WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:05.200 Well, this morning we're continuing in our sermon series through the book of Leviticus. 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:12.560 And if you're like me, you know, this is one of those books that's sort of like shockingly relevant. 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:18.559 You know, you read it during your Bible reading plan and you think, what in the world is this? 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:32.240 Um, but when you sit down and uh reflect on its connection to Jesus, the gospel, the New Testament, it's it sort of like opens another layer of beauty and depth of the of the gospel. 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:34.960 And I hope you will see that this morning. 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:45.840 As I was reflecting on these books, or this book and this passage, it sort of reminded me of the early days of my relationship with Stacy, my wife. 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:46.799 Uh, young love. 00:00:47.039 --> 00:01:02.560 One of the best things about young love is that desire to discover or understand this other person in your life, you know, in in the best of times, this beautiful gift from God that has been uh given to you. 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:05.040 They're intriguing, they're a mystery. 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:11.040 And in many ways, that's what these early chapters of the Bible are. 00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:25.040 God has come to his people, he has chosen them, right, a long time before through Abraham, but now after the Exodus, he's come, he's rescued his people from slavery, and he says, I'm going to be your God and you're gonna be my people. 00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:32.719 And God's people enter into almost immediately this um discovery process. 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:40.560 God, through his word and his deeds, his actions, he is revealing himself to them. 00:01:40.879 --> 00:01:52.159 Last week, uh Russ talked about uh chapter 10 in Leviticus, where this kind of shocking thing happened, shocking to us, but shocking to God's people. 00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:58.319 Aaron, the high priest's two sons, are killed by the glory of God. 00:01:58.480 --> 00:02:14.960 They were like two electrical, young electrical technicians who were working on the power lines, and they didn't respect the power they were in the presence of, and they made a false move, and they were they were dead in the blink of an eye. 00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:23.360 And so, even in that, God is revealing himself to the people of God through what he did and what he said. 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:27.439 It was exhilarating on the one hand, it was frightening on the other. 00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:36.319 The God who could split the sea, destroy a Pharaoh, was also the God who loved them and would provide for them. 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:38.400 They had much to learn. 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:41.840 Now in chapter 11, we take an interesting turn. 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:46.319 The first ten chapters of Leviticus is about the sacrificial system. 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:58.560 It's the sacrifices, the animals, the plants, the different things they were to bring to make them, to forgive them of their sins, and the priests that were needed to offer those sacrifices. 00:02:58.719 --> 00:03:11.840 Now in chapter 11, and for the next four or five chapters, we're shifting to purity laws, laws of what Israel could and couldn't do in order to stay holy in God's presence. 00:03:11.919 --> 00:03:17.840 And so the shift is from God's holiness to the people's holiness. 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:22.159 They are to be holy because God is holy. 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:24.000 That brings us to our first point. 00:03:24.159 --> 00:03:26.400 To be holy is to be set apart. 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:29.039 Russ talked about some of this last week. 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:32.400 Of everything that is holy, God is the most holy, right? 00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:34.400 Like we kind of know that instinctually. 00:03:34.479 --> 00:03:35.759 But what does that mean? 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:39.759 The technical definition of holiness is to be set apart. 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:47.520 If you have a group of something and you take one, you know, maybe a coffee mug, and say, oh, this is my favorite coffee mug. 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:48.800 I want to put it over here. 00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:51.599 It's distinct from all these other coffee mugs. 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:56.639 You have made this coffee mug holy in that sense. 00:03:56.879 --> 00:03:58.319 What does it mean that God is holy? 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:03.840 Well, it means that God is set apart, he is different, he's distinct from everything else that is, right? 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:08.479 All of his creation, he is uniquely other. 00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:16.480 And that's kind of interesting if you think about it, because much of what we know about God is about what he is not. 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:21.519 We are limited in our human physical understanding. 00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:23.120 And God is not those things. 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:27.759 And so it's even reflected in some of the words we use, some of the theology we have, right? 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:29.120 God is immortal. 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:29.920 Well, what does that mean? 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:31.199 Well, he's not mortal. 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:32.319 Okay, what does that mean? 00:04:32.399 --> 00:04:33.040 Well, I don't know. 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:34.639 I'm mortal, he's not. 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:39.680 God is infinite, which means he is not finite. 00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:40.800 Well, what does that mean? 00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:42.160 I don't know. 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:47.360 Because I'm finite, I am limited by my very nature, nothing can change that. 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:58.399 And so God is something that I know is not like me, and therefore I can never fully understand it. 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:04.639 One of the ways God is set apart from his creation is that there is no impurity in him. 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:06.800 There is no sin in him. 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:10.160 He is perfect in every aspect of the word. 00:05:10.399 --> 00:05:20.000 When the Westminster Divine sought to put down in writing a catechism, a way to teach and to train children and adults, they asked this question: what is God? 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:21.199 This was what they wrote down. 00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:48.160 God is spirit, which really means God doesn't have a body, in and of himself infinite, and being glory, blessedness, perfection, all-sufficient, eternal, unchangeable, incomprehensible, everywhere present, almighty, knowing all things, most wise, most holy, most just, most merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth. 00:05:49.360 --> 00:05:53.600 It's like they're reaching for every supportative they could find. 00:06:03.040 --> 00:06:11.519 And what the law taught the people is that they were not or we are not those things. 00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:17.920 And again, this idea was brought home afresh to them in the death of Aaron's two sons. 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:22.800 That they, even them, set apart as priests. 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:28.800 When they acted in an inappropriate manner, when they acted in unholiness, they were consumed. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:33.279 Remember from last week, this is what Leviticus 10, 2 says. 00:06:33.439 --> 00:06:48.800 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took a censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it, and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, with which he had not commanded them, and fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them. 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:51.439 They died before the Lord. 00:06:52.399 --> 00:07:00.240 What God has taught his people is that in when unholiness comes into the presence of holiness, it is consumed. 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:09.600 It's like taking a piece of paper and putting it at a fire and sort of being shocked or just, you know, um dismayed that it is that it is burned up. 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:13.199 It is simply the nature of things. 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:19.920 But now in chapter 11, God tells the Israelites that he is now setting them apart. 00:07:20.639 --> 00:07:21.920 They are to be holy. 00:07:22.079 --> 00:07:24.480 This is what we read earlier in verse 44. 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:37.120 For I, the Lord your God, for I am the Lord your God, consecrate, which is the verb for make holy, yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:39.600 This is a problem. 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:40.959 Leads us to point two. 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:44.959 The law revealed the distance and and the heart of God. 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:48.720 So this summer, the uh Summer Olympics are coming. 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:50.000 Woo-hoo, every four years. 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:51.600 I love the Olympics. 00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:54.399 Uh there it is, Paris, 2024. 00:07:54.560 --> 00:08:02.639 What I love most about the Olympics is, yes, kind of the competition and seeing how many gold medals America has compared to the rest of the world. 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:06.160 But but maybe even more so is these stories, right? 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:15.920 We get these heartwarming stories about these incredible athletes and what they do to become the greatest athletes in the world. 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:19.040 You remember this guy, Michael Phelps? 00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:20.240 That is his name, right? 00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:21.600 Now all of a sudden I'm doubting myself. 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:22.800 Yeah, Michael Phelps. 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:28.399 He uh Olympic swimmer, won an incredible amount of medals. 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:34.639 I mean, this guy is like an Adonis, you know, he's just you know handsome and it's just great at everything. 00:08:34.799 --> 00:08:39.679 What I remember about the stories about him, though, in particular, was his diet. 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:48.240 They they talked about he would eat 12,000 calories a day when he was uh you know at the peak of his training. 00:08:48.320 --> 00:08:52.320 And I was like, man, you know, I'm supposed to only get like 2,000. 00:08:52.480 --> 00:08:57.360 This guy gets 12,000 calories. 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:07.679 And it when you think about uh an Olympic athlete, like what they give up or what they devote themselves to, right, they are holy in a sense. 00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:24.159 They've set themselves apart in every aspect of their lives, what they eat and what they won't eat, what when they sleep, what they do with their time, every aspect of their lives is devoted to this one thing, to be an elite athlete. 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:26.960 And the same was true for Israel. 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:38.879 As God revealed his law to them, it became very clear that to be holy, to be God's people and set apart touched every aspect of their lives. 00:09:39.039 --> 00:09:55.600 Now, if you look at chapter 11 in Leviticus, it's actually really long, and we're not gonna spend any time going through the chapter, because it conveyed this one thing that everything they ate impinged on, whether they were holy or not. 00:09:55.919 --> 00:10:02.720 And God set down some very minute details about what they could eat and what they couldn't eat. 00:10:02.879 --> 00:10:10.240 In fact, what they could touch and what they couldn't touch, and what they had to do if they did. 00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:20.879 If you ate uh the wrong kind of animal, you were unclean until evening, and you had to walk, go through these ceremonial washings. 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:27.600 But as the rest of the law unfolds, as we know, right, what how they were to work and not work, how they were to use their time, right? 00:10:27.679 --> 00:10:38.080 The Sabbath, who they could marry and not marry, every aspect of Israel's life was dictated by the law. 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:49.759 And as they studied and as they learned and as they um as they attempted to follow the law, two things were revealed to the people. 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:55.679 First was the vast gulf that existed between them and their God. 00:10:56.240 --> 00:11:05.200 God was holy simply in his being, he was all those superlatives simply because of who he was. 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:12.480 To be holy was way harder than being an Olympic athlete. 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:22.559 But second, what was revealed to them was the gracious heart of God to provide a way to be in relationship in the first place. 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:26.720 Um it would be, I was trying to think about how what was that like for them? 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:28.879 And I remember the recent masters. 00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:31.759 I don't have a picture of this guy, but Scotty Scheffler. 00:11:31.919 --> 00:11:33.279 He he just won the Masters. 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:36.879 He's like the most incredible golfer of all time, apparently. 00:11:36.960 --> 00:11:38.159 Uh I'm learning. 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:43.360 Imagine going to play golf with Scotty Scheffler this afternoon, right? 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:46.240 We have a lot of avid golfers in in the room. 00:11:46.399 --> 00:11:48.320 We also have people who've never played golf before. 00:11:48.559 --> 00:11:49.200 Doesn't matter. 00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:51.120 Imagine going to play golf with him. 00:11:51.279 --> 00:11:51.519 Right? 00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:54.399 The par of most golf courses is a 72. 00:11:54.639 --> 00:12:01.200 And I imagine he would get through 18 holes and he might shoot, you know, like a 62, some incredible score. 00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:02.799 What would you shoot? 00:12:03.600 --> 00:12:11.600 Well, I haven't played golf in 20 years, so if I have no hope of breaking 100, I'm saying like realistically, I'm gonna get 112. 00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:18.080 40, 50 shots worse than Scotty Scheffler. 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:23.360 Imagine how would you feel being in the presence of that elite athlete? 00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:30.240 And as you played, your shortcomings as an athlete were just on display. 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:34.480 And I can imagine, even if you're a scratch golfer, you're so intimidated. 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:37.679 You know, let's say you're gonna get a 75 or something. 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:45.600 And you're just there in that relationship, it's this this contrast, this vast gulf between you and this elite athlete. 00:12:45.679 --> 00:12:52.480 And yet as you're playing, he's smiling, he's complimenting you on your good shots. 00:12:52.879 --> 00:12:59.120 He seems to really enjoy your presence in a very small way. 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:02.879 This is what the law was like for Israel. 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:10.240 This God who was high, holy, lifted up, he was above all other gods, he moved towards God's people. 00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:13.440 And he said, I want to be in your presence. 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:14.000 Right? 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:19.200 We often get stuck on the crushing weight of the law, and that's true. 00:13:19.440 --> 00:13:29.120 We also get stuck on the shocking reality of what it looks like when holiness and unholiness come together, like in Leviticus chapter 10, and that's true. 00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:34.159 But beloved, that was true whether or not God came close to his people. 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:43.200 What God revealed in coming to them and giving them this law and showing them this gulf is that his heart towards them was love. 00:13:44.639 --> 00:13:49.840 He was willing to endure, he was, he would do whatever it took to be with them. 00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:54.080 Listen to what God says in Deuteronomy chapter 7. 00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:57.919 He says, For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. 00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:03.759 The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession. 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:16.320 Out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth, it was not because you were more numerous than the other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you are the fewest. 00:14:17.120 --> 00:14:24.320 But it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping an oath he swore to your fathers. 00:14:25.279 --> 00:14:27.759 Why did God come to the Israelites? 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:30.000 Why did he set them apart as holy? 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:31.440 Why did he want to be their God? 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:33.360 Because he loved them. 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:37.600 He wanted to be with them. 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:41.440 That too was revealed to them in the law. 00:14:41.919 --> 00:14:46.159 But it's also true that there was an inherent tension in the law. 00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:46.799 Right? 00:14:47.120 --> 00:15:00.320 Because the law was there and it allowed them to offer these sacrifices, telling them what to eat and not eat in order to be in relationship with God, and yet they were not perfect, and they were not able to keep it perfectly. 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:06.960 And so, though it created a relational dynamic, there was always this inherent tension. 00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:13.600 And not to be too graphic, but it reminds me of, again, the early days of my relationship with my wife, Stacy. 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:16.559 The time of our engagement was sweet. 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:17.679 It was so good. 00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:19.519 We just loved being together. 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:22.240 We would read all these books on marriage together. 00:15:22.399 --> 00:15:24.960 I mean, we were just like dorking out on it. 00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:27.519 Could just not spend enough time. 00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:30.639 But there was an inherent tension in our engagement. 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:35.039 We longed to consummate our marriage. 00:15:35.200 --> 00:15:45.120 And we were doing our darndest to keep what we believed God was telling us to wait to consummate our marriage until we were married. 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:56.799 And so this law, Israel's relationship to God, was like being engaged, but not yet fully being able to be one together in union. 00:15:58.080 --> 00:16:00.480 And so this is the state. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:02.320 God longs to be with his people. 00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:06.720 God's people are growing to long for him as they come to know and understand him. 00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:09.360 Which leads us to our third point. 00:16:09.919 --> 00:16:14.639 That Jesus fulfills the law so that we can truly be holy in him. 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:22.399 In Galatians, Paul talks about the law like a guardian or a governess, kind of like Mary Poppins, right? 00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:27.440 She came, she took care of the kids while the parents were off doing their thing. 00:16:27.679 --> 00:16:34.639 And the the role of this guardian was to take care of the children until they came of age. 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:37.440 It was it had a temporary function. 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:39.759 This is the way Paul describes it. 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:53.360 He says, When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those who are under the law, so that we might receive adoptions as sons and daughters. 00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:56.320 You see, the law had a role, a very important role. 00:16:56.559 --> 00:17:02.879 God revealed himself to them, he revealed the gulf, he revealed his heart, but he also revealed the need. 00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:05.920 The need that was fulfilled in the coming of Jesus. 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:15.039 That he came and was uniquely the only human being to come and perfectly fulfill that law that we utterly fail at. 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:24.319 But in that perfection, living that perfect life, he also willingly gave himself as the perfect sacrifice. 00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:43.680 And so Israel had learned, just like the Israelite who would lay his hand or her hand on the head of the lamb before that lamb was offered in sacrifice, when we put our faith in Christ, our guilt is transferred unto Jesus as he takes it on the cross, takes it to the cross. 00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:48.240 And his perfect holiness is transferred to us. 00:17:49.119 --> 00:18:01.839 And so finally, finally, after the death and the resurrection of Jesus, God's people are able to be truly holy in Jesus. 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:06.960 This is the beauty of our union with Christ. 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:14.640 That all that he earned, all that he was, the love the Father has for the Son is now ours by faith. 00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:17.359 Leads us to our fourth and final point. 00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:21.200 Now Jesus is our holiness and not the law. 00:18:21.519 --> 00:18:27.680 In truth, the law was never capable of providing the holiness that God's people needed, right? 00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:34.480 But like Israel, we often fall into that mindset, that mistake that it is, that it could. 00:18:34.960 --> 00:18:40.160 And God's people thought they were holy and unique because of their ability to keep the law. 00:18:40.319 --> 00:18:44.799 And beloved, we do the same thing on a regular basis. 00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:51.519 But the beauty and the freedom of the gospel is this that we are holy in Christ alone. 00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:53.759 By faith alone. 00:18:55.279 --> 00:18:57.200 By grace alone. 00:18:58.160 --> 00:19:02.559 All things that God requires of us are now given. 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:05.440 If you are in Christ, then you are a new creation. 00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:09.359 There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:14.799 We have utter and complete freedom in the gift of our holiness. 00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:20.000 And so now we are free to love, free to love God, free to love our neighbor, free to serve. 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:28.319 Not to serve or work to earn our holiness, but to serve and to work out of our holiness. 00:19:29.119 --> 00:19:31.599 Because of our love for God. 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:36.319 Beloved, we need this radical truth on a regular basis. 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:37.680 That's why we come each week. 00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:39.200 We hear the gospel preached. 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:55.039 We receive the gift of the body and blood of Christ and our communion so that we can stand afresh again and say, we and ourselves are utterly unworthy, but in Christ we are fully, holy, beloved, sons and daughters of God. 00:19:55.279 --> 00:19:56.079 Hallelujah. 00:19:56.319 --> 00:19:56.960 Amen. 00:19:58.160 --> 00:20:05.359 Our Father and our God in heaven, Lord, thank you for the gift of true holiness in Christ. 00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:20.240 We ask that that truth would go deeper into our hearts, that your love for us, its height and breadth, its width and depth, would become more comprehensible to us. 00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:21.440 We love you. 00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:22.559 Thank you for loving us. 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:23.839 We pray in Jesus' name. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:24.480 Amen.