Go! And Understand God's Heart Series

Go! And Understand God's Heart

Introduction:

It’s always an honour to open the Word of God with you. We are continuing in our Go! And... series today with a vital and timely message: Go! And Understand God’s Heart.

Now, we’re going to deal with some Old Testament verses that are often misunderstood or misused. They’ve been used to mock Scripture or paint God as outdated or cruel. But when rightly understood, these verses don’t repel us—they reveal something glorious: the holiness, justice, and mercy of our God.

Let’s read our key passages:

Leviticus 18:22 (NLT): “Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin.”

Exodus 21:7 (NLT): “When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are.”

Exodus 35:2 (NLT): “You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day must be a Sabbath day of complete rest, a holy day dedicated to the Lord. Anyone who works on that day must be put to death.”

Leviticus 11:7 (NLT): “The pig has evenly split hooves but does not chew the cud, so it is unclean. You may not eat the meat of these animals or even touch their carcasses. They are ceremonially unclean for you.”

These Scriptures sound hard. But we must not let difficult verses drive us from God’s Word—we must let them drive us to seek His heart.

Point 1: The Holiness of God and the Covenant Context

Before we get into any application, we need to understand something foundational: God is holy. The Hebrew word qadôš means “set apart” or “morally pure.” In the Old Testament, God was forming Israel to be a people set apart from the surrounding pagan cultures.

The laws in Leviticus and Exodus were given to show the vast difference between God’s holy character and the sinful world around them. They were civil, ceremonial, and moral instructions, given under a covenant that showed both the distance between God and man and the grace of God in providing a way to draw near.

Church — listen to the wisdom of Charles Stanley when he says: “Obedience always brings blessing. Disobedience brings consequences. God’s laws are never for our restriction—they are for our protection.”

That, dear friends, is a truth we must never forget.

God doesn’t give us commands to limit our joy, but to preserve our lives. He’s not some cosmic killjoy trying to ruin our fun — He is our loving Father, setting boundaries for our good.

Like a fence around a playground on the edge of a cliff — that fence is not oppression; it’s protection.

Obedience to God is not about earning His love — we already have it through Jesus — but it is how we walk in step with His design, experience His peace, and enjoy His blessing.

Disobedience may feel freeing at first, but it always leads to brokenness.

Let’s not treat God’s Word like a suggestion — let’s treasure it like a lifeline.

God’s heart is for His people. These commands weren’t arbitrary—they were protective, preparing the way for the coming of the Messiah.

God was building a culture of righteousness in a world that was morally bankrupt. These laws were radically different from the brutal pagan cultures that surrounded them. For example, where pagan nations sacrificed children to false gods, God commanded Israel to care for widows and orphans.

Church, we cannot understand grace until we first understand holiness. The law is a mirror showing us our need. It's not a ladder we climb to reach God—it’s the spotlight that shows us why we need a Saviour.

Point 2: Understanding Old Testament Law Through Christ

Jesus said in Matthew 5:17, “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.”

The Greek word for “accomplish” is pleroo, meaning to bring to fullness, to complete. Jesus didn’t throw out the law—He fulfilled it!

Ceremonial laws like Leviticus 11:7 (don’t eat pork) and civil laws like Exodus 35:2 (death for breaking Sabbath) pointed to spiritual truths. They were shadows, as Hebrews 10:1 puts it, of the reality found in Christ.

Mark 7:18–19: Jesus declared all foods clean - “Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, He declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.)

Hebrews 4:9–10: We find our true Sabbath rest in Christ - "So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labours, just as God did after creating the world."