Remember God, He Dwells With You

Good Morning, Cities Church. Great to be with you here this morning.

Today is our eighth and final sermon in the book of Leviticus. And then next week, God willing, we’ll launch our 2022 Advent series. Which I’m excited about.

Well, over the last seven weeks we’ve looked at Leviticus chapters 1-22 and today we’ve come to the final few chapters, 23-27.

My plan is to give an overview of these chapters, then hone-in on one theme that I think will be helpful. But first, let’s pray.

Father in heaven, you are so kind. You are merciful, and gracious, and slow to anger. You are rich in love. I praise you. Thank you for the book of Leviticus. And thank you for the rich theology that is rooted in this book, that is so helpful. Now God, I ask… would you use your Word, this morning, to transform your people; Please mold us to be more like Jesus. Amen.

Over the last seven weeks we’ve seen a tension. And it’s not just in Leviticus, it’s actually been building throughout the book of Genesis and book of Exodus.

The tension is this: God wants to dwell with us, but we cannot experience his presence because of our sin. We are dirty, sinful, unclean, and that keeps us from entering into God’s presence.

Pastor Joe gave us the illustration of the sun a few weeks ago. Imagine if the sun came to dwell in your home. You’d burn up and everything around you would burn up. We couldn’t handle that. And yet, God wants to invite us into his presence.

We are invited to enter God’s presence, but we are sinful, we are unclean, so we cannot enter into the presence of God, otherwise it would kill us.

But God has made a way. He made a way for the nation of Israel to enter into his presence. He came up with this very elaborate system, this system with sacrifices and various laws. But, of course, that was temporary. That was just for the Jews in the Old Testament.

However, God, of course, sent Jesus. In Jesus we have the permanent solution. We have all sinned. All of us. We are all sinners, and our sin would keep us from entering into the presence of God, but God made a way. If we believe on Jesus, if we trust in Jesus, he takes on our sin. He makes atonement for us.

And, as you already know, this entire elaborate sacrificial system in Leviticus, it all foreshadows the cross. 

In the opening chapters of Leviticus we see the different types of sacrifices and offerings, each with their own purpose. And in the subsequent chapters God lays down specific laws and expectations. And these laws help us realize that we need a savior. We need someone to atone for our sins. And that’s what Leviticus 16 was all about.

In chapter 16 we saw how God intended to deal with the sin of the people of Israel, and it foreshadows how God intended to deal with our sin. In Leviticus 16, God transfers the sins of the people to two goats, and those two goats suffer the consequences. The uncleanness of the people is transferred, imputed to the animals, and the sin is then punished.

This, of course, is exactly what Jesus did for us, our sins were transferred to him, imputed to him, at the cross, and there Jesus was punished in our place.

And if you believe in Jesus, you have been made clean, and you can now enter into the presence of God. What an amazing privilege!

So, the first half of Leviticus, chapters 1-16, show us how God made Israel clean. Chapters 17-27 show us how God keeps the people clean. And we’ve already looked at chapters 17-22 the last 2 weeks. We’ve seen various specific laws and expectations for the people of Israel and the priests. And now we arrive at chapter 23.

Means of Remembrance

In chapter 23, God lays out certain times of the year when they are to pause and remember. It’s like God is giving them a sacred calendar, of sorts.

The theme of remembering comes up throughout this chapter, and we’ll see it again, later in Leviticus, and later in Scriptures too. We’ll come back to that.

The first few verses of chapter 23, God gives them instructions on the Sabbath. One day per week is to be set apart. And then God gives the people instructions for the festivals, you could call them holidays. God commands that they observe these: the Passover, the feast of the Unleavened Bread, the feast of the “First Fruits”, the feast of Weeks (Pentecost), the feast of the Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, annually marking the events of Leviticus, and the feast of the Booths.

Each of these have a specific purpose, specific meaning. For time’s sake I won’t go through each one, but I’ll give you one just as an example.

In Leviticus 23:41-43, it says,

“You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

Right now they all live in temporary housing shelters, but God knows that at some point they’re going to go into the land and build permanent structures. But once a year, God wants them to live in these booths (tents, temporary shelters) because he doesn’t want them to forget. And he wants the future generations to have an idea of what it was like to live in temporary shelters, tents.

Again, we see this theme of remembering. This becomes very important.

Then, in chapter 25, God gives similar instructions. Instructions related to the sacred calendar, sacred time.

The first few verses in chapter 25 talk about the sabbath year. So not only do they rest one day per week, the 7th day of the week, but they also rest on the 7th year. For 6 years, everything is normal, but then the 7th year is to be treated differently. Then in Leviticus 25, God instructs them on the year of Jubilee, which is every 50 years.

So, every seven years, there's going to be a Sabbath year. But then every seventh Sabbath year, there’s gonna be an extra year. It's the 50th year, it’s gonna be the year of Jubilee.

The 49th year will be a Sabbath year. And then the year of Jubilee is like Sabbath year on steroids.

Debts cancelled, slaves set free.

It was a big big deal.

And one major theme in all this is remembering what God had done for them, remembering that they had been slaves, subjected to Egyptian tyranny, but God demonstrated incredible mercy toward them and rescued them.

Then in chapter 26, God gives them additional rules and laws concerning obedience.

God is giving instructions for how they are to treat immigrants, how to treat their enemies, how to treat poor people, how to treat slaves and servants, how to honor the land. How are they to harvest?

All sorts of specific protocols and expectations.

And then we read these words… these are the words that Clint read for us…

Leviticus 26:11-13,

“I will make my dwelling among you,
and my soul shall not abhor you.
And I will walk among you
and will be your God, and you shall be my people.
I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt…”

Multiple times we see God giving instructions, commands. And then he reminds them that he rescued them from Egypt. We see this several times. It’s as if remembering serves as a helpful tool. It seems like God knows that when we remember, we are more likely to obey his commands. It’s an interesting patten.

We’ll come back to that in a bit.

And then, finally, in the last chapter, chapter 27, God gives additional lifestyle and business expectations.

God gives them laws around vows, tithes, contracts, and real estate transactions, and then Leviticus finishes with additional laws around what type of animals are sufficient for sacrifices.

And that’s it, that’s the book of Leviticus.

Except, you may have noticed, I skipped Leviticus 24. The reason is, Leviticus 24 is somewhat unique.

It actually seems that Leviticus chapter 24 is sort of awkwardly sandwiched in between chapters 23 and 25. At first glance, 24 doesn’t seem to fit.

But, upon further review, if you take a careful look, it actually fits perfectly. And, in fact, in some ways, chapter 24 really is the perfect illustration for the entire goal of the book of Leviticus.

In the first four verses of Leviticus 24, God is instructing them to bring oil for the lamps. If you remember, back in Exodus, one of the instructions that God gave was that they would place a lampstand in the tabernacle, and it’d have seven lamps on it.

And in order to keep the lamps burning, the people of Israel were all to bring olive oil. And it’s Aaron's job is to collect the oil from the people and to keep the lamps burning.

Then, starting in verse 5, God gives the instructions of the shewbread. Two stacks of six loves. And these are big loaves, 8 cups of flour for each. There are substantial loaves of bread stacked on the golden table.

These 12 loaves symbolize the 12 tribes of Israel.

The loaves are brought into the tabernacle on the Sabbath, and they stay there on the table until the next Sabbath. The loaves are there soaking in the presence of God all week long, basking in the light of the glory of God. Again, the loaves of bread symbolize God’s people.

This gives us a picture, God is inviting his people to sit in his presence, to soak in his presence, to bask in the light of his glory. Then, at the end of the week, the Priests eat the loaves.

The priest, which represent the people to God. The priest enjoys a meal, at God’s table, in the presence of God.

And this is what God has been after the whole time.

This entire elaborate system: the sacrifices, the particular tabernacle design, the elaborate priestly garments, the laws, the protocols, the offerings, the rituals, all of it…

It was all designed to get to this point. The point where God’s people are now in his presence, enjoying a meal at his table!

That’s it, ever since the garden of eden, ever since humans sinned and betrayed God, it’s all been heading to this moment when God’s people have now been made clean, and they can now come to his table, enjoy a meal, and bask in the light of this glory! This is it!

And then, immediately after these instructions about the shewbread and lampstand, we come to a story that, again, at first sight, seems a little bit out of place. 

Starting in Leviticus 24:10, we have this story, this narrative, and it’s sort of abrupt. We’re going through all these instructions, but then all of sudden, we have this story about a man who got into a fight, and during this fight, this man curses God.

He blasphemes the name of God, and this is a capital crime.

This man has committed a capital crime. But they're a little bit confused as to whether or not this applies to this man. Because this man is actually only half Israelite. His mother is of Israel, but his dad was Egyptian. So, the people are not sure: Do the laws of Leviticus apply to him?

So, they take this man to Moses. Moses inquires of the Lord, and the Lord tells him, yes Moses, this man is to be executed. So, they stoned the man.

Now, to some people, executing someone for blasphemy seems too extreme. Some people might say, “it was just words” or “The death penalty is too harsh.”

Let me give you an illustration that I think may help.

Raise your hand if this is you. Have you ever crashed a party? Like you show up to an event or party uninvited? Raise your hand. Anyone?

Okay, I just being honest, I have done that multiple times in my life. I have shown up to birthday parties or other random functions uninvited. Okay?

Now, when I’ve done this, I was never at risk of being arrested. It might be awkward, I might get funny looks, it may be inappropriate, but I’ve never faced jail time just because I crashed a party.

However, I do know of someone, or someones, that did face jail time for crashing a party.

In 2009, there was a married couple that lied their way into a White House dinner event. The Congressional Black Caucus was having a formal event, this is in December of 2009, and President Barack Obama was president at the time, and he was in attendance at this event. He was there. This couple lied their way into this event, they took pics with the President and posted them to social media.

When it was found out that they were party crashers, the Secret Service instantly determined that they were gonna arrest them. And this married couple was facing serious consequences: half a million dollar in fines, lifetime ban from DC, lifetime ban from flying, and up to 10 years in prison.

This was taken very serious. Congress called them to testify at a congressional hearing. Secret service was going to press charges.

This was a big deal. Eventually, President Obama actually told the Secret Service to drop it. But why were they potentially facing such serious charges for doing the same thing I’ve done?

I mean, they were nothing more than party crashers right? Why were they facing 10 years in prison but I wasn’t?

The reason: it’s less about the sinful action, and more about who you sinned against.

You see, if I show up to Pastor Kevin’s birthday party, uninvited, no one's gonna arrest me. But if I show up to a party where the President of the United States is an attendance, that merits consequences. Why? Aren’t the actions the same?

Because the consequences are dictated, not merely by the substance of the actions, but by the person I’ve offended.

And when it comes to sin, it’s less about the actions we’ve committed, and it’s much more about who we have sinned against. God is holy, righteous, perfect, pure, the almighty creator of everything, so cursing at him is most certainly worthy of death.

And friends, this morning, if you think that this man did not deserve to die, then, I must say, you have a low view of God.

The second half of Leviticus 24 reminds us God is holy, and sin is serious. It deserves the death penalty.

Romans 6:23 says that the “wages of sin is death.” Death is the paycheck that we have earned. And if we do not believe in Jesus, death awaits us too.

Okay, what is the biggest lesson we learned from these passages, as we look to the last few chapters.

Remember, chapter 23 is all about the feasts. This chapter explains how the Israelites were to use the feasts as the means of remembrance.

There’s one practical theme here, that is the idea of remembering!

God insists that his people remember what he has done.

Deuteronomy 4:9,

“be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen…”

Deuteronomy 6:12,

“take care… [do not] forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.”

Deuteronomy 8:2,

“And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you…”

2 Kings 17:38,

“Do not forget the covenant I have made with you.”

Psalm 106:7,

“Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not… remember the abundance of your steadfast love, [so they] rebelled by the sea.”

There’s a sense we get that remembering what God has done will help cause us to stay faithful to him.

This stuck out to me recently on a road trip.

A few weeks ago, my wife and I were driving to Texas to spend time with my wife’s family. And while we were driving to Texas, we stopped in Oklahoma City and we went to the Oklahoma National memorial, which was built at the site of the 1995 OKC bombing, when the federal building was bombed, some of you may remember that.

The memorial is really well done. It tells the story well. It's sobering.

While we were there, I struck up a conversation with one of the park rangers and we were talking, he was giving me all sorts of great information. Then I asked him a question. I said to him, “why do we do these things? Why do we have memorials?”

He paused for a moment. And then he said to me, “well, when we remember, we act different.”

When we remember, we act different! And I think that captures the sentiment that is on display here in these later chapters of Leviticus.

God wants us to remember, because it will inform how we live. Remembering who God is will inspire us.

The fact that this man was executed in Leviticus 24 reminds us that God is holy and he is not to be messed with, sin is serious! And it must be dealt with!

Remembering that story from Leviticus 24 will cause us to act different when it comes to sin.

When we remember all that God has done, we are filled with gratitude and we’re inspired to be more like Jesus.

So here’s the practical application, the question: Do you have rhythms and spaces in your life to help you remember?

Every Christian ought to intentionally and proactively implement things in your life that will help you remember the things that God has done for you: patterns, rituals, traditions, whatever, maybe… scripture written out on index cards, catechism you take your family through, family worship nights…that’s what we’ve implemented on Tuesday nights, alerts you set on your phone (I’ve got mine set 3x day), annual rhythms.

These will look different for everyone, certainly, but we all need these sorts of things in our lives. We need to remember!

Do you have intentional patterns or habits in your life that will remind you of Jesus and his work in your life? If not, get some.

And, of course, there is one habit we have corporately that is designed to do this, and that is the Lord’s table!

The Table

Each week we do this to remember! 

We were far from God, dead in our sins, headed for hell, but God made a way for our sins to be forgiven. We were unclean, we could not enter into his presence, but he made a way for us to be declared clean, through Jesus!

And now we can sit at his table, enjoy his meal, and bask in the light of his glory!

Each week to partake in this meal is to remember what Jesus had done for us. We were once his enemies, but we are now seated at his table, invited to enjoy him forever.

Church, that is a reason to celebrate! Let’s remember him!