Leviticus 11-12

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Leviticus 11:1-47

“And the LORD spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying unto them, 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth. 3 Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is covenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat. 4 Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof: as the camel, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. 5 And the coney [rock hyrax, or rock badger], because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. 6 And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. 7 And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you. 8 Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase [dead body] shall ye not touch; they are unclean to you. 9 These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat. 10 And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you: 11 they shall be even an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but ye shall have their carcases in abomination. 12 Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you. 13 And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage [vulture], and the ospray [buzzard], 14 and the vulture, and the kite after his kind; 15 every raven after his kind; 16 and the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow [sea gull], and the hawk after his kind, 17 and the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl, 18 and the swan [the white owl], and the pelican [jackdaw], and the gier eagle [carrion vulture], 19 and the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing [hoopie], and the bat. 20 All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you. 21 Yet these may ye eat of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth; 22 even these of them ye may eat; the locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle [cricket] after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind. 23 But all other flying creeping things, which have four feet, shall be an abomination unto you. 24 And for these ye shall be unclean: whosoever toucheth the carcase of them shall be unclean until even. 25 And whosoever beareth ought of the carcase of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even. 26 The carcases of every beast which divideth the hoof, and is not clovenfooted, nor cheweth the cud, are unclean unto you: every one that toucheth them shall be unclean. 27 And whatsoever goeth upon his paws, among all manner of beasts that go on all four, those are unclean unto you: whoso toucheth their carcase shall be unclean until the even. 28 And he that beareth the carcase of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: they are unclean unto you. 29 These also shall be unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth; the weasel [the mole], and the mouse, and the tortoise [large lizard] after his kind, 30 and the ferret [gecko], and the chameleon [monitor lizard], and the lizard [sand reptile], the snail, and the mole. 31 These are unclean to you among all that creep: whosoever doth touch them, when they be dead, shall be unclean until the even. 32 And upon whatsoever any of them, when they are dead, doth fall, it shall be unclean; whether it be any vessel of wood, or raiment, or skin, or sack, whatsoever vessel it be, wherein any work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the even; so it shall be cleansed. 33 And every earthen vessel, wherein any of them falleth, whatsoever is in it shall be unclean; and ye shall break it. 34 Of all meat [grain, edible food] which may be eaten, that on which such water cometh shall be unclean: and all drink that may be drunk in every such vessel shall be unclean. 35 And every thing whereupon any part of their carcase falleth shall be unclean; whether it be oven, or ranges for pots, they shall be broken down: for they are unclean, and shall be unclean unto you. 36 Nevertheless a fountain or pit, wherein there is plenty of water, shall be clean: but that which toucheth their carcase shall be unclean. 37 And if any part of their carcase fall upon any sowing seed which is to be sown, it shall be clean. 38 But if any water be put upon the seed, and any part of their carcase fall thereon, it shall be unclean unto you. 39 And if any beast, of which ye may eat, die [of itself, implied]; he that toucheth the carcase thereof shall be unclean until the even. 40 And he that eateth of the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: he also that beareth the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even. 41 And every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth shall be an abomination; it shall not be eaten. 42 Whatsoever goeth upon the belly, and whatsoever goeth upon all four, or whatsoever hath more feet among all creeping things that creep upon the earth, them ye shall not eat; for they are an abomination. 43 Ye shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creepeth, neither shall ye make yourselves unclean with them, that ye should be defiled thereby. 44 For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 45 For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. 46 This is the law of the beasts, and of the fowl, and of every living creature that moveth in the waters, and of every creature that creepeth upon the earth: 47 to make a difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the beast that may be eaten and the beast that may not be eaten.”

Introduction

[Audio version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED569]

“Chapter 11, we are going to look through these clean and unclean animals, ones that live on the land, ones that live in the water, ones that fly and the ones that creep and fly, and some worse than that. And what the LORD has to say about them. We’re going to find the word “abominable” or “abomination” 10 times in this chapter, we’re going to find the word “unclean” I believe 32 times in this chapter. In the last verse it’s going to say ‘that all of these things are done that we might learn to put a difference between clean and unclean,’ that in each one of these things there is a lesson that God is speaking to his people, ‘that they should be holy, because he himself is holy.’ No other reason, because he himself is holy. And you know, this God that created the universe, you know the Psalmist says ‘O LORD, O LORD, how awesome is thy name in all the earth, when I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers,’ and yet he stoops down to our dinnerplate. Does he care what we eat for dinner tonight? Evidently he does. [considering the end of the last sermon by Pastor Joe, and what he’s saying here, it would appear in his heart, he knows we ought to be adhering to the dietary laws of Leviticus 11.] Does he care what drove through today? Evidently he does. And look, he’s going to tell us what’s clean and unclean, this we hear about as Noah brings the animals on the Ark in chapter 7, verse 2 I believe of Genesis, that he brought seven pairs of all clean animals, and one pair of all unclean, so it’s not new here. [And since the distinction between clean and unclean animals for the sake of what you can eat existed before the Law, just as the Sabbath command existed before the Law was given on Sinai--those who wish to say these laws are no longer in force, because the Sinai Law is no longer in force (some denominations still believe it is), they can’t use that excuse for not obeying it, since these two laws seem to have been in force since Adam, the creation of Adam & Eve.] It’s something somehow they had a sense of, they knew from the LORD, that was passed in tradition that’s being codified now. And he’s going to tell them eating any eagles is wrong. That doesn’t mean that eagles are bad, they are a part of his creation. It means they’re unclean in regards to diet. But eagles teach their own lessons, in their grandeur and their majesty, they have something to say to us about God’s creation. So it isn’t that he throws these in particular aside. All of the animals have been subject to the fall, but there’s particular lessons in all of this, and we’re going to see some of them as we go on. I believer last week we got through the ruminants, I’m glad we can eat ruminants. There’s nowhere in this chapter that says ‘I want my people Israel to be holy and vegetarians,’ and I’m so thankful for that here. It’s talking to them about the things that creep, fly and swim, what they can eat and that are clean, that are good. So as we come to the New Testament, we know that in the Book of Acts, chapter 10 we’re told there as the sheet is let down from heaven, the Lord says to Peter ‘Don’t call anything unclean I’ve called common,’ there’s a bigger lesson in it, but the point is he said to him ‘kill and eat there.’ [That is a totally incorrect interpretation, if you study through that text, God, the Lord is talking about and telling Peter not to call any human being “unclean,” as the Jews tended to do with those who were Gentiles. Don’t forget, at the point of Acts 10, most if not all of the early Church were racially Jewish, still adhering to the Law, and in no way did the early Church feel the dietary laws or Sabbath or Holy Days had been abrogated, not for the next 300 years, up till 325AD (for a historic study of the Early Church, see https://unityinchrist.com/history2/earlychurch1.htm). That is something the Calvary Chapels get totally wrong historically speaking. So, bottom line, do as they do where you attend, but understand where each group interprets these Scriptures differently, and why, without being judgmental.] And we know in the New Testament they weren’t subject to the dietary laws the way they were here. In fact, it’s interesting, we hear much in the Church about intercessors, and I’m glad there are intercessors, I’ve only met a few by the way, people that have said they’re intercessors, in my life I’ve only known less than a handful of people that were truly intercessors. And we have that word 1^st Timothy chapter 2, ‘I exhort therefore, that first of all supplications, prayers and intercession’ that’s our word, ‘giving of thanks be made for all men, kings, those who are in authority.’ And the only other place in the entire New Testament we have the word “intersessions” is in the 1^st Timothy 4, you don’t have to turn there, I’ll read it to you, beginning in verse 1, it says ‘Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their consciences seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from foods, from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving, of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good and nothing is to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer.’ that’s the word “intercession,” the only other time it’s used in the New Testament. [Now as the Messianic Jews and Sabbath-keeping Churches of God would interpret that Scripture, and I kind of agree, is that the food you’re allowed to eat is food that fits the Scripture “for it is sanctified by the Word of God.” Unclean food has in no way been “sanctified by the Word of God,” especially the section of the Word of God found in Leviticus 11.] So once we’re told to intercede, for kings and those in authority, and the other time we’re told to intercede over our food before we eat it, which is never a bad idea, ‘Ah, just Lord, I can’t keep up with all this stuff that’s going on, so sanctify this, and strengthen my spacesuit till I finish your work in this world.’ So, clean and unclean, the ruminants, I think we got as far as verse 6, we’ll start with the swine, I had some today, I did say grace.

Land Animals That You Can & Can’t Eat

“And the LORD spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying unto them, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth.” So these are the ones that are on land. “Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is covenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.” (verses 1-3) the ruminants, rumen, reticulum, omasum, abomasum, and duodenum, the ones that bring it up and chew a second time. They’re vegetarians by the way, so we’re all really vegetarians, I only eat cows that eat grass, I only eat vegetarian cows, so I’m safe. You know, some people eat meat, some people are vegetarians, because they feel that you can grow more grain on an acre of ground than the meat, so some people are vegetarians for that reason, or because they love animals, and some people are vegetarians because they hate vegetables, and just want to destroy them. So, here it says you can eat those animals that are cloven footed and chew the cud. Look, “Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof: as the camel, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. And the coney [rock hyrax, or rock badger], because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you. And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.” (verses 4-6) the hyrax, they look like little groundhogs, we see them in Israel all the time. Critics have said ‘There you go, we see the coney, the rabbit, you can’t trust the Bible, because it says they chew the cud and we know they don’t chew the cud.’ Well they’re not typical ruminants, but again they practice something they discovered called refection, where they pass undigested vegetation occasionally in little mucus sacks and they pick that up and rechew that and swallow it. So, science always proves the Bible right. But, you know there’s pictures here, one animal has a divided hoof, a separated hoof, and it chews, it’s a ruminant, it chews the cud, it’s a kind of interesting picture to the Jew, because to chew the cud is the same root word “meditate,” ‘Blessed it the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, or stands in the way of sinners, or sits at the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he shall meditate day and night.’ That’s a picture of bringing the Word back up and chewing on it a second time, and swallowing it again, bringing it up, chewing on it again, to read a passage. I know I come back to passages I’ve studied for years I think I’m completely familiar with, and every time I come back I see things I never saw before. And you sit with him, and you go over with them and over with them. And certainly the cloven hoof is the walk, that our walk is divided, it’s separate, there’s something separate about our walk from the way the world walks. So you have then those who have a cloven hoof, but don’t chew the cud, ah, like the pig, so the picture’s not complete there. Or those like the rabbit or the camel, that chew the cud, but there’s not walk, you know, those are unclean. Just interesting pictures here, and certainly they’ve discovered certain of the diseases through the Middle East from those in fact that do eat camels, from people who don’t. So we have a lot of things here. And if you read S.I. McMillan who wrote “None Of These Diseases,” he describes remarkably what these dietary laws meant in this age and how they protected them. So there’s hygiene involved here. There’s also separation involved here, that other Bedouin tribes and other people that would sit at the table of a Jew would realize ‘You’re different from us, even the way they eat, the way they thank God before they eat, they’re just different.’ There’s a lesson in that, there’s separation, and there’s spiritual lessons that will come with it. Look, everybody’s got to think, if God cares about what we put in our disposable container, does he care about what we put in our souls? Does he care about whether we poison our souls or poison our spirits? If he cares about our stewardship over this spacesuit, which is a throwaway in a sense, because we’re all going to get an upgrade [complete changeover to solid spirit-bodies, I believe spirit is more solid than physical matter], how much more does he care about what poison we might let into our emotions or into our spirit? How many, even Christians, spend a whole lot of time worrying about their spacesuit, their bodies, and I think we need to be stewards over it, but take little concern over what they watch on the television, or into music or entertainment, what they let into the deepest part of their being? So there’s lessons in all of this, and that’s how he’s going to end the chapter telling us that in all of this, even as God stoops down to our table, he’s teaching us spiritual lessons. Ah verse 7, “And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you.” (verse 7) and I like bacon, ah, pigs are scary, if you’ve ever been around big ones, they can be scary animals. And they eat, Lord knows what they eat, and they can be very dangerous, they can be carnivorous. My father grew up on a farm, an eight year old boy fell into a pigpen, cut himself, and by the time they got out there, there wasn’t must left of him, they had eaten him. So, they’re pigs.

What You Can & Can’t Eat In The Oceans, Rivers & Lakes

“These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat. And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you:” (verses 9-10) so, shellfish, shrimp, I know, ‘stop, stop now,’ lobsters, crabs, my son had this crab soup tonight, I tasted it, I like crab bisque, but this wasn’t, and I say grace, I’m not under the law, but these things were important back then, God was teaching lessons, but I do like shrimp, I hope he doesn’t hold that against me. [Comment: lobsters and crabs and a lot of shellfish have been found to have high concentrations of a nerve poison, dioxin, so you want to poison your kidneys, eat away guys, it’s your body. Besides, even as Calvary Chapels admit, the Sabbath, Holy Days and the whole Old Testament Law of God other than the ceremonial laws, which Christ’s sacrifice took the place of, will be in full force as the acting Constitutional set of Laws governing all nations during the Millennial Kingdom of God after Jesus’ 2^nd coming (see https://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/MillennialKingdomofGod.pdf ).] You gotta be careful with oysters, you know, you just hear about people eating those things and keeling over sometimes. [Actually, muscles can be more deadly, actually kill you, depending on what they’ve absorbed, heavy metals and such.] “they shall be even an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but ye shall have their carcases in abomination.” (verse 11) That would include catfish, sharks, they don’t have scales, so anything without scales, bottom feeders and so forth [sharks and squid can’t urinate, so their urine is absorbed into their flesh and muscle fibers, if you were to cut open an old shark or squid, the overpowering smell of uric acid can be detected. You see, God knew all this before modern science discovered all these things, another case of science catching up with the Bible 😊] Don’t say I didn’t warn you. “Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you.” (verse 12) It gives the picture, the Bible talks about humanity as the raging sea and so forth, and it’s a picture of those who are swimming through without touching the bottom, just spiritual picture you can, you can go there by yourself.

What Kind Of Birds & Flying Mammals You Can’t Eat

“And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage [vulture], and the ospray [buzzard], and the vulture, and the kite after his kind; every raven after his kind; and the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow [sea gull], and the hawk after his kind, and the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl, and the swan [the white owl], and the pelican [jackdaw], and the gier eagle [carrion vulture], and the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing [hoopie], and the bat. All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you.” (verses 13-20) “the ossifrage,” look, in all of these lists there’s question marks over some of the translations of the Hebrew names of the animals, many scholars feel the ossifrage is a form of vulture, the ospray, you don’t have to tell me not to eat vultures. Verse 14, the vulture, which is more probably the kite there, and the kite, which is specifically the black kite after his kind, scavengers, birds of prey. “every raven after his kind,” you gotta be hungry, everybody wants to pick on Elijah, Elijah didn’t eat the raven, he ate what they were dropping off, that they were delivering, but “every raven after his kind.” 16 says the owl, which is probably more properly the ostrich. I don’t know if you’ve ever had to opportunity to eat ostrich, ostrich is awesome, I mean, the first time I had ostrich I thought it was sirloin steak, it’s not a white meat, just for your information, it’s not white meat like chicken, it was dark and they actually served it like medium, man it was amazing, they had elk at the same place, and antelope, hope there’s not animals lovers here. But they had all this game, I’ll tell you the ostrich blew my mind, it was better than buffalo. If you ever have the chance, just, we’re not under the law, try some ostrich sometime [again, it’s debatable about how much under the law we as believers are under, and like I said, the whole world will be under the OT laws of God during the soon-coming Millennial Kingdom of God, as Pastor Joe realizes]. But they eat all kinds of things too, I mean, one of our guys here, Fred, said one time he was driving through a wild animal park and his car was overheating and he had to get out, and he took the radiator cap off, it blew all the steam out, it fell on the ground, he was standing there, and he looked over and there was an ostrich standing there right next to him, and he bent down to pick up the radiator cap, and went ‘Gulp’ and he said he saw it go right down its throat, and he walked away. So, you know, antifreeze, you never know what you get in an ostrich, but you say grace, they taste good. Ah, “the night hawk,” the cuckow is probably a seagull, I’m not much tempted there eating one of those, you could if you’re really hungry [like on a life raft and that’s all you can catch, survivors have said it tastes simply horrible]. The hawk, which is more probably the falcon there, after his kind, ah, the “little owl,” the cormorant, the “great owl,” probably the ibis here. Verse 18, the swan, which is not a swan, it’s a horned owl. You can eat swan, you can eat geese, I like goose, you can eat that, quail, you know the LORD brought lots of quail. Ah, the swan, which is probably the horned owl, the pelican, which I personally wouldn’t be tempted to eat, but it’s probably the desert owl here. The gier eagle is a form of vulture. Ah, the stork, please you start eating the stork how are the babies going to get delivered? The heron after her kind, the lapwing, and the bat. You know, isn’t the LORD amazing? You know, he stoops down to us and he says ‘Look, I love you guys, you can eat cows, you can eat sheep, rack of lamb, steak, standing rib roast, but I don’t want you guys eating bats,’ isn’t he amazing that he knows us?--he stoops down to us. You’ve raised kids, how many times you say ‘Keep that outa your mouth! What is that?!’ And here’s the LORD raising us, and you think if he hadn’t told us this, we’d probably be eating bats. [They do in China, and it is highly suspected that the deadly Corona virus epidemic started in the exotic market in Wuhan, China, where they sold bats for food. The Corona virus, a deadly virus common to all bats, transferred over to humans, and ‘Boom!’ you have a worldwide Contagion that cost millions of lives. So, my question, from what all medical and animal science has shown us, why is it so hard for us to see Leviticus 11 was delivered to Moses to write into the laws of God by God himself, giving us dietary laws for our health. They are not ceremonial, they are health laws.]…

Insects You Can & Can’t Eat

Now we’re moving into the insect world here. “All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you. Yet these may ye eat of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet,” think about that for awhile, you have to finish the sentence so it makes a little more sense, it says, they have legs above their feet “to leap withal upon the earth;” (verses 20-21) So they have big jumping legs, and we’re going to see it’s talking about locusts and so forth, “even these of them ye may eat;” So God’s gonna say ‘I don’t want you eating bats, and I don’t want you eating bugs, but if you’re gonna eat bugs, these are the ones that you can eat.’ “the locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle [cricket] after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind.” (verse 22) it has to be bald, not receding. King James says you can eat the “beetle,” which is probably the cricket, and I hate crickets, I’m never tempted to eat one of those. I’ve been tempted to eat a locust, “and the grasshopper” you can eat, after his kind. John the Baptist made his main diet of locusts. You know people want to say those are carobs, chocolate lovers can’t stand the thought that this was a Prophet who ate bugs. They weren’t carobs, he ate locusts and wild honey. Look, we go to Israel, I’ve been to the Middle East and seen whole trays of dried locust, you can get them salted, you know John the Baptist preferred to dip them in honey, again, strange PR person for a ministry, this guy with legs and sticky beard, bug legs and stuff, just interesting character. Those are the ones you can eat. And to certain peoples of the world they’ve been a blessing, they’ve come when there’s been starvation, they’ve caused starvation, but they’ve come and there are people that have survived because of locusts. Not me. “But all other flying creeping things, which have four feet, shall be an abomination unto you.” (verse 23) So, no other bugs. Now look, touching the carcasses and so forth, “And for these ye shall be unclean: whosoever toucheth the carcase of them shall be unclean until even.” (verse 24) So if you’re tempted to touch roadkill, a dead animal, don’t do it, it’s what it’s saying here. ‘Don’t touch that! what are you doing?’ ah, God raising kids. I remember one time Michael was following me through the yard when he was little, and he was saying ‘Daddy, soft, Daddy, soft, Daddy it’s soft,’ I finally turned around, he had a dead bird in his hand with ants all over it, he was going ‘It’s soft Daddy.’ You have to say ‘Don’t touch that, put that down!’ God is here raising children. You know, look, one of the lessons here, is that which is unclean can defile that which is clean, that which is unclean can defile that which is clean, that which is contagious can contaminate that which is uncontaminated.’ That a disease can touch somebody whose healthy, it never works the other way. A clean person cannot make an unclean person clean by touching him. Somebody who has the measles is not going to be healed by somebody who doesn’t have the measles touching him. There’s only one person who can do that, and whose ever done that. Jesus Christ can touch a leper, and cleanse the leper [and not come down with leprosy himself, not get infected himself]. Jesus Christ could touch somebody with a disease, and instead of that person contaminating him, he cleansed them. But the lessons for you and I as we pass through this world is, if you mess with things that are unclean, spiritually, morally, physically, they contaminate you, you won’t cleanse them. And again, I hear lots of Christians say ‘I’m hanging around with my old friends, I’m out having a shot of beer and a shot of evangelistic association, because if I’m not there, how are they ever going to…you know, date an unbeliever for Christ, evangelistic association.’ Look, don’t give me that stuff, you need to be light and salt to your old friends, but you can’t find fellowship with them. Because you have a different value system. You need to share life with them, share Christ with them, but only God can bring them into the Kingdom [John 6:44]. But your calling after you’re saved is not to find your fellowship with them. Again, if you take a German Shepherd and you let him run with a pack of wolves, do the wolves become domestic, or does the German Shepherd become wild? So God is giving lessons that as his people we are to be separate, even to the point of what we put in our mouths, what we put in our eyes, what we put in our ears, that that which is unclean always contaminates that which is clean. He’s saying, touching things, “And whosoever beareth ought of the carcase of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even. The carcases of every beast which divideth the hoof, and is not clovenfooted, nor cheweth the cud, are unclean unto you: every one that toucheth them shall be unclean.” (verses 25-26) You touch a clean or an unclean animal when they’re dead, you’re messing with their carcass, you’re unclean. [No picking up that dead deer on the side of the road that’s been hit with by a car 😊] Only in the sacrificial system where the priest was taking a live animal and sacrificing it, was he uncontaminated in the sacrifice. It’s interesting, blood in the Old Testament was both the most ritually cleansing thing, and the most defiling thing at the same time, outside of ritual. So, very interesting here. It says, verse 27, “And whatsoever goeth upon his paws, among all manner of beasts that go on all four, those are unclean unto you: whoso toucheth their carcase shall be unclean until the even.” So you’re not supposed to be eating anything that goes on its paws. Well some of you might have done that unknowingly, ah, I remember years ago, I think it was in Bristol, it was in the paper and I had the article, I know I still have it, they busted this Chinese restaurant with 38 frozen cats [Meow!] in its freezer. [And they weren’t trying to make violin bowstrings, although that might have been a side-job.] It’s just information. I don’t care, fry ‘em up, put gravy on ‘em, just General Gau’s chicken is a little tough tonight, but that’s alright. Ah, paws, carnivores, things with paws, he’s asking them not to eat, because they’re carnivores, they kill an animal, here it says you shouldn’t eat anything that goes on paws. [That makes Santa Claws unclean as well 😊] Just, free information. “And he that beareth the carcase of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: they are unclean unto you.” (verse 28) This whole idea of clean and unclean, separation.

You Can’t Eat Weasels, Mice, Lizards, Crocodiles Or You Kid’s Pet Ferret

“These also shall be unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth; the weasel [the mole], and the mouse, and the tortoise [large lizard] after his kind, and the ferret [gecko], and the chameleon [monitor lizard], and the lizard [sand reptile], the snail, and the mole.” (verses 29-30) Now again, some of these words may not be exactly what the way we have them, but just for your information, I think that probably holds true, don’t eat weasels, and the mouse, because it defiles, doesn’t it. And it’s too often today we find that the mouse, attached to some computer screen, is defiling. You laugh, but the plague of pornography in the Church, amongst God’s people is alarming, it’s alarming. You can laugh at that, but if God doesn’t want me to eat a little critter, because he’s worried about your physical frame, how does he feel about what you let into your eyes or ears that contaminates your heart, and your spirit, and your mind? And you know, men, brothers, it’s time for us to stand up, it’s not time for us to lay down and surrender, these are the Last Days, Jesus Christ our King, our Captain, the Captain of our Faith is coming, he’s coming. We’re to be warriors, we’re to be the high priests of our homes, not to lay down like a dog or an unclean animal that defile us. It’s time for you and I to stand up and hold each other accountable, to do this right, Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming, he’s coming. And he needs us to be men, he needs us to be men of God, and to do this thing right. I know it’s by his grace, I know it’s by his grace. But it is time for us to be filled afresh with his Holy Spirit, and that what would characterize the deepest part of our being would be his Holy Spirit, that the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead should dwell within us, and one day quicken our mortal body. And that Spirit cries Abba, Father, and is not inclined to those other things. So, back to diet. Don’t eat the weasel [especially if you’re prone to become what you eat 😊], don’t eat the mouse, and don’t eat the tortoise, turtles after their kind. I have to be honest, I like snapper soup, snapping turtle soup, I’m sorry [it’s your health, your body], it’s great. Dark brown gravy, it’s really, really good. But it is interesting that the LORD cares enough. And look at verse 30, he says, “and the ferret [gecko], and the chameleon [monitor lizard], and the lizard [sand reptile], the snail, and the mole.” You think ‘Oh man, I can’t eat a weasel, maybe I can eat the ferret,’ you don’t want to see that disappear from your kid’s bedroom, you’re not allowed to eat the ferret, or the chameleon, or the lizard [if we lived in the age of dinosaurs, we couldn’t eat them as well], the snail or the mole. Now you would think that God wouldn’t have to stoop down from heaven tell us not to eat snails. And we do it in such a sophisticated way, escargot, $50 a pound, escargot. That’s snails, don’t call it escargot, call it what it is. That is snails, it’s sickening, you suck those little things out of the shell, they are snails, that’s not escargot, those are snails, don’t eat those. [You’ll sit down and have bacon and eggs for breakfast, but condemn the eating of snails, where both are forbidden by God in Leviticus 11, hmmm.] Moles, hey look, we’re under grace, you can eat escargot, you’re not less of a Christian, you have other problems, but you’re not less of a Christian if you eat snails, if you’re tempted to eat moles, I’m not tempted, if you’re tempted you can come over to my house, they’re in my yard, you can take as many as you can catch, barbeque them up, take them home with you. Isn’t it interesting though the LORD would have to tell us not to eat those things. I remember reading a report, it was a symposium on drug abuse that was held on the West Coast years ago, and part of that was Law Enforcement officials, one of the things that they were dealing with out there, is toad-licking. They found out that certain tropical toads, when they were afraid, excreted an oil through their back, and it was a hallucinogen, so people were licking toads and getting high like they were on LSD. And I remember after I read that, I was sitting alone, and I thought ‘I have a few questions, who licked the first toad? Who did that before they knew any of this stuff? What was that guy up to?’ Who licked the first toad and why? What were they thinking? Then I thought ‘Well maybe it was like the Incas or something, like little kids put stuff in their mouths, maybe they saw their kids walking around like this afterwards, something’s going on with those toads.’ But with some of us here tonight, it’s a good thing we got saved. Isn’t it? Ah, because we wouldn’t just be growing pot in our closet, we’d have a corner in the our livingroom with tropical toads in it, by now, ah, friends coming over, have a movie of a snake video to scare the toads, passing one on, ‘Here, try this one.’ It’s a good thing that we’re saved, isn’t it? It’s a good thing we’re saved. God loves us. Don’t eat the ferret, the chameleon, the lizard, the snail, or moles, please don’t eat moles. “These are unclean to you among all that creep: whosoever doth touch them, when they be dead, shall be unclean until the even.” (verse 31) I knew that before I read this. So don’t play with dead snails, dead moles, dead lizards, you’ll be unclean till evening. [Just imagine, these are all the things kids like playing with, just assume your kids are unclean when they come home after coming out of the woods, lakes and streams. And mice, like bats, are especially unclean, as they carry tons of deadly diseases, just as rats do, which are like mice, also unclean.]

General Laws Concerning Touching Something Unclean, Or Having Something Unclean Coming Into Contact With Something You Cook With, Drink Out Of

Now, “And upon whatsoever any of them, when they are dead, doth fall, it shall be unclean; whether it be any vessel of wood, or raiment, or skin, or sack, whatsoever vessel it be, wherein any work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the even; so it shall be cleansed. And every earthen vessel, wherein any of them falleth, whatsoever is in it shall be unclean; and ye shall break it.” (verses 32-33) Isn’t it interesting, the LORD says, if you have an earthen pot in the kitchen you normally keep something in, and a lizard dies and falls from your ceiling into the pot, break the pot. Don’t regift, don’t give the pot to somebody at Christmas time, don’t give it to somebody with flowers in it. He stoops down to us, because he knows us so well, to stoops and says ‘You find a dead lizard in your pot, please break it, don’t use it, don’t give it away.’ If it’s a metal vessel, stone, soak it in water, it has to be cleaned, don’t just use it again. “Of all meat [grain, edible food] which may be eaten, that on which such water cometh shall be unclean: and all drink that may be drunk in every such vessel shall be unclean.” (verse 34) So if it falls into something you bear water in, that’s unclean also. You don’t have to tell me that, my wife, when I met her we were Hippies a long time ago (how long was that? that was a long time ago), and she had been on this tree planting team, it was really a Christian ministry, on Mount Baker in Washington, you guys know my wife, so imagine this. When I met her, it says anything that’s wet is unclean, when I met her she had long overalls on, long work boots, her hair was braided, and she had come back from this tree planting team where she was cooking for these tree planters, and they get paid by how many trees they get in the ground, she’d have to get up every morning between 3 and 3:30 because they were up and needed to be planting by 5, so she’s living in a tent, cooking on a Coleman stove, you think ‘Such a woman, that’s the kind of woman I need, she can cook on a Coleman stove and live in a tent, she wears work boots,’ I mean, what an elaborate deception to get a husband in the final analysis, but, she won’t do any of those things anymore. But she was cooking and she told me that sometimes they would stay up late playing cards, and they would cook or fry something up, and they’d throw it all in this big pot, she said ‘I got up in the morning, I’m so sick of it, it’s ice cold, I’m taking dirty spoons and cups out of the pot, and I feel this thing and pull it out, and it was a frozen mouse that was in the pot.’ And she said ‘I was so mad because they put all that junk in there the night before, I was tempted to just make the coffee in the pot with the dead mouse.’ You can’t do that, the Bible forbids that kind of stuff, so. Verse 36, “Nevertheless a fountain or pit, wherein there is plenty of water, shall be clean: but that which toucheth their carcase shall be unclean.” So if there’s a fountain of living waters, a spring of water, the spring’s not polluted if you find a dead mouse or a dead lizard in it, or if you have a cistern, some of them are 10,000, 20,000 gallons, and water is a problem in that part of the world, so if you find a dead snake or dead lizard floating in your cistern, the whole cistern wasn’t condemned. If you would have fished the dead animal out, if you used your hand you would be defiled till evening, if you touched it you were unclean, but it says the whole water system is not unclean. “And if any part of their carcase fall upon any sowing seed which is to be sown, it shall be clean.” (verse 37) So you find a sack of wheat that you’re going to sow in the field, and there’s a dead mouse in there, he ate himself to death or something, the wheat is not unclean, you can still sow it, pick it out. “But if any water be put upon the seed, and any part of their carcase fall thereon, it shall be unclean unto you.” (verse 38) So if for some reason if water gets on the seed, I don’t know if the seed is inclined to grow mold or start to sprout, if it can be penetrated and there’s water and there’s a dead animal there, it’s unclean, it says to get rid of it. “And if any beast, of which ye may eat, die [of itself, implied]; he that toucheth the carcase thereof shall be unclean until the even. And he that eateth of the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: he also that beareth the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even.” (verses 39-40) Now that would be because they raised sheep, they raised oxen, if they found an animal killed in the field by a wolf or a lion or that died of something, of course they would have to then bury that animal, clean the field, so they’d be touching the carcase of a clean animal, it says they were unclean till evening. “And he that eateth of the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: he also that beareth the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even. And every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth shall be an abomination; it shall not be eaten.” Now it’s talking about insects again, he’s perfectly clear on that, “Whatsoever goeth upon the belly, and whatsoever goeth upon all four, or whatsoever hath more feet among all creeping things that creep upon the earth, them ye shall not eat;” something that has more feet, like a tarantula, a centipede, you’re not to eat those, anything that goeth upon its belly. That remind you of something? Genesis chapter 3, ‘because thou hast done this, upon thy belly shalt thou go,’ certainly the serpent, unclean. “for they are an abomination. Ye shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creepeth, neither shall ye make yourselves unclean with them, that ye should be defiled thereby.” (verses 40-43)

In Summary: “Be Ye Holy, For I Am Holy”

Verse 44, now he summarizes the chapter, “For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves,” set yourselves apart, separate yourselves, “and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” (verses 44-45) We have this at least 9 times in different places in the Bible, “be ye therefore holy, for I am holy, says the LORD.” Again, years ago I remember I was watching something on television, C-Span or something, Mother Theresa just happened to be on speaking to the United Nations, and she was talking about abortion and so forth, and she said “Look, God is our Creator, we are all created beings, and he is our redeemer, he created us, then he died for us, bought us back. He created us, and he redeemed us, we should be his. So if you’re a carpenter, be a holy carpenter, if you’re a computer network person, be a holy computer person, if you’re a mechanic, be a holy mechanic.” And she said, in regards to the children and the orphanages she had, she said “Give them to me, I’ll take care of them.” It was interesting to hear her say that, whatever you are in life, there’s no line between the sacred and the secular, be a holy doctor, be a holy carpenter, Jesus was, for years. When he came to the Jordan River and John the Baptist baptized him, God the Father spoke from heaven and said ‘This is my beloved Son in whom I am already well pleased,’ had never preached a sermon, had never done a miracle, he spent the majority of his life, all but three and a half years, in obscurity in a carpenter shop, and fellowshipped, he was a holy carpenter, his life was given to God. Now look, holiness, holiness is this, there is that which is God, and there is that which is not God, that makes him holy. There is the Creator, everything else is the Creation, angels, dimensions, Space, earth, spirits [again, angels], there is the Creator, everything else is Creation. There is God, everything else is not God. Sorry. That makes him holy, which is separate. His love, then, wonderfully, is a holy love, it’s a separate love. It doesn’t come to us because we elicit it from him somehow, he loves us because he loves us, because he is holy. Yet we can’t compare it to human love, because it isn’t that at all. His grace, his mercy, his tenderness, his faithfulness, it’s holy, it’s unending, it’s incomparable, it’s all received by faith. You and I, he called us to be holy. What does that mean, does it mean you float off the ground and glow in the dark? [we’ll be able to do that after the 1^st Resurrection to immortality 😊], it means to me at least the direction of our lives, what direction are we headed in? Are we becoming more like him, or are our lives in a direction towards the unclean, away from him, or is it towards the clean? But we’re to be being conformed into his image and likeness. And again, our eternal destiny, not just a place, but an image. And even it seems, in the ages to come, he’ll still be revealing his mercy to us, that means we will always be approaching, and never arriving at the full stature of who he is, because he will always be infinite and we’ll always be finite. So for you and I even today, are we getting closer to him and more separate from the world? And separation, what is it? It’s separation unto, it isn’t separation from. Separation from is the Law, separation unto is love and grace. You know, when I met Kathy, or I can see people walking in church here that are dating, they’re in another world, they forgot everybody around them, they’re walking with the same shirts and same shorts on, they don’t know the rest of us are going ‘Oye vey.’ They’re just separated to each other, there’s no labour to that. Your friends will tell you, ‘We don’t see you anymore,’ you’re not thinking about who you’re not seeing, you’re thinking about who you are seeing. It isn’t separation is how worldly can I be, and what can I get away with and still be a Christian. No, if you’re spending your life at what you need to be separated from, ‘I can’t get stoned anymore, I can’t do this anymore, I can’t drink anymore,’ that’s the wrong direction. Turn around and look at your Saviour, the Lord of lords, the King of kings, Almighty God, who cares about what you eat, who cares about your table, who loves to hear you say grace, who came and let his beard be ripped out of his face, he let them spit upon him, he bore our sins, he came under the Father’s wrath, for us. And we look into his face, when I sense his presence and his tenderness, he’s condescending, that he would take the likes of me and allow me to lift my face to heaven and say ‘Father,’ that he would call me his son and not be ashamed, not ashamed, my God and my Father. Separation isn’t separation from, it’s separation unto. And you know what happens and so do I, if we spend time in his presence, we come away and say ‘I was so stupid, why did I do that?!’ We have amnesia, I don’t know what it is, spiritual amnesia, we forget, and when we get back into his presence again, you know that place where we belong, it’s so wonderful, we’re home, we’re settled, what peace. The same things are going on around us, but something different is happening in our hearts, and he says ‘I am the LORD your God, I delivered you, I brought you out of Egypt, from bondage, I set you free, and I want you to be separate, I want you to be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy, I want you to be holy.’ Verse 46 says, “This is the law of the beasts, and of the fowl, and of every living creature that moveth in the waters, and of every creature that creepeth upon the earth: to make a difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the beast that may be eaten and the beast that may not be eaten.” (verses 46-47) The Jew [Israelite, 12 tribes] even in his table, when he sat down to eat, would make a difference in his heart, there is that which is clean, and that which that which is unclean, and it’s because the LORD my God is holy, and he wants me to be holy, he wants me to be different, he wants me to be separate. I think we can get through the next eight verses here, so that we can do 13 and 14 if the Lord tarries next week.”

Leviticus 12:1-8

“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean. 3 And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. 4 And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled. 5 But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying three-score and six days. 6 And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest: 7 who shall offer it before the LORD, and make an atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the issue of blood. This is the law for her that hath born a male or a female. 8 And if she be not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two turtles [turtledoves], or two young pigeons; the one for the burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering: and the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall be clean.”

Giving The Laws About Childbirth: Giving The Mother A Break

“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean.” (verses 1-2) Now look, she is unclean in childbirth ritually, not morally. Sexual intimacy is not an unclean thing between a husband and wife anywhere in Scripture. God designed it, that is where it is to be. So there is nothing unclean in the woman in the sense of morality because she has a child, there isn’t anything unclean about the child. There is the problem of course of sin, David says ‘I was conceived in sin, born in iniquity,’ there that which is passed along, certainly, and a sinner has come into the world, that’s true. But there is passing of blood, the passing of body fluid, all of that, so there is ritual uncleanness, not a moral uncleanness, attached to birth here. It says, “And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.” (verse 3) Now he’s doing a wonderful thing here, first of all, some interesting things, it’s on the eighth day when the body produces vitamin K that we need for coagulation, so the circumcision didn’t take place till the eighth day. Now they give the baby a vitamin K shot, they do it right away. Profombrin is produced on the eighth day, it’s greatest percentage. And as they study newborns, feeling really develops from the crown of the head downward, and hasn’t really become acute that far down in the body until after the eighth day. So, God’s wonder, God’s mercy. But what he’s saying in this, the woman is ritually unclean, but the male child is to be brought within the Covenant upon the eighth day. He’s God’s, this is a ritual of uncleanness, not a moral uncleanness, and beautifully God makes clear here that the practice of circumcision was to take place on the eighth day. “And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled.” (verse 4) So that’s 40 days total. So she was unclean having a male child for 40 days. Girls, I didn’t write this. “But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying three-score and six days.” (verse 5) So, all total, 80 days, twice as long. So it’s ritual uncleanness, it’s not moral uncleanness. It’s twice as long for a little girl as it for a little boy, I don’t know why, for all you why-ers, I don’t know. In 1933 there was some work done that I don’t believe is substantiated that what they tried to say that the woman in her healing, that there was something different in the way she healed between the birth a male and a female, I don’t know if there’s truth in that. We’ll find out in time, or we’ll ask God when we see him. One wonderful thing this did, is it set the woman aside for 40 days with a little boy, to rest, to recuperate, to begin nursing, to spend time with him, to bond. The LORD knows, maybe the emotional makeup of a girl is different, maybe there’s some wonderful mercy, or maybe it’s a reminder that Eve is the one who first partook, but maybe it’s just the little girl needs twice as long, because of her emotional makeup, alone with the mom before normal life begins again, I don’t know. But there’s certainly some beauty here in God’s plan, “But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying three-score and six days. And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest: who shall offer it before the LORD, and make an atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the issue of blood. This is the law for her that hath born a male or a female.” (verses 5-7) So this is ritual uncleanness, not moral uncleanness. “And if she be not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two turtles [turtledoves], or two young pigeons; the one for the burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering: and the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall be clean.” (verse 8) And of course, Joseph and Mary coming on the 40^th day to the Temple to dedicate Jesus [Yeshua], and it says they brought two turtledoves, not able to afford a lamb. And God had made provisions, he had sent his Son into a family where the parents would have to offer the turtledoves, what an interesting scene. The voice of God had been silent for 400 years, till John the Baptist had come on the scene. But he was still an infant at this point in time. And yet God had someone waiting, there was Simeon and Anna in the Temple courts. It wasn’t enough for his Son to come and be dedicated in a dead religious system, there was a prophet in Simeon, ‘LORD, lettest now thy servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen thy Salvation, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel.’ What a gift to Joseph and Mary in the midst of a dead religious system. This guy had lived his life for this day, ‘Now lettest thy servant depart in peace,’ literally we get ‘now dismiss me, LORD, I’ve finished my course.’ I pray for you, if you’re here tonight and you don’t know Christ, I pray the Lord will not dismiss anyone in this room until their eyes have seen his Salvation, that you will not breathe your last breath until you know where you are going on the other side of that last breath. And Anna, a widow for 80 years, had been married once, her husband died when she was young, she was not bitter, in fact she lived in the Temple precincts, and fasted and prayed, and sought the LORD, and waited and saw this child. How wonderful, as these two young people, this young couple come with this Messiah, to offer the sacrifice, not even well off enough to offer a lamb, but a turtledove, coming with this last verse, with the provision God had made long before, looking for the day no doubt when his own Son would come into the Temple precincts, having his prophet and prophetess waiting in a silent, dead religious world, to praise him, to lift him up. Lesson tonight, don’t eat snails [or anything unclean, for your own health, Leviticus 11 are medical health laws, as None Of These Diseases and a lot of new medical findings have proven that]. Separation, clean, unclean, look, you sit down at the table, God cares. And look, when I have shrimp I say grace, I love shrimp, I don’t have a problem, you can eat that other stuff too if you want to, but. But the point is, God cares, I never eat without in my own heart, and if I say grace, saying ‘Lord, we know there’s starving people all over this planet, and we partake of your bounty daily, and Lord we never want to take it for granted, sanctify this food, strengthen our physical frames with it, that we might serve you, O Lord we lift our hearts in thanks before we partake.’ Because he cares, he cares about what we do at our tables, I cared about my kids, spitting out their spinach, ‘Eat that, it’s good for you!’ so thankful that we had Flintstones vitamins taste good, because they were always willing to take those and chew them up, and you felt like ‘They’re getting something good for their system.’ But more than we love ours, he loves us, more than we care what they did at the table and what they eat he cares for us. He saved us, he’s created us, he’s redeemed us, he dines with us, he dines with us. What kind of a God that can lay out the heavens with the span of his hand, that stoops down to our kitchen, to our fellowship and our table, what kind of a God, wonder, and tenderness, what a remarkable God we serve, Amen, what an incredible Saviour, what unimaginable, unending love and mercy he has for us. I’m going have the musicians come, we’ll sing a last song together, something about snails I’m sure. And look, if you’re here tonight and you don’t know Christ, after the service please make your way up here, we’d love to pray with you. Last time we taught this chapter people got saved, I can never figure this out. But if the Lord has touched your heart this evening and you realize ‘I want to know this God, I don’t know if I died tonight where I’d spend eternity, I know I need to come to you, I don’t want religion I want relationship, I do not want to play church, I need reality in my life, and God if you love me and if you care about me sitting alone somewhere, eating, you’ve stooped down to me, I’ve been so ignorant of you, of your presence, you sent your own Son to die for me, I want to know you, I need to be cleansed and forgiven,’ you come, if those kinds of things are cooking, when the service is over, get up here, we’d love to pray with you and give you a copy of the Scripture. Let’s stand, let’s pray. Look, read ahead…[connective expository sermon on Leviticus 11:1-47 and Leviticus 12:1-8, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]