You're free to be stubborn. But you can also listen to the facts and Being a Christian does not exempt you. You're not fact exempt. by being a Christian. You cannot just say, well, I feel it.
What does the scripture say? What's the reason behind the things that the Scripture says?
Well, the scripture does not provide a a statement Clearly saying, here's why I'm giving you these, other than to say that you can determine the clean from the unclean. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Leviticus. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching.
But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Leviticus chapter 11 with today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. A dissimilar menu for a distinct people. When God sent Moses to Pharaoh on one occasion in chapter eight of Exodus, He told Moses to say to Pharaoh, I will make a difference between my people and your people. And that's what this menu is all about. It is a menu Which has absolutely nothing to do with Christians.
As far as The menu goes. But the meanings, the meanings are the principles, the teachings, they're very important.
So what we find in this chapter is that picky eating is biblical. The first problem Daniel had when he got to Babylon. was the menu. and he made it known. Jewish dietary laws were given by God to teach his chosen people to choose carefully.
They were to be a different people, dissimilar Put the menu. And distinct as a people, which the men use is a sermon. both to them and to the Gentiles. Between what was clean and what was unclean. What is right and what is wrong.
And that comes out at the end of the chapter. In Leviticus sixteen, in the first verse, We're told that that chapter begins Right after what we call chapter 10, Nadab and Abihu.
Well, that tells us that Leviticus 11 to 15 Are not in chronological order. They're out of sequence. It wasn't Nadab and Abihu are slain.
Now, here's the dietary law. But they're put here. Two inform the Jews, and future generations of the Jews, That there is this necessity laid on them to understand the clean versus the unclean. Nadab and Abihu took strange fire, unauthorized fire. Unclean in the sense, in the ritual sense, and they offered it to God and they were slain.
They paid for it with their lives. And so that's The writer of Leviticus makes no attempt to give us a chronological order of events. He's making his points and he's doing it very well.
Well, that being the case... This chapter And the ones coming up to or to heighten the sensitivity of the people of God. in their approach to God. By all those who come near me, I must be regarded as holy. Those are the first words out of Moses' mouth after Nadab and Abihu were judged, and nothing has changed about that.
We Christians, we love grace, but God is as holy as ever. He does not change.
So these restrictions aren't based on healthy eating. contrary to popular Opinion. and for several reasons.
Now you can fold your arms and you can be determined to say, No, this is for good eating, but We're going to tear that apart. You're free to be stubborn. But you can also listen to the facts. Being a Christian does not exempt you. You're not fact exempt.
by being a Christian. You cannot just say, well, I feel it. What does the scripture say? What's the reason behind the things that the Scripture says?
Well, the Scripture does not provide a a statement Clearly saying, Here's why I'm giving you these, other than to say that you can determine the clean from the unclean. You gotta watch out when someone says dieting God's way. Paul cleared that up for us. He says, eating everything is now God's way of eating.
So we'll get to that quote. In a little bit.
So The unspoken reasons. become unmistakable if you are unbiased. But if you are just determined, no, this is to eat healthily, then, well, you're just going to go around life with the wrong view. When you get to heaven, I'm going to look for you. And I'm going to point it out.
So, we give you a scriptural reason first and then an empirical one. The first one is. Are we to think as Christians that God cared more for the health of the Jewish people. than he did for the Gentiles coming into the church. Because we're not put under these restrictions.
And if God is saying, well, I want my people to eat well and be healthy. But when the Christians come in, oh, who cares? Eat anything you want. Jesus said It's not what enters a man that defiles him, it's what comes out of his heart. But Paul, who had to deal with this all the time, it hounded his ministry.
And he's laying this out to Timothy. And he's talking about those that come along, and we pick it up, 1 Timothy 4, verse 3, about those commanding to abstain from foods which God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good. and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving.
Well, that's the New Testament statement on these dietary laws. Eating God's way is now eating anything you want. or not. None of the Gentiles suffered any observable health disadvantages Because they ate pork and camel and all the other ones. in the days of Moses throughout history.
If people got sick, it wasn't because of the meat. Maybe it was something else, but there's no evidence to say, aha, look, all of them are healthy and doing well and living longer because they eat yogurt. There was a commercial like that years ago.
So regardless of our understanding, The facts remain. And they were to obey what they understood. That's still today. We are saved and we are sanctified through the scripture we do understand, not through the scriptures we don't understand. You can't wait to understand all the Bible to get a relationship with God.
You don't have to. In fact, if you try to do that, then you are dismissing the teachings of the Bible. No, you just have to know enough, and the Jews knew enough. If they had no understanding on why God said, I cannot eat, The kite and the bat. The answer is He didn't say, don't eat it.
Oh, okay, I get that. And it's now an exercise of obedience which brings one into a clean relationship with God.
So the menu. Made it difficult for the Jew. And this is the key to the whole thing. The menu made it difficult for the Jews. To dine and mingle with unbelievers.
That is one of its most powerful points. Because when you get into the fish, for example, and it's true to some degree with all the meats, but especially with the fish. How do you know what fish is in front of you? The way, you know, a Chinese restaurant can take a lot of different meats and make you think you're eating what you ordered. And so this created a condition.
Of discernment. of separation. Sanctification, Old Testament sanctification. The dietary law has served as a social barrier. against socialization with idolaters.
Something that a lot of Christians don't seem to to learn. We don't need a menu to understand this. Paul tells us in Corinthians, come out, come out, be you separate.
Well, that's the word the word saint means that. Food was not the concern. Obedience and separation. Those were the concerns there in the wilderness with the Jews, and when they got into the promised land, and with the church.
Now, there may be hidden reasons God has for picking this animal over that animal, but He has hidden them if there is a reason. And that's how it remains. Anything speculation gets you in trouble. On such a topic as this.
So they had to learn. What to say no to?
Someone says, Hey, you know, I we've got uh some Pull pork. The Jew had to learn to say no. Because I serve God. We too. You know, someone may offer you to go to the saloon.
You say, no, I'm not doing that. Um we can go to a restaurant. But I'm not going there. And I you we don't let the unbelievers dictate the terms. And when we resist or tell them no, we also give them an education to go with it.
And that is a part of the process of preaching the gospel.
Now Again, churchgoers, they have a hard time connecting dots and drawing lines to these dots, unfortunately. Putting J uh Jesus' name On something does not automatically make it acceptable to Jesus. A lot of Christians think, well, at least they behave as though it does. It's not clean just because you put his name on it. What does his word say about it?
The word of God is the will of God, the mind of God, the position of God. How many Christians? Go for nonsense. And just have a hard time with precept upon precept, and they lack discernment. discernment would intercept how many Christian fads False spiritual movements popular subscriptural movies.
Celebrations, projects, programs, music. Motivational speaking. in the name of preaching. You know, a lot of people get in the pulpit, they're just motivational speeches. They have no basis in scripture for what they're saying, but it sounds really good.
And after a while, if a pulpit is just constantly talking about human relationships and doing better in life. and leaving out scripture. They are doing you an injustice. There is no eleventh commandment, Thou shall be fooled. But it's not practiced in many places where the name of Christ is mentioned.
I mean, you just look at the Roman Catholic Church. I mean, how could you how could you with a straight face justify the things they do. In the name of Christ.
Well Here's our menu, Philippians four eight. Not the only one, but this is on our menu. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true. Whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, pure. Lovely.
Of good report, if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. That's the Christian menu. Truth, nobility, justice, purity, loveliness. things of praise to the Lord. That's what's on our menu.
That's it. Paul said to Timothy: Meditate on these things, give yourself entirely to them. That's the calling of a pastor, to give yourself entirely to them, as much as you can give without damaging. your other responsibilities. Again, he tells Timothy, he says, he laments, he says, Oh, Timothy, guard.
What was committed to your trust? avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. Paul has to hit this again when he gets to Colossians about people touting knowledge on foods and holidays and other things which he says are of no value against the indulgences of the flesh. It's not like, well, I don't eat pork and I no longer sin. That's not going to happen.
All we gotta do is put you in back of a steering wheel, and we'll find out real quick. Yeah. Yeah. So Again, the dietary laws and the rituals. Through them, God teaches the reality of living His way and living In a cursed world with God calls for separation, discernment, and courage.
and of course dependency on the Holy Spirit. The sacrifices, the rituals, the diets, even the clothing and the cooking. were ordered by God to teach the Jews. to be a distinct dissimilar people, spiritually speaking. And They were to live differently from everybody else.
Are not the Christians to do the same? Are not your neighbors to say things? Why are you different? Why do you not. Why do you do the things?
Why do you... Why aren't you not a pain in the neck? But unfortunately, some Christian neighbors are. Anyway. This is what Leviticus 11, chapter 11 through 15, will be teaching us to say no, to comply, to conform, whether we understand or not.
When we get to the purification of the woman after childbirth, there may be questions. The bottom line, the answer to those questions is: obey it. God doesn't owe us an explanation.
So now we come to the first verse. We're about... 1,450 years thereabout from the birth of Christ, at the time these events are taking place. And looking at verse one.
Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, Speak to the children of Israel. Saying, these are the animals which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth.
Now, with on their earth, because of course you cannot give an exhaustive list. Huh, the orangutan's not on here. But its classification is So verses 3 through 8 are the animals, the turf. Verses 9 through 12. The surf.
Verses 13 through 19, foul. And then we have the appetizers, the insects. Maybe finger food. Verses 20 through 23. Ritually clean or unclean, it has nothing to do with the meat.
with the animal. The physical quality of the animal. Incidentally, Clean is mentioned, I think it's four times in this chapter. Unclean, how many times is that mentioned in this chapter? Thirty-two times.
That disparity is a sermon all by itself. The emphasis is on being clean. Watch out for the unclean. It is that subtle. In verse 3, Among the animals, whatever divides the hoof, having cloven hooves and chewing the cud that you may eat.
No mention of bee hooves. It behooves you, anyway. Here we have the first one, the turf.
Now, Deuteronomy 14 gives. An expanded list And a special note. It implies that that Takes place once they're in the promised land. And we'll come to that because there's. There's a tricky one in here.
As we get to the end, so the two requirements for the land creatures were divided hooves, and they had to chew the kud. If they did those two things, then you could eat them.
Now the cud chewing, the swallowing of food and storing it in a Inner compartment. I don't want to get too much into this. I committed myself. I'm not going to get it too much into these kind of things. And then sort of regurgitating it into chewing it again.
That's the idea behind it.
So it's part of their digestion process, but it's what God also used to help the Jews determine what they could eat. If they were in doubt, then don't eat it. Verse 4: Nevertheless, these you shall not eat among the Those that chew the cud, or those that have cloven hooves, the camel, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, it is unclean to you. We'll get a lot of that as it's unclean to you.
So the Lord, when he was straightening out the Pharisees one particular day, he said, blind guides. That's what he called them. They were not good shepherds. They were blind shepherds. He says, who strain out a gnat and swallow.
The camel.
Well, camel's an unclean animal. And so the Lord is sticking it to them. They knew that.
Well, you know, he didn't say and swallow a lamb. It's a camel.
So he hit them twice with that, and the gnat, too. They would strain out the gnat because it hadn't been properly bled. That's the idea, the concept.
So he said, You strain out a gnat, you won't swallow a gnat, but a whole camel you have no problem with. Where's the discernment in that? Where's the obedience in that? That's what he was saying to them. You lack discernment, and you lack obedience, and you're all messed up because of it, and everybody else has got to pay.
Then in Matthew 19, he talks about the rich man entering. He says it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
Now, those commentators that say, well, the eye of a needle was a gate outside, nonsense. The eye of a needle is used metaphorically as an eye of a needle. It's easier to thread a needle than it is for someone who is immersed in their wealth and disinterested in God. And of course, there's no rich people go to heaven because later they asked him, then who can get to heaven? And Jesus said, With man, it's impossible.
But with God, all things are possible. And there are many rich people that are going to be in heaven. And there are many of them in the Scripture. That were righteous and in heaven. But.
If you You do the math. You find out. Most of them didn't make it. That's what Christ is saying. In verse 5, he talks about the rock hyrax.
It is unclean to you. If you want me to read every single word, Raise your hand. I'm looking. down. Anyway, verse 6.
The hair.
Well And again, it is unclean to you. And he gives the reasons why, which you have no, you're smart enough to read those on your own. You don't need my comment there. The clean meaning the acceptable to God, the unclean meaning the unacceptable to God. And if you've ever been around these animals, you find out they're all just as unclean physically as the other one.
You can just have a large dog and find out how unclean they can be. Or a cat. I mean, just. Um anyway, now this verse prohibits incidentally, within this verse, you can't eat horses or donkeys. If you look at it, and then you'll you'll see that.
But the question arises, is do rabbits chew the cud? The word hare is a vague Hebrew word, likely a rabbit, and there are a few of them in here that are vague. That's why some of the translations may opt for different words, which is. Alone. Telling us that we're not to be as New Testament Christians too tripped up on this.
They knew what it was talking about. If you must find out that there's no contradiction and you want a biology class on this, then I go to Answers in Genesis or any of those Christian scientific sites that offer different fields of science, and they'll help you out with that. And the bottom line is the rabbits do have this double or this dual process of digesting their food. And they even look like it do. Their mouth is always going, you know.
Anyway, I would rather clean up behind a rabbit, though, than a cow. Anyway, verse 7. and the swine. Unclean to you.
Well, pork is a global favorite. I mean, there are some countries you can find pork faster than you can find a person. I don't mean pigs, I mean pork, prepared pig for eating. As swine In that ancient part of the world, in the days of Moses, in the days of Jesus. Swine were widely domesticated in that area of the world.
So, this particular dietary law, the menu, not just the part with the pigs, but all that's on it. is were restrictions that stood out to their neighbors and it marked identity. You could tell a Jew by what he would not eat. not so much by h what he would eat, And there's why we're getting more in the negative than the positives. And archaeologists have noted that they have proof That the Philistines and the Amorites in that part of the world kept pigs for consumption.
But when they moved into the Jewish areas, they can't find evidence of domesticated. Pigs for consumption.
So the evidence indicating that the Israelites and their law. They obeyed it. And it marked their identity. Made them distinct. Later, the Greco-Roman writers recorded the Jews' avoidance of pork.
As a key distinction, dissimilar. Eating habits, and they noticing it gave opportunity for the Jew to say, We're commanded in our word not to eat this, and we're not going to eat it. You've got your religion, you follow your religion.
Well, we've got ours, and we follow ours. And this is why, you know, they've been, you know. Those that have Sacrifice pigs at the temple of the Jews to try to strike at them because they understood the distinction enough. Verse 8: Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. They are unclean to you.
Well, we also remember that Jesus Cast out the demons and they went into the pigs just outside of the promised land.
So we know they were there. In this verse here, it prohibits, well, first, it doesn't say they are unclean to humanity. Um it's this is for the Jews. They could use camels. And they could use pigs.
They just weren't to touch the dead bodies of these animals, and if they did, they were ceremonially unclean and had to go through the purification steps to get right. They weren't stoned for it. But that no way allowed them to eat these animals. Verse nine These you may eat of all that are in the water. Whatever in the water has fins and scales, whether in the sea or in the rivers.
That you may eat.
So now the surf part: fresh water and salt water, verse 10, they could eat those animals that fit those requirements. Catfish would have been prohibited. You weren't to eat them for a shrimp, for example, hand, they missed it out. Alaskan king crab. King You know who I mean, those women with the long legs.
Yeah. Anyway, in verse 10, but all in the sea or in the rivers that do not have fins and scales, all that move in the water. or any living thing which is in the water, they are an abomination to you. Verse 11, they shall be abomination to you. You shall not eat their flesh, but you shall regard their carcasses as an abomination.
So restrictions, of course, aren't new. Adam and Eve from the very beginning were restricted from eating from the tree of knowledge, of good and evil. Noah had restrictions as he populated the ark. Abraham understood restrictions when he made his offerings. Discernment has always been a part of the people of God.
The problem is What he says here, for example, in verse 11 and 10: they are an abomination to you.
Well, and As Eden's forbidden tree should have been an abomination to Adam and Eve. Instead, Eve. Reclassified sin and Adam caved to it. That's their guilt. Two separate acts.
Reclassifying sin is how King Saul lived. And there was nothing good about King Saul. And what a lesson there, a warning to tell us: do not reclassify sin. And thank you. Thanks for tuning in to today's edition of Cross Reference Radio.
Pastor Rick Gaston is currently going through the book of Leviticus. We're glad you joined us. We trust that you're gaining some valuable insights into God's Word as we go through this Old Testament book. Cross-Reference Radio comes to you from Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Virginia. If you'd like to subscribe to our podcast, you can do so by going to your favorite app store and downloading from there.
For any additional information about this ministry, we invite you to visit our website, crossreference radio.com. Make sure to come back again for the upcoming edition in the book of Leviticus, as Pastor Rick has much more to share. We thank you for being with us right here on Cross Reference Radio.
