Be Holy

Date: Thursday, February 05, 2015
Chapters: Leviticus 16-18
Message Title: Be Holy

Hello My Friend, 

Holy, when you think of that word, most people refer to it as something relating to God or sarcastic like, you think you are better than me, sarcastic. The word holy actually means proper, whole, entire or perfect, in a moral sense, meaning we are to be pure in heart and free from sinful or immoral actions that God disapproves of. Many people reject Christ because they do not want to live a holy lifestyle, and God is okay with that, He will not force Himself upon anyone, but He does expect His people to live a holy lifestyle. If we choose Him, we need to choose His holy lifestyle as well. “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” - 1 Peter 1:13-16.

Every year a special offering was to be made, it was called the Day of Atonement, and was the one day of the year that the high priest could make an atonement for the entire congregation for their sins of the past year. In addition to the daily sin, trespass, and peace offerings were two the offering of goats, one for God and one to be the scapegoat, the scapegoat took the blame and punishment for others.“And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on. And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD'S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.” - Leviticus 16:2-5,8-10.

Since it was for the entire congregation Aaron, the high priest, in a sense, took on all their sins. Aaron had to put his hands on the scapegoat, placing all the sins of the people on that goat, he said a prayer and let the goat take off into the wilderness, taking all the peoples sins with it. This entire ceremony represents Jesus Christ, first, He is our high priest, the mediator between God and man. Second, He took every sin known to man to the cross when He became the sinless sacrifice, and third He became the scapegoat, which takes away all the sins of those who believe in Him. Jesus took the blame for all of us and died for all of our sins, only those who believe in Him will receive the atonement for their sins. “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” - Hebrews 9:24-28.

All of the cattle offered by the Israelites or a stranger among them, while in the wilderness, were to be presented before the door of the tabernacle, and the flesh wasto be returned to the offerer, to be eaten as a peace offering. God gave strict warnings against offering any of these animals just anywhere and to any god or the devil. “What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp, And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an offering unto the LORD before the tabernacle of the LORD; blood shall be imputed unto that man; he hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people: To the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them unto the LORD, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest, and offer them for peace offerings unto the LORD. And the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savour unto the LORD. And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations.” - Leviticus 17:3-7.

Today, we no longer need to travel miles to a particular place in order to make an atonement with God, and give our offerings to Him. The spiritual sacrifices we are now to offer, are not confined to any one place, they exist and rest in one person, Jesus Christ. He is our Altar, and the true Tabernacle, in which God dwells, and is now among all who believe in Him. It is in Christ that our spiritual sacrifices are acceptable to God, and only in Him. To set up mediators, altars, or sacrifices to other gods or idols is to set them up to the devil, there is only one God, and He is only found through Christ. Trying to get to God any other way will result in a one way ticket to hell, and the lake of fire. “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” - Revelation 21:7,8.

While all sin separates us from God, some are an abomination to Him, the most disgusting to Him are the ones committed of the flesh. While all sin has the same effect on God, He despises it, sins of the flesh destroy the body, therefore, he will have none of His people sinning against their bodies. God commanded the Israelites, and anyone else among them to abstain from all lusts of the flesh. “Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you: (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;) That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you. For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people. Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.” - Leviticus 18:24-30.

We think that what we see going around the world is something new, it is not new to God. There is not one thing in this life that God has not seen already over the centuries, this includes every immoral act of the flesh such as fornication (sex without marriage), adultery, incest, bestiality, homosexuality, and even bringing immorality into the marriage bed. We are children of God, that means that we are to start acting like it and not do the things that we see or have done while we were in the world. Yes, we may have done some things that we were ignorant to, but that does not give us an excuse to do them now. “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” - Galatians 5:13,16,17,24,25.

Today's Prayer: God, Thank You for Your indwelling Spirit that replaces my sinful nature with a spiritual one. Lord, teach me Your ways, and let me not be hard hearted to receive them. As I walk in Your ways year after year, I am aware of sins that separate me from You. Help me to remove all the sin that keeps me from receiving the blessings You have for me, and give m the strength to walk in the Spirit and not my flesh. In Jesus' name. Amen. 

God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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