Aware of His Holiness (convictions)

Text: Leviticus 11-15 )(don’t stand)

Lev 11.4,10,13,20

All together 13 times Moses will use the phrase “unclean unto you”. These are various things there are some basic ways that you will see them

Illustration:

Acts 10:11–15 KJV 1900

And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.

Moses quotes God’s purpose for these laws.

Leviticus 11:44–47 KJV 1900

For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. For I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. This is the law of the beasts, and of the fowl, and of every living creature that moveth in the waters, and of every creature that creepeth upon the earth: To make a difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the beast that may be eaten and the beast that may not be eaten.

Lev 12-15

There is a discussion of the ceremonial impurity.

Dealing with

Child-birth

leperousy

Bodily Fluids

Notice that these all have a commonality, they are central to the idea of life and death. These are given as a reminder of the holiness and beauty of life.

Leviticus 15:31–33 KJV 1900

Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that is among them. This is the law of him that hath an issue, and of him whose seed goeth from him, and is defiled therewith; And of her that is sick of her flowers, and of him that hath an issue, of the man, and of the woman, and of him that lieth with her that is unclean.

Leviticus 3. Summation of the Laws of Bodily Discharge (31–33)

When they defile my tabernacle: None of these discharges made a man or a woman sinful, only ceremonially unclean. This did promote hygiene in ancient Israel, yet discharges of semen and menstruation were so regarded, not because there was anything inherently wrong with them, but because the two are connected with symbols of life and redemption, blood and seed.

The issue is not sinfulness but otherness and holiness. God and his worship are set apart and so then are his people.

Remember the issue is not about sinfulness but uncleanness.

Remember Exodus:

Remember how we closed Exodus? God has moved into the freshly minted tabernacle. And no one else can fit. He wont let Moses in and he calls out to him from the tabernacle.

Then before we can even get out of the first dozen chapters God lets Nadab and Abihu in and has to kill them in response to impurity.

Why? Because we fail to appreciate and love the Holiness of God.

This worship is to keep infront of the people the perfect holiness of God. Man is sinful and God is perfect and everytime we try to bring those things together damage is done.

This is not hard to imagine when we consider the Sun. Some of you get a really good tan during the summer. Some of you turn the brightest shades of red and then back to your bright white status. We had a kid every year at camp that had to use the strongest spf or he would blister up at the pool and on more than one occasion he would come to church bearly able to stand having a shirt on because of the blisters he received.

So it is with God. We all enjoy time out in the sun but if you do not prepare you can pay the consequences. We love its glow but don’t disrespect it. Some of you need to hear this so you don’t try to bare eye the coming eclipse.

Let me stress to you that being unclean was not sinful it was temporary and normal. But approaching God with no regard for the uncleanness that is normal is a grave error.

God’s strategy for aiding his people in holiness was three pronged

Acts of Adoration: Animal sacrifices.

Brotherhood in the Priesthood: Bridge to God's presence.

Codes of Cleansing: Criteria for closeness to God.

It is important to note that, One can take the ceremonial purity to far.

Mark 7:1–9 KJV 1900

Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem. And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault. For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands? He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

By the time the prophets were on the seen and of course Jesus was in his ministry. People would come and observe purity law and fail to Love God with all their heart soul and mind.

They had fallen into the trap of thinking that the sacrifices, preisthood, and purity meant that they had done what was expected. All of these things were meant to bring people and God together.

It is the same today. Christians are willing to clean the outside of the cup and never deal with the heart. The danger is, we forget that impurity is normal and temporary. Jesus tells us what this means,

Matthew 5:8 KJV 1900

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

He is not speaking about sinlessness he is speaking about devotion. God wasn’t trying to make his people perfect he was making them devoted. He was making them whole heartedly in love with him. It is normal to get distracted with life. But we keep Christ in front of us. Daily running back to him.

Hebrews 8:4–6 KJV 1900

For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount. But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.

He is our

Adoration: The Perfect Sacrifice.

Priesthood: Bridge to God's presence.

Cleansing: Criteria for closeness to God.

Application:

FCF: We loose our keenness of his presence and purity and by it grow cold to the holiness of God.

Where they

Deception is to imagine that they could have approached God apart from the ritual. SO

You and I are decieved when we think fellowship with God is approached because of morality. We make to much of our own convictions and standards. These are a shadow. They are a reminder that sin is waiting for us. But they are meant to teach us to be whole dependent on him.

This is why people have a hard time with boundaries and standards. Because they should be free. Yes imagine the ancient Believer this way. They would get struck down. That doesn’t mean that they were made righteous by their labor they were made aware of their need for dependece and faith through their holiness.

So our standards.

I don’t filter what I watch on tv because I’m strong I filter because I am aware how little grasp I have on the holiness of God and I will become decensitized to his righteousness and my sin.