The Wages of a Laborer

All right, grab a Bible, something to write with. If you don't have a

Bible, they are available in the back corner over there. And then open up to Leviticus 19.

It's still up in the air as to whether or not we'll actually do anything in Leviticus, but we'll see what happens. Let's pray and we'll get started.

Blessed Lord, you've caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, inwardly digest your word that by patience and comfort of your holy scriptures that we may embrace and ever hold fast to the blessed hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ our

Lord, amen. Before we get into the lesson today, were there any questions that came up as a result of the sermon and the exegesis of the text that we were in today for the sermon?

We looked at James 5, we looked at 1 Timothy 6, we also looked at the story of what's -his -face and Lazarus.

So, no questions?

I always love it when texts like that come up in the lectionary because you sit there and go, man, this is the kind of stuff that,

I mean, you could really offend a lot of people. What, you believe in the doctrine of hell?

Well, yeah, Jesus did. Wow, okay, you mean that wealth is not the definitive sign that you're being blessed of God?

Nope, not at all. Money can't save you from sin. Yeah, money can't save you from, yes?

A list of the references that you used in your sermon text other than the gospel?

Okay, so, sure, James chapter five, James five, the opening verses of James five, and then 1

Timothy 6, starting in verse three. Those were the cross references as well.

Yeah. All right, hearing no other questions than those, we're gonna get back into the book of Leviticus, and I do find it fortuitous that some of the things that we're gonna read today in the book of Leviticus, again, note that these are the laws of the

Mosaic covenant, and a good way to think of some of the commandments that we're gonna hear today is that they are subsets of the 10 commandments.

So, the 10 commandments would be your high point, and then subsets of it would kind of drill down along the ways, and sadly, we human beings, because of the complete blindness of sin, we need to be instructed down to the nano detail.

I hate the fact that Bill Cosby has been so disgraced, but man, he told some funny stories back in the day.

He would tell a story in parenting that he would literally have to tell his son, son, when you take a shower,

I need to actually, you need to get into the water, you need to use soap, you need to shampoo your hair, and then you need to rinse that all off, and then when you get out, you're going to need to dry yourself off before you put your clothes on.

And it was just hilarious because those of us who have kids know exactly that this is what you have to do because kids have this bizarre ability to do what they want to do, and I remember a few times as a kid, my mom would say, it's time for you to take a shower, and she didn't give any details, and I would show up 30 seconds later, and she'd say, did you even get wet?

So, I may or may not have been guilty of such a thing, but all of that being said, Leviticus 19 .11, you shall not steal.

So, that is going to be your major commandment from the Ten Commandments. You shall not steal, you shall not deal falsely, you shall not lie to one another.

So, you know, Eighth Commandment and Sixth Commandment are going to be in play here. You shall not swear by my name falsely.

This is the Second Commandment. So profane the name of your God, I am Yahweh. You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him.

The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning.

Now, a little bit of a note here. You have to say this. Now, back in the day, so when

I graduated from Concordia University, I was still very new to Lutheranism and thought it would not be a wise idea to go to seminary at that time, because I was still trying to figure out what

Lutheranism is, and so I made the logical choice, and I became a graphic artist and had my own business doing web development and graphic design, and part of what

I had to do in order to make my business successful is I would have to go to networking events where different business people were getting together because my client base were different companies.

I mean, companies are the ones who are buying websites. Companies were the ones who needed logos designed. Companies were the ones who needed brochures put out and marketing pieces, so you would go and you'd go to these networking events, and over and again, when somebody would find out that I'm a

Christian, all right, that there would always be, and I hate to say this, it was a group of business owners who were

Christian business owners who I lamented whenever they wanted me to do work for them, because I learned the hard way that if there's the fish symbol, the ichthys on somebody's check, that it's more likely to bounce, and very sad but true.

Yeah, it's more likely to bounce, and worse than that is that we always had contracts that we would sign ahead of time, and so we would do the payment terms, so there was an initial deposit, there was a payment due upon proof, and then final payment was due within a certain amount of days after the final everything was delivered, and over and again, the guys with the cross and the ichthys on their checks, they agreed to pay me within 10 days, and we'd get to 30, 45, 60, and no check.

I found that the people who were most visible and vocal about being

Christians were the worst at paying their bills, and my family suffered deeply as a result of this, and so you know that there's a commandment against this, and the commandment is you shall not, the wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning.

Here's what we heard in James 5 today. We pull this up.

Come now you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you, and notice it says verse four, behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields which you kept back by fraud are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the

Lord of hosts. You've lived on earth in luxury and in self -indulgence.

You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you, and you'll note in other cross references to our text in Leviticus regarding those who withhold the wages that are due to people that in other passages

God says that their cries will come before him. Now on the flip side of this though, knowing the commandment thou shalt not murder, the positive side of thou shalt not murder is that everybody is your neighbor,

Christians and those who are in need doubly so. That being the case, we are to look out for each other and meet each other's needs.

That's the positive aspect of it, and so the idea then is that God says to us as Christians that when you give to the poor and you lend to them, that God himself will pay you back.

So somebody's in need financially and in distress, you, that person's poor, you give to them.

Do not worry, you will receive your money back. God himself will pay you back.

Maybe not in this lifetime, but note that, that God cares for the poor, and we see this as a recurring theme in the

Mosaic Covenant as all of the different ways in which God has set everything up so that those who are powerful, those who are rich, cannot oppress those who are poor, and that God himself will stand in the gap between those who are oppressing the poor and the needy and those who are misusing the gifts that God has given them in order to squash, exploit, and manipulate people who are less fortunate than they are.

That's a recurring theme in the scriptures. You can see the heart of God even in his commandments, that he cares for all of his creation, and yet we as human beings, we're quite selective and partial about who we care about.

God is not, he's not at all. You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your

God. I am Yahweh. Man, I can remember when the government was beginning to enact the laws that made it so that buildings had to have ramps and ways for people who are not mobile to have access to public buildings, and I remember at the time that when the government was passing those laws, there was a lot of talk about that, and that somehow the government was imposing, you know, overreaching in passing these laws, and there were people complaining.

You know, we don't have the money to be compliant with this. Well, look it here.

You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, all right? You're gonna sit here and go,

God cares about you not setting things up so that they can't participate in society.

God cares for even the handicapped. I guess that's an antiquated term, the handy able.

Anyway, you get the idea here. The what? The differently able. The differently able.

Yeah, see, I've gotta, I don't really keep up with politically correct speech. I'm not a big fan of it, but again,

I have to acknowledge that God cares that the blind and the deaf, that things not be set up so that they are constantly stumbling or that they're not able to participate in life and society, so I actually think it's a good thing when

I go to a street corner and I press the button for the crosswalk to give me the little green man, the walking guy, and I hear the beeps.

Beep, beep, beep, because then I know that somebody who's blind is able to cross the road and I know that that's right in the vein here of what this commandment is saying.

So it is a good thing when our buildings and our street corners and the way our city is laid out that everybody has access, period.

It's a good thing. God cares for them as well. You shall do no injustice in court.

Let that one sink in for a second here. So if you find yourself in a situation, the unenviable situation where you are going to have to go to court, it happens.

Tell the truth. Don't lie, don't perjure yourself in order to win your case.

That's an injustice. That's a breaking of the commandment. Do not be partial if you're called to be a witness.

Speak the truth. Do not embellish the facts. Say what you've seen, tell what you know.

The judge will make the decision, but he has to make the decision based upon what is true.

So you do no injustice. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great.

In righteousness, you shall judge your neighbor. No partiality, period.

So the person who lives in the trailer park does not get preferential treatment or no positive treatment at all just because of where they live.

And somebody who lives in the nice part of town, those really beautiful big houses, oh, have you seen those things?

The Victorians, right? They don't get partial treatment because they're wealthy. Yeah. Mind if I pass on the words of the

New Testament that that goes for churches too. Don't let the rich come in and get the best seat.

Yeah, so one of the most embarrassing bits of the New Testament is found in 1

Corinthians. And so a little bit of a note here. Roman society at the time of the apostles, this is before the burgeoning middle class.

There was pretty much two classes in Roman society. You were either wealthy and landed or you were a slave or a servant or the poor.

There's just kind of no way around it. The middle class as we know it, the merchant class, it did exist, but not in a big enough proportion that it was a noticeable thing.

The middle class as we know it really started burgeoning late in the Middle Ages in the beginning of what becomes known as the

Enlightenment era, the modern era. And so back then though, if you were wealthy and landed, you were better than them.

And the way the laws were set up in Roman society, I mean, these classes were fixed by law even.

But now you become a Christian. In Christ, there is neither slave nor free,

Jew nor Greek. There is neither male nor female. There is no partiality.

So your personal economic status has no bearing on how

I am to treat you as a brother or sister in Christ. And if it does, then

I'm wrong. And scripture calls me to repent. We are all on the same level playing field, forgiven sinners.

And so that being the case, one of the most embarrassing bits in all of the scriptures is found in 1

Corinthians chapter 11. Let's see here,

I think that's it. Oh, hang on. Yeah, here it is.

I mean, listen to this. Now, in the following instructions, the

Apostle Paul says, I do not commend you. Because when you come together, it's not for the better, it's for the worse.

For in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you.

Wait a second here. Of course there's natural divisions. You got, well, at our church, man, if you're not

Norwegian, you know. You're clearly, clearly there's something wrong here, right?

I hear there's divisions among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.

But when you come together, it's not the Lord's Supper that you eat. So now this is getting to their communion practice.

So in eating, one goes ahead with his own meal, one goes hungry, and another gets drunk. When was the last time anyone got drunk here at Kongsvinger during communion?

And he goes, what, do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God? And listen to what he says, and humiliate those who have nothing.

And there's the issue. So what was happening in the church of Corinth is that Roman society's views of those who are wealthy as opposed to those who are poor has now crept into the church, and there's a fight in the church.

And the rich and the powerful are despising those who have nothing. And so what they've done is they've set up a communion practice so that if you are poor or you are a slave and you are worshiping in the church, then they're gonna make it so you can't have the

Lord's Supper, and the way we're gonna do it is we're gonna keep you from having it, and we're going to consume everything so that you won't be able to have it, which means that some of us will have to be designated drivers and the others will have to, yeah, you get the idea, right?

And so you'll note then that he's accusing them of despising those who have nothing.

So what shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.

That's a problem. Let me see if I can find this text real quick. I'm gonna go gold, and I'm gonna do a search in the epistles because I know it's in James.

Ah, here it is, James 2. My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our

Lord Jesus Christ. This is James 2 .1, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, oh, you sit here in a good place, while you say to the poor man, you stand over there or sit down at my feet, have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Listen, my beloved brothers. Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom of God, which he has promised to those who love him?

But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you and the ones who drag you into court?

Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? So you know that as Christians, we are not to make distinctions.

And when we make those distinctions, what we end up doing is dishonoring an entire group of Christians based on what?

Something that's temporal and fleeting and something that doesn't matter at all, like the clothes they're wearing?

Does it matter if your children have gotten their school clothes at Walmart rather than Macy's?

Does that matter? Is Macy's even a thing anymore? It is, okay, in some places.

Yeah, right? Do we have a Nordstrom's? Okay, yeah.

Yeah, when I was in Southern California, that was like the wealthy place to go. Of course, then you can always go down to Rodeo Drive.

Right, who can afford that, right? But do we not make those distinctions too?

As a society, we worship human beings who wear the latest designer clothes.

I don't understand designer clothes, by the way. Every time I see photographs of like some runway fashion show in New York, I'm thinking, why is that woman wearing a turkey on her head, you know?

I don't understand. This is high fashion, apparently. But we make these distinctions.

And you'll note then, by making those distinctions, we end up dishonoring a whole group of humanity.

And Scripture says, no. No. What did

Jesus do with those who were pushed out to the sides? Even those pushed out to the sides by the

Mosaic Covenant, the laws of the Mosaic Covenant. Lepers, you know the laws regarding lepers, right?

Everyone loves a good leper. If you had a leprous disease, you had to go and present yourself to the priest.

The priest declared you to be unclean. You are not permitted to live in town. You've heard of leper colonies, right?

These people were allowed to beg for a living, but they were required by God's law to live outside of town.

Lepers can live together because the unclean can stay together. They were forbidden from the worship life of Israel. And they were required by the commandment then, when people were approaching, that they had to cover their mouths and they had to say, unclean, unclean, to warn them.

So it doesn't get any worse than that, for the most part. And so what does

Jesus do with lepers? Does he say to them, you guys, God was coming to you.

If you hadn't been such awful sinners, maybe God wouldn't be punishing you with leprosy. Is that what he does with them?

Nope, not at all. Jesus goes out to them. When lepers hear that Jesus is coming by, they cry out to him,

Lord, have mercy. And Jesus goes and he not only talks with them, he touches them.

Now here's the thing, this is just scandalous when you consider the mercy, the grace, the love and the compassion of Christ, because the

Mosaic covenant not only says that a leper is unclean and is prevented from being part of the worship community, but anybody whom the leper touches is also considered unclean.

And it's not in the text, but I always like to envision it that when it says that Jesus is gonna reach out his hand to touch somebody who's unclean, you can see the disciples,

I mean, the film goes to slow -mo, right? And all of a sudden, Peter drops his drink and John is like, what?

And then somebody shouts, no, Jesus, no. Right?

But here's the thing. Everybody who Jesus touched was made clean.

Everybody whom he touched was made clean. He made no distinctions. Nobody that touched him made him unclean.

And that's the love, the compassion, the grace, the mercy of Christ. And so here's the thing is that when you read in the

Mosaic covenant these laws like this, to show no partiality, to do justice, to set things up equitably in town and everywhere else so that you don't put a stumbling block for the blind or the deaf, to make it so that everybody can participate.

If you don't know what the gospel is, these just sound like, wah, wah, wah rules.

You're just telling me what I can and can't do. Wrong. On these two commands, the law hangs.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. And the perfect example of the love that God has for us and the fact that every one of these laws is based on love is the fact that Christ not only kept them perfectly, but he forgave you by bleeding and dying for all of your sins.

You wanna see what God is really like? You look at Christ hanging dead on the cross. That's what God is really like.

Who for the joy set before him endured the cross, suffering the shame. He died for us while we were yet sinners in enmity with him.

God so loved the world. And so you then see then that the way the law of God works, you cannot understand it apart from understanding the gospel and understanding truly what

John says. God is love. Anyone who says that they love

God and hates their neighbor, that person's a liar. It just doesn't work that way.

That's ridiculous. How can you say that you love

God whom you have not seen and hate your neighbor, somebody who you have seen?

And I can hear you just saying, yeah, but you don't understand what a jerk that guy is. No, actually

I do. Because I'm that guy too. And so are you. And so then you'll note then, this is the love of God in action.

Even for his fallen creation. Right? Right? Keep going.

You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people. Let me read that one again,

I like this one. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people. You shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor.

I am Yahweh. You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him.

Now, let me talk about this because it needs to be talked about. So, I'm not from here.

Y 'all know this, you can tell, okay? I stick out like a sore thumb. There isn't a

Norwegian bone in my body. There is a Swedish one, but that's just because I found out through Ancestry .com

that I'm 4 % Swedish. But that's a whole different story. Okay, but I've noticed that there is this phrase that people talk about.

In fact, there's even a store named after this in the Minneapolis airport. The name of the store is Minnesota Nice.

I found out that if you buy into Minnesota Nice, you're gonna have a knife stuck in your back because here's how

Minnesota Nice works. Minnesota Nice means I'm not gonna speak frankly to you when you have sinned or done something wrong or when slander is being spread about you.

Instead, I'm just gonna keep my mouth shut. And then when I meet you face to face, oh, I'm gonna be the kindest.

Oh, everything's going great. And then as soon as I'm out of your presence, did you hear what so -and -so did? This is wicked.

There's a whole phenomenon. I mean, people have written academic essays on this particular phenomenon, talking about the yontalovan spirit and all this kind of stuff.

It's a real thing. And I hate to say it, that whole culture is contrary to the culture of the kingdom of heaven.

The culture of the kingdom of heaven is this. When your brother sins against you, you go to your brother.

This text says, you shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him.

You mean I have to talk to him face to face? Yep. You mean I have to tell him what he did wrong?

Yep. But then I won't be Minnesota Nice anymore? Yep. Because we're not called to be

Minnesota Nice. We're called to actually speak frankly to our neighbor, rebuke him if necessary, confront him with his sin if necessary.

And by the way, the whole goal of this is that somebody repents. Period. So you do nobody any good.

In fact, you harm the reputation of your neighbor and you harm yourself and endanger your own soul when rather than going and talking to the person who has sinned, you go and talk to everybody else about that person.

You've not helped him at all. This is contrary to Scripture.

Explicit commands of Scripture. Explicit commands of Christ. Matthew 18.

And so I'm just saying, you'll note then that the culture of the kingdom of heaven, the culture that is put in place within the church by the law of God will contradict at times cultural values of wherever you're from originally or who you're descended from or even where you're living.

All right, I assure you, if I were to move you all to Southern California and I could have you guys live in San Clemente, you'd love the weather by the way.

Winters there are really harsh. Really harsh. But you guys would immediately, and I mean this, detect something really different about Southern California than here.

And that is that in Southern California's culture, there is a premium placed on wealth.

And that people wear their wealth on their body, they wear their wealth in their cars, they wear their wealth in so many different ways and it's all intentionally designed so that you would recognize that they are better than you and you would be repulsed by it.

Absolutely repulsed by it. We all know the proverbial story about the ditzy blonde teenage girl who says, my daddy bought me a

Beamer for my 16th birthday. That's a thing. That's a real thing.

In the neighborhood that we were living in, 16 year old girls were not only getting Beamers, they were getting boob jobs and proudly displaying it.

Now, somebody like that here, they wouldn't fit in here. But you'll note where you are, that oftentimes is a culture.

And so what happens is that it's imperative that you let Scripture show even the assumptions that you have regarding the culture that you've grown up in, that you let

Scripture challenge those assumptions. And where they are at odds with the word of God, you repent.

You repent and trust that Christ has bled and died for that. And so the idea here is that oftentimes the culture we grow up in, it's like the water that a fish is swimming in.

Do you think fish see water? I don't think they do. Do we see it? We don't see air, right?

So fish don't see the water that they're swimming in. But the reality is is that that's what a culture's like.

You just think these things automatically. One of my hobbies is photography.

And when I'm flipping through Instagram, sometimes you get these little advertisements because apparently the internet knows

I'm into photography. Thank you, Google. Apparently my

Google searches now dictate what ads I see. But so you're flipping through Instagram and then

I just saw an ad yesterday for wedding photographers. And I'm not, so don't ask.

For wedding photographers. And it was a series of six books written to help wedding photographers so that they understand how not to create cultural faux pas while shooting weddings for people of different ethnic races.

So Indian weddings, Greek weddings, all these different things. And so it's to show you the cultural assumptions of wedding parties based upon their ethnicity and their culture that they grew up in.

That's a thing. Because the last thing you wanna do as a wedding photographer is step on people's toes unknowingly because I don't know if you've noticed this about Americans.

Americans are pretty much oblivious to like every other culture on planet Earth. We think that the world revolves around us.

And as a result of it, we just bumble through things. But how cultures think and the assumptions that they have, these are real things.

And you can upset a person without even trying on all you gotta do is be yourself.

I love it when that happens. It's like, why are you upset at me? I can't explain it.

Why can't you explain it? It's just you. Anyway, you get the idea.

So frankly, reason, so you shall not hate your brother. Reason frankly with your neighbor.

You incur sin because of him. Note here that if you don't reason frankly with your neighbor you're now the one who's incurring sin rather than the neighbor.

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

I am Yahweh. You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind.

You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.

Now, these commandments right here will also be reiterated in the book of Deuteronomy.

And these particular commandments have a specific purpose to them. But if you're familiar with those who would try to argue that it's antiquated and it's not a sound way of approaching scripture, when you say something like, are you ready?

Homosexuality is a sin. You say that in certain circles and somebody's gonna say to you something like this.

Are you not aware that you're quoting the Bible? Well, of course I'm quoting the Bible.

Leviticus says this. Jude says this. Romans says this. First Corinthians says this.

It says these things. And they'll say it and you're going, come on. Really? You're gonna say that homosexuality is a sin?

Don't you know that the Bible says you can't sow, you can't even put two different kinds of crops in your field and that that's a sin?

So therefore, homosexuality is okay. You sit there and go, wait a second, what just happened here?

Oh, there's commands in the Bible that say you cannot mix two different kinds of linen together to form a garment.

You can't mix polyester and cotton. And if you do that, it's a sin. These are clearly commands of the

Mosaic Covenant. And so they'll say because that's stupid, therefore homosexuality is okay.

Now let me kind of work with this argument then. By the way, the whole argument is flawed on its face.

So let me see if I have this right. So because the Bible says you cannot sow two kinds of seed in your field or wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material, therefore homosexuality is okay because that's a stupid commandment.

Right, all right, so then I'm gonna grab my gun and I'm gonna blow your head off.

And don't sit there and quote, thou shalt not murder to me because I mean, it says right here, you can't put a garment together, two kinds of cloth.

So because that's a stupid commandment, so is the one that says forbid me from murdering you. And don't worry, I've got really good friends.

No one's gonna ever find the body. So, bummer for you. It's a little bit of a brutal argument,

I agree. Kind of in your face. But this is how they argue. The Bible forbids you from eating shellfish, therefore homosexuality is okay.

What do you do? See, they're going, something's really wrong with this argument, okay. These commandments about taking two kinds of things and putting them together were for the purpose of reminding the children of Israel that they are to be separate from the pagans around them and they're not to intermarry with those who are idolaters and don't believe in the

Lord. So these commandments were a visual reminder, a catechetical reminder of the command against interbreeding with people who do not believe in Yahweh.

That's the purpose of these commands. It's not because there's something inherently sinful with wearing a cotton polyester mixed t -shirt, which

I wear every day. Because they last a little bit longer and they don't shrink, but that's a different story, right.

So you see it? So the question is, what's the purpose of the command? So these commands here are reiterated in the book of Deuteronomy and the explanation is that these are to remind you not to intermarry with the nations that you will be co -sharing in the promised land and follow after their gods.

Now did the children of Israel still intermarry with these hot pagan chicks? Yep, they did.

You know, because I don't know what it is about guys, but you know, I don't care if she's a pagan, she's hot.

Yeah, you're not supposed to do that. Now, if a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave, assigned to another man, and not yet ransomed or given her freedom, a distinction shall be made.

They shall not be put to death because she was not free. And I gotta tell you, these commands are really fascinating in how

God sets it up because God knows full well that women are sexually abused.

And the command is that if there's premarital sex going on, it's a death penalty offense.

It is a death penalty offense. And so note here, we've got a situation where a woman is a slave and there's several different instances in which somebody could be a slave in ancient

Israel and one is that they've come to poverty and they sell themselves as a slave for a period of time.

And that they would be released after that period of time. And it's usually not a very long period, we're talking like six, seven years tops.

And if the Jubilee year comes up in the middle of that time, they're set free at the

Jubilee. But you're gonna see here then an important word, it's actually two kind of important words, redeemed and ransomed, all right?

Slave talk, okay? Christ has ransomed us, Christ has redeemed us. This is talking about how he has set us free.

So if a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave, so she's a slave at the time, the man has done this, she's not to be put to death because she was not free.

And the assumption is that she's been taken advantage of and sexually exploited by her master.

That's the assumption. But they, both of them, shall not be put to death because she was not free.

But he shall bring his compensation to Yahweh at the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before Yahweh for his sin that he has committed.

And he shall be forgiven the sin that he has committed. So note, he gets to be forgiven.

Now when you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden.

Three years it shall be forbidden to you. It must not be eaten. And in the fourth year, all its fruits shall be holy, an offering of praise to Yahweh.

But in the fifth year, you may eat of its fruit to increase its yield for you.

I am Yahweh your God. So you plant a new lemon tree in your yard. First year, don't eat.

Second year, don't eat. Third year, don't eat. It's not like lemon trees produce a lot of lemons in that time anyway.

Fourth year, all of the lemons, they belong to God. They get put into bushels and baskets and things and trucked off to the temple.

And they are given as an offering to God. And this goes to sustain the

Levitical priesthood and also the poor. That's how these food offerings are used. They're used to support two groups, priests and the poor.

And then the fourth year, it's all yours.

You can have it. So you sit there and go, that takes a long time before I start to get a return on investment.

Yes, you do. And that's the way God has set it up because number one, you gotta take care of your plant.

Number two, the poor and the priests have to be taken care of. And then you'll be taken care of. And the

Lord himself will increase its yield. You shall not eat any flesh with blood in it. You shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes.

Man, this is a big one. Now, a little bit of a note. I've made the case already and I'll just remind you of it.

In the Old Testament, you're forbidden to eat the blood. You're forbidden to eat the blood. You're forbidden to eat the blood.

What's the reason given why you cannot eat the blood? Because the life is in the blood. Life is in the blood. We get to Maundy Thursday.

Christ says, take, drink, this is my blood. And so you'll note the forbidding of the eating of blood because the life is in the blood now gets flipped and all of this is in preparation for the

Lord's Supper where we receive the blood of Christ. Take, drink, this is the blood of the new covenant shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins.

The sacrifice. Now, regarding omens. This is one that I think a lot more people than you think easily fall into it.

What is an omen? I'm not talking about Damien in the movie, okay?

If anyone remembers that. Is it when you call it a sign? Yeah, it's like a sign, all right?

So there I was. I was driving up to Radiant and wouldn't you know it, at mile marker 72, there was a bald eagle on a fence post and I knew that that was a sign from God.

Right, that he was gonna make me a better shot with my AR -15, right?

It was, I knew that that eagle was a sign from heaven. All right?

That's called an omen, the reading of an omen. Are we permitted to do that? No, because here's the assumption.

The assumption is that the omen is a communication from God. That God is communicating, signaling to you.

All right, I'll give you a dumb example. So there's two teenagers and they're in love and we all know how that works, right?

Don't worry, it'll wear off. You know,

I always find it hilarious that brand new married couple, all that chemistry is working like the first year of marriage and then it wears off.

And it's like one day they wake up and go, who are you, what are you doing? What have I done? No, it's not that bad.

But all of a sudden he's not as cute as he was and his jokes, they're not as funny as they were and everything kind of wears off.

That one's supposed to last a year? Oh, I'm sorry, Mark, you didn't get the memo on that one?

Okay, sorry. But there's two kids, they're in love and they're thinking about marriage and wouldn't you know it, look honey, there's a rainbow.

That's a sign that we're supposed to get married. Oh, I just, no, no, okay, just knock it off.

And years ago, I remember Joel Osteen preaching a sermon where he talked about how a bluebird came and sat on his windowsill and that he saw that it was a sign from God.

It was actually a sermon, I reviewed it years ago. It's like, are you kidding me, okay? So birds on your windowsills, rainbows, shooting stars and then any kind of negative thing like carrying birds and vultures, they're not,

God's not talking through them, okay? How do we know? Because he says, you shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes, full stop.

So you don't have to worry. When the rainbow shows up, that's not a sign. It's a sign of the

Noadic Covenant that God's not gonna flood the whole earth but it's not a sign that he's not gonna flood the

Red River Valley of the North, okay? That's not how that works. So you can just X all of those out, period.

So when your brain's sitting there thinking, but yeah, I saw a bird on my windowsill, you can just say that's your sinful nature trying to draw on the stuff and you, the new person you are in Christ, you can just say shut up, that's the dumbest thing

I've ever heard. It says you shall not interpret omens. End of discussion, right?

So you can just rule that out. God's not talking to you there. God is talking to you in his written word.

You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard.

Oh man, I wish I had seen this before the 80s and I got that mullet. Anyway, no, thankfully there's no pictures,

I think. So you'll note then, in this particular case, this has to do with particular practices of the ancient world that were religious in nature.

And so this is really specifically referring not to just any culture, but actually the

Egyptian culture. So watch how the two verses work together. You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard.

You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves, I am

Yahweh. Now this is not a general prohibition against tattoos. These are ritualistic practices of the

Egyptians. In fact, if you were to look back, look at some of the hairstyles of some of the

Egyptians and how they're depicted. The mushroom top was a thing, okay?

It was a thing. And so God here is basically saying to Israel, do not follow their religious practices because the reason why they were cutting their hair this way or they were tattooing themselves or cutting themselves was not because that was just the fashionable in vogue thing to do.

These are practices intimately involved with the cult of the deities of Egypt.

And so those practices cannot be redeemed because of what they meant, and so God says, you guys don't get to practice those things and do the same things as them in that way.

So if you have a tattoo today, do not worry. This is not some kind of, oh no, I have a tattoo.

What do I do, Lord? Laser surgery is not necessary here. That's not what the prohibition is.

These are commands related to the religious practices of the Egyptians. And people would get themselves tattooed and cut themselves specifically for the dead.

Part of their ancestry worship. The fact that God had to say this is just speaks so poorly of us.

Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute. Lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity.

Unfortunately, we know from later Israeli history that not only did Jews make their daughters prostitutes, they made their sons them too.

Just absolutely a mess. You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. I am Yahweh.

Do not turn to mediums or necromancers. Do not seek them out. And so make yourselves unclean by them.

I am Yahweh, your God. So this is gonna rule out, in our day, several things.

This is gonna rule out tarot cards, Ouija boards, fortune tellers, palm readers, people who read tea leaves, and all these kinds of stuff.

And lest I also miss it, that would also include reading the guts of animals that have been recently killed.

These are all practices of the occult. This is also going to rule out, if you are having paranormal activity in your home, which does happen, this is going to rule out you seeking a solution from Madame Tussaud, or some weird woman who wears a turban on her head and has a star on her forehead.

You know, I'm using a really gross caricature here, but you get the idea.

So the local medium and spiritist doesn't get to come into your house and sit there and go, you know, what I'm feeling here is that there's like a negative energy, and I think the negative energy is from a child, but I think she's like from the 1800s, because I see her dress and it's just so different.

I wish I was making that up, but y 'all know I'm not. Okay? There's a real simple thing.

If you're having that type of activity happening in your home, there is only one source biblically, and that's the demonic, full stop.

And if you don't think that that happens, you're wrong. That's another one of the snares that the devil has set up.

I always like to point out that, you know, the mediums will sit there and they'll talk to the spirit. So what's your name?

My name is Debbie. Debbie, how old are you? I'm eight years old. What happened?

I drowned in a well. And so, you know, and you're sitting there going, oh, this poor little spirit.

Oh, poor little thing. It's like if the lights could be turned on and you can see what's really going on, the medium is talking to a demon, and the demon is trying to cover up its voice.

My name is Debbie. No, I'm sorry. I'm, you know, you know.

So you'll note, you're not allowed to go down this path.

It's not an option. God's not speaking this way, and you're exposing yourself to voices that the devil's going to use to ensnare you and drag you to hell.

Who are the most susceptible for mediums and spiritists and things like that?

People who've tragically lost loved ones oftentimes are the most susceptible.

All right, so somebody close to you. It could be a friend. It could be a spouse. It could be a grandmother.

It could be your mother or your father, and you have a tight relationship with them. In the midst of your mourning, you are very susceptible for these people to prey on you because you are lamenting their loss, that whole, then your life is real, and these are people who come along and say,

I know that they're dead, but how would you like to talk to them? I can help you, and they're not.

You won't be talking to grandma, your mother, or your spouse. You're gonna be on the phone with a demon, dressed in drag.

What about Saul talking to the prophet?

Yeah, the witch of Endor. So it's a standout story because it worked.

Let me explain it. Okay, let's take a look at the text because I think that'll help.

So you'll note that this is forbidden, and let me find the text real quick.

And 1 Samuel 28. First what? 1

Samuel 28, verse one. In those days, the Philistines gathered their forces for war to fight against Israel.

Achish said to David, understand that you and your men are to go out with me in the army. So David said to Achish, very well, and you shall know what your servant can do.

Achish said to David, very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life. Now Samuel had died. Samuel the prophet's dead, all right?

All Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. Saul had put the mediums and the necromancers out of the land.

Now, a little bit of a note here. What Saul did by putting the mediums and the necromancers out of the land, he did because the

Mosaic covenant required him to do so. The Philistines assembled and came and encamped at Shunem.

Saul gathered all Israel and they encamped at Gilboa. When Saul saw that the army of the

Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. And when Saul inquired of Yahweh, Yahweh did not answer him, either by dreams or Urim or by prophets.

So you'll note here that Saul is looking for guidance from the Lord and he's seeking it directly from God.

But because of his impenitent, stubborn heart and the sins that he's committed, God has gone totally silent.

I'm not going to answer you. And it's kind of fascinating. Urim and Thumen are, we believe, are kind of like a form of casting lots.

And so there was basically three answers that were possible. So you would ask the

Lord a question and it would be either yes, no, or I'm not telling you. And you just think about the chances here.

Lord, I have a question for you. Am I to go to battle against the Philistines? You cast the lots, it comes up,

I'm not talking to you. Throw it again, I'm not talking to you. Throw it again,

I'm not talking to you. What are the chances, right? Okay, so he decides he's going to go talk to the known prophets of his day.

The prophets are, yeah, I reached out to God and he ain't talking, he's got nothing to say to you.

And so at this point, Saul has decided that he has to get some kind of spiritual advice.

And this is his decision. I know I'm gonna break the commandments and I'm gonna go to a necromancer, somebody who speaks to the dead.

Now, a little bit of a note here. When you observe or are familiar with the practices of necromancers, usually they speak in vagaries.

And I would often note that it was Harry Houdini who did a very good job in his day of pointing out that the so -called necromancers that he was dealing with, the people who would have seances and stuff like that, that what they were oftentimes doing was basically just putting on a show.

They were good at manipulating devices to make it look like that they were communicating with the dead.

And that's been a standard part of necromancy from the beginning. And we know this from ancient documents is how that operated.

Over and again, when they would speak, they would speak in vagaries or they would do something to kind of make it look like they were doing these things.

And so, this is to say there's a lot of smoke and mirrors involved in the practice, right?

So Saul then said to his servant, seek out for me a woman who is a medium. I may go to her and inquire of her.

And so the servant said to him, behold, there is a medium at Endor. So Saul disguised himself, put on other garments and went and he and two men with him.

And they came to the woman by night. So, I mean, he's up to no good, right?

Here, doesn't want anyone to see him, doesn't want anyone to know it's him. He's traveling in disguise at night.

And he said, divine for me a spirit and bring up for me whomever I shall name to you.

The woman said to him, surely you know what Saul has done, how he's cut off the mediums and the necromancers from the land.

Why then are you laying a trap for my life to bring about my death? And this is, what comes up next is just unbelievable.

So Saul swore to her by Yahweh. What? As Yahweh lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.

Oh man, he just, I mean, now he's broken the second commandment. You think Yahweh's gonna go, well, okay, she's off the hook regarding her necromancy because Saul said so and invoked my name.

Okay, that's how far gone this guy is, right? So then the woman said, whom shall I bring up for you? He said, bring up Samuel for me.

And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman said to Saul, why have you deceived me?

You are Saul. So it's like, the way

I like to put it is that, let's just say the standard necromancy practice is to put on a little bit of a show.

You pick up the phone, I'm gonna call Samuel for you, hang on a second here. And normally the way that the game goes is that, hey, yeah,

I need to talk to Samuel. Yeah, I'll wait, no problem. Yeah, is this Samuel? Yeah, this is

Endor, yeah. How you doing? Good, good, yeah, it's been a while, yeah. Oh, listen, I got Saul here and he's, and so it's all a show, right?

But she picks up the phone, wouldn't you know it, Samuel shows up, all right?

Samuel shows up. It's like God's saying, all right, you wanna talk to the dead? You're gonna talk to the dead. And watch that Samuel gives no new revelation here, really, at all.

And so, and he's kind of perturbed that he's been called up. So the woman to me says, you deceived me, you're

Saul. The king said to her, don't be afraid, what do you see? And so the woman said to Saul, well, I see a God coming out of the earth.

And he said to her, what is his appearance? And she said, he's an old man coming up and he's wrapped in a robe.

And Saul knew that it was Samuel, so he bowed his face to the ground and paid homage. So Samuel said to Saul, why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?

Saul answered, I'm in great distress, for the Philistines are warring against me and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams.

Therefore, I've summoned you to tell me what I shall do. And Samuel said, why then do you ask me since Yahweh has turned from you and he has become your enemy?

Yahweh has done to you as he spoke by me, for Yahweh has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor

David. Because you did not obey the voice of Yahweh, did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore

Yahweh has done this thing to this day. Moreover, Yahweh will give Israel also with you into the hand of the

Philistines. And tomorrow, you and your son shall be with me. Yahweh will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the

Philistines. Well, that turned out well, okay.

And note, he doesn't repent. And when you read throughout the Old Testament, whenever this is invoked, God says he broke faith in doing this.

He disobeyed the word of the Lord by doing this. So Saul fell at once, full length, on the ground, filled with fear because of the words of Samuel.

Yeah, duh. And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night. And the woman came to Saul and when she saw that he was terrified, she said, and behold, your servant has obeyed you.

I've taken my life in my hand. I've listened to what you have said. Now therefore, you also obey your servant.

Let me set a morsel of bread before you and eat so that you may have strength when you go on your way.

And he refused. He said, I will not eat. But his servants together with the woman urged him. He listened to their words.

So he rose from the earth and sat on the bed. Now the woman had a fattened calf in the house and she quickly killed it and she took flour and kneaded it and baked unleavened bread of it.

And she put it before Saul and his servants and they ate, then they rose and went away. Sad part about all of this is that he had plenty of time to basically flee to the tabernacle and say,

Lord, I have sinned and offer a sacrifice and plead for God's mercy and forgiveness. And instead, a fattened calf is killed by this necromancer and he chooses to eat that instead rather than to go and offer a sin offering for his own sin.

That's the tragedy. And Saul perishes. As Samuel said.

So in that particular case, that's the one standout and you'll note it didn't work well for the one who disobeyed the command, right?

So, yeah. All right, we're gonna end there today and Lord willing, if I'm still breathing next week, we'll pick up the same place next week.