January 13, 2023
“Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things because all the nations which I am expelling ahead of you are defiled with them. The land has become unclean...”
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“Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things because all the nations which I am expelling ahead of you are defiled with them. The land has become unclean and this is why I am punishing it – the land itself will vomit out its inhabitants. But you are to keep my laws and rulings and not engage in any of these disgusting practices, neither your citizen nor the foreigner living with you; for the people of the land have committed these abominations, and the land is now defiled.” Leviticus 18:24-27
History tells us that just before the fall of every major empire, there was a “libertarian” view towards sexuality throughout the culture—one of the last allowances being open acceptance of homosexuality.
Interestingly, chapter 18 is devoted almost entirely to sex and its perversion. Then the Lord warns Israel to stay away from those things because He is expelling Canaan’s inhabitants because of those very same perversions! God says they have defiled the land, causing it to vomit them out.
Leviticus is about the calling out of a people to be separate. It was not enough to call Israel out of Egypt. God also commanded Israel to drive “Egypt” out of itself!
This is not dissimilar to our situation as believers today. First, we are called out of the World to follow Jesus. Next, we are called to live “holy and presentable to God.” Many followers of Jesus take a passive view of morality. I often hear from believers, “My salvation is secure, so I can live however I wish.” That is not true.
While the true believer’s salvation is secured by God’s righteousness (not their own righteousness), the one who sins deliberately and habitually should do some healthy self-examination to determine if they are genuine believers at all. Believers are not sinless, but they should desire to sin less…and less as they progress in their relationship with Him.
In the days of the prophets, the Lord drove Israel out of the land because they failed to heed His warnings to be separate, choosing, instead, to follow the ways of the pagans.
Likewise, Jesus shared a conversation that will take place between Himself and “pseudo-Christians” at the end of time: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in Heaven.” Matthew 7: 21-23
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