The Believers Life Style Bible Study
Presents
Unlawful Sexual Relations
May 6, 2020
Scripture: Leviticus 18:1-30
Presented by Michael Webb

Open It

1. What makes people nervous about going on a blind date?
2. *What parts of American society exploit sex?

Explore It

1. Who did God say He was to the Israelites? (18:1-2)
2. Whose practices did God tell the Israelites not to follow? (18:3-4)
3. What happens to the man who obeys the laws of the Lord? (18:5)
4. Who was allowed to have sexual relations with close relatives? (18:6)
5. *What did God say about having sexual relations with one’s mother? (18:7-8)
6. What was God’s command to the Israelites regarding sex with one’s sister? (18:9)
7. Why were the Israelites not allowed to have sexual relations with grandchildren? (18:10)
8. Who is the daughter of “your father’s wife”? (18:11)
9. *What were the Israelites told about sexual relations with close relatives? (18:12-14)
10. Why were the Israelites not to have sex with daughters-in-law? (18:15)
11. Who is dishonored if an Israelite had sexual relations with his brother’s wife? (18:16)
12. What were some of the regulations regarding sexual relations? (18:17-20)
13. Whose name was profaned when children were sacrificed to Molech? (18:21)
14. What was considered detestable to the Lord? (18:22)
15. *With what were men and women told not to have sexual relations? (18:23)
16. Why did the Lord tell the Israelites not to defile themselves? (18:24-30)

Get It

1. How does God want to protect family members?
2. *What are some of the benefits of honoring God by making good sexual decisions?
3. How is sex such a powerful force in our society today?
4. In what way do God’s laws about sexuality and sexual relations promote a positive view of sexuality?
5. *What types of abuse go on in families who don’t honor God’s laws on sexuality?
6. What makes it important to talk to our children about their sexuality?
7. If people honored God with their bodies, what would they gain?
8. How does God want us to be different from the rest of our world?
9. What does God promise to those who confess their sins to Him?

Apply It

1. *How can you honor God today in the area of your sexuality?
2. Who is someone you can talk to this week to help you be accountable to make God-honoring sexual decisions?

Laws of Sexual Morality

18 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘I am the Lord your God. ³ According to ^[a]the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, you shall not do; and according to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, you shall not do; nor shall you walk in their ^[b]ordinances. ⁴ You shall observe My judgments and keep My ordinances, to walk in them: I am the Lord your God. ⁵ You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.

⁶ ‘None of you shall approach anyone who is near of kin to him, to uncover his nakedness: I am the Lord. ⁷ The nakedness of your father or the nakedness of your mother you shall not uncover. She is your mother; you shall not uncover her nakedness. ⁸ The nakedness of your father’s wife you shall not uncover; it is your father’s nakedness. ⁹ The nakedness of your sister, the daughter of your father, or the daughter of your mother, whether born at home or elsewhere, their nakedness you shall not uncover. ¹⁰ The nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, their nakedness you shall not uncover; for theirs is your own nakedness. ¹¹ The nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, begotten by your father—she is your sister—you shall not uncover her nakedness. ¹² You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is near of kin to your father. ¹³ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is near of kin to your mother. ¹⁴ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother. You shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt. ¹⁵ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law—she is your son’s wife—you shall not uncover her nakedness. ¹⁶ You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness. ¹⁷ You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, nor shall you take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her nakedness. They are near of kin to her. It is wickedness. ¹⁸ Nor shall you take a woman as a rival to her sister, to uncover her nakedness while the other is alive.

¹⁹ ‘Also you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness as long as she is in her customary impurity. ²⁰ Moreover you shall not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife, to defile yourself with her. ²¹ And you shall not let any of your descendants pass through the fire to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. ²² You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. ²³ Nor shall you mate with any animal, to defile yourself with it. Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is perversion.

²⁴ ‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. ²⁵ For the land is defiled; therefore I visit^[c] the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. ²⁶ You shall therefore ^[d]keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you ²⁷ (for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled), ²⁸ lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you. ²⁹ For whoever commits any of these abominations, the persons who commit them shall be ^[e]cut off from among their people.

³⁰ ‘Therefore you shall keep My ^[f]ordinance, so that you do not commit any of these abominable customs which were committed before you, and that you do not defile yourselves by them: I am the Lord your God.’ ”