I have in the bulletin that we will take the Lord's Table Thursday, if Donna's able to make the bread. Okay. She makes it unleavened and gluten-free. So she makes the bread that we take. But I thought it would be a good way, it's the best way, to start the new year.

Exodus 23, some of you have said to me, I wonder what He's going to bring out of this as we have gone through Exodus. You know, it's been said to me by some of you, I wonder what He sees in this. Well, when I read these chapters, I wonder the same thing. I wonder what is in this. And my first thought was down in verse 20, Behold, I send an angel before thee to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, obey his voice, provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions. For my name is in him. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ.

But as I read this different times, I read the Scriptures I'm going to preach from several times, I try to just embed it into my mind if I'm going to preach from it. And as I read this chapter, those first 19 verses, it just sounded like I was reading part of the Sermon on the Mount. or Romans 12. You go back and read Romans 12 and you'll see this as we go along. So I titled this, Gospel Principles Found in the Law. Gospel Principles Found in the Law. The Precepts of the Gospel. I love your enemies. That's the precept of the gospel. It's the same here.

WHAT WAS EXTERNALIZED HERE AND GIVEN TO ISRAEL IS INTERNALIZED TO GOD'S ISRAEL, GOD'S TRUE ISRAEL SPIRITUALLY. BY GOD'S GRACE AND THE LOVE OF GOD SHED ABROAD IN THE HEART, WE ARE TOLD TO LOVE OUR ENEMIES. DO GOOD TO THEM THAT DESPITEFULLY USE YOU. And it just stood out to me. I felt like I was reading some parts of the epistles over in the New Testament when I was reading through this.

And there is one thing that I realize, and we must realize, is this. God has not changed. That stood out to me. God has not changed. This is who God is. God is SPIRIT, and the law He gave is SPIRITUAL. Paul said the law is spiritual. but I am carnal, sold under sin." But the Law of God is SPIRITUAL because it was given by God who is SPIRIT, so it?s spiritual.

Now, this almost goes without saying to this congregation, you?ve heard this thousands of times. not only from this pulpit but from other pulpits and messages that you listen to on the internet. We do not seek salvation by keeping the law in any way, shape, or form. We do not follow the law as a rule of life. We don't follow it as a rule of life. Christ Himself is our life. and Christ is our RULE OF LIFE. It is written in 1 John 2.6 He that saith, He abideth in him, ought himself also to walk, even as he walked. He is our RULE OF LIFE. Listen to 1 Peter 2.21 For even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should walk, that you should follow in His steps. He's our LIFE, He's our RULE OF LIFE.

But a lot of what's given here in Exodus 23 that they followed externally, we follow internally. We love our neighbor. You love your enemies. Now listen, as the old saying goes, this is where the rubber meets the road. You can get people to believe election. You can get people to believe particular redemption. You cannot get anybody to love their neighbor. Telling you to love someone is not going to enable you to do it. If that were so, marriage counselors would be way more successful. If you just tell them to love each other, love each other. But God enables us to love each other. He enables us to love our enemies. There's really a genuine love that God enables us to do. It comes from that love of God shed abroad in the heart. It's very real. It's not mechanical. It's very real. It's the Spirit of God in you.

Now when we look at the law, We are not looking for a system to save us at all, but what we see is a revelation of God's character in the law, which is fully revealed when we look to Christ. That's what we see the full character of God revealed in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who kept the law and made it honorable. You know, he said over in Matthew 5, 17, he said, think not that I'm come to destroy the law or the prophets, I'm not come to destroy, I'm come to fulfill it. Not destroy it, but to make it honorable, to magnify the law and make it honorable. That's why I'm come. I'm come to fulfill the law on your behalf. His conduct, His fulfilling the law, On our behalf is our righteousness. It's our righteousness. His obedience is our righteousness.

Now let's just look at some of this as we go down through here. I'm just going to give this to you as I read it and things that just struck me in comparison, the parallel here between what's given here and what's given to us in the New Testament under the Gospel. He says here, Thou shalt not raise a false report, put not thine hand with the wicked, to be an unrighteous witness. You know what it says in Ephesians 4.25? Put away falsehood. It says put away falsehood. Speak the truth, each one with his neighbor. It says in Colossians 3.9, Lie not one to another. Don't lie to one another. 1 Peter 2 verse 1, Put away all deceit and hypocrisy. That's what he's saying here. That's what he's saying.

I thought when I read these first couple verses, I thought this is exactly what happened to our Lord. They sought, the chief priests sought false witness against the Lord Jesus Christ, didn't they? That's what it says in Matthew 26, verse 59. Now the chief priests and elders and all the councils sought false witness against Jesus to put Him to death. It says right here, don't do that. Don't be given to a false report. Our Lord was falsely accused. The mob fell in with the high priest to pervert justice. I guarantee you the vast part of that mob could not articulate why they were doing what they're doing. You can take the mob today if people get into these rallies and stuff and most of them cannot articulate why they're doing it. They're following. They're just following.

WE ARE NOT TO JOIN OR FOLLOW THE CROWD, IT SAYS, INTO EVIL. LOOK AT THIS, VERSE 2, THOU SHALT NOT FOLLOW A MULTITUDE TO DO EVIL. DON'T GET CAUGHT UP IN THE MOBS. I'VE SOLD MY GRANDDAUGHTER WHEN SHE'S IN COLLEGE DOWN AT U.K. AND I SAY THIS TO YOU ALL WHEN YOU'RE IN SCHOOL, DON'T GET CAUGHT UP IN THOSE RALLIES AND THOSE MOBS AND THOSE THINGS. DON'T GET CAUGHT UP INTO THAT.

I can give you an experience, and I've told you this before, but there's people watching that haven't heard this, but this is an experience I've had. Henry told us in the preacher school, don't use yourself and your family as the example. He said, be careful doing that. He said, be careful doing that. Because people are going to think I'm the example. I'm not. Christ is the example. But I worked at a place once, and the men came to me, and they said, we're walking out at noon. We're going to walk out, because they were working stupid amount of hours, seven days a week. I mean, it was unreal. And they was doing it for months on end. And they came to me, and they said, we're walking out at noon, because we're going to talk to them about this. We're going to address this. And I told them, I said, I'm not. And the guy was talking to me, he said, what do you mean you're not? I said, I'm not doing it. I said, I will go in the office, I will walk directly in his office and we'll sit down right in his office and we'll deal with this. But I'm not walking out there on the street. I'm not going to build a wall that we can't get over and it's not going to be us against them.

About an hour later he came back and he said, the men have agreed to walk in the office. We walked in the office and got it settled. Don't get caught up in the mob. Don't do it. And that's what He's saying here. Don't do that. Thou shalt not follow a multitude, just put there a mob, to do evil. Neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many, to follow after many, to wrest judgment. You're following after them. Don't do that, He says. Don't do that.

What does it say in Romans 12? Be not conformed to this world. Don't you conform to the multitude. I've lived long enough to realize that the multitude generally is wrong. When they're going this way, especially in religion, especially in religion, when religion is going this way, you go that way. 99.9% of the time you'll be right. You go the opposite direction.

1 Corinthians 15 33 evil companions corrupt good manners. Oh believe me, you're not going to rub off on them, but they're going to rub off on you. Evil companions, when are we going to learn this? Evil companions corrupt good manners. You're not going to change anybody. You're not going to change them. You can't, the leopard spots can't be changed and the Ethiopian skin can't be changed. Neither can you that are accustomed to doing evil do good.

1 Peter, look over in 1 Peter chapter 4. I don't want to just quote this, I want you to read it. 1 Peter chapter 4, look in verse 3 and 4, verses 3 and 4.

For the time past of our life, our life on this earth, may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lust, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries, wherein they think it strange THAT YOU RUN NOT WITH THEM TO THE SAME EXCESS OF RIOT. SPEAKING EVIL OF YOU, WHY ARE YOU NOT RUNNING WITH US ANYMORE? BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT MY KIND.

You notice that in Genesis? I don't mean to sound arrogant, I'm not being arrogant about this. But you notice in Genesis it says, THEY PRODUCED AFTER THEIR KIND, AS ALWAYS AFTER THEIR KIND, AFTER THEIR KIND. You know what? You who believe the gospel here, you're my kind. you are my kind. The unbelieving world is not my kind, it's not my kind. And that's why he said here, Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do either, neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to arrest judgment.

Let me tell you this, faithfulness, faithfulness to Christ, faithfulness to the gospel, requires non-conformity. It does. It requires non-conformity to this world. Be ye transformed, conform not to the world. And there is something else I realized here as I was studying these things. I thought the pressure on the church now is to resist cultural pressure. Accepting all this mess we've got going on, all this gender stuff and homosexuality. The church resists cultural pressure. There's so much pressure to get along, to be all-inclusive. It can't be. It honestly can't be. In obedience to Christ, THOSE WHO BELIEVE CHRIST WILL FIND THIS OUT SOONER OR LATER. OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST IS COSTLY AND ISOLATING. You'll be separated. They'll separate you from them. They don't want your company. They will not want your company.

Then at the same time in verse 3, we are WARNED NOT TO SHOW FAVORITISM WHETHER THE PERSON IS RICH OR POOR. If he's poor, he says don't show favoritism. in a lawsuit or in a legal way, in justice. He said, don't dip with a man's poor, you know, he can't. No, he says, you don't show favoritism either way. You just be, you do, Scripture says this in Acts 10 34, Peter opened his mouth and he said, truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. And he's still that way. He's still that way.

You know Romans 12 tells us, Do not think too highly of yourself and associate with the man of low degree. I'm paraphrasing. You put your arm around that brother that's of low degree. Poor You remember in 1 Corinthians, when they had the Lord's table, the rich were bringing their own food and they were gathering together and the poor were set aside. They were not allowed to sit in and eat with them.

And then verse 4, God calls us to love beyond convenience. BEYOND CONVENIENCE. If we encounter the lost animal of an enemy, what we do, shoot it? That's naturally what we would do. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth. That's what we would naturally do. But he says here, IF THOU MEET THINE ENEMY'S OX OR HIS ASS GOING ASTRAY, THOU SHALT SURELY BRING IT BACK TO HIM AGAIN.

Listen to Matthew in Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 43 and 44. You have heard that it has been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you. Pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.

And Luke, boy, this is one that always gets me. Luke 6.33 IF YOU DO GOOD TO THEM WHICH DO GOOD TO YOU, WHAT THANK HAVE YOU? AND I PUT IN THERE, WHAT GRACE HAVE YOU? FOR SINNERS ALSO DO EVEN THE SAME. RETURN A FAVOR, YOU SCRATCH MY BACK, I SCRATCH YOUR BACK. He says here, IF YOU DO GOOD TO THEM ONLY THAT DO GOOD TO YOU, WHAT GRACE HAVE YOU? Sinners do the same thing. EVIL PEOPLE DO THE SAME THING, THIEVES DO THE SAME THING, MURDERERS DO THE SAME THING. WHAT GRACE HAVE YOU?

And look here in verse 5, If we see the ass of him that hateth thee, that is strong language, hate, isn't it? I don't know that there are any two words that represent any stronger emotion than love and hate. And He says here, IF YOU SEE THE ASS OF HIM, THE DONKEY OF HIM THAT HATETH THEE, LYING UNDER HIS BURDEN, AND YOU WOULDN'T FORBEAR TO HELP HIM, YOU HELP THAT MAN TO UNBURDEN HIS DONKEY? He said, DON'T YOU DO THAT! DON'T YOU DO THAT! NO, THOU SHALT SURELY HELP WITH HIM. FEED YOUR ENEMY IF HE'S HUNGRY, FEED HIM. DID NOT OUR LORD BEAR OUR BURDENS? DID HE NOT BEAR OUR BURDENS? DID HE NOT TELL US, BEAR YE ONE ANOTHER'S BURDENS? SO FULFILL THE LAW OF CHRIST.

And then verses 6-8, JUSTICE MUST NOT BE DISTORTED. Now listen to this, Thou shalt not rest the judgment of thy poor in his cause. You don't take his side, but you also don't rest the judgment, don't twist it against him. Keep thee far from a false matter. Oh, don't even get close to it. And the innocent and righteous slay thou not, for I will not justify the wicked. You know, the gospel, and I want to tell you something, the gospel NEVER LOWERS THE STANDARD. It NEVER LOWERS THE STANDARD. Christ MET THE STANDARD. He UPHELD IT. It NEVER LOWERS THE STANDARDS.

But these laws not only reflect the holy character of God, but I tell you something else they reflect. Our sinful nature that such laws had to be given. You know, laws like this don't have to be given in Heaven, will they? We won't have these things because it'll be natural. It'll be natural to love your neighbor, to love one another, and to do good to one another. Never have a simple thought about another, never!

Verse 8, We are warned against bribery, which blinds the wise and corrupts righteousness. See true justice, what he's saying here, true justice cannot be bought. Not if it's true justice. Now it is in this country. I think our court systems and our legal system is about as low as it's ever been. I do, I think it's about as low as it's ever been. I think you can really judge a country by its legal system. how good it is, how honest it is, or how corrupt it is.

Listen to what 2 Samuel 23 says, The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. That hasn t changed, that hasn t changed

at Robbery corrupts justice. You remember over in Luke chapter 3, the Pharisees, those priests, they told those soldiers after the Lord had risen, they said, Now if anybody comes and asks you, you tell them His disciples came and stole the body, and they gave Him large, you see, large sums of money, and we'll cover for you. If this comes to light, we'll cover for you. called bribery corrupts justice, and bribery hides the truth, it hides the truth, it doesn t let it come out.

Then we were told not to oppress the stranger, remembering that we were strangers, we were strangers, we were aliens from God, strangers from the commonwealth of Israel. It says here in Ephesians 2 that at that time he were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise. We were strangers from God, we didn't know God. We didn't know God alone. Having no hope, there was a time we had no hope and without God in the world. That was our past. Don't you forget that. He says don't you forget that. He's telling them you remember you were strangers in Egypt and you remember how you were treated and you remember how you felt by the treatment you received. And bring that to our day. We were strangers too.

And now in Hebrews it says you're strangers in this world. Now we are strangers in this world. But it says in Ephesians 2.19, Now therefore you are no more strangers to God. You were strangers to God, now you are not strangers to God, but you are strangers to the world. They don't know you, the world doesn't know you. Christ said they didn't know me, they don't know you. They have no clue who you are, really they don't.

These commands reflect the character of God, and while we do not live by the law for righteousness, we live by Christ. We follow Christ, who perfectly fulfilled the law, every jot and till of it on our behalf. But these precepts, these precepts of the gospel, we have. Love your enemies. That's a precept. That's not gone away. Bear one another's burdens. That's a precept of the gospel.

And now, look at the last part of this. I want us to look at these Sabbath and Feast in light of the gospel. We had these precepts. Now let's look at the Sabbath and the Feast that are given to us here in these verses 10 through 19. Now when we read these commands about Sabbath rests and appointed feasts, we have to remember this, God hasn't changed, He's still the same God. Don't read the Old Testament and think this is a different God, and I know you don't, but don't think that we have a different God from Old Testament, New Testament, or somehow God has changed. He hasn't. He hasn't.

THESE INSTRUCTIONS WERE NEVER MERELY ABOUT RULES. THEY WERE ALWAYS POINTING US TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE GIVEN FOR. THEY'RE NOT JUST GIVEN TO THEM AS A NATION, BUT GIVEN TO US, THE CHURCH, TO POINT US TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.

Now he says in verses 10 and 11, For six years the land was to be worked, And in the seventh year, it was to rest. That rest was not only for the land, it was for the people, it was for the poor, it was for the animals, it was for all of it, which shows how gracious God is that God provided rest. God provided rest.

And the weekly Sabbath carries the same message. SIX DAYS OF WORK WERE FOLLOWED BY A DAY OF REST, SO THAT EVERYONE, THE SERVANT, THE STRANGER, THE ANIMALS, ALL MIGHT REST. I CAN TELL YOU THIS, A MAN, A GRACELESS MAN WILL NOT LET YOU REST. HE'S GOING TO WORK YOU SEVEN DAYS A WEEK, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

My grandson, he's finding this out right now. He's working at a place. He's working 12 hours a day, seven days a week. I told him, I said, you're much more of a man than I am. Because it's been week after week after week after week after week. It just continues. He got off for Christmas. God's merciful, isn't He? God's gracious. He told Israel, He gave this to Israel, He told His people, one day a week, you let everybody rest. Don't you drive them like a slave driver. You let them rest. You let your land rest, you let your maiden rest, your manservant, your maidservant, your animals, you let them all rest. You let them all rest.

Well, in the Gospel we see this fulfilled in Christ, He is our Sabbath. He is our rest. God provided for us, for His Israel, a rest, and that rest is Christ. It's not a day. We don't observe a day. We observe Christ. He's our rest. We no longer strive to earn righteousness. We rest in what He has finished for us. We rest in Him.

God calls His people to be devoted to Him alone. Look over at verse 13. And in all things that I have said to you, be circumspect, be very careful to observe, and make no mention of the name of other gods. Don't you even let it fall from your lips, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.

You know the gospel THE GOSPEL TEACHES US WHOLEHEARTED DEVOTION TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. HE THAT LOVES MOTHER, FATHER, SISTER, BROTHER MORE THAN ME IS NOT WORTHY OF ME. WHOLEHEARTED DEVOTION

A man cannot serve two masters, he said over in the Sermon on the Mount. He can't serve two masters. He'll either love the one and hate the other, despise the one and hold to the other. He can't do it. He can't serve two masters. It is absolute devotion to Christ. Christ alone. He's first. He's before anything else and everybody else. He's before the spouse. He's before the children. He's before work.

It's sad when people retire, and I've seen this happen. I've seen it happen more than once. They retire and leave the gospel where they have gone for years, to go to someplace where it's warmer, where it's warmer, and didn't have to try and find a gospel church. What do you mean try and find one? If it wasn't one already, I wouldn't go. Don't go. You don't leave the gospel like someone we know left here. So they can be closer to the doctors. Are you serious? Are you serious? I would rather die here than at the doctor's office. You're going to die. You're going to die when God has appointed it. And I'd much rather die right here in a pew listening to the gospel than get closer to the doctor in case I have a heart attack and I need to hurry up and get there. But it happens. It happens. It happens.

God calls His people to be devoted to Him. And then here we have the feast. Verse 14, three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread. Thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days as I commanded thee in the time appointed of the month of the month Abib. For in it thou camest out from Egypt and none shall appear before me empty.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread reminded Israel of their deliverance out of Egypt and the Passover. It's connected with the Passover. Christ is our Passover, the one who delivers us from the bondage of sin, Satan, and the curse of the law. The Feast of Harvest that was given here celebrated the firstfruits of God's provision pointing forward to Christ as the first fruits of the resurrection and the one of God s provision. God provided him. God provided him. Then the feast of ingathering looked ahead to the fullness of Christ s work, the final harvest, when all that he has accomplished is gathered in. That s the Feast of the Harvest. You know one day that's going to happen, there's going to be the Feast of the Harvest and all God's children, all God's elect are going to be gathered in and that'll be the end of all this.

And then you have here in verses 15 and 19, you had the APPEARING BEFORE THE LORD. These males were to appear three times a year and they were NOT to appear EMPTY. I hope we didn't appear here empty. I hope we appeared here this morning full of praise and thanksgiving. I hope we appeared here this morning to worship God and not empty. God tells His people to come in gratitude and worship. Don't appear before me empty. recognizing that everything we have came from Him. We come to God now, not with sacrifices of blood, but through the once-for-all sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. His offering was pure, it was without leaven, without sin, it was without corruption, and this never needs to be repeated. It never needs to be repeated.

And then we have the call here in verse 19. I'm going to close. We have the call to bring the first and best, the firstfruits, the best to God. Why is that? Because grace teaches us and produces generosity. God deserves the best. Does He not deserve the best? Actually, how we give tells us what we think of Him. We do not give to earn favor, we give because we have received everything from Christ when they brought the first fruits, who gave them that first fruit? Who gave the rain? Who gave the sunshine? Who made the soil rich? God did! And all we are doing is acknowledging what God has given us, just a little percentage of what God has given to us.

Taken together, these laws show us God who brings His people out of slavery, teaches them to rest rest in Christ, cause them to celebrate redemption in these feasts, and cause them to live from gratitude rather than striving. In the gospel, all of this finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Our rest, our sacrifice, our firstfruits, and our final harvest is all found in Him. I hope you got something out of that. When I look into them, I first look into them, I thought, I don't know what I'm going to do when I first read it. I think, what's in here? Where's the gospel at in here? I tell you what, the precepts of the gospel, the precepts of God's truth is never left. It's just fulfilled. And it's not only externalized to Israel, it's internalized to God's true Israel. Oh, how I love.