Unlawful Sexual Relations

INTRO

We’re continuing in Leviticus with more writing from Moses. And let’s be honest, it hasn’t been light. As we jump into Leviticus 18, it’s building off Leviticus 17. Remember our word for Leviticus is Atonement. The blood serves as a substitution for us. It is the blood that allows us to be forgiven so that we can live holy. Leviticus 18 is making sure we are walking in holiness based on the blood in Leviticus 17.

Seven times God told His people, “Please don’t act like the other nations. You are My treasured possession, a royal priesthood and holy nation. Act like it.” Leviticus 18 really begins to give the Israelites the guardrails to live holy.

TEACHING

Leviticus 18:1–4: Yahweh spoke to the Israelites through Moses. These new guidelines would not look like what the Israelites were used to or where they came from. God essentially said, “I want you to look like My people, not where you came from or where you’re going. You need to look differently.” God knew what they had been exposed to, and so He was instructing them.

God told them what not to do. Now He was going to tell them what to do. God said, “Practice My ordinances.” Because God used the word “practice,” you can infer that they were probably not always going to get it right. God said, “This is the standard! Because of who I am, this is your standard!”

Leviticus 18:5: If they obeyed God’s commands, they would live. Is He implying that if you do these things, you’ll have salvation? No. MacArthur wrote, “Obedience doesn’t save from sin and hell, but it does mark those who are saved.”¹This is an indicator you’re walking out your faith.

• Deuteronomy 4:40 – You keep the statutes and commands and your children will live.
• Deuteronomy 30:11–20 – You know this! It’s not far off! You can do this! But if you don’t, you will perish.
• Genesis – The Seed, Christ is going to carry all the way through to the book of Revelation.
• Psalm 90 – The average life is 70 - 80 years.
• Romans 7:10–12 – Sin will lead to death and destruction if we’re not careful.
• Galatians 3:23–26 – The Law was our guardian until Christ; the law points to Jesus!
• Leviticus 18:5 – Jesus is the fulfillment for us because only He is able to keep all the statutes and commands!

We can’t keep all of His statutes (Romans 3:23), but Jesus has freed us from the curse of the Law and we are now sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:10–14, 23–26). So many of us keep doing things in order to receive, but it’s about receiving the giftHe’s already given us.

Leviticus 18:6: What does the sanctity or holiness of a marriage relationship look like? Let’s look at what it doesn’tlook like. An example would be, no sex with a family member. Sex is an intimate act in which a man and a woman become one flesh (Genesis 2:21–25). First Corinthians 6:16 states that to have sex with someone is to become one flesh with him or her.

Leviticus 18:7: God was establishing the guardrails for sex. God designed a male and female to literally fit together and to become one flesh. That’s why it’s not His design for sex to be between male and male or female and female—it just doesn’t fit. The ESV translation says, “You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother” (Genesis 9:20–25). Because of what happened in Genesis 9, Ham was cursed. Many commentators believe some homosexual behavior took place between Ham and his father. Regardless, man is not designed to see man naked.

Leviticus 18:8–18: Don’t have sex with your mom (v. 7), stepmom (v. 8), sister (v. 9), or granddaughter (v. 10).

This is still an issue today! Unfortunately, molestation by grandparents and parents is too common! We see on the news doctors who take advantage of their patients. This is not how God designed it!

The Israelites were coming out of the Egyptian pagan culture where these things could have been normal. These guidelines were likely new to them (though it’s common sense to us today). The reason God was being so specific is because this was a new way of living for the Israelites. Don’t have sex with your stepsister, adopted sister (v. 11), or aunt—father’s sister (v. 12).

Sometimes in the American church, we just want to skip over the parts of Scripture that make us uncomfortable. Moses was writing these commands, and yet his own father and mother were actually nephew and aunt. Amram (Moses’ father) married Jochebed, his aunt (his father’s sister). They didn’t have these laws yet. This was new! Don’t have sex with your aunt, mother’s sister (v. 13), aunt-in-law (v. 14), daughter-in-law (v. 15), sister-in-law (v. 16), a woman and her daughter (v. 17), or a woman and her sister (v. 18) (i.e. Rachel and Leah).

Leviticus 18:19–20: More guidelines: no sex during a woman’s menstrual bleeding (v. 19) and also no sex with your neighbor’s wife (v. 20).

Leviticus 18:21: Molech was a Canaanite god represented by a brawn image with a bull’s head and outstretched arms. The image was hollow. They would kindle it with fire and literally place the children on the outstretched arms and sacrifice them. This is also probably somehow related to some sexual perversion with the Canaanites.

Leviticus 18:22–23: More guidelines: No man-man sexual intercourse (v. 22). Homosexuality is described as being detestable. It is not of the Lord. Studies have found the average lifespan of a homosexual man is 20 years less than the average of a heterosexual man.2 Why? Because they’re trying to create one flesh outside of God’s intended design, and it doesn’t work.

That may be how other countries and other people do this, but not the Israelites. The Israelites are God’s people. This truth is throughout Scripture, not just in the Old Testament, but also in the New Testament. Also, no sex with an animal (v. 23).

Bestiality is a perversion!

Leviticus 18:24–30: The Israelites were not to defile themselves like the other nations! God said, “Keep My statutes. Keep My ordinances. The people of Egypt did these things, but do not defile yourselves by them because I AM Yahweh your God! I am the standard! Be holy as I am holy! Be one flesh . . . man with woman . . . the way I designed.” And guess what? It all points to Christ (Ephesians 5:25–33). Christ and the church! When we play games with who we can have sex with within our culture, we’re saying Christ is no longer the head.

CLOSING

The guardrails in Leviticus 18 ultimately point to Ephesians 5 and Christ being the head of our lives and our marriages, as followers of Yeshua. It all goes back to Leviticus 17, the blood and the forgiveness of Christ through His shed blood on the cross, allows us to walk in holiness.

2 R. S. Hogg, et al., “Modelling the Impact of HIV Disease on Mortality in Gay and Bisexual Men,” International Journal of Epidemiology, v. 26, Issue 3, 1 June 1997, pp. 657–661; available at https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/26.3.657.