God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He hasn't backed away from any of this. They crashed through the guardrails, the guilty ones, the ones that would practice these things. They crashed through the guardrails of the first commandment. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
And look what they did. Look at the crimes they committed. They would rather live without the child than obey God. Because maybe this Ammonite God would give them what they wanted. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Aston.
Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Leviticus. Please stay tuned. 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.
Now here's Pastor Rick in Leviticus chapter 20 on this edition of Cross-Reference Radio. Verse 4 And if the people of the land should in any way hide their eyes from the man. when he gives some of his descendants to Molech, And they do not kill him, then I will set, verse five, my face against that man and against his family. And I will cut him off from his people. and all who prostitute themselves With him to commit harlotry with Molay.
So Moses is hitting this one pretty hard. There's no middle ground when it comes to siding against wickedness. No neutral zone. You're either against it. Or you're in with those who advocate it or look the other way.
No compromise of justice in any of this.
So If they knew the sin and remained silent They forfeited their lives. A death sentence for that. Achin's family went through this very thing. They knew that he had stolen the materials that God forbid him to steal: the gold and the clothing. And they remained silent.
But not innocent. They were Accessory after the fact. They were guilty of that. Accessories after the fact. cover the crime up through silence.
Romans 1, Paul says this still goes on, and it's still a sin, who knowing Romans 1:32, the righteous judgment of God. If those who practise such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them. Yeah, because you empower them. Maybe you're not engaged in the actual sin, but you're voting into place people who will write laws in their favor. And What do we say to them?
Well, we don't execute. We're Christians. We're not the government. We do not Carry out. Capital punishment.
But we can warn Of eternal punishment, which is worse. The wrath of God is upon them.
So not only Is this an act of the flesh when someone sides with evil. one remains silent in its presence, It is an act of the soul. And so, when Paul writes to the Ephesians, remember, Ephesus had a giant temple of demons there, the temple to Diana, and they had other temples there too. She wasn't the only one they were worshiping. And he writes to that church: Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
1 Corinthians 13, 6. Speaking of agape love, it does not rejoice in iniquity. You know, I have watched People applaud people who drove home drunk. Oh, I'm so glad you made it, Hannah.
So funny. We don't rejoice in iniquity, but we rejoice in truth. The fact is you were a A weapon behind the wheel. You may not get to say it that way because we have to be strategic. But we gotta say it.
In the previous passage, The perpetrator was addressed In this Verses four and five. The silent witnesses are addressed. How many people know this in the Bible? Again. Aiken and his family.
They were all judged. They were judged for their silence. And he was judged also. They were executed. Not the entire family.
There were some survivors, the younger ones. And I will cut. him off from his people, that is put to death. absolute intolerance of human sacrifice. I'll come back to that meaning of cutoff briefly in a little bit.
and all who prostitute themselves with him to commit harlotry with Molech.
Well, that prostituting of the self, then the harlotry. Illicit Intimate activity, illicit. Contact. Wilful contact. Hosea the prophet wrote about The practices of the people in the north.
He says, My people ask counsel from their wooden idols. And their sticks inform them. Staff is how it's translated, but it's just a stick that somebody's polished. For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray. and they have played the harlot against their God, Well God is the same yesterday, to day, and forever.
He hasn't backed away from any of this. They crash through the guardrails, the guilty ones, the ones that would practice these things. They crash through the guard rails of the first commandment. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. And look what they did.
Look at the crimes they committed. They would rather live without the child than obey God. Because maybe this Ammonite God would give them what they wanted. They believed this horrific act of murder. would be a benefit to them and somehow their society.
Well, the flesh is always short sighted. It only looks as far as it what it can get. Doesn't factor or calculate the consequence. Maybe if Judas Iscariot had looked beyond The betrayal and say, wait a minute, if I do this, where am I going to go when I die? He did not believe he was filled with Satan.
Well, he did not believe, period. He was filled with Satan, period. One has to have no conscience to commit such selfish and heinous acts as we read about here in these first five chapters of Leviticus twenty. As the Bible teaches, the wicked have no shame. Their conscience has been seared with a hot iron.
To commit, to advocate, or to hide human sacrifice was to become a Target of God, of Yahweh. Verse 6, and I'd say this: if you got away with it, if you get away with it in your life, you won't get away with it after your life. The punishments after life always Exceed the punishments in this life. Verse six And the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits to prostitute himself with them, I will set my face against that person, and cut him off from his people. King Saul He agreed with this verse.
Until he saw that a witch could be useful to him. When the pressure was on, Then he abandoned, His convictions, which really weren't a convictions at all. They were opinions. That's it. Exodus 22, 18, You shall not permit a sorceress to live.
Well, verse 27 of this chapter will also ring in on that.
So when it came time. For Saul to face the Philistines He had a bad feeling about the whole thing, And in his desperation he sought The Underworld. Through a witch. 1 Samuel 28.
Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented for him. and buried him in Ramah in his own city. And Saul had put the Mediums and the Spiritus out of the land.
Now this is important to help us get to that meaning of cut off. Cut off usually does mean killed, but not always, and this is one of the examples. Yeah. Hebrew word. Verse 9 of Hebrews of 1 Samuel 28.
Then the woman said to him, This is after he goes, first of all. People in his entourage knew there was a witch in the land. And they knew where she was. and they knew that Saul had put them all out of the land. But they didn't say anything.
See, they didn't blow the whistle, they were enablers. And then when the pressure was on and Saul said, where can I find a witch? Oh, I know where one is. Then the woman said to him, This is when Saul is now there. He's going to be dead in less than 24 hours.
Now he's in the witch's house. And she says, Look, you know that Saul what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the spiritists from the land.
Well, back to verse 3, Saul had put the mediums and the spirits out of the land.
So sometimes cut off means to banish. And most of the time, though, it means to kill. But here's an example of. being put out of the land on fear of being killed. And she continues That, why then do you lay a snare for my life to cause me to die?
Saul made this law. And if he finds out I'm here acting as a witch, he's going to kill me because I was supposed to be out of the land. But Saul said, Don't worry about it. I got bigger fish to fry. And, of course, he wanted to speak to Samuel, and Samuel is permitted to speak to him.
and rebukes him. And by letting Samuel come forward, God is saying, I reign the underworld too. I reign it all, I'm over all of it. Samuel was not in hell, he was in righteous Sheol as opposed to unrighteous Sheol. And when Christ was crucified for us.
Set the prisoners free from righteous shiol, But those in unrighteous the unrighteous Underworld, the spiritual realm. They are still there. Verse seven now of Leviticus twenty, verse seven Moses tells the people, Consecrate yourselves, therefore, be holy. For I am Yahweh your God, verse 8, and you shall keep my statutes and perform them. I am Yahweh who sanctifies you.
Don't be that way, the way of the sinner. Don't do it. That's what God is saying. Follow me. Make yourselves available to God.
That's a part of consecration, being separated to God. For us, the highest meaning of Consecration means to stay away from sin and to draw close to God. That's sanctified. That's why we're called saints. Verse 9: One of the reasons why, the other is Christ has separated us, He's put us on the side through His.
Work on the cross and his resurrection. And the other side of it is as we developed in Christ. We want to draw further and further from the world. As far away as we can. And we stumble and we fail.
But we're still his. How salvation is not made of paper tigers. The finished work of Christ Irritates hell to no end. And we have to be Wise as serpents and harmless as doves when it comes to these things. Anyway, we continue here.
Verse nine. For every one who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother, his blood shall be upon him.
So there's a capital crime again. He said, I want you to be holy. But if you're running around badmouthing your parents, you're not holy. What if you had rotten parents? Oh, fine.
You the facts are the facts. You can't deny those. But you don't have to go around. Broadcasting it, others will do it for you if they're so bad. And many folks have had.
Awful parents. And you just don't go down that road. You spend your energies elsewhere. It's not going to make anything better. And it's very easy to criticise parents until you've had children long enough.
And then you learn. But not everybody, some people know without having to have children. It's not that hard to figure out.
So, verse 9, of course, about the parents: no respect for those who disrespect. Parenthood. That's the teaching there. Jesus reminded the Pharisees who are teaching the people To Spend money at the temple or save money. and not help their parents.
Mark seven, he says, For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother. And he who curses father or mother, let him be put to death. None of these Capital punishments Are withdrawn in the New Testament. You get to the New Testament, Jesus doesn't come along and say, okay, that one's no longer. serving us.
Come to the woman, we'll come to her in this chapter, woman in John chapter 8. because she was guilty of a capital crime. But Jesus said Saved her life. Pardoned her. And we'll find out why.
Verse 10: The man who commits adultery with another man's wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress. shall surely be put to death. God decided this was an adequate judgment. To restrain sin, not to reform the sinner.
Well, in John 8, the woman is caught in the act. And they bring the woman to Jesus and say, We caught her? The law says kill her.
Well, Jesus did not have to say, Well, where's the man? Because the law says if he was caught in the act, you had them both. How come they're not both here?
Now we got an injustice going on. Hosea prophesied. That this would be the very thing that would happen. Hosea 4:14, I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry, nor Bribes, bribes when they commit adultery. For the men themselves go apart with harlots, and offer sacrifices with a ritual harlot, therefore people who do not understand will be trampled.
God is saying, You're not going to use me. To Satisfy your injustices. And that's what Jesus was faced with. And so he said, He did not say, Well, you must not be a believer, lady. He said, Your sin is forgiven, go.
And sin no more. Those guys are creeps. He didn't say that part. But that's what happened. They were so obnoxious that When he said, You without sin throw the first stone.
They were ready to stone her anyway until he started writing down things. Probably What their sins were and who they were with. And they saw that. We got to get out of here. and so from the eldest to the youngest they left, Anyway, so I'm saying that moment is more, is about There's more to that story than just the law.
There's grace in action. And if the Lord can be forgiving to David, If he can be forgiving to that woman, He can be forgiving to me. And if you don't know that, Satan's going to trip you up real good. You will, if you make, or he'll use you to trip somebody else up. And tell her you're stuck now.
You're going to hell now. Get out of my sight. You might not word it that way, but your heart might be having that approach. Grace is so much better. It's so much better to look for the goodness of God, solutions.
To combat sin. and keep it from repeating. itself Which is Part of what this Old Testament law was all about. And I say that because I think there are some Christians. That they almost relish judgment.
Their approach to Scripture is let's see who we can damn. And instead of seeing Who they could Say, for example, When Demas I brought this up before I know when Demas left Paul Where mentally do you put Demas when you read that? Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world. Does your heart say And so he's going to hell. Or Yeah, he went to Thessalonica.
Paul says, There's a church there, there's a good church there. Maybe Demas. will rebound. You see? How do we approach the problem?
I think it matters a lot. and how effective we can be in serving the Lord.
Well, verse 11: The man who lies with his father's wife has uncovered his father's nakedness. Both of them shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.
Well, we covered this in chapter 18. A crime beyond adultery. Paul covers it in 1 Corinthians 5, and he has a no-nonsense attitude. Get that guy out of your church. But Maybe you can restore him.
And what happens? He gets restored, as opposed to saying, no, he crossed the line. That's it for him. That's not how Paul handled that, and he was brought back into the fellowship. Verse 12: If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death.
They have committed perversion, their blood shall be upon them.
Well, capital crimes. Judah in the book of Genesis was deceived by Tamar. It was not an intentional sin, but a sin nonetheless. Again, many of these are covered in chapter 18 of Leviticus. Verse 13.
He talks about homosexuality. And he says it's an abomination. That's what he says here in verse 13. They shall surely be put to death, their blood shall be upon them.
So that's a capital crime, a death sentence. And today, there are people that know this. Relish this sin. Advocate it, publish it. And hate anybody associated With this Bible, because of this.
Well, God would have none of this. And all of these again carry over into the New Testament. Romans chapter 1, verses 26 and 27, 1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Timothy 1:10. And then Even Jude Verse seven The addition Placed on this sin. Committed an abomination, elevates this particular sin.
Over some of the previously mentioned capital crimes. Of course the first one with Molek I was hit the hardest. Verse 14, if a man marries a woman, And her mother, it is wickedness, they shall be burned with fire, both he and they. That there may be no wickedness among you.
Now, this was brought up in chapter 12. 18, but not the sentence of burning them with fire.
Well, it is here. a public example.
Okay.
Some um 1600 years before Christ, that's where we are. And these kinds of things were not uncommon and were condoned by. many of the pagan cultures. And Moses knows that these people have a proclivity to sin as their neighbors. And so he's trying to Salt the earth or salt of the people, the nation.
That's again salt is that agent that slows down corruption. Leviticus 21, 9 Also says to burn the perpetrator, but there it is the daughter of a priest who becomes a harlot. Very heavy. Heavy sentence there. Looking back at chapter 18 in Leviticus verse 17.
They are near of kin to her, it is wickedness.
So God. Adds that, he says it here too: that there may be no wickedness among you, but In chapter 18, he adds They are near to kin. To her, it is wickedness.
Now, verse 15. We have some other atrocious sins as well. It was verse 16: for a man and a woman, the death sentence was. There for this heinous capital crime in Israel, but also. The innocent animal.
which suffer. Or be in this. And you say, well, why? Perversity causes innocent victims. That's what it does.
It doesn't you just get the guilty, it gets the innocent too, as do all of these capital crimes. Verse seventeen Now talks about the sister or step sisters or half sisters. They shall be cut off in the sight of the people? And those who commit the crime of verse 17 will bear their guilt. you know, what they deserve.
You could say it that way.
So these are boundaries against unbridled lusts. And uh When they were maintained, Israel did better.
So in the book of Judges, which is You know, which is worse? The way that people behaved in judges, or the way they behaved in kings. It's a foot race, a photo finish on that one. But When we come out of the period of Judges. Which is really bad.
We come out with Samuel. And things do get better. Even though King Saul is a monstrosity, King David follows. And David, God did so much through David, preserved so much of what David had to give He is the greatest of all the human kings, King David. Josiah was great, but David was in a whole nother class, and had Josiah lived as long as David did.
More things might have surfaced about him, but that's speculation. I love them both. How can you not? But How much has King David influenced the righteous? with his psalms, just counting his psalms.
There's one particular author I don't really care for. He's so judgmental. And he talks so negatively about David. That uh You want to say, and what did you do? And what have you done for the law?
What psalm have you given us? What giant have you slain? What lessons uh when are you called the sweet psalmists of Israel? Fine, you can talk about David's sin, nobody's sweeping that under the rug, but you better limit that kind of stuff, or else you're just showing everybody you're walking around with a chip on your shoulder. I want to so badly say the name of I don't want to.
I'm not going to. Anyway. For a small fee later if you want to know. But this is interesting. Verse 20 and The penalty that they shall bear their sin, they shall be childless.
For this other incestuous type sin of verses twenty and twenty-one. The penalty is vague. To us, it's not vague to Moses. Moses knew where this was going, he just didn't give us the details.
Now Various commentators ring in on this. I disagree with them. And they don't even agree with each other. Because they have scenarios, well, it's you know that For instance, one is Well, the child will die before the parents and that's the judgment.
Well, God says he's not gonna punish the child for the parents' sins. And that scenario would be doing just that.
So I disagree with that one. And there's a couple of others, and I disagree with them. I think the answer is I don't know what it means. 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.
