The Way of the World: God's way/World's way/Individual desire
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Perversion-Depravity
Perversion-Depravity
Looking at Lev 18 on sexual perversion
Pastor Orr. . BMBC as a whole
Praying for the continual healing of the land: Violence- Sickness- Economy- Pandemic.
There are many things around the world happening: you pick one and pray for that as well.
We have a text that is about as straight forward as it gets; yet it is the most misunderstood and abused on all sides.
At BMBC, we utilize expository preaching/teaching which is great for you. We teach the full counsel of God and Don’t run away from any passages.
this same method is bad for us, because we have to teach unpopular texts like this.
(laugh)
so here we go: i will highlight some verses and get started.
send your questions in, so we can answer them.
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.
from verses 6-18
You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, and you shall not take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are relatives; it is depravity.
Depravity
verses 19-23
And you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor’s wife and so make yourself unclean with her. You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.
abomination
verses 24-30
But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean),
Live Holy, Live for God, don’t follow the passions of the world.
Leviticus is an interesting book calling us to live to a standard we could never do on our own.
Israel as a whole
Leviticus 2. Sexual Prohibitions (18:1–30)
2. Sexual Prohibitions (18:1–30)
Leviticus 18 offers more specific legislation governing Israel’s behavior. The observance of these laws would enable the Israelites to be a holy nation before God. The chapter is closely related to Leviticus 19–20, which addresses the moral laws of the Israelite community.
For the Priests
Leviticus 2. Sexual Prohibitions (18:1–30)
Chapters 20 and 21 address regulations governing the priests
God gives the monumental task to Be Holy as I am Holy: we can’t do on our own and in our own strength.
Thankfully we have Jesus Christ as our Mediator- He died in our place and for our sin. He lived a perfect life according to the law and in Him we have our righteousness.
So we can run to Christ with all of our burdens, deficiencies, sinfulness- Jesus said my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
So, we run to Jesus he is perfect we are not. . . we can’t fulfill this call of holiness alone.
That being said, we pursue holiness and righteousness. We try to walk in a manner worthy of the Gospel.
this does not mean perfection, rather it means we try to live Right. We strive to live with eternity in view. . we want to please God in our bodies.
We live knowing the world is watching to see if we really believe what we believe.
Dealing with sexual perversions and sexuality is one of the ways we do this.
Here’s the issue: our flesh is at constant war with our spirit. Our flesh wants to fill all of its cravings: sex, pride, and other passions of the world. . . and it’s hard.
Sex has always been a problem. . it did not just start in the 20th and 21st centuries.
read through the Old testament: many stories of individuals who struggled with this.
Paul labored in 1 corinthians for people to FLEE Flee from sexual immorality.
Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
Paul tells the young leader Timothy to Flee:
So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
This is major and we can’t flippantly go about our lives as it relates to holiness.
Let me jump out there with this as well; as the people of God, we must alter the way we address this issue of sexual immorality. We know God’s Design: One man/One Woman There is no escaping this.
However!!!! We must stop Highlighting one type of sexual immorality. Men who like men, and women who desire women is not the only form of Sexual immorality. Homosexuality is not the only sexual perversion God discusses in the Bible.
Text we are in discussed heterosexual sexual perversions.
We have done a grave disservice to addressing this one way sexuality thing.
last point and we will jump into these 3 points.
Paul sets the stage for perversion in romans 1
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
perversions-lusts of the world will wreck our lives
God’s Design-The World’s way- Individual desire
God’s Design
God’s Design
verses 1-5
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.
God says follow after me and my law and you will be fine.
Leviticus (1) Israel Must Follow God’s Laws (18:1–5)
18:1–5 Leviticus 18:1–5 offers a general admonition to the Israelites to live holy lives by following God’s commandments and consequently not to engage in pagan practices
lev 18 gives family perimeters -This instruction is critical if the promise that Abraham was to be the ancestor of a great and mighty nation was to be fulfilled. A nation cannot exist if the family unit is not well defined, for the family is the foundation of society.
God says I need you to follow what i have said. . so you can live freely in the land I am giving you.
The Good life is following what the Lord says.
Following the Lord gives us a firm and secure Form and Foundation
Many of you know me as a Pastor; outside of the world of BMBC many see me as a coach.
all of my sons friends have been coached by me in either football, soccer, basketball. .
I love coaching- but i hate it because most kids don’t like working on form and foundations.
My son daniel is no different. He is an amazing basketball player and that gets in the way of some foundation issuses: discuss free throw shooting. . . . end line “when he has the proper form and foundation he always makes the shot”
That’s all God is trying to tell us…following His word gives us the Form and Foundation we need to overcome the ways of the world.
The World’s Way
The World’s Way
verse 6-23
feed those desires; the desires of the flesh.
Act on those desires
do what you want to do
Janet Jackson - “i’m in control” attitude
the sexual revolution of the 1960’s- this movement stressed sexuality should be publicized, no restraints. At the same time attitudes towards morality waned.
Erotic behavior, erotic music, film and publications celebrated as a Liberation of old restraints of moralism
There was one that happened in the 1920’s as well. . . . don’t have time to discuss.
this is the way of the world.
Feed the lust of the eye. . lust of the flesh. . and pride!
God wanted to protect His chosen people. . and keep them from pagan practices.
sexual promiscuity
hetero/homosexual
pornography
sex trafficking
unhealthy fetishes
these unhealthy pagan practices… these perversions lead to more perversion
look at the text. . as God is trying to keep them from improper sexual activity. . . this leads to worse things.
don’t offer your children as a sacrifice to Molech (children offered up as burnt sacrifice)
trying to feed the flesh with the things of the world leads to destruction.
Individual Desire
Individual Desire