February 25
Lev 16:29-18:30 | PS 41:1-13 | Prov 10:15-18 | Mark 7:24-8:10
In the beginning of each episode of "The Chosen" there are many fish swimming in one direction, until one here or there starts swimming in the opposite direction. One of the sayings used in this series is, "Get used to different". When we are in a body of believers this is easier, because then you are really not being different but swimming with the crowd. But our life is spent in crowds which swim in the opposite direction: at work, in school, in our neighborhoods, etc. To be holy, means to separate. Are we willing to do this? This is especially challenging for "church kids" who have spent much of their earlier years in the safe harbor of like-minded individuals only to be released into carnal society. Does our desire to assimilate, to not stand out, cause us to stumble in many areas of the life that God has called us to? Though our current world, and our current nation has become a cesspool, most if honest still try to fit into that cesspool. Perhaps, sinning a little less, but fitting in nonetheless.
In the midst of so many specific laws, God takes a moment to help the people understand as He writes through Moses in Leviticus 18:24-30, "‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. For the land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you (for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled), lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you. For whoever commits any of these abominations, the persons who commit them shall be cut off from among their people. ‘Therefore you shall keep My ordinance, so that you do not commit any of these abominable customs which were committed before you, and that you do not defile yourselves by them: I am the Lord your God.’ ”" Is this not clear? Could God be any more straightforward? Those outside of God have nothing to do with God, and we are to have nothing to do with their practices.
When it comes to "blood", which we read about in Leviticus 17, we need to take home a couple of important points. We read in 17:11, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.’" God gave the sacrificial system to the people of Israel. Atonement only comes through blood. Sin is that serious. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of this. For it is through His blood, and no other way in which atonement, which is now the removal of sin, not just a covering over of sin which was the case in the Old Testament, is made possible. So any religion which preaches works as a means of salvation is wrong, plain and simple. Any one who thinks they are heavenbound because they are essentially a "good" person is wrong. Also, much is said about eating or drinking blood. The Jehovah Witnesses have taken a strong stance on this concerning blood transfusions. It is even repeated in Acts 15, when Paul comes before the Jerusalem congregation to explain his outreach to the Gentiles. The eating of blood was a pagan ritual, plain and simple. Its prohibition was to separate from the surrounding pagan practices (it is always about context). So this ordinance has nothing to do with receiving life saving blood in the form of a transfusion.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: