Exodus 22 - God's Law Is Always Relevant

Okay.

All right.

Good. I'm out.

All right.

Well, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this evening and Lord, we want to remember in our prayers, the other churches that are meeting tonight, uh, churches that gather for a full service or for a Bible study or, uh, for a prayer meeting, whatever they're doing, Lord, we want to ask that you be with them, uh, bless all the faithful churches that are digging into your word.

And Lord, as we dig into your word, show us something that we've never seen before. We pray this in Jesus name, amen.

Exodus 22 steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it.

He shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep. If the thief is found breaking in and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed. If the sun has risen on him, there shall be guilt for his bloodshed.

He should make full restitution. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If the theft is certainly found alive in his hand, whether it is an ox or donkey or sheep, he shall restore double.

If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed and lets loose his animal and it feeds in another man's field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard.

If fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that stacked grain, standing grain, or the field is consumed, he who kindled the fire shall surely make restitution. If a man delivers to his neighbor money or articles to keep and it is stolen out of the man's house, if the thief is found, he shall pay double.

If the thief is not found, then the master of the house shall be brought to the judges to see whether he has put his hand into his neighbor's goods. For any kind of trespass, whether it concerns an ox, a donkey, a sheep, or clothing, or for any kind of lost thing which another claims to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges.

And whomever the judges condemn shall pay double to his neighbor. If a man delivers to his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep, and it dies, is hurt, or driven away, no one seeing it, then an oath of the Lord shall be between them both, that he has not put his hand into his neighbor's goods, and the owner of it shall accept that, and he shall not make it good.

But if, in fact, it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to the owner of it. If it is torn to pieces by a beast, then he shall bring it as evidence, and he shall not make good what was torn. And if a man borrows anything from his neighbor, and it becomes injured, or dies, the owner of it not being with it, he shall surely make it good.

If its owner was with it, he shall not make it good. If it was hired, it came for its hire. If a man entices a virgin who is not betrothed, and lies with her, he shall surely pay the bride price for her to be his wife.

If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money according to the bride price of virgins. You shall not permit a sorceress to live. Whoever lies with an animal shall surely be put to death.

He who sacrifices to any god except to the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed. You shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child.

If you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will become hot, and I will kill you with the sword. Your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.

If you lend money to any of my people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a moneylender to him. You shall not charge him interest. If you ever take your neighbor's garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, for that is his only covering.

It is his garment for his skin. What will he sleep in? And it will be that when he cries to me, I will hear, for I am gracious. You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people. You shall not delay to offer the first of your ripe produce and your juices.

The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me. Likewise you shall do with your oxen and your sheep. It shall be with its mother seven days. On the eighth day you shall give it to me. And you shall be holy men to me.

You shall not eat meat torn by beasts in the field. You shall throw it to the dogs.

Back in 2004, Joel Osteen released his best-selling book, Your Best Life Now. And it was wildly popular in the Christian world. And you say, I can see your face. What does this have to do with Exodus 22 and the law of God?

Well, it has nothing to do with the law of God. And that's kind of the point. Because much of modern Christianity, many churches more or less avoid, if not completely ignore, the law of God. But here's the thing.

It stands to reason, if we want God's best, then we should do things God's way.

Right?

I mean, if you really want your best life now, or us as a people, as a nation, if we want the best, then we need to know what God has said. And we need to do things God's way. Remember the Ten Commandments were given to what?

A nation.

Right?

So as a nation, as a people, our laws, I know this is so basic, but our laws should line up with God's law. And yet, I don't think that's the way a lot of people think. A lot of Christians I don't even think that way.

So how can we experience God's best as a people, as a nation, certainly as individuals? I don't think we spend enough time looking at God's law, quite frankly. So Christians, typically, we tend to chase the modern trends, or whatever the new bright and shiny thing is at the moment.

That's what people focus on. The popular thing right now is a program called The Chosen. How many of you have heard of this? This is the popular thing right now. And it's got problems. We're not going to get into that.

But we just need to get back to basics and look at the Old Testament, look at God's law. Now, here's the thing about God's law. This has nothing to do with salvation. I just want to remind you of that.

Why?

Because salvation is not through the law. Salvation does not come through the law. But the law gives us God's holy and righteous character. We learn something about God, who he is, and his holiness. These are his commandments.

These are standards and principles that God has given for men to live by. So when we compare, when we were going through this, you were listening, if you take that and compare it to 21st century America, it's hard not to notice the massive discrepancy.

Right?

The two are not lining up very well at all. So let's delve into this chapter, because God's word is always relevant. Even Exodus 22 is relevant to your life. You say, well, I don't know if it is. I heard some of this stuff.

I don't know if it's relevant. Let's look at Exodus 22, verse 1. If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep. You see, there it is right there.

I don't even own an ox. I don't know anyone who does own an ox. I don't have any sheep. What does this have to do with me? Well, it's talking about theft and restitution. These are relevant subjects. There's a lot of things this chapter talks about.

It addresses breaking and entering. Don't you want to know what you're allowed to do and what God permits as far as how to react to breaking and entering? I think that matters. So there's one approach.

If someone breaks in at night, you're allowed certain things, as opposed to if someone breaks in during the day. Also, this chapter addresses sorcery. Sorcery, you think of witchcraft, spiritual mediums.

This stuff is everywhere. And then how to treat foreigners. That's a relevant topic. How to treat widows and orphans. So this is important doctrine. So while we could ignore all of this and I could spend the next half hour or so telling you how much God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life, I could do that.

And I'm not denying that he does, but if we want to experience God's wonderful plan for our life and if we want to be blessed, we need to know who God is, what he has said, and these principles that we are to live by.

Amen?

Any questions or comments so far?

Marcus?

Well, I did notice the difference between an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth in here. That restitution is not one ox for one ox or one sheep for one sheep.

Right.

Larger, which I kind of noticed as we were... And that might be... That is what some folks explain the eye for an eye thing for.

That it's...

You're not supposed to put out both somebody else's eyes if they put out yours. Or that the punishment shouldn't exceed the crime.

Right.

But now we're seeing that things should be paid back fivefold or fourfold.

Fivefold, fourfold, depending on the details. See, if somebody steals something from you and you lost it, and then it gets caught and he just gives it back, well, you've been made whole. Well, you still have that offense that he stole it.

So, you want to get something...

That's something to look for in court these days.

Right.

So, here's the first point. The law of God does not line up with our laws today. God's law is far superior to our laws. Because we see here that thieves actually need to make restitution.

Wow.

Imagine that. In our system, what happens? Someone steals something and they either get locked in a cage where they can't work and they can't pay it back. Lot of good that does. Or they have to pay a fine to who?

To the government. To the state. To the system. I don't know how that does any good to the person who had their goods stolen. What good does that do? Not much. So, you better hope you have insurance, which you have to pay for.

There's usually a deductible.

Bullets are cheaper.

So, God's...

What did you say?

Bullets are cheaper.

Yeah.

That is correct. The views expressed in this room do not necessarily reflect... But God's system of justice is very simple and very basic. You steal, you need to restore, and then some. Sometimes fourfold or fivefold.

If that were the case, it's like, yeah, go ahead and take it. Because I'm going to get way more back. It's a better system. Based on verse 4, if they still have that stolen item, not only do they give it back, they give back double.

So, this is not only logical, it's actually helpful to the person who suffered loss. This is a deterrent, unlike paying a small fine to the state. That's not really much of a deterrent. Just imagine if Moses implemented a system like we have.

Someone steals something, and they're brought before Moses and his associates, and Moses said, Okay, you need to pay to us. That would be corruption, wouldn't it? So, yes, Dennis.

Sadly, my experience in Toledo was that it was a badge of honor to go to prison amongst the Hispanic community that we were ministering to. So, they all were, like, praised.

It's twisted.

Then why do they call it Holy Toledo? We're not going there.

And, of course, you send someone away to prison, and now they're surrounded by other people that are a bad influence. If they actually have to face the person they stole from, if the police were to bring them to the person, that might have an impact.

They might be less likely to offend. Our system, it works to a degree. God's ways are better. Look at Exodus 22, verse 2. If the thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed.

If the sun has risen on him, then there shall be guilt for his bloodshed. So, basically, if somebody breaks in in the middle of the night, and you defend yourself and your family, and you eliminate the intruder, you have the right to do that.

Because if someone's breaking in in the middle of the night, they probably don't have good intentions. If it's daylight, and you can kind of assess the situation, you know, you can't just do harm to the person.

You can't kill them. Otherwise, you'd be guilty of murder. So, this is a system that makes sense. We still sort of base things on these principles to a degree.

Jim?

I don't know if anybody saw this in the news, but a prisoner, I think it was in New Jersey, was released. He was on parole. And he had zipped because he murdered someone. And within two days from his release, he murdered someone.

Right.

And they actually located him, and he's back in jail. So, our laws have a lot of, they don't always work. And everything is getting so easy today that prisoners aren't held accountable.

Now, some people, they hear this. Do you have something, Dennis?

Is it called the castle?

Castle law.

Castle law, which is what we're reading about here, where if someone breaks in, you have the right to defend yourself. I think there's, not all the states have that castle law. I know Massachusetts has a runaway law.

You're supposed to run out of your house.

Yeah, right. And whatever, which is... Even if you're threatened with someone that has a weapon that could...

You're supposed to do all you can to just run.

Right.

I'm going to end up in jail.

Right. Yeah.

There's just no way you can do it.

But it's terrible.

I think there's like 22, 23, 24 states that have the castle law.

Makes you want to move there.

But if our laws were in alignment with God's law, that man should have been executed.

Who?

The one who committed murder.

Yeah.

Right.

And he probably won't this time.

Yeah.

And we do let murderers go free, which makes absolutely no sense at all. Now, some people, you know, I can imagine some people would hear this and wait, you know, wait a minute. Because people have the idea in their mind that somehow the Bible teaches pacifism or something close to it, which is not the case.

Or would anyone get that idea? Well, I think we talked about this last week where Jesus said, if somebody strikes you on the cheek, you know, turn to him the other cheek also. So turning the cheek is what?

That's an offense. If somebody strikes you, you turn the other cheek. It has nothing to do with self-defense.

All right.

So we turn the other cheek means, you know, don't retaliate. Don't take vengeance. But if somebody is trying to physically harm you or breaking in in the middle of the night, reasonably, you know, it looks like they're trying to harm you or your family.

There's that reasonable threat. You have the right to self-defense. That's based on what we just read here in the Bible. So, again, if somebody does it in the day, then you can kind of see, see if they're armed or you have a better assessment of the situation.

So, Marcus, we do still have laws defined as justifiable homicide.

Right.

And you could say based on these things, the Bible places a great importance on the rights of personal property. So if someone steals or if even if their animal destroys someone's crops, we read about that.

Whatever happens in any of these situations, God says the person must make restitution. That's what justice looks like. And look at verse 14, because if you haven't had anything stolen, certainly this has happened to you.

Someone has borrowed something from you and they've never given it back or they've given it back severely damaged. That's always annoying. Exodus 22, 14. And if a man borrows anything from his neighbor and it becomes injured or dies, the owner of it, the owner not being with it, he shall surely make good.

Now, obviously, a lot of this is concerning livestock, which doesn't really apply usually. But we can take these basic principles and we can tell what what should happen. So let's apply these things to our modern day.

I was given the advice one time, don't ever lend to someone. Don't let anyone borrow something unless you're prepared not to get it back. Well, it shouldn't be that way. Really, the person might have bad motives.

They may not have bad motives. Maybe something happens. It's an accident. Whatever the case, the godly thing to do is to restore. The godly thing to do is to make whatever situation it is to make things right.

So if you're thinking of something in your home right now or like, oh, yeah, that thing out in the tool shed. I borrowed that from my neighbor. Hopefully not a church member. Give it back. You know, make that thing right.

Even if it was 20 years ago, give it back. They'll appreciate it.

Yes.

I used to think that neither a lender nor a borrower being was scripture, but it's Shakespeare.

I think that's not in the Bible. But so because if we don't do that, if we don't return things, if we don't restore, if we don't make things right, that can just ruin a person's testimony. And then you don't really take that person seriously with much of anything.

I mean, I can think of a person or two that, you know, I just I would never if I did give them something. Yeah, I would never expect to see it back. There's certain people. They don't keep their word.

They never return things. That's just who they are and whatever. You kind of live with it. But do you want people to think of you that way?

No.

So we need to make sure because we bear the name of Christ. Oh, that's how these Christians are. They just borrow something and never give it back. God forbid, steal.

All right.

Verse. Yes, Jim.

I just want to add this. If you lend somebody someone, especially money, and it may be your best friend. But when you lend them the money, you never see it again.

Yeah.

Well, that happens, too. It happens a lot.

I don't have to be.

Verse 16. Now we're kind of getting into a different topic. It says, if a man entices a virgin who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall surely pay the bride price for her to be his wife. But if her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money according to the bride price of virgins.

And you say, well, this is totally impractical today. Well, talking about making things right. If a young man and a young woman come together, they should do the right thing and get married. I mean, that's what the word of God says.

So if they're together, they've already committed the act. The scripture said because that's fornication. The scripture says that they should come together. Adultery, we already saw in Israel, was punishable by the death penalty.

But fornication, that's treated differently. That can be made right. And you are to make that right. And the fathers will like this. Fathers will appreciate this one. If the father says, no, honey, you are not marrying that guy.

He can say that and she shouldn't marry him.

Amen. Amen.

Obviously, we don't believe in arranged marriages or anything like that. But if your father doesn't want you to marry somebody, maybe he has some insight into this whole thing. So and then the man, if the father refused, the man would have to pay a penalty, pay the bride price without getting the bride.

So again, this is totally foreign to people today. People would laugh at trying to implement something like this in society. But look at what we have in society. Is he going to tell me that that's better?

No, I'm not going to accept that. So it's all about righting the wrongs. People make mistakes. People do sinful things. People break the law. They commit crimes. This is all about making things right.

All right.

Verse 18. Here's another one. You shall not permit a sorceress to live. So today, compare this to today, a spiritual medium, a sorceress. She'd get her own TV show today in our culture. So in Israel, not permitted to live today.

Let's put her on TV or Oprah Winfrey will promote her. I remember when I was young, Disney cartoons had Mickey Mouse in like a wizard suit. Mickey Mouse was doing magic. And today, of course, Harry Potter is kind of the big popular thing.

And listen, I know a lot of people say, well, it's just make believe and it's cartoons and nobody really takes it seriously. I understand that argument. Here's what people need to understand, especially children.

This is especially what young people need to understand. Witchcraft is real. Okay, there's all the fantasy stuff. Maybe it's harmless. Maybe it isn't witchcraft, though. It is a real thing. The Disney version.

Okay, that's not real. But witchcraft is real. Most psychics and mediums probably are con artists. That's true. They're just trying to get your money. They're scamming you for your money. People know that they're willing to.

They think it's fun or something. Other people are seeking not God's will. They're not seeking wisdom from the Bible. We're going to go see a fortune teller and pay her to do it. I mean, that's an ungodly thing.

Some people don't know any better because it's just normal in our society. Brenna?

Test with zodiac signs. They really live by it. I don't understand the obsession with it, but it's all a lot of my friends talk about.

If you were just brought up in this world, this culture we live in, yeah, it is normal. It's everywhere. People don't. What's the big deal? Totally incompatible with Christianity. Totally incompatible with the Bible.

Do you remember the story of King Saul? King Saul decided he would consult a medium, and he went to see the witch at Endor. And people will debate exactly what happened there, but we do know that whatever happened, a spirit was conjured up or whatever you want to call it.

So what happened? The spirit came up the next day. Saul was what?

Dead.

I know several people that got mixed up with things. Usually it starts with Ouija boards or seances. And in almost every case of the people who've shared this with me, in almost every case, these people have to be heavily medicated just to stay somewhat sane and live a somewhat normal life.

Because if they don't, then they start seeing things, hearing things. And I'm not saying there's a connection always with mental illness and witchcraft. I'm not saying that. But I've heard this same story again and again.

You don't want to take any chances with this stuff. So I'm not claiming to be an expert, but witches and sorcerers, according to the word of God, they were to be, according to the Lord, put to death. It tells you how serious God takes it.

Because let's say, best case scenario, you go and these people are just con artists and it's not real. Well, then you're out 50 bucks. Worst case scenario, they are in contact with spirits and they're demons.

Marcus.

You said that you weren't an expert. I disagree. I think maybe you can claim to be an expert in spiritual matters.

Okay. All right. I'll consider that.

How many people have been to Salem and have gone to that store right there? I can't remember the name of that hotel that they used to keep us at when I worked in the railroad. But it's actually owned and operated by witches.

And they have been successful in creating a festival at Halloween. And Salem becomes a debacle, really.

Yeah.

So it's real.

Yeah. So church members should not be going to things like that. All right. Amen. We get an amen on that.

First, I had to walk by. I had to go to places.

Jim was in the vicinity, but he wasn't. He wasn't there for that purpose.

Okay.

Verse 19. Whoever lies with an animal shall surely be put to death. So this is called bestiality. It got the death penalty in Israel. Thankfully, this is one of the sexual deviancies that is still illegal in the United States of America.

I don't know what kind of penalty there is, but thankfully, this one is still illegal in our country. Verse 20. He who sacrifices to any God except the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed. Now, this obviously does not line up with, I don't think, hardly any culture.

Well, you don't really want this implemented. I mean, we're not the Taliban.

Right.

We don't want to be like Saudi Arabia. Here's the thing. Who is this given to? What nation were these laws given to?

Israel.

Israel was a theocracy.

Okay.

The church and the state were one. It wasn't the church. So Israel is a theocracy. This isn't the case now. This is not the age we live in. However, in the millennial kingdom, when Jesus rules with a rod of iron, do you think all this stuff is going to be allowed?

No.

So if you believe in a millennial kingdom upon the earth, to some degree, it's coming back. I don't know that this stuff, I don't think, is going to be a problem in the millennium. But if anyone thought about it, it certainly wouldn't be permitted.

So verse 21. Any comments or questions? I think of Elijah and the prophets of Baal. Why did Elijah kill the prophets of Baal? Well, because of this. I mean, he technically was following God's law. That does not give people the right to do that today.

I should give that disclaimer. I think we know that. But yeah, vigilante justice is not an excuse. Verse 21. You shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

This would probably bring to mind what topics that we face today.

Okay. Yeah.

Asylum, immigration. There's illegal immigration, which I'm not even going to get into that. But obviously, we have all known people who have immigrated here from another country. So maybe someone nearby, your neighbor, someone you went to school with.

They were from Russia, Germany, Japan, whatever, Korea. When someone comes here, you're supposed to treat them well. The United States, this country, any country, should treat foreigners well. And we want to do this because really, we're foreigners.

Not just that we feel like it in 2021, that we kind of feel like strangers in a foreign land, which some of us do. What does the Bible say? Our citizenship is where? In heaven. So in a sense, we really are strangers and pilgrims in a foreign land.

So think of it like the golden rule. You want to treat people the way you would want to be treated. So if somebody is from a foreign land, they've immigrated here, we should go out of our way to make them feel welcome.

Also, verse 22, you shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. So he's talking about people that maybe wouldn't have those protections that everybody else has. People that their situation in life is a little more difficult.

Verse 23, if you afflict them, widows or orphans, if you afflict them in any way and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry. This is God speaking. What does he say? And my wrath will become hot and I will kill you with the sword.

Your wives shall be widows and your children fatherless. So how does God feel about oppressing widows and orphans? Not impressed at all. Like, really not impressed.

Jim.

The book of Ruth addresses that very issue. They were in Israel. They had a famine. They went to another country. The men in their lives died. They came back to Israel. And they were property stricken.

They had no means of support. So they gave up some ideas of how to keep themselves in food. But that's an example, I think, that we can apply to this about widows and fathers.

Yeah, and the Israelites were in Egypt. So they should remember, hey, we were once in a foreign land and we were once mistreated. We don't want to do that. Do that to others. Widows and orphans. You've probably noticed this.

This is common within evangelicalism. A lot of Christians. And we probably all talk like this, where the word religion is almost used in a negative way. Almost, for some people, used as like a dirty word.

It's not about religion. It's about relationship. How many of you have ever heard that? Or said it? Well, that's true. Christianity, we call it the Christian faith. We prefer that over the Christian religion.

And it is important to have a relationship with God. That's all true. But what does the scripture say about religion? James 1, 27, pure and undefiled religion before God and the father is this to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

So here's the thing. God wants you to be a religious person. At least in this regard.

Right.

To be willing to help administer to widows and orphans and to live a set apart life. I think that's something that people sometimes they want to get around that part. But that's what the scripture says.

That's true religion.

Small difference that I see here. And I'm glad for it because it said it said widows and fatherless, which, of course, was the case of my mother, who was named Ruth.

So, yeah, orphans have no parents.

Right.

And orphanages and so forth. And certainly, that's it.

Yeah, that's a good point. There are those who are orphans with no parents at all. And then the fatherless.

And, of course, fatherless. That's kind of a plague on the United States here lately, too.

Right.

Exactly. Thank you for making that point. Then verse 25, there's a prohibition against what is called usury.

Okay.

So does that happen in the United States?

Usury?

Well, that's just part of life, isn't it? Nothing wrong with that. Verse 25. Yes, there is. Actually, if you lend money to any of my people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a money lender to him.

You shall not charge him interest. So usury is defined as the practice of making unethical loans. And the whole purpose is that the person with the money that's giving the loans, their system makes them richer and richer and richer.

The person or the people they're lending to, this system makes them poorer and poorer and poorer. That's kind of like our system now. The rich are getting richer. The poor are getting poorer. This is one of the reasons for that.

So the money lenders, if you're going to lend money, shouldn't charge any interest. Well, what would people do? They just stop lending money. So this is obviously night and day. And I wouldn't go too far with this.

But obviously, if we can avoid getting in debt, we should.

We should.

All right.

Verse 28. You shall not revile God nor curse a ruler of your people. So we need to be careful about how we talk about rulers. This is a time period in our history where you don't need to be told all the vile things that say that are said about.