That great hymn Celestia sang,
if I remember correctly, was written by one of the Bonar brothers,
I think Horatius Bonar. Horatius Bonar and his brother
Andrew were both preachers of the gospel in Scotland, pastors
in the Scottish Presbyterian Church, during the same time
that Spurgeon was pastor in England. I don't think they ever met each
other and they didn't have cell phones in those days, so their
communication was slow. I recall reading a letter, correspondence
between Spurgeon and Horatius Bonar. Bonar had written a pamphlet
and Spurgeon wrote to him and asked him for a copy of a small
booklet and asked him to please send a likeness of himself, which
meant a picture, which is kind of expensive in those days, but
he complied and Spurgeon and Bonar became friends and Horatius
Bonar wrote some of the best hymns, that being one of them.
Thank you. Thank you. Open your Bibles,
if you will, to Leviticus, the 18th chapter. While you're turning,
listen carefully. You and I have a choice to make, a decision to make, and we will
all make it. The decision is as plain as it
can possibly be. The choice is as clear as it
could possibly be. You will choose, and I will choose,
either to save your life and thereby lose it, or to lose your life to the Lord
Jesus Christ and thereby find it. Which will it be? Faith in Christ is something
this religious generation knows absolutely nothing about. Most
people have the foolish idea that faith in Christ is nothing
more than somebody taking you down a Roman's road, getting
you to say, I believe in Jesus, now you're saved. Or coming to
the front of a church and bowing your head and saying a sinner's
prayer, now you're saved. Or getting baptized and now you're
saved. Faith in Christ is the losing
of your life to the Son of God. Anything else, be what it may,
is not faith in Christ. Faith in Christ is the surrender
of your life, the totality of your life, everything about your
life to the rule and will of the Son of God. Here in the book
of Leviticus, in chapter 16, we read about the day of atonement,
the blood, redemption, salvation, forgiveness. In chapter 17, we're
told about the cost of that redemption, the blood, the laying down of
the life of the Son of God, God's own darling Son, He gave up his
life for me. He gave up his life, the totality
of his being to redeem my soul. Now in chapter 18, he comes and
makes his claim. He makes his claim upon me. If
you're redeemed by him, if you're saved by him, if you trust him,
he makes his claim here upon you. The title of my message
is Abominable Customs. The Lord God knew that the children
of Israel, like us, were but dust, easily swayed, easily turned
aside, easily blown in this direction or that, susceptible and prone
to every abominable imagination, to every form of idolatry, and
very quick to embrace the traditions, customs, and habits of the world
around them, just exactly like you and me. We all like to think
that we're independent, free-thinking people, people of conviction,
who can't be swayed by the opinions of others, the approval of others,
or the disapproval of others. We all like to think that, but
that's just not the way things really are. We are, in reality,
every one of us, more easily moved by just the look of a man,
or the look of a woman, more easily moved by the opinions,
the approval or disapproval of those around us, more easily
do those things move us than dandelion seeds are blown in
the wind. That's just human nature. It's perfectly, clearly, obviously
made manifest day after day. That's precisely the weakness
of our depraved, sinful nature. And that's precisely the thing
that necessitated this 18th chapter of Leviticus. In anticipation
of the trials and the temptations they would face in the land of
Canaan, and as they made their way through the wilderness to
that land, The Lord God here instructs and commands his covenant
people Israel that they are not to practice or even participate
in the abominable customs that they learned in Egypt, learned
in the wilderness, and would learn in Canaan. He forbids them
to embrace and practice those customs that would surround them
all the days of their lives in this world. The subject of Leviticus
18 is abominable customs. The abominable customs of men
and women who do not know God. Here, God teaches us that we
must refuse to walk in the ways of the world, and walk in his
way. He demands it. We must refuse
to practice the doings of the world and do his judgments and
keep his ordinances. Remember, the law of God given
back here in Genesis, or in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
the law of God here given was given to Israel alone. It was never given to the Gentiles.
It was given just to the Jews. Even in the Old Testament, nowhere
were Gentiles required to keep a Sabbath day or to keep any
of the ceremonies of the law. The law was never given to the
Gentiles. It was given just to the people
of Israel. Why was that? You'll notice the
Lord God called the ways and the doings, the customs and the
statutes, and the religion of the Egyptians and the Canaanites,
wickedness. He never gave them his law. Why? The statutes given here
in Leviticus 18 were given to point us to Christ, as were all
the statutes of the law. The statutes here revealed were
designed of God to point us away from self to Christ Jesus our
Lord and the surrender of our lives to him by faith. They were statutes of divine
worship given to God's covenant people based on a covenant relationship
and motivated by covenant grace. Our life with God Our life with
Christ, our life of faith is a life based upon a covenant
relationship and it's motivated by covenant grace. As we read
through these 30 verses of inspiration, you will see that this chapter
plainly deals with the most personal things of life, personal decisions. personal acts, personal choices,
intimate relationships, the relationship of a man with his family, the
relationship of a man with his wife, intimate relationships. In all these things, God demands
that as his covenant people, his honor be maintained, that
his name be honored. That we, in all areas of life,
perform His will. Mold our lives to His will. Surrender
our lives to His will. We all resent anyone interfering
in these matters. You do and I do. I don't mind
wearing a seatbelt. I choose to wear one, been wearing
one for years, but I hate somebody telling me I've got to. I just,
ah, the rebel in me wants to buckle it and sit on it. We don't
like anybody interfering with our lives, with personal decisions. We don't want anyone telling
us who we can marry or how we're to live, what we may or may not
do, especially in the privacy of our homes and our bedrooms. We resent anybody's intrusion. We all do. But I'm going to tell
you something about Christ the Lord. He just keeps on intruding. He demands that he be obeyed. He demands dominion, even of
your thoughts. Dominion everywhere. Our Heavenly
Father, however, silences any possible objection to this intrusion
in the most tender, loving manner possible. I will call your attention
to verses 1, 4, 5, 6, 21, and 30. He prefaces these demands,
these instructions, these prohibitions, and silences every possible objection
to them with these words. I am the Lord. I am Jehovah. I'm your God. I'm the Lord. I'm Jehovah. I'm your God. That's reason enough
for you to do what I say. That's reason enough for you
to obey me. That's reason enough for you
to like it. I have told you many times I
don't pretend to be capable or qualified to give advice to anyone
raising children. I just had one, she was a girl,
and she was a piece of cake. But I recommend some things that
I found profitable and right raising our daughter. As she
was growing up as a little girl and then as a young lady and
got to be a teenager I'd tell her to do something. And sometimes
she would make the mistake of asking me why. And that was a
mistake. If I tell a two-year-old to do
something, I'm not going to tell a two-year-old why. And I'm not
going to let you ask. Two-year-old got no business
asking or you explaining to him. Any mother or father who argues
with a two-year-old needs to be locked up in a nuthouse somewhere.
I'm just serious, I can be, just be put away somewhere. You don't
need to be raising children. But as they grow and mature,
they're capable of and need nurturing and so you answer their questions
at your discretion. And they grow a little older
and you tell them to do something and you answer their questions
at your discretion because of your desire to help them grow
and to mold their character. The Lord God here gives us instructions. And people will ask, how does
God dare tell me to do this? How does God dare to say such
a thing? How does God dare to expect to govern my life? Here's
his answer. I am the Lord, Jehovah, your
God. This is what he says with those
words. I've loved you with an everlasting love. I chose you. I redeemed you. I called you
by name. I brought you out of Egypt. I
defeated and destroyed your enemies. I promised to bring you into
a land of promise flowing with milk and honey, where there's
brightness and light and peace and plenty. And I have the right,
I've earned the right to rule your life. Those things qualify
me as your Lord. Those things give me the right
to rule your life. Now let's read these 30 verses
together. I'll just make explanatory comments as needed, and then
I want to call your attention to a few lessons. I'll be as
brief as possible. First, look at verses one through
five, and understand this first. We fulfill the law of God only
by faith in Christ. Nobody obeys God's commandments. I know there are a lot of people
who say we live by the Ten Commandments. Phooey, you do not. You do not. Nobody does. Folks who pretend
that they do are deceiving themselves. No, they're not deceiving themselves.
They're just trying to deceive you, make you think they're good.
Nobody loves God with all his heart, soul, mind, and being.
Nobody loves his neighbor as himself, and no human being ever
kept a Sabbath day. That's just not possible according
to the dictates given specifically in Holy Scripture. Well, how
then can a man fulfill the law? Does that mean the law is meaningless?
Oh, no, you've got to fulfill it. But you can only fulfill
it by offering God him who has fulfilled it. Only by faith in
Christ. 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, the acts of
the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall you not do? And
after the doings, the acts, the way of life in the land of Canaan,
whether I bring you, shall you not do? Neither shall you walk
in their ordinances, their religion, their ceremonies. You shall not
do, or you shall do my judgments and keep my ordinances to walk
therein. I am the Lord your God. You shall
therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, which if a man
do, he shall live in them. I am the Lord. First, the Lord
God, our God and Savior, commands that we strictly, conscientiously
avoid the deeds and the religion, both of the Egyptians and the
Canaanites. In doing so, it's obvious that our Lord is demanding
that his people constantly guard against the tendency of the flesh
to do those abominable things that men and women practice around
us, and to avoid the abominable religion that men and women practice
around us. Rather, we're to observe his
ordinances, his statutes, and his judgments. We are to live by the rule of this book, his
word. Nothing else. We're to live and
worship and believe by the rule of this book, his word, nothing
else. Now watch this. Our God says,
which if a man do, he shall live in them. Does that mean that
if we will decide to start doing the best we can to obey what
God says in his law, then we can have salvation by doing good? Nobody but a willful idiot thinks
such things. No, no, no. Well, what's it saying? you and
I would live before God we must bring to God Jesus Christ the
Lord who by his obedience unto death fulfilled all righteousness
and satisfied the justice of God so that God in justice is
justified to forgive us through the blood of his Son. And Paul
says, no the Spirit of God says, by faith. we establish the law. By faith, we fulfill the law. By faith in Christ, we're in
complete agreement with God. God demands perfect obedience. Lord, you're right to demand
that. I bring you your son. God demands complete satisfaction
of his holy justice in the punishment of sin. God demands that I suffer
all the fury of his wrath in the infinite torments of the
damned in hell. Lord, you're right. I bring you
your son. And thus fulfill the law. for Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Second, beginning
in verse six, the Lord God starts to get very, very personal. Here
we see that God, our Savior, demands universal dominion over
our lives. I repeat, faith in Christ involves
a surrender of our lives to the Son of God, bowing to him as
Lord. He said, he that findeth his
life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake shall
find it. Verses six through 19 give a
detailed prohibition against something that you think Why this? Why this? This is something folks
with good sense don't do. It's a prohibition against incest. A prohibition against incest.
Read it. None of you shall approach to
any that is near of kin to him to uncover their nakedness. I
am the Lord. The nakedness of thy father or
the nakedness of thy mother shalt thou not uncover. She is thy
mother. Thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover. It is thy father's nakedness.
The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father or
the daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home or born abroad,
even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover. The nakedness of
thy son's daughter, or of thy daughter's daughter, even their
nakedness thou shalt not uncover, for theirs is thine own nakedness. The nakedness of thy father's
wife, begotten of thy father, she is thy sister. Thou shalt
not uncover her nakedness. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness
of thy father's sister. She is thy father's near kin's
woman. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's
sister, for she is thy mother's near kin's woman. Thou shalt
not uncover the nakedness of thy father's brother. Thou shalt
not approach to his wife. She is thine aunt. Thou shalt
not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter-in-law. She is thy
son's wife. Thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness
of thy brother's wife. It is thy brother's nakedness.
Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter.
Neither shalt thou take her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter
to uncover her nakedness. For they are her near kin's women.
It is wickedness. Neither shalt thou take a wife
to her sister to vex her, to uncover her nakedness beside
the other in her lifetime. Also thou shalt not approach
unto a woman to uncover her nakedness as long as she is put apart for
her uncleanness. Why such a law? Why such a commandment? Incest,
surely that can't be something common to men. Read history. It was so common in the Gentile
world that one man remained in the church at Corinth even while
he took his father's wife and the Gentiles thought nothing
of it until Paul came and said to them, don't allow this. This
is not to be spoken of. This is not to be spoken of.
In these verses, the Lord God expressly forbids every incestuous
union, in marriage or not in marriage. The incest of parents
and children, step-parents and step-children, siblings, step-siblings,
aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, cousins, even step-cousins
and in-laws. A man was forbidden to marry
his sister, or marry two sisters rather, lest they vex one another,
as Leah did Rachel. By this law, the Lord God did
something marvelous. He established a family order
of the greatest possible benefit to society. a family order, a
family order that would cause men and women to live together
and bring about future generations in their old image in peace and
in harmony. God calls the practice of these
evils wickedness. In other words, as Andrew Bonar
put it, every sensual feeling must be subordinated to the will
of God. Every sensual feeling subordinated
to the will of God. The lust of our hearts and the
sensual feelings of our natures are part of our fallen humanity. But there's no excuse for engaging
in evil. No excuse for giving way to such
things. These things are to be submitted
to the will of God. Verse 20 forbids adultery. Moreover,
thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbor's wife to defile
thyself with her. I don't care how much society
approves of it. I don't care how much folks say
this is all right. God says it's wicked and it's wicked. Verse
21 prohibits idolatry. Idolatry, which is the root cause
of all moral corruption in society. We won't have time to read it,
but you read the first chapter of Romans. I'll mention it again
in a minute. Thou shalt not let any of thy
seed pass through the fire to Molech. Neither shalt thou profane
the name of the Lord thy God. I am the Lord. Preparing this
message last week, I did a little bit of research about Mullick.
This is the first time this God, this God, you might want to call
him Allah or Buddha or something else, this God, doesn't matter
what you call him, this Mullick is mentioned in scripture. But
he's mentioned many times after this. What was the practice of
worshiping Mullick? The children of Israel following
the guide of Balaam. Following the leadership of Balaam. That smooth talking man. That man who told truth many
times. Who said, if the Lord's blessed,
I can't curse. If the Lord's cursed, I can't
bless. That was true. That man who declared substitutionary
redemption better than I ever dreamed of declaring it. But
Balaam was a smooth-talking deceiver. He said, now, those things are
true, but you don't have to go overboard on them. We know that
the Lord Jesus, he's the true God and Savior. We know that
redemption is by Him alone, but you don't have to go overboard
on this thing. You don't have to deny that. What you need to
do is learn to get along. You need to learn to be sociable. And what you can do is hear among
the Canaanites. These folks, they have their
gods, they worship Moloch, and they're just as sincere as you
are. So when you go into Canaan, the
thing for you to do is to go with them to worship Moloch,
but call it worshiping Jehovah. You don't have to compromise
anything. You can tell your family, we're gonna go worship God. We're
just going over here to where Moloch is worshiped. And this
is what you do. You cause your children to pass
through the fire to Mulloch. They would have rows of fire,
and they would take their children and have them to walk through
the rows of fire to Mulloch, and thereby dedicate their children
to Mulloch. They're going to church. Well,
at least they're going to church. That's better than going somewhere
else. At least they're going to church now, going down to
visit Mulloch. And they then carried the evil
so far that they offered their own sons and daughters a sacrifice
to Molech. Burned their own children to
Molech to atone for their sins. All the while saying, we worship
Jehovah, our God. In verse 22, God stamps his judgment
upon sodomy, homosexuality, and every form of sodomy. Thou shalt
not lie with mankind as with womankind. This is your decision. No, it's an abomination. It's
an abomination. It's an abomination. It's an
abomination. No matter who it involves, it's
an abomination. Verse 23, he expands that to
a denunciation that includes the child of sodomy, bestiality. Neither shalt thou lie with any
beast to defile thyself therewith. Neither shall any woman stand
before a beast to lie down thereto. It is confusion. These acts of
horrid wickedness are both the result of divine judgment and
the cause of it. Verse 24, defile not yourselves
in any of these things, for in all these the nations are defiled,
which I cast out before you. And the land is defiled, therefore
I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it. And the land itself
vomited out her inhabitants. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes
and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations,
neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth
among you. For all these abominations have
the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land
is defiled. Let the land spew not you out
also. when ye defile it, as it spewed
out the nations that were before you." What language. The judgment of God falls upon
nations because of sodomy, incest, fornication, and adultery. And the judgment of God upon
people who worship at idols. It's sodomy, and fornication,
and incest, and bestiality, and adultery. Romans 1 says so. What's the root, the source,
the cause of all this? all this ungodliness. It is the worship of man. It
is man worshiping himself, setting himself up in the house of God,
demanding that he be worshiped as God, attributing to the will
and work of man, power that belongs to God alone, the power of salvation
and of life. It is God giving men over to
a reprobate mind. This is damning idolatry. Look at verse 29. For whosoever
shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them,
shall be cut off from among the people. Therefore shall you keep
mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable
customs which were committed before you, and that ye defile
not yourselves therein, for I am the Lord your God. Little children, keep yourselves
from idols. Now I know full well some of
the folks who are hearing this message or will hear it are sodomites,
I'm aware of that. And have family members who are
sodomites, I'm fully aware of that. It is not to be tolerated. I don't mean that you should
be mean to such men. Some will hear this message who
are fornicators, I'm aware of that. It is not to be tolerated. I don't mean that you should
be mean, cruel, or hard to such people. I mean you give no acceptance
or credibility to the wickedness. None. Some who hear this message
and are hearing it are adulterers. I'm fully aware of that. I do
not mean that we should be mean, hard to such people. We should
never We should never do so, but we must never give acceptance
to abomination any more than we would to idolatry itself. Back years ago, some of you will
remember, The sodomites are always aggressive. They're never satisfied. Just be left alone. They're aggressive.
They want to get in your face and tell you, you've got to smile
at me, say this is all right. And they were coming to churches,
trying to get into local churches where they were known. My good
friend, Brother Ernie Lucas, was pastor in Appomattox, Virginia,
and he was a young fella, and he wore the name Redneck real
proudly, and me too, that's all right, but there was a fella
in town who was well known for his being light in the loafers
and bragging about it, and he came to services one morning.
And he walked down the front, as they were singing their closing
hymn, and said to the congregation, I'd like to say something. And
Brother Lucas stepped out, had a communion table a lot wider
than ours is, and he stepped over on the communion table,
and he pulled his boot back, and he said, if you open your
mouth, I'll kick your teeth down your throat. You shouldn't do that in the
house of God, you should. This is not to be tolerated.
It is not to be tolerated. Now, let's look at the lessons.
Learn this. The Lord God Almighty is God
indeed. Because he is God, he has the
right to rule and he has the right to make the rules. Did
you get that? He has the right to rule and
he has the right to make the rules. Who is God to tell me
what I can do? He's God, that's who he is. This
is what he says. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. What is it that makes the relationship,
the conjugal privileges, of a man and his wife honorable? In all things, Hebrews 13 says
it is, the beds undefiled. And fornication, the same act
between two unmarried people, dishonorable and abominable.
God makes the difference. God says, this is right. He may
or may not give us reasons for it. Indeed, he has given us reasons
for it, abundant reasons for it. But the rule is his to make. Number two, learn this. The Word of God alone must govern
our lives. The Word of God alone must govern
our lives, not philosophy, not trends, not society, not creeds,
not customs, the Word of God alone. determines and dictates
to us what we believe and preach and practice as a church. The
word of God alone determines and dictates to us how we're
to live in this world. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. It is breathed out of God. And it's profitable, all scripture,
including Leviticus chapter 18, verses one through 30. And it's
profitable. Profitable to our souls for doctrine,
for teaching, for reproof. Brother Dunn, this is gonna offend
some folks. I intended for it to. I intended
for it to. If you offend God, I don't mind
offending you. Doesn't matter who you are. For
reproof, for correction. Oh, for correction. That incestuous man in Corinth,
he repented of his incest, Paul said, now receive him. Receive
him, bring him back into church. Hug his neck, tell him everything's
all right. For correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God, may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all
good works. Number three, learn this. The heart of man is thoroughly
corrupt, a completely full cesspool of iniquity. Men see one another commit such
things as we've read about, and they, in their pride, pompous
self-righteousness, pop their chest and say, I don't understand
how a person could do that. God does. He looks on the heart. And all of these things spring
from a man's depraved heart. tempted by the pressures of society
around us. Because of the corruption of
our own heart's lust to incorporate the worship and service of God
with the sacrifice of their children for their own sins is something
God anticipated and something the children of Israel practiced.
The heart, oh God, Teach me this, but not
too quickly, not too much at once, not too much by experience. The heart is deceitful above
all things, and desperately wicked, desperately. Desperately wicked That's what
we are In anticipation of the evils Israel would commit in
the land of Canaan the Lord God says don't do this Don't do this
honor my name Honor yourselves Honor your family Honor the covenants. Honor my grace. Don't behave
like the Canaanites. Number four, and this is astounding. This is astounding. God says to such people, I am the Lord, Jehovah your God. The chapter begins in verse 2
with those words and concludes in verse 30 with those words.
This holy Lord God declares himself to be our God because of his
redeeming mercy, love, and grace. and such were some of you this is where God found you this
is where God found me in this cesspool called humanity and
such were some of you but you're washed You're justified. You're sanctified in the name
of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. I am the Lord, Jehovah your Savior,
your God. You're not your own. You've been
bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are God's. One more thing. Learn from this chapter that
the Lord God demands we take his side. He set two mountains, Ebal and
Gerizim. Ebal, a mountain of cursing. Gerizim, a mountain of blessing.
And he said, if you refuse to obey, all the curses of evil
are on you. Cursed when you get up in the
morning. Cursed when you go out in the day. Cursed in your family. Cursed in your seed. Cursed in
the field. Cursed in the store. Cursed when
you come in at night. Cursed when you lie down. But
if you obey, If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. If you
trust the Son of God, a mountain blessing. You shall be blessed. Blessed when you get up in the
morning. blessed when you go through the
day, blessed in the field, and blessed in your store, and blessed
when you come in at night, and blessed in your house, and blessed
in your family, and blessed in your seed, and blessed when you
lay down in your bed at night. I take sides with God against
all the evil that's in man. and pronounce him just in damning
me and any such like me, and believe his son, the Lord Jesus,
and gladly. Oh, my Redeemer. Oh, my Redeemer. Give me grace with every breath,
of every minute, of every hour, of every day. to lose my life
to you. And grant that to these immortal
souls. Amen.