← ArchiveLeviticusSunday, May 27, 2018DateMay 27, 2018Speaker—TextLeviticus 19Passages in this sermonLeviticus 191:09Leviticus 178:56Matthew 2211:35Matthew 1911:35Romans 1311:42James 211:42Luke 1011:42Mark 1211:42Galatians 1511:42Matthew 512:06Romans 313:37Leviticus 2028:30Romans 135:15Romans 1:2735:15TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00The book of Leviticus. Now, remember the story of the Bible began with humans in God's presence, but they were banished because of their rebellion. However, God wants to be in relationship with us, so he chooses one family that he will use to restore the world back into his presence. And so God's presence comes to dwell in a tent right in the middle of Israel. That's great. But it creates a problem because it's so intense that Moses can't go in and other priests who enter inappropriately, they die. Well, wait, if God's presence is good, how is it all of a sudden0:26dangerous for people? So think of it this way. God's presence is like the sun. It's pure power and goodness. And when something mortal and corruptible gets close to such pure power, it's destroyed. And so the word holiness is used in Leviticus to describe God's pure and powerful presence, which like the sun is both good and dangerous. So the point of Leviticus is to show how corrupt Israelites can live near God's goodness without being destroyed.0:56Okay, if you have your Bibles with you, and I hope you do, if you would turn or flip or text to Leviticus chapter 19. If you're new here today, we've been walking through certain passages in Leviticus, not every verse, but most of them. And we've seen this recurring theme that God wants his people to draw near. So if you've ever wondered what Leviticus is about, this is how God's people1:22who are called by God's name live by God's way for his glory and the good of others. And God is calling us to draw near. If you wonder, well, where is Leviticus? Is it near the maps? No, it's actually at the other end. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus is the third book. And we're going to settle on two verses today as we begin. Leviticus 19 verses 1 and 2. And if you have your Bibles with you, let's read1:46these verses. And then we'll pray. The Lord spoke to Moses. Speak to the entire Israelite community and tell them, be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy. Father, we confess that we cannot understand your word apart from your spirit. So fill us,2:14flood us with your spirit this morning, that we would not read empty words, but Lord, we would understand that your word is living and active and that it would be living and active in us and that we would leave here differently because you have changed us. Well, that is our heart. That is our prayer. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen. So what do you think when you hear this word set apart or2:41holiness? When I say the word holiness, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Don't, you don't have to blurt it out. That could be dangerous. But what's the first thing that comes to your mind? For me, it's a room in my grandmother's house. My, we were at my grandmother's house last weekend. She celebrated her 90th birthday. Don't call it a party. It was just a get together to celebrate a random day, which might correlate with her 90th birthday, but it's not3:11a party. But my grandmother has a room in her house that you would go into at certain times of the year. Christmas, Thanksgiving, that's about it. And if you wanted a peppermint, you could go in the room, but you would take your shoes off. And by no means would you ever eat in this holy room. And I3:35had to laugh because Casey was there. So my dad and family were in to my grandmother's not 90th birthday party last weekend. And he had one of his childhood friends there. And my dad's friend is probably 60, um, by now. And he, he walks in the room and he stopped, he doesn't walk in. He stops at the threshold. And I just, I was sitting down. I lost it. I laughed because I knew what he was doing4:01in his mind. He was thinking, I can't come in this room. This is a holy room. And my grandmother said, come on in. Why don't you sit down? And I'm like, ma'am, oh, he can't. We're not allowed in this room. And so when I think about holiness, I think about this, this room that was set apart, that you would not go into unless it was Christmas, Thanksgiving, or the day of atonement. And if you've ever gone to my grandmother's house, this is, this is how the room is set up.4:28But if we're not careful, if that's our idea of holiness, then it leads us to think of people who are Bible thumpers and holy rollers and people who are set apart and they're untouchable. And I was reading a story this week about a, a peasant, an old peasant in Italy. And she was walking in this narrow path and she had her head down and she bumped into a monk. And in this village she lived in, there was a monastery up on the hill. And so she asked him, she said, father, she said, I've4:56always wanted to ask you, and this is a great chance because I ran into you. She said, what do you guys do in your castle on this holy hill? And she said this, and it stuck out to me. She said, I can imagine there's no other place that's closer to God than this monastery on top of this holy hill. She said, what do you do to achieve holiness? And this wise old interpreter looked down at her and he said, ma'am, what do we do on top of this holy hill? He said, we fall down and we get back up.5:26We fall down and we get back up. We fall down and we get back up. And with that, he went on his way. I begin to think, what a beautiful picture of holiness. It's God's people falling down and saying, God, with your strength, we're going to get back up. That's, that's our picture of holiness. And so5:51when we read Leviticus 19 and God says, be holy because I, the Lord, your God am holy. This is how we're going to define holiness and walk through the text today. Holiness, a lot of Gs, ready? God's people living by God's way for God's glory and the good of the community. That make sense? God's people living by God's way for God's glory and for the good of others, the good of the community. So are you6:20living out righteous life? Are you living God's way? This is the gospel shaped life. Leviticus shouts to us us. Look at verse two. Leviticus shouts to us, God's people must live God's way. Right? You and I cannot say I am God's, but I am not going to live by God's way.6:44We need, you need to look at me if I say that and say, you're crazy. Because what does Leviticus 19 to say? God says to the whole community, be holy because I, the Lord, your God, your God, am holy. 16 different times in this chapter, God says, I am the Lord, I am the Lord, your God, and I am holy. 16 different times. And in my heart is this, whatever God is, that's what7:11I want to be. Right? If God is love, he is, I want to love people. If God is slow to wrath, and he is, how do I know that? Because we're here. We should be slow to wrath. If God meets sin with kindness, we should meet sin with kindness. Now that does not mean that God ignores sin. He does not ignore it. He sent his only son to die, to take the wrath of our sin. If God is holy, holy, holy, like we have7:39sung. We should be holy. Leviticus screams that we are to live differently. We're to live God's way. Not Josh's way. Not the Baptist way. Not the Bethel way. Not the Moody way. Not the St. Clair way. Not the Southern Baptist way. Not the Southern way. Not the American way. God's way. God's way.8:04And this is our task. Now, this is what I'm going to just recognize. And my wife always says that if there's an elephant in the room, I'm going to walk in. I'm the guy that's going to walk in and say, who let the elephant in? Right? Some of you are going to ignore that. That's not me. The elephant here is some things are easier said than done. I wish I could stand up here and say,8:29God says, be holy. Amen. Let's go. Let's do it. It's difficult. The righteous, holy life is all about falling down and getting back up again. Falling down and getting back up again. But as we do that, we grow closer to God. And this, these next several chapters is what scholars would call the holiness code in Leviticus 17 through 26. And this is basically God8:56giving his people guidelines. Because when God says, be holy, we raise our hand and say, God, what does that look like? God, can I, can I watch this? Can I say this? God, do I have to be holy to, with that person? I mean, I understand the people I like, but the people I don't like, God, do I have to live your way with these people? And so this is Israel raising their hand and God giving them9:21guidelines in their life. Some of these you will never encounter in your life. But the principles still ring true that God's people live God's way for God's glory, according to God's likeness and for the good of others. Now, here's also another struggle that we have. God's people are not defined by ethnic grounds or boundaries. God's people are not defined by national borders. You have brothers and9:47sisters in Christ in every country throughout the world. So we can't just say, well, if you just go to this country, if you look like this, then you're living God's way. God's people are not defined by WWJD bracelets that you might wear. Some of our kids are like, what is that? You missed out. God's people are not defined by shirts that say, Jesus is my homeboy. He's your savior. That's a lot10:15different than a homeboy. And we need to revere God. Some of you, some of our older group think, what is that? I just confused everyone here. But we are not defined by these ways. So how are God's people defined? By the way that we live. So if I go to China, I should see God's people living God's way. And if a brother and sister in China comes here and they say, you guys dress differently than us,10:43and you speak differently than us, and you worship differently than us, but you know what? You live the same. There's the same ethic, the ethos. There's the same lifestyle. Why? Because God's people live God's way. And that is our task this morning. This is not an Old Testament concept. Over and over and over again, the New Testament is yelling at the people of God, live God's way. The book of James,11:09and I encourage you, if you have time this week, go back and read the book of James and Leviticus 19 together. And what you'll find is James is basically an extended commentary on Leviticus 19. Saying, this is how you live out the truth of Christ in your life. And it doesn't end there. Over and over again, we are called to love our neighbors, which is what Leviticus 19 says. Matthew 19, Matthew 22,11:35Mark 12, Luke 10, Romans 13, Galatians 15, and James 2 all remind us that we are to be holy as he is holy. So you don't get a pass because Jesus has fulfilled the law. Actually, this is what Jesus does. Jesus makes it more difficult. Leviticus says, be holy as the Lord your God is holy. You know12:00what Jesus says in Matthew 5? Very simple. Let me just read this to you. Jesus says, be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. Jesus makes the issue worse. I've read, be holy. Jesus now says, don't worry about that. Be perfect. So holiness and perfection equal no chance. Anyone want to just take a stab and12:28say, if anyone's holy, it's me. Anyone want to be that guy? No. So what is Jesus pointing us to? And I want to center here and then we're going to walk through some of these examples in Leviticus 19. You have no hope to fill and fulfill God's desire in your life. Let me just put you down to the bottom right now and12:52I'm going to lift you up. You have no hope to be holy and perfect. Let me say that three times. That way you don't miss it. You have no hope. I said this week to our kids, I told our adults, I said, don't tell your kids they're good. Jesus says, no one's good except God. And so one of our staff was telling his13:17family this week. He said, look, this person's the only one that's been good. And the middle child raised their hand and said, nuh-uh. Pastor Jai said, no one's good. You get a star. Dad doesn't like me right now, but you get a star. None of us are good. But here's the hope. Listen to this Romans 3. And we struggle with this as religious people. And I want you to understand this and live this out13:45because it's going to make everything that's said the rest of our time together, it's going to bring it all together and make sense. You ready for this verse? Romans 3, 26. Now, Romans 3, a lot of major things in Romans 3. It talks about sin, that all have sinned and fallen short. But verse 26, God presented him, who is Jesus, to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time. So God sent his14:11son, Jesus Christ, to demonstrate righteousness at the present time. Now, I want you to listen to the second half of this. Are you ready? So that he, Jesus, would be righteous and declare righteous the one who has faith in Jesus Christ. Did you catch that? God sent his son to be righteousness and to do what14:34for those who have faith? To declare righteous those who have faith through his son, Jesus. So now, the challenge for us this morning is that you are called to be holy. Here's the joy. I want you to catch this. If you are a Christ follower, guess what you are? You are holy. You are, you are declared14:57holy. We are declared holy by God through his son, Jesus Christ. If you have faith, that should, that should make you happy. That should make you, we talk about freedom in Christ. That is freedom. So if I go today and sin, and Satan reminds me of the sinner that I am, Satan doesn't have to remind me the Holy Spirit convicts me of my sin. You know what I still am? I am declared righteous by God the15:26Father through his son, Jesus Christ. That is the substitutionary atonement of Jesus. So God doesn't say, be holy, good luck. He says, I called you to be holy, and in Jesus, I will make you holy. I have made you holy. So if you know Christ, you are holy. Do you catch that? Some of you are asleep, right? This15:50should, this should bring joy to your heart and bring joy to your face. If you know Jesus Christ, you are holy. So when Christ, when God says, be holy, because I am holy, we get to say, you've made us that way. Lord, we can be holy, because we are made holy. So what we're going to see in Leviticus 1916:19is now God just showing his people in very radical, specific ways, how the gospel, how holiness changes their life. So if you are holy, then you will live out holiness in your life, right? God's people will live God's way for his glory and the good of others. So if you know Christ, you're holy, and you'll live it out. So simply, what does that look like? Let's look at verse three now.16:47People of God, if you are his, you are holy. I love that. We cannot say that enough, that we are made righteous through the blood of Jesus. And the gospel, if you believe, changes your home, changes your home. Look at verse three. Out of all the things that God could have said, this is how you live holiness first. Out of all the things, love your neighbor. Don't lie.17:13Don't go on Facebook. Don't send pictures. Do all these things. He picks verse three. Look what it says. Some of you parents, give me a hallelujah, right? Each of you is to respect his mother and father. Yes. Thank you, God. Parents, this is actually a charge to you first. So what is God saying? Holiness begins in the home. Holiness begins in the home. This is the same word that yare, right? Each17:41of you is to respect. It's the same word that's used over and over again in the Old Testament for honoring or fearing the Lord. Very simply is this. If you fear the Lord, you will fear your parents. You will honor your parents. Did you catch that? Some of you are putting your head down and your arms are crossed. If you honor God, you will honor your parents. Parents, let me talk to you. If your youth do18:09not see you honoring your parents, how will they know how to honor theirs? Right? How will my children know how to honor me and my wife if they don't see me honoring my mom and my dad? The gospel changes18:32homes. And it will change your home. And it will change our youth. It will change our adults. And it will change our kids over and over again. If we fear God, we will honor our parents. And I just simply were asking myself the question this week, if a stranger were to walk in my house and spend the18:55weekend with me, would they know that I'm a Christ follower? If the gospel changes our homes and a stranger walks in your house and spends the weekend with you, would they know that you're a Christ follower? Would they know that by the way that you speak and the way that you think and the things that we watch and what we listen to? And how adults, how you respond to your kids when they annoy you?19:22And you, that when your parents annoy you, will someone know that you're a Christ follower by the way you respond? The gospel changes our homes. God's people living God's way in the house. Verse three, very simply, if you honor the Lord, you will respect your father and your mother. And some of you are to19:47the point in your life where you're now taking care of your mom and your dad. Are you doing that with respect and dignity? They're not easy. It's not easy. It's not easy when your mom or dad has dementia and you're helping them and they, and they're cursing you or they don't know who you are. But I want you to know this. Others know who you are. And others are watching you love your mom and your dad, even if they don't know who you are anymore. And God is watching you.20:17Honor your father and mother and do that to the ends. And as you do that, you're honoring your heavenly father, that the world might see that we are God's people living God's way. And when we live that way, it transforms our homes. Not only does the gospel transform our home, but when God's people live God's way for his glory and the good of others, it transforms our communities. Look at verse nine with20:44me. And I could have picked out several of these, but, but here's some specific instances where the gospel transforms our lives. Verse nine, when you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap at the very edge of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the resident alien. I am the Lord, your God. And it goes21:09on, do not steal and do not act deceptively. Do not swear. So what is God saying here when you reap? Very clearly he's saying, Hey, God's people live differently, that we live within our means and that we live with margins in our life so that we can now help others when they're in need. So, so God is telling his people today, look, don't max out your credit cards because if someone is in need, you should be21:35able to help them. Don't live like everyone else. If your car is a year old, you know, you might not need a new one. And if you, if you live within your means and in your margins and you're helping others and you're giving to the Lord like you, you are, and you want a new car, go for it. That's not a sin. Thank God that you are honoring him with what you have, but we are to live within our margins so that we can help others in their time of need. It's not all about you and I, everything I have is God's and, and you're22:04going to say, well, I'm not a great farmer, so I'm off the hook. Well, I'm not either. And you might be saying, well, how much do I need to give? Patrick, give me a specific. Well, it doesn't say, but of course, tradition tells us that it was one 60th of your field. But, but what does this look like today? Maybe next time you go to the ATM and you're counting your, your thousands of dollars that you're getting out that you say,22:30man, $3,000, $3,020. You just let it, let the wind take it. Lord, here, here's the gleanings, right? I'm going to let this go for someone else. Or maybe, maybe you get a gift card to a McDonald's and you leave it in your glove box. And when you find someone in need, you say, hey, I see you're hungry and I don't know your situation, but God does, but I'm not going to let you go hungry. And I, and I, I've sacrificed so that you can, you can know what it means to be filled when you're in22:57need. Are God's people living differently so we can help others? Is God's church living differently so we can help others? That's why we give to missions. That's why we give. And, and 10% of everything that we take, take in goes out actually more than 10% because we have special offerings that we don't want to be a church where we say, give me, give me, give me. We want to be a church that we say we're going to reap, but we're going to leave some so that others might know23:24that God is using us to help. Are you doing that in your life? And, and this is what I love about God's word. God's people are living in a way that this is not a handout, that God's people are helping those that are in need. And, and the people who are in need have to go, have to go harvest themselves. What does that tell me? That God is, that we're helping them maintain their dignity. Right? I'll let you, look, I've, I've got some grace for you, but I'm going to sit down and lecture23:55why you need to be working. And, and I don't care why, why you're not working, but I need to remind you that you should be working, but you know what I provided for you. No, that we want to uphold the dignity of those who are in need. That these people didn't have to ask for a handout because God's people have already told them, look, whenever you are in need, you come to my house. I'm not going to wait for your need. I'm going to assume that you might have one one day and that I'm living differently so God can use me. The gospel changes our community and it changes the way that we live. It also changes24:25the way that we speak, not just give, but look at verse 14. This is a, an odd command, I believe. Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but you are to fear your God. I am the Lord. 16 times you hear that phrase. I am the Lord. Why would God tell them not to curse24:50the deaf? I think about that Orbitz commercial, right? Dirty mouth, clean it up. But, but why, I understand why God says don't curse. But why would God say don't curse the deaf? This word is a word that means to, it's the root that means to make light of or to slight someone. Here's the reality.25:15Who cares if you curse the deaf? Deaf people cannot hear. Blind people cannot see. So even if I curse them, they will not hear. Here's what, here's what God is saying to his people. Although they might not be able to hear, God does. And so when you turn your back and you can't hear me, I'm not going to curse25:43you in front of your face, but because I'm God's and I want to live by God's way for his glory and for your good. I'm not going to curse you in your deaf. And this is not just a, a Levitical concept, right? This applies to Facebook. You know what? I'm going to block you so you can't see. And I'm going to put you on blast. I'm going to show you. I'm going to curse you, you deaf person. We should have no part of26:09that. Oh, you know what? Hey, they curse someone and I, I didn't write it, but I agree with it. So I'm just going to share it, but I didn't write it. But are you cursing the deaf? Because God hears. Maybe you're subtweeting someone. Maybe you're, you're gossiping. I know church people don't struggle with26:33that, but it's possible. Maybe you're slandering or maybe you're using some tangential prayer request. I found often if we're not careful, look, pray for brother so-and-so because I want, let me tell you about his sin. He's in it deep, but let's pray. Am I, am I doing that for God's glory and his good? Or am I doing that? Am I cursing the deaf? God's people are called to live differently.27:03And if I, if I'm going through a hard time and you know, I'm living a sinner, I'm struggling. It's enough to say, Hey, will you pray for Josh because he's struggling? Just pray because my, your prayer is more important than your words. God's people live according to God's way. And the gospel changes the way I speak to others. Love is holiness lived out for the good of others. The greatest thing that you can do for the world is live a righteous life.27:33Facebook counts, Twitter counts. Are you honoring God with what you share and what you like and what you post? Are you cursing the deaf even if they can't hear? That's the point. God hears. And are you honoring Christ with your words? Thirdly, we see the gospel work out this way. Not only does the gospel change our homes, not only does it change our communities, but the gospel27:59changes our relationships, our physical relationships. Okay. So look at verse 20. If you have a young child right now, I'm going to be very careful in my words. So you will not hate me when you leave here. Hopefully. Verse 20. If a man has sexual relations with a woman who is a slave designated for another man, but she has not been redeemed or given freedom, there must be punishment. Now, some of you28:24are thinking, what in the world does that mean? Skip over to Leviticus 20 verse 13 now. The reason this is important, because I'm about to describe to you why we need to talk about God's way for physical relationships. I'd rather you hear it from the pulpit than the TV. Verse 13, chapter 20. If a man sleeps with a man as with a woman, they have both committed a detestable act. They must be put to death. Their death28:53is their own fault. The man marries a woman and her mother. It is depraved. And over and over again, it talks about what, um, what sexuality and romantic relationships look like. Look, the gospel changes our physical relationships. The gospel changes our physical relationship. God's people have to live God's way. So what does that look like, um, just in the Old Testament and the New Testament? Um,29:22Matthew 5, Jesus goes right to the heart of the matter. So youth, I want you to listen to me. This is going to save you hopefully a lot of heartache, um, later on in your life. And if your parents haven't told you this, or someone that, that cares about you hasn't told you this, I do. I love you. I care about you. You might not like me for saying this, but you need to hear it. Jesus says, anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery in his or her heart. God desires purity for his29:51people. God desires purity. And that's not just some meta metaphorical concepts. God loves purity. Be pure. No, he's talking about physical relationships. God is talking about what you see with your eyes on TV. He's talking about what you put in your mind, what you put in your heart. God wants his people30:20to live according to his way. So what is that way? We have God given boundaries for sexual intimacy. Now, can I just be honest with you guys? When God created Adam and Eve, he also created and commanded them be fruitful and multiply. And this is, um, this is what I'm going to say. And I'm going to end it here. And you can go home and talk to your kids about it later. Um, God did not tell him with that30:47command to go have a Bible study. I mean, can we be honest? He didn't say, go study the first chapter of Genesis. That's what I've given you. God told him, I've given you intimacy as a gift from your father and use it with God given boundaries. So what we should be telling the world is not intimacy. No, it's given by God according to his glory. And if we have that between one man and one woman in31:14covenant relationship is good. And our youth need to hear that. But they also need to say it's about purity. Are we honoring Christ? And so what does this look like? Um, do not buy the lie. The gospel changes our relationship. Do not buy the lie. If it feels right, do it. Um, youth, your hormones are31:37going crazy right now. You don't even know what you feel. If it feels right, you probably don't do it at this moment, right? Don't just what, if it feels right, just say no. Um, if you are past the adolescent stage, set boundaries. If you're not married yet, set boundaries in your relationship.32:02You will not date someone you're not physically attracted to. I have never met someone that walks in a room and says, let me find the one person that just repulses me. God, I'm going to marry that person. And so we can just hang out at our house together alone because you know what? I just found him nasty. Why then do we think that we can not have boundaries in our life and we'll be safe,32:24have boundaries and honor Christ. God desires purity in your life. And listen, attraction is not bad. God is giving, I want you to be attracted to your spouse. God wants you to be attracted to your spouse. Are we having God given boundaries in our life? Listen to this about cohabitation.32:49The lie that we hear now is, and I was talking to a father the last several weeks is heartbroken because his daughter has moved in with her boyfriend. Under the lie, but we love each other. No, you don't. No, you don't. Because love is righteousness lived out for the good of others. And men, if you love your girlfriend, the greatest thing that you can do for her right now is set33:17boundaries that honor Christ. Ladies, the greatest thing you can do for your boyfriend right now is to set boundaries that honor Christ. Married couples, the greatest thing you can do is set boundaries in your life. Look, I'm not going to stay up late by myself and watch TV. I'm not going to stay up late and be on my phone. I'm not going to do these things because there's just no good in that. We want boundaries that honor Christ in our relationship. Listen to this about cohabitation. This is from the psychology today. Not a biblical source. Not a Christian source.33:46Compared to married couples, cohabiting couples argue more, have more trouble resolving conflicts, are more insecure about their partner's feelings, and have more problems related to future goals. So if you think, well, we need to try this out. I've heard it before. Well, when I buy a car, I need to test drive it. Listen, before we get married, I don't want34:10you compare me to a Buick. Right? That's not a pick-up line. I mean, am I just that old? Right? Baby, you just remind me of a Buick. I can't get enough of you. That's foolishness. Why would we compare our intimate lives, the34:38thing that we should be treasuring, to a car? You know what cars do? They rust, they wear out, and they get in wrecks. And you know what happens if you live together before you get married? You're going to rust, you're going to wear out, and you're going to collide, and you're going to wreck. But also we see that covenant marriage is God's way, and it's between a man35:05and a woman. You say, well, where is that in the New Testament? I'm glad you asked. Romans chapter 1. Women exchange natural relations for unnatural. Romans 1 27. Men committed shameless acts with men and receive their own personal and appropriate penalty for their error. God cares about sexual intimacy because he created that. And if it feels right, and it's not according35:33to God's way, it is not of the Lord. Because there are things that happen to me every day that feel right. I love peanut M&Ms, but if I gorge myself on those, it's not going to be for my good one day. But it feels right. Our feelings are broken from the fall. We need to honor Christ and our intimacy. And not just their church. We can't just single out people if you're cohabitating36:00or if you're struggling with same-sex attraction. Jesus is very clear. This applies to pornography and lust and intimate relationships with others who are not your spouse. Men, women, you have no reason to text co-workers if they are not your spouse and they're opposite sex. You have no reason to get in private messages with them unless your spouse is a part of that. It's not for your good.36:25Jesus would say that sexting or sending inappropriate pictures or making light of sexual jokes are not according to God's way. The gospel changes the way we honor our sexual relationships. God's people live God's way. Fourthly, the gospel changes our culture. And I just want to very quickly36:48go through this and then we'll apply it to our lives. Look at verse 27. The gospel changes the way you live culturally. Over and over again, scripture says that the culture does not define you. Jesus Christ gives you your identity. So if you look around the world and you say, well, the world is going crazy. It's going37:12downhill. Duh. Jesus said this was going to happen. Jesus said the culture is going to hate you if you love him. But don't worry because the culture hated Jesus. And so here's some very practical ways that you can live out the gospel in your life. Verse 27, do not cut off the hair on the sides of your head or mar the edges of your beard. You are not to make gashes on your body for the dead or put tattoo marks37:38on yourself for I and the Lord. Now, let me just say this and then we'll apply it culturally. For those of you who pick out verse 28 and say, God says, do not get a tattoo. Yes, but he also says, don't cut the sides of your head. Don't get a haircut. So those who, who pull out verse 27, you're forgetting verse 26. So if you're going to say that, just be honest and tell someone, look, I pick and choose a verse that I38:06apply into your life that this one doesn't apply to me. But God also says in his, in his word that, that they're not to wear fabric of mixed or woven fabric. So any culture that wants you to wear polyester, you have to reject, right? Just, hey, polyester is not of the Lord. And I would probably agree with that. In verse 19, it says that, look at verse 19 really quick,38:33right? Do not sow your fields of two kinds of seed or put a garment made of two kinds of material. What is God saying here? He's saying, don't let culture define you. Guys, people change culture. Culture doesn't define you. If culture says, hey, we're polyester. He said, well, that's not who I am. The seventies are gone. We're staying alive, but I'm still,39:01I'm staying alive in Jesus Christ. That wasn't planned. It just, it just came out. We need to tell the culture we're different. And we're not different because we, we look different or we have odd ways that we speak or we, we have pews or hymnals or whatever we might just choose.39:24And so we want to be different, but we're going to wear different shirts or different wristbands. We need to tell the culture fundamentally, no matter what you do, you don't define us. We are defined by the way that we live according to the ways of God. And tattoos in this time, shaving of the head and marks on the body were pagan practices. And God was simply saying,39:50look, don't be involved in what the world does when they worship their gods. If the world is worshiping travel ball, don't do it. If the world is worshiping their wealth, don't do it. Can, can baseball be a tool of the Lord? Absolutely. We have seen in our soccer team, I coach, uh, we were, we're dominating the five and the four and five year old league this year. Take no prisoners,40:15but we have seen people come to faith because of little league soccer. And if you're a baseball coach and you're honoring Christ in that praise God for you, but don't get wrapped up in what the world tells you to do. You can use your wealth to honor Christ. Whatever the culture says you have to do. You say, no, God has defined me. You don't define me culture, but I will use the Holy spirit working in me to change culture. The world worships baseball. I'm going to use baseball to worship my40:44savior. The world worships wealth. I'm going to use my wealth to worship my savior. And if we do, the world will be different because God's people are living God's way for God's glory and for their good. So how do we live this out? Um, just simply, I was reading a story this week in 2010, a church was praying for the city of Sacramento, two churches and eight people got together and they found, they found41:10Detroit Boulevard was the most crime riddled place in Sacramento. And so they decided to walk the streets and pray and they just felt a humongous spiritual oppression upon them. And one of the eight was a former, um, drug detective. It ended up leading his, his last name is, um, Michael Chong. And he was a, a gang detective. And after three years of praying, they moved in and planted a church in Detroit Boulevard.41:39And this is what the Sacramento times Sacramento be reported of this Boulevard, drugs, prostitution, and crime. By 2013, there were no homicides, no robberies, no sex crimes. And there was only one assault reported in two years in this crime riddle neighborhood. You know why? Because God's people42:05decided to live by God's way for his glory and for the good of their community. God's people, the gospel changes your home. And it will, if you, if you don't believe in Jesus, he will change your home. The gospel will change your community. The gospel will change your work. The gospel will change42:29your mouth and your community, your culture, the gospel. If you're struggling with a relationship, you should not be in because you violated the boundaries that God has set. The gospel can change that. And maybe you're here today and you say, well, pastor, I am the person who has no hope. I cannot be perfect. I have fallen way short. Well, I just want you to know that I have to42:54and that God loved me enough that he sent his only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. And God does not call you to be holy unless he has equipped you to be holy. And he's empowered you through his spirit. And in Jesus Christ, in Romans chapter three, it says that God sent his son at the present time to be righteous, that he might declare righteous43:20those who believe. If you do not know Jesus, he is ready today to make you right. In church, if you know Jesus, he is ready today to help you live out righteousness so that the world would be different. Let's pray.← Previous in LeviticusSunday, May 20, 2018Next in Leviticus →Sunday, June 3, 2018More sermons on Leviticus →
