(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

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