The first wave of consequence, verses sixteen through seventeen. Judgments upon the nation of covenant breakers. And that's critical to all that's happening here. This is not for individuals.
Some of it certainly applies, spills over to individuals. Because nations are made of individuals. But it's with the nation of Israel in mind. The significance of that is seen to this day. You can have a nation, and not that they are, but the majority of Jewish people in Israel do not believe Jesus is their Messiah.
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 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. And now here's Pastor Rick with part two of his message called Consequences, not coincidences in Leviticus chapter 26. In judges and third chapter in the children of Israel again. Did evil in the sight of Jehovah?
So Jehovah strengthened Eglon, king of Moab, against Israel because. They had done evil in the sight of Jehovah.
So already we see in this third chapter, I've already skipped so much other stuff already taking place in Judges. We just get right to. Eglon. Elid would deal with him. Um What we're going to get now are six.
Waves of chastisement as consequence For disobedience. In verse 16, He says I will do this to you. In verse 18, and after all this, And then verse 21, then if you walk contrary to me, and that word contrary in the Hebrew is closer to our word. Combative. If you're hostile, We'll come back to that one too.
Verse 23: And if by these things, if you don't fix it, Verse 27, and after all this, and then verse 32, I will bring the land to desolation. God is saying, I'm not kidding with you. But it works two ways. When God says, Turn to me and I will forgive you. He's still not kidding, he's serious about that.
He wants people to come back, to repent. And that's why Paul could say. with full confidence. Where sin abounded, grace did much more. God knows how.
to make a distinction between Those who are Not serious and those who are serious. That's the whole point of the woman. who had the issue of blood. and she just touched the hem of his garment, And he recognized it because he distinguished the jostling of the crowd. From a broken and contrite heart, and he singled her out And he blessed her.
The first wave of consequence, verses sixteen through seventeen. Judgments upon the nation of covenant breakers. And that's critical to all that's happening here. This is not for individuals.
Some of it certainly applies, spills over to individuals. Because nations are made of individuals. But it's with the nation of Israel in mind. The significance of that is seen to this day. You can have a nation, and not that they are, but the majority of Jewish people in Israel do not believe Jesus is their Messiah.
And yet God's still blessing that nation because they're part of his plan. You cannot help but to rejoice.
However. Israel terrorizing the terrorists. Right now, there are a lot of terrorists in Hezbollah that aren't answering their phone today. They're not going to their mailbox. They're curled up in some closet somewhere, afraid to leave.
A spectacular miracle. This is a miracle. Who else could pull that in case you don't know what's happened? You are missing it.
So Just the genius of God and how He has protecting his people because we're that close. to the time of Jacob's trouble where that protection is going to be moved away. And this is why you have so many people that hate America in America because they want this globalization, because Satan needs to get the protection of Israel. America's help on Israel out of the way. I would like to go into it more, but I don't have time.
I want to get back to what they've done.
So The Israelis We're able to tap into the phones Of these terrorists. That's too nice of a word for them, these demons. Don't forget they have no problems with horrific leap butchering even children. People have they cause it all. Anyway.
So, Israel was able to take out some high-value targets because they're getting this information.
So, the bad guys say, well, we're going to stop using phones.
So they cannot Breaking, you know, get there'd be no security breach. And somehow, Israel, even though Israel is not. They're not coming out saying, yeah, we did that. Nobody else did. Israel was able to get to the supply chain.
of the pagers that they decided to use instead of phones. and they put explosives in the pages. by infiltrating the supply chain. And there they are, the Hezbollah. And they've got these little pages on, and then they say, okay, let's do it.
So they page them. And they all blow up, almost 3,000 of them. It's incredible. Unprecedented in human history. It's it's amazing.
Anyhow, I'm not relishing in the evils of war I am delighted to see God at work. And he is backing up his word. They've been pushed out of their land twice because of themselves. they will not be pushed out again. But there will be the time of Jacob's trouble.
When they almost will, but God will rescue them.
Well, I don't know what that has to do with this, but from the moment I heard it, I wanted to work it into the next time I was up here.
So, this first wave of judgment that we're on, verses 16 and 17, are again upon those who are breaking the covenant. Judges chapter 2, verses 13 through 15. They forsook Jehovah and served Baal and Ashereth's. And the anger of Jehovah was hot against Israel.
So he delivered them into the hands of plunderers who. despoiled them. and he sold them into the hands of their enemies. all around so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went out, The hand of Jehovah was against them.
For calamity. as Jehovah had said, and as Jehovah had sworn to them, And they were greatly distressed. And God raises up the judges to deliver them when the people call out in repentance.
Well, that episode in Judges is testifying to this prophetic section these prophetic consequences. that God said it would happen and it happened just like he said.
Now initially the people were punished in their own land. by the Midianites or the Moab or whoever. whatever enemy was coming against them. But By the time we reach the sixth wave of these prophetic consequences in verse thirty nine They are taken out of their land. and they're dealt with.
And that would include the Babylonian captivity and also the diaspora under the Roman rule. As for verse 16, terror, wasting disease, fever, sorrow of heart, the consequences are in greater detail than the blessing, as I've been mentioning.
so that when they befall the nation, No one can write it off as coincidence. That's why they're in the details. Why does it appear disproportionate?
Okay, here are the blessings. It's easy to see. But why so many details about? The judgment, the chastenings on the Jewish people for turning against God, so that when it comes, No one can rightly say Ah, it's just a fluke. All people get judged.
or have disaster.
Well, the saint would point to the scripture and say, No, not in this case. In this case, God said it would happen, and it happened just like He said. And if that's not grounds for you to repent and believe and trust God in your Bible. then you will suffer consequence too. None could dismiss your judgments.
as natural occurrence.
So that is the answer to the question: why on Mount Ebal were there curses or not the curses, but there are consequences we can escape. That's why they are detailed. The consequences are detailed on Mount Ebol. And it's written in the scripture and preserved. He says, And you shall sow your seed in vain, verse 17.
For your enemy shall eat it.
Well, that's the story of Gideon. Thrashing wheat in the winepress when he should have been thrashing wheat up on a hill somewhere. The second wave of judgment, verses 18 through 20, beginning in verse 18, and after all this, if you do not obey me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
Well, theirs was a willful brazen rejection of Jehovah's words and his works. still happens today. The loss of God's favor. And therefore opposition from God for the impenitent Also, there is the implication that even in the midst of judgment. There would be opportunity to repent, and that's why they're in waves.
And so he says here: after all this, if you do not obey me.
Well, why after all this?
Well, because. These consequences were to get you to repent. which they sometimes did. Obedience was possible. It is possible for them to obey.
Verse twenty one is repeated, verse twenty three and twenty seven also. But seven times. Why the intensification of punishment?
Well, that's That's what sin does to us. When Jesus gave the parable of the man who had a demon, The demon was cast out. The man put nothing back in its place. He did not draw close to God, that's the idea. The demon comes back, because they do circle back.
Evil circles back. And he finds the place cleaned and swept, and it appealed to him, and he brought seven more with him, and the man's state was seven times worse. And so, because the Jewish people represented God to the world, their accountability to him was public. And the Gentiles are capable of getting it. Understanding that Just like they can see a Christian who's talking the talk and not walking the walk, and they can call you out on it.
But that doesn't mean they're going to convert. In Jeremiah chapter 40, We read this, and the captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, Jehovah, your God, has pronounced this doom on this place now. Jehovah has brought it. and has done just as he said, because you people Have sinned against Jehovah and not obeyed his voice, therefore this thing has come upon you. He spot on.
Well, Jeremiah didn't need to hear that. He's the one that's been preaching it. But he publishes it. He wants future generations to know how this works. If you know how the system works, you've got a chance.
A prevailing in the midst of sin. And that's why again. Jeremiah said, Oh, this is gold As brokenhearted as Jeremiah was, it seemed like his whole ministry was miserable. But He never stopped serving. And when he complained to God about God, He got up and he went and did his job.
He's one of the most magnificent characters in all scripture. I mean, almost all of them are magnificent when you look at their lives. In verse 19, I will break the pride of your power. I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze, and your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.
Well, their prayers would not Get out of Earth's atmosphere, would not reach heaven. If they were Hostile towards him. Remember, the word translated in the New King James in this chapter, and only in this chapter does it show up. Is combative. If you're combative against hostile towards me.
The rains will stop, the crops will fail. They were not allowed to be affiliated with God. and sin without judgment. They were not allowed to use his name. And not be held accountable in public.
That's what this chapter is about. There's a consequence. It is not a coincidence. is a consequence to their sin. And the third wave begins in verse 21 of Leviticus 26.
Then, if you walk contrary, and there's that word again only shows up in this chapter in all the Bible, in all the Hebrew. Part of the Bible. Uh if you walk Contrary to me and are not willing to obey me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues. according to your sins. He's going to repeat the seven times.
The intensity remains.
Now this word Contrary, meaning combative, Does it show up? Does it have a parallel in the New Testament? Because that's what we're interested in. The Old Testament to us is not a history book. I mean, that has history, sure.
There's that element. But it's much more than that, it's God's word. And it's God's character. And it's what God wants and what He does. The nature of God and his relationship to people, to sinners.
That's what the Old Testament begins to help us with. And that's why the New Testament saints are always quoting it. But they're giving it to us. in the light of the Messiah. Paul, we've already quoted one where he talks about the body being a temple of the Lord.
Now he addresses this Combative spirit towards God. Romans 8. Because the carnal mind is at war with God or enmity. against God. For it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.
It's at war, it's contrary, it's hostile. It's an enemy combatant. And it has to be dealt with on site, ideally. But it just doesn't cooperate. That's why we're at war, spiritual war.
Verse 22: I will also send wild beasts among you. which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock. Make You few in number. and your highways shall be desolate.
Well, these are the consequences. There's no way to put them in a bubble on one hand and then judge them on the other hand. They're getting judged. This is what it looks like when God is mocked and He withdraws His care. He retaliates against the wicked.
but not without leaving a door of hope. And that phrase comes out of Hosea the prophet, right from the prophet, the door of hope. In the book of Judges also, In the days of Shamgar, now Deborah, the judge of Israel, she writes about. this moment in time in Israel. When they could not even take the main road anywhere because of the enemy in the land.
So they go, you know, the byways, the back streets. And she writes about this. She says, in the days of Shamgar. The highways were deserted. And the travelers walked along the byways.
Yeah, but Shamgar, the man with the superhero name. He freed those roads up. Because before we get to Deborah's Song about Shamgar, we read this about him, and all we really have are these two verses about this particular judge. I think he must not have been very spiritual, but he was not a man to mess with. It says in Judges 3, verse 31: Shamgar, who killed 600 men of the Philistines with an ox-goad.
And he delivered Israel. He opened those roads up.
So it wasn't until Samson came along to break his record. There's an example of the consequence of sin shutting down the roadways. which meant commerce was greatly affected, among other things. And then God opening up the roadways by raising up A judge when the people called out to the Lord.
Now the fourth wave, beginning in verse 23. And if by these things you are not reformed by me, but walk contrary to me, verse 24, then I will Walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins. Verse 25, and I will bring a sword against you. That will execute the vengeance. of the covenant When you are gathered together within your cities, I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand.
of the enemy. And yet Israel had kings. The kings were supposed to write the scriptures down themselves.
So that they would know it and recognize. The seasons of their life and their kingdom. And while these things were happening under the reign of King Zedekiah, And Jehoiakim And the last four kings of Judah. They never looked at the scriptures. They just did things their ways.
What this is saying here, he says, When you are gathered together in your cities, when the refugees from the country run to the walled cities for protection. They're only going to run into judgment. There's no getting away from it. long seizures, they ended with the spread of disease and famine. And that's what happened, just as God said the judgment would come.
Verse 26, when I have cut off your supply of bread, Ten women shall bake your bread in one oven? and they shall bring back your bread by weight. And you shall eat and not be satisfied.
Well, there's going to be food shortages.
Now this is a battle. Thousand years before The fall of Samaria and Judah, not exact, but almost. And so you can see that it's prophetic. That if you provoke God, you lose. Who has hardened their heart against the Lord and prospered?
No one, not a single one. When The Jews come back from their Babylonian captivity. They start to rebuild their temple. But then they are faced with some opposition. and they quit.
Well, does that happen to Christians? Do you get a Christian and say, I'm going to serve the Lord? And they go and get involved in a church ministry, and they find that, oh, it's not as glorious as what they thought. There's problems, there's things to overcome. What are you going to do?
You're going to quit and stop working, or are you going to build a temple?
Well, God raises up Zechariah and Hagai, the prophets, to deal with this. Hagaiah, the older prophet. He calls them out. He says, You have sown much and bring in little. You eat, but you do not have enough.
You drink, but you are not filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages Earns wages to be put in a bag with holes. He says, You can't get satisfied because God is not primary in your life. You're primary.
You're self-centered, not God-centered. And the consequence of that Is you can't find satisfaction.
Well, he's not even talking about the severity of judgment that Moses is talking about, but I just took the time to point out verse 26 is about food shortages and the inability to be satisfied as a consequence of turning on God.
Well, Haggai comes along and says, there's another consequence. You don't have to turn on God, you just have to do nothing for Him. And there's a consequence that comes with that. And that's what Haggai chapter 1, verse 6 points out. Two short chapters, Haggai will clean your clock if you are self-centered.
For we're all self-centered to some point. We all have something. But there are tolerances, God knows that. You say, yeah, well, when I'm in private, you know, I just think and do things that I know I shouldn't do. Yeah, but what do you do when you get around people?
Well, I get my act together because I want to be right with God.
Well, God counts that as good. It's you know, there's just there's many facets to Sin and forgiveness. We can't figure it all out. God has. And he ultimately says, Trust me.
And God knows the heart. He knows that it is deceitful above all wickedness, but he also knows. the heart that he can say to Today you will be with me in Paradise. What kind of heart did that guy have? What kind of heart do you have to get nailed on a cross?
Well, you can have a pure heart like Christ, you can have a dirty heart like the outlaws. In the end, God will sort it out, and we should not Be terrorized by that. If we love the Lord. We want to do all we can do to please him in spite of ourselves. Versus Twenty-seven Through 35, the fifth wave of consequence.
And after all this, if you do not obey me, Which again implies you had a chance to obey me if you still don't. He says, but walk hostile to me, verse 28, then I also will walk hostile to you in fury, and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. Verse 29, you shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. Yeah. God does not reward idolatry.
He does not reward corruption. He largely lets things run their course. which is a consequence, just to leave it untouched by God is a curse. On at least two occasions that we know of, the Jews turned to cannibalism. The first one was when Samaria was besieged by the Syrians in 2 Kings chapter 6.
And the second one was in the days of Jeremiah at the siege of Jerusalem, Lamentations chapter 2. Lamentations is too late. That's why he's lamenting. That's why he's crying. In the cave of Jeremiah is done.
Jerusalem, how lonely sits the city. Yeah, because it's been destroyed. Everything is gone. We can't imagine this. We have been shielded from so much that the Jews as a people have not been shielded from.
And thus God talks about how He's going to bless them. Verse 30, I will destroy your high places.
Well, you're not talking about that at the moment, but millennial prophecies do. I will destroy your high places, verse 30, cut down your incense altars, and cast your carcasses on the lifeless forms of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. Literally, where he says, Cast your carcasses on the lifeless forms of your idols, the Hebrew actually is cast your corpses on the corpses of your dung pellets. Or your dung gods. Unambiguous utter contempt for idols That's what we're facing.
Ezekiel was fond of that. Hebrew word For idols, which means dung gods. And Of the 45 times that word is used to refer to idols in the Old Testament, Ezekiel uses it 39 times. He only leaves six for everybody else in the Bible. He hated idolatry.
He saw what it did to his people. He saw them come to his service, oh, we gotta hear this guy preach. And God said there. full of baloney.
Now The vulgarity is not in the use of the language, it's in the action that people took. 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.
