A messy cleaning (Tell the story of the French drain.) Mom still loved me, but I could not go into the house until I was clean.

Tell the story of the French drain. Mom still loved me, but I could not go into the house until I was clean.

Clean or Unclean

In In the Jews receive instruction regarding clean and unclean as part of the Mosaic Covenant, often called the Old Covenant. Yes, today’s message is going to be on Leviticus. No, you can’t leave now, the sermon has already started.

Let’s read some of the verses of

1 And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth. 3 Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. 4 Nevertheless, among those that chew the cud or part the hoof, you shall not eat these: The camel, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. 5 And the rock badger, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you.

(Eating a Rock Badger makes you unclean? I looked it up – Rock Badgers sound very fierce, big as Badgers and stronger…but they look a lot like a big Guinea Pig, with big dreamy eyes. Not scary or strong at all. Okay, back to Leviticus!)

39 if any animal which you may eat dies, whoever touches its carcass shall be unclean until the evening,

44 For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground. 45 For I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” 46 This is the law about beast and bird and every living creature that moves through the waters and every creature that swarms on the ground, 47 to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean and between the living creature that may be eaten and the living creature that may not be eaten.

Clean or unclean. Holy or unholy.

This is our text, let us pray.

We first ask "what did these distinctions meant to the original hearers, the Jews at Mount Sinai?"

Being totally clean – food, disease, touching dead bodies or idolatry kept them from approaching the tabernacle to receive atonement for their sin. Eating – or even touching things that were unclean kept them from the tabernacle, as reminds us in song, “Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart”

Why is this important? Because the tabernacle is the dwelling place of God!

Keeping clean kept them holy, and that holiness was for the purpose of allowing them to be close to God, in relationship with Him. When Moses went to the tabernacle, it said he spoke to God as a man speaks to a friend.

The entirety of the Levitical system, but particularly shows the orderliness and separation needed of a people to have fellowship with God, the Holy One, our Father.

Is that where this ends? The Jews were clean so they could have a relationship with God? That’s nice.

No, not at all. There is so much more.

We are, as Christians, under the New Covenant. As New Covenant believers, we are told that the Old Covenant laws and regulations were pointers, as Hebrews chapter 10 tells us “the law {is} but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form…” ()

So what is that good thing? It is Christ Himself!

Christ is the authority (), interpreter () and fulfillment of the law (). By planting Christ firmly at the center of the Law, we can follow Christ instead of the Law that points to Him.

Friends from our church gave us tickets to Kings Dominion – thank you Lord! – and we got a map to guide us around the park to lead us to the rides. When we got to the rides, we put down the map, and enjoyed the rides! We did not stand in front of the rides, staring at the map but never riding.

Think of the Law like a map, pointing the way to Christ. Now that Christ has come, we do not need the map!

Clean and unclean. Do they apply to the modern Christian?

1 John chapter 1, verses 5-10 says: “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

What does this say? The same thing is saying.

: “And the Lord spoke to Aaron and Moses”

: “This is the message we have heard from Him”

: “I am holy”

: “God is light, in him there is no darkness”

: “You shall not defile yourselves”…with an explicit understanding that they will do just that, get unclean.

says it this way: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves”, because there is an explicit understanding that we will sin!

is a giant map pointing the way to get back to a close relationship with the one who made us, the one who dwelled in the tabernacle, putting His home right in the middle of a people he loved, that He saved from slavery and death in Egypt.

shows us the way to a close relationship with our Father “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”

For both the Jew of Exodus and the modern western Christian, our sin does not keep us from being a chosen people, a royal priesthood,

It keeps us from the loving arms of our Father.

Sin – uncleanliness – keeps us from approaching God, and having Him wrap His arms around us.

And this is the problem. Just like the Jew of the Old Covenant, we of the New Covenant can get so busy with the forms of religion that we never address the heart.

Samuel the prophet told even the King “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.”

The writer of Hebrews says to the Christian “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.”

What is the answer then? God has placed His dwelling in our hearts, yet we all know that there are times where He feels far away.

Is this merely a feeling? Is it real? Is He far away? Does He pull back when we sin?

Let’s walk back over the message and see if this answers the question

For the Jew, saved from slavery to Egypt, God’s dwelling was right in their midst, and His Spirit shone above the tabernacle for all to see.

But they could not approach him unclean. Still His special people, but not as close in relationship, not face to face.

For the Christian, we have been saved from slavery to sin and God’s Spirit dwells with us, hopefully for all to see.

But when we persistently choose to sin, we hinder the relationship. He is always there, our Father, with great love. But we are not in His arms, like a child. We are on the floor, kicking and screaming. We could be in His arms!

TURN WITH ME to . Paul says it this way in

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,

and I will be their God,

and they shall be my people.

and touch no unclean thing;

then I will welcome you,

and I will be a father to you,

and you shall be sons and daughters to me,

says the Lord Almighty.”

As believers, our sins don’t keep us from salvation. They keep us from relationship. Relationship with the Father, our creator, who made us in His image and likeness. Today is a call to confession.

Right now, ask the Holy Spirit who dwells in you if there is anything that is keeping you from a joyful, loving, face to face relationship with God.

If there is, do not be anxious! We’ve read the Word, there is no expectation for us not to sin – not in Leviticus, not in 1 John, not anywhere!

God knows we will sin again and again and again. Christ’s sacrifice was once and for all. His work forever is finished, our work of confession goes on:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

That’s all! Confess! Right now, confess to God. Not just things like murder, but also unforgiveness – against God, self, or others. Self-pity – if we dwell in our victim status we have not grasped who we are in Christ. If you are practicing accusation, bitterness, anger, jealousy, resentment, rejection…confess! It is such a freeing act, give Him your burdens, lay them down, confess!

If you have sinned against someone here, confess to them.

What happens then? 1 John tells us: we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion through the Spirt of God in us.