Bible Study - Holy - Blessings of Holiness - Leviticus 26 - April 28, 2013

Bible Study – Holy – Blessings of Holiness – April 28, 2013

This is our final lesson in our series entitled “Holy God, Holy People.”

Our scripture is Leviticus 26:3-13, 40-42, 45.

This to me has been a Spiritual eye-opening series of study. HIS desire is to bless those who have an intimate loving relationship with HIM, through CHRIST. But with blessings come responsibility.

As Christians, we get caught up in seeking the power of GOD and not the presence of GOD in our lives. When we have the presence of GOD, we have the power of GOD.

When we accept CHRIST as our Savior, we begin our walk with CHRIST and GOD, forgiven, pure, righteous and Holy. Most of us do not fully comprehend it. As we journey through life, GOD reveals more and more of and about Him to us through the circumstances we encounter. Many Christians think that GOD should not allow anything bad to happen to them but GOD uses the circumstances in life to perfect us and lead us to fully trust in HIM and to minister to fellow humans.

Consider this, where is the Promised Land since the passion of CHRIST? Is it the United States? Is it Israel? It is heaven. The Kingdom of GOD is established upon earth in the hearts and through the lives of every Christian. Wherever Christians live upon earth establishes GOD’S Kingdom. When Christians compromise their stand for CHRIST and adopt the ways of the area where they live that is contrary to the leadership of GOD, that area suffers. Will we, as Christians in America, continue to compromise our walk with CHRIST? If so, America will suffer.

Christians have been set free from the bondage of sin and Spiritual death. But with this freedom comes the responsibility to be accountable to HIM. Even though Christians are secure in their relationship with GOD through CHRIST, they are accountable for their actions. They are to walk, live in communion and fellowship with GOD through CHRIST.

This has been the heart of this series of study. Christians do not have to run to the temple to sacrifice animals every time they sin because CHRIST’S shed blood paid the sin debt in full – past, present and future. They confess their sins and repent, which means to stop doing that sin or those sins. When they confess their sins, GOD cleanses and restores.

One may ask, “If your past, present and future sins have been forgiven, why do you need to confess them?” Confession is agreeing with GOD. Sin breaks fellowship with GOD and compromises our relationship with GOD. As we have seen in our studies, we commit sins unknowingly. The Holy Spirit reveals them and when HE does, we are to confess them. By doing so, it removes the opportunity for Satan to use this un-confessed sin to distract us from focusing upon serving our LORD.  

GOD’S desire is to have a 24/7 active relationship and fellowship with HIS children. HE wants Christians to live in relationship with HIM. That means to be totally immersed and consumed by all aspects of HIM and HIS presence in our lives. Does this mean that Christians run around in long robes and chant? No!!! It means that in everything we do we see and acknowledge the hand in of GOD in it. It is an interactive life with GOD through our relationship with CHRIST, as we walk upon earth. As I mentioned in the beginning of this lesson, “Christians seek the power of GOD when we need to seek the presence of GOD.” GOD is jealous and will not share HIS children with the manmade gods that we, as humans, desire.

Our scripture begins with GOD telling HIS chosen that very thing in verse 1. Verse 2, is a command from GOD to HIS chosen. In essence, GOD knew they were living in a land where the inhabitants worshipped all sorts of gods. The pagan worshippers attributed all sorts of prosperous results to these false gods. GOD was guiding HIS chosen, who were building a relationship with HIM, not to be duped into embracing these false notions that these man-made gods had any power because HE was in charge. HIS chosen needed to keep that in mind or else they would be ensnared by false ideology.

Christians do some strange things even today. I heard a Christian realtor talking about burying the stature of Joseph upside down in the front yard of a house a client was trying to sell. It sold. Satan ensnares anyway he can. Some may say, well the house sold. That is precisely the way Christians get duped. Christians must trust GOD in all things and HIS timing. 

Often, Christians see non-Christians prosper and wonder why GOD allows them to prosper materially while they suffer. When we live in right relationship with GOD, through CHRIST, we are content with the state we are in because our desire is to obediently serve GOD as directed by the Holy Spirit. It is vital that we understand that Christians can be in a bad situation because of disobedience. That is one thing but when we are in the will of GOD and in a bad situation, that is another. Christians may be in a so called bad place when they are in the will of GOD but it is for a purpose. Consider the three Israelites who were thrown in the fiery furnace for refusing to bow down to the golden stature. GOD had a reason and purpose for them and HE was there with them. The result was victory. (Daniel 3:1-30)   

Let’s read Leviticus 26:1-10: Covenant Blessings and Discipline 

1 “Do not make idols for yourselves, set up a carved image or sacred pillar for yourselves, or place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am •Yahweh your God.

Do we make idols today? Absolutely!!! We make them out of a career, living to embellish ourselves in the things the world has to offer - getting stuff. There is nothing wrong with many of these desires but it is a matter of whom or what controls our lives.

2 You must keep My Sabbaths and revere My sanctuary; I am Yahweh.

GOD was telling HIS chosen, in essence, “As you live in the Promised Land, stay focused upon ME. Keep in mind Who led you to the place where you live. Keep in mind that the entire earth belongs to ME and I don’t share you with any other gods or perversions.”

3 “If you follow My statutes and faithfully observe My commands,”

GOD said, if you, then I will. Most Christians look at this as a promise for material prosperity, which it can be but the most important promise is the presence of GOD in our lives. It is not that, as Christians, GOD is not present in our lives through the indwelling Holy Spirit; it is that we fail to acknowledge and embrace HIS presence. Often, we think of GOD as being in some other place than present in us. GOD’S presence is personal and precious. HIS desire is for us to seek the fullness of HIM as we interact with HIM daily. Notice the number of “I wills” in our next scripture.

4 I will give you rain at the right time, and the land will yield its produce, and the trees of the field will bear their fruit. 5 Your threshing will continue until grape harvest, and the grape harvest will continue until sowing time; you will have plenty of food to eat and live securely in your land. 6 I will give peace to the land, and you will lie down with nothing to frighten you. I will remove dangerous animals from the land, and no sword will pass through your land. 7 You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall before you by the sword. 8 Five of you will pursue 100, and 100 of you will pursue 10,000; your enemies will fall before you by the sword. 9 “I will turn to you, make you fruitful and multiply you, and confirm My covenant with you. 10 You will eat the old grain of the previous year and will clear out the old to make room for the new. 11 I will place My residence among you, and I will not reject you. 12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be My people. 13 I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, so that you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to live in freedom.

GOD’S promises are just as applicable today as the day HE spoke them. Christians are HIS chosen. HE tells Christians to live in lockstep with HIM and HE will blow their mind as they see HIS hand at work. Now a caution, if our desire is to have prosperity, we will fall upon our faces.

No, it is all about relationship and abiding in the presence of GOD through CHRIST. CHRIST makes it possible for Christians to have the right relationship with GOD but they need to maintain that relationship.

Christians do not need to go to the sanctuary or temple to meet with GOD. CHRIST made it possible for the Holy Spirit to dwell within each Christian 24/7. Christians are never without the presence of GOD in their lives but un-confessed sin can block their fellowship.

As we continue to read, we see the flip side of GOD’S commands.

Let’s read Leviticus 26:14- (Notice the escalation of GOD’S wrath as HIS chosen do not change their ways. Also, notice the word “if.” In this case “If” means choice. GOD always gives HIS chosen a choice and how they choose is very important.)

14 “But if you do not obey Me and observe all these commands— 15 if you reject My statutes and despise My ordinances, and do not observe all My commands—and break My covenant, 16 then I will do this to you: I will bring terror on you—wasting disease and fever that will cause your eyes to fail and your life to ebb away. You will sow your seed in vain because your enemies will eat it. 17 I will turn against you, so that you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even though no one is pursuing you. 18 “But if after these things you will not obey Me, I will proceed to discipline you seven times for your sins. 19 I will break down your strong pride. I will make your sky like iron and your land like bronze, 20 and your strength will be used up for nothing. Your land will not yield its produce, and the trees of the land will not bear their fruit. 21 “If you act with hostility toward Me and are unwilling to obey Me, I will multiply your plagues seven times for your sins. 22 I will send wild animals against you that will deprive you of your children, ravage your livestock, and reduce your numbers until your roads are deserted. 23 “If in spite of these things you do not accept My discipline, but act with hostility toward Me, 24 then I will act with hostility toward you; I also will strike you seven times for your sins. 25 I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant. Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a pestilence among you, and you will be delivered into enemy hands. 26 When I cut off your supply of bread, 10 women will bake your bread in a single oven and ration out your bread by weight, so that you will eat but not be satisfied. 27 “And if in spite of this you do not obey Me but act with hostility toward Me, 28 I will act with furious hostility toward you; I will also discipline you seven times for your sins. 29 You will eat the flesh of your sons; you will eat the flesh of your daughters. 30 I will destroy your •high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your dead bodies on the lifeless bodies of your idols; I will reject you. 31 I will reduce your cities to ruins and devastate your sanctuaries. I will not smell the pleasing aroma of your sacrifices. 32 I also will devastate the land, so that your enemies who come to live there will be appalled by it. 33 But I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw a sword to chase after you. So your land will become desolate, and your cities will become ruins. 34 “Then the land will make up for its Sabbath years during the time it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies. At that time the land will rest and make up for its Sabbaths. 35 As long as it lies desolate, it will have the rest it did not have during your Sabbaths when you lived there. 36 “I will put anxiety in the hearts of those of you who survive in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a wind-driven leaf will put them to flight, and they will flee as one flees from a sword, and fall though no one is pursuing them. 37 They will stumble over one another as if fleeing from a sword though no one is pursuing them. You will not be able to stand against your enemies. 38 You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you. 39 Those who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away because of their sin; they will also waste away because of their fathers’ sins along with theirs.

With freedom comes responsibility.

Let’s read Leviticus 26:40-46: (GOD’S love toward HIS chosen – forgiveness, when they confess or agree with HIM that they have missed the mark.)

40 “But if they will confess their sin and the sin of their fathers—their unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, and how they acted with hostility toward Me, 41 and I acted with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies—and if their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled, and if they will pay the penalty for their sin, 42 then I will remember My covenant with Jacob. I will also remember My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. 43 For the land abandoned by them will make up for its Sabbaths by lying desolate without the people, while they pay the penalty for their sin, because they rejected My ordinances and abhorred My statutes. 44 Yet in spite of this, while they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject or abhor them so as to destroy them and break My covenant with them, since I am Yahweh their God. 45 For their sake I will remember the covenant with their fathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God; I am Yahweh.” 46 These are the statutes, ordinances, and laws the Lord established between Himself and the Israelites through Moses on Mount Sinai.

GOD keeps HIS promises/covenants. GOD is a promise maker and keeper and not a promise breaker. GOD does not forget. When GOD remembers, it is HIS call to action.  Notice the word “if.” People have a choice. GOD has revealed both good and evil in our scripture for this series. HE revealed the results of obeying HIM versus disobeying HIM. Evil choices have evil and often predictable consequences. Obeying HIM results in happy or good consequences. GOD’S grace is revealed in these last verses. GOD’S desire is for all people to come to HIM through CHRIST.

The Bible is very clear that we are accountable for our sins. The Apostle Paul stated it clearly in Romans 6:23: (Amplified Version)

23 For the wages which sin pays is death, but the [bountiful] free gift of God is eternal life through (in union with) Jesus Christ our Lord.

JESUS established a new covenant through HIS shed blood and HIS willingness to give HIS life to pay the debt for sin in full for all who place their faith in HIM.

Let’s read Leviticus 26:40-41 using the New Living Translation:

40 “But at last my people will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors for betraying me and being hostile toward me.41 When I have turned their hostility back on them and brought them to the land of their enemies, then at last their stubborn hearts will be humbled, and they will pay for their sins.

I understand hostility of the people toward GOD but what about GOD’S hostility toward the people. Often, we think GOD is being mean to us until we see that what we thought was mean was actually was for our good. When we see this; our attitude toward GOD changes. When they saw truth and Christians see truth we confess and repent of our hostility toward GOD. We finally see HIS love and grace toward us.

When we do, HIS chosen confess not only their sins but the sins of their fathers. Often, our attitude toward GOD springs from our heritage. GOD was telling HIS chosen not to embrace certain pagan practices which might have been handed down by their fathers. When we see truth, we do not hold it against our parents for not revealing truth to us.

GOD’S desire is for each person to know truth and embrace truth. This is true of Christians. We can adopt false teaching, preaching, traditions which have been handed down because of family practices and traditions.

GOD spoke of the uncircumcised heart. The uncircumcised heart is the opposite of a circumcised heart. A circumcised heart is a contrite heart/life dedicated and committed to obediently serve GOD. A circumcised heart is a life in fellowship and relationship with GOD through faith in CHRIST and the miracle of rebirth.

If you have never asked CHRIST to forgive you for your sins and to come into your life/heart, now is the best moment to become a Christian. Blessings!!!