James chapter five. Verses 19. And twenty brethren, if Anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, let him know. that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
So without nagging, without condemning, without Self-righteousness in belittling someone. We are called to be a blessing. 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. Holiness Disassociates is the title of Pastor Rick's message, and he'll be teaching in Leviticus chapter 19. Verse 11, you shall not steal or deal falsely nor lie to one another.
Well, what if he didn't say that? Yeah. I could lie to you. Where's that in the Bible? I don't have to lie to you.
Well, it's a lot of places that you can't lie. Matthew 7, part of the Sermon on the Mount. Whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them. For this is the law. And the prophets.
This is the scripture. It's interesting how thieves don't like having stuff they stole. stolen from them. Liars don't like to be lied to. I mean, this is just madness, right?
Insanity of sin. Verse twelve. You shall not swear by my name falsely. Nor shall you profane the name of your God. I am Yahweh.
The pain. Don't trifle with God's holiness. is purity. The fact that Of God is not casual. and is not insignificant.
Even the atheists. Treat this God they don't believe exists as though He is a force to deal with. This is why they get so upset. At the mention of God, At all. sensible laws of God.
I don't believe atheists exist. I believe they are people that know God exists, they don't like it. They don't like him. They're angry? And they end up Persecuting Those who do believe, if they can.
All of communism is atheistic. It's a religion and it will not stand for a competitor. Thus the state religions Is there a way of somewhat controlling it. We Christians assaulted the earth. When it gets that bad, Christians have just taken the church underground and souls get saved there.
Profane here in verse twelve to dishonor, to disrespect, withholding. Respect due. or to treat as common, to deface, I it's not.
something that is difficult to understand. You not to swear falsely? You're not to profane the name of the Lord. Name is nature. and nature of God.
is found in his name. As the The Saviour. The one who loves us and is powerful enough to save us From sin. Verse 13. You shall not cheat your neighbour.
Nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning.
Well, clearly, you know, don't go ripping people off.
Something to tell a market is So scammers might not understand, right? In those days There was no regulated central banking system. I'll write you a check at the end of the way. I mean, it just didn't have that system. Then it was a day's pay for a day's work And you paid up that day.
That would go for a contractor. I'm sure you could make a deal with somebody if you so wanted to, but overall you were to not hold back. Proverbs. three verses twenty seven twenty eight Mm-hmm. cover it again.
I just had to hire a contractor to do something, and I got the bill yesterday. And I don't want to pay it. But I will write the check tomorrow. And so You know, you just you can't, you got to pay for it, trust God. Accounts receivable, accounts payable, all that stuff.
Yeah, yeah, but you still got to pay your debts. Verse 14, you shall not curse the deaf. Why, they can't hear you. It could be a little fun, right? For carnality.
and out if it's you or a loved one, you should not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind. But shall fear your God. I am Yahweh. We are not to harass or to bully or to belittle anyone, especially the handicapped. Meanness is not cute to God, it's not cute to the righteous, it's an ugly thing.
If you have contempt for somebody, Well, that's a key ingredient. Meanness. to be unkind, And if you Honor people. As God does, You will find that it's much easier to love. than to be harsh towards them.
But you know, who would do that? It's a serious thing.
Somebody's blind, you tripping. Hey, watch this. It's something in us when we see somebody fall. You know, slip and fall out in public or something, and no harm is done.
Sometimes you find yourself restraining laughter. I don't know why that is. If it weren't so, there wouldn't be whole YouTube, you know, 20 minutes of people falling. I saw one years ago. It was just hysterical.
This bus driver told the guy, walk across. The guy said, no, you go. And they both were going. And they jumped back and forth until the guy slipped and fell. And it was just Hysterical.
Well, I didn't know this verse existed then, so I didn't know you could do that. Anyway. You know, you think you grow out of these things. Be careful. The flesh is sneaky.
and never your friend That's what let's not take care of anybody. or show meanness to anyone. Verse 15: You shall do no injustice in judgment, you shall not be partial to the poor. Nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor.
Well, injustice is criminal. Play favorites in home in the home is an injustice. I'm the youngest in the family. I know my mom loved me more. Then my brothers and sisters because it comes with being the youngest.
Uh it's not trio, right? I never suspected. my parents of loving me more. And whatever punishments my siblings got, they deserved it. I was never made to feel like.
I mean, now they were older and they may have saw things that I didn't, but from my perspective, My parents were always fair, and I never felt that I was going to get mistreated. And I think in life I have been fair to people, as fair as I can be. And I would say, well, I learned it.
So, what happens if you live in a home where? There is injustice. The parents play favorites right in front of you. What happens to the other children? How do they grow up perceiving justice?
It's a big responsibility to be a parent. You do it right. Do it as the Scripture says. Do unto others as you'd have them do unto you. Verse 16: You shall not go about as a tale-bearer among your people, nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor.
I am Yahweh. Well, you can't believe everything you hear, but you can repeat it. That could be bad. I don't gossip, but I'll tell you who does. James 3, verse 5.
See how great? A forest a little fire kindles. And that's what gossip does. It can set something ablaze. Again, Praying for someone that you might feel tempted to gossip about will help you not gossip about them.
nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbour, Well, don't be a false witness and don't be negligent if there's something that you see is going to harm your neighbor. You do not have the right to look the other way. Maybe you notice a large branch hanging loose over their house. It's time to ring the doorbell. And say you got a big threat.
Rather than, boy, this is going to be nasty. Can't wait to see what happens when that thing hits. Verse 17, You shall not hate your brother in your heart, you shall surely rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because of him.
Well, this is New Testament doctrine. Matthew 5, again, has these teachings in it. We're not to stand by and watch. A professed believer. Bask in sin.
and remained silent.
Well, if they don't receive correction, then yeah, you know, refuse a divisive man after the first, second admonition or warning, and then after that. You just, you're going to be done. But Proverbs 27:6: Faithful are the wounds of a friend. Deceitful are the kisses of an enemy. And so hopefully we're In this picture, ideally.
You have decent people. Love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in truth. And if you love the Lord and you know you've been doing something wrong, And you tell a Christian, you know better than that. You know that's not right. Mm most of the time in my observation or Yeah, my observation it goes well.
Titus 3:10, reject the device of man after the first and second admonition. 'Cause then it just gets worse once they Won't receive the correction. Galatians 6:1, you who are spiritual, restore such a one who's caught up in temptations. James chapter 5, verse 15. Verses 19.
And twenty brethren, if Anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
So without nagging, without condemning, without Self-righteousness in belittling someone. We are called to be a blessing. Now When Peter and Barnabas Began to Treat the Gentile Gentiles in the Galatia region. Paul had to deal with that. And this is what it's talking about.
You should surely rebuke your neighbor and not that. Bare sin. because of him. Out of love, because it precedes that you shall not hate your brother in your heart.
Well, that's going to call for love.
Well, we read in Galatians 2 Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face.
Now here it comes. Because He was to be blamed. There was a reason why. It just was, you know what, I don't like his hair cut. What he was doing was not right.
And Paul saw it and saw the damage it would do and saved Christianity. The Galatians were once willing to pluck out their eyes for Paul. Until he corrected them. And they did recover, but not without drama. Galatians 4.
What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that if possible you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. What a noble thing to say about Someone. And to have someone feel that way about you. But then the next verse he says: Have I therefore become your enemy?
Because I tell you the truth. You're going into this legalism. You're telling Christ that He's not the way to salvation because these people have come up to you and tell you you got to do this and you got to do that. And now you're angry with me. for standing my ground on truth.
And so, when he began to tell the truth about their turning from Christ, they turned on him.
Well, what's the lesson in this? Am I this way? Do I pull little stunts like this with people? I mean, it's hard to be corrected, so put some effort into not getting into that corner. Anyway, verse 19.
You shall not take vengeance.
Okay. nor bear any grudge against the children of your people. But you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am Yahweh. He keeps putting that, I'm God, this is my commandment.
And We notice these things. This You shall love your neighbor as yourself is the most quoted Old Testament text in the New Testament. Matthew, Mark, Luke, they quoted. Paul quotes it, James quotes it. Mark 12, verse 31, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, just like it says here.
God points out that man has an abundance of self-love. When they came out with self-esteem for Christians, my response is just a fairly new Christian, it's a lie. We have so much self-love, we don't need self-esteem. We're already esteeming ourselves. We have so much self-love that Jesus said, you've got enough to give out, and you'll still have enough for yourself.
You shall love your neighbour. as yourself, which presupposes you have an abundance of self love. Verse nineteen You shall keep my statutes you shall not let your live stock breed with another you shall not sow your field with mixed seed, nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you. I am so glad. We're not in the Old Testament.
or under the law. That would be it for polyester. You couldn't have a blend. I mean, you know. Let's come back to this.
Now I think, and a lot of the commentators leave it at this, and I agree with them. It is directed at Current Idolatrous practices in Canaan and past in Egypt.
So between the Jews getting out of Egypt and coming into the Promised Land. These were things that the pagans did. Did. with association to their religion. Not that they just, hey, you know what, if you have wool and linen, you get a nice garment.
That wasn't the problem. The problem is they were doing it. but they slap spiritual significance onto it. Because it doesn't make any sense any other way. Crossbreeding of animals.
Is that forbidden for the Jew? According to this verse, Well, the prophets were notorious. to confront Violations, sins. Uh the breaking of the law. But they did not condemn the Jews in the days of the kings and after for having meals.
Mules are crossbred. a male donkey and a female horse. The fact that they do not condemn that. indicates it wasn't a big deal by the time of the kings. By the time Israel was in their land and relatively established, The idea is, God wants to dissociate his people.
From what the world is doing. Their religion. Their values. Because at first, you read this verse, you start drilling down and reading countless commentators on this, and you find, well, it's okay to cross breed d the same type of sheep, But you can do a cat dog.
Well, those things have their truth to them, but that can't be what's being said here because when you get to the garment, why can't I mix wool? With the linen.
Well Nobody's died from that. or even gotten sick from that. And again, the only Answer could be As is this entire chapter. Holiness disassociates Holiness separates. That's what the word saint means.
We are separated to God, we're separated from the world's views, we don't take our cues from them. Deuteronomy twenty two, eleven, You shall not wear garment of different sorts, such as wool and linen mixed together.
So it is upheld farther into their wilderness experience before they go into the promised land. And again, latter times in the history, it shows that the prophets. They were exposed to these practices and they made no mention to condemn it.
So I think the end result, and again, we don't have all the information, but we have. We have enough to crack that case.
Well, that's my take on it. Anyway, verse 20. Whoever lies carnally with a woman and is betrothed to Who is betrothed to a man As a concubine, and who has not at all been redeemed nor given her freedom. For this there shall be scourging. but they shall not be put to death because she was not free.
Well, this has to do with a concubine that is a slave. that is also a slave. It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world. I mean, it's just the crazy things. We look back from our relatively civilized society and now thinking at these kind of things, and we say, man, this is brutal.
Remember, not all slavery was Bad. Much of it was an improvement for the lives of those who were slaves. I'm so glad you people conquered my people and got me out of that mess. It shows up just a little bit. With Ruth.
I'm not going back to those people. And you know, that was she wasn't a slave, but It points out. You know, many of the American Indians in this country, they were killing each other. For hunting grounds, you know, the rights, you know, these are my buffalo, and you're killing them, and I'm going to war with each other. Many of them is recorded.
in the days of Lewis and Clark, of how miserable Many of them were.
So my point is we look at these things from outside of Our eyes today and We have to be careful. That we don't miss what was happening then.
Well, anyway, and I'm not supporting this, it's not where that's coming from. It's just that we don't be too quick to judge. without thinking it through a little bit. Rend them. The Hebrew word here for scourging.
So you had a man who was a Jewish man, and he had a concubine. that was going to become the official property of another man, and they have a relationship and they get caught.
Well, it technically isn't adultery is the idea, but it is a crime.
So instead of If it were a Jewish man and a Jewish woman, it would have been a death sentence for both. Here, scourging and restitution is called for. And scourging here, incidentally, is probably. monetary punishment. Because it's a different word for scourge than found elsewhere when it has to do with the lash, with beating somebody.
This also. likely involves non-Israelites. could be also Part of this problem here. The concubines were female servants that were brought into the family and regarded as family. Abraham and Hagar Jacob had Bilhah and Zilpah.
They were concubines. And that's the world that they lived in. Verse 21. And he shall bring his trespass offering to Yahweh to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, a ram as a trespass offering. Verse 22: The priest shall make atonement for him.
with the ram of the trespass offering before Yahweh, For his sin which he has committed. and the sin which he has committed shall be forgiven him. On top of the civil punishment there had to be A spiritual offering, a restitution before God. And man. Verse 23: When you come into the land and have planted all kinds of trees.
For food, then you shall count their fruit as uncircumcised. Three years it shall be as uncircumcised to you. It shall not be eaten. But in the fourth year, All its fruit shall be holy. A praise to Yahweh.
Verse 25, and in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. That it may yield to you its increase. I am Yahweh your God.
Well, again. holiness and disassociation. And God is continuing to enforce upon the people A discipline We Americans We do not like to be disciplined involuntarily. But when you come to Christ, you do. You have to begin to.
Conform. To Follow the Lord. And they were no different out of Egypt. They had a lot of problems, and God is. laying on them restrictions, disciplining them.
calling for them to trust him. This restriction is on newly planted trees, not existing fruit trees. You look at verse. 23 says, have planted all kinds of trees. For food, this is in the promised land and they ha which they're not in yet.
And then verse 25: that it may yield to you its increase. The Jews had fruit. when they got into the promised land. just not from juvenile trees. that they planted.
For five years, they could not eat that fruit. The first three years, They just let it grow. The fourth year they would Take from the tree and make an offering to the Lord, and then in the fifth year. It evidently would be more prolific this way, and thus verse 25: that it may yield to you its increase.
So good. God wants things done his way. which could have been a title for this, but It's too many words. Anyway, verse twenty six. And you shall not eat anything with blood, nor shall you practise divination or soothsaying.
Well, blood is a visible. An appropriate emblem of life and the sanctity of life. Blood is not food and not to be used as food, and the Jews had to be careful about how they prepared their food. There are forbidden forms also in this verse of witchcraft. All witchcraft is forbidden.
with the different forms of it. All of it involves demonic activity. Humans have a natural aversion to uncertainty. We want to know the future.
Well That's where they got in trouble. They would go to these. demons, these witches, and try to find out what's going to happen. as did King Saul. And all of these attempts at telling the future by tampering with the spiritual realm.
and it is forever forbidden by God. We're going to have to have contact with the dead or try to. You can't, and if you think you do, it's a demonic spirit impersonating. the person you're trying to contact. Prayer is to God only.
not to Any created being. King Saul again.
sought to be an exception.
Sought the witch at Endor. And in 1 Chronicles 10:13, God has the chronicler specify That God killed him for that. And he died, of course, within 24 hours of his attempted seance. to bring up Samuel. 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.
