Leviticus 18:20

Leviticus 18:20 says, Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour’s wife, to defile thyself with her.  God now told men once again to not commit adultery with their neighbor's wife, because it would defile them.  We know that Jesus went on to include a man's thoughts in this warning.  Even looking on a woman with lust in one's heat made a man guilty of adultery.  Verse twenty-one adds, And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.  This was a warning against giving their children up to false gods.  Some interpret it as meaning actually sacrificing their children to this false god Molech, who was associated with the sun and some interpret it as meaning to have them pass through fire to show their devotion.  Either way, doing so as part of God's chosen people would profane God's name.  We must be careful today that we do not do anything that would allow false gods into our lives if we are followers of Christ.  Verse twenty-two continues, Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.  This is a warning against homosexuality between two men, but the same is true for two women as well.  Verse twenty-three states, Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.  It would seem to me that this would have not been necessary to say, but unfortunately people do these things.  Verse twenty-four adds, Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:  God again warned the people of Israel to not do any of these things just listed, even if all the people around them did.  We cannot be guided by the things that other people may do, but we must be guided by the word of God under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Verse twenty-five continues, And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.  God said the actions of people could lead to the land itself being defiled.  Verse twenty-six declares, Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:  God said that the people of Israel were not to commit any of these abominations, whether they were born into the nation if Israel are were a stranger who had come to sojourn there.  We, as followers of Christ, are called to live by God's word today and to not allow any corrupt thing to become a part of our lives.  Verse twenty-seven adds, (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)  God said the people of the land before them had done all these things and that the land was defiled.  We today cannot expect God to bless us individually or as a nation if we allow these things into our lives.  Verse twenty-eight continues, That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.  I believe that the spewing out of the nations refers to God allowing the people of Israel to defeat them and claim the land.  If the people of Israel did not remain faithful to God, they could suffer the same fate at the hands of other people.  It was their relationship to God that made the people of Israel different.  Verse twenty-nine says, For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.  God warned that anyone who committed any of these acts would be cut off from the people of God, and this remains true today.  Christ fulfilled the law by keeping it totally, but He did not do away with God's laws.  Verse thirty adds, Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.  The people of Israel were to keep the laws of God so that they did not defile themselves before God, for the simple reason that He is God.  Unless we accept the fact that God alone is God, and that there are no other gods, then the rest of this does not matter to us.  We must first accept God through our faith in Jesus Christ, then we must follow God's guidance through the leadership of the Holy Spirit.