Are you concerned for the glory
of God? Are you concerned about His honor? Honoring Him in all that you
are with your life? glorifying Him as you live on
this earth. If you're God's, I know that
nothing is of greater concern. If you're God's, if I am His,
nothing is of greater concern to our hearts than His will and
His glory. Now let's look together at Leviticus
19. I will not read the chapter again
in its entirety. We read it just a few minutes
ago. I urge you to read it again when you get home. But I want
to give you the message of these 37 verses. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying,
speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel and
say to them, Now this is God's word to you and me today. This is God's word to you and
God's word to me. I stayed up most of last night
trying to apply it to me. Now I want, by God's grace and
spirit, to apply it to you. You shall be holy. For I, the Lord your God, am
holy. Now this is what our Lord here
declares. Because the Lord our God is holy,
He requires that you and I be holy. We're His. Follow peace with all men and
holiness. without which no man shall see
the Lord. Look at the text again. You shall
be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. Now there are three things that
I want you to see in this chapter, three things in this verse that
are expounded in this chapter, and I want you to get all three
of them. Number one, This is a declaration of grace. The Lord
is here declaring to his chosen covenant people, Israel, that
they shall be a holy people. Not partially holy, not mostly
holy, but entirely holy. This is not a recommendation.
This is not a word of advice, but rather a declaration. a declaration
of grace made to a specific people. It is a declaration of grace
made to those people who are reconciled to God by faith in
Christ. It is a declaration of grace
made to those people for whom blood atonement has been made,
who have come to God by the blood of his dear son. coming to God,
looking on the Lord Jesus Christ as our only substitute, our only
Savior, our only righteousness, our only acceptance with God.
We have this great, great desire, oh, that I might stand before
God, free of my sin, perfectly holy. God says it's yours. You shall be holy. This is a word only to those
who are reconciled to God, His covenant people, His chosen people,
His redeemed people, His called people. And we know that we are
His covenant, chosen, redeemed, called people when we come to
Him believing on His Son. There is no other way for us
to understand God's eternal purpose, no other way for us to read and
hear of God's mercy, grace, and love except by faith in the Lord
Jesus. Now, this word holy has two distinct
meanings, and both of them are essential to understanding it.
To be holy is to be separate, distinct, peculiar, separated
and severed from all others. That's what it is to be holy.
You take this seat right here and pull it out here by itself.
You have severed it from all others. You've separated it from
all others. That means you have made it holy. But there's more to it than just
severing. More to it than just separation.
To be holy is to be pure or purified. The Lord God declares to His
Israel, to all who stand before Him as His covenant people. Now,
this is what He declares. You shall be separate, distinct,
peculiar, separated and severed from all others, pure and purified
before me. Now, Pastor, how can you be sure
that this is the meaning of this word from our God? We can be
sure that this is the meaning of the word because of the scriptures. We compare scripture with scripture
when we want to find out what scripture teaches. We would be
wise always to make the scriptures themselves our first and our
primary source of understanding what the scriptures teach. So
let's turn back to Exodus 19. Let's look at two or three passages
where this same phrase is used, or one similar. The first time
something like this is used is in Exodus 19. Just before the
Lord gives the law, as it were, as a preface to the giving of
the law. Showing us why the law is given, what the end of the
law shall be when fulfilled by our substitute. Exodus 19, 6.
And you shall be to me a kingdom of priest and an holy nation. These are the words which thou
shall speak to the children of Israel. The Lord is about to
give laws concerning the governing of the nation and concerning
the worship of the nation. He's about to separate a distinct
people as priest, but he says to the whole nation, you shall
be to me a kingdom of priest and you shall be to me a holy,
a separated and a purified nation. Look down in Leviticus chapter
20 and verse six. The Lord says, and you shall
be holy unto me, for I the Lord am holy. Now look at this, and
have severed you from other people, that you should be mine. You
shall be holy because I'm holy, and I've severed you from other
people, and you should be mine. That's Leviticus 20 and verse
26. I must have given you the wrong
text. I'm sorry. All right, now, look at 1 Thessalonians chapter
4. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 7. God says you shall be holy. It's
a promise of His grace. For God hath not called us to
uncleanness, but unto holiness. Now by the work of His free,
sovereign, almighty, Efficacious grace, the Lord God Almighty
takes such things as we are, you and me, from the dung heap
of fallen humanity and severs us from the rest of the dung
of Adam's human race and makes us holy. He does so by his precious blood. washing us from our sins. He
does so by putting in us a new holy nature in regeneration. And He does so ultimately, finally,
in resurrection glory by causing us to be altogether done with
all the consequences of sin and made in the very exact likeness
of His darling Son. Now let's look at this in the
New Testament context, 1 Corinthians 6. Now this is what we were when
God saved us by His grace. And this is what we are by nature. I'm about to stick my finger
in every heart here. Now, this is what we are, you
and me, your sons and daughters and mine, your parents and mine. Know you not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Well, who are the unrighteous? You don't have to guess about
it. Be not deceived, neither fornicators. That's folks who
engage in sexual promiscuity outside marriage. And any kind
of sexual behavior outside marriage is promiscuity, and I'm being
real nice. Nor idolatrous, that's putting
anything in the place of God. Nor adulterous, that's sexual
promiscuity between men and women who are not married to one another
but someone else. Nor effeminate, that's talking
about queers. And I'm being just as nice as
I can possibly be. That's what it's talking about.
Effeminate fellas, lip-wristed fellas. Men who act like women. Nor abusers of themselves with
mankind. Nor thieves. Nor covetous. Man, he getting close to home
now. Nor drunkards. nor revilers, folks who live
for pleasure, nor extortioners, people who defraud other folks,
shall inherit the kingdom of God. Oh, Ron Wood, that just
flat shuts you and me out. And such were some of you. Don't miss the word, were. were. That's what we still are by nature,
but that's not what we are by grace. Grace has made a change. That's what the old man is in
us. That's not what that new man is in us. Such were some
of you. But you are washed. But you are severed. and purified,
sanctified, holy. But you are justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Here stands before you a man more corrupt than words can express, more vile more base, more unclean than I ever want to acknowledge. But a man whom God Almighty has
made holy. You shall be holy. He's washed away my sins. He's
put in me a new nature. He seated me in heavenly places
with His Son. And soon, as I am now, insofar as law and
conscience are concerned, freed from sin and have nothing more
to do with sin, and sin nothing more to do with me, I shall at
last, in the experience of heavenly glory, be totally free. from everything resembling sin. Holy. All right? That's the first
thing. This is a declaration of grace.
Turn back to Leviticus 19. Here's the second thing. And
we're going to camp for a little while. The Lord God says, you
shall be holy. For I, the Lord your God, and
behold it. This is a call to holiness. It is a call to holiness. Look
at verse 37 of Leviticus 19. God says, you shall behold it.
Then in verse 37, therefore, shall you observe all my statutes
and all my judgments and do them. I am the Lord. And between verses
2 and verse 37, it tells us exactly what it's talking about. The
Lord here calls you and me to holiness, to godliness, to righteousness
in our behavior, in our daily conduct, in our lives. I sometimes
hear people say, we're saved by grace, character, and conduct
don't matter. They tell you something. Free grace. experienced in the
heart will make your character and conduct matter a great deal
to you. And if it's experienced in my
heart, it'll make it matter a great deal to me. The Lord calls us
to be a separate, distinct, peculiar, separated, severed people from
all others, pure and purified before men in our behavior, in
our conduct, in our conversation, in our manner of life. Now, we
know also that this is the intent and meaning of these words, because
this is exactly how they're used by God the Holy Spirit in the
writings of both the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter, so
that we have no mistake. This is not a word to Jews only.
This is a word to Jews and Gentiles alike. Paul uses this very phrase,
calling for Gentile believers to behave properly in this world. And Peter uses it, calling for
Jewish believers to behave properly in this world. Let's look at
both passages. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Someone said, but Pastor, these
verses are found in the Old Testament law and we're free from the law.
We're not under the law. You're exactly right. You're
exactly right. But being free from the law and
having Christ to be all our righteousness so that He is the end of the
law, being totally without the bondage of the law does not mean
that we have no law. Not at all. The law by which
we live is the whole revelation of God in Holy Scripture. Not
by ten commandments, not by a verse here or there, but by the whole
revealed will of God, understood in the context of the gospel
by which the whole thing has been fulfilled. Our rule of life
is our rule of faith and practice. And it is the Word of God and
the Word of God alone. Our rule of life has nothing
to do with, God, we'd hear this. Our rule of life, the way we
live in this world, has absolutely nothing to do with what men think,
what men approve of, or what men disapprove of, but only what
God says. Now look here in 1 Thessalonians
4. Here is a word addressed to Gentiles to whom the law was
never given. Some of these laws back in Leviticus
19 have to do with moral things inscribed upon the hearts and
consciences of all men by nature. Others had to do with ceremonial
things, ritualistic things that were only under the Old Testament
law. telling us not only that God Almighty is that one who
has inscribed upon man's heart by nature that which is right,
but God has the right as God, particularly as the Lord our
God, to tell us exactly what to do in all circumstances. All
right, now look here in I Thessalonians 4. Furthermore then, we beseech
you, brethren, and exhort you, We're calling on you, we're urging
you, I'm beseeching you, I'm exhorting you by the Lord Jesus,
for Christ's sake, that as you have received of us, how you
ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and
more. For you know what commandments
we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God.
Even your sanctification, God's going to make you holy. This
is his will. Now, this being his will, it
is also his will that you abstain from fornication. That every
one of you should know how to possess his vessel. That's talking
about your body. That's talking about your natural,
physical life in this world. Possess his vessel in sanctification
and honor. Now, this is what God's teaching
us, how to possess our lives as his people in this world in
honor. Walking worthy of the vocation
wherewith we've been called. Verse 6, not in the lust of concupiscence,
that is, not living like other folks live, even as the Gentiles
which know not God. Oh, but everybody does this.
Everybody's got gods. But everybody lives like this.
But, Brother Don, we're not living in the 15th century anymore.
No, we're not. We're living in eternity. And
it's time we learned that. We're not living before men,
we're living before God. Possess your vessel of sanctification
and honor not in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles
who know not God. Verse 6. That no man go beyond. Now he's quoting directly back
here from Leviticus 19. that no man go beyond and defraud
his brother in any matter, because that the Lord is the avenger
of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified,
for God has not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. Now look in 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter
1. Wherefore gird up the loins, verse 13, 1 Peter 1.13, gird up the loins
of your mind. You start to work out. Back when I was a teenager playing
football and wrestling, we used to lift weights and we didn't
have much protection, usually didn't pay much attention to
the protection we had, but we'd wear these waist girdles, strap
them tight. Strap on tight because you're
about to engage in exercise that demands all your strength. Strap it tight. Gird up the loins
of your minds. You're about to engage in something
that requires all of you. All of you. Gird up the loins
of your mind. Be sober. That doesn't mean don't
be drunk, that's a given. That means act like a man with
good sense. And hope to the end for the grace
that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former
lust, not molding your lives after the lust of men, the former
lust of your own ignorance, verse 15. But as he which is called
you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. Now
notice how Peter changes the phrasing. The Lord says, you
shall be holy. But Peter, by divine inspiration,
changes the wording and says, be ye holy. Do you see that? And he's not violating the scripture.
He's writing scripture. He says, be ye holy, for I am
holy. Back here in Leviticus 19, the
Lord God calls for you and I to be holy as we live in this world.
And it doesn't leave it for us to decide exactly how that is
to come about, what that means. In our society, and sad to say,
and I'm not talking about the religious world outside here.
I'm talking about the religious world right here inside these
four walls. Sad to say, Lindsay, the philosophy of the society
creeps in too much. And we have the notion that really
there's no definite ground for anything. But everything's relative,
you know. You know. It just depends on
how you look at things. Nothing could be further from
the truth. I got a little tape the other day. We listened to
it going down the road, and I guess I'm a little I'm too picky about
such things, but I'm aware that the whole of the entertainment
world, the whole of the educational world, the whole of the religious
world is bent on turning people away from God from their first
breath through the end of their lives. That little thing, I don't
know whether it's Burger King or for you fellows who are NRA
fellows, we might have been at McDonald's, I'm sorry. But I
don't know which one it was, I've got to tell you. Put it
in songs, cute little songs for our granddaughter. She wanted
to play it. I was listening to it. One of them was called Red
Hat, Green Hat. And these two little boys were
best of friends. And they saw somebody wearing
a hat. One of them said, I saw a boy wearing a red hat. And
his brother said, no, it's a green hat. He said, no, it's a red
hat. No, it's a green hat. And I saw
it as a red hat. No, it's a green hat. And their
friendship was busted up. And then a few days later they
saw the same fellow wearing the hat, only this time they saw
both sides of it. It was red on one side, green on the other
side. And so the moral to the story is, you see, it all depends
on how you see things. You could both see the same thing
in a different way and both of you would be right. Isn't that
sweet? Oh, that's horrible. That's horrible. That's horrible. Almighty declares
what's right. And it doesn't matter how you
see it. And it doesn't matter how I see it. Now, here, the Lord tells us
specifically how to live in this world in a way that honors Him. But Pastor, we know that without
faith, it's impossible to please God. And the only way to please
God is by faith in Him. Yes, sir. You're exactly right.
We will never find acceptance with God on any grounds except
faith in Jesus Christ, trusting His blood and His righteousness
alone for the totality of our acceptance. But if we would live
in this world as men who have been accepted of God for the honor of His name, there's
something, Merle Hart, we must do. We just must. I've told you this so many times,
but it'll bear repetition. Faith was growing up, when she
was just a little shaver, I started telling her this. And when she
started going out on her own, and I decided when she could
go out on her own, because I love her. When she started going out
on her own, I would always send her out of the house. I bet she
didn't go out more than half a dozen times she didn't hear
this. I mean, every week or two. Honey, don't forget who you are. Your name stays for me. And don't
forget whose you are. You bear my name. And everything
you do reflects on who you are and whose you are. Children of
God, as you walk out those doors, don't forget who you are. You're God's children and whose
you are. Everything you say and do reflects
good or bad on our God and His people. Do you understand that? If you would have a summarization
of the message, Here it is. You can read it later, 1 Corinthians
10, 31. Whether therefore you eat or
drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. All right, now let's see what
God says. In verse 3, the Lord God claims
our reference. He commands that a man reverence
his father and his mother. This reverence, respect for fathers
and mothers goes beyond reverencing and respecting your immediate
parents. It goes to reverencing all who
ought to be reverenced. It is a command that we give
proper reverence and proper honor to all our superiors. Well, I
ain't got no superiors. I believe all men are equal.
Well, you're wrong. You're wrong. God Almighty has placed superiors
over you. I just called Judy's eye, you've
got some superiors at the bank. I don't like that too bad. That's
the way it is. And if you don't like it and
show it much, you're going to soon not have any superiors at the
bank. They'll see to it you don't. Because they won't tolerate it.
We have superiors in our lives. law enforcement, magistrates,
governors, princes, kings, mamas and daddies. And you know what
superiors are? They are representatives of divine
authority. That's what they are. And contempt
for your parents, contempt for those whom God has made to be
your superiors, is nothing short of contempt for God Almighty. Children, obey your parents.
Men and women obey and honor your parents. Parents, you see, are more than
people who just brought you into this world. How sad that that
has to be said. Parents are men and women who
raise you and nurture you and provide for you and care for
you and discipline you. and nourish you up in the fear
of the Lord. That's what parents are. Oh,
if God's given you somebody like that as your superior, you best
reference him. We have a saying, charity begins
at home. It's time we found out that reference
begins at home. We live in a society that doesn't
reference anything. I mean Holds everything in contempt. Mine, I do what I want to. Shows
respect to nobody. Yep. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Grunted parents. I wasn't raised in fear of God.
If I'd ever grunted at my mother, she'd have knocked every tooth
in my head out. And it ought to be that way. It just ought
to be. Respect. Look down at verse 32. Thou shalt
rise up before the hoary head and honor the face of an old
man. That means fear God. So when a gray-haired old man
walks up to you, stand up and show some respect. Gray-haired
old woman walks up to you, stand up and show some respect. It's
called fearing God. That's what it says. All right?
The Lord God claims our worship too. In verses 3 through 8, He tells us that if we would
live in this world for His honor, We must worship Him. Now, look
at the passage carefully. Look at it carefully. You know, there's not a word
in here about heart worship. Isn't that strange, buddy? That's
the essence of worship. Heart worship. That's the essence
of it. But He deals with outward public
worship. How come? Because where there
is neglect and the despising of public worship, there is no
heart worship. That's how it goes. That's how
it goes. You see, nothing's more important
in the lives of God's children than God's worship. Religious
people fit the worship of God into their lives. Oh, well, we
ain't got anything else to do today. I'm not too tired. Nobody's
coming to visit us. Believe it or not, go worship
God. No, you won't. You're just going to go fool
yourself a little more on the way to hell. That's all. Oh, no.
The Lord God demands that we observe His Sabbaths. He demands
it. Sabbaths, yes, are a picture
of faith in Christ and the rest of faith in Him. The Sabbath
days in the Old Testament were divinely appointed days of worship
at divinely appointed times for God's people and His honor. He
said, now, don't you despise that. Don't you despise that.
Well, it really doesn't matter whether you go to church or not.
An old pastor went to visit a fellow at his congregation who had been
neglecting the worship of God for some time. And they just
sat and talked and talked about what he'd been doing. His business
was going well. Things were moving along pretty
good, you know. It seemed to be prospering. The price of the
crops is up. Got a little money in the bank.
And I had a little time to do some things I enjoy. And as they
talked, the pastor just reached over in the fire and took out
a red hot coal with some togs and poured it out here and laid
it on the side on the hearth. And they talked. And the pastor
just kept fiddling with that coal. And pretty soon he picked
it up and held it in his hand. And the old boy, tears ran down
his cheeks. He said, I'll get the message. That lump of coal burns with
fire when it's in there with burning coal. Pull it up by itself.
It won't burn long. Don't you neglect the assembling
of God's saints for worship. You'll do so to the destruction
of your soul. And then he tells us that it's to be voluntary,
willing. Bring a sacrifice, teach suffering,
bring it because you want to. Now, wait a minute, preacher,
you just told us God demands worship. Yes, sir. But He demands
it willingly. He demands that whatever you
do for Him, be done because you want to do it. Be done because
you love Him. Be done because He's your God.
Because He brought you out of Egypt. Because He saved you by
His grace. And then he says, whatever is
brought, is to be brought and used immediately. Use it immediately. Don't store it up. Don't hoard
it up. But use it for my purposes as I've ordained it immediately.
And then it tells us that anything brought, whether by the poor
or the rich, whether the peace offering is some great offering
or some small thing, Anything brought with a willing heart
to God Almighty is to be treated as a hallowed thing, that which
belongs to God. We here receive offerings. We have these boxes for convenience
to folks who might miss a Sunday morning service. But we continue
to receive offerings because, you see, this is part of public
worship. We place no demands on anyone. But here we bring
our gifts to our God. And then the Lord God claims
our property. He says, when you reap your fields,
cut the corners short. When you gather your grapes,
don't get all of them. Leave something for the poor and the
needy. How dares God Almighty tell me
what to do with crops I've worked hard for and raised? How dare
He? They're not yours. They're His. You don't own anything. I don't
own anything. Nothing. Nothing. Everything
here belongs to God. He just put a little bit in my
hand and yours for which we're responsible. Recognize that the man who works
and labors and gathers his crops and gathers his bountiful harvest,
he gets it because God gave it. And the man who's poor and has
no field to work gets the same benefit because God gave it.
Oh, what a good welfare system. If a man not work, neither should
he eat. We violate that and think it's going to do folks good.
It ain't going to do any good. The Lord says, you take care
of the poor, but take care of them in such a way that they
maintain some dignity and respect as men, so that that fellow who
goes out and gleans in your field has to work just like you, even
if he's got what they call it, Chronic fatigue syndrome. That's
the best excuse I've found in my life for lazy. I'm just tired. I can't do anything. Well, when
you can sit on your fanny and scoot along the ground, you can
gather up your beans. It's exactly right. Rather than
somebody gather them up and give them to you. Thereby, you maintain
the respect of your family and the respect of your neighbor
and your own respect. In a word, we ought to constantly
go out of our way to be kind, generous, thoughtful, and caring,
especially for those who are most likely to be neglected and
abused. Look down at verse 33. If a stranger
sojourned with thee. Well, that's the way we ought
to treat our brethren. Hold on. If a stranger sojourned
with thee in your land, You shall not vex him. Don't make life
hard for him. But the stranger that dwells
with you shall be unto you as one born among you. Treat him
just like you do your brother. And thou shalt love him as thyself,
for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I'm the Lord your
God. It's what I did for you. And
God claims dominion over our conduct, living for God's glory,
means that we live honestly before men. And verse 11 tells us not
to steal, not to deal falsely. And verse 13 tells us not to
defraud our neighbor, not to defraud the fellow who's been
working for us. Don't sit on his wages. Give it to him when
he gets his job done. Verse 35 and 36, it says, don't do any
unrighteousness in business. When you put your scales out,
don't put your thumb on the scale with the meat. When you gather
your crops in and want to weigh them, don't spray them down with
water, deal honestly. And then the Lord demands that
his name be honored. Verse 12, you shall not swear
by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of the
Lord thy God. One of these days I may spend
an hour preaching on this, but now give me a minute. You be
careful how you use God's name. I cringe. I cringe when I hear
folks say, oh Lord, oh Lordy, gosh, oh my God. Don't you know you're taking
God's name in vain? To take God's name in vain is
to use His name lightly. Don't do it. Don't do it. The Lord God Almighty knows what
we are, and so He gives us laws dealing with things that seem
almost senseless. In verse 14, He tells us not
to curse the deaf, but put a stumbling block in front of the blind.
You know, that's exactly what I heard Shelby tell Audre Grace
Friday morning, taking him back over to Lexington. It's exactly.
Honey, now, of course, somebody's different. She'd seen a fellow
walking in the restaurant. We'd stopped to get a bite to
eat. This fellow got up. I caught her eye. She watched
him. His arm was withered, his body twisted. And she just, she'd
never seen anything quite like it. And Shelby wisely said, that's
how God made him. And it could have made you the
same way. Don't ever, ever, ever poke fun at somebody because
they look different, because they are different. Somebody's
deaf, it gets aggravating, I know. My daughter and son-in-law get
a little put out with us because we're getting that age. Huh? Would you repeat that? Get a
hearing aid! Oh, don't get too upset. They're
getting deaf. Don't put a stumbling block in
front of the blind. How cruel the human heart is. See, blind men walking, don't
put anything out there to trick them up just so he can fall and
you laugh. Don't do it. Apply it spiritually. Don't get too upset with a man
because he doesn't hear what you say. You were once deaf too. Don't put a stumbling block in
the path of the blind. Don't put anything between the
poor sinner and the Savior. If you do, you put a stumbling
block in His path. The Lord God commends us in all
these things and tells us that we are to honor men as men and
women made in His image. Down in verse 15, he said, when
you start to deal with men, start to judge matters, don't you treat the poor and
the helpless with contempt. And don't you dare give preference
to the wealthy and the mighty. Don't you do it. No matter what
comes in the congregation, You don't, oh, look here, here's,
oh, the mayor's come to visit us in our church. Let him sit
down back yonder in the middle of the place and pay him no attention.
Be good for him. Oh, but the doctor's come. Oh,
look here, Dr. So-and-so's come in. Let him
sit right yonder and don't even acknowledge him. It'll be good
for him. Here comes this poor fellow. His clothes are a little
ragged. Looks like he had shaving there
too. He might not have a razor. Go back there and put your arm
around him. Bring him up to you and say, we're delighted to have
you. Sit him right here. Sit him right here. What can we get
you? How come? Because God is no respecter of
persons. If he were, you'd be in hell
and me too. The Lord claims our hearts and
our lives and our tongues. Verse 16, he says, don't go up
down to the land as a tail bearer, a gossip. Prider you tug, prider
you tug. Learn not to slander men, learn
not to reproach men. Ask God to give you grace to
hide things rather than showing everything. Don't be a tail bearer,
a gossip, gossip. Speaking things you know nothing
about, that's what gossip is. Well, you know, I heard. If you
heard something you ought not to have heard, let your ear be
its grave. Speak ye of no man. And then God claims our affections.
He tells us that we're to love our neighbors as ourselves. After
all, they're made in His image. He says in verse 17, Thou shalt
not hate thy brother in thine heart. Well, I don't hate him.
I ain't going to forgive him, but I don't hate him. That's
what he said. Don't you hold a grudge. He says, thou shalt
in any wise rebuke thy neighbor. Oh, I like that. Now, show me
sin. He's saying exactly the opposite.
Read on. And not suffer sin upon it. A
better translation would be, don't you bear sin for it. In
other words, when a fellow offends you, or you think he has, The
thing for you to do is forget it. Just forget it. If you resent it, and you hold
it, and you harbor it, and you bear a grudge, you become party
to the evil done to you. Well, what do you do? Vengeance
is mine, saith the Lord. Leave it in God's hands. He'll
take care of it. Well, preacher, that's not practical.
I'm going to tell you something. That's the most practical, peaceful
way on this earth to live. Don't raise your hand, I'll raise
mine. Have you ever been guilty of harboring a grudge? I'll get
it. I'll get it. Until you give it
rest, you can't rest. Rest. Oh, no. Don't you be vengeful. Say not thou I will recompense
evil, but wait on the Lord. He'll save you. He'll take care
of you. And then it tells us for God's honor to distinguish
things that differ. He says, don't breed your cattle. Mix breed sheep and goats. Don't
do that. Don't sow your field with barley
and rye mixed together. Don't do that. Don't wear a garment
of linen and wool. What on earth is he talking about?
What's he talking about? Well, he's clearly got a reference
to the gospel of God's grace and the kingdom of God. In the
kingdom of God, things must be set clearly. distinctly, with
straightforwardness, no mixing of grace and works, singularity
of the preaching of Christ and Him crucified. The fields must
not be sown with the gospel and philosophy, with the gospel and
the opinions of men, with the word of God and the creeds of
the fathers, but just the pure gospel. And don't wear a garment
of linen and wool. He forbids that. He forbids that. And yet, the priests were specifically
told to wear a garment of linen and wool. How come? Because only
he who is our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, brings
together God and man in the performing of righteousness. Linen being
made by man, wool being that which is born on a sheep, made
by God. And the Lord Jesus Christ brings
together perfect obedience to make for us a white garment of
fire and linen worthy of God, but the righteousness of a perfect
man. Living in this world for God's
honor, means that we confess our sins and find forgiveness
through the blood of Christ. In verses 20, 21, and 22, it
talks about a man committing fornication or adultery with
a woman who was a slave, not one of God's children. She gets
nothing but the scourge of the law. And he comes and brings his trespass
offering. And the priest makes atonement
for him. And his sin is forgiven him. You see, God's people are men
and women who acknowledge their sin. both the deed and the nature. And they come to Him trusting
Christ alone, and they're forgiven by Him. Living for God's glory
means that His will and His honor takes priority over everything
else. Come into the land of Canaan, you plant your trees, and for
the first three years, don't you touch them. What? Now, wait a minute, I planted
those trees. If I want to get my apples next
year, I'll get my apples next year. Not if God says don't.
How come? Because He's God. On the fourth
year, when they start to really bear good fruit, don't eat a
thing. Bring the whole basket of apples
to God. Bring it all, it says. On the
fifth year, when the crop begins to lessen, that's yours. That's yours. What's that mean? Lord, I'm yours. Tell me what you have me to do.
That's what it means. The honor of our God demands
that we have nothing to do with, give no approval to, and studiously
avoid the practices of idolaters and the superstitions of this
religious world. Verses 26 through 28, he talks
about drinking blood. To this day, cannibalistic tribes
and those who used to be drink blood of an animal because they
think it's going to make them strong. I'll drink the lion's
blood and it'll give me the lion's spirit. or they eat the brains
of a dead one. I'll get his spirit, get his
strength. Don't you be so foolish. Oh, I wouldn't do that. Well,
let's go. He talks about using enchantments. Got a wart? Get your dish rag,
sell a little enchantment. Go buy a dish rag. It's called witchcraft. That's
what it is. Observing times. If you do that in the full moon. I said, look, I didn't realize
how superstitious folks could be. Mountain folks are worse,
I guess, than the rest of us in some things, maybe not in others.
But I walked in the door one day, and these old ladies in
the house started to get up and go by the kitchen door. Oh, no,
no. Go out the other door. Go out the door you came in.
It'd be bad luck to go out the wrong door. I made it a point
always to go in one door and out the other one, always. I
love black-eyed peas. The only time I don't eat them
is New Year's Day. I'd spit them out if you put them in my mouth.
Eat black-eyed peas for good luck. Shaping your hair or your beard.
Some years ago, some fellas got to reading this passage and decided
it's wrong for a fella to shave, so I'll grow a beard, you know.
Grow beards. Oh, now, man. That's not what
I was talking about. Indians used to shave their heads
in a mohawk. because he thought it gave him special power. Don't
act like the idolaters. Don't act like superstitious
folks. Cutting the flesh. Go to the funeral. Folks act crazy. Go to the funeral
home. Funeral directors, forgive me, Bob, they're good at it.
They want you to act crazy. Next we'll go, oh, I had a good
funeral this time. Oh, no, no. We submit to God's
will. He's taken the life. We'll bow.
It doesn't mean you don't hurt, it means you don't act crazy.
Or make tattoos. Getting popular
today. These things are just religious
superstitions. Don't behave as the heathen.
He says in verse 31, regard not them that have familiar spirits,
nor seek after wizards to be defiled by them. And then he says in verse 29,
we must teach and train our children to worship God. He said, don't
prostitute your daughter, cause her to become a whore. What's
that mean? Well, it was common practice
in various forms of bail worship for a man to take his daughter
and make her a temple prostitute. Don't do that. Don't subject
your daughter or your son to false worship. It's the common
practice of many to allow their sons and daughters to kind of
live however they want to, dress however they want to. They have
an opinion of their own. Well, I know she ought to put
some clothes on, but what can I do? You can be a daddy. You
can be a daddy is what you can do. Don't do it. And don't take
them by the hand, by your example, and make them go whoring after
other gods. Something more important than
worshiping God. Something more important than following Christ. Something more important than
doing the will of God. You've got to make your way in this
world. You've got to get a living. Get all you can and can't all
you can get. You've prostituted their soul. Now here's an irresistible motive.
15 times. This is what God says. I'm your God. I'm your God. I'm your God. And that'll be enough. Amen.