees thought
this, and I know it because of the context, as we'll see. Well,
yeah, he silenced those old Sadducees, but they don't have much truth
anyway. Right? But now, let's see how he deals
with us. Pharisees. Now look at it. But
when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees
to silence, they were gathered together. And they gathered together
and said, well at least you told them that having no resurrection
was wrong. Did they do that? No. Then one
of them, which was a lawyer, and not a lawyer in the sense
that we think of, he was a man who knew this law, Leviticus.
Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and even probably
all that was written. He's a lawyer. Ask him a question,
tempting him. In other words, he ain't gonna
shut the Pharisees down. Put him to the test. Master,
which is the great commandment in the law? And notice there
it is again, commandment. Of course he's talking about
one, the great one. What's the most significant one?
Ain't that what he's asking? In the law. Jesus said unto him,
now he didn't play into his game. Why? Because he's God, he knew
better. I probably would have played into his game and got
myself in a world of hurt. What about you? But not the Son
of God, not God manifest in the flesh. Jesus said unto him, thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. How does he know that? Because
he gave it. He was the one, it was his finger that wrote it
on the tables of stone. And the second, now even goes
further. And the second is likened to
it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Not just love your neighbor.
You love your neighbor like you love yourself. I can't do that. Now some people think they can,
but they cannot. They cannot. Look, on these two
commandments hang all the law and the prophets. So that's why
I said this is a top-down authority. Two summarize the 10. The 10
summarize the 600 plus. And if you love God with everything
you are, and you love your neighbor as yourself, the 600 plus would
be a breeze. It'd be a breeze. But I can't
even get past the first one. But you're a preacher. Yeah.
Preachers are liars. Preachers steal. Preachers some
preach for money or the pocketbook. Some just out and out preach
lies. Pastor, sounds like to me the law is insurmountable
for righteousness. It is. For righteousness before
God Almighty. Now we may pick and choose a
few that's really pertinent and meaningful to us and really keep
them really well amongst ourselves and look pretty good amongst
each other. But God knows our what? He knows this down in here. He knows when I put this facade
on out here, that down in here is full of dead men's bones.
Dead men's bones. So much so that the Apostle Paul,
now we'll read it, but in Romans 3, gives a great litany against
both Jew and Gentile of how bad we really are. He said, but then
why is the law given? So that we would shut our mouths.
That's what it says. Why did God give that law? To
show how insurmountable it is for us to obtain a true righteousness
before God. God demands perfection, not our
best shot. Give it your best shot, but if
you do it for righteousness before God's sake, you'll be damned.
Live as good as you can, but it's not gonna be God good. Because
God demands absolute perfection, and he give us 600 plus laws,
here they are. You do this, and here's some
don't do's as well. And you've gotta do them all
if you just break one. You're guilty of all. Some might
say, that don't sound fair. This is God. This is how holy
God is. You see, why do men, why must
men suffer in hell forever since their sins are temporal? I didn't
start sinning at least till I was, born or at least grow a little
older, right? Why? Why do men have to suffer
in the lake of fire and hell forever? Because God is eternal. And God was offended by my sins
before I ever even committed one of them. Is it? God was appalled at me before
I ever even existed in myself. Paul put it this way in Philippians
3. I'm not gonna read that one, but you go back and read it.
Philippians 3, one through 12. Paul said this, I'll paraphrase. I
don't want to have my own righteousness, which is of the law. I don't
want, he said, I count it like dung. Dung! That's the man who was
Saul of Tarsus. He said, I was born of the tribe
of Benjamin. I circumcised on the eighth day. Concerning law
I was blameless, but I don't want that righteousness. That's
a self-righteousness. It's a man righteousness He said
I need the righteousness of God in Christ That's what he says
That's what he says and I know that's what I need because by
God's grace he opened my eyes In my ears and my heart finally
to see what the law was truly saying to me Your a guilty, hell-deserving
sinner. And I still am. And if my soul were sent to hell,
thy righteous law does what? It approves it well. Well. Paul did not always know
this, though. He said, at one time, I was alive
without the law. Wait a minute, he said in Philippians,
he's basically born and bred a legalist. You know what he
said? From my youth up. Those that was of his age, he
said, I superseded all of them. I was in this thing. I was in
this thing. But he says this about it. He
said, for I was alive without the law once. when he really didn't understand
what the law was saying, he thought he was pretty daggone good. And I did too at one time. He said, but when the law came,
sin revived and I died. And he cries out in the end of
that chapter, Romans 7, oh, this is Apostle Paul. a man being
moved by the Spirit of God while he was writing these words, cried
out these words, in light of the law and his flesh, what he
is by nature, what he still was by nature, oh, wretched man that
I am. I can relate to that. But then
he says, what's going to deliver me? Is that what he said? No,
he said, who? because he'd also been revealed
God's who. Who, see God's deliverance is
in a person. In one singular person, it's
a who. But I thank God through Jesus
Christ, our Lord. You see the law exposes my corruption,
but by nature I don't see it. I thought I was a pretty good
boy one day. Oh, I knew. I grew up and made my profession
when I was about five or six years old. Then basically turned
my back on it, Joe. Got in the middle grades and
just turned my back on it. And I went back and rededicated
years ago and got it all upped. I'm all upright with God now.
And I thought I had it. And then one day, and I didn't
even know it was the law, then one day I read Romans chapter
one and it killed me. You understand? It killed me.
I was frightened out of my wits. Because when I read that chapter,
I seen, listen, I seen these are crimes, not just one. People
read Romans 1 and point out the homosexuality. Read down to the
end of that chapter. It includes a lot more than that.
It includes just being disobedient to your parents. And it says concerning some people,
he gave them over to a reprobate mind. Gave them up. And I read
that and I thought God ought to give me up. I thought maybe
he has given me up. It frightened me. I began to fear
not just going to hell. I began to fear God. And isn't
that what Christ said? You fear him that's able to destroy
both bodies. He didn't say don't just fear
anybody that's got a reasonable bound with fear going to hell.
if hell were true, right? Anybody reasonable would. But
he didn't say fear hell. He said you fear God. Because
he gonna put you there. He gonna put you there. And he'll
do it with complete justice. As a matter of fact, I don't
mean to pick out too many grenades and pull the pin and throw them
out. He said I'll laugh when that happens. Proverbs chapter
one. That's how holy God is. That's
how despicable I am in God's sight. But thank God there's
a who. There's a who. And that who said
this about himself. If you're whole, if you're not
sick, you don't need a doctor. And I'm saying to anybody here,
anybody here this morning, all of you, anybody, including me,
anybody who hears me later, are you well? Are you okay? Then
what I've got to say will mean nothing to you. It'll mean nothing
to you. He said the whole thing, not
a physician, but they that are what? Who needs a doctor? A sick
person. And I seen, by God's grace one
day, how sick, and I don't mean just disease sick, I'm talking
about read Leviticus chapter 18 kind of sick, and I seen how
sick I am. But then he didn't just show
me that law, and I didn't even know it was law, he showed me
it, Sent somebody to me that said God's got a who His name
is Jesus Christ the Lord Now this great salvation got accomplished
for a people and he did it in full satisfaction of justice
now Let's go full circle Galatians chapter 3 again. You remember
in Galatians 3 he quotes Deuteronomy and Deuteronomy is expanded on
Leviticus 18 and And look at what it actually says, and let's,
God help, I'll try to be brief, maybe Kaylee, Seth, maybe y'all
can be here and I'll finish this up. Look at what, Galatians 3,
let's read it again, verse 10. For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident, that just shall
live by faith. And the law is not of faith,
but the man that doeth them, this is a direct quote from Leviticus
18, verse five, the man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath. Do you see, hath. This is a done deal. Now whatever
that then, logically, you've got to reason from that. It's, whatever he's gonna talk
about, it's done, Mason. It's done. Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law. How? Well, by making it possible
for you to be redeemed if you'll believe. Believe you shall. Believe you must. We've made
that possible if you repent. Believe you shall. Believe you
must. But that's not the foundation
of the gospel. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. In the preponderate
testimony of scripture, he did that back at Calvary. Made a
curse, for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on the
tree. And here's the results. of that
actual redemption, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the
Gentiles through, not even faith yet, Jesus Christ. That we might
receive the promise of the Spirit, but this is only for who? Those
of faith, through faith. That's the full circle, folks.
Now can I, can you, crowd in sincerity and true need, Oh God,
be merciful to me, the sinner. Remember, two men went to the
temple to pray. Right, two men went to the temple
to pray. And if they'd have died praying in that temple, us preachers
would have preached them both into glory. Now wouldn't we?
Well, they were praying in the temple. That's God, I mean, where
better to die and what better to be doing when you die? Christ
said they both prayed, but one prayed and bragged about himself
and looked down on others. I can see that Pharisee pointing
his finger at that publican and say, I'm not like him. But I
want you to notice something about that old publican. Yes,
he cried out for mercy. He was crying out for, God, may
there be blood on that mercy seat inside of that building
on that Ark of the Covenant for me. That's the word of mercy.
God, be merciful to me, the sinner. But you notice he didn't say,
well, he's staying like that Pharisee. He's a lot of sinners
like that. Well, he's staying like that.
They're going to hypocrite Pharisee. Let me tell you something. You
hide behind a hypocrite. You'll die with the hypocrites
and perish with the hypocrites. Now, listen to me now, look away
from law merit. Yeah. Look away from Paul said,
I counted. Don't look away from other people. I don't care whether it's believers
or unbelievers. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 10,
12, don't you compare yourselves among men, that's not wise. He
said we dare not do that. Compare yourselves with God and
then see where you stand. Compare yourselves even with
God's law for us and see where we stand. You know, as a matter
of fact, just quickly, grenade, pull the pin, drop it. Do you
know where we read the last account of Lot in the Bible? Do you know
what we read of the account of him and where it ends? We don't
even talk about his death or anything after that. You know
what we read about Lot? We read that Lot, on two separate
nights, in two separate occasions, his daughters got him drunk,
he had sex with them, and they both had a child by their daddy. Now is that what this book says
about that man or not? Is that what it says or not?
Seth, is that where it ends with his history in the Old Testament
or not? That's where it ends. You know what Peter says about
him when we get to the New Testament? He was a just man. A righteous
man with a righteous soul. Now if God ever shows you how
that could be so, then God would have brought you somewhere. Well, you've given, Joe said
it, I think it was, you've given people license to sin. I wish
I had something I could print up some and just hand it to people.
Here's your license to sin. Go on, do it. People are so silly. That's a cop out. Because what
we're talking about is bowing down to Christ as my hope only.
Think about it. Not only that, look away from
your Christian duties. Go back and read our Lord's own
words, Luke 17, 1 through 10. And he says, when you've done
all that's your duty to be done, he's talking to believers about
doing believing things. And he said, when you've done
all that's your duty to be done, what are we to say? We are but
unprofitable servants. He's not giving them excuse to
go against those things. He's just saying when you've
done, do those things. Do them. Because if you're a
true believer, you'll want to do them. But they gain you no
merit before God. I'm saying look to Christ. Hebrews puts it this way. Looking,
not having looked. You don't just look one time.
When you start looking, if you're really looking, you'll continue
to look till you die. It says looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad
he's gotta start it? Because I never would have. And
aren't you glad he's gotta wind it up? Because I couldn't stay
in it if it wasn't for him. He gotta keep me there. The author
and finisher. of faith. God be praised for
his grace. Seth, would you close us in prayer? Lord, Heavenly Father, we thank
you for this time you've given us to be together and worship
you. We ask that you be with those
that are sick and traveling and can't be with us. I ask as we
go out into this week that you keep us and keep our minds towards
you. Keep us focused on you and your grace. I ask that you protect us and remind
us of who we are. And remind us of your mercy. We ask that those who travel
this week Let you be with them and keep them safe. And ask for your continuing mercy
in all things. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.