The Impossible Task: Moses, the Judges, and the Covenant Law of YHWH
The Epic Story of the Bible • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Intro
Intro
If you have your Bibles turn to Leviticus, if you do not have your Bible please feel free to grab one from the seat in front of you
The Red Hardcover bibles are King James Version if that is your preference
The blue softcover are English Standard Version if you would like a modern translation
If you just want to read exactly what I am reading, use the blue Bible, there are extras on the mini-pews at the back of the room
PAGE NUMBER: 47
Reminder of the 4 main themes
God’s Presence
Covenant
Priest-Kingship
Sacrifice
Quick overview of Exodus
The Impossible Task? For us to be HOLY!
Outline for today
1. A Provisional Holiness (Leviticus)
2. Israel in the Wilderness (Numbers)
3. The Second Giving of the Law (Deuteronomy)
4. The Next Generation (Joshua)
5. The (Fallen) Third Generation (Judges)
6. A Model of Faithfulness (Ruth)
Part 2
Part 2
Leviticus and Numbers
Leviticus and Numbers
A Provisional Holiness: Leviticus
A Provisional Holiness: Leviticus
Picks up where Exodus left off, Israel is at the foot of Mount Sinai and the Glory of YHWH has filled the tabernacle
God instructs Israel through Moses on how to sacrifice, worship, what their priests are to be doing, and what the day of Atonement, Year of Jubilee, and other feasts and celebrations are to be.
Leviticus can be a really difficult read and most people who have given up on their Bible in a Year reading plans have done so here.
The Dangerous Nature of Holiness
Over Leviticus and Numbers
Two sons of Aaron are struck down for offering unauthorized worship
A rebellion is swallowed into the earth
A plague kills 14,000 people
A Plague of Serpents
Day of Atonement (Lev 23)
Goat for the Lord
Scapegoat
The Way to “at-one-ment”
Holiness, or righteousness, is the key to being at peace with God
Sin and holiness cannot mix
10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
The outcome of Sin is death
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God provides a way for provisional holiness
For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.
Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
The Impossible Task: Be Holy!
“Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
26 You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.
Not just in Old Testament!
48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
This is why reading the Old Testament is not in vain! Jesus knew and assumed the Old Testament
If we do not know and assume the Old Testament we will not have a grasp of the fullness of the Gospel
If we don’t understand the teachings of Jesus we cannot be saved from our sin!
But it wasn’t just Jesus who knew and assumed the Old Testament!
but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
The overall message of Leviticus is sanctification. The need and way to be made holy!
The book communicates that receiving God’s forgiveness and acceptance should be followed by holy living and spiritual growth. Now that Israel had been redeemed by God, they were to be purified into a people worthy of their God. “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy,” says Leviticus 19:2. In Leviticus we learn that God loves to be approached, but we must do so on His terms.
https://insight.org/resources/bible/the-pentateuch/leviticus#:~:text=The%20overall%20message%20of%20Leviticus,people%20worthy%20of%20their%20God.
Israel in the Wilderness: Numbers - PG. 62
Israel in the Wilderness: Numbers - PG. 62
Called “Numbers” because there are two censuses, countings of the people of Israel, that are significant features of the book.
In Hebrew it is called “In the Wilderness” and that is a better descriptor of what happens in the book
Covers the time between Sinai and their travels up to the border of Canaan
Contains the story of Israel’s journey to the Promised Land
We are continuously shown how a holy God cannot allow for rebellion or unbelief but yet patiently provides and faithfully keeps his covenant
Several stories of Israel’s continued unfaithfulness and God’s persevering faithfulness
Every time they complained they sought to return to Egypt, rejecting the leadership of Moses and YHWH
Sent 12 spies into the Promised Land and 10 of them said “we will be destroyed if we go!”
Joshua, a recurring character and assistant to Moses, and one other spy said that YHWH had given it to them and would fight for them!
Numbers 14:21-24 Israel Tested YHWH 10 times and were finally judged
Those who came out of Egypt of 20 years and older would not see the Promised Land
Only Joshua and Caleb would go.
Moses even falls to not properly trusting YHWH
In anger strikes a rock instead of speaking to it like he was told
Earlier he struck down an Egyptian
And destroyed the original tablets of the laws of God
Moses, the great leader and prophet who led them out of slavery in Egypt, is not going to be allowed to enter the Promised Land either
Even still, the Israelites don’t obey YHWH!
The Israelites even worshiped other gods!
Eventually Joshua was chosen to be the leader when Moses dies
The Second Giving of the Law: Deuteronomy - PG. 83
The Second Giving of the Law: Deuteronomy - PG. 83
“Second Giving of the Law”
Jesus’s favorite book to quote
Retelling by Moses of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers to the next generation of Israelites preparing to take the Promised Land
Reminds them of God’s faithfulness and love, but also of His wrath against rebellion
Repeatedly exhorts them to keep the Law of YHWH and to teach it to their children
7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
19 You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
It is a call from a old and wise leader to the people in covenant with YHWH to love and obey their God and to train up their children in righteousness
Blessings for faithfulness and curses for rebellion
Ends with Joshua selected as the new leader and the death of Moses
Dt. 31:24-29 Pg. 99
The Next Generation: Joshua - pg. 102
The Next Generation: Joshua - pg. 102
The first 5 books of the Bible focused on the Promise to Abraham and how God would bring his people into the Promised Land
Joshua is the book when they finally take the Promised Land
The promises made hundreds of years earlier to Abraham are seeing fruit!
Rahab the prostitute and outsider who marries into the Israelites and rejects her former gods and life
In Matthew 1 we see she is one of 5 women mentioned in the genealogy of Christ - She is a grandmother of the Promised Son of Eve!
They take the Promised Land and Joshua comes to the end of his life and calls on Israel to remember their covenant with YHWH
Ends with the end of Joshua’s life and a similar call and reminder to the Israelites as Moses did at the end of Deuteronomy
Josh 24:14-28 pg. 114
The (Fallen) Third Generation: Judges pg. 114
The (Fallen) Third Generation: Judges pg. 114
Continues the story of Israel and their continued disobedience to YHWH
Follows the story of a group of societal and military leaders called judges
Has some of our favorite stories of God’s providence
Deborah
Gideon
Samson
But also shows the depths that sin will take us to when we refuse to know and listen to the Lord
Judges 2 speaks of the death of Joshua and the passing of the leaders who were part of his generation and gives a somber statement about how well that generation listened to Moses’s exhortation to train up their children in Dt 6:7 “7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”
10 And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.
Follows a repeating downward spiral of
the people abandoned the Lord
God punished them by raising up a foreign power to oppress them
the people cried out to God for deliverance
God raised up a deliverer, or judge, for them
The rejections of YHWH get worse and worse and worse
And YHWH graciously sends them deliverance again and again and again
But the book ends with the darkest story in all the Bible
Where a tribe of Israel sinned so heinously that they were shown to be exactly like Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis
It ends with a tribe of Israel being almost completely wiped out by the other tribes
The need for a king
Says 3 times
“In those days...”
The whole point of Judges is to show the need for a king who will lead the people in the ways of their God
Rejecting sin
Repenting where sin exists
Seeking to honor the LORD in righteousness
A Model of Faithfulness: Ruth - pg. 127
A Model of Faithfulness: Ruth - pg. 127
This section of books ends with a book that contains a single story that actually shows what faithfulness to YHWH looks like
It doesn’t come from Israel though
It comes from an outsider, a Moabitess, named Ruth
A beautiful story about faithfulness and generosity and redemption
But on its own it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for why it is in the Bible
Except for the fact that it ends with a genealogy and it’s the first genealogy that we have seen for a while!
Genealogies mean the story isn’t over!
Ruth is given the blessing of a son
Ruth 4:17- pg. 128
17 And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
The book of Ruth is in the Bible because she was the great-grandmother of David, the great king of Israel and the next one whom God would covenant with and bring more revelation of how the promised son of Eve would come!
Ruth is also one of the five women named in Matthew’s gospel account!
Takeaways
Takeaways
God knows what he is doing!
He is in charge!
He is powerful!
Sometimes it doen’t make sense to us but he still has determined the end of the story from the very beginning!
He will accomplish his purposes
9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
We so quickly doubt his power and his purpose when difficulty arises in our lives!
Does he really care about me?
If he does care, is he powerless to help me?
This year marks the 10 years anniversary of my aneurysm and brain surgery...
i MADE A SLAP BET WITH GOD
God is not surprised at how your story has turned out. He knows how it ends. HE WROTE IT.
God is faithful, even when we are unfaithful
Do not think that we are different from Israel or more faithful than they are
You follow the exact same cycle they did
What secret sin do you keep turnign to?
Sexual immorality
Unrighteous anger
Discontentment
Greed and selfishness
What do your finances look like?
Are you always looking to purchase your next piece of pleasure and entertainment?
Are you wanting to be more generous but are trapped in debt because you sought to purchase more than what you had the ability to purchase?
Gossip
Apathy in evangelism, family worship, and rebuking of sin
Our church membership covenant
“we also engage to maintain family and personal devotions; to educate our children in Chrsitianity; to seek the sdalvation of our kindred ands acquaintances;… to watch over one another in brotherly love; to remember one another in prayer; to aid each other...”
Further, God often had the Israelites carry out justice against their own people when they sinned egregiously and were unrepentant!
It is our responsibility to strive for holiness by eradicating sin from our lives!
It is our responsibilty to strive for holiness in the church by practicing meaningful church membership and loving church discipline!
We’re not ending people’s lives
We’re given the much lighter task of calling our sinful brothers and sisters to repentance! And if they repent we can rejoice for we have won back a brother or sister!
If they do not repent then we are given the task of making it clear to them that blatant, unrepentant sin cannot co-exist with the Holy Spirit in our lives, so we are to say to them AS A CHURCH that by the evidence of their lives, we cannot affirm that they are a Christian!
We all have blind spots and need people to graciously reveal those to us
You don’t have to be stuck in your sin!
Quickly move to confess your sin to the Lord and cry out for deliverance! Further, confess to your brothers and sisters in the church so they might help you and encourage you!
If we confess and repent of our sin, God is faithful to forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness
doesn’t mean we don’t face discipline and natural consequences of our sin
God has provided an absolute sacrifice
The impossible task is that we must be holy, we must be perfect if we ever wish to be in the presence of God!
God provided a way for the ancient israelites in ritual cleanliness, like in the Day of Atonement, and he has provided a way for us
Jesus is the two goats
Two look-alike goats represent how God deals with the sin of his people
Providing a sacrifice to cover the sin - the Goat for YHWH
Putting the sin away - the scapegoat
As the sacrifice for sin was made, God was also putting our sins away
12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
17 Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.
25 “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.
19 He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
The ceremony of the two goats has come to its reality and fulfillment in Christ. Jesus performed both tasks: the offering for sin, and the carrying away of sin.
When Christ suffered and died on the cross, He fulfilled what the goat, “for the Lord” represented.
He was sacrificed for the sins of the people…
Without having a personal experience with the blood of Christ, no salvation is possible, for “without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb. 9:22).
The scapegoat laden with the sins of the people and taken into the wilderness has also come to its fulfillment in Christ!
Isaiah says “And the LORD laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
Christ became the Scapegoat when God laid on him the burden of sin for us all
This is exactly what was happening as Jesus hung on the cross.
He hung on the cross carrying the sins of His people, burdened under the load of sin.
This wasn’t performed by some mere high priest, but by God Himself!
God placed the sins of his people on Jesus and then sent him away by the Father turning his face away from His only Son
Why were those sins and iniquities laid on Christ? So that Jesus would carry them away!
Just as the scapegoat carried away the people’s sins and iniquities into an uninhabited land, Christ carried away the sins and iniquities of His people.
Those sins and iniquities will never be found again. Once Christ, the Scapegoat, carried them away, they are gone for good; God will remember them no more: “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Heb. 10:17)
“And the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” He did so to prove that those iniquities would never accuse us anymore; they are forgiven, carried away, put out of God’s sight, and never to be remembered anymore. The ceremony of the scapegoat tells the story.
Not only has Christ died for our sins, He has also carried them away. In Christ, the ceremony of both goats has come to its fulfillment. Christ fulfilled both roles, the role of the sacrificed goat, and the role of the scapegoat. We, who have confessed our sins and believed, may have the assurance that we are saved and forgiven, and God will never recall the iniquities we once committed. They are gone; they are carried away. Thanks be to Christ, our blessed Scapegoat!
https://www.christianstudylibrary.org/article/christ-our-scapegoat
Jesus is