Authority (Lev. 18:1-5)

10/9/2008 9:33 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                              Focus:  Authority

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Lev. 18:1-5

          Message of the verses:  1 ¶  Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2  "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘I am the LORD your God.  3  ‘You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes.  4  ‘You are to perform My judgments and keep My statutes, to live in accord with them; I am the LORD your God.  5  ‘So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the LORD.”

            The second section in Dr. Wiersbe’s book is entitled “The sanctity of sex,” and it takes up the entire 18^th chapter of Leviticus.  There is a huge problem with sex in our country, and for that matter for many countries in this world, for the internet goes around the world and there is a lot of sex on the internet that is not the kind that is spoken of in this chapter.

            God made men and women to enjoy the sexual experience, and to use that experience for not only enjoyment, but also to propagate, to continue the race.  In the case of Israel, this nation was the nation that would bring the Messiah into the world, and so it was very important for them to be sexually pure. 

            I looked up in my concordance and found that the phrase, “I am the Lord” was found forty-four times in the book of Leviticus forty-two of those times was in Lev. 18-26.  God gives a law to the children of Israel and affirms it by saying that He is the Lord and that is certainly enough for anyone to obey the commands and the laws of the Lord, after all it was God who created man and knows more about man than anyone, and knows what is best for him to do.

            The Church today must maintain the same position of separation in order to be pleasing to the Lord.  Paul writes about this in his letter to the Corinthians and also in his Ephesians letter, and also his Colossians letter.   (2Cor. 6:14-7:1; Eph. 5 1-14; Col. 3:1-7)  

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  This section has reminded me that there are several reasons why I am to keep myself pure.  God is my creator and knows best what is best for me to do and not to do.  At conception I received the Adamic nature, which is in contrast to the things that God would want me to do, but at my new birth I received my new nature and that nature always wants to please the Lord, so there is a conflict that lives within me and I need to yield to the new nature in order to do the things that are pleasing to the Lord.  The “I am the Lord” statement has also reminded me that God truly is the Lord and can do as He wants to do, and therefore He can expect me to follow His commands and laws.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. To remember that the Lord, He is God and I am to follow what He says because He has created me and knows what is best for me.

Memory verses for the week:                                              Exodus 20:12-14

12.    Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

13.    You shall not murder.

14.    You shall not commit adultery.

10/9/2008 10:27 AM