Feb5

"AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the LORD your God. After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances. Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD." Leviticus 18:1-5

The children of Israel have come out of Egypt where they had done all the things that were forbidden. Disgusting sins were a way of life for the Egyptians and God had to separate His people from the influence of that sinful environment. They were going to the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey. But that wasn't all that was in Canaan. The Canaanites were there, and they also were immoral. God saw the children of Israel were caught, as we would put it, between a rock and a hard place. The Egyptians were behind them, the Canaanites were ahead of them, and both were grossly immoral.

We are living in a day when they talk about a sexual revolution. I wonder whether people have read the eighteenth chapter of Leviticus. Because there is nothing new today about sexual perversion than there was back then. It is the same old immorality today that they had in Egypt and in Canaan. But, God said back then, and still says today, "I am the LORD, your God." So, who makes the rules then? God makes the rules! Now, you may not wish to follow them, but breaking the Ten Commandments is wrong ~ because God says it's wrong! By the way, when you choose not to follow God's rules, you might want to remember Who's world it is you're living in, breathing in, using His sunshine in, drinking His water in, walking in on His earth. And keep in mind that these privileges are also rent-free! Unless you can create your own universe, I would strongly suggest obeying His commands. He tells us that if we break His Commandments, we will pay for it. And I don't believe He is pertaining to being arrested by a police officer either. You will stand before Him some day!

The things that God said were immoral are still immoral today. Look at the New Testament: "Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness" (1Thessalonians 4:5-7). "This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness" (Ephesians 4:17-19). "But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner: with such an one no not to eat" (1Corinthians 5:11). "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2Peter 1:4).

These passages from the Epistles of the New Testament are speaking to us. The child of God in any age is called to holy living. "Knowing ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are" (Corinthians 3:16-17). "Because it is written, Be ye holy: for I am holy" (1Peter 1:16). God is calling us to holiness! We need to emphasize holiness because God asks us to be holy.

God created this universe, and despite what you think or believe, He is the One who is running it! And He says, "I am your God!" He is a reconciled God. He knows our frame and yet He loves us. If you are reconciled to God, you will want to please Him. The child of God can be filled with the Holy Spirit so that he will not commit these sins of the flesh, but will produce the fruit of the Spirit.

May the blessings of the Lord be yours today and all days.

Love in Christ Jesus, Sandy