Good evening. We’ll be looking at two passages tonight. The first in Luke’s Gospel. It’s on page 1111, chapter 14. And then we’ll turn to Numbers. Let’s give attention to the very Word of God, Luke chapter 14, beginning at verse 25. Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
For which of you desiring to build a tower does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it. Otherwise, When he’s laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all those who see it begin to mock him, saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king? Going out to encounter another king in war will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with 10,000 to meet him who comes against him with 20,000.
And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. Now if you turn to Numbers chapter six, I believe that’s on page 144 of your Pew Bibles, we’ll begin reading there at verse one. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the people of Israel and say to them, when either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazarite to separate himself to the Lord, he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes fresh or dried. All the days of his separation, he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.
All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord. He shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long. All the days that he separates himself to the Lord, he shall not go near a dead body, not even for his father or for his mother or brother or sister. If they die, shall he make himself unclean because his separation to God is on his head. all the days of his separation, he is holy to the Lord. And if any man dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing. On the seventh day, he shall shave it.
On the eighth day, he shall bring two turtle doves or two pigeons to the priest to the entrance of the tent of meeting. And the priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering and make atonement for him because he sinned by reason of the dead body. And he shall consecrate his head that same day, and separate himself to the Lord for the days of his separation, and bring a male lamb a year old for a guilt offering. But the previous period shall be void, because his separation was defiled.” And this is the law for the Nazarite. When the time of his separation has been completed, he shall be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and he shall bring his gift to the Lord.
One male lamb, a year old without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb, a year old without blemish as a sin offering, and one ram without blemish as a peace offering, and a basket of unleavened bread. Loaves of fine flour mixed with oil and unleavened wafers smeared with oil in their grain offering and their drink offerings. And the priest shall bring them before the Lord and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering, and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord with the basket of unleavened bread. The priest shall offer also its grain offering and its drink offering, and the Nazarite shall shave his consecrated head at the entrance of the tent of meeting and shall take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire that is under the sacrifice of the peace offering. And the priest shall take the shoulder of the ram when it is boiled, and one unleavened loaf out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the hands of the Nazarite after he has shaved the hair of his consecration. And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. They are a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed.
After that, the Nazarite may drink wine.” This is the law of the Nazarite. But if he vows an offering to the Lord above his Nazarite vow, As he can afford in exact accordance with the vow that he takes, then he shall do in addition to the law of the Nazarite.”
Thus far in the reading of God’s word. Amen. Would you pray with me? Our Father and our God, once again we come to a passage of scripture which may be difficult for us to understand. And so we ask, Lord God, by your spirit, that you would lead and guide us this evening, and that all that you have for us, all that you’ve ordained from eternity past, you’d give us this evening, changing us, making us more like Christ. Guide us now. We ask all this in Jesus’s name. Amen. Are you separated to the world or from the world? It’s a significant question for us to consider tonight. Are you separated to the world or from the world?
As we’ve been reading through Isaiah, it was some time ago, apparently in chapter 6, that you heard of Isaiah entering into the throne room. And Isaiah is singled out, apparently. There’s no one else with him to our knowledge of that account. He’s separated and he draws close to God. So close that he hears and sees the king, the Lord, sitting on the throne. And immediately he knows that he’s a sinful man. and that he’s in the presence of a holy, holy, holy God. He was separated to see and to hear and to learn more about this one. And even as he recognizes his sinfulness and his sin is taken away by that burning coal which is placed upon his lips, he desires to draw even closer. As the Lord says, whom shall I send who will go for us? Isaiah raises his hand and said, here I am. Send me. He desired to serve. He had been brought close to the living God. He raises his hand and said, send me. I’ll go. I want to serve.
In a sense, that’s what brings us to Numbers chapter 6 this evening. This really strange vow for us to understand, the Nazirite vow. We see it in the context of this book where all Israel has been numbered, all 603,550 men ready for war. We see that the Levites, the one tribe, has been separated from the rest of the Israelites.
They weren’t counted. They weren’t numbered with everyone else. They were numbered by themselves. They had a special task, a special work to do for the Lord. They were singled out. They were separated for service to the Lord. And we’ve read about that. And now we read about these who desired individual separation.
Individuals who desired to be spiritually clean. Remember, we read about the camp being kept clean in the last chapter, and now we’re reading about individuals who vowed before God to keep themselves spiritually clean. Tonight, as we go through this passage, I’d like us to see very simply that a sinner must be separated from the world to truly know God. and to trust his son for eternal life. A sinner must be separated from the world to truly know God and to trust in his son for eternal life. We’ll see that in three, I’m hoping, simple points tonight.
First, the Nazarite was separated to desire God. Secondly, the Nazarite was separated to serve God. And finally, the Nazarite was separated to know God. So as we go through this passage tonight, this rather strange vow, I want you to be asking yourself, am I separated to the world or from the world? Well, first, the Nazirite was separated to desire God.
Here in this first couple of verses, we read about this special vow that men or women could take. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, speak to the people of Israel. Say to them, when either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of the Nazarite, to separate himself to the Lord, he shall separate himself from, and there is a list.
Vows were promises made to God. That’s how Webster’s defines a vow, a solemn promise, promise to God. And the one who was making the vow was, according to Webster’s, to the Word of God, was an appeal to God to actually witness the sincerity of the vow, that I want you to see God, I want you to make sure I keep what I’m vowing to you.
And they were voluntary. There is no requirement in scripture to make a vow. In Deuteronomy chapter 23, we read, if you make a vow, clearly it wasn’t a command, it wasn’t required, but if you desired to do so, if you wanted to increase your obligations to the Lord, you certainly could. If you make a vow, Moses continued, you shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth. You’re voluntary. Now, this particular vow, this Nazarite vow, unique or different. That’s the definition of the Hebrew word, which we have translated for us in this particular version as special, different, different kind of vow.
Again, even though it was special or different or unique, it was completely voluntary. There was no command to become a Nazirite, no command to make this vow, no requirement, no call by the Lord, for everyone to become a Nazirite or to take the Nazirite vow. Completely voluntary. And we don’t read of any particular physical or tangible reward. If you take this vow, then there’s this behind door one. No. Nothing in the text that indicates that the one who took this vow and satisfied its requirements would receive anything tangible or physical in return.
Indeed, at the end of the completion of this period of time, that the one would separate himself to the Lord, there would be an extensive offering of sacrifices. Look at verse 13. In the time of his separation had been completed, he shall be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and he shall bring. And now there’s a list. One male lamb, a year old, for burnt offering. One ewe lamb, a year old. as a sin offering, one ran without blemish as a peace offering, a basket of unleavened bread, loaves of fine flour mixed with oil, unleavened wafers smeared with oil, grain offering and their drink offerings.
Quite a lot, but nothing physical in return. Many things to complete, even at the end, a celebration of sorts with all of these offerings. So what was the motivation? What would cause one to take the vow? It was certainly not for physical gain, and it came with significant cost. There had to be a strong, a really strong desire within the heart of one to be separated to the Lord and serve him. That’s fairly incredible.
You think of this, each one of the Israelites in the camp were born with Adam’s corrupt heart, corrupt nature. Each one was born as an enemy of God, hating righteousness, running from the goodness of God. That was the nature of their hearts in Adam. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Genesis chapter six. Constantly seeking to distance themselves from God and oppose him in all things. They’ve all turned aside. Together they’ve become corrupt. There’s none who does good, no, not even one. But yet if one was to take this vow, this Nazarite vow, he would actually, he or she, would actually be saying, I desire to draw ever closer to you, God. Yes, you’re in the camp, in the tent of meeting, but I can’t enter. I’m not able to serve. I want to get closer. What happened?
What happened for that corrupt nature, that running from God to one who now wants to be closer to God? Obviously, there’s a complete change of heart for one who took this vow. The one who takes that vow is going from being an enemy of God to wanting to be much much closer to God, so close that he or she would dedicate his or her life for a period of time, a specific period of time to God and to God alone, seeking to be extraordinarily pure, not perfectly pure, obviously, that was impossible, but they dedicated their time and their activity and their thoughts to the living God. And so the vow taker’s desire had Completely changed.
It’s a description of a heart that’s been regenerated. There’s really no other explanation. In Ezekiel chapter 11, we read this, and I will give them one heart, a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them.
That’s what happens. The Westminster Confession of Faith refers to this as effectual calling, where God, by his word and spirit, calls a sinner out of that state of sin and death into a state of grace, enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God, renewing their wills. That’s what happened. The will of the one taking the Nazarite vow had been renewed, and they come most freely, being made willing by His grace. That’s what happened. It was the work of the Spirit.
Sometimes we think the Spirit appears at Pentecost. That said, He’s really not around before then, and that’s just not right. Maybe we think the Spirit appeared and dwelt King Saul and King David. But again, the Spirit’s work was much broader than that.
And so this desire to be separated from family members, this desire to be separated from wickedness and evil and transgression, to be given over wholly and completely to purity and righteousness and holiness, and to serve not self, but to serve the living God through his mediator, the Messiah.
Clearly the work of the Spirit. Does that astound you? It should. So you see the powerful work of the Spirit here. The work of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit in the Israelite heart. Brothers and sisters, our desire, being born of Adam, is to desire the world. That’s the way we were born. That’s our nature in Adam. We see it in Eve in the garden as she looks at that forbidden fruit.
What’s her desire? It was not for God at that moment. It was to have that which he said she could not have. It was for the world. We long to remain attached to and part of this world. That’s our sin nature in Adam. Consider the Israelites as they were wandering through the wilderness. What did they constantly want to do? Not get to the promised land. We want to go back to Egypt. We want to go back to the leeks, the pots full of meat, the world. But to desire God requires a supernatural break from this world.
The question is, has it happened? Has it happened to you? If you’re here tonight, or you’re listening, or you’re listening to the recording, and you’re thinking, no, this hasn’t happened to me. So the solution is to cry out to Christ. He is on the throne tonight. He’s listening. In a sense, we can say He’s waiting for you to cry out to Him to save you. Save you from your desire for the world and to change that into a complete and utter desire to know his father and to know him. The one who has gone to the cross, who’s shed his blood. Cry out to Christ. Ask him. to separate you from the world, that you could be separated then to the living God.
Yes, the Nazarite was separated to desire God. That does bring us to our second point, the Nazarite was separated to serve God. As we read this passage, as we read the vow, as we read what the Nazarite was vowing to do, we can see that it was a demanding service for one to take this vow There had to be that desire to enter into this. It had to be the desire within the heart to be separated to the Lord and to serve him and serve him alone. These things were difficult. It was sacrificial.
He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, drink no vinegar made from wine, strong drink, not any juice of the grapes or eat grapes. All the days of his separation, the razor shall not touch his head until the time it is completed. He shall be holy. And then there’s this, separation from family. All the days that he separates himself to the Lord, he shall not go near a dead body, not even for his father, mother, brother, or sister.
Think of that. The Nazirite now is not able to go to the funeral, so to speak, for father, for mother, for brother, for sister. Even the priests were able to go to the funeral for the closest relatives, mother, father, son, daughter, brother, virgin sister. But the Nazirite was not.
There was this extreme separation that was required. These vows were clearly intended and designed to separate. At least eight times the word separate or separation appears in the first 12 verses here. That’s the theme of the Nazarite vow. A complete dedication to serve the Lord in which separation from family and the things of the world was necessary. This one who took the vow is to be holy or sacrificially set apart to serve God. And did you notice that this offer to take the vow is open to everyone?
And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the people of Israel. The people, the 12 tribes, everyone, 603,550 men plus women and children. Speak to everyone. Let them know that this is an opportunity for you to come and take a vow. In the prior chapters, we’ve read of the exclusivity of the service of the Levites. They were to serve the Lord in moving the Tent of Meeting, camping around the Tent of Meeting, protecting everybody else with regard to the Tent of Meeting. But this call, this call to take the Nazarite vow is universal. It went out to everyone. It didn’t matter which tribe you were born into.
It’s much like the universal call that goes out, the one we read about in Isaiah 55, come everyone. who thirst, come to the waters. He who has no money, come buy and eat, come buy wine and money without milk and without money, without price. Incline your ear, come to me that your soul may live. The universal call.
This opportunity to take the Nazarite vow was universal. Come and eat and drink of Jesus Christ. Come and trust upon him alone for your salvation. Be saved from the wrath of God due to you for your wretched sins. And so the Nazarite vow went out to everyone. Do you want to come closer to God? Come, take the vow. It’s open to you. It’s available. All you need to do is come and trust in the living God that he’ll provide for you as you sacrifice to him.
It’s the same thing with the universal call at Christ issues, isn’t it? Come, all you have to do is believe, trust exclusively and only in Jesus Christ, the one who went to the cross and died there for my sins. On the wretched wrath of God for me, who stood in my shoes, who exchanged my sins and gave me his righteousness. Yes, I believe and trust in Jesus Christ and his person and his work alone for my salvation.
See, that’s what the Nazarites were saying. I trust you. I desire you. I want to draw near to you, to the divine one whom I used to hate to serve you through your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. See the parallels in the Nazarite vow and the universal call? The Nazarite was trusting in the living God. The believer, the follower of Christ, is trusting in the Son of God.
As you’re called to draw near to Him, that He will draw near to you. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you. Isn’t that what was happening in the Nazarite vow? Humble yourself before the Lord, and He will exalt you. comes from James chapter four.
Well, we don’t have any figures of the numbers who actually took the vow, but given the sacrifice required, I’m wondering how many actually took it and separated themselves. I’m wondering how many merely said to themselves, this is too hard, too difficult. I like my wine. I like my family. I’m not going to do it. The vow may have been understood as being too hard and too difficult and too restraining such that many didn’t take it. I don’t know. But again, just like the universal call, a requirement to give up self, to trust solely in Jesus, to depend upon Jesus for the very breath of life. Think of Jesus’s separation, just for a moment, separated from his earthly family.
Remember what he said as he’s ministering to his disciples and his mother and brother stood outside. And somebody tells him, hey, your mother and brother are here. And he replies, who is my mother? Who are my brothers? And stretching out his hand towards his disciples, he said, here is my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. That was his mindset with regard to why he was sent and what his work was about. It wasn’t about his biological family, so to speak.
But even this, as his family considered Jesus, as a crowd gathers around him again, such that people couldn’t even eat, there were too many, and his family heard of it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying he’s out of his mind. That’s how they perceived Jesus. Imagine that.
He had to be separated from his family, so much so that his brothers didn’t even believe him. Said to him, leave here, go to Judea, and let that your disciples may also see the works you’re doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. For not even his brothers believed him. That was the life of Jesus with his family.
He was separated. He was separated to his heavenly father. We read time and time again as he separates himself and he goes off to pray quietly from others. He’s separating himself from others in Mark’s gospel. We read that he rises very early in the morning and he goes to a desa place, meaning a place without others. Simon Peter doesn’t know where he is because he’s secluded himself. He’s separated himself from the rest.
And he finally finds him and he said, everyone is looking for you. The Gospel of John records, I and the Father are one. See, that’s how separated Jesus was from the world. He considered himself not to be part of the world, not to long after the world, but to be separated so much that he and the Father were and are one.
And he was separated to sacrifice, wasn’t he? As Jesus, again, is preaching, he said to the one who wants to follow him, foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. He didn’t come for comfort. He didn’t come to be served. He came to serve, to give his life as a ransom for many, separated to sacrifice.
And that’s what Jesus is asking you to do. If you’re following Christ tonight, that’s exactly what he’s asking you to do. And that’s what we read in Luke’s gospel. If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. You see, that’s all he’s asking. And you say, wow, that’s too much. And I would respond and say, you don’t understand what he’s asking. He’s saying, if you’re going to follow me, you need to make me first. You need to make following me the most important thing in your life. You need to separate yourself from this world, even from your biological family.
Not that you don’t love them. Not that you don’t care for them. Not that you don’t serve them. but that you serve me first. And as you serve Christ first, as we read this morning, doesn’t that not mean that you’re actually increasing in your love for others? So Jesus Christ was not truly saying and calling his followers to hate and disregard his parents or his children.
Our wife is calling to actually love them more as he loves them as you first love Jesus Christ. That’s the idea. To be separated from them so that you can indeed love the Lord Jesus Christ first and foremost. And as you do, and you will love even more your father, your mother, your wife, husband, children, brothers and sisters, and even your own life as you first love Jesus Christ. That’s the Christian’s sacrificial separation. And that brings us to our third point. The Nazarite was separated to know God. Now, as I said earlier, this text really focuses on separation, doesn’t it?
We see that word repeated time and time again, even eight times. But there are two different occasions in this passage where Moses writes about the head, significantly writes about the head, or even more particularly, about the hair of the head. The Nazirite was not to use a razor. During that time of separation, they were to let their hair grow long.
In fact, that’s what we read in the scripture. No razor shall touch the head unless, verse nine, first, if any man dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his consecrated head, he shall shave his head. The growth will be cut off. as one defiles himself, as the Nazirite was sitting, and I’m not sure how this would happen, but you’re sitting next to someone, and the man or woman suddenly dies, and so the Nazirite would be in close proximity with death, and as a result, the scriptures tell us that he sinned by reason of the dead body. Now, he was supposed to remain pure, and because he’s close to this dead body, he has sinned. And as a result, the uncut hair, which was to be growing long during this period of separation, is now shaved off.
You think, well, why is this? Well, the hair is a covering, isn’t it? And as this one Nazirite was now in sin due to being close to a man or woman who had died, this sin needed to be uncovered. We would say confessed. And the shaving of the head seems to be a very physical and external way that one could see those around you would know that you’re a Nazirite and your hair is really long. But now, today, I’m seeing, ooh, it’s gone, cut off, shaved. And so a very physical and external way of uncovering sin. The hair which was growing long and covering sin, so to speak, is now removed. It’s shaved off. And the sin is uncovered. At least we have that perception, don’t we? That imagery, that physical picture. And there’s also a sense in which there’s a symbol of starting over.
The Nazarite, because he’s become defiled now, even the entire period of separation that he or she had gone through up to that point, has now become defiled. So let’s say that the separation was to be for a period of six months, The dead body was next to him in the third month. Those first three months, they’re gone. They’re as if they didn’t happen. They’re defiled. That prior period is now as if it’s eliminated as the hair is removed and the defilement is cut off.
But the Nazirite isn’t thrown out. Still in the Nazirite program, still in the Nazirite vow. And in a sense, he rebegins or restarts his or her period of service. It’s a picture of repentance, forgiveness by the Lord. The sin occurs, the Nazarite comes and shaves his or her head, giving us a picture of forgiveness. And then this, in a sense, a revowing or a restarting or a freshness of having been cleansed and re-entering into the Nazirite program. There’s a second mention of shaving the hair, and that’s at the completion of the time of separation. Look at verse 13. This is the law for the Nazirite. When the time of separation has been completed, he shall be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting. And then we jump to verse 18 after all the gifts have been brought. And the Nazarite shall shave his consecrated head at the entrance of the tent of meeting and shall take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire that is under the sacrifice of the peace offering.”
Now, what happens? Get burned up, right? The hair that had been growing during the period of separation, indicating that this person’s a Nazarite, now it’s shaved off at the end of their service. It’s a bit difficult to grasp. What is it about the hair that is so closely connected to this vow and coming closer and closer to the living God? Think about your hair, at least some of us. What is it that changes over time? that you can actually see. It’s our hair, for most of us. It grows. It’s that noticeable change, usually in terms of length. It’s the growth of our hair that’s noticeable to others, and possibly the hair represents the growth occurring within the heart of the Nazirite.
Separation to God should have and most likely did, cause a Nazarite to grow in grace. This period of separation, this time when he’s giving up certain physical things, and certainly connection with his family or her family, growing in love for God, growing in his knowledge of God, and certainly growing in his love for his savior. All of this vow keeping, all of this growth, All of this desire to become closer to the Lord, all of this sacrifice that the Nazarite had been doing during his time of separation, it was all grace, it was all a gift. And the growth of hair may have represented this growth in grace. In a sense, the best part, like the fat portion of an animal that’s being sacrificed, was for the Lord. And this hair, this growth of the hair, could have represented that growth and grace that had been occurring during the time of separation, the best part being given to the Lord, the one who gave it. And the Nazarite shall shave his consecrated head at the entrance of the tent of meeting and shall put it on the fire that’s under the sacrifice that the peace offer. That was Jesus’s desire for his disciples, wasn’t it?
And his desire for you this evening. That you grow in your love for your heavenly father. That you grow closer to him. That you know more and more of him. That you’re changed day by day to be more submissive to him. that your obedience is by grace becoming more consistent and more joyful. It seems to be all the aspects of the Nazarite separation.
And you see, Jesus ascended in order for this to happen. He is now sitting on the throne tonight and has sent his spirit because he so desires to see you grow in grace. His desire was so strong that He would separate Himself from you physically here in this place so that He could be connected to you more spiritually by and through His Spirit. That’s one reason why He ascended to the throne. That’s one reason why He has physically separated Himself from you so that you might become closer to Him through His Spirit. And so the Spirit would draw you ever closer to God the Father.
You see, we think this vow is strange. But it was designed to accomplish exactly what is needed for eternal life. In the high priestly prayer in John chapter 17, as Jesus is praying to his father, he says, father, the hour has come. Glorify your son that the son may glorify you. since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
These Nazarites desired to know more of God So much so that they separated themselves from the world and focused their lives on Him and upon their Savior. Their vow and the regulations of their vow were intended to accomplish just that. More of God and more of the Savior. What do you need tonight to separate yourself from the world? that you would grow even more in grace? What do you need to separate yourself from tonight to know more of God and more of Jesus Christ?
Those are hard questions. And those questions require us to dig so deeply within our hearts. Would the spirits help? Because I’m confident that each one of us must identify some things. Because our hearts are idle factories. And there are things we need to separate ourselves from here in this world so that we can, by the work of the Spirit, continue to grow in grace. Just like the hair of the Nazarite, indicating that growth in grace.
But as he or she was, he or she was also growing in their knowledge of the living God and of his son, the Lord Jesus, which is eternal life. I think the call tonight is for us to pray and for us to plead with the Spirit to continue his work within us that He would separate us from the world to Christ and to Christ alone. Yes, a sinner must be separated from the world to truly know God and to trust in His Son for eternal life. Isaiah desired to come to the Lord. so close to God.
And as he did, he recognized his sinfulness and was cleansed. And as he was cleansed, he so wanted to serve. See, that’s what happens as we draw closer to God and recognize our sinfulness and plead with that forgiveness. And as we’re forgiven, He just works that desire to serve sacrificially so that we might know Christ even more. Praise be to God. Amen.
Father in heaven, we thank you for this passage. As we began tonight, it seemed a difficult one for us to grasp, and we thank you, Lord God, that you’ve helped us. We pray, Father, that you’d continue to help us as we consider these Old Testament vows and accounts and how they truly apply to us this day. We thank you for Christ. We thank you for his separation.
And we pray, Lord God, as he calls us to separate ourselves, that we would be leaning and depending upon the work of the Spirit in order to do so. Help us, Lord, to identify those things which we run to in this world, which we long for. Help us to separate ourselves from them that we might be holy and completely devoted to you, our Lord, our God, and our Savior. We ask this in Jesus’s name. Amen.