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 22. So, last chapter we had some instructions for the priests who have to live at a higher standard than the Israelites, and it continues in this chapter. It says that the Lord said to Moses, Tell Aaron and his sons to be very careful with the sacred gifts that the Israelites set apart for me, so they do not bring shame on my holy name. I am the Lord. Give them the following instructions. In all future generations, if any of your descendants is ceremonially unclean when he approaches the sacred offerings that the people of Israel consecrate to the Lord, he must be cut off from my presence. I am the Lord. If any of Aaron's descendants have a skin disease or any kind of discharge that makes him ceremonially unclean, he may not eat from the sacred offerings until he has been pronounced clean. He also becomes unclean by touching a corpse, or having an omission of semen, or by touching a small animal that is unclean, or by touching someone who is ceremonially unclean for any reason. The man who is defiled in any of these ways will remain unclean until the evening. He may not eat from the sacred offerings until he has bathed himself in water. When the sun goes down, he will be ceremonially clean again, and may eat from the sacred offerings, for this is his food. He may not eat an animal that has died a natural death, or has been torn apart by wild animals, for this would defile him. I am the Lord. The priests must follow the instructions carefully, otherwise they will be punished for their sin and will die for violating my instructions. I am the Lord who makes them holy. No one outside a priest's family may eat the sacred offerings. Even guests and hired workers in the priest's home are not allowed to eat them. However, if a priest buys a slave for himself, the slave may eat from the sacred offerings, and if his slaves have children, they may also share his food. If a priest's daughter marries someone outside the priestly family, she may no longer eat the sacred offerings. But if she becomes a widow or is divorced and has no children to support her, and she returns to live in her father's home, as in her youth, she may eat her father's food again. Otherwise, no one outside the priest's family may eat the sacred offerings. Any such person who eats the sacred offerings without realizing it must pay the priest for the amount eaten plus an additional twenty per cent. The priest must not let the Israelites defile the sacred offerings brought to the Lord by allowing unauthorized people to eat them. This would bring guilt upon them and require them to pay compensation. I am the Lord who makes them holy. The Israelites, and especially the priests, must remain holy and set apart so they can do the work of the Lord every day. Since they are doing this, they are held to a higher standard, including the sacrifices that they give God. And the Lord said to Moses, Give Aaron and his sons and all the Israelites these instructions, which apply both to native Israelites and to the foreigners living among you. If you present a gift as a burnt offering to the Lord, whether it is to fulfill a vow or is a voluntary offering, you will be accepted only if your offering is a male animal with no defects. It may be a bull, a ram, or a male goat. Do not present an animal with defects because the Lord will not accept it on your behalf. If you present a peace offering to the Lord from the herd or the flock, whether it is to fulfill a vow or is a voluntary offering, you must offer a perfect animal. It may have no defect of any kind. You must not offer an animal that is blind, crippled, or injured, or that has a wart, a skin sore, or scabs. Such animals must never be offered on the altar, as special gifts to the Lord. If a bull or lamb has a leg that is too long or too short, it may be offered as a voluntary offering, but it may not be offered to fulfil a vow. If an animal has damaged testicles or is castrated, you may not offer it to the Lord. You must never do this in your own land, and you must not accept such an animal from foreigners, and then offer it as a sacrifice to your God. Such animals will not be accepted on your behalf, for they are mutilated or defected. And the Lord said to Moses, When a calf or lamb or goat is born, it must be left with his mother for seven days. From the eighth day on it will be acceptable as a special gift to the Lord. You must not slaughter a mother animal and her offspring on the same day, whether from the herd or the flock. When you bring a thanksgiving offering to the Lord, sacrifice it properly, so you will be accepted. Eat the entire sacrificial animal on the day it is presented, do not leave any of it until the next morning. I am the Lord. You must faithfully keep all my commands, by putting them into practice, for I am the Lord. Do not bring shame on my holy name, for I will display my holiness among the people of Israel. I am the Lord who makes you holy. It was I who rescued you from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. I am the Lord. So this chapter always just circles back multiple times to I am the Lord. Um and that's just what we need to think about, like the lens we need to look at our lives through. We just need to look through everything we are with the thought that God is the Lord. The Lord of all, the Lord that provides, the Lord that brought the Israelites out of Egypt, the Lord that maybe brought you out of a hard situation that you're in, the Lord that delivered you out of that addiction, the Lord that knows your future and comforts you in your worries and your doubts. God is the Lord. And all we have to do is trust him and live in such a way that honors him and shares his love to other people that might not know that God is the Lord. See, God loved us so much that he didn't want us to have to always do these sacrifices in order to be with him. So he sent his own son, Jesus, who was the Lamb of God and lived a perfectly sinless life just to die on a cross in a sacrifice to take the punishment of all of our sins that we have committed. And because of that, we get to live with God every day, in close proximity with him, living step in step. And if that is something that you want to do, repeat the words that I'm about to pray after me. Now, when you do this, there's not gonna be some magical thing that happens, but in your heart, you will let Jesus become the leader of your life, and you will live in accordance with him, and your eternity will be changed, and if that is something you do today, click the link in the description for some next steps. But if you want to make that step, repeat after me. God, I need you. I know I'm a sinner in need of a savior. Jesus, I believe you died and rose again to pay the price for my sin. Lord, save me. Change me. Make me new. From this day forward, I will follow you. In Jesus' name I pray.
