Leviticus 26:1-13
Holy Living
Have you ever had a job or played a game where the rules keep changing? This makes it hard to win or get ahead in life. I think we all like it better when we understand the rules to play.
From the beginning of time, way back in Genesis 3 we see the rules of living a life for God when the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
God has set down rules on Holy Living and warned us of the consequences . In today’s lesson we will see our Reward for Obedience.
Let’s read Leviticus 26:1-2
1 “‘Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God. 2 “‘Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord.
This is nothing new, the rules haven’t changed. These are the same rules given by God in the Ten Commandments.
This is simple and straight forward……”You shall have no other gods before me.”
The idols mentioned include…a carved image…a sacred pillar…an engraved stone and the reason of making such images was to provide an object that could be worshiped.
While very few people today worship carved images, there are other things that we have turned into idols such as, Money/Material Things, Jobs/Status, Ourselves or our Physical Appearance, Entertainment or Entertainers, even Technology.
Don’t believe me? What about fishing? Some people are ape crazy about fishing but could care less about the One who created the fish.
Take note that Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James, and John to give up their fishing and follow Him. Fishing is good but don’t make it your life’s story.
In today’s world we have made technology an idol. Don’t believe it?
Let someone’s phone or internet not work just for a few hours and they’ll be lost. They can’t live a day without it. But they can go weeks or years without ever stepping foot in a church to worship God.
Notice the three things God says….‘Do not “make idols” or “set up an image” and “do not place”
Those are all deliberate acts on our part to replace God in our lives with something else.
We are forbidden to put anything in the place of God. We are not to bow down in reverence to anything made by God or made by human hands.
We are to observe a day of rest so that we can honor God by going to church and worshiping Him. Those are deliberate acts to put God first in our lives.
I can hear somebody saying right now, “I don’t have to go to church to honor God, I can do that at home.”
People will also use technology to say they are honoring God by listening to a sermon on line. But this does not take the place of gathering in God’s house with other Christians to worship Him.
Read Deuteronomy 12:5-6 But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes, and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your free will offerings, and the first born of your herds and flocks.
Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
We just studied a few weeks ago how God built the tabernacle as a place that He would dwell among the people. A place where the people would come and bring burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, and special gifts to God.
St. Helena Baptist Church is the place God setup as a place of worship to the Lord Jesus Christ and where I deliberately choose to gather with other believers and worship Him.
Let’s read Leviticus 26:3-8
3 “‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, 4 I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. 5 Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land. 6 “‘I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. 7 You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. 8 Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.
God says there is a “Reward for Obedience” and to tie in these verses with the last about going to church read the following scripture…..
Malachi 3:10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.
The storehouse is God’s sanctuary or in our case the local church. God says if we honor Him by coming to church, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, and special gifts to Him, He will bless us more than we could ever imagine.
Malachi 3:10 is the only place in the Bible that God says to test Him. It’s with the money He gave us that He is testing us. Is money an idol in our lives and have we place above Him? God is testing us to find out.
God says “IF” we follow and obey Him, He will supply all of our needs as written in verse four, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit.
I read this: Rain is a sign of God's blessing and bounty. For example, in Deuteronomy 28:12, God promises to send rain on the land in season. Rain is a gift from God that helps crops grow and provides food. Rain is a symbol of God's provision and faithfulness. Rain can represent God's Word, which nourishes the spiritual life. The prophet Joel prophesied that God would "pour out" His Spirit. In Isaiah 55:10-11, rain is used as a metaphor for God's Word.
Isaiah 55:10-11 “The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.
Verse five says, Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting.
The simplest way to put this is that the blessings will never end, which ties back into Malachi 3:10 pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.
The rest of verse five through eight deals with living safety and securely in God’s blessings. If we obey God, there is nothing our enemies can do to conquer us even when we are outnumbered. And in fact one study note reminds us that under God’s power Gideon’s 300 soldiers defeated 135,000 Midianites.
It reminds me of Matthew 19:26 Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”
Therefore, it is with God’s blessing that we have what we need and live in peace.
Proverbs 16:7 "When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him."
Let’s read Leviticus 26:9-13
9 “‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. 10 You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. 11 I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. 12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.
These verse are about God living among us, and us living in peace with God and man.
I read this: This peace, is freedom from fear of people or animals. There will be no terror by night or day. Faith is the opposite of fear. If we have faith in God and His Word, it brings perfect peace. Finding peace with God involves accepting his love, following his teachings, and experiencing a sense of personal reconciliation with him.
1 John 4:18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.
‘If we follow His decrees and are careful to obey His commands we will experience “Holy Living.”