June 4, 2020

Brothers and Sisters,

(Leveticus 20:7-8)  Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.  And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify you.

This is the message that God gave to Moses to deliver to the children of Israel.  Even though this message was given to God’s chosen people in the Old Testament, I think it can also apply to God’s people in the New Testament era.

In the verses above, God says to “Sanctify yourselves”.  Now, how do we do that?  Well keep looking and God gives the instructions on how that can be done.  In the next verse He says, “ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the Lord which sanctify you”.

What are God’s statutes?  If I’m going to be expected to keep them, then I need to know what they are.  God’s statutes are everything He commands us to do or not do in His Word.  Since we have the printed Word to read every day, we have God’s guidebook for living our lives.

Psalms 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible.  You should take time to read it because it reveals the thoughts of a man that was after God’s own heart.  In this Psalm, we see that David had fallen in love with the laws, statutes and ordinances that God had given for him to live by and the theme of the whole chapter is summed up in verse 105, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path”.

Is God’s Word a lamp unto your feet, and a light unto your path?  I find this is the key to what God told us to do when He said, “Sanctify yourselves”,  There is no way that I can keep God’s statutes without knowing what those statutes are and there is no way that I can know what those statutes are without getting into God’s Word.  Pretty simple, right.

I believe there are some in our day that think “I can’t be held accountable for something I don’t know”.  So, if they never read their Bible and know what is expected of them, then when they stand before God, He will let them off the hook, so to speak.

Have you ever been stopped for speeding in your automobile?  Did you tell the officer something like, “Officer, I didn’t realize the speed limit was only 45 mph, I thought it was 55”.  Was ignorance of the law an excuse for not obeying the law?  I don’t think so and I don’t think ignorance of God’s statutes will stand as an excuse for not keeping them when we stand before the Lord in judgment.  We will all stand before God without excuse.

(Romans 1:18)  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

(Romans 1:19)  Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

(Romans 1:20)  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Let me point out one more thing in those verses we found in Leviticus.  Notice it says, “I am the Lord which sanctify you”.  As we’ve already said this week, the sanctification process begins with salvation and salvation is of the Lord.  So, to everyone who is saved today, the message is to “Sanctify yourselves” by keeping the statutes of God. 

Bro. Rick