Leviticus 18:1-30


The Lord is concerned with the holiness of His people and wants them to live in a way that is pleasing to Him and not in the way that they observed in Egypt or that they will observe in the people who are currently living in The Promised Land.  God wants His people to be different; to stand in stark contrast of the idolatry and immorality that is so prevalent in the lives of those who do not know or fear God.  The destruction of Egypt and the pending destruction of these other nations were due to their sinfulness.  God wants Israel to be different.  He continues to call us out from among the world to be different from them so that we can be a testimony to them.  We must provide a clear contrast from which the world can learn and to which the world can turn when they realize the futility and emptiness of sin.

GOD FORBIDS INCEST:  God made it very clear to the children of Israel that they were not to have sexual relations with members of their own family.  Children, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, in-laws other close relatives were all prohibited by God as candidates for marriage.  These relationships within the family were common in the pagan cultures and God did not want His people to practice this form of perversion.  The family is a basic building block of and society and should be a place where purity and piety not sexual perversion.  Satan is constantly looking for ways to destroy the fabric of the family and incest is a common way through which this is accomplished.  To this day, many pagan cultures continue to practice sexual perversion in the form of incest.  It is also much more common than we would like to think in more civilized societies.  However, we must not tolerate this in the Church.  God has called us to holiness in our marriage and we are to commit ourselves exclusively to our spouse who is to be chosen from outside of our blood relations.

GOD FORBIDS IMMORALITY: God has created sex for a man and woman to enjoy within the context of their marriage for the purpose of procreation and pleasure.  Within the context of marriage, God is glorified and pleased as we use this glorious gift us His in the way that He intends.  Sex within marriage is an act of worship that bring honor to His name.  However, Satan has done all that he can to pervert this gift of God by tempting man to abuse this gift in ways which God never intended.  All sex outside of marriage between one man and one woman is condemned by God as sinful.  Homosexuality, adultery, sex with animals and every other form of sexual perversion is condemned by God.  These perversions of God provision greave the heart of God and destroy the very fabric of the family and society.  God has given us a glorious gift that He expects us to use only as He has instructed.  When we fail to do so; we are breaking the heart of God and losing out on the glorious gift that God has given.  As believes we must zealously defend the family so that the world can see in us the true and lasting joy that comes from obeying God.  We must provide a contrast to the pain and guilt that perversion brings to the world.

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