0:00 Welcome once again to Words of Life. We continue our study in the books of the Bible. And today, we are going to study the book of Leviticus. 0:20 I think it would be right to say that this is one of the books which very few Christians read. Because they find it very heavy or difficult. But there are some very precious lessons here. 0:40 The subject of this book is the holiness of God. The word holiness occurs 159 times in this book. More than in any other book of the Bible. 1:04 And if it takes some pains to understand not all the details, but generally what this book speaks about. It can really help us. Towards a holy life. First of all, the Lord teaches us here about five offerings. 1:29 And I want to explain them briefly to you. These five offerings are described in the first five chapters of Leviticus. In the first chapter, you read about the burnt offering. Now, this was different from other offerings in many ways. 1:54 And it was primarily to describe a man's total surrender to God. First of all, Jesus himself has his total surrender to the Father as a burnt offering on the cross. 2:15 And we also have to follow Jesus, not as an offering for sin, but offering ourselves, like it says in Romans 12.1, as a spiritual service of worship. In a sense, all the offerings had to deal with sin. 2:44 But two of the offerings were specifically mentioned as sin offerings and guilt offerings. So, each of them had a different aspect which they emphasized. 3:05 For example, this burnt offering was to be completely burnt. Chapter 1, verse 17, it says how the priest has offered it up as a smoke on the altar, which is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord. 3:35 And it could be bullock, or a sheep, it could be a dove, according to each person's ability. And notice, you couldn't place the whole bullock on the altar. It had to be cut into pieces. 3:57 It says in verse 8, that Aaron's sons had to arrange the pieces, the head, et cetera, the entrails and legs washed with water, et cetera, in verse 9. 4:17 Jesus offered himself up completely to the Father. This is a picture of worship. Romans 12, verse 1, it says how we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to God. That is our worship, it says. 4:38 Worship is not in words. Worship is to give everything we have as a burnt offering on the altar. Our body, time, Our job, our money, Everything. All our ambitions, plans. 5:00 All on the altar. And all burnt. Lord, I don't want anything of mine. Then, I rise from the ashes as a new person in Christ. And in that resurrection, Only to do the will of God, like Jesus lived on earth. 5:25 So, if one part of me is not burnt on that altar, I can still praise the Lord with my lips, but I can't worship Him. Worship is total burning of everything. Worship is total burning of everything. It's a complete giving of ourselves to God. 5:46 So, that is the first offering. The second offering in chapter 2 is described as a grain offering. And that there is no blood in it. It is an offering to show our respect for God. Where they offered flour or grain, salt, oil, frankincense. 6:14 And that salt symbolized the fact that this was an eternal covenant. Salt always symbolizes eternal. It says here that in verse 11 of chapter 2, No grain offering shall be made with leaven. 6:41 That speaks of a freedom from sin. So, if the first one shows a total devotion to God, The burnt offering. Here is, we are showing our respect for Him. And then, in the third offering, 7:03 We come to express our gratitude to God. And also, to show that we have come to peace with God. It's called a peace offering. And there we are expressing our thanksgiving. 7:24 And we are testifying that we have Relationship with God has come to peace. And that's something which also we have Through the cross of Jesus Christ. So, there were different aspects of the death of Christ 7:45 Pictured in these five different offerings. And then, we come to the fourth, Which is a sin offering. Where, there are different types of offerings For the sins of the priest or the 8:06 Whole congregation or ruler Or a common person. For example, If it's the anointed priest who sins Or the whole congregation sins 8:27 There are different offerings. An ordinary person's sinning is not as serious as a priest's sinning. And notice another thing. The emphasis here in chapter 4 verse 2 is on Sinning without knowing it. Unintentionally. 8:52 And then we get light on it. There is really no provision for sinning intentionally. That's a very serious thing. That you read there, If a person sins unintentionally, Chapter 4 verse 2. And notice here in chapter 4 verse 3. 9:22 If an anointed priest sins, He has to bring a bull. And if the whole congregation verse 13 sins. But I also got to bring a bull. But in verse 27. If an ordinary person sins. 9:45 He has to only bring, verse 28, a female goat. A bull was much more expensive than a female goat. And there the Lord was proving, showing that a priest's sinning is much more serious than an ordinary person's sinning. 10:12 And you compare verse 3 with 13. You find that one leader sinning is equal to all the people in the church sinning. Many people don't realize that God takes the sin of leaders much more seriously. 10:38 That his sin is equal to all the hundred people in his church sinning. That's the meaning of putting these two people in the same category. Then, the fifth offering is a guilt offering. 11:01 That's what we read in chapter 5. If a person sins, and here is where he sins, not only against God, but against man also. And here, he has to make restitution. You see, for example, in verse 15. 11:25 What he has to bring before God. And verse 16, he has to make restitution for the sin he has committed. That means he has to give back to the person he has wronged, what he has taken wrongfully. Add 20% to it. 11:45 See, God does not allow us to just come to him and ask forgiveness if we have wronged another person. We have to get that person's forgiveness also. Not only God, but also that man. 12:07 So, all these things are brought out in these offerings. That sin is not only in the vertical direction, it's in the horizontal direction. Paul said, I keep my conscience clear before God and before men. Now, notice in chapter 6, in verse 13. 12:32 Here we read that this fire which is kept on the altar must burn continually. It must never go out. It must be kept burning all the time. And that is a law which was there in the Old Testament. 12:53 And it's something which God wants to teach us that in our life, all the time in our heart, there must be a burning fire towards God. Now, I want to show you another verse. In chapter 7, in verse 29, he says, if he who offers the sacrifice of his peace offerings, 13:21 Verse 30, his own hands are to bring his offerings by fire to the Lord. Why is this emphasis on your own hands? See, when a man comes and brings an offering, Or he puts his hand on a bullock. He is identifying himself with that animal. 13:49 He is taking complete blame for his sin. He is not blaming somebody else. See, that's one of the things you see here. By being a bullock, I am saying, this is not my wife's fault. This is not anybody else's fault. It's my fault. 14:04 See, that's very important when we come to God with an offering. That, I am taking complete responsibility for my sin. And I am not blaming anybody else for it. These are some important principles that we see here. 14:29 And we also see here, just as a matter of interest, that the priest would get a part of some of the offerings for their food. In chapter 8, verse 8, we read about this Urim and Thummim, which I mentioned in our last study. 14:52 That it was placed, the breast piece was put in the breast piece was put the Urim and the Thummim. That was something which, by which a priest could find out whether yes or no, what is God's will. Because they did not have the Holy Spirit in their heart those days. 15:16 But it was by this stone or something, nobody knows exactly what it is, that people could find out God's will. And they had to go to the priest to find out, because he had this with him. The stone, in some way, would find out whether it is yes or no. 15:37 And that teaches us the responsibility for us to go to Jesus, our High Priest, to find out God's will. Now, I want you to see how, when this offering was placed upon the altar in chapter 9, verse 24, fire came from the Lord, and burnt up the burnt offering and all the fat on the altar. 16:09 All the fat was burnt up. See, there is a verse in chapter 3, In the last part of verse 16, In the last part of verse 16, All the fat is the Lord's. And then verse 17, You shall not eat any fat. And here we see the fat being burnt up in chapter 9, verse 24. 16:34 All this had a meaning. That, when it comes to the fat, it was a picture of glory. All the glory belongs to God. We cannot touch it. There was a law. It says, it was a law in chapter 3. This is a perpetual statute. 16:56 Chapter 3, verse 17, In all your generations. Apply it today. This is a perpetual statute. All glory must be given to God. We cannot touch one bit of it. If a priest took a little bit of that fat. 17:19 Like we read, Eli's sons later on did it. And God smote them. Think of the number of people today, Who are taking a little bit of the glory for themselves. All the fat is the Lord's. All the glory is the Lord's. This is a perpetual statute. 17:39 So, the fire came and fell and all the people fell on their faces when they saw the glory of God. Coming like this. And then we read that Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, did something. They saw this fire and they were very impressed. 18:02 See, that was a real fire that came from the Lord. A picture of the anointing and fire of the Holy Spirit. Nadab and Abihu, when they saw that, Nadab and Abihu, they decided to duplicate it and produce a strange fire before the Lord. 18:25 God was so angry with them for trying to duplicate the heavenly fire. And so, once more fire came from the Lord, verse 2, this time to kill both of them. The first fire was an acceptance of the sacrifice in chapter 9, verse 20, for all the glorious gods. 18:51 The second was a fire of judgment. And what did the judgment come on? It came on people trying to duplicate the fire of God. Now, there are a lot of preachers today trying to duplicate the anointing and the power of the Holy Spirit. 19:13 Sometimes, by repeating hallelujah, hallelujah, many, many times. Or telling people, come on, praise the Lord, come on, praise the Lord, come on, praise the Lord. And working people up emotionally. And that emotional excitement is a false fire. 19:35 You should not be deceived by that. God is angry with all that. You don't find Jesus or the apostles doing such things. A lot of it people are doing today and many are imitating that. So, we have to be very careful. Let me show you another verse. 19:55 In chapter 11, verse 44. The Lord says, I am holy. So, you must never make yourselves unclean with various things. He gave them laws about food to teach them to be clean in their life. That certain animals you should not eat. 20:19 It was to teach them to be clean in their life. In chapter 12 to chapter 15, we read about many health laws. We read about laws concerning lepers. For example, in chapter 13, it is a very interesting chapter about how you should not immediately judge when you see some spot in a person saying he is a leper. 20:52 It says the priest must look at him in chapter 13, verse 3. And look at him again on the 7th day, verse 5. And if the infection has faded, verse 6, then he is clean. So, what is the Lord trying to say? 21:13 Don't rush into a judgment. Don't immediately see something and say, oh, he is a leper. Wait for seven days. Come back and look again. How many believers follow these rules? You see something in some or other. 21:33 And without thinking, you go and judge. And you go and tell other people. Here, the priest could not do it. You have to look carefully, examine, is it only on the skin? Is it deeper than the skin, verse 4? Wait for seven days. 21:52 See if it is. And if it is still there, then he has to say, it is leprosy, verse 8. So, this is teaching us how not to judge other people easily. Many times, it says the same thing. 22:13 Verse 26, verse 31, he looks at the infection. And is it deeper than the skin? The emphasis is always on examining very carefully. And it is very wonderful to see in chapter 14, how this leper is cleansed. 22:35 He brings a guilt offering after he is cleansed of this leprosy. It is a picture of our being cleansed from sin. And verse 14 of chapter 14. Take a little bit of the blood of the guilt offering. Put a little bit on the right ear, the right hand, the right foot. 23:00 That means from head to foot being cleansed by the blood of Christ. And then, on top of the same where the blood has come in the ear and the thumb and the foot, where it is 17, you put some oil. It is a picture of the Holy Spirit. 23:19 And then, that means when we are born again, we are cleansed and the Holy Spirit comes. And then, verse 18, the rest of the oil, he is going to pour upon his head. That is a picture of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. And that is the same thing that was done for the priest. 23:44 The privilege that the priest had, this leper had. To be cleansed and filled with the Holy Spirit. So, when we come to God and say, Lord, we are lepers. We can be cleansed completely. 24:04 And filled with the Holy Spirit. So, there are a number of lessons that we can learn in this passage. Particularly concerning sin. When we see sin in ourselves, we judge ourselves. And when we see sin in others. Not to judge so quickly. 24:25 But we wait. And see, if it's really true what we heard. Or it's really true what we see. And make closer investigation. Don't call a person a leper or that was wrong what he did. Before you know all the facts. If the Christian church would follow these simple rules. 24:51 The holiness that Leviticus speaks about will be found in all of our lives. May God help us. Amen. Welcome once again to Words of Life program. We continue our study in the book of Leviticus. 25:15 We mentioned when we began the study in our last session. That this, the title of this, the subject of this book is The Holiness of God. It begins initially with offerings. It continues with judging those who play the fool with the fire of God. 25:43 God hates all counterfeits of the Holy Spirit. These are all aspects of holiness. We saw another aspect of holiness is not judging people quickly to say that there is sin in their life. 26:04 Chapter 13, the lepers had to be tested very carefully. And there is one interesting thing which we notice in this case of the person with leprosy. 26:27 In chapter 13 and verse 10. The priest looks and if there is a white swelling in the skin, the hair is turned white. Then, it is a chronic leprosy, verse 11. The priest pronounces him unclean. 26:47 Now notice verse 13. But if the leprosy has covered the whole body, he will pronounce him clean. How is that? If the whole body is full of leprosy, he is pronounced clean. But if in that body, somewhere some raw flesh again appears, he is pronounced unclean again. 27:16 I can't explain that. But it has a spiritual meaning. That means, when a person comes to the Lord and says, Lord, I am a total sinner, head to foot. God says, okay, you are cleansed. But if a person says, Lord, I am not really that bad. 27:40 There are some parts of me which are a little good. That is like the raw flesh appearing somewhere. Then he is unclean. The Pharisees were like that. They felt there were some good points in them. They were unclean. 28:01 But the woman caught in adultery. He just says, I am totally sinner, head to foot. Okay, you are not condemned. Thief on the cross, which the Roman soldiers, Roman people thought he was the worst criminal. Leprosy, head to foot. 28:24 Clean, come to heaven with me. It's a question of acknowledging it. We are all sinners from head to foot. But very few acknowledge it. When we acknowledge it, we are clean. If we try to cover it up, 28:45 we are not clean. And then holiness also applies to practical life. And we read in chapter 18 to 27. Many, many laws concerning the holy life. For example, in chapter 18. 29:06 The whole chapter is dealing with sexual purity. About not marrying close relatives. In the very detailed description of what we are not supposed to do. And he goes on speaking about homosexuality in verse 22. 29:31 And having sex with animals in verse 23. And then, he explains the reason why the Canaanites are going to be thrown out of the land of Canaan. And the other nations also. Why God said, wipe them out. 29:54 See, many people have this question. Why God asked the Israelites to kill all these people. The same reason God destroyed the world in the time of Noah. And the same reason why God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. And that is, it says in verse 24 and 25. 30:20 Because the land has become defiled. Because these people have been doing these type of sexual sins. They have been sinning as homosexuals. They have been sinning with animals. And the land has become defiled, it says. 30:42 And that's why it says the land itself is casting them out. Verse 25, the last part. The land has spewed out its inhabitants. So, holiness relates very much to our sexual life. There is a whole chapter written about it in the Old Testament. 31:09 And that verse 30, you must not practice any of these abominable customs. So, we see here that holiness for us today, one of the major areas is the sexual area. You don't know holiness if you are not pure in the sexual area. 31:29 And here is where there is a lot of leprosy that needs to be acknowledged and cleansed. Then in chapter 19, and verses 1 to 18, we read about holiness in daily life. 31:51 About reverencing father and mother, verse 3. Not turning to idols. And being kind to other people. For example, verse 9. When you reap the harvest of your land. Don't go to every corner and pick every little bit of the harvest. 32:15 When you glean your vineyard, verse 10. And as you are picking, some of it falls on the ground. Don't go back and pick it up. Why is God giving laws like this? Let other poor people come and pick up those things. Let other people come and pick up some of the harvest from the corners of your field. 32:38 You are a rich person to have vineyards and fields. Consider other people who are poorer than you. That is an important part of holiness. If you are not considerate of other people, you are not holy. 32:59 Holiness is not just sitting before God and keeping our heart pure. Holiness is loving other people who are in need. You should not cheat other people, verse 11. Don't deal falsely with them. That means when you do a business with somebody, don't cheat him. 33:23 And if a man works for you, verse 13, last part. You must pay him. Don't wait until the morning. You must give him his money so that he has enough money to go and buy food for his family. 33:46 Don't make fun of a deaf man, verse 14. See, we sometimes see our children making fun of somebody's accent or the way he speaks or the way he walks. Parents also laugh with the children. What does it prove? 34:06 Neither the parents nor the children fear God. See, it says here, don't make fun of a deaf man or make life difficult for a blind man. You must fear God. So, holiness is a very practical thing. Don't do any injustice in judgment. 34:29 And notice in verse 15. Don't be partial to poor people. See, many people are partial to the rich. It's also mentioned here. Don't defer to the great people. But it also says, don't be partial to the poor. 34:53 Because sometimes people swing to the other extreme. See, I'm always against rich people. I've seen some believers like that. They're always against the rich. But the Bible says, we should not care for the rich or the poor. 35:13 We must not be partial. All partiality is a sin. Verse 16. Don't go around gossiping. Holiness involves, don't go around gossiping against other people. 35:33 Don't hate your countrymen, verse 17, in your heart. Just in your heart. Don't keep a grudge against anybody, verse 18. And so on. Many, many, many laws like this. 35:57 Take another example. Verse 32. When you see an older person, you must stand up. Respect him. This is part of holiness. One of the things that's happening today in the world is, Young people are losing their respect for parents and older people and teachers and everything. 36:24 This is a mark of the world going away from God. Into sin. If you read these little, even just this one chapter, we get a lot of idea of what true holiness is. And he speaks about not having any contact with spirit worshippers and witches and all in verse 31. 36:51 And then, in chapter 20, he speaks of a whole lot of punishments for disobedience. And most of the punishment was kill the person. You know, so many times in that chapter, it says, he must be put to death, must be put to death, must be put to death. 37:14 He must not be spared. He must be put to death. He must be put to death. This is holiness. Where judgment is severe against people who play the fool with God. In chapter 21 and chapter 22, there are certain laws for priests. 37:36 And you see, it says here, in chapter 21, verse 17, in those days, a person should not have any physical defect to be a priest. Verse 17, If any of your sons has got a defect, he shall not come to be a priest before God. 38:01 Various defects are mentioned here. Now, for us, it is not physical today. We can apply that spiritually. If a person has a spiritual defect, he cannot be a leader among God's people. 38:21 If he has not said it right, you know how the New Testament says, if a man's children are not following the Lord, he has got no right to be an elder in a church. All these standards are neglected today. Many Christian leaders, 38:41 their children are so wayward. But they continue to be in leadership and to preach, etc. Now, we come to chapter 23. In chapter 23, we read about 39:01 the various feasts that God had ordained or festivals that God had ordained for Israel. There were seven celebrations, we can say. See, God wanted Israel to recognize that following Him was not a gloomy matter. 39:26 True religion was supposed to be something that made you happy. Something that made your face long and sour. So, these are called feasts or festivals. Time of celebration. And there were seven of them. 39:48 The first is the Passover, which is a time of celebration, celebrating the fact that we are delivered from Egypt. The second was called the feast of unleavened bread. That is a picture of God cleansing us from the leaven of sin. 40:11 Again, something for rejoicing. The third was the festival of first fruits. You know, expressing our thankfulness to God at the time of harvest, the time of harvest. It's just in Christ coming and presenting the first fruits to the Father. 40:31 A picture of that. Then the fourth one is the feast of Pentecost, which we are all familiar with. And here they had to wave two loaves before God. A picture of the Jews and Gentiles 40:54 now being filled with the Holy Spirit. And that was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell uniting Jews and Gentiles into one body. And then, the fifth one was the feast of trumpets. 41:17 And that is a picture of the coming of the Lord when the trumpet will be blown. And that is going to happen. It says, the trumpet will sound and the Lord will come. And in that time, trumpets were blown 41:37 to gather people for worship. All for war. Then, the sixth one was called the Day of Atonement that you read in chapter 16 and chapter 23. 41:58 And among all the feasts, this was the most important feast. According to our calendar, it was sometime in October every year. And it was the most serious and solemn day of the year for all the Jewish people. 42:22 The Passover was a picture of God forgiving man's sin on the basis of Christ's death. It wasn't directed towards man. The Day of Atonement was directed towards God. 42:43 where a picture of God's anger against sin being satisfied because Christ has paid the price. And on this day, they used to sacrifice, they used to get two goats and one was sacrificed 43:06 and the other was sent out into the wilderness. That was a picture of Christ dying for our sins and Christ taking our sins far away. So, these were pictures with which the Lord was trying to say 43:26 how a substitute would come and take away all your sins far away. and then finally, the last feast was called the Feast of Shelters or Boots and they had to live 43:47 for eight days in tents. And that was to remind them of the 40 years they wandered in tents in the wilderness. And every day, they would offer bullocks and on the last day they would draw 44:08 water from the pool of Siloam and pour it out. And that was the day when Jesus spoke about rivers of living water flowing out of those who believe in Him. This is a picture of that future time when Jesus would come and establish 44:26 His kingdom on the earth. Each of these festivals were supposed to show some aspect of God's relationship with man. And then we come towards the end of the book of Revelation 44:47 at the book of Leviticus and we read in chapter 25 about what is called the sabbatical year or the year of Jubilee. This is a very interesting law. Verse 3 of chapter 25 45:08 It's not only man who had to keep a sabbath once every seven days but the land also had to have a sabbath. They were to sow their field for six years and leave it free the seventh year according to verse 3 and 4. 45:30 give the land a rest and if you are worried about how will you eat on that year if you don't sow the land. Verse 20 you ask yourself what are we going to eat. Then the Lord says in the sixth year I'll give you 45:50 for three years. So you'll get much more than what you need for the seventh year. In your eighth year you'll be still eating what you sowed in the sixth. But you know what the Jews did. They were so covetous. 46:11 They got this three times in the sixth year. And they said let's sow on the seventh year also. And make more money. And for 490 years of their history they never allowed the 46:31 land to have a Sabbath. And that was why God punished them. God said you didn't allow you didn't keep the Sabbath like I told you to do. Okay I'm going to send you to Babylon for 70 46:52 years. Because in 490 years for 70 years the land was not supposed to be sown. But you didn't do that. So I'll send you to Babylon and the land will get a Sabbath for 70 years. What does that teach 47:12 us? God's laws catch up with us. This is something we must remember. God may wait 490 years. Finally His judgment can catch up with us. There are many other little laws that were given to the children of Israel here. 47:37 I'll show you one little law. In chapter 27 there's a very interesting law here. It says here towards the end of this chapter in verse 32 every tenth part of the herd or flock whatever passes under the rod tenth one shall be 47:56 holy to the Lord. That means they have to count their herd one by one as they pass under the rod. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 They come to number 10. That's for the Lord. 11,12,13,14 48:17 like that. In 19 20th for the Lord and supposing he saw this 20th is a very good lamb but this 19th one is a bit sick and he's tempted to change it. I'll give the 19th one to the Lord. 48:38 The Lord said you can't do that. See it says in verse 33 He's not to be concerned whether it's good or bad nor shall he exchange it. But if he sees the 19th is bad and gives 19th then he must give that and the 20th. Both 48:57 must be given. See God was trying to deliver these people from doing business with him. You know in the book of Malachi he says that you're offering all the lame bullocks and the blind lambs to me. 49:19 That's what he was warning against here. How is it with us when we give to the Lord? Do we give our best children to the Lord? Are the best children for the world? You know a lot of people send their useless children to Bible 49:34 schools. It's a joke almost. In everything what about in our life? Do we give the best part of our life to God? That is true holiness. The best part of our life not after we are old and about to die. 49:57 May God help us to understand holiness. Giving the best to him and being concerned about other people in need. May God help us. Thank you.
