A Book of Doctrine…

• The whole counsel of God

• Our desire to is to teach through the whole Bible Genesis to Revelation
• Acts 20:27 – “For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.”
• We have finished Exodus – and will now move on to Leviticus…
• Milk and Meat…
  • The Bible uses two terms to describe the teachings of the Bible – milk and meat…
  • Milk – are the basic foundational teaching of the Bible…
    • Like a newborn baby – as a young believer – we need the ‘milk’ of the word…
    • I Peter 2:2 – “…as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby…”
    • Much of Genesis & Exodus was milk – foundational teachings about our faith in God…
  • Meat – are the more in depth truths of the Bible
    • Like a young men/women – we no longer are satisfied by just milk – we want meat…
    • I Corinthians 3:2 – “I fed you with milk and not meat; for until now you were not able to receive it…”
    • Leviticus in not milk – Leviticus gets into the meat of the Bible…
    • Up until this point we have been going through narrative books (history)
    • Leviticus is the first book of ‘Doctrine’ in the Old Testament…
    • Sit down – listen up – take notes if you want – we are leaving the milk behind…

• Styles of writing…
  • There are 4 main styles of writing in the Bible: History / Poetry / Prophecy / Doctrine…
    • The Bible is divided based on ‘Styles of writing’ – not Chronologically (timeline)…
    • Old Testament – Doctrine – History – Poetry – Prophecy
    • New Testament – History – Doctrine – Prophecy
    • Knowing the style you are studying is extremely important in interpreting the Bible…
    • You will interpret different styles of writing differently…
    • You must be very careful taking doctrine out of books of history, poetry, or prophecy…
    • They may contain doctrine – but only if cross-referenced to a book of Doctrine
    • By doctrine we mean, ‘Truths that are necessary for life and godliness in Jesus Christ’
    • In other words those truths that are necessary to live our lives for Jesus
  • Historical Books of the Bible:
    • Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I Samuel, II Samuel, I Kings, II Kings, I Chronicles, II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts
    • Brief Description:
      • Historical account of event that took place throughout biblical history…
      • Covering over 4000 years – from Creation to the birth of the church…
      • Historical books are a wonderful source of illustrations (life examples) of doctrine…
    • Keys to Interpretation
      • Historical books should not be the sole source for doctrine…
      • (Exception – the life of Jesus should be taken for doctrine both in words and action)
      • Judges 6:36-37 – “So Gideon said to God, ‘If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor…”
      • The Bible records what Gideon did, it does not command us to do the same…
      • In contrast – the NT truth (doctrine) is to be led by the Spirit of God – Romans 8:14
  • Poetic Books of the Bible:
    • Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Lamentations
    • Brief Description:
      • Poetry does not tell a story – it shares the emotions of the writer…
      • The Bible is not a textbook – God is not only interested in telling us about Him…
      • Books of poetry arouse our emotions, appeal to our will, stimulate our imagination
      • (Hebrew Poetry does not a word rhyming poetry – it rhymes ideas not words)
    • Keys to Interpretation:
      • Poetic books should not be the sole source for doctrine…
      • Psalms 58:6 – “Break their teeth in their mouth, O God!”
      • The Bible here records the prayer of David – it is not telling us how to pray…
      • Just because King David prayed for God to break his enemy’s teeth…
      • Does not mean that we are to pray for God to break our enemy’s teeth
  • Prophetic Books of the Bible:
    • Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah, Malachi, Revelation
    • Brief Description:
      • In the Bible – prophecy can be divided into two different but similar categories…
      • Prophecy that is the forth telling or proclaiming the Word of God
      • I Corinthians 14:3 – “But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.”
      • Prophecy that is proclaimed as the foretelling of future and last days events…
      • Isaiah 46:9-10 – “Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done…
    • Keys to Interpretation:
      • Prophetic books should not be the sole source for doctrine…
      • Ezekiel 4:12 – “Each day prepare your bread as you would barley cakes. While all the people are watching, bake it over a fire using dried human dung as fuel and then eat the bread.”
      • God told Ezekiel to make – ‘poop’ bread – does not mean we are to cook that way!
      • The Prophets were often told to do things to make a point – get Israel’s attention!
      • Hosea was told to marry a prostitute / Isaiah walked naked for 3 years!
      • But they were not a pattern for us to follow – they are not Bible doctrine!
  • Doctrinal Books of the Bible:
    • Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Romans, I Corinthians, II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, I Thessalonians, II Thessalonians, I Timothy, II Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, I Peter, II Peter, I John, II John, III John, Jude
    • Brief Description:
      • The Books of Doctrine establish the basis for our faith in Jesus Christ…
      • Define our salvation and God’s expectations for how to live our life in Christ
      • New Testament Revelation supersedes Old Testament law – more on this later…
      • If we want to know the meaning of life – how to get to heaven…
      • How God expects a Christian to live – how to be a ‘good’ person…
      • All of these and more are answered in the Books of Doctrine…

The book of Leviticus (5 things)…

• 1^st – Who wrote the book of Leviticus and when…

• Ultimately inspired by the Holy Spirit – the written Word of God – II Timothy 3:16
• Moses wrote the book as well as the rest of the Torah/Pentateuch (1^st 5 books of the Bible)
• Jesus credits Leviticus directly to Moses…
• Matthew 8:3-4 – “Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, ‘I am willing; be cleansed. Immediately his leprosy was cleansed…. go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded.”
• Referring to the Law concerning Leprosy in Leviticus 13….
• Thought to have been written during the wilderness wandering of Israel 1450~1490 B.C.
  
• 2^nd – The Outline of Leviticus… 

• There are 27 chapters / 858 verses – in the book of Leviticus…
• We will cover between 1 up to 5 chapters a week – highlighting key sections…
• Two main divisions to the Book…
  • Leviticus 1-16 – Laws concerning the ‘Ceremonial Holiness’…
    • Chapters 1-7 – Laws regarding sacrifices 
    • Chapters 8-10 – Ordination of the Priests / warning to the Priests
    • Chapters 11-15 – Laws regarding sanitation and health
    • Chapter 16 – The Day of Atonement
  • Leviticus 17-27 – Laws regarding ‘Practical Holiness’…
    • Chapter 17 – Laws regarding eating meat
    • Chapter 18 – Laws regarding sexual conduct
    • Chapter 19 – Laws regarding social behavior
    • Chapter 20 – Laws regarding capitol punishment
    • Chapter 21-22 – Laws regarding the priests
    • Chapter 23 – Laws regarding the feasts of Israel
    • Chapter 24 – Laws regarding blaspheming God
    • Chapter 25 – Laws regarding the Sabbath year / year of Jubilee
    • Chapter 26-27 – Concluding words
      
• 3^rd – The theme of Leviticus…
  • The word ‘Leviticus’ – means ‘concerning the Levites…
    • Aaron and his sons – from the tribe of Levi – were appointed as the priests of God…
    • The Levites – one of the 12 tribes – were dedicated to serving the Lord…
    • Numbers 3:12-13 – “I have chosen the Levites from among the Israelites as substitutes for all the firstborn sons of the people of Israel. The Levites are mine because all the firstborn sons are mine. From the day I killed all the firstborn sons of the Egyptians, I set apart for myself all the firstborn in Israel of both men and animals. They are mine; I am the LORD.”
    • The Levites were not their own – they had been purchased by God…
    • Like the Levites we have been chosen by God – set apart to serve the Lord…
    • I Corinthians 6:20 – “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
    • He calls us to serve Him – and to be ‘priests’ to share Him with others!
  • The book of Leviticus is a continuation of the Law from the book of Exodus…
    • The 2^nd half of the book of Exodus – was Israel receiving the Law of God at Mt. Sinai…
    • The contract/covenant between God and Israel – making them His people…
    • The very 1^st verse of Leviticus opens up with…
    • Now the Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tabernacle of meeting saying
    • (In fact the Hebrew Bible the title of the book are it’s first words ‘and He called’)
    • Making Leviticus the continuation of the Law given to Israel at Mt. Sinai…
  • If any book of the Old Testament could be called a “book of the law” – it is Leviticus!
    • The book of Leviticus is a book of Law – regulations – for the priests and Levites…
    • But it also has many instructions for the everyday person to obey and follow…
  • The Main theme of the Book is – Holiness…
    • God is perfect – holy – righteous – and His standard for us is His Holiness…
    • Key Verse – Leviticus 19:2 – “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.”
    • Jesus picks up on this in the New Testament and tells us…
    • Matthew 5:48 – “You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
    • We are called to be ‘holy’ – set apart from the sinful world we live in…
    • We are to be perfect – upholding all of God’s righteous Laws and commands…

• 4^th – A challenging book…

• Much of Leviticus reads like a Law book – lots of VERY detailed information…
• Leviticus used to be the first book that Jewish children studied in the synagogue…
• But in the Church today it tends to be the last part of the Bible anyone wants to read… 
• A certain lady, on being asked if she had ever read the Bible right through, replied: ‘I have never read it through… Three times I have started to read it through, but each time I have broken down in Leviticus. I have enjoyed Genesis and Exodus, but Leviticus has seemed such dull reading that I have become discouraged and have given up.’
• The problem is Leviticus is not an ‘entertaining story’ – like Genesis or Exodus…
• If you want to be entertained – you watch TV – but if you want to learn – go to school…
• Leviticus is not a fun book – but it is an essential book in understanding righteousness!
• Like valuable gems that have to be mined out from deep within the earth…
• The truths of Leviticus have to be dug out – we have to study and do our homework…
  
• 5^th – A very importnant book (4 things)…

We study Leviticus to learn about the incredible freedom we have in Jesus…

1^st – Leviticus gives us the standard of God’s righteousness – ‘being good’…

221 of the 613 Laws of God comes from the book of Leviticus – over 1/3!

The Old Covenant given to Moses told us what we must do to be righteous… 

The Law of God is perfect – if obeyed the law perfectly we would be righteous…

James 2: 10 – “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”

Romans 3:23 – “All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.”

The Law is perfect – but we are not – we are unable to live up to God’s standard…

The purpose of the Law of God – was not to make us righteous…

Romans 7:7 – “I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet.’”

Galatians 3:24 – “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”

The law is meant to be a mirror to show us we are lost sinners – destined for hell…

Without the Law – we would not know we were NOT righteous…

We would not see our need for a savior – our GREAT need for Jesus!

2^nd – Leviticus gives us the understanding we cannot approach God without a sacrifice…

Hebrews 9:22 – “In fact, we can say that according to the Law of Moses, nearly everything was purified by sprinkling with blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.”

We are all sinners – and the price for sin is death – Romans 6:23…

Matthew 26:28 – “For this is my blood, which seals the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out to forgive the sins of many.”

Jesus was THE sacrifice who paid our price once and for all for sin!

Without the Law – Leviticus – we would not understand the need for Jesus’ sacrifice!

3^rd – Leviticus gives us the truth we are to live apart – Holy – from a Godless world…

Leviticus has Laws on what is safe to eat / how to treat diseases / proper sanitation…

The Laws give us the boundaries for a safe – just society….

For comparison – at that time in Egypt – cow dung was used to treat open wounds!

When Europe experienced the ‘Black plague’ in the Middle Ages – millions died

They were able to stop the plague by following the rules from Leviticus!

Leviticus also gives the practical foundations for a godly government…

Most democratic governments in the world today – based on God’ Law!

In fact the nations that are not based on God’s Law… 

Are what we would consider to be evil – Communism / Islam / Dictatorship

We are not to look like – or act like – the world around us – we are to be Holy…

I Peter 2:9 – “You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

4^th – Leviticus gives us the hope of forgiveness and rest…

The year of Jubilee – the picture of forgiveness and restoration…

Leviticus 25:10 – “You shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you…”

True freedom in life only comes through God – through living for Jesus…

John 8:36 – “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

II Corinthians 3:17 – “Wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, he gives freedom.”