Leviticus 20

God wants us to be like Him... set apart as holy. However there are some sins we can commit that are basically looking at God and saying "No, I don't want to be with you." Since God gives us free will, He allows us to make that choice.

Will: https://www.instagram.com/thewilliamreich

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Hello and welcome to the Christians on College Campuses podcast. My name is Will from the University of Oklahoma, and today we are talking about Leviticus chapter 20. So, Leviticus has been kind of this book of rules and regulations about how the Israelites are supposed to live. But when we look into it and actually dive into it more, we see that there is so much more than just a bunch of rules and regulations. It is the reasoning behind it that makes the rule stand. This chapter is about different punishments for sins and disobedience against God. It says that the Lord said to Moses, Give the people of Israel these instructions, which apply both to native Israelites and to the foreigners living in Israel. If any of them offer their children as a sacrifice to Molech, they must be put to death. The people of the community must stone them to death. I myself will turn against them and cut them off from the community, because they have defiled my sanctuary and brought shame on my holy name by offering their children to Molech. And if the people of the community ignore those who offer their children to Molech and refuse to execute them, I myself will turn against them in their families, and will cut them off from the community. This will happen to all who commit spiritual prostitution by worshipping Moloch. I will also turn against those who commit spiritual prostitution by putting their trust in mediums or in those who consult the spirits of the dead. I will cut them off from the community. So set yourselves apart to be holy, for I am the Lord your God. Keep all my decrees by putting them into practice, for I am the Lord who makes you holy. These people worship other gods, not the one true God. We've been saying that the wages of sin is death, and some sacrifices happen in order for that price to be temporarily paid. However, some sin like idolatry is a little different. You are telling God to his face that you don't care and you want to actively choose to spend time without him. So he honors that. Anyway, here are some more sins. Anyone who dishonors father or mother must be put to death. Such a person is guilty of a capital offense. If a man commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, both the man and the woman who have committed adultery must be put to death. If a man violates his father by having sex with one of his father's wives, both the man and the woman must be put to death, for they are guilty of a capital offense. If a man has sex with his daughter in law, they both must be put to death. They have committed a perverse act and are guilty of a capital offense. If a man practices homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman, both men have committed a detestable act, they must be put to death. They are guilty of a capital offense. If a man marries both a woman and her mother, he has committed a wicked act. The man and both women must be burned to death to wipe out such wickedness from among you. If a man has sex with an animal, he must be put to death, and the animal must be killed. If a woman presents herself to a male animal to have intercourse with it, she and the animal must be both put to death. You must kill both, for they are guilty of a capital offense. If a man marries his sister, the daughter of either his father or his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a shameful disgrace. They must be publicly cut off from the community. Since the man has violated his sister, he has he will be punished for his sin. If a man has sexual relations with a woman during her menstrual period, both of them must be cut off from the community, for together they have exposed the source of her blood flow. Do not have sexual relations with your aunt, whether your mother's sister or your father's sister, this will dishonor a close relative. Both parties are guilty and will be punished for their sin. If a man has sex with his uncle's wife, he has violated his uncle. Both the man and woman will be punished for their sin, and they will die childless. If a man marries his brother's wife, it is an act of impurity. He has violated his brother and the guilty couple will remain childless. You must keep all my decrees and regulations by putting them into practice. Otherwise, the land to which I am bringing you as your new home will vomit you out. Do not live according to the customs of the people I am driving out before you. It is because they do these shameful things that I detest them. But I have promised you, you will possess their land, because I will give it to you as your possession, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God, who has set you apart from all other people. You must therefore make a distinction between ceremonially clean and unclean animals, and between clean and unclean birds. You must not defile yourselves by eating any unclean animal or bird or creature that scurries along the ground. I have identified them as being unclean for you. You must be holy, because I, the Lord, am holy. I have set you apart from all other people to be my very own. Men and women among you who act as mediums or who consult the spirits of the dead must be put to death by stoning. They are guilty of a capital offense. A lot of this chapter all comes back to this one word holy. Holy means set apart. God is holy, he is set apart from all humans, all creation, and he wants his people, the Israelites, and now us to also be holy and set apart from the other people that live the ways of the world. Any of these things pull you right back into the way the world lives, a way that is not holy, a way that is not set apart, a way that God sees as detestable. And as we covered earlier in this chapter, if you choose a life without God, God will honor that because he gave you free will. And in turn be punished for those sins. And so, Jesus, come here now, and I thank you that you gave us free will so that we can feel the joy it is to choose to follow you, to choose to be holy, to choose to be set apart. I pray that as we go day to day, we uh really learn what it's like to truly be set apart living for you. And I pray that in Jesus' name, amen.