God gives us the ability to live a better life even in this world that’s getting worse and worse by the day. Even though in the Old Testament, this is the Word of God and gives us the precepts and principles to live by. In the Old Testament we find the Law. We are under grace, but those same precepts and principles guide us. We are to live by them.
Leviticus 20: 23 And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.24 But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the Lord your God, which have separated you from other people.26 And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.
This teaches us what we should do and how we should live. The first step in living right is being severed from the world and our old life. Through Jesus Christ we are made a peculiar people. Paul said if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. We are made new and don’t have to continue in sin. This passage reveals the primary attribute of God. It should be what is said of us. We’re different. We’re not who we used to be. Those who are deceived think about God in all sorts of ways. He’s a holy God and is the same today that he has always been. Through the nation of Israel, we have a Savior. We can be saved from sin. We don’t have to be like the world around us or like we used to be.
It reveals a necessary law. God doesn’t condone, accept or look over sin. Man has all kinds of ideas about sin and its definition. It is tainted because sin is so rampant and saturates society. The problem of the world lies with sin in the hearts of mankind. We’d better worry about sin. This scripture in Leviticus is the means to achieve righteousness, live right, and be holy. There must be a severing. That means to completely cut something apart from what it is joined to. We trust in one who severs. We received the ability to say no and live a severed life. We don’t have to live in sin. The severing is done by Jesus in us as we trust and obey God. We can’t follow the manner of the world. The way of the world, its values, and what people say and do reflect behavior we are not to partake of any longer. We need to act like the holy person God made us to be. We can’t achieve this on our own. It only comes through God and his son Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 13:12 says wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Paul meant that in order for Jesus to sanctify us he had to suffer outside the gates of Jerusalem. He carried the cross through the streets and out the gate to Calvary and bled and suffered so that we can be saved and sanctified. We can be outside the gate and live there. In John 17 Jesus said for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. He severed himself for our sakes. He had the power to come off the cross and destroy this world, but he severed himself from his power to make us his holy people. First Peter 1:2 says it is through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. How can we be holy? Take a shower in the blood of Jesus. We are made clean to stay clean. How do we do that? Before you can live a separate life there must be a severing from the other you. The old person and the new person exist. We’ll have the old person as long as we live in this flesh. Even though others exert wickedness around us, we’ve been saved. We live around it, but we can demonstrate that trusting Jesus works.
While living in sin we thought there was nothing we could do about it. Not until we trust the Lord do we get the victory over the old person. How is that possible? Verse 7-8 of Leviticus 20 say sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God. And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the Lord which sanctify you. In Ephesians 5:11 we find something similar. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. All this is possible because of Jesus Christ. He sanctified us so we can be God’s holy people in the midst of a sinful world. His cutting tool is his Word.
Are you willing to obey the word? We can’t do the job ourselves. We need to go to one who knows how. The only one who can sever us is the one we need to come to? No one will see the Lord without holiness. It comes through forgiveness of sins. Jesus does all the cutting that needs to be done. Let’s come to the cutter and enjoy the victory of being God’s holy people.
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 