Sermon Reflections from Consequence of Sin | Alex Hardt | March 15, 2026
How many times have you tried to warn your children about the dangers in life? We try to warn them about drugs, alcohol, sex before marriage, diseases that are easily transmitted, greedy people, those that would want to take advantage of them…. The list seems endless. We as parents are no different than God. He was forming a new society based on His rules that would set them apart from the idolatrous Egyptian society that had just left and the immoral pagan cultures in Canaan to which they were headed. He had given them the 10 Commandments to guide them, but they also needed to know the way to relate to one another and how to relate to Him. He wanted them to know how to worship Him properly and keep themselves pure so they would be set apart for Him. We know that it takes time to practice new habits and have them instilled into us. God knew His people would need time to learn, practice and become accustomed to treating one another in this new way.Pastor Alex gave us a preview of Chapters ahead of us in Leviticus. In Chapter 20, God warned the Israelites about the pagan practices He did not want them to ever practice like child sacrifice and using medium and spiritists. These were and are detestable to Him. God knew that sin may begin small but it will grow and any sin is sin. Sin is destructive and He wanted to protect them and their society from these practices.
In Leviticus 24, God wants them to see that punishment for crimes must fit the offense. As we have seen in previous chapters, God is teaching them how to govern and how to judge justly. He wants them protected and administering just judgements. We might wonder where the concept of equal protection comes from- well we see it here put forth by God. Leviticus 24:22 “You shall have the same rule for the sojourner and for the native, for I am the Lord your God.”
I was fascinated by Chapter 26 of Leviticus and can’t wait to get there. It is filled with “I will” statement by God. Anytime God says ‘I will’ He is making a promise and God never changes his mind or makes a mistake, so we can take His ‘I wills’ as truth from Him. Positive I Will Promises: “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, 4 then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5 Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely. 6 I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land. 7 You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8 Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. 9 I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you. 10 You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new. 11 I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. These are amazing promises of God’s provision and dwelling with them in their midst if they will follow His ways.
On the flip side, God tells them what will happen if they do not follow His ways- these are promised consequences too. “But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, 15 if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, 16 then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 17 I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies. 19 and I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. 21 “Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins. 22 And I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so that your roads shall be deserted. then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins.
You get the idea and unfortunately we will see God’ punishment upon Israel when they slipped into idolatry and were deported to Babylon, their cities ravaged, etc. God kept His promises about punishments too.
Let you heart dwell on the fact that God wanted them and He wants us to be holy. Leviticus 11:45 “For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” God repeats this phrase multiple times in these chapters. It must be important for us to know and learn and take to heart!
Linda
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Linda is a member of Crossroads church and regularly blogs about her faith.
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