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Atonement: Fast or Not? #3
Fred Coulter - December 15, 1990
To observe or not observe. Or, let’s ask the question a little bit
differently. What is it that we should observe? Now there are many strange
mixes of religion and Bible, and superstition, and there are so many
different brands of Christianity going around in the world today that it’s
almost impossible to understand, for the average person, what is it that we
should observe, and what is it that we shouldn’t observe. We have so many
different variations of it all the way to a strict near Jewish type
religions of sacred-namers, all the way down to the Protestants who believe
that if you just open your heart and accept Jesus and just have good
thoughts in your heart, that then you’re accepted of God.
Well, this was all magnified the other day in Tijuana, Mexico. There was a
group of twelve people who died, five others are in various stages of coma
or near death. And what happened was, they gathered in this two room house
in Tijuana, and they were having a religious service. And suddenly they
discovered that there were people dead and dying and falling on the floor.
And at first they thought, well, maybe they were drinking some kind of
poison laced punch or something like that, or ritual drink, and they all
died because of it. Well they found out that that wasn’t the case. They
found out that these two people died because of asphyxiation. It was cold
and they had a little internal butane heater going, and they shut up the
whole house, and apparently it burned up all the oxygen and the people died
because of that.
What they found out was this: that Federico Mexia, he was the leader of
this little religious group, and he used Catholicism, superstition, and his
own imagination. And such groups are common among rootless people, different
religious scholars have said. So let me read to you out of today’s Los
Angeles Times, an article on that.
“From descriptions of the nighttime ritual, and objects in the house, it
appears that Federico Padres Mexia was not a part of an identifiable
religious movement, according to the people familiar with the various
spiritual traditions. Rather, he appeared to combine religious practices
from Christianity and folk, or neo-pagan beliefs that might appeal to
struggling people seeking to change their life. ‘Very often groups like this
flourish in neighborhoods of rootless people’, a Lutheran pastor said. The
group sounds like a one-man operation by a leader who has his own ideas.”
Well now this sounds rather deprecating, and rather - it’s bad for that
kind of thing. And it is bad for this kind of thing, but also you have to go
back and realize that Jesus started as a one-man leader, right? And He had a
group that was different, right? However, at this time in history, we’re
confronted with a different set of problems, and that is what should we
observe, and what should we not observe. And I’m just using this as an
example of how people take their own ideas, take their own imagination, take
part of the Bible, part of paganism, part of witchcraft, mix it all together
and now they have a formulated little religion on which they make their
living and their existence. And this is what happened here.
“Police found a prayer book referring to the sixth seal, a phrase
introducing the apocalyptic version of God’s judgment in the book of
Revelation. The presence of the Biblical reference suggests the influence of
evangelical religions, but the cardboard image of Our Lady of Guadeloupe,
found within the circle of worshippers, is more in keeping with the
pervasive Catholic culture of Mexico. And, neo-pagan techniques were
introduced by the discovery of a rope with thirteen knots in it surrounding
some bodies, and by reports that participants were afraid to leave the
circle the rope created.”
So apparently they were all standing around in a circle, and here’s this
rope, and there are thirteen knots in it. And of course that gets into
witchcraft, and Satanism, and superstition.
“These things describe a group that was picking and choosing religious
elements.”
And that’s the question today. To observe, or not observe. To pick and to
choose. And that’s what they were doing here. But the picking and choosing
went from the Bible, Catholicism, and paganism. And most of the religions
south of the border of the United States, all the way down to the very end
of South America, even the Catholic religions are a combination of Indian
religions, witchcraft, superstition, and Catholicism. And so this is not
unusual for this kind of situation to happen there. But it is very
interesting for us to realize that much the same thing can happen to those
who want to pick and choose from the Bible.
So let’s look into the Bible today and let’s ask some questions: why is
Christianity… We’ll take and set aside all paganism, we’ll take and set
aside the majority of Catholicism, and we will ask why is Christianity, in
many cases, so confusing? And what is it that went wrong? And how come it
came to be in this condition? Well, the reason it did is because people were
picking and choosing. They were taking this part of the Bible and combining
it with this part of the Bible, plus their own ideas intermixed, and lo and
behold now you have a brand new denomination. And now you have a whole set
of beliefs where you have a little group over here, a little group over
there. For example: even within the church of God we have had recently those
who believe in keeping the Sabbath, those who believe in keeping all of the
holy days, those who believe in keeping some of the holy days, those who
believe in keeping none of the holy days, those who believe that the
Passover ceremony should be kept with bread and wine, or bread and water, or
bread and grape juice. You have the problem of confusion should there be
foot-washing or not foot-washing. You have the problem concerning the
keeping of the Passover on which day - the 14th and the 15th . You have the problem of fast or not to fast on the
Day of Atonement. And you have so many different ideas going around, that
for us in the church, it becomes almost as confusing as this article that I
just read for people in the world. What is it that we should keep, and what
is it that we should do, and why do we know that we should do it this way,
or that way?
Now recently there was a man who said that all sin under the Old Testament
was merely just physical sin and had nothing to do with moral or spiritual
sin. And of course we saw that that is completely incorrect. Totally
erroneous. So now we have before us the Bible. And it is true that if you
don’t put the Bible together properly you can create almost any kind of
doctrine that you would want to create. For example: if you have 100% of the
truth... Let’s just say ok, here’s the Bible. You have 100% of the truth. We
can all agree on that. The Jews say, “We have 100% of the truth. We have the
entire Old Testament.” The Catholics say, “We have 100% of the truth, plus
we have added truth. We have the teachings of the fathers and tradition.”
And the Protestants say, “We have 100% of the truth. We follow the New
Testament.” And with the church of God we have the various shades of things
that people in the church of God do and don’t do, and observe and don’t
observe. So how are we going to pull back the shades and look at everything
to see what is it that we should do. What is it that we shouldn’t do?
There are some people I know even in Idaho… There is a Church of God -7th Day in Meridian. Twelve miles down the road is a Church of God - 7th Day in Caldwell. And eight miles down the road there’s a Church of God in
Nappa. The group in Meridian believes that it’s ok to eat unclean meat. The
group in Caldwell believes that you should keep the holy days, and not eat
unclean meat. And the group in Nappa, they believe that all you have to do
is just to keep the Sabbath. And then there are those who believe that you
ought to keep the holy days. And then it’s a question with Pentecost, is it
on a Sunday or a Monday? Passover, is it on the 14th or 15th ? And all of these things enter in. And how is it that there is so much
confusion in all of these different doctrines that come along? Well, we’re
going to learn some things and basic principles today so we can understand
how is it we can truly know what we should observe and what we should not
observe. What is it that God requires of us?
Alright? Let’s begin in 2 Timothy 2, because we’ve gone here several times
recently, but this is the place to begin. And here is something that we need
to emphasize and realize and understand how we can begin to understand what
it is that we should and should not do according to the New Testament,
according to the Old Testament. In other words it gets down to another
question. As a Christian, how much of the Old Testament are we required to
observe? And if so, how do we differentiate what we should observe, and what
we should not observe?
So let’s begin right here, 2 Timothy 2:15. And here Paul is writing to
Timothy, a minister, and he says, “Study to shew thyself approved unto
God,…” So the first responsibility lies with the teacher. The first
responsibility lies with the minister. Is he studying to show himself
approved unto God? Is the minister dedicated to serving God with all his
heart, and mind, and soul, and being, and is he willing to really be honest
with the Word of God? Because as we’ve seen recently, there are some of
those who take the Word of God and craftily, falsely put the truth together.
Now that may sound like a contradiction, but if you have half the truth, do
you have all the truth? No. Could you make a falsehood out of half of the
truth? Yes, you could. Could you make a falsehood out of some of the things
of the truth by wrongly putting it together? Yes, you could. Ok, so first of
all the minister has to study to show himself approved unto God “…a workman
that needeth not to be ashamed,…” So this tells us that the greater judgment
is going to come on the teachers or ministers, “… rightly dividing the word
of [God] truth.” Or, rightly cutting the Word of God. Rightly placing out
the Word of God, which means then if you’re not studying to show yourself
approved unto God, and if you’re not really seeking God’s way, then you
could start cutting the Word of God wrongly. And that leads to difficulties
and problems, as we will see.
Ok, let’s go over to 2 Timothy 3:15. “And that from a child thou [Timothy]
hast known the holy scriptures,…” And this is the Word of God, basically the
Old Testament, before the complete compilation of the New Testament. “…Which
are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of
God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim.
3:15-17). Very broad statement covering every aspect of what needs to be
done with the Word of God.
Now let’s go to 2 Peter 1, and we will see a little bit more concerning the
Word of God. How that it is that which came from God. How that God inspired
the prophets of old. How that God inspired Moses and all the writers of the
Bible. And of course, the whole history of putting the Bible together is
another whole topic in itself. We’re taking all of those as givens, ok?
Now let’s come down to 2 Peter 1:15. “Moreover I will endeavour that ye may
be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. For we
have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His
majesty.” And then it says that, “…He received from God the Father honour
and glory,…” (2 Peter 1:15-17). Now notice how all of the apostles always
point back to God, how they always point back to Jesus Christ. And this
becomes very important in understanding what we should observe and what we
should not observe. And the first place that you deal with is in how do you
understand the Bible?
Then he comes down here, and let’s come down to verse 20. “Knowing this
first, that no prophecy [or that is, no speaking, no writing then, if we
could put it that way] of the scripture is of any private interpretation.”
So it has to be done in such a way that it agrees with the Bible. You can’t
have the Bible in conflict one with another, even though on the surface it
may appear that there is conflict. So then you have to be able to sort it
out properly. But of no private interpretation. “For the prophecy came not
in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy [Spirit] Ghost” (vs. 20-21). Then chapter two he gets into
warning against false prophets.
Now we know, we know… Let’s go back to Isaiah 8, another way of putting the
scriptures together. And we have some very good advice for us from the Word
of God on how to understand what we should and should not observe, and this
pertains more directly right here to the article that we just read about the
combining of Catholicism, and witchcraft, and spiritism, and so forth.
Isaiah 8:19, “And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have
familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter;…” We’re
getting into a lot of spiritism today. We’re getting into a lot of this
quasi-witchcraft thing, like we just read about - the people standing in a
circle, which is the sign of a coven, and then a rope with thirteen knots on
it. And thirteen is always the number of Satanism. And then mix in a little
Christianity so it sounds acceptable. Mix in a little spiritism so it sounds
reasonable, ok? And they always say “…should not a people seek unto their
God? for the living to [seek unto] the dead?” God says there’s one way to
cut through all of this nonsense. “To the law and to the testimony:…” (Isa.
8:19-20). Now we could also say the Old Covenant and the New Covenant,
because let’s go back up here to verse 16. Here’s a prophecy of the
finishing of the Bible with the New Testament.
Verse 16, it says, “Bind up the testimony, seal the law among My
disciples.” And this shows that God made it possible for us to have the
Bible. He preserved it all the way down through the ages for us today. And
so that’s what we look to. The testimony and the law. And putting it
together rightly then brings us the understanding that we need to have.
Now let’s come down to verse 20 again. “To the law and to the testimony: if
they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” So it has to be that if you don’t find it in the Bible
you don’t have to believe it, number 1. And if you find it in the Bible,
then you have to make sure that you have the correct understanding. And
that’s what’s all involved with this complicated difficulty that we have
concerning the Old Testament and the New Testament. And then we have another
Bible principle, that the Bible says, “…Here a little, and there a little,
precept upon precept, precept upon precept, and line upon line” (Isa. 28:10,
paraphrased). So you have to properly put it all together.
Now, let’s also understand something concerning the Word of God. Jesus said
then, and it’s recorded three times in the Bible, that man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God shall
man live by. That’s a very broad principle and statement.
Now let’s go to Deuteronomy 12. Here is a very basic principle that we need
to understand in everything that we do. And, everything that we approach
concerning the Bible. And, everything that we approach concerning the things
in the New Testament, what is required and what is not required. Let’s pick
it up here in Deuteronomy 12:30. “Take heed to thyself…” Now if you want a
very interesting Bible study, just go through and see how many places it
says “take heed”, “beware” of men, or yourself, or false prophets. Very
interesting study indeed. And you will see that it’s no great phenomena
what’s happening today. Jesus told us that there would be many false
prophets. And Jesus told us that we would be bombarded by these things, so
it’s no wonder we’re being bombarded almost continually by a lot of false
doctrine, and a lot of false prophecy, and a lot of things that have an
inner mixture of truth and scripture so that for some people, not really
grounded in the Word of God, it sounds very plausible. And it sounds very
convincing. And if you don’t know your Bible, and if you don’t study your
Bible then you may get caught. See, because it’s each one of us, our
responsibility to make sure that we know.
So it says, “Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following
them,…” That is the people of the land, which God was kicking out the
heathen and putting in the children of Israel. “…After that they be
destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods,
saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise”
(vs. 30). Direct command. You are not to intermix any paganism and the truth
of Gods Word. That was even standard in the Old Testament. That is something
that for a Christian is a given. But the biggest, so called, Christian
religion on the earth, Catholicism, has done precisely this. They have taken
all the pagan practices, renamed them with Christian sounding names, and has
said that this is Christianity. No, it’s not. It’s the antithesis of what
God wants.
Verse 31, “Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every
abomination to the LORD, which He hateth, have they done unto their gods;
for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their
gods.” Now notice verse 32. “What thing soever I command you, observe to do
it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it” (vs. 31-32). Very
clear statement. Now what does this tell us? No person is to add to or take
from the Word of God.
Now what does this mean? It means exactly what it says. No person can, but
the question remains, if things are changed then from the Old Covenant to
the New Covenant, which they have been, who is the one who’s authorized to
make the change? God is the one Who’s authorized to make the change. He is
the one Who has said what will and will not be.
Now to give you one example, let’s go to Matthew 5. There are people today
who believe that you can divorce for any reason. There are people today who
say that you can divorce for no reason. And it’s all because of their own
ideas, and misreading scripture, and not wanting to let the Word of God tell
the truth, what they need to do. Now let’s pick it up here in Matthew 5:31.
This is just an example, ok? “It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away
his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: but I say unto you,…”
Jesus is changing something now. Jesus is reestablishing something the way
that it should be. “…But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his
wife, saving for the cause of fornication [and, fornication is porneia,
which is any sexual uncleanness], causeth her to commit adultery: and
whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery” (Matt.
5:31-32). So what is this telling us? This is telling us there is a reason
for divorce, which is any sexual uncleanness which violates that marriage by
either the husband or the wife. The offended party can put away the other
and it is a dissolved marriage which God has said that He will recognize as
a loosed non-binding marriage because Jesus gave the grounds for it.
Now likewise when we come to the New Testament, what is it in the Old
Testament that we should and should not observe? Especially in the line of
the statement made by some saying that, all of the things in the Old
Testament were merely physical laws. So you don’t have to fast on Atonement.
You don’t have to put out unleavened bread during the days of Unleavened
Bread. You don’t have to worry about eating unclean meats. And that all
these were just physical things. So let’s tackle this and find out
something, ok?
Let’s go to Matthew 7, and here’s a very basic… And the way you begin
answering any scripture is you go to the very basics always, and you build
step-by-step from there to bring the understanding. Now this applies to all
of those who have said, “Look, we’re under grace and we don’t have to keep
any law at all. Praise the Lord.” And there are those groups.
Ok, Matthew 7:21 says, “Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that [is doing] doeth the will of
My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord,
have we not prophesied in thy name: and in Thy name have cast out [demons]
devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess
unto them, I never knew you: depart form Me, ye that work iniquity” (Matt.
7:21-23). So anything that causes sin has not been done away. Iniquity is
sin. Lawlessness is sin. What does the New Testament tell us that sin is?
Sin is the transgression of the law. That’s what it is. So we see from the
New Testament, from the words of Christ, yes, we are to keep the
commandments of God. The rich man came to Jesus and said, “Lord, what should
I do that I may have eternal life?” And He said, If you will enter into
life, keep the commandments” (Matt. 19:16-17, paraphrased). We could go
through in the New Testament and show in Revelation 14:12, here are they
which have the testimony of Jesus and have the faith of Jesus, and keep His
commandments. Here in Revelation 12:17, that keep the commandments of God
and the testimony of Jesus. So there is going to be commandment keepers at
the end. But which commandments? Then that gets down to a little more finely
tuned argument.
Ok, let’s go to 1 Corinthians 2. This tells us another way that we have to
put these things together, because many people have many ideas. Some people
will be sitting around in a Bible study, and someone will say, “Well, I
think. That’s not the way I view it.” You know, if God would be there, He
would say who cares what you think. Really if it isn’t according to
scripture, of what validity is it? Not everything that comes into your mind
is necessarily truth. And not every idea that you have is necessarily
doctrine. Because it has to be what? Rightly dividing the Word of God. And
then you have this spiritual thing that is written here, too.
Let’s pick it up here in verse 9. “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which
God hath prepared for them that love Him.” Now we’re going to see that love
has an awful lot to do with understanding. And as a matter of fact, that’s
the very key thing. Unless you’re loving God with all your heart, and mind,
and soul, and being, and have faith in Him because He is God, and you’re
seeking Him because He is God, you’re hope of ever really truly
understanding the Bible in depth is not going to come across. It won’t
happen because verse 10 tells us, “But God hath revealed them unto us
by His Spirit:…” (1 Cor. 2:9-10). So not only do you have to have the truth
of God, which is God’s Word - Jesus said, “Your Word is truth.” The Psalms
say the commandments of God are true. The Word of God is true from the
beginning. We are to be sanctified by the truth.
And then we have here that God has got to reveal them by His Spirit,
because it’s spiritually understood. “…For the Spirit searcheth all things,
yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save
the spirit of man which is in him?” (vs. 10-11). That’s just carnal
knowledge that people have. So if you just have carnal knowledge, you have
an idea about what’s in the Bible. You know, if it doesn’t square with what
the entire Bible says, who cares? But people can believe something so much
that it becomes their pet doctrine. And that’s why, like this group down
here in Tijuana, twelve of them died. Five of them are still in the hospital
because of one man’s idea. That’s why the Bible, all the way through, says,
“Beware of men.” “Take heed unto yourself.” It becomes very important.
Otherwise it will become all muddled and confused.
It says, “…even so the things of God knoweth no man, but [by] the Spirit of
God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which
is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God”
(vs. 11-12). Ok, how are we going to discern what has been done, what is
true, what is right, what should be done, what should not be done, how
should it be done, and so forth?
Now let’s look into this a little bit further. Let’s add to this some other
understanding, which I alluded to. Let’s go to John 14. And all of this is a
build up for us to see how we need to approach the Word of God. How we need
to approach putting it together. You know, for example the other night (and
we’ll see here in just a minute one of the principles) I saw an ad on
television, the new Red Lobster restaurant menu. And they’ve got all of
these shrimp, and lobsters, and clams, and scallops, and mussels. And, I
don’t know if they have barnacles there. I suppose some there’d be some
people who would even eat barnacles. No telling. You know, there are still
even cannibals on the earth, you know, so people will eat anything. But it
just shows how confused that this world is. And if you go to the Word of God
to try and justify what you are doing without knowing what the Word of God
says, you’re going to end up in a mass of confusion.
Now here’s what Jesus said in John 14:15. “If ye love Me, keep My
commandments.” Very powerful, but very simple little scripture. What are you
seeking to understand the Bible for? That’s the question. Are you seeking to
love God? Are you seeking to establish a doctrine that you think is right?
Are you seeking to discover new truth? Or, are you seeking to love God? If
you’re seeking to love God then you will keep His words.
Let’s come down here to verse 23. “…If a man love Me, he will keep My
words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our
abode with him. He that loveth Me not keepeth not My sayings: and the word
which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father’s which sent Me” (vs. 23-24). Now
these are the basic principles on beginning to understand what it is that we
should observe, and what it is that we should not observe. And we will see
why.
Let’s go to Hebrews 7. A lot of this is contained right in the book of
Hebrews. Some people, unfortunately, go so far as to throw out all of the
commandments of God, as the Protestants do. They try and retain some of
them, but it’s awfully hard to throw out the Sabbath, and then come back and
supposedly reclaim nine of the commandments. And it all hinges on this:
which priesthood is the priesthood that we are following? If we are
following Christ it is the priesthood of the order of Melchisedec. And,
because under the Old Covenant God established the Levitical priesthood,
then there had to be a change in the covenant, or the law, in order so that
you can have the New Covenant. Now we see that given right here in Hebrews
7.
Hebrews 7:11, “If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood,
(for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be
called after the order of Aaron?” Now it’s referring directly to Jesus. He
was not a Levite, He was not of the house of Aaron. He was of the tribe of
Judah, as it says in verse 14, “For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of [the tribe of] Juda; of which
tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood” (Heb. 7:11, 14). So that’s
the whole key as to what we should observe, and not observe in the Old
Testament. It is what priesthood we are under, what covenant we are under.
We’re not under the Old Covenant with the Levitical priesthood, with all the
ritual and animal sacrifice. But we are under the New Covenant, under the
covenant of Jesus Christ who is a priest after the order of Melchisedec.
So because of that, God, it says here verse 12, “For the priesthood being
changed [from the Levitical to the Melchisedec], there is made of necessity
a change also of the law.” Now this creates a lot of confusion because the
Protestants go there and say, “Halleluia, we don’t have to keep any of the
law.” This is the change in the law of the priesthood. This is not a change
in the laws of God, but a change in the law of the priesthood. Please keep
that in mind.
Now we come to chapter 10, and we find something that is true. And it says
here in verse 4, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.”
We know that. It has to be that the blood of Jesus Christ removes sin. We
understand that. Now how does this affect us with the Old Testament? How
then can we justify keeping the Sabbath and the holy days and all that sort
of thing? And where then did God draw the line on what we should keep and
what we should not keep? Remember that the key is which priesthood are you
under? Are you under the Levitical priesthood, or are you under the
Melchisedec priesthood with Christ, our High Priest? You’re under the
Melchisedec priesthood with Christ, our High Priest.
Alright, from this then we learn that the rest of the book of Hebrews tells
us that those things which had to do with the sacrifices and the priest laws
- those are the things which are no longer observed. For several reasons.
One - there’s no longer the temple. Two - God does not work through the
Levitical priesthood. The question then becomes, what laws of the Old
Testament then, apply to us? We can answer them this way - we find in the
New Testament that all of the Ten Commandments are binding upon us. “If you
love Me, keep My commandments.” “If you enter into life, keep the
commandments.” Ok? Therefore, a lot of people come to the knowledge that we
ought to keep the Ten Commandments. However, they don’t go any further.
Let’s go back and let’s examine some of these things that we find in the
Old Testament, what we should do and what we should not do. Before we do
that though, let’s go to 1 Timothy 4, and we will get a principle right here
concerning those lesser things. And let me just give you a summary of it as
we start so you will know where we are going. All of those animal sacrifices
have been replaced by God, by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We all
understand that. God didn’t, when He changed it, and doing away with animal
sacrifices, did not do away with the need for sacrifice. The need for
sacrifice was still there - the sacrifice of Christ. And the keeping of the
Ten Commandments, there is a need to keep those because those are the things
that God says that we should and should not do. But what about some of those
other laws that we have studied? How can we get a Bible principle to show us
what is right?
1 Timothy 4. And we’ve covered this before, but let’s look at it from it’s
entire perspective here. 1 Timothy 4:1, “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly,
that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to
seducing spirits, and doctrines [or, teachings] of [demons] devils;…” And
we’ve seen that. What I just read to you from the newspaper is a doctrine of
demons. Combining things from different religions and witchcraft - that is a
doctrine of demons. “…Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience
seared with a hot iron;…” (1 Tim. 4:1-2), means they are not capable then,
of having their hearts pricked to repentance.
“…Forbidding to marry, and…” Here’s the point I want to focus in on.
“…Commanding to abstain from meats,…” Now we’re having that today.
We’re having a vegetarian movement again today for different reasons than
they had in the New Testament, and that was to get away from things
sacrificed unto idols. They had vegetarianism going then. But to abstain
from meats. Now notice, this tells us something very, very important, the
next phrase. “…Which God hath created to be received…” There are certain
meats that God has created to be received. “…With thanksgiving of them which
believe and know the truth” (vs. 3). What is truth? Basic - memorization.
Your Word is truth. So if you believe and know the Word of God, you believe
and know the truth.
Now we are talking about a physical thing, which we will get to, in the Old
Testament, which has to do with clean and unclean meats. And we get a
principle from the New Testament here, which tells us what we should and
should not do with some of those things.
“For every creature of God is good,…” Which creatures? Anything God has made? No. The ones which were
created to be received with thanksgiving. “…And nothing to be refused, if it
be received with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified by the word of God and
prayer” (vs. 4-5). Now, what meats did God create to be received with
thanksgiving, and is sanctified by the Word of God? Where in the Bible does
it tell us which meats are clean and unclean? Now why should we observe the
law of clean and unclean meats? Well, let’s answer the question: does clean
and unclean meats hinge upon the rituals of the temple? The answer is: no.
It applies to the individual. Now we’ll see this in just a little bit.
So what it is telling us, this is telling us a principle here. Number one -
in the New Testament that Paul recognizes and teaches that there were meats
that God created to be received with thanksgiving, and every creature that
was created to be received with thanksgiving is sanctified by prayer and the
Word of God, can be eaten. Because the things that were created…has God
created anything new in the way of animals? No, God hasn’t. So we have the
same kind of animals today that they had back then. So this a the thing that
applies individually to people. And it is not only a good thing health-wise,
and we will see that some of the things that apply were health laws. And
although they had an uncleanness attached to them, which required a
sacrifice, that was not something that we should go ahead then and
completely overlook.
Now let’s go back to Leviticus 11, and let’s peruse the book of Leviticus,
and let’s take a view of it as we go along and see what it is telling us
concerning these things. Now remember the ritual sacrifices have been
superceded by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But the basic laws of the clean
and unclean, we’re going to see, still apply to us in many, many respects.
Now we also know that the civil laws…because under the Old Covenant it was a
theocracy. They had religious law, ritual law, civil law all applied in one.
Today we have civil law, which is in any land that you live in, and we have
the laws of God, which regulate our lives, and we have the spiritual laws,
and spiritual commandments, and principles in faith, and love of God, which
regulates our relationship with God. But nevertheless, we are still human
beings on this earth. So there are still some of the physical laws that we
should observe because they are good for us. There’s nothing wrong with the
physical laws that God has given.
Let’s pick it up here, Leviticus 11:1, “And the LORD spake unto Moses and
to Aaron, saying unto them, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth.” Now we have a parallel account of this in Deuteronomy 14.
I’ll let you study that, read that. We’re not going to go through that
today. These are the ones which we shall eat. These are the ones which were
created to be received with thanksgiving. “Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and
is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat. Nevertheless these shall
ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof: as the camel, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you” (Lev. 11:1-4). Now there are certain properties of things
that are called in the Bible, unclean, because God did not give a technical,
medical definition as to why these were not good for you. We can understand
from some of the unclean beasts, such as bears, and such as swine, that you
can get trichinosis from that. But it’s never been known of any of the clean
beasts, all through history, that you ever got trichinosis from the clean
beasts.
Now if you have a clean beast that is diseased, then you can get the
disease that that clean beast has if you eat it. So therefore you are not to
eat it if it is diseased. We have a situation like that today in England.
There is a certain dementia that is in the brains of cattle and in their
nervous system that gets into the meat, and if people eat it then they get
this dementia. That’s saying, if they are not diseased.
Alright, you are not to eat the camel. Verse 5, you’re not to eat the
coney, which is kind of like that large - I forget what they call it in
South America. It’s that large rat-like looking thing that has these big
incisor teeth right here for front teeth for chewing down trees, and plants,
and things like this. Ok, they chew the cud. Let’s see, “…cheweth the cud,
but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. And the hare [or
that is, the rabbit], because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof;
he is unclean unto you. And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and
be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud, he is unclean to you. Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase
shall ye not touch; they are unclean to you” (vs. 5-8). They couldn’t
touch them because it would make them ceremonially unclean - number one. And
number two - there’s a lot of disease associated with these animals, and so
therefore you do not want to be in close intimate contact with them.
Now, people rode camels, that is true. In order then to do the things that
God wanted them to do, they had to be clean. So they had to wash themselves.
They had to be careful in riding donkeys, and horses, and camels, and things
like this, that they didn’t get themselves contaminated from these unclean
animals.
Then it says, verse 9, “These shall ye eat of all that are in the
waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters,…” Everything else
that doesn’t have fins and scales you shall not eat. And they know for sure
that a lot of the seafood, not fish, but a lot of the seafood that people
eat today, such as clams, and oysters, and scallops - they know that at
certain times of the year, if you take those and people eat them, that they
will be poisonous and you would die. These are also things which then are
scavengers and clean up the earth. And they eat rotten things, and they eat
putrefied things, and they eat diseased things. And they take contaminants
out of the water, such as they’ve found high concentrations of mercury and
lead in the oysters and clams. So they clean up the environment. Then it’s
the same principle applies with the birds. Same principle applies with all
of the animals. Now you can go through and read the rest of the things
concerning which animals you should eat, and which animals you should not
eat.
Ok, let’s come down here to verse 46. “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: (vs. 46-47). Those things
apply to us today because they are not involved with the ritual sacrifices
at the temple.
Now we have coming along here in chapter 12. Let’s read some of this so we
can understand part of it today and how it applies to us today. The
individual, personal things that apply to us today we should follow in
principle. And we should follow, in this case, in the letter because it is a
health law of clean and unclean, rather than a ritual law of clean and
unclean.
Now let’s pick it up here Leviticus 12:2. “Speak unto the children of
Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then
she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for
her infirmity shall she be unclean.” Now they know that when a woman is
pregnant her body has to filter out all the toxins and byproducts of the
child that she is carrying in her womb. And the blood has to be purified of
that. Her body has to work overtime. That is why after childbirth there is a
tremendous amount of bleeding, and her body produces new blood through the
bone marrow, flushing out all of these other toxins that are a result of
having born the child. It is a health situation. And even doctors today will
tell you the same thing. Do not be involved in sexual intercourse after
having a baby. It is not good for the woman, and it is not proper.
“…According to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be
unclean. And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be
circumcised. And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying…” So
this continues on quite a few weeks. “…Three and thirty days; she shall
touch no hallowed thing,…” Then it gets into the ritual thing of touching
and not touching. “…Nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her
purifying be fulfilled” (Lev. 12:2-4). So it is first a health thing, which
is correct, and we can verify that with modern, so called, scientific
evidence. Then it becomes a ritual thing. The ritual thing applied to the
temple, applied to the are where the sanctuary was.
Then it says, “…if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two
weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her
purifying three-score and six days” (vs. 5). Sixty-six days. Almost twice
the length of time. Why it is that way, the added length of time? I do not
know. I cannot tell you any scientific reason for it, howbeit they generally
say that in childbirth, from four to eight weeks, which covers this period
of time, a woman should abstain from sexual relations with her husband
because her body is not ready for that activity again until the body
completely heals. Part of it is, and you know if you men don’t understand
this just have someone step on your stomach while you’re laying on the
floor, you’ll find out your organs move out. And when a woman is carrying a
child her organs are moved everywhere. They are all pushed out of place and
out of shape to make room for the baby. A woman is designed that that is to
happen. But all these things have to get back in place. And all of the
stretched muscles have to be returned to normal. All of the intestines have
to come back into their normal track again, and the liver, and the spleen,
and the bladder. And all of this is all in that adjusting period from
childbirth. Then if she wanted to go worship God, then because of that
physical uncleanness, which is the getting rid of toxins, then she had to go
offer the offering which is said there that she should offer.
Now then we have chapter 13. It talks about various things to do with what
is called leprosy. Now leprosy in the Old Testament included a lot of
things. It included many infectious diseases where there would be pus, or
there would be redness, or there would be whiteness, or there would be
running of an issue. And we’ll cover some of these, and don’t we have health
laws today? What is it that a doctor does when he goes in for surgery? They
found out there’s an awful lot of bacteria around so they’ve got to
decontaminate. They’ve got to make sure that this is not spread from one
person to the doctor to another person and cause plague and disease. That’s
why said these things are unclean. That’s why God said you should separate
these things.
Now let’s pick it up here in Leviticus 13:46. I’ll let you read the whole
thing through here. But let’s pick it up here in verse 46. “All the days
wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean:…” And though we have this
with mumps, and measles, and whooping cough, and chicken pox, and all of
those things apply. This is a law of quarantine because of sickness. Why?
Because it is contagious. You are physically unclean during that time. “…He
shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.”
In other words, separated from the rest of the people.
Now then we also have, here’s something very interesting too. Verse 47,
“The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it be a
woollen garment, or a linen garment; whether it be in the warp, or
woof, of linen, or of woollen; whether in a skin, or in any thing made of
skin [that is of the leather];…” And it talks about all the things
concerning that. Now the priest was instructed to make sure that the
bacteria, as we would call it today, was not in these pieces of cloth, or
leather, or bindings. So they would wash them, they would set them aside for
seven days. The priest would come and look at them again and declare whether
it was clean or not. And if it were not clean then various things, burning,
various things of removal or rewashing were done.
So we have here, let’s come to verse 59, the last verse of chapter 13. Now
these are practical, common-sense things that should be done, which at the
temple, it made them unclean physically. God didn’t want to have a lot of
disease and sickness around the temple. Same thing applies today. You don’t
want to have a lot of sickness and disease among people. So if you have the
flu, if you have a cold, don’t go in and be around people and spread your
flu and cold to someone else. And things are unclean. Unclean means it can
pass a germ. A lot of people get flu because they are around people that
sneeze. And they found that the bacteria of an infection can go out through
sneezing. They’ve found that virus can be passed with sneezing. They’ve
found that people blow their nose on a handkerchief, stick it in their
pocket and then you go around and shake hands with each other, and then the
other person you shook the hands with puts their hand up toward their mouth,
or their nose - bam, they come down with a sickness. They’re unclean.
They’re sick. You can take some of these things which say unclean and you
can put in there a sickness, or toxified and it would be the same thing.
Now it’s just like if you have someone sick in bed, and they have a
terrible infection. What do you do? Wash the sheets. You sterilize them. And
the blankets. You may even have to sterilize the bed. And if you can’t get
it out of there, then you may even have to throw it away or burn it. That’s
what it’s talking about here concerning these things. Concerning these
practices which are common, ordinary, every day occurrences.
Ok, the very last verse, chapter 13. “This is the law of the plague
of leprosy in a garment of woollen or linen, either in the warp, or woof, or
any thing of skins, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean” (vs.
59). In other words, it’s healthful or not. I remember one time that we had
some people in the church in Salt Lake City. They moved in to this house.
And after they moved into the house all the members of the family came down
with some kind of skin rash, or some kind of skin eruption. And I anointed
them. They couldn’t figure out what it was. They tried cleaning and
cleansing, and all this sort of thing. And so, knowing some of these things
of the Old Testament, I sat and talked with them one night and said, “Well,
you didn’t have this before you came here?” And they said, “No, we didn’t
have it before we came here.” I said, “Who was in the house before you
came?” So they said, “We don’t know, we’ll check and find out from the
landlord.” So they asked the landlord of whom was it occupied the house
before they came there? And they said, “Well, it was a nurse, and she worked
full-time up at this hospital.” Well, to make a long story short - she
brought home and contaminated the house with a bacteria of staph. And
everyone of them were getting staph disease because of what she brought home
in her uncleanness to that house. And that house was, in the Bible sense,
unclean.
So I said, “What you do, you scrub this house down from stem to stern. You
clean the kitchen. You mop the floors. You take Lysol, and use the
disinfectant Lysol and Pinesol, and you clean those bathrooms from stem to
stern every day, every day for a week. And you clean out the kitchen and you
make sure that you clean the carpets, and you wipe down all of the woodwork
on the walls and make sure that that is done.” And after they did that, in
three weeks they had no more of the skin eruptions, or the sickness because
of the staph that was in the house. That’s what the Bible is talking about
here in all of these diseases, many of them called leprosy.
Now let’s come to chapter 15. Yes, well chapter 15 talks about the house
that is unclean. I just covered that - chapter 14 and 15. Now let’s come to
chapter 15:1. Now we’re talking about running sores. We’re talking about
wounds and things like this. Leviticus 15:2, “…Speak unto the children of
Israel, and say unto them, When any man hath a running issue out of his
flesh, because of his issue he is unclean.” You could contaminate someone, make them sick, see. Now,
obviously we don’t go to the temple and offer sacrifice when there is a
healing or the issue is taken care of. Obviously we don’t do that. That’s
clear. But the principle of being clean, the principle of watching these
things still apply. If you don’t apply them in your life, and if you don’t
observe sanitary conditions you’re going to get sick and die. That’s why God
said, “When you’re in the wilderness, on the end of your sword or spear
you’re going to have a little spade, so when you go to relieve yourself you
will dig a little hole and you will cover it up lest the land become
contaminated.” We know that for sure. What do they say when there’s raw
sewage that goes into the bay? Don’t go swimming there because the water is
contaminated, or we could say the water is unclean. Same thing.
Now verse 3, “And this shall be his uncleanness in his issue: whether his
flesh run with his issue, or his flesh be stopped from his issue, it is his uncleanness. Every bed, whereon he lieth that hath the issue, is
unclean: and every thing, whereon he sitteth, shall be unclean. And
whosoever toucheth his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even” (vs. 3-5). In other words, give
yourself a chance to get away from whatever bacteria is there, and you’re
unclean till evening. Then it goes on to explaining some other things
concerning that.
Let’s come down here to, let’s see, this gets rather detailed. I don’t want
to get bogged down in it. Let’s pick it up here in verse 13. “And when he
that hath an issue is cleansed of his issue; then he shall number to himself
seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in
running water, and shall be clean. And on the eight day he shall take to him
two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, and come before the LORD unto the
door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and give them unto the priest:
and the priest shall offer them, the one for a sin offering, and the
other for a burnt offering; and the priest shall make an atonement
for him before the LORD for his issue” (vs. 13-15). In other words, God was
involved in the healing. It was a disease. He would come to the priest at
that particular time and he would offer this offering. Question: did his
uncleanness depend upon the offering? No. His uncleanness for sickness was
because of his sickness. The offering was the ritual thing he was to do
afterwards. With the offerings removed, because the Levitical priesthood is
no longer functioning, we still have the same principles involved in
uncleanness of severe disease and sickness that we need to follow, otherwise
we’re going to spread that to other people.
The only thing that is removed from what we need to do today is the
offering. But on the other hand, when we are healed of something, do we not
thank God? Do we not praise God? Do we not look to God for our health, and
our strength, and our healing? The answer is absolutely yes.
Now here’s another very minor thing as we go along. Verse 16, “And if any
man’s seed of copulation go out from him, then he shall wash all his flesh
in water, and be unclean until the even. And every garment, and every skin,
whereon is the seed of copulation, shall be washed with water, and be
unclean until the even. The woman also with whom man shall lie with seed of copulation, they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the even. And if a
woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall
be put apart seven days:…” (vs. 16-19), and so forth - says what to do with
a menstrous period. The offerings were subsequent to the event. The
offerings were made so that they could realize that God accepts them, even
though these things take place. So all of these offerings in relationship to
uncleanness of physical things, are secondary in relationship to the thing
that took place.
Now, you obviously cannot, if you lived during these days, you obviously
could not go up and offer an offering all the time, correct? What if you
lived fifty miles from the temple? Would a woman have to make a fifty mile
trip on the eighth day after her seven days menstrous period and go off and
offer the offering? What do you do then? No. Every time a husband and wife
have sex, do they have to go offer an offering? No. They had to bathe, and
they were unclean until evening. In other words, there are certain things
concerning sex that God considered contamitable, if we could look at it that
way, and should be held in a very private and a very intimate way.
Now, this becomes part of the sacrifice of Leviticus 16. Only part. We’ll
get into the full detailed situation of Leviticus 16 with the Day of
Atonement, but it talks about the uncleanness of the children of Israel. And
the uncleanness had to do with their physical uncleanness, but also the
uncleanness of any sin short of the death penalty. The Day of Atonement
atones not only for physical uncleanness and the things we have just read,
but that it atones for their transgressions and all their sins. Now we’ll
get into that in a little bit more detail.
Let’s come to chapter 17. It continues onward. We’re talking about other
things now than personal hygiene. We’re talking about the offering of
animals. And let’s come down here to Leviticus 17:10. “And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among
you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set My face against that
soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For the
life of the flesh is in the blood:…” (Lev. 17:10-11). Any kind of
blood: of animal, or fowl, or fish, or reptile, or a human. All of those
things have been consumed by the pagans. It is not only a ritual thing in
religion, but it is also a health thing that we should not eat any manner of
blood, any kind of blood.
Now we have a good example of that today. People who have blood
transfusions where there is the HIV factor or AIDS, get AIDS, because not
only is the life in the blood, but every disease that you have is in the
blood because the blood is what cleanses the system as one of the cleansing
factors of the system. You have the blood, you have the lymph glands, you
have the excretion - solid and liquid, and you have the lungs, and you have
the skin. All of these are maintenance of the body. So we know that with
human blood you can get disease from it if you take it internally. Now this
is why, if you’re going to have any kind of operation don’t take someone
else’s blood, use your own, because it’s yours. People who have received
transfusions, there have been an increase in hepatitis because the life is
in the blood, and the death is in the blood, and the sickness is in the
blood.
Now this covers a great multitude of things. Now we’re supposed to feel
real sorry for the Indians, because the Indians today in America have been
deprived of their culture. And they want to re-establish their religion,
they want to re-establish themselves. And I saw a documentary on what the
Indians did when they killed the buffalo. And it showed it. They went out
there and they shot the buffalo. As soon as they got over to it they took a
knife, slit the throat, caught the blood in a basin and picked it up and
drank the blood while it was hot. Now you know why God gave to the white
Americans to destroy the Indians. Because of their religion, and it was
God’s judgment upon them. Now we are going back and taking upon us the same
kind of practices again, and God’s judgment is going to be upon us because
of our sins. And we’re going to suffer the same thing that the Indians did.
And all of their religion gets back into worshipping demons, Satanism, and
all of those things of which then blood becomes a very important part of
their ritual.
As a matter of fact, part of Satanism today is to drink human blood. And
part of the sacrifice of the children to Moloch was to drain their blood,
and drink their blood. So we have not only the ritual uncleanness, we also
have the physical uncleanness. And that is why blood can be very
contaminant. Shall not eat it.
Verse 11, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have
given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls [that is,
of clean blood] for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. Therefore I said unto
the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any
stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood. And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which
hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour
out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust. For it is the life of
all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said
unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh:
for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it
shall be cut off” (vs. 11-14). Ok, so you have a dual thing. You have a
ritual under the Old Covenant for the sacrifices thereof - not to drink the
blood. And whether you go hunting, you’re still not to drink the blood.
There’s no ritual sacrifice involved. You are to let the blood go right out,
drain the blood out, and put it on the ground and cover it with dust, ok? We
have the same exact thing. Those same principles apply today.
Alright, then we come to chapter 18. Chapter 18 has to do with the sex
laws. All apply today. Those are all a part of the commandment, “You shall
not commit adultery.” Let’s come to chapter 19. And of course the first
thing it addresses here, by the way, is incest. And incest is one of the
biggest problems we have today, because somehow people just think that they
don’t have to follow any of the commandments of God. Anyone want to stand up
and tell me that none of these sex laws should apply today? It also talks
about homosexuality, and lesbianism, and bestiality. None of those things
should be. It is uncleanness. It is sin. It is filthiness. And it’s going to
cause people to have the penalty of sin brought upon them. The curse of sin
because they are breaking the laws of God. Not just health laws, but
physical contact with one another in ways that God said should not be.
Therefore that’s why there is thirty-four known venereal diseases, of which
the leading causes of death now are AIDS, and syphilis, and gonorrhea, and
various forms of chlamydia. That’s why there are so many infertile couples
today. So instead of turning to God and repenting, they’re going to the
doctors and now we’re going to have in vitro fertilization. And we’re going
to do this to your body, and that to your body, and all this sort of thing.
Maybe they can get around some of the penalties that they brought upon
themselves because they did this temporarily. But it still doesn’t get
around the fact that these things are sin and God says don’t do that.
Ok, Leviticus 19:1, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, speak unto all
the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be
holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.” New Testament doctrine - that’s what it says in the New Testament, too.
“Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep My sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.” All of those apply, don’t they? Yes, they do.
“Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the
LORD your God. And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD,
ye shall offer it at your own will. It shall be eaten the same day ye offer
it, and on the morrow: and if aught remain until the third day, it shall be
burnt in the fire” (Lev. 19:1-6). Why? Because God was concerned that they
did not have salmonella poisoning. Because if you cook something and with no
refrigeration, or in a place that was somewhat cool in a warmer climate,
what do you have? You have bacteria that breed in there, and you can get
salmonella poisoning, right? Right. So God said, “Don’t eat it the third
day.” Now if you don’t believe this is not true, then you go ahead and leave
out a piece of chicken, the next time you cook it, and you look it the third
day and see if you want to eat it or not, right? No, you don’t want to eat
it. And it really doesn’t taste good. Now we can delay that a little longer
by having a refrigerator, but then how long are you going to leave it in the
refrigerator? Do you want to eat chicken or fish, or a roast that’s been in
the refrigerator two weeks? Of course not. It will even have mold and things
on it. So this is practical. This is because God loves them, didn’t want
them to do that.
Alright, then it talks about reaping the fields down through verse 10.
Verse 11, “Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to
another.” Aren’t those all a part of the things to do and not do? And the
things that are sin and not sin, that are clean and that are unclean? Sure.
I’m going to show later in a sermon that even in the New Testament sin must
be cleansed. Which means, that if it must be cleansed, then of a state of
sinfulness before God, you are what? Unclean. Physically and spiritually. If
it’s a physical sin, or a spiritual sin you’re still unclean. It doesn’t
make a bit of difference. Alright, this is part of it.
Verse 12, “And ye shall not swear by My name falsely, neither shalt thou
profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD. Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him:
the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the
morning.” In other words pay the people on time the way they’re supposed to.
“Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind,
but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD” (vs. 12-14).
Let me just tell you one story that happened here. I was talking to one of
my lenders, and he rejected this loan that came from a loan broker. Because
this loan broker had a loan, the person had impeccable credit. He needed to
refinance his house. He needed $150,000. The loan broker made the loan for
$175,000, and put a loan origination fee of 15 points, or 15%, or $17,500
going to the loan broker himself. More than that. $17,500 plus half of that
- that would have been $27,000 for that blind man to pay, and the borrower
was blind. And he rejected it and sent it back and said, “How dare you steal
from the blind.” I’ll have to say hurray for him. Is that not a law of God.
Doesn’t that function today? Same thing.
Verse 15, “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not
respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour. Thou shalt not go up and
down as a talebearer…” (vs. 15-16), and on. Read all the rest of
chapter 19, about how you are to be holy people. Do those things apply to us
today? Yes. Everything in the Old Testament not relating to sacrifices apply
to us today either by the actual thing of clean and unclean, or the
principle of clean and unclean when it comes to the physical laws of health.
Very simple. You see, most people who claim that you don’t have to do this,
and you don’t have to do that…..
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