So I preached this morning about Simeon, so I'm continuing the series, going down the list,
Reuben, Simeon, and now we're on to Levi. And again, Levi is a guy where the Bible
doesn't really say a whole lot about the person himself, Levi, but of course,
unlike Simeon, the tribe of Levi becomes a really important tribe in the history
of the nation of Israel and becomes arguably, you know, almost the most
significant tribe in the Old Testament, because Levi is the tribe of the
priesthood of the Old Covenant, and so this is the tribe of Moses and Aaron, and
then all of the priests are going to come from the tribe of Levi all the way
up until the time of Christ, so of course the tribe of Levi is very important in
Scripture. But I want to start out by talking a little bit about the person
Levi. We already really learned something about him this morning, because Simeon
and Levi were the two guys that were responsible for that bloodbath after the
whole incident with Dinah, but this morning I focused more on the literal
interpretation of that story, just what happened in that story, and who was right,
and who was wrong, and what can we apply to our lives, but today I want to take a
more symbolic view of that story and look at the allegory and the symbolism
of that story, because of the fact that the Bible is really deep, and it has lots
and lots of layers of meaning, and I've been studying the Bible for my entire
life, and no matter how much I study the Bible, we were just talking about this
before the service, but no matter how much I study the Bible, I'm constantly
learning new things, and constantly seeing connections that I had never seen
before, and even just over the past few days studying about Reuben, and Simeon,
and Levi, a whole bunch of new things were jumping out at me from these
stories, but when we think about Levi representing the priesthood of the Old
Testament, and really in a sense representing the Old Covenant itself,
then this story about Dinah becomes very interesting, but first before we do that
let's flip over to Genesis 49, and we're gonna come back to Genesis 34 where we
were this morning, and then we're gonna end up in the New Testament. I'm not
gonna retell that story from this morning since you guys were all here. If
there were one person here who wasn't here this morning, I'd retell the story
quickly, but I'm not going to, so hopefully you have a memory longer than
a goldfish, and you don't need me to retell the story from this morning. So in
Genesis chapter 49 we have Jacob's blessings on his sons. He's on his death
bed, and he's giving these last blessings, but the first few don't really end up
being blessings. They end up being more like cursings, okay? So look what the
Bible says in verse number three. It says, Reuben thou art my firstborn, my might in
the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the
excellency of power, unstable as water, thou shalt not excel, because thou
winnest up to thy father's bed, then defileth thou it. He went up to my
couch. So Reuben is the guy that you would expect as the firstborn to inherit
everything, to get the birthright, which means a double inheritance, and to
receive the blessing, and to be the head of the family. You'd expect it to be the
firstborn son, right? But Reuben ruined that by his sin that he committed with
Bilhah. So who's next in line? Simeon, right? But then look what the Bible says.
Simeon and Levi are brethren. Instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my
soul, come not thou into their secret. Under their assembly mine honor. Be not
thou united, for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they dig
down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath for it was
cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. So here we see
that instead of Reuben, it should go to Simeon, but Simeon's disqualified
because of that murderous act that he committed, and Levi was part of that. So
Levi gets skipped as well. So then we go to the fourth son, Judah. Look what the
Bible says about Judah. Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise. This is the
first positive thing, because the first three were negative. Thy hand shall be in
the neck of thine enemies. Thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah
is a lion's whelp. From the prey, my son, thou art gone up. He stooped down, he
couched as a lion, and as an old lion, who shall rouse him up? The scepter shall not
depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and
unto him shall the gathering of the people be. So we see that according to
verse 10, the scepter is not going to depart from the tribe of Judah until
Shiloh come, which is a reference to Jesus Christ's coming, to the reference of the
Messiah coming. And so David is going to be the one who fulfills this prophecy,
right? The man after God's own heart. David is going to be that king from the
tribe of Judah, and his dynasty never ends. Now remember Saul was the king at
first, but then the kingdom is taken away from Saul because of his sin. But when
the kingdom goes to David, it's never going to leave David's house. Even when
David's son Solomon does a lot of wrong things, God still allows Solomon's
descendants to rule on the throne of Judah. He takes ten tribes away from him,
but that southern kingdom with the two tribes will continue to be ruled by the
sons of David, partly to fulfill this prophecy that says the scepter shall not
depart from Judah until Shiloh come. And so all the way down the line you have
Solomon, Reboam, Abijah, Joseph, all the way down that list of kings of Judah
that are all descended from David. Then even after the Babylonian captivity, when
they come back you have Zerubbabel, the son of David, and his descendants there
governing in Israel all the way up until the time of Christ. Then Jesus Christ is
of course of the tribe of Judah. And so Jesus being of the tribe of Judah, he is
the king of kings and Lord of lords, and his kingdom will never end. And so
David's dynasty in a sense becomes eternal because of Jesus being an
eternal king of kings. And so it had to be physical kings leading up until, or
physical at least, governors or rulers leading all the way up until Jesus. And
then Jesus fulfilled that, and then now it's fulfilled forever because Jesus is
at the right hand of the Father, and he rules and reigns in our hearts. And then
one day he'll actually return and physically rule and reign upon this
earth. And so that's what this is talking about. It says in verse 11, binding is
full unto the vine and his ass is cold under the choice vine. He washed his
garments in wine and his clothes and the blood of grapes. And that's of course a
reference to Jesus Christ being clothed in a vesture dipped in blood and so
forth. And it says his eyes shall be red with wine and his teeth white with milk.
So we can see that instead of Reuben being the leader, being the ruler, being
the one that would be the most important tribe that would eventually lead us to
the Lord Jesus Christ, it would go to Simeon, we skip Simeon, we skip Levi, and
we get to Judah who represents the Lord Jesus Christ and the son of David and so
forth. So the reason that that's important is because part of the theme
of the Bible is this shift from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant, right? And
the Bible says that the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Well Levi represents the law and Judah represents the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now this makes perfect sense because what better tribe to represent the law
than Levi? Because if you think about it a big part of the law is the Levitical
priesthood, okay? If you would flip over to Hebrews in the New Testament, before
we go back to the Dinah story, let's go to Hebrews chapter 7. A big part of the
Old Covenant with the law was the priesthood and if you think about it, who
is the guy who was a lawgiver of Israel? It was Moses, right? The Bible says the
law was given by Moses. What tribe is Moses from? Moses is of the tribe of Levi,
right? So the law was given by Moses, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. The
law is a system of priests that are Levites and they are the ones doing animal
sacrifices and running the tabernacle and later the temple and so they are the
tribe to really represent the law. Look what the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 7.
This is talking about Jesus Christ, it says in verse 3, without father, without
mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life but
made like unto the Son of God abideth a priest continually. Literally talking
about Melchizedek who obviously is representing Jesus Christ or perhaps
even literally is Jesus Christ. It says now consider how great this man was unto
whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils and verily they that
are of the sons of Levi who received the office of the priesthood have a
commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law that is of their
brethren though they come out of the loins of Abraham but he whose descent is
not counted from them received tithes of Abraham and blessed him that had the
promises and so on. Let's go ahead and jump down for sake of time. It says in
verse 11 if therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood for under it
the people received the law what further need was there that another priest
should rise after the order of Melchizedek and not be called after the
order of Aaron for the priesthood being changed there is made of necessity a
change also of the law for he of whom these things are spoken talking about
Jesus pertaineth to another tribe of which no man give attendance at the
altar for it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah of which tribe Moses
spake nothing concerning priesthood. So we could read this whole chapter but the
general idea here is that the Levitical priesthood is an Old Testament thing and
it gets replaced in the New Testament by the priesthood of Melchizedek where
Jesus Christ is a high priest and the New Testament we as believers are all
priests unto God and the Father and Jesus Christ our high priest and there's
no more physical literal Levitical priesthood on this earth it's been
replaced okay and a lot of people will sometimes speak against our church or
your church or people like us and say you know you guys believe in replacement
theology and they act like that's some really bad scary thing because they want
us to be dispensationalist and we're not dispensationalist so people say well you
guys believe in replacement theology well let me tell you something the Old
Covenant has been replaced by the there are not two covenants both working
at the same time okay it's not like Jews could just say well we're just
kind of gonna do the Old Covenant and what no the Old Covenant's over buddy
we're on to the New Covenant now okay and the New Covenant replaces the Old
Covenant and by the way the priesthood of Melchizedek with Jesus Christ as the
high priest replaces the Levitical priesthood it's not like we're doing
both and we've got some Levitical priesthood somewhere and we could go do
some animal sacrifice with some Levite somewhere of course not why because
Jesus has replaced the Levitical priesthood the New Testament has
replaced the Old Testament the New Covenant has replaced the Old Covenant
okay that's what it is and and we as Christians have replaced the Jews as
being God's chosen people that's what the Bible actually teaches Jesus said
the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth
the fruits thereof and he was talking to Jews he was talking to Israelites he
said the kingdom is taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the
fruits thereof so there's a replacement now why was the Old Covenant replaced by
the New Covenant well flip over to chapter 8 and in case you doubt that
it's been replaced look verse 13 of chapter 8 and that he saith the New
Covenant he has made the first old now that which decayeth and waxeth old is
ready to vanish away so there's a doubt about the fact that the Old Covenant
is now obsolete Hebrews 8 13 should clear that right up for you okay but
look at chapter 9 okay in chapter 9 we have an explanation of why the first
covenant was replaced it says you know I'm not seeing the verse I'm looking for
but I'll just quote it to you it says for if the first covenant had been
faultless then should no place have been sought for the second for finding fault
with them he saith behold the days come saith the Lord when I'll bring a new
covenant and so forth so he says or sorry you know it was in chapter 8
that's why it was chapter 8 verse 7 if the first covenant had been faultless
then should no place have been sought for the second where was the fault in
the first covenant it wasn't God's law that was at fault the law the Lord's
perfect right but it was the Bible says in verse 8 that he found fault with them
the children of Israel could not live up to the standards of God's perfect law
because they're human right we're all sinners none of us can keep God's law
perfectly and so the reason that the old covenant cannot bring salvation is
because the old covenant only condemns because none of us can keep that
covenant perfectly and cursed is everyone that continueth not in all the
words of the law to do them and so everybody who's under the is under the
curse the Bible tells in Galatians 3 and 4 that if we don't keep the whole
law we're under the curse of the law and the Bible also tells in Galatians
chapter 5 that anyone who is circumcised is a debtor to do the whole law so you
get circumcised that's not enough you have to keep the whole law the Bible
says circumcision verily profiteth if thou keep the law but if thou be a
breaker of the law thy circumcision shall be counted as uncircumcision so
basically here's the bottom line the law is a bunch of rules and regulations that
God gave the children of Israel that a man who would do them with by them but
the bottom line is every single person's a sinner we all come short of the glory
of God therefore we could never find salvation through the old covenant and
by the people back then could never find salvation through that old covenant
because no one could ever live up to it perfectly it's not possible for the
blood of bulls and of goats to take away sins and if a perfect human being could
live on this earth and keep all those laws yeah they'd be doing great but
guess what we're all sinners we all come short that's why we need Jesus to be
saved and without Jesus we would all be doomed because we're all sinners we've
all come short of the glory of God so the law can't save the law did not save
people back then it can't save people now it never will be able to save people
the law cannot bring you forgiveness for your sins because only Jesus can provide
forgiveness through his blood his death barrel and resurrection is the only way
that we can be saved we can't be saved by keeping God's commandments or keeping
God's laws God's laws only condemn those who fail to follow them which is
everyone okay so go to in case you're skeptical about what I'm saying go to
Romans chapter 7 Romans chapter 7 because I'm not just making stuff up
here what I just explained to you over the past few minutes is taught very
clearly in Galatians but also in Romans chapter 7 and 2nd Corinthians chapter 3
I mean the Bible flat-out tells us that the law can't save you and that the law
only condemns and shows you shortcomings and shows you your failings that's why
the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ because all the law can do is
just condemn and show so that we'll realize why we need Jesus to save us
okay but the law itself never could save the old covenant can't save okay look at
Romans chapter 7 verse 6 but now we are delivered from the law that being dead
where we were held that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the
oldness of the letter notice how the Bible says we're delivered from the law
what he really means there is that we're delivered from the punishment or curse
associated with the law because the law condemns us since we don't live up to it
okay I'll show you what I mean it says in verse 7 what shall we say then is the
law sin God forbid now I had not known sin but by the law for I had not known
lust except the law had said thou shalt not covet look at verse 8 but sin taking
occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence for
without the law sin was dead for I was alive without the law once but when the
commandment came sin revived and I died and the commandment which was ordained
to life watch this I found to be unto death and look the Apostle Paul he tried
to keep the law he was brought up in the strictest sect of his religion and he
lived a Pharisee and he tried but he said that commandment which was ordained
to life I found to be unto death why because he couldn't live up to God's
perfect standard and ultimately he he learned and realized his need for a
Savior in Jesus he says in verse 11 for sin taking occasion by the commandment
deceived me okay pay attention to that term deceived me we're gonna come back
to that sin taking occasion by the commandment deceived me and by it slew
me wherefore the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good so
he's saying look it's not that the law is bad it's not that the law is sinful
or evil the law is right and good and just but the law ends up bringing death
because of our sins does everybody understand that because the law is all
about justice the law all about right and wrong justice and a punishment to
fit the crime that's what the laws about the law is not about the grace of God
which is what we need to be saved we got to be saved by grace that's why the
Bible said the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ
okay now flip over to 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 I'm
gonna bring this all together it's all gonna make sense I'm just kind of laying
a foundation right now 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 verse 6 says who also hath
made us able ministers of the New Testament not of the letter but of the
spirit for the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life but if the
ministration of death written and engraven in stones was glorious now what
is that that was engraven in stone when he says the ministration of death was
engraven in stone you know he's talking about the Ten Commandments he's talking
about Moses went up in the mountain and he got those stone tablets that were
engraven with the Ten Commandments and here's the thing those tables those
tablets were called the tables of the Covenant because basically the entire
Old Covenant is a whole set of laws that's a lot more than 10 but those Ten
Commandments are sort of a boiled-down basic CliffsNotes version of the Old
Covenant and what does the Bible say the Bible says that that Old Covenant is
called the ministration of death okay and he said the letter killeth okay
let's keep going it says if the ministration of death written and
engraven in stones was glorious so that the children of Israel could not
steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance which
glory was to be done away and notice it was to be done away because the Old
Covenant gets replaced by the New Covenant how shall not the ministration
of the Spirit be rather glorious for if the what ministration of condemnation be
glory much more does the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory so notice
that the Old Covenant engraven in stone in the Old Testament Mount Sinai Mount
Sinai's Covenant is called the ministration of death and it's called
the ministration of condemnation because again the law can only condemn you
because the law is showing your sinfulness exposing your sinfulness and
making you worthy of death whereas the only way you're gonna find eternal life
salvation is through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ it's through the blood
of Jesus it's through the New Covenant not the Old Covenant you can't be saved
by the Old Covenant because you can't work your way to heaven by keeping God's
commandments and being a really good person because it doesn't matter how
good you are you come short okay and the law will condemn you every single
time and so he talks about you know how that's gonna be done away and on and on
and then it says in verse 13 and not as Moses which put a veil over his face
that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that
which is abolished so again the Old Covenant is now abolished for their
minds were but their minds were blinded for until this day remaineth the same
veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament which veil is done away in
Christ but even unto this day when Moses read the veil is upon their hearts okay
so we see here and we could turn to a bunch of other scriptures but I think
you get the idea we saw it in Romans 7 we saw it in 2nd Corinthians 3 that the
letter killeth okay God's law in the Old Testament the Old Covenant laws from
Moses it's called the ministration of death the ministration of condemnation
and he's quick to point out it's not there's anything wrong with the law the
law is righteous and just and godly it's us that's the problem why the law can't
save us okay and then he said in Galatians about the law that the laws
are schoolmaster to bring us to Christ why because it shows us our sinful
condition Galatians 5 he said hey if you're circumcised you're better to do
the whole law okay because you can't just do the circumcision and then not
keep the rest of the law because circumcision basically gets you on the
hook for keeping the whole rest of the law and so then after that if you sin
then your circumcision is counted for uncircumcision and so forth now in
Galatians as well when he talks about the law given at Mount Sinai what we
just talked about the stone tablets etc it says in verse 24 of Galatians 4 you
can turn there if you want you don't have to I'm just going to quickly talk
about this but in Galatians 4 24 it says which things are an allegory for these
are the two covenants the one from Mount Sinai which gender it bondage so two
covenants one covenant is from Mount Sinai gender it to bondage that's the
law right that's the old covenant and then he says that it's Hagar it's Mount
Sinai it genders to bondage and it says that Jerusalem which is above is free
which is the mother of us all but current Jerusalem is still in bondage
because they think they're under the old covenant and whatever okay so what does
this have to do with Levi what does it have to do with Dinah well remember the
Bible often speaks in allegories so in addition to the surface meaning where we
could learn about protecting our daughters so they don't end up like
Dinah and we can understand about the problems with vigilante justice and and
going out and killing people and all these things like we talked about in
this morning sermon about Simeon there's also an allegory going on in the story
because if you think about it Levi represents what the old covenant the
law okay and if you think about it what does Levi actually do in that Genesis
chapter 34 story he brings judgment with no mercy he brings condemnation on
a man who sinned right she could miss end and he brings death upon him right
he brings just condemnation and what's interesting is that not only that what
is it specifically that Levi said that they had to do in order to make things
right in order to have peace and to become a part of the people of God and
to join them and to receive all the inheritance and receive all the
blessings and receive the bride of Dinah what was it that they had to do do you
remember from this morning he said you guys have to do one thing what do you
have to do you have to get circumcised you remember that now you think that's a
coincidence no it's not a coincidence my friend because there's symbolism going
on here they could have picked another way to trick these guys they could have
picked all kinds of ways to ambush these guys and murder them but isn't it
interesting that they say hey all you have to do is be circumcised and then
we'll work with you and what ends up happening that Levi comes in with a
sword and these guys who've been circumcised they did what they were
supposed to do they got circumcised Levi goes in and what does he do he kills
them with the sword and what this pictures is the fact that if you get
circumcised the law is still going to slaughter you the law is still gonna
kill you because of the fact that you are not perfect you didn't keep the
whole law and think about it getting circumcised can't undo the sins that
you've committed Shechem got circumcised but that didn't change the fact that he
had offended Levi he had offended against Levi he had treated Levi's
sister like a harlot and so he is condemned he is doomed he is going to
die now this is a perfect picture of the fact that the law just because you're
circumcised the law is not gonna give you a pass Levi's not just like oh you
guys are circumcised well it's fine now I'm not gonna kill you no no Levi comes
in kills them anyway okay and again this is a symbol of the fact that even
if you're circumcised and you say oh I'm an Israelite I'm circumcised I'm kosher
I'm not eating any pork look at me I'm doing everything I'm supposed to do
here's the thing the law still condemns you because the Bible says that
whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offended one point he's guilty of
all and the Bible says that if you're circumcised you're a debtor to do the
whole law and since no one can ever live up to that then we would all be
killed by the law okay you know remember the people who didn't believe in Jesus
and Jesus is preaching to the Jews that didn't believe in him and he said hey
I'm not here to condemn you he said there's one that to condemn you Moses in
whom you trust he said Moses is gonna be the one to condemn you why because it's
the it's the law of God that's gonna condemn them because the law of God's
called what the ministration of condemnation the ministration of death
okay so if you're unsaved then the law is only death to you it's only
condemnation you know to us we have a different relationship with the law
because we're saved through Jesus right as New Testament Christians we're saved
through Jesus and we're like oh how love I thy law it's my meditation night and
day we read the law and it's not death unto us it's not condemnation us cuz
we're saved and even people in the Old Testament who looked forward the Messiah
who called upon the name of the Lord and trusted in the Lord's mercy for their
salvation and weren't trying to work or earn their way to heaven you know even
for them they could like David say how love I thy law so we have a good
relationship with law I don't want you to get me wrong and think that the law
is bad that's why when the Apostle Paul talks about this he says you know we
know the law is good we know the law is right it's just but it was death to me
though because I'm a sinner you know think about this if I come to somebody's
door and knock on their door and say hey I've got good news for you the gospel
Jesus saves salvation is a free gift eternal life is free if you believe
that's great news why is it great news because they can have salvation right
now they can be saved today they can be saved forever and it's within their
reach it's not out of reach unto them but what door and said hey I've got
great news you can live forever you can have eternal life you have all your
sins forgiven you're gonna go to heaven you're gonna walk on streets of gold but
here's what you have to do you have to keep 600 commandments these are the 600
commandments and if you screw this up you're going to hell okay and it's a lot
of really strict rules and by the way you also have to think right all the
time because if you think something stupid the thought of foolishness is sin
now think about that that's not good news that's really bad news and so you
can see how it could be called the ministration of condemnation because
God's law is really good at showing up where we're wrong it's really good at
showing us how sinful we are it's really good at showing us how we come short of
the glory of God okay but it's not good at saving us because that's not a plan
of salvation keep these commandments because you're not going to be able to
do it perfectly and you first of all you've already goofed it up in the past
you've already broken God's laws even if you decided even if somehow you could
just stop sinning which I believe is totally impossible but let's say you
could just 100% stop sinning that still wouldn't work to get you to heaven you
know why because what about all the sins you've already done in the past you know
it doesn't matter what she come does to going forward she comes gonna get
slaughtered why because he already lay with Dinah he already defiled Levi
sister and so he is going to get killed for what he did in the past even if he
did straighten up and fly right in the future what he did in the past already
condemns it and Levi in the Bible the person Levi the guy Levi that we're
learning about was this a merciful guy was he a forgiving guy he was not
merciful he was not forgiving he didn't let things go that was the big sin that
he committed by going in and slaughtering okay but that's why he's a
good picture of the law because the law as it as it in and of itself is
unforgiving in that sense because the law says the soul that's in it it shall
die and there's not a forgiveness there because why the forgiveness can't come
through the law I can only come through Jesus it comes through Christ it comes
through the blood of Christ you can't get redemption and forgiveness of sins
through the Old Covenant even back then you couldn't the only way they could be
saved back then is because Jesus was coming in the future otherwise killing
some cow killing a goat killing a sheep wasn't really gonna do anything was it
as far as getting them right with God except that a pictured Lamb of God that
would someday come and take away the sin of the world and so it's really
interesting how this story with Dinah actually pictures the fact that Levi
is like the law of God where he tells you get circumcised and you get
circumcised and guess what that's not good enough you die anyway it's not
gonna work the law tells you to get circumcised Levi tells you to get
circumcised the law is gonna kill you for not doing it right and so did Levi
so it's a perfect picture so stop and think about this Levi could have been
the guy to inherit everything because Reuben disqualified himself so Simeon
and Levi are next in line you know let's say Levi had not participated in this if
he didn't follow Simeon down this road then he would have been the guy he could
have inherited everything he could have but instead he gets cursed by Jacob he
doesn't inherit and yeah his tribe becomes the priestly tribe but it ends
up ultimately getting superseded by Melchizedek Jesus the the priesthood of
Jesus which comes from the tribe of Judah okay so stop and think about this
Reuben Simeon Levi and then Judah is the one who steps it so it's a picture of
you know the law can't cut it the law is not gonna be the final inheritor of all
thing it's gonna be Jesus Jesus must replace the law Jesus Christ must
supersede the law the New Covenant must replace the Old Covenant and in fact you
could even maybe think about this symbolism even deeper okay and this is
maybe like outside of the scope of this sermon but you could even think about
the fact that like Reuben could also symbolize something in this because it's
like it went through three steps before you get to our guy Judah who's gonna be
the guy who brings us Jesus you know Jesus comes to the tribe of Judah stop
and think about this that you know Reuben why did he because he went up to
his father's bed and defiled it right but if you think about in the days of
Noah you know God's kind of trying different things with mankind and in the
days of Noah what went wrong in that generation with Noah because remember
God wiped out the planet with a flood and then after the flood you've got Noah
and his three sons and their three wives you'd think that they could have a nice
new start because you've got this one godly man his family some godly pastor
or something you know the whole world got wiped out and all you've got left is
some godly pastor and his three sons and their three wives and hey it's gonna be
great but what happened right away when they get off the ark you've got just
Noah's family and you think oh we got rid of all the violent people we got rid
of all the wicked people they all died in the flood now we just this one godly
family you got Noah Noah's wife three sons their three wives and they're gonna
now repopulate and go forth and be fruitful multiply but right away you
have one of Noah's sons ham who turns out to have been a super wicked guy and
what did ham do well we're not gonna go into what he did okay but it's pretty
similar to the statement that's made in Genesis 49 of where he says oh you know
Ruben you went up to your father's bed and defiled it now Ruben did that in a
different way Ruben did that by actually sleeping with his father's concubine
Bilhah okay totally different situation you know the situation with Noah was
different but he defiled his father's bed in another way okay because remember
Noah got drunk and and he saw his nakedness and so forth and went told his
brothers about it and all that so the point is you could even look at this as
symbolic as like Ruben representing the the period with Noah and and God trying
something where he says okay let's take Noah and his family and let's just start
over you know something went wrong after Adam and Eve let's just start over with
Noah's family did that work didn't work out because right away things got super
wicked you've got ham you've got Canaan you've got the Tower of Babel and you
know there's a little bit of a tie in there between Ruben and ham because they
both basically defiled their father's couch in two very different ways but
they still both defiled that and then you know you could say maybe that Simeon
represents the period of the patriarchs and that Simeon represents the patriarchs
and you know the patriarchs they all got circumcised too okay and then you have
Levi representing the period with Moses and the giving of the law and
circumcision is a big part of the law but circumcision also came in the time
of the patriarchs so you can say Ruben represents like the period with with Noah
and you know God pushing a reset button there and it not working out okay
because the world became super wicked once again then God pushed another reset
button with Abraham Isaac Jacob and the twelve patriarchs you could say that's
represented by Simeon again it doesn't work out Jacob's sons were pretty sinful
and did a lot of bad things and ultimately they all end up going into
Egypt and so forth but then you have another reset button with Moses right
Moses comes brings them out of Egypt takes them to Mount Sinai gives them the
law and now that they've got this great law everything's gonna be great right
but did that really work out no because right away the children of Israel are
rebelling against the Lord and look at the book of Judges where everything
keeps going wrong in the book of Judges it keeps going wrong keeps going right
even though God's law is perfect it goes wrong it goes wrong it goes wrong and
then ultimately we have Jesus who comes in he doesn't destroy the law but he
fulfills the law and Jesus is the fulfillment of the law he's the
culmination of the law the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by
Jesus Christ and so if you think about it one way to read the Old Testament is
that the Old Testament is like a series of God trying something new or starting
something new or start over and it just everything fails every time and what the
Old Testament is teaching us is that Jesus Christ is our only hope Jesus
Christ the only salvation why because flooding the earth and just getting rid
of the bad element of this earth that you know I've said before you know it's
that Pride Month you know so I have to touch on this a little bit but like you
know I've said before me if I had a button on this pulpit and I could just
push that button and all these sodomites would just die I'd push that button you
know but here's the thing about that let's say I push that button that
wouldn't fix the problem would it because you know what there'd be new
sodomites that would that would come about you know you that God pushed that
button because they're all wicked people and all these horrible people before the
flood what did God do God flooded the entire earth he got rid of every wicked
person wicked element no he didn't why because if you're gonna let any humans
on that ark you're letting sin on that ark and so even though Noah's a godly
man even though he's righteous even though he found grace in the eyes of the
Lord Noah's family itself contained wickedness and so wiping out all the bad
people killing all the bad people doesn't work because there's new bad
people being born every day okay that's why somebody said why did you say that
you'd push the button until the button breaks or until your finger breaks and I
said well you know they said why just push it once wouldn't once be enough and
I said no no because there'd be continually new reprobates continually
new sodomites so you have to keep but you know first you wouldn't you'd have
to push it a lot and then you have to push it less and less often but you'd
never have you'd never be able to just stop pushing that button why because God
wiped out all of the sin wicked people in this world once and it did it fix the
world because as soon as they get off the ark they're back at it again human
and that's why God said I'm never gonna flood the earth again that's why he gave
the rainbow in the sky as a symbol of his promise never to flood the earth
again and when God put that rainbow in the sky he said I'm never going to
destroy all flesh with the flood again and you know why he said he wouldn't do
it because he said I I just I just understand the fact that man's
imaginations are just evil from his youth upward so God basically just said
you know what man is wicked and his imaginations evil from his youth up so
you know I'm not gonna wipe it here's what God's basically saying if I'm gonna
wipe out the earth every time it gets wicked I just keep wiping it out and
instead he just came to accept the fact that hey man's wicked this is the way it
is now here's the thing obviously God already knows everything God already
from the beginning knew that you know not having a death penalty before the
flood wasn't gonna work out and then the whole earth's filled with violence so
then after the flood he says okay we're gonna have a death penalty now he
already knew that he needed that he already knew that wiping out the flood
wiping out the earth with a flood wasn't gonna solve the sin problem on this
world obviously God knows everything right so why is he going through these
motions in the Old Testament why does he flood the earth and it doesn't work out
let's call that Reuben why does he then say okay I'm gonna pick one guy one
family and I'm gonna call this guy out and I'm gonna work with this guy and
teach this guy and bless this guy and he chooses Abraham and he says okay I'm
gonna make of you a great nation I'm not gonna try to fix the whole world the
world's wicked okay but let's have one nation that's godly let's do it right
Abraham God knew that wasn't gonna work out but he did that and let it fail then
he says okay we're gonna do the law we're gonna have the law we're gonna
have Moses give the law and we're gonna give you this law and then the nation's
gonna be great because they've got the law God knew it wasn't gonna work out so
why is God going through this process over and over again in the Old Testament
if he already knows everything because it's to show us it's to teach us he's
showing us because otherwise we would sit there and say like well you didn't
you just do that why didn't you just all the blue what you know I've heard people
ask this question like why does God allow all these wicked people to exist
in the world in fact somebody made a meme like this it was like that Pikachu
with his mouth open meme you know like that and it was basically like you know
people say why doesn't God get rid of all the evil in the world and then God
floods the whole earth and then people are like like what you know God why
doesn't God get rid of all the evil in the world he did that once and it didn't
fix the world because then just new evil sprung up immediately so God is
teaching us in the Bible so that we can understand okay look here's God trying
this here's God trying this here's God trying this here's God trying this
doesn't work doesn't work doesn't work and so it's like Ruben draw a line
through his name nope Simeon nope Levi surely Levi the law of Moses and you
know I mean Pharisees thought that was they'd arrived with that right but God's
like nope Judah which represents Jesus the New Testament the New Covenant and
so one way of reading the Old Testament is understand that the entire Old
Testament is just showing us how nothing is ever going to be fixed in this world
without Jesus no matter what system you could get rid of all the bad people and
that's not gonna fix things you can choose one nation one people and no one
family nope God's laws and what if we just preach the commandments of God and
have a bunch of rules and teach our kids the rules and we'll all follow the rules
doesn't work doesn't work doesn't work doesn't work why because Jesus is the
answer and Jesus necessity is what we learn from the Old Testament from the
Old Testament here's we learn Jesus is necessary because nothing else works
then even you know then it's like oh the judges that didn't work well let's get a
king to rule over us that doesn't work either then okay I'll punish them by
putting them in Babylon come back from Babylon start over Ezra Nehemiah it all
fails Ezra the book of Ezra ends in failure book of Nehemiah ends in failure
why because nothing is gonna work except the New Testament nothing is gonna work
except Jesus Christ okay the answer is not for us to withdraw ourselves from
society to try to eliminate all sin to try to seclude ourselves and sequester
ourselves or to just try really hard to follow all of God's rules ultimately the
only hope for us is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation to be
saved by believing in Jesus and then to remain in this world seeking to win the
loss to Christ and we've got the Holy Spirit inside of us and let me just say
this the local church is a success okay the the nation of Israel is a failure
okay Noah's family after the flood is a failure Abraham's family gets pretty
squirrely at by the end of Genesis I mean look I don't know about you I have
12 kids I hope my 12 kids don't end up like Jacob's 12 kids I mean think
about it do you think I would be happy if my 12 kids are like Jacob's 12 kids
like two of them are committing mass murder one of them is sleeping with some
you know 20 some year old older woman that you know I mean that whole Bilhah
thing right one of them over here Judah is going to a prostitute and oh and by
the way they're getting together and conspiring to murder their younger
brother but then they just decide to sell them into human trafficking instead
now can you imagine if I had 12 kids and that's how they ended up it'd be
pretty horrifying right I mean who here wants to have 12 kids and a couple of
them are murderers all of them are kind of ready to murder of their brother but
it said they human traffic him do a prostitute over here one of them's over
here with Jacob's concubine I mean it's pretty horrifying isn't it okay
why why is that in the why do we you know you read the Bible the first time
people read Genesis they're pretty shocked by it because they they expect
it to be a lot of rainbows and unicorns and they they get to a rainbow in
Genesis 9 but the unicorns never show up and some really sordid gnarly stuff
shows up why because what's got joints failure okay
Noah's family failure Abraham the patriarchs a moral failure the nation of
Israel before he's even done getting the law while he's getting the Ten
Commandments what are they doing while he's getting the Ten Commandments they're
worshipping the golden calf they're breaking the Commandments even while
he's receiving them on the mountain and so it's a failure okay the Kings the
monarchy failure Ezra and Nehemiah failure failure failure what's God
showing us he's showing us that we need the New Covenant we need Jesus and
here's the thing the local church is not a failure the local church is a success
okay now you say well there's problems in the church and and you know their
churches have moral failings and problems but but here's the thing though
as an institution the gates of hell will not prevail against the church and the
church will never be replaced the church will persist the church will
continue as God's ultimate institution that never ends whereas he goes back to
the drawing board with the first world and says okay we're gonna flood this and
start over okay forget it with Noah's family we're picking one guy Abraham
okay we need the law okay forget the judges let's do Kings okay I have an
idea let's get rid of the ten rotten tribes and just do the two good tribes
it just keeps you see how it just keeps not working and it keeps getting
replaced he keeps trying something new trying something new whereas the local
church continues forever Jesus Christ and his plan of salvation through his
blood it's never-ending it's eternal it's a success so the local church is a
success Jesus Christ successfully saves us from our sins he gives us eternal
life we shall never perish he doesn't bring condemnation he said what I came
not to condemn the world the Bible says of course in the famous verse in John
3 16 that whosoever believeth in him right should not perish but have
everlasting life but then it says for God sent not his son into the world to
condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved he didn't
send his son to condemn the world the law already did that Levi already did
that but that the world through Jesus might be saved and he that believeth on
him is not condemned and so we as Christians we're never going to be
condemned we're never gonna die we're never gonna be slain you know we were
we were talking to a guy when we were out soul winning today that was those
pretty confused okay and he started out sounding like it was by faith but then
he started saying no you got to follow Christ and you got to give your life to
him and and if you commit a sin and don't repent of it you're gonna lose
your salvation and everything like that and this guy was was confused because
brother surge you know he pulled out the Bible and showed the guy John 3 16 about
everlasting life you know that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but
have everlasting life and he said well he said you know that's not now though
you know we get that later that's in the future okay so then he showed him
another verse where he said you know that you may know that you have eternal
life right because Jesus said present tense verily verily I stand you he that
believeth on me half everlasting life that's right now we have everlasting
life right now but this guy's like no no you you guys you're gonna die right but
then if you're saved you know you'll have everlasting life but you have to
faith and works you have to repent of all your sins you have to do this and
that he you know he was adding all these requirements for salvation but you know
what the Bible clearly says it says whosoever liveth and believeth in me
shall never die who sort of liveth believeth me shall never die so even if
we physically die that's not really us I mean that's just the body that's gonna
die I Stephen Anderson will never die I have
eternal life right now and when people say Stephen Anderson is dead it won't
really be true will it I mean it'll be true of my body but I'm not really gonna
be dead I'm still gonna be living in heaven I'm still gonna be alive and well
with the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven because I'm saved and the law can't do
that for you the law can only bring you death because you have the man that do
with them shall live by them but nobody has ever achieved that and so I think
that the most significant thing about the character Levi because we don't know
a lot about him but we know that he's involved in the story with Simeon and
the killing of Shechem and so forth is that Levi represents merciless slaughter
on those who have sinned right Shechem has sinned and he just comes down on him
and just slays him and you know what that's exactly what the law will do to
you if you don't have Jesus the law will kill you the law I mean think about
people who are out there when we knock their door and they say oh I'm going to
heaven because I keep the commandments I mean anybody who's gone soul-winning
ever has heard somebody say I'm going to heaven because I keep the commandments
you know what they're basically saying you know what Levi's got me covered
Levi's got and I'm thinking like you don't know Levi very well this guy is
not a nice guy you don't want to trust your life with Levi because you know what
Levi when Levi finds out what you did to his sister Levi's gonna come and kill
you okay and so you know that's basically what they're saying when they
say like oh I'm going to heaven because I'm keeping the commandments or the Jews would
say oh I'm circumcised I'm one of the chosen I'm in Levi's just over there
sharpening his sword like oh you've been circumcised huh the better to slay you
right hey great that you got circumcised that'll just make it easier for me to
kill you I mean that's isn't that what Levi did folks I mean were you here this
morning that's what he did Levi says if you've been circumcised that makes it
easier to kill you well guess what that's what is going on with people that
are out there they're Jewish they're getting circumcised they think they're
going to heaven through the law Levi is ready to kill them they need to find
mercy in the one place where mercy is to be found Jesus the law isn't the one
that's gonna save you or forgive you of all your sins or pardon you no it's a
ministry of condemnation okay it's Jesus and the New Testament that provides
redemption and forgiveness it's not through circumcision okay it's without
circumcision it's without the law the Bible says now the righteousness of God
without the law is manifested without the law the Bible says that we are saved
by believing in Jesus that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but
have eternal life now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested
being witnessed by the law and the prophets even the righteousness of God
which is by faith in Jesus Christ unto all and upon all of them that believe
there is no difference for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God
being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus let's borrow it now
you