Amen.
All right, well, we're there in Leviticus chapter number 20, and we've been preaching
through the book of Leviticus on Wednesday nights, going chapter by chapter every week.
We find ourselves in the 20th week of this Bible study, and we're in Leviticus chapter
number 20 tonight.
And before we get into Leviticus 20, I want to keep your place there.
I'll send me our text for tonight, but I'd like you to go with me to the book of Genesis
just real quickly, Genesis chapter number 9, first book in the Bible, should be fairly
easy to find.
And in this chapter, what we're going to do is we're going to go through the chapter,
and then at the end, I'm going to give you about four statements of application.
And Lord willing, it won't be very long.
But there's something that comes up over and over in this chapter, and it's this idea of
putting someone to death, and basically the death penalty, and what we refer to as capital
punishment.
I want you to notice that God is the one who established this in Scripture, and we find
it, the first reference to it in the book of Genesis, chapter number 9.
If you remember, Noah is getting off the ark, and in chapter 9 and verse 6, God said this,
Who so shedeth man's blood?
My man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man.
And God is the one who instituted the death penalty.
God is the one who here told us that if a man sheds another man's blood, then by man
shall his blood be shed, meaning this was a responsibility that he gave to mankind,
and specifically as you get into the Old Testament, it's something that he gave to human government
to be able to protect and to defend, and he had instituted this idea of the death penalty.
Now today we live in a society, go back to Leviticus chapter 20, where almost nobody
follows the laws of God, and even in the state of California, it's extremely rare that anybody
ever actually gets the death penalty, or they get the death penalty, but they die of old
age before they actually do anything about it.
But I want you to understand that usually when we think of the death penalty, we think
of, you know, when someone kills somebody, then they should be put to death, but I want
you to understand that that is the first reference to the death penalty, but God and his government
instituted and placed the death penalty on way more things than just that, and as we
get into this tonight, I want to remind you, and I've done this a lot in the past, but
I want to remind you that as New Testament believers, we do not live in Old Testament
Israel.
If you start reading the book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, you know, we're being given
the laws of God, we have to remember that this was a nation that God was literally giving
their laws to, just like we have laws in our nation, and this is what they were supposed
to follow, but we don't live in that nation.
Now, you know, if we lived in that nation and we actually followed the laws of God,
I would tell you we would live in a much better society, and life would be a lot better for
all of us, but I want you to understand we don't live in that nation.
So we learn about it, we learn about what God would want, we learn about how God feels
about these things, but we don't go out and institute these things because of the fact
that we live as New Testament believers, and I actually talked about that, if you remember
back in chapter 18, and we're going to look at it in chapter 20, how in the New Testament,
they would, the exact same circumstances were found, but yet they weren't doing the exact
same things, and we'll talk about that here in a second.
Look down at verse number 1, and like I said, I'm just going to go, we're going to go through
the chapter, and I just want to give you four statements of application at the end, and
we'll finish up, hopefully, you know, hopefully on time, but maybe a little earlier.
Leviticus 20, verse 1, and the Lord spoke of the Moses saying, again, thou shalt say
to the children of Israel, whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers
that sojourn in Israel, so he's saying, look, whether they're the children of Israel, or
whether they're a foreigner that sojourning in Israel, he said, it doesn't matter, remember,
we talked about that last week, there's one law for everybody, and he says, that giveth
any of his seed unto Molech, he shall, known as the first reference to the death penalty,
surely be put to death, the people of the land shall stone him with stones, and I will
set my face against that man, and will cut him off, I want you to notice that phrase,
will cut him off from among his people, because he had given of his seed unto Molech, to defile
my sanctuary, and to profane mine holy name, so I want you to notice that here, God is
instituting the death penalty for somebody who murders their own children, because when
it says that giveth of his seed unto Molech, he's talking about a sacrifice, where this
God Molech, they would sacrifice their children, and it was a sacrifice done by fire, they
would literally burn their children alive, to sacrifice to this God Molech, keep your
place there in Leviticus 20, go to Leviticus chapter number 18, Leviticus chapter number
18, just a few pages back, and let me just show you something real quickly about that,
Leviticus chapter number 18, look at verse number 21, and thou shalt not let any of thy
seed pass through the fire, do you see that, to Molech, this is a common thing that they
did in Canaan at this time, they would sacrifice a child, a baby, to this God Molech, neither
shalt thou profane the name of thy God, I am the Lord, and I want you to understand
that what God is telling us here, you're there in Leviticus 18, go to the book of Jeremiah
just real quickly, we'll look at a very well known passage, Jeremiah chapter number 1,
and here's what I want you to understand, when God says that he that giveth of any of
his seed unto Molech, he shall surely be put to death, here's what he's saying, the death
penalty is to be placed on anyone who murders, and he's saying, even if it's your own child,
it's a death penalty, and you say, how could that be applied today, well today, you know,
you say, well, that was a society, that was wicked, that was evil, how could anybody,
you know, throw their child into a flame, or throw their child into a situation where
they would get burnt up alive, you know, to do it for religious, to sacrifice them to
some god, but here's the thing, in America, there are children being killed every day,
at the tune of 3000, we're told, every day, children are being sacrificed, and it's not
to the God of Molech, it's just to the God of convenience, it's to the God of money,
it's to the God of being a whore, and a harlot, and wanting to sleep around, and not get married,
and not take responsibility for the children that come about when you do those acts, that's
why God said that you should only do those physical things when you're married, when
you're ready to have a child, but you say, people will say today, no, no, no, well those
children were already born, those children were born, so yeah, when they kill them afterwards,
that's death, but when you take their life in the womb, then they're not really alive
yet, and that's not really death, well, here's the thing, what does God say about that, are
you there in Jeremiah chapter 1?
I look down at verse number 4, notice what the Bible says, and I know you're familiar
with this, but let's look at it together, the Bible says, and the word of the Lord came
unto me saying, notice what God is saying to Jeremiah, he says, before I formed thee,
before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee, look, God is saying, Jeremiah, I knew
you when you were in the belly, he said, in fact, before I even formed you in the belly,
I knew thee, notice, and before thou came us forth out of the womb, he said, before
you were ever born, I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nation.
Now here, we're told about Jeremiah, who God had set him apart as a prophet, but here's
what I want you to understand, is that every child in the womb, before they were ever formed,
God knows them, God has a plan for them, God has a purpose for them, and it is murder to
end their life, you know, even if it's in the womb, because here God is telling us,
look, before I formed thee, I knew thee, and you say, well, what, how does God feel about
abortion?
Here's how God feels about abortion, it's murder, you say, what do you think God would
do to an abortion doctor if God was in charge of the United States of America today?
Here's what I think he would do, he would stone him with stones, I think he would surely
be put to death, say, Pastor, you're going to get us the news again, we're on the news,
we're on the news all the time, alright, we're on the news last week, you know, and we'll
talk about that here in a minute too, but here's the thing, I'm not saying we should
go out and bomb abortion clinics, alright, please, you know, because here's some stupid
young kid is going to come out of here and say, we should go bomb an abortion clinic
or something, and you know, the rest of us have to say, no, that's not what we should
do, or whatever, then they end up on a lawsuit somewhere and they blame me for it, it's like
you're the idiot that wants to go and do all these stupid things, that's not what we're
supposed to do, alright, but here's the thing, we can learn how God feels about it, and we
can learn how we should feel about it, and we can learn that God is not for it, and in
a government where God is in control, where God is running the show, where God gives you
the laws, he says stone him with stones, he says they shall surely be put to death, why?
Because taking the life of a child is murder, whether it's in the womb, whether it's out
of the womb, that's how God feels about it, go back to Leviticus chapter 20, look at verse
number 6, we're going to come back to verses 4 and 5 in a minute, notice what he says,
and the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, that's talking about someone
who's indwelled with a spirit, and after wizards, that's your Harry Potters, he says to go a
whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, I will cut them off, you
see that phrase, cut them off, from among his people, now keep your place there, and
just skip down to verse number 27, just real quickly, we're going to go a little bit out
of order just to kind of hit the similar things, but I want you to notice what he says in verse
number 27, Leviticus chapter 20 and verse 27, a man also, or woman, that hath a familiar
spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death, they shall stone him with
stones, their blood shall be upon them, so I want you to notice, the first thing we see
in this chapter, is that God in his righteous government, placed the death penalty on murdering
your own children, but I want you to notice the second thing, is that God in his righteous
government, in his righteous nation, when he's running the show, when he's making the
laws, he put the death penalty on Harry Potter too, I mean he said, if you have a familiar
spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death, is a breed another teenage
right, you know, that's when I was a kid, Harry Potter, I don't know, your Lord, your
little Lord of the Rings, all of that stuff, God says, and look, people act like, oh it's
just fun, it's just, does it sound like it's made up when God is making laws about it,
it's real, there really are devils out there, there really are demons out there, there really
is a spiritual warfare that we're engaged in, and here's what I want you to understand,
God said, place the death penalty on these people, cut them off, you should have nothing
to do with any of this witchcraft, and we talked about it last week, that includes your
horoscope, that includes your palm reading, that includes your, you know, calling that
800 number, and they're going to look in a, in a, in a ball or something and tell you,
all of that stuff is not anything that Christians should ever have anything to do with, and
in fact, God in his righteous government just said, put these people to death, go back to
Leviticus 20, but look at verse number 9, we'll come back to verses 7 and 8 here in
a minute, look at verse 9, for everyone that curses his father, or his mother, shall be
surely put to death, he hath cursed his father, his mother, his blood shall be upon him, did
you know, hey kids, did you know that God put the death penalty on cursing your father
and mother? And people will look at this stuff and say like, is this ridiculous, I mean can
you believe that God would put the death penalty on, on cursing your, your child? But
how many, how many times do you think they had to put a rebellious teenager to death
before the rest of the teenagers figured it out? I mean, how, how many times do you think
it had to happen before the rest of the teens were, yes ma'am, yes sir, you know, what do
you need? You want me to clean my, I'll clean my room, I'll clean your room, I'll clean
the neighbor's room, I mean, here's the thing, I don't think these things are happening all
the time, but the fact that they were there, look, you think you would have a better society
or a worse society if these things were happening today, go back to Leviticus 20, look at verse
10, and of course, look, of course parents love their children, I mean, if a parent literally
got to a place where they felt like their child had to be stoned, you probably have
a really bad kid, in Leviticus 20, look at verse 10, notice what the Bible says, and
the man that comitteth adultery with another man's wife, even he that comitteth adultery
with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
Notice that God places a death penalty on adultery, and again, I want you to say, well
that's crazy, that's insane, it's insane in America today, but I want you to understand,
the sins that are being talked about here, these are not small sins, these are not small
things, this gives you some insight into the mind of God, notice he doesn't place a
death penalty on lying, he doesn't place a death penalty on stealing, if you're caught
stealing you're supposed to repay it back, fourfold, there's punishments that come to
that, but I want you to notice, here God is emphasizing that there are some terrible,
terrible sins, there are some horrible sins, and look, adultery is right there with them,
and look, if you're married, you need to be very careful that you set some perimeters
and some standards in your life to make sure that you never go down that road of committing
adultery, you know, I advise that all, that as a rule of thumb, all men and women that
are married, you know, you should not be riding in vehicles, men, you should not be riding
in a vehicle with a woman you're not married to, say I can't believe that you would, look,
you think that they were doing that back when there was a death penalty on committing
adultery?
Because I promise you today, adultery is very common, I promise you today there's a whole
lot of adultery going on at the workplace, where you got people working late, in offices
together, look, you need to make sure you set some guardrails, and look, men should
just be friendly with men, and have male friends, I don't advise you have, you know, your close
friends be the member of an opposite sex, look, your husband should be your best friend
ladies, your wife should be your best friend, gentlemen, and then other than that, I don't
even advise you having female friends on Facebook if you're a man, you know, you say why do
you need, why do you need to have that close connection with a female, if you're married,
you know, and God, because it leads down this road of adultery, you know, God talks a lot
about these things, read the book of Proverbs, I recently went through and outlined the entire
book of Proverbs, we are probably going to go into the book of Proverbs after Leviticus,
and I was, I knew this, but I was, again, surprised just how much God talks about adultery
in the book of Proverbs, I mean, entire chapters given to this, because look, this is a big
deal, it affects people's lives, and God plays a death penalty on it, go to verse number
11, now in verse 11, he's shifting gears a little bit, we start getting close to the
idea of incest, but the incest here is still adultery, but it's near of kin, now why don't
you notice that the death penalty still plays on it, verse 11, and the man that lived with
his father's wife, okay, now if you're lying with your father's wife, that's still adultery,
have them covered his father's nakedness, both of them shall be surely put to death,
their blood shall be upon them, and I'm not going to have you run the verses, but if you
remember, this is the exact example that's given to us in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, is
it not, a young man going to bed with his father's wife, and I want you to understand
the difference, in the book of Leviticus, for Old Testament believers, under the nation
of Israel, he was to be put to death, in the book of Corinthians, for New Testament believers
that are not living in the nation of Israel, he was to be thrown out of church, do you
see the difference, you know, you don't see Paul saying, let's put this guy to death,
Leviticus 20-11, alright, you need to understand, Bible says, study shall thyself be proven
to God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, these
Christians that are, you know, that go out there, and they bomb abortion clinics, or
whatever, look, that's not what God has called us to do, that's not the battle that we should
be fighting, we are, our weapons are not carnal, our enemy is not of the flesh, we are engaged
in a spiritual warfare, as New Testament believers, but we can definitely learn how God feels
about these things, notice verse 12, and if a man lie with his daughter-in-law, now if
it's his daughter-in-law, that means that she's married to his son, so guess what, it's
still adultery, so what's the, what is the result, both of them shall surely be put to
death, they have raw confusion, their blood shall be upon them, if a man also lie with
mankind, as he lies with a woman, both of them commit an abomination, they shall be
put to death, their blood shall be upon them, we're going to come back to that in a second,
look at verse 14, and if a man take a wife, and her mother, so again, this idea of incest,
and it's adultery, why, because he's married to a wife, but then he also took her mother,
it is wickedness, what's the result, they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they,
and there, that there be no wickedness among you, skip down to verse number 20, just real
quickly, we're going to come back to verse 13, and then keep going, but look at verse
20 real quickly, and if a man shall lie with his uncle's wife, so what is that, still adultery,
because she's married, it is unclean thing, he has uncovered his brother's nakedness,
notice how it says, they shall be childless, that kind of indicates the fact that they're
going to put them to death, right, because that's what they've done for every other situation
like this, go back to Leviticus 20, look at the infamous verse 13, Leviticus 20 verse
13, for a while this was our church's like life verse, Leviticus 20, 13, if a man also
lie with mankind, as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination,
they shall surely be put to death, their blood shall be upon them, look, God in his
righteous, holy, perfect government, placed the death penalty on homosexuality, he says
if a man also lie with mankind, as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed
an abomination, they shall surely be put to death, that's why we had all that trouble
back in June of last year with the Orlando thing, because somebody went in and shot up
some sodomite bar, and look, I didn't get up and say we should go out and do that, all
I said is, according to God they deserve the death penalty, I'm not going to sit here and
act like, you know, I'm sad and I'm sad that they died, I'm not saying we should do it,
I'm not saying anybody should have done it, but it happened and all I'm saying is, that's
what God thinks about it, he says they shall surely be put to death, if God had his way,
every sodomite would be put to death, every homosexual would be put to death, and if you
don't like that, look, then you don't like the Bible my friend, because that's what the
Bible says, and people are like, oh, you're not loving, and you're not caring, and I know
we talked about this already, but let's just, you know, talk about it a little more, in
Leviticus 19, you got the famous verse 18, thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge
against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, and I
know we talked about that last week, but let me just reemphasize the idea, that the
famous, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, is a verse out of Leviticus, right in between
the two chapters that condemn homosexuality, and today you got Christians going around
talking about, in fact they throw it in our face, when we get up and we preach against
the sodomites, they throw it in our face, well aren't you supposed to love thy neighbor
as thyself, and they're so, you know, stupid, and so novice, and don't understand scripture,
they don't even realize that that verse comes out of Leviticus, and they're like, you shouldn't
preach Leviticus, that sodomites be went to death, you should love your neighbor, both
of those are found in Leviticus, Jesus was quoting Leviticus, so you know what, we're
gonna love our neighbor as ourselves, and we're also going to teach that they deserve
the death penalty, because that's what the Bible says, and that's what God said, and
it doesn't contradict itself, because God said both, and here's the thing, God said
both in the same book, and here's the thing, God said both, one chapter after the other,
I think I was trying to make a point, and I think I was trying to show just the stupidity
of the liberals today, that think, you know, you shouldn't preach that, you should love
your neighbor as yourself, you missed last week, we did preach that, but now we're in
chapter 20, and the same guy who said to love your neighbor as yourself, says put them to
death, and I want you to notice this also, because I hear a lot of people say this, and
I'm not trying to get into gruesome details, but I need to understand, people go around,
look you need to be careful about these sodomites, because they're not reproducers, they're recruiters,
I mean just study every scripture in the Bible about it, and if you're honest with yourself,
you'll find every reference of sodomites in scripture, they're always taking advantage
of somebody, they're always, you need to be careful with your children, and here's what
people will often say to me, they'll say like, oh that guy, he seems like he's a sodomite,
but you know, I'm going to trust him, because he's married, look, in the Bible, you don't
find these weird terms like gay, I mean you find the word gay, but not in regards to sodomites,
you know, I joke around and use the word gay just because I think it's a funny word to
make fun of these people, but here's the thing, you know, people, they say oh he's gay, and
they'll say oh he's bi, oh he's just a homosexual, but he doesn't like women, notice what Leviticus
13 says, it says if a man, you see this word also, he says also lie with mankind as he
lies with a woman, let me just explain something to you, they all go both ways, so don't take
this idea like oh well he's married so he can't be a sodomite, you know, Obama's married
so he can't be a sodomite, look, if a man also lie with mankind as he lies with a woman,
you understand what I'm saying, don't fall into these ideas like oh well, you know, they're
bi and they're this, look, none of that stuff is found in scripture, and in the Bible you
always see all of them going both ways, in Sodom and the book of Judges, all that, Leviticus
20, look at verse, where are we, verse 15, look at verse 14, oh no, we saw verse 14 already
I think, we'll come back to it, but look at verse 15, if a man lie with a beast, and look,
I just want you to understand, do you see how God is going from homosexuality to bestiality,
it's all unnatural, it's all disgusting, it's all not normal, Romans 1 goes over and over,
they left the natural use of a woman, it's not normal, it's not natural, he says, if
a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death, and by the way, he shall slay
the beast, and if a woman approach unto any beast and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill
the woman and the beast, they shall surely be put to death, their blood shall be upon
them, and listen to me, that's coming, today it's about sodomites, tomorrow it's about
bestiality, and one day they're going to be fighting for, you know, pedophilia, and all
these weird things, it's just, it's all the same thing, it's unnatural, it's not normal,
it's not of God, and I want you to know that God placed a death penalty on it, now look
at verse number 17, Leviticus chapter 20 and verse 17, and notice what he says, if a man
shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness,
she see his nakedness, it is a wicked thing, I want you to notice the wording, and they
shall be cut off in the sight of their people, now, I don't have time to develop this, but
if you do a study of the word cut off, you will find, it's very clear in scripture, most
of the time, or I should say a lot of the time, it is referring to the death penalty,
but I don't believe that the term cut off is always referring to the death penalty,
I think sometimes it's referring to the death penalty, and they're using the term because
they're saying to basically cut someone off from the earth, cut them off from the land
of the living, but there are other times where it says to cut someone off from the congregation
if they were unclean and they weren't able to partake of the Passover or something like
that, so I believe, unless I can, you know, based on the study that I've done, and unless
there's something else that I'm just missing, that the word cut off is not always referring
to the death penalty, and what's interesting is this, it's real clear when it was incest,
but it was incest with a married person, a daughter-in-law, an uncle's wife, something
like that, that was adultery, that was put to death, here we're not talking about incest,
but notice it's not adultery, because it's saying if a man take his sister, but it doesn't
refer to the fact that she's married, it says they shall be cut off in the sight of their
people, he hath uncovered his sister's nakedness, but this kind of gives the, indicates that
they weren't put to death, because it says he shall bear his iniquity, so the fact that
he's bearing his iniquity, or the fact that he's having to deal with his punishment, shows
that they probably weren't put to death, I think this is a reference to the fact that,
you know, when people are committing incest, you should just cut them off from the congregation,
you don't want, you know, I don't know what that meant for these people, maybe they kicked
them out of town, or whatever, but it's the same thing, and look, it goes back to this
idea, that's not normal, that's not natural, that's not something that you should desire,
notice verse 19, he talks about the same thing, and thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of
thy mother's sister, talk about an aunt, nor of thy father's sister, for he uncovereth
his near kin, and, notice, they shall bear their iniquity, so, in another passage, talked
about your uncle's wife, which is also your aunt, but I want you to notice, the emphasis
when the death penalty is applied, is that she's married, here, you can have a sister,
you can have an aunt that's not married, you understand what I'm saying, so I think it's
a reference to just incest, and God says, you know, we should have nothing to do, we
should want nothing to do with that, we should have nothing to do with that, and it's not
normal, but it's not necessarily something that I believe that he placed the death penalty
on, look at verse 18, and if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall
uncover her nakedness, he hath discovered her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain
of her blood, and both of them shall be cut off, again, talking about separation from
among their people, so we went through the passage, and we already talked about verse
19 and 20 and 21, or we're going to talk about it here in a minute, went through the passage
and we basically saw, you know, seven different things that God placed the death penalty on,
and then a couple of things that he just said to cut off, and I think he's probably referring
to just separating from those people, and here's what I want you to understand, not
all of this is encompassing all of the death penalties found in scripture, because in the
Bible, you have the death penalty for kidnapping, you have the death penalty for rape, you know,
there's a lot of things that God placed the death penalty on, but, you know, in this chapter,
he's talking about these sins, obviously you put the death penalty on taking a life,
I think he's emphasizing the fact that these are unnatural sins, you know, homosexuality,
bestiality, things like that, of course adultery is not an unnatural sin, that's very natural,
but he put that on here because it probably has to do with the physical relationship and
things like that.
But I want to give you just real quickly just four thoughts about these sins, specifically
Leviticus 20 and what God is teaching us here.
Notice verse number 22, Leviticus 20 and verse 22.
Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my judgments and do them, I want you to
notice these words, that the land, that the land whither I bring you to dwell therein,
notice what it says, spew you not out.
You know, sometimes people will say to us, why do you guys just emphasize these things,
you know, abortion, bestiality, homosexuality, you know, even adultery, whatever, why do
you guys emphasize these things?
And they'll try to tell us like, you know, all sins are equal, all sins are the same.
Look, if you think that a seven year old lying to his mom about having an extra cookie and
a man laying down with a beast are equal, you are insane.
You have a mental, you know, condition.
I mean, how can those two things be equal?
How can those two things be even similar or the same?
Obviously, in Scripture, there are way worse sins than others.
And we find that in this passage, where God is placing the death penalty on certain sins.
And he's saying, if you do this, you die, you deserve to die, you should be put to death.
This is not something that we want to that we want to go down the road.
So here's what I want you to understand.
We see in this passage that there are certain sins that affect the entire land and its inhabitants.
Because notice he says that the land, whether I bring you to dwell therein, spew you not
out.
He's saying, look, there are some things that if you allow a nation to do, the land itself
will be affected, the land itself will spew you out.
The inhabitants of those lands have to be judged.
Go to Leviticus 18, just real quickly, look at verse number 25, Leviticus 18, and verse
number 25.
Leviticus 18, 25, notice what the Bible says, and the land is defiled.
Notice the emphasis on the land.
And the land is defiled, therefore, I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it.
And notice what it says, notice, the land itself vomitteth out her inhabitants.
Notice that it's the land itself vomiting out, the land itself spew you not out, what
he says in Leviticus chapter 20, verse 22.
And here's what I want you to understand, in the Bible, you find God raining fire on
Sodom and Gomorrah because of the sin of sodomy, you even find God killing 1000s of people
because of fornication being rampant.
But you know, you don't really find God just destroying an entire city, you know, because
they were lying, or because they were stealing.
And those are all sins, and God's against all of that, and God doesn't want us to do
those things.
But I do want you to understand that there are certain sins that affect the entire land,
and affect the inhabitants of them.
And if you want a hint as to which those sins are, just look up the sins where God destroyed
entire cities and people because of it, and that's a good indication that's a sin that's
going to destroy the land.
And here we find that sodomy and abortion are two of those sins, and those are two major
sins in America today.
So look, America has to be judged by God.
America will be judged by God because of the fact that we have allowed these sins to be
rampant in our society.
I want to show you another thing.
So we saw, first of all, that there are certain sins that affect the entire land and its inhabitants.
But I want you to notice, secondly, that there are certain sins that cause God to abhor those
people.
Notice verse 23, Leviticus 20 and verse 23, And he shall not walk in the manner of the
nations which I cast out before you.
He says, I'm throwing them out of the land.
The land is spewing them out.
The land has vomited them out.
Notice what he says, For they committed all these things.
I don't want you to miss the last part of this verse.
Keep in mind, this is God Almighty God speaking.
He says, And therefore I abhorred them.
He just got done telling us, I'm putting the death penalty on murdering your own children.
I'm putting the death penalty on witchcraft.
I'm putting the death penalty on cursing your father and mother.
I'm putting the death penalty on adultery.
I'm putting the death penalty on homosexuality.
I think all of those things are done in America today.
And then he says, I abhorred them.
God says, I abhorred them because of it.
What's the word abhor me?
I looked up the word abhor because obviously we look at the biblical definition and that
would be good enough.
But just I looked up the word abhor just on dictionary.com.
And here's what the definition of the word abhor is.
To regard with extreme repugnance or aversion, to detest utterly, to loathe, to abominate.
Thesaurus.com says, The synonyms for the word abhor are this, despise, detest and hate.
Now I want you to notice that the Bible is telling us and God is telling us, I hate them.
Say, who got the homosexual, the bestiality, the guy is taking advantage of his near kin,
the incest and the witchcraft and the murdering your children.
He says, I abhorred them.
He said, I hated them.
And listen, you're going to just have to come to grips with this, that if you actually want
to learn and love and follow the God of the Bible, you're going to have to realize that
the Bible, like the book of Ecclesiastes says, there is a time to hate.
And look, I don't today, people want to say, I only want to hear about love.
We already covered that in chapter 19.
Okay, love that neighbor as they self.
Got it?
Now he's telling us he hates certain people.
He tells us he abhors certain people.
He tells us he wants nothing to do with certain people.
Look, and God tells us to love, but God also tells us to hate.
Let's just run a few verses just to dig it into the ground.
Go to Psalm 97.
Look at verse 10.
Psalm 97.
If you open up your Bible just right in the center, you're more than likely following
the book of Psalms.
Psalm 97 and verse 10.
Notice the first, the first phrase in this verse, Psalm 97 and verse 10.
Psalm 97, 10.
Notice what it says.
He that loved the Lord, ye that loved the Lord, notice what it says, hate evil.
And this is what people don't understand and they don't want to come.
They want to say, oh, we should just love, love, love, love, but listen to me, love that
loves everything loves nothing.
Because the truth of the matter is whether you want to admit it or not, and I already
preached the sermon on it, I'm not going to preach it tonight, but here's the truth.
Love hates.
And you cannot love without hating.
Because if you love the Lord, you know what's going to happen?
You're going to hate evil.
And if you love evil, you know what you're going to happen?
What's going to happen?
You're going to, you're going to hate the Lord.
Psalm 139, verse 21, you know, people say, is it, is it wrong to hate?
Go to Psalm 139.
You know the verse, but we'll look at it.
But you know, this last, last week, our church was back in the news because, you know, I
don't know who the Southern Poverty Law Center decided to come out with a, I don't know what
they came out with, a report where they're basically talking about, you know, the hate
groups in Sacramento, and we were on the list.
So you know, the news went out with it, the Sacramento Bee reported it on it, the KCRA
reported on it, ABC 10 reported on it, I got emails from like radio stations wanting to
interview us about it, and I didn't respond, you know, I didn't care about that.
But let me just read to you what the Sacramento Bee said.
They said this, in the Sacramento area, the report, and they're talking about the report
from the Southern Poverty Law Center, and you know, I always think it's funny, like,
who, who is the Southern Poverty Law Center?
Like who are these people?
You know, what gives them the authority to just decide?
You know, here's the thing, I have a list of hate groups too.
There's one group on it, the Southern Poverty Law Center, you know, why don't they report
on that?
But you know, it's like the, the Southern Poverty Law Center just decides anyone they
don't like is, is on the list, right?
And I, we're on the list, all our friends are on the list, you know, everyone we associate
with is on the list, but in the Sacramento area, and of course a lot of people we don't
associate with are on the list, but he says, it says, in the Sacramento area, the report
cited six active hate groups, talking about in Sacramento, the Golden State Skinheads,
a racist skinhead group, I'm obviously not in that one, the Traditionalist Work Party,
a white nationalist group, they didn't let me in that one either, the Pacific Justice
Institute, which I've never heard of, but I, I think I like them, and Verity Baptist
Church, both anti-LGBT groups, and Al Sabkeen or something, and European American Evangelist
Crusades, general hate groups, so, so they came out saying, you know, Verity Baptist
Church, an active hate group in the Sacramento area, and then KCRA reported, you know, they
reported this, this is what they wrote, the center, talking about the Southern Poverty
Law Center, or the, I'm sorry, this is not what they wrote, this is what they said on
their, on their news, but here's the transcript, the center defines a hate group as having
beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their
immutable, immutable characteristics. Now here's the thing, the word immutable means
unchangeable. So if you, if you hate a black person simply because they're black, then
yeah, you're hating them for an immutable characteristic, but what gives them the authority
to say that these sodomites, you know, here's what they're saying, well they're born that
way, you know, they're born that way, so you shouldn't hate them, but here's the thing,
that's not what the Bible says. The Bible says that they were turned over to a reprobate,
that God gave them over to a reprobate mind, so again, they make the rules, then they put
us on the list, because look, by that definition, are we a hate group? Do we hate anybody that
has immutable characteristics? We don't hate anybody for anything that they were born with
because of the color they were, look around, this is like the most diverse fundamental
church I've ever been a part of, you know, but let me tell you something, they weren't
born that way, they were turned that way, they went down the road of becoming a reprobate,
but they put us down as being a hate group for immutable characteristics, and then they
said this, hate groups, hate group activities include, so these are the hate group activities
that they include, criminal acts, we've not done that, we've never been for that, in fact,
I feel like I preach more against that than anything else, marches, have we ever marched,
have we ever had a march where we're just like, you know, we hate the sodomites or whatever,
rallies, meetings, now here's the thing, the meetings, they may be including this, you
know, tonight, we're having a meeting, and we're spewing hate, so meetings, maybe that's
where they got us, or handing out leaflets, now look, we do hand out leaflets, but our
leaflets are all about the gospel, they're not about sodomites, so I don't think that
one really applies, then they go on to say, Verde Baptist Church in Sacramento has been
identified as an anti-LGBT hate group, so then they say, we're a hate group, because,
you know, we hate the LGBT community, but here's the thing though, there's somebody
they missed on the list, somebody even more important than Verde Baptist Church, that
should have made this list, and that's the Lord God, because he's the one that said,
I abhorred them, he said, I hate them, you know who they should have put on this list?
The King James Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit of God, and Jehovah God himself,
they should have all made this list, and here's the question, you say, are you guys
a hate group? You know what, God hates them, so I hate what God hates, I don't love them,
I hate them, I'm not going to mourn when they die, I think they deserve the death penalty,
that's what the Bible says, and here's the question, is it wrong to hate? Because those
people say, well, is it wrong to hate, should you hate? Look at Psalm 139 and verse 21,
notice what the Bible says, Psalm 139 and verse 21, the Bible says this, do not I hate
them, O Lord, that hate thee? And by the way, the Bible says in Romans 1 that they
hate God, that they're haters of God, he says, do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee,
and am not I grieve with those that rise up against thee? Notice what he says, I hate
them with a perfect hatred, he said, the hatred is perfect, he said, I count them mine enemies,
these are not your friends, these are your enemies, and then he says this, just to emphasize
that what he's saying is not wrong, he says, search me, O God, and know my heart, try me
and know my thoughts, and see if there'd be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way
everlasting, and obviously the sacramental being the KCRA, they're all stupid anyway,
you know, ABC 10, they're all a bunch of idiots anyway, but here's the point that I'm making,
they want to come at us, you're a hate group, but here's the thing, you know, every so-called
Bible-believing church should have been on that list, I mean, every church that says
they preached the Bible should have been on that list, it's sad that they weren't,
and here's the thing, if every Baptist church was on that list, they wouldn't come out with
the list, because it'd be normal, and it'd just be known that those are the Bible's teachers,
but today you have Christians who don't even realize that that's what the Bible says, and
they can't deal with the fact, because look, if you cannot deal with the fact that God
says that he hates certain people, and that's not, Leviticus 20 is only one place, there's
many places that say that, and look, you're worshiping a God of your own imagination,
you've made up an idol, why don't you just admit that, I don't want to serve the God
of the Bible, I don't care what the Bible says, I have my own God, he looks like Barney,
and I worship him, you know, I have my own God, and he looks like Santa Claus, and that's
the God I want to worship, the God that just brings you gifts, whether you're naughty or
nice, and you know, that's the God I want to worship, but listen to me, if you actually
want to study the Bible, and learn the Bible, then guess what you find, you find a God that
hates some people, and you find a God that puts some people to death, and look, Christians
today should not be standing up for these sodomites, I remember when the protests were
going on, the church that was behind us, I can't remember what their, they used to be
called Lifting Up Jesus, which was a stupid name, but then, I don't remember, they changed
their name to something more normal afterwards, but I remember the guy, the pastor of the
church went out there, and he was like giving waters to all the sodomites that were protesting
us, you know, I wanted to ask him, like in 2 Chronicles 19, too, when Jehu asked Jehoshaphat,
I wanted to ask him, shouldest thou help the ungodly? Shouldest thou help the ungodly,
and love them that hate the Lord? Because you know, as Christians, and you say, Pastor
Menel, are you saying we should go out there, and kill these people? I'm not, look, if that's
what you get from the sermon, you are not paying attention, and you're not good at this,
okay? Because it's always funny to me, I get up and preach, you know, I preach these sermons,
and I spend like 70% of the time saying, we shouldn't go kill them, we shouldn't go do
it, it's all just a miserable, millennial reign, this is not what God wants, and then
people walk out, and they're like, he said to go kill the sodomites, it's like, you should
just not go to church, because you're obviously not a good listener, you can't handle this,
right? You need to go to Barney Church down the street, where it's like 17 weeks of love
thy neighbor, you know, they don't preach 20 weeks of ludicrous, they just deal with
that one verse the whole time, because that's all you can handle, but look, the Bible says
that we should not help the ungodly, the Bible says that we should not love them that hate
the Lord, and listen to me, you know, don't be dismayed by, look, don't, when the world
hates you, when the world's attacking you, when the world's trying to put us in, and
here's what's funny, it's like, all of these groups are all racist groups, and then they
add us in, you know, being anti-LGBT, like, that's a race or something, like, it's an
immutable characteristic, and here's the thing, I'm just saddened and ashamed that there was
not other fundamental Baptist churches on that list, because if you claim to preach
the Bible, look, Leviticus 20, Leviticus 18, Judges 19, Genesis 19, Romans 1, Book of Jude,
2 Peter, I mean, how many more places do you need? How many more chapters of the Bible
do you have to just completely ignore, you know, to make sure that the Southern Poverty
Law Center, whoever they are, you know, makes, you know, doesn't come out against you? So
we saw, number one, that there are certain sins that affect the entire land, and look,
you say, well, I don't like the hateful preaching, but you know what, it's loving when we're
protecting children, because it's a fact that these Sodomites are all just, you know,
raping children and molesting children, it's just you gotta decide what you love and what
you hate, and if you love the ungodly, then you're gonna hate this church for sure, so
there are certain sins which affect the entire land and the inhabitants, there are certain
sins that cause God to abhor those people, number three, there are certain sins that
we must specifically separate from, notice what he says, look at Leviticus 20 verse 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 flows with milk and honey, I am the Lord your God, notice what
he says, which have separated you from other people, specifically talking about the people
in Canaan, look at verse 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, notice he says I severed
you, I separated you, God says I want, look at verse seven, we skip seven, go back to
verse seven, sanctify yourselves therefore, be ye holy, what does it mean to be sanctified
or holy, it means to be separated, it means to come out from among them, for I am the
Lord your God, and ye shall keep my sanctuaries and do them, I am the Lord which sanctify
you, and here is what the Bible is saying, God is saying, I want you to be separate from
these people, and look, in our society, we don't live in a society where we put these
people to death, we shouldn't do that, but you know what, you should be separated from
them, these sodomites shouldn't be your little friends at work, and you say, well what do
I do if I work with them, look, we live in a society where they, we live in a Sodom,
I don't know what else to tell you, we live in Babylon USA, alright, you know, you just
deal with it, and you are polite or whatever, you are not confrontational, but these people
shouldn't just be your best friends, where you are just hanging out with them, and loving
them, God says that He severed you from the people, that He separated you, because He
wants you to be holy, look at verse 4, and we will be done tonight, remember we skipped
verse 4, let me give you just one more, we saw number 1, there are certain sins which
affect the entire land and its inhabitants, we saw number 2, that there are certain sins
which cause God to abhor those people, we saw number 3, that there are certain sins
which we must specifically separate from, and number 4, there are certain sins that
though we cannot enforce as New Testament believers, we must not ignore as New Testament
believers, notice what He says in verse 4, He says, and if the people of the land do
any ways, He says if they do it anyway, a land do any way, notice what He says, hide
their eyes from the man, when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and kill him not, then
I will set my face against that man, and here is what He is saying, look, He said if you
are not going to put them to death, God says, I am just going to, you know, I am going to
make sure that they get what they deserve, and here is He specifically talking about,
you know, the abortion clinic, so I don't know, you know, if they die and go to hell,
they are going to get what they deserve, but look, God, you say, well we don't put sodomites
that, you know, but they are all dying in their 30s anyway, you know, because of AIDS
and STD, that is, I mean, the government has statistics on that, it is all true, but here
is what I want you to notice, He says to not hide their eyes from the man, and the point
that I am trying to make is this, you say, well you can't do anything about it, so why
do you preach about it, because we are not supposed to turn away our eyes from this stuff,
we should speak against it, and we should stand up against it, and you know what, the
fundamental Baptist movement has failed us, in the sense that they just refuse, they refuse
to get up and preach these things, and just all of Christianity in general, just doesn't
want to touch this with a 10 foot pole, they don't want to preach the Bible at all, but
here is the thing, you have got to believe, that if our church, you know, over the next
30 years, over the next 40 years, if we plant churches all over California, we plant churches
all over the West Coast, I mean if one day our church was able to, I mean we already
have the church up in Vancouver, things are going great up there, things are going wonderful,
you know, Lord willing in a year, we will cut the umbilical cord, and then we will start
another one, but it took us about 2 years to get that one probably, you know, Lord willing
if everything goes as planned, it will take us about 2 years to get that going, what if
it takes another 2 to 4 years to plant another one, and then 2 to 4 years to plant another
one, and 2 to 4 years to plant, I mean what if just our church, forget all the other churches
in our movement that are also planting, what if just our church planted 20 churches in
California, in Oregon, in Washington, up and down the West Coast, where they were all getting
up and preaching just the way we are preaching tonight, you know I think there is 130 people
here tonight on a Wednesday night, where they all had 130 people showing up, learning the
book of Leviticus, learning the book of Romans, here is what I am telling you, it would create
an impact in our society, if men of God just stood up and preached the Bible and stopped
being worried about the money and the finances and are people going to show up, here is what
is funny, all these vulnerable Baptists are afraid that people are going to show up, and
here is the thing, most of them, and I am not trying to be proud or arrogant, obviously
I realize every blessing comes from God, but most of them have less people on a Wednesday
night than we do tonight, if they even have a Wednesday night service, and they don't
have it because just people don't show up to it, and here is what they don't understand,
Christians want to learn the Bible, and the reason that this doesn't offend 99% of you
is because the Holy Spirit is telling you, that's true, that's right, that's what the
Bible says, and look, even if we didn't like it, we should preach it, because that's what
the word of God says, and we should not ignore it, although we can't enforce it, let's bow
our heads and have a word of prayer, Heavenly Father thank you for your word, thank you
for the Bible, Lord I just pray that you would help us Lord to be Christians that are always
willing to preach the word, instant in season, out of season, whether it is popular or not,
whether it is acceptable or not in our society, Lord help us to just be loyal to you, and
if the world wants to call us names, and brand us hate groups, whatever they want to call
us Lord, help us not to stop us, or to discourage us, Lord help us to just keep doing what we
are doing, reaching people, preaching the word, discipling believers, loving our neighbor,
and also preaching the rest of the Bible as well, we love you Lord, in the name of Christ
we pray, Amen.