Jehovah Mekadesh: The LORD Who Sanctifies

Leviticus 20:7-8.

ETS: The LORD instructed His people to live after the instruction He had given.

ESS: We should live a sanctified life.

OSS: [Devotional] {I want the hearers to commit to worshipping only God and living a sanctified life modeled after His standards.}

PQ: How should a redeemed person live? [1]

UW: Ways

Intro.: [AGS]: Sanctification is a process whereby the individual is made more and more into the likeness of God. One person stated that it involves cooperation on behalf of the human with the plan and intention of God. Hemphill commented, “sanctification requires an intentional and ongoing response of the human will evidenced in obedience to God’s commandments.” [2] Such a process is not possible if the individual selfishly pursues his/her own way. [TS]: The text demands that we live a sanctified life as a redeemed people. [RS]: It is pertinent today, as well, that if you and I are going to relate to and identify with a holy God, Yahweh, that our lives need to also be set apart from that representative of the world in order to accurately represent Him.

TS: Let us examine together a few instructions, now.

Consecrate oneself. [7a]

Set oneself apart in order to be used by God for His purposes.

This means that the individual not be given for use of any unrighteous purpose such as those in the earlier verses in the text: the worship of pagan gods. “The fact that God is holy means that those who would relate to Him must be cleansed of their sin.” [3]

APPLICATION: We should set ourselves apart only to be used by and for God, Yahweh.

Be holy. [7b]

Seeking to model a life that is worthy of God. As such, it will be evident by the person’s life and fruit thereof that the God they follow is a holy God, distinguished from gods who are not.

Following the instructions in the early part of verse 7, explanation as to why the instruction is given is provided: for I am the LORD your God. It is important for a redeemed person to identify with the God of redemption. Thus, instruction is given that we might live in a manner that identifies our life with Him.

APPLICATION: Our lives should be exemplary of the holiness of God.

Live according to God’s standards. [8]

V. 8 contains two imperatives: Keep; do. Both involve God’s law and the obligation to adhere to the standards thereof.

R. K. Harrison wrote, “Unswerving obedience to God’s commands is one indication of a sanctified life in both the Old and New Testaments.” [3]

Conclusion:

[1] Lev. 20:8. Have we made it the aim of our lives to keep the standards of holiness set forth by God?

Bibliography:

[1] Ken Hemphill, The Names of God (Tigerville, SC: Auxano Press, 2014), 66.

[2] Hemphill, 67.

[3] Hemphill, 69.

[3]R. K. Harrison, Leviticus: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 3, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1980), 208.