You Should Be Mine

Obedience requires saying yes to God and no to other powers that vie for Israel’s allegiance. The challenge is identified with Egypt and Canaan. The former is the power that enslaved Israel in the past, the latter the power that will tempt Israel in the future. Both are reputed to have built their powerful hegemonies in conjunction with sexual practices that chapters 18 and 20 prohibit, especially incestuous marriages (e.g., father-daughter, brother-sister). Israel’s history contains the memory of how influential such practices could be on its own ancestors.

The whole book of Leviticus is concerned with Israel’s being “holy” to the LORD.

On the one hand, it assumes that Israel is sinful & impure. On the other hand, it describes how to deal with sin and impurity so that the holy LORD can dwell in the people’s midst

Uncleanness is symbolic of “death”

Holiness is the polar opposite of unclean was, symbolize “life”

The entire Leviticus Holiness code (cha.17-27) deals with sanctification, ie. the idea of holiness affecting how one lives in the covenant community.

The NT applies to Christians the same principle of life stated in Leviticus 11:44, “be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16)

Leviticus can help Christians develop their notions of justice.

Leviticus 11:44–45 ESV

44 For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground. 45 For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”

Leviticus 19:1–4 ESV

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. 3 Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. 4 Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 20:7–9 ESV

7 Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. 8 Keep my statutes and do them; I am the Lord who sanctifies you. 9 For anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood is upon him.

Body- What Is Holiness?

The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language Chapter 20

“Do what I tell you, all my decrees and laws; live by them so that the land where I’m bringing you won’t vomit you out. You simply must not live like the nations I’m driving out before you. They did all these things and I hated every minute of it.

24–26 “I’ve told you, remember, that you will possess their land that I’m giving to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am GOD, your God, who has distinguished you from the nations. So live like it: Distinguish between ritually clean and unclean animals and birds. Don’t pollute yourselves with any animal or bird or crawling thing which I have marked out as unclean for you. Live holy lives before me because I, GOD, am holy. I have distinguished you from the nations to be my very own.

Holiness Is About Consecration

make my mind up

Leviticus 20:7 ESV

7 Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God.

Exodus 19:10 ESV

10 the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments

Exodus 19:14 ESV

14 So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people; and they washed their garments.

Holiness does not just happen. It is not a warm fuzzy feeling of saintliness. It develops from intentional decisions and affirmative actions. As it was for the Israelites, so it is for us. To be holy means to commit ourselves to following God and abstaining from actions that offend him.

Define Consecrate

he ptcp. mqdšyn, “consecrated, sanctified” (Palmyr. pael abs. masc. pl. pass. ptcp.) is used in connection with a grave complex dedicated to the descendants of the person who established it and already containing a corpse.

Luke 9:23–24 ESV

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

Consecrate- Have faith in the LORD

Romans 1:5–6 ESV

5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

Philippians 3:8–9 ESV

8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

Holiness Is About Separation

start to change and act different

Leviticus 20:23 ESV

23 And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them.

Imitation of Christ by Thomas Kempis

Open not thine heart to every man, but deal with one who is wise and feareth God. Be seldom with the young and with strangers. Be not a flatterer of the rich; nor willingly seek the society of the great. Let thy company be the humble and the simple, the devout and the gentle, and let thy discourse be concerning things which edify. Be not familiar with any woman, but commend all good women alike unto God. Choose for thy companions God and His Angels only, and flee from the notice of men.

John 15:19–20 ESV

19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

John 17:15–16 ESV

15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

James 4:4–5 ESV

4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?

1 John 2:15–16 ESV

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

Holiness Is About Sanctification

The LORD God starts cleaning me up

Leviticus 20:8 ESV

8 Keep my statutes and do them; I am the Lord who sanctifies you.

Psalm 51:5–6 ESV

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

Psalm 51:10–12 ESV

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Isaiah 6:5–7 ESV

5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

Isaiah 64:6 ESV

6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

John 17:15–19 ESV

15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Matthew 3:11 ESV

11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

1 Peter 1:2 ESV

2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

2 Thessalonians 2:13 ESV

13 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

Holiness Is About Purification

stop mixing unholy & holy or bifurcating my faith

Leviticus 20:25 ESV

25 You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean.

Bifurcation- the state of being divided into two branches or parts : the act of bifurcating

Many struggle with the inclusion of a verse about clean and unclean animals at this juncture, as it seems like an interruption to the flow of the chapter and a deviation from the topic being addressed. But it serves as another reminder that holiness has a comprehensive reach into our lives. It is neither just about piety nor just about morality. God claims total allegiance in every department of our lives and calls us to live with purity.

Holiness Is About Imitation

looking like our daddy. Looking like our big brother Jesus

Leviticus 20:26 ESV

26 You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.

Illustration: Imitation Sugar

A sugar substitute is a food additive that provides a sweet taste like that of sugar while containing significantly less food energy than sugar-based sweeteners, making it a zero-calorie (non-nutritive)[1] or low-calorie sweetener. Artificial sweeteners may be derived through manufacturing of plant extracts or processed by chemical synthesis.

Reduced to its essence, to be holy is to reflect the purity and character of God in one’s life, as we saw in considering

Genesis 1:26–27 ESV

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Leviticus 20:22–26 (TOTC Le): The laws given in Leviticus will serve as guides to the proper worship of God, as well as furnishing detailed rules for holy living. God’s elect people must be recognizably distinct from those who are not dedicated to the ideals of holiness, an emphasis that is equally valid for the people of the new covenant.

1 Corinthians 11:1 ESV

1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

John 13:34–35 ESV

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

1 John 2:3–6 ESV

3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

Transition To Close

Illustration: Pure Vanilla Extract vs Imitation Flavoring

Substitute Carefully

Pure vanilla extract, vanilla flavoring, imitation vanilla... what's the difference? Can they be used interchangeably in recipes?

By FDA definition, a "pure" extract means that the vanilla flavor can only come from vanilla beans and nothing else. This factor draws a definitive line between pure extract and imitation vanilla, but it relates only to the vanilla flavor and doesn't necessarily mean that nothing other than vanilla beans contributed to the overall product. It's not uncommon to find vanilla extracts that contain a little sugar or corn syrup, and this is perfectly legal because neither contributes to that vanilla taste.

Pure vanilla extract that has no added sugar or corn syrup will last forever, aging like a fine liqueur. The older the extract, the better it becomes, losing any bitterness even without the help of added sweeteners.

Imitation vanilla is made from artificial flavorings, which isn't surprising. What might raise your eyebrows is that most of these artificial flavorings come from wood byproducts, and those byproducts can contain chemicals. People with discerning palates usually find that imitation vanilla products have a harsh quality with a slightly bitter aftertaste.

Leviticus means in the original language of Hebrew which it was written:

“And he called”

Close- Worship through proper Sacrifice in Leviticus

Romans 12:1–2 ESV

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Philippians 2:5–11 ESV

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Romans 8:23–30 ESV

23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. 26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Leviticus 10:10–11 ESV

10 You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, 11 and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses.”

“I and the Father are one.”

God of peace sanctifies us

1 Thessalonians 5:22–24 ESV

22 Abstain from every form of evil. 23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

Holy through the grace of the revelation of Jesus Christ

1 Peter 1:13–16 ESV

13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

1 Peter 1:19

Romans 8:3

Hebrews 5:3

Hebrews 13:11

1 Peter 3:18

1 John 2:2

1 John 4:10

Isaiah 53:10

1 Corinthians 15:3

1 Corinthians 10:16-18

Temple of the Living God:

1 Corinthians 3:16-17

1 Corinthians 6:19

Made Holy by God’s Promised Holy Spirit:

Genesis 1:1-2

Corinthians 12:13

Ephesians 1:13-14

Helper:

John 14:15-17

John 14:26

Romans 8:26

Romans 8:14

Galatians 5:18

Holy unity of the Father & the son

John 10:30 ESV

30 I and the Father are one.”

John 10:32–38 ESV

32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” 33 The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” 34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? 35 If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— 36 do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? 37 If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; 38 but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,

And He tells me I am His own,

And the joy we share as we tarry there,

None other, has ever, known!

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