Well as I said if you'll turn in your Bibles this morning to Leviticus chapter 18. We're going to go over this somewhat carefully. I believe last Lord's Day I said that we might even just be skipping it all together but then I thought no this is the word of God and we need to at least read it together. It does contain some sensitive information that parents, you're going to have to do some explaining perhaps to your children. But again, I'm going to try to keep this as low-key as I possibly can because of the subject matter. Read with me beginning at verse 1. Leviticus 18 verse 1. Here we read, Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, I am the LORD your God. You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. You are to perform my judgments and keep my statutes to live in accord with them. I am the LORD your God. So you shall keep my statutes and my judgments by which a man may live if he does them. I am the Lord. Let's go ahead and stop there for just a minute. This is fairly straightforward. As we've noted countless times, both in our study of the Old Testament as well as in other studies, those who would be counted among God's true followers are consistently commanded to behave in a way that corroborates their positional standing as His Holy Ones, His Hagiasmoi. Remember, we have been consecrated, we've been set apart, we've been sealed by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit now indwells us so that we can live in this lost and dying world in a way that is countercultural. a way that helps us to show others that we are new creations in Christ. And one of the greatest ways that we can display that is to be obedient to whatever God has commanded. As I remarked a couple of times in the last few weeks, contrary to what seems to be popular belief in some circles, Christianity is in fact counter-cultural. Christianity is not to align itself with the culture. We are not as Christians to seek to be more well-liked by those around us by resorting to pragmatic means and adopting certain practices and certain things that are intended to meet people's felt needs. As the people of God, we are called to a very strict standard when it comes to worshiping Him, and we've talked about that a lot recently, the regulative principle of worship. God's Word tells us. in great detail how he is to be worshipped. Now there are a few things that we're allowed to do by way of leeway within that, but we dare not deviate from or discount the important ways that God has said that he is to be worshipped. And so if we're worshipping him aright, if we are doing what he expects of us as his children, we will automatically be considered countercultural. we'll be considered oddballs in the world around us because we do act so differently from the rest of the world. As Paul wrote in Romans 12 too, we are to be those who instead of being conformed to this world are being transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we might prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Remember what the Lord himself prayed in the garden in John 17 relative to our being in the world but not of the world. It shouldn't come as any great surprise that the Lord expected the same behavior from the Israelites. He expected them to behave in ways that were not common among the people that were around them. He expected them to behave in ways that were not even common to their Egyptian upbringing. they had adopted many of the Egyptian practices many of their rituals and so on and so forth many of their ways and the Lord says stop that you are a separate and distinct people now be careful this doesn't mean that they were to be saved on the basis of their ability to perform these various works of obedience that's not how it works Some of them were no doubt people of faith, but the vast majority of them, as we'll see as we go along, as we see in the reflections back on these days in the New Testament, most of them were hopelessly lost. Most of them would die, especially those of that first generation, they would die in the wilderness. never having come to saving faith. And so let's not confuse works with their ability to save. We're talking more about works as evidence of salvation and works being performed simply because God says do this or die. Right? So that's a great motivator in and of itself. But again, let's not confuse what many people confuse with, you know, the Jews being saved by works versus faith. No, if they were saved, they were saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who was to come. So, in verses four and five, The Lord basically says the same thing, as he's already said. He puts it in the positive this time instead of more in the negative. It's less a prohibition and more an exhortation. He says, while you're not behaving as the Egyptians and Canaanites, you are to perform my judgments, which simply means obey my laws. and keep my statutes or my decrees to live in accord with them. And what happens when they fail to obey the Lord in this matter? Well, notice that the Lord says here, if a man lives accordingly, he may live. Does this mean that if a man failed to live according to what the Lord has commanded, that the Lord would take his life? Well, that's certainly true in the ultimate sense. But that's not the kind of living that the Lord's talking about here. The kind of living that the Lord is talking about here is actually successful living, prosperous living, at least spiritually speaking. Obedience to what the Lord commands will bring about spiritual prosperity. And I'm not talking about the health and wealth prosperity that is so common in the world today. I'm talking about true, genuine success in terms of the things that really matter. It's kind of a Joshua 1, 7 and 8 sort of promise here. If you're not familiar with that, in Joshua 1, 7 and 8 we read this, only be strong and very courageous. Be careful to do all the law which Moses my servant commanded you, do not turn from the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may be careful to do according to all that's written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success." The surest path to peace for the believer, contentment for the believer, this unassailable joy that we have as believers. All of those things function best in the realm of obedience. When I'm being obedient, when I'm striving with every fiber of my being to be all that God has called me and equipped me to be for the kingdom and cause of Christ, I will be successful at least spiritually. I will be prosperous spiritually. And how can that not be true? I mean, think about it. We've talked about this recently too in Ephesians where Paul says we've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. What can we be lacking? Some of you might be thinking, well, I'm lacking plenty in the material realm, but that's not what's being talked about here. The type of life that's being discussed here is this abundant life. John 10.10, the last part of John 10.10, what did Jesus say? I've come that they may have life. Not bios, not the life that we get biology from, not biological life. I've come that they may have life, zoe, a quality of life. And that, he says, more abundantly. Come that they might live an abundant life, regardless of what their temporal circumstances might be. And again, we have to remind ourselves that we're not talking about works equating to salvation. I mean, even if that were the case, how many works must be performed for one to be saved? All of them. To what standard? Perfection. Remember what James wrote in James 2.10, whoever keeps the law and yet stumbles in one point, he's become guilty of the whole thing. The only way to achieve salvation, even if it were possible via works, would be to be perfectly obedient for the remainder of your life. It's not going to happen. It's not going to happen. I mean, even if you were very good at being obedient, what would follow shortly thereafter? Pride, arrogance, which are also detestable sins in the eyes of God. So again, we're saved by grace through faith. alone, in Christ alone, to God's glory alone. Now back to our text. So see, that wasn't too bad, was it? I mean, just wait. Back to our text now at verse six. None of you shall approach any blood relative of his to uncover nakedness. I am the Lord. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, that is the nakedness of your mother. She is your mother. You're not to uncover her nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife. It is your father's nakedness. Now, just as a quick side here, you'll note that six times in this passage, the Lord says, I am the Lord, your God, or I am the Lord. Why is that? Well, he wants to make sure that the Israelites understand that as the great I am, as the Lord himself, he has every right to demand these things of them. He is uniquely qualified to command them. along these lines. And given the appetites that many of them might have had in their flesh, especially coming from, you know, a polyamorous place like Egypt and the polyamorous place known as Canaan where they shared wives and they did everything imaginable in that particular realm, this was very necessary. This doesn't come much as a surprise to us today because we're civilized, at least I hope we are, right? We're more civilized in terms of the subject matter here. But back then you have to understand many of them had begun to adapt the idea that this was normal, that there was nothing wrong with this. Remember we're slowly watching the aperture of God's redemptive plan open. They're being told things that they've never been exposed to. So we shouldn't take it for granted that they already knew these things. These were things that they were having to learn and God had to establish himself as the fiat authority for such matters. And that's why you see repeatedly, I am the Lord your God. This was also a way of deflecting blame from Moses. Moses was going to have to say, thus says the Lord. And you know, I thought about this during the week. We as pastors often say things that are quite unsettling. to you or step on your toes or things that don't make you particularly happy to be here, especially when we're talking about sins, very common sins. I make no apology for that because with every instance of that we should have the ability to say, thus saith the Lord. Don't blame me, I'm just the messenger, don't blame me. If the Lord tells us this is the way we are to behave then it's on His authority. that we must be obedient to that. Well, I was gonna say too, don't forget that the Ten Commandments are not the Ten Suggestions. I mean, that's kind of a thing that people fall prey to as well. So as far as what the Lord commands here in verses six through eight, it's kind of confusing. The wording can be kind of confusing. The initial statement in verse six, That's pretty simple, none of you shall approach any blood relative of his to uncover his nakedness. But verse seven is not so clear. What does the Lord mean when he says you shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, that is the nakedness of your mother? Which is it? Don't uncover the nakedness of your father or don't uncover the nakedness of your mother? Yes. Yes. What the Lord's saying here though is do not dishonor your father by having relations with your mother. This is somewhat cleared up in verse eight, where the Lord says it differently, saying, you shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife, it is your father's nakedness. In other words, uncovering one's mother's nakedness would be tantamount to dishonoring their father in the most egregious way. This is the epitome of sins that one might commit against his father. Now certainly, the sin is against the mother. But I think this, at least thematically, works very well with David's admission when he says, you know, with regard to his own sin, he sinned against a bunch of people, but what did he conclude about his sin on this level? He prayed against you and you alone have I sinned. Every sin is an affront to a thrice holy God. The fact that it also affects your fellow human beings is secondary. Our primary consideration should be the sin that we've committed against the Father. And this works in the same way. To commit a sin against one's mother was actually to commit a sin against one's father. Because the mother is married to the father and the father is the head of the home. And so that's what makes that so egregious. Now this phrase uncovered nakedness, that's actually euphemistic. It doesn't mean just to uncover nakedness. It means to engage in carnal relations. So I have to make that clear. Otherwise we might downplay this particular sin. But no, it's talking about exactly what you adults think it's talking about. It's that carnal relationship that simply should not exist in the case of blood relatives. You've probably heard of kissing cousins. There's really no such thing. If they're blood relative, God frowns upon relationships with blood relatives. It's just the way he's always responded to those things. Now, you might be thinking, who in his right mind would ever think to commit such an egregious sin? Well, apparently, even in Paul's day, this was something that was going on. Remember 1 Corinthians 5. Go ahead and turn there. 1 Corinthians 5. Note carefully what Paul says in verses 1 through 5. He says, Now you've got to understand, As the consummate Jew himself, this is not something to be taken lightly. When Paul says that there are some in the midst of the assembly who are sinning in ways that the Gentiles themselves dare not sin, this is serious. And what's the accusation? That someone has his father's wife. He says, you've become arrogant and have not mourned instead so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst. For I on my part, though absent in the body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this as though I were present. In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you're assembled and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. This was serious. Deadly serious. Paul is doing what God often does. Remember in our studies of the first part of Romans, we read that God gave them over. One of the most frightening things imaginable. And this is part of our working our salvation out with fear and trembling. One of the most frightening things, even for those of us who profess Christ, is that we could ever, and I'm not saying we could because we are We are indwelled by the Holy Spirit. As Paul says in Romans 8, there's nothing in the entire created realm that can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. At the first part, there's no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus. I get all that. But if you know yourself and you know how strong the pull of your remaining flesh can be, you know how frightening it is, the prospect that anyone would be given over. given up on in their sin. Paul's doing that here. I've decided the church is no place for this man. We are putting him out there where the devil can have his way with them. And the best outcome, you know, chances are he wasn't saved anyway, but the best outcome for him would be for the Lord to yet have mercy on his soul. Now notice Paul's not saying that's going to happen. Paul's being really optimistic here. He's saying I've decided to turn such a one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that is his impending death or something worse like could befall him for the remainder of his life leading to his death. But Paul's saying I've decided to turn him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so that his spirit may be saved. Possible. Not very probable, having committed that level of an egregious sin. Let's go ahead and read verses 9 through 18. And we're just going to kind of move on. Here the Lord extends this teaching beyond one's mother and father to members of the extended family. He says, the nakedness of your sister, either your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether born at home or born outside, their nakedness you shall not uncover. The nakedness of your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter, their nakedness you shall not uncover, for their nakedness is yours. The nakedness of your father's wife's daughter, born to your father, she is your sister, you shall not uncover her nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's sister, she is your father's blood relative. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister, for she is your mother's blood relative. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's brother. You shall not approach his wife. She is your aunt. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law. She is your son's wife. You shall not uncover her nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife. It is your brother's nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, nor shall you take her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter to uncover her nakedness. They are blood relatives. It is lewdness. You shall not marry a woman in addition to her sister as a rival while she is alive to uncover her nakedness." And as I said at the end of last week's time, there's no way I'm expositing that. You know, it's awkward. And I'm glad it's awkward. Why? Because That seals in our mind just how sinful this sort of thing is. Just how egregiously sinful this kind of thing is. Simply put, the Lord strongly prohibits any and all kinds of incestual conduct. His instruction, however, is not limited to the sin of incest. It also includes other acts that were to be considered equally sinful, verse 19. Also, you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness during her menstrual impurity. You shall not have intercourse with your neighbor's wife to be defiled with her. You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female. It's an abomination. Also, you shall not have intercourse with any animal to be defiled with it, nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is a perversion. The fact that the Lord even had to provide warnings against this kind of thing shows that the line between total depravity and utter depravity is very thin and deep. Any human beings that would resort to this kind of behavior, they're showing just how lost, just how bereft of any modicum of biblical morality that they possess. God looks very frowningly, judgmentally, righteously, justly on this kind of behavior. Now let me just say this as well. We do believe that there are certain gradations of sin. There are sins that are worse than other sins. But we should never lose sight of the fact, you know, some of you might be thinking like the Pharisees of old, well, I've never done this, I would never think about doing this, so I'm good, I'm good with God. No, not necessarily. Only if you're in Christ are you absolved of all sins. You might say, I've never committed these types of egregious sins, but you've committed sin, and what's the wages of sin? Any sin, the wages of sin is death. Eternal separation from the felt presence of our omnipresent God. And it's a serious matter. Even lesser sins are still just as serious. I don't want us thinking that, well, you know, I've not sinned in any of the real big areas. Well, don't be too proud of yourself because sin is sin is sin and the wages of that sin is the same. So. This reference to giving one's offspring to Molech is especially horrifying. It was common among the Canaanites, not only to engage in the kind of deviant behaviors that we've just been reading about, but also to take the children, primarily those children resulting from these illicit relationships, they would take these children and sacrifice them to Molech. In case you're not familiar with This Canaanite deity, Molech or Molach as he's sometimes referred to, was actually known for one primary thing. Molech could only be appeased through child sacrifice. This is the only offering he would accept. One historian noted this, it's believed that idols of Molech were giant metal statues of a man with a bull's head Each image had a hole in the abdomen and possibly outstretched forearms that made a kind of ramp to the hole. A fire was lit in and around the statue. Babies were placed in the statue's arms or in the hole and were incinerated. You know, most of what's being described here, namely homosexuality and child sacrifice, continue even in our own culture. It's just that we've changed the nomenclature to make the sin more acceptable. Today we simply refer to those engaged in sexual perversion as LGBTQ, RSTUV, WXYZ, I don't know what we're up to now. Instead of referring to them as the sexual deviants, perverts that they are, we've softened the blow by saying, well, this is just an alternate lifestyle. In God's estimation, this is not an alternate lifestyle. In God's holy, thrice holy opinion, which is the only opinion that matters, those who engage in these behaviors are deviants. They're perverted. Instead of referring to the worship of Molech, we now call it Planned Parenthood or reproductive choice, a woman's reproductive right. So some of you might be wondering, am I equating abortion with child sacrifice? Yes. Absolutely. Unequivocally. Abortion is child sacrifice. The greatest number of abortions, and I think it's like 99% of all abortions performed in this country today, are committed for convenience. I can't have a child. I'll lose my job. So let's sacrifice the child. I can't have a child because I'm not married and I don't want to be married. Let's sacrifice the child. I can't have a child because of this, that or the other thing that would be an impediment on my lifestyle. So let's sacrifice the child. Child sacrifice is a booming business in this country right now. Make no mistake about it, you can dumb it down, you can relabel it, you can try to salve your conscience with any other euphemisms that you want to apply. Abortion is murder. It's murderous. And there will be both an individual punishment as well as a national punishment punishment for the guilty parties. First the individual punishment actually appears in Leviticus 20 verse 11. Now we're talking about these inappropriate relationships again but The same applies, I would imagine, in all of these sins that are listed here. Leviticus 20 verse 11, the Lord says, if there is a man who lies with his father's wife, he's uncovered his father's nakedness, both of them shall surely be put to death. Their blood guiltiness is upon them. And what about the nation that condones such abhorrent practices? Verses 24 through 30. Here the Lord says, do not defile yourselves by any of these things, for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled. For the land has become defiled, therefore I have brought its punishment upon it. So the land has spewed out its inhabitants. But as for you, you are to keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not do any of the abominations, neither the native nor the alien whose sojourn is among you. For the men of the land who have been before you have done all these abominations, and the land has become defiled, so that the land will not spew you out should you defile it, as its has spewed out the nation which has been before you. For whoever does any of these abominations, these persons who do so shall be cut off from among their people. Thus you are to keep my charge that you do not practice any of the abominable customs which have been practiced before you, so as not to defile yourselves with them. I am the Lord your God. Remember also from Romans 1, it's not just those who do these things. It's those who sit quietly in the wings and silently approve of those who do these things. I've said before, I'll say it again. And at this point, I'm going to get quasi political, but If you vote for politicians who allow these heinous things to continue in this country, you are in sin. And you might be thinking, well, you know, even Donald Trump, you know, approves of abortion up to a certain extent. Yes, he does. But as I was talking with someone this past week, you know, how many of you have heard the expression, when I go to the ballot box, I'm choosing the lesser of two evils. Well, in today's climate, everybody's evil, right? Yes, even Donald Trump. So rather than go with the intent of voting for the lesser of two evils, we need to go with the intent of voting for the lessening of evil. We'll take what we can get when we can get it. But make no mistake about it. The reason this country is in the condition that it's in, morally, spiritually, is because we've allowed these things to continue. And listen, I understand the need that so many well-meaning believers in this country have for insisting that we make changes to our laws. We want to criminalize these things and that's right and proper. Those things need to be criminalized. I get it. I really do. But we need to understand, please don't be so naive as to think that these things can be legislated away. They can't. You want another civil war in this country? I've said it before. Make a law that puts to death any woman who gets an abortion. It's a good law. I believe eye for an eye. Any woman that willfully sacrifices her child to the Molech of our day deserves to be punished for that. Don't get me wrong. But you have to have this clever little thing in our constitution. You have to have the will of the people. And right now, the will of the population at large is for abortion to continue. So, wow, that's not a very encouraging message. Pastor, you're saying that we, you know, there's no hope legislatively. There's no reason to vote for these solid Christian men to have office. There is, yes, vote that way. Again, vote for the lessening of evil, whatever that looks like in accordance with God's word. But don't be so naive as to believe that that's the solution. It's not the solution. What did Paul say about spiritual warfare? What we're engaged in is not political warfare. It's not warfare against flesh and blood. He says we wrestle not against flesh and blood. We wrestle against principalities and powers. We're fighting against demonic forces that we have no way of combating apart from the Lord Jesus Christ bringing about revival. Isn't it much better to pray, not for political upheaval, but spiritual revival to sweep the land? Wouldn't that be a glorious thing? No, but we'll settle for getting Christians in office who can make all the right decisions and draft all the right policies. And folks, I can't tell you how naive that is. And I don't mean that to be mean. Do those things, yes, but not with the expectation that that's going to do it. It's like charging hell with a squirt gun. Very noble of you. But you're not going to storm the gates of hell with a squirt gun and be successful. Who do you need behind you if you're going to do that? You need the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. You need the one who alone can vanquish his enemies and yours. And that will only come about as he sees fit to move among us. If you're going to pray anything, pray number one, Lord, come quickly. You know, back in the 70s, we used to say, you know, stop the world. I want to get off. Don't pray for that. Now my science mind, my nerd mind is going, Now don't do that, but pray for revival. Pray that the Holy Spirit would so infiltrate the hearts and minds of people in this country that real lasting gospel change might take place. Not this temporary, you know, we can all envision what it would be like. Somebody asked me not too long ago, so you don't want a Christian president? I said, I'd love to have a Christian president. As long as it's me or Lee McKinnon. That'd be grand, right? Because we all want the guy in there who thinks like we do, who believes what we do. You want a charismatic? That's the president. Well, we already got Paula White there next to the president. That's bad enough. You want a Roman Catholic? You want an Episcopalian? We've had a few of those. What about a Mormon? They claim to be Christian. What about a Jehovah's Witness? We almost had a Seventh-day Adventist, right? And Ben Carson. See, it's too problematic. And then you expect everyone politically to align under that person, beliefs-wise, convictions-wise. Is that gonna happen? No, not unless and until the Holy Spirit decides to bring about revival in our midst. Not that funny. I hate to tell you but the crazy train carrying these kinds of people is jam-packed and it left the station a long time ago. And it seems to be gaining steam with each passing generation. What we need so desperately is not behavior modification. What we need is true revival. And let it begin with me. What we need is not manmade legislation outlawing what God has already declared repeatedly to be in violation of his thrice holy will. It's already there. But who's beholden to what's already there? Only the believer. The unbeliever couldn't care less what's written on the pages of scripture. What we need is for God himself to radically transform sinners, making them both willing and able to obey what he commands. Let that be your prayer. That's certainly my prayer. The Lord is not absent in all of this. That's another thing you need to understand. The Lord hasn't gone on vacation. The Lord isn't squirreled away in some remote place where he couldn't care less about what's going on here. The Lord Jesus Christ is even now reigning and ruling from his throne on high and everything that happens, he is sovereignly directing. If you truly believe that all things whatsoever shall come to pass, come to pass via his sovereign will. Really, you'll kind of be unfazed by the things that go bump in the night, the things that unsettle you. Whatever he's doing, remember this, he's doing it for your good and ultimately for his glory. He is the Lord our God. Let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer. Father, we do thank you for these reminders, these exhortations that we are not to behave as the world around us behaves, that we have been set apart by your grace, uniquely called, uniquely qualified and gifted to do that which you have commanded us to do. Father, we pray that we would be a more obedient people. We pray, Lord, that we might be those people who seek one thing and one thing only, and that is your glory. Father, if it be your will to bring revival upon this land, Lord, we pray that that would be the case. We pray that righteousness would reign among the men in this place. We pray, Lord, that we might turn our eyes to you, recognizing your ability to make the change that we so desperately seek for the kingdom and cause of Christ. In the meantime, help us to be content. And as we'll learn in the next hour, help us to be more forthright in our handling of the gospel, making known the name of Jesus Christ to everyone that we come into contact with. And then discipling them. so that they might also go out and make disciples as well as we've been commanded. Help us in all these things. Helps to look forward even now to the next hour where yet again, we'll be treated to your word. Help us to be doers of that word, not just hearers. And again, to your honor, to your glory. Pray this all in Christ's name.