Exodus 22 - God's Law Is Always Relevant

Okay All right, well, let's pray Heavenly Father we thank you for this evening

Hey Lord, we want to remember in our prayers the other churches that are meeting tonight churches that gather for a full service or for a

Bible study or For a prayer meeting whatever they're doing Lord. We want to ask that you be with them

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 102

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 death 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 village

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 neighbors 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 condemned 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 seed 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 beast then he shall bring it as evidence and he shall not make good

What was told? 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 right 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 has nothing to do with the law of God and that's 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 if 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 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 we tend to chase the modern trends or whatever the the new bright and shiny thing is at the moment

That's what people focus on the 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, okay, we're not gonna 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

All right. 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 you 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 is always relevant even

Exodus 22 is relevant to your life 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? 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 and what God permits as far as how to react?

To breaking and entering I think that 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 I'm not denying that he 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 these principles that we are to live by Amen any questions or comments so far

Marcus Well, I did notice the difference between a knife or an eye and a tooth for tooth and 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 You know put out some with both somebody else's eyes if they put out yours or that you're that the punishment shouldn't exceed

The crime right, but now now we're seeing that things should be paid back fivefold or four fivefold fourfold

Depending on on the details see if somebody steals something from you And you lost it, and then it gets caught it.

Just gives it back Well, you've been made whole well. You still have that offense that he stole it

So I want to get something 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 Or they can't work, and they can't pay it back a lot of good that does or They have to pay a fine to who?

To the government to the state to the to the system I don't know how that does any good to the person who had their goods stolen

What 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 so So God what'd you say?

Yeah That is correct The views expressed in this room did not necessarily reflect

But 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 gonna 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 to the state that's not really much of a

Deterrent just I mean 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 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 for you know

It's twisted then why do they call it? Holy Toledo? Yeah And of course you send someone away to prison and that 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 they said

I might have an impact They might be less likely to offend our system You know, 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 and 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 of murder So this is a this is a system that makes sense.

We still sort of base things on on these principles to a degree

Jim He was on parole and he had zipped because he murdered someone

And within two days from his release he was murdered. So, oh, right They actually locate him and he's back in jail, so our lives have a lot of They don't always work

Yeah Getting so easy today Right now some people they hear this do you have something

Dennis the is it called the castle Castle law Which is what we're reading about here where if someone breaks in you have the right to defend yourself

Yeah, 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 Even if you're threatened with someone that has a weapon, you're supposed to do all you can to just run, right?

I'm going to end up in jail But it's terrible

I think there's like 22, 23, 24 states that have the castle law makes you want to move there

Yeah The One who committed murder

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

Where 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

That's nothing to do with self -defense All right, so we Turn the other cheek means, you know, don't retaliate don't 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 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 homicides 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 you're like, oh, yeah that thing out in the toolshed

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 If you lend some money for someone especially money

And it may be a best friend But when you lend them the money you never see him again

Yeah, well that happens to 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 father's will like this father's 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.

Hey, 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 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 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 gonna 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 and Mickey Mouse was doing Magic and today, of course,

Harry Potter is kind of the 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 gonna go see a fortune -teller and pay her to do it I mean, that's an ungodly

Thing but some people don't they don't know any better because it's just normal in our society

Brenna Yeah, right

Right and if you were just brought up in this world this culture we live in yeah, that's it is normal, right?

It's everywhere people don't what's the big 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 I disagree I think maybe you can claim to be an expert in spiritual matters

Okay. All right. I'll consider that But it's 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 church members should not be going to things like that.

All right. Hey man, we get an amen on that Jim was in the vicinity, but he was

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

I had someone could well, you don't really want this implemented. I mean, we're not the Taliban, right?

You know, 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, you know the the church and the state were one it wasn't the church but 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 that's this stuff I don't think it's gonna be a problem in the Millennium, but if anyone thought about it, it certainly wouldn't be permitted

So verse 21 any 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

It's 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 what topics that we face today

Okay 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

We are 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 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 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 They were in Israel and they were famine they went to another country the men in their lives died they came back to Israel and They were probably stricken they had no means of support

But they gave us my ears and be able to kind of keep themselves in food and But that's an example.

I think that we can apply to Okay Yeah, 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

Probably all talk like this where the word religion is almost used

Well in a negative way or almost for some people used as like a dirty word, you know, 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 and minister 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 that's what the scripture says

That's true religion Marcus small 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

Yeah, that's a good point there are those who are orphans with no parents at all and then the fatherless which is and of course fatherless is that's kind of a

Plague on the United States here lately, too, right? Exactly.

Thank you for making that 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?

What's 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 moneylender 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 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 gonna 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 you know

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 well

You know, you hear it We have to be careful though Now it doesn't mean that you can't preach against their sin

Okay, John the Baptist Was not breaking the law of God when he preached against Herod Jesus called

Herod a fox which some Commentators have had a hard time reconciling this with Jesus calling a

Herod a fox But obviously we should just be careful We hear the abusive language on television and on college campuses and people out on the street saying the most vile things we shouldn't

Stoop to that level It doesn't mean we just have to stay silent though and affirm everything but we need to be careful of what we say so In conclusion,

I think these are relevant topics Right might start out Chapter 22 listening and well,

I don't have any ox or sheep. This doesn't seem to apply to me It really does. These are important issues.

We can learn from what the Word of God says here So, let me just close with this

The importance of studying the Old Testament the importance of looking at God's law

Do you remember what Paul said to Timothy in 2nd Timothy 3 15? He said from childhood you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus What scriptures was

Paul? referring to The Old Testament, he's referring to the

Old Testament. So in conclusion we need to be studying these things reading and teaching these things from the