Exodus 23. Exodus 23. This is more of God's
holy law. As Paul said, the commandment
is holy, just, and good. Righteous judgments. And that's
what this deals with primarily, is righteous
judgment. Psalm 11 says that righteous
Lord loveth righteousness. He's righteous. And don't just
think of that as being just a strict doctrine, but the judge of the
earth. This is what gave Abraham comfort
in regards to Sodom and the lot. He said the judge of the earth
shall do right. He does right. Everything in this world is wrong.
What is the hymn we sing? This is my Father's world. Though
the world seems all in the world so wrong, God is the ruler yet.
He does what's right. And Romans 3 talks about the
law declares His righteousness. And our Lord in John 7, the Lord
said, don't judge according to appearance, sight of the eyes
or hearing of the ear, but judge righteous judgment. Okay. Our Lord looks on the heart,
not on the appearance for his judgment on the heart. All right. Look at it with me. Exodus 23,
thou shalt not raise. And I want you to see, you know,
the law has primarily a spiritual application. The law is spiritual. It says we're carnal. And our
Lord magnified the law. Remember, he showed the spirituality
of it. The Lord did write the law for
practical reasons, you know. Everything he said was good. Even concerning the treatment
of animals. So it's all good. that one wants
to see the spiritual application of it and practice. Verse 1,
Thou shalt not raise a false report or receive a false report. Hear it. Put not thine hand with
the wicked and be an unrighteous witness. False report and unrighteous
witness. Now, remember, our Lord wrote
all of this, and the principle applies in every principle. God hasn't changed. His principles
of right and wrong have not changed, okay? We're not under the law,
thank God. as a covenant of works to be
saved, or even as our code of conduct, because which laws do
you abide by, which not? Because there's so many. But
as I said, the principles of these things, our Lord taught
these principles. And our Lord said, judge righteous
judgment. And He meant that. He meant that.
Don't receive a false report. An unrighteous witness, don't
receive it. You know, they raised false witnesses
against our Lord, didn't they? This certainly applies more than
anything else to the false gospel that this world is perpetuating
and the false unrighteous witness of the gospel of all these people
are going door to door to witness of Jehovah that they don't even
know him. and the Mormons and so forth of a false Bible, a
wrong, you know, Scripture is not the Scripture. And then,
and on and on it goes. The Southern Baptist religion,
all of it's false, it's false. Don't listen to it, he said.
Look at verse 2. Thou shalt not follow a multitude
to do evil, neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after
many to rest judgment. Don't follow the multitude. My,
my. Everybody in the world believes
that because most people believe something, it must be true. The
opposite is true. The truth has always been in
the minority. Noah was a preacher of righteousness,
wasn't he? For a hundred years he preached
righteousness. Whose righteousness? God's righteousness. And this is all a picture of
Christ, isn't it? His law bears witness of Christ. The true witness
is the true witness of Christ. And Noah preached for a hundred
years, God is holy, God is just. He will by no means clear the
guilty. He's going to punish sin. There's one way to escape
the wrath of God. Get in the ark. To come to Christ, to believe
Christ, is to believe that God will punish sin. and that you're
a sinner, and you need your sins covered. You need your sins forgiven. You need your sins paid for.
Christ said, I am the way, the truth of a holy God, and he's
right. The truth that's simple as man.
The truth that you need a substitute. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. The law doesn't give life. The law kills. But Christ
came to give life. I've come to give life. Although
He did show us how to live, but that's not why He came. He came
to give life. So, Noah preached righteousness,
God's righteousness. Get in the ark. A hundred years,
he's pounding that hammer. With every pound of that hammer,
he's driving a nail into John. Christ is that nail in a sure
place. Get in the ark. Get in the ark. And the whole
world concluded There's no way that that one man and a few people
can be right and everybody else wrong. The whole world in a hundred
years, every, the whole world would find out about that. You
know, they didn't need internet. God's never needed internet anyway. So the whole world concluded,
there's no way. that this man can be right and
everybody else be wrong. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. When Christ came, the whole world
was wrong with him. There's one man that was right.
And Noah, his name means rest. He represents Christ, doesn't
he? So God's people say, let God
be true. And every man a liar. And they come to Christ. So he
said, don't follow the multitude to do evil. It's evil. I don't
care how moral. I don't care how the things that religion does
in the name of God to, you know, for the poor or for the this
and that and the other. God says it's evil because they
do it in their own name for their own glory. All right, verse 2 says, Neither
shalt thou speak in a cause to decline, after a minute to rest
judgment. Rest judgment. Oh, how people
rest and twist. Rest means twist, these scriptures. Oh, how religion is the worst,
isn't it? That's what Peter said in 2 Peter.
Neither unlearned and unstable do rest and twist the Scripture. Look at verse 3. He said, Neither
shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause. Now, our Lord is dealing with,
has said, judgments in this world. And there are men who were set
forth as judges who, and I quoted to you, he that ruleth over men
must be just, ruling in the fear of the Lord. Well, there's none
of that today. Well, back then, the Lord said He put some men
in judgment that had the fear of the Lord, like Moses. And
he says, you don't rest judgment, do proper true judgment. Verse 3, don't countenance a
poor man in his cause, meaning because somebody's poor, don't
acquit them and don't take up their cause just because they're
poor. Politics today. For applause and for votes, side
with the poor no matter what, don't they? For votes and for
applause. One party in particular is, I
think, champions itself as the party for the poor people. We are all about the poor, the
poor, the poor, aren't we? While this other party is about
the rich. Isn't that what they say? They're all about money,
both sides, about money. They just seem like they're for
the poor. Well, just because a man's poor
doesn't mean he's not guilty. And you can keep doing and doing
and doing and doing for the poor, and they don't deserve it. You know, the Lord, there was
no so-called welfare in Scripture. If you didn't have, you'd go
out and you'd work in the field and you'd glean. You'd pick up
the food and you'd glean. Okay? It wasn't just handing
it out, handing it out, handing it out, handing it out. If you
keep doing that to somebody, they're never going to hit a
lick out of the kettle. They're not going to raise a hand. They'll
let you. Now that's worthless. Our Lord in the New Testament
said if a man doesn't work, don't let him eat. Isn't that right? And those who couldn't, you know,
God's righteous in His judgment. Man's not. So man says, well,
let's meet all the needs of the poor. Well, there have been some
men to, you know, let's give them jobs. Let's let them be
productive citizens. It's not good to just keep handing
out and handing out and handing out. So he says, don't favor
the poor just because they're poor. That's what he's saying
there. Are you with me? All right? Who does the Lord favor? One
time, it was Judas said, we should have given this, that oil that
the woman broke and the alabaster bought, we should have given
that to the poor. He didn't care about the poor. Scripture said he was
crooked, he was evil, just like politicians. He didn't care about
the poor. Our Lord said, our Lord was poor. Did he work? Oh, my. He said, there's 12 hours
every day. I'm working every day. But he
said, blessed are the poor in spirit. That's who the Lord favors. That's who the Lord will give
and give and give and give to. Those who can't work their way
to heaven, they know what drives them. Or verse 4, if you meet
your enemy's ox or ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring
it back to him again. If you see the ass of him that
hated thee, lying under his burden, lying down, he can't move, he's
bound under a burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, or you hate
this man, he's going to let his animal die. Well, an animal doesn't
deserve that. You shall surely help him. Now, didn't our Lord deal with
treatment of our enemies in the Sermon on the Mount? Didn't He? Let me read it to you in Matthew
5. Well, you can turn with me. Matthew 5. Our Lord said much about our
enemies. How did He treat His enemies?
Oh, my. Who was His enemy? Everybody. He came into a world full of
people that hated Him. Well, aren't you glad He did?
Aren't you glad He saw us under this burden and took it on Himself? Matthew 5, verse 44, I say unto
you, love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. This
is not only what Our Lord has done us, but this is just good. This is good. This is good. You
know, there's no end of strife. If you fight somebody and resist
somebody, there's not going to be any end of it. You're going
to keep trying to reprise or get vengeance, you know. I'll
get you for that. No, our Lord said, turn the other cheek. Just
put an end to it. You put an end to it. Our Lord
did in us. Verse 44, pray for them which
despitefully use you and persecute you. That's impossible. With
man, that's impossible. Our Lord sure did. Hanging on
that cross, first words out of His mouth, Father forgive them. Pray for them that despitefully
use you and persecute you. that you may be, verse 45, children
of your Father which is in heaven. He makes the sun to rise on the
evil and on the good. He sends rain on the just and
the unjust. If you love them that love you,
what reward have you? That's what Republicans do. Democrats do. If you salute your
brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even
the publicans? Be ye therefore perfect. See how perfect is applied
there. Be like your Father, which is
in heaven. It's perfect. Be holy. I'm holy, he said. In
Romans 12, let me read this to you. In Romans 12, he said Paul,
who the Lord gave such, such wisdom concerning the law. Paul wrote this in Romans 12,
verse 20. He said, If your enemy hunger,
feed him. If he thirst, give him drink.
In so doing, you'll heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome
of evil. Don't return evil for evil. You're
no better than they are. Overcome evil with good. What is it that leads us to repentance? The goodness of God. Look what
I did to Him, and look what He did for me. See how the law is good in it,
even in a practical way. This is what you're to do. But
oh, is it not wonderful how it speaks of Christ, what he did
for us. Now, verse 6 now deals with the
poor in another way. Thou shalt not rest the judgment
of thy poor in his cause. On the other hand, you don't
just side with the poor because they're poor, but on the other
hand, if a poor man cannot, he doesn't have the means to defend
himself or whatever, he gets righteous representation. You know where this country was
supposed to be founded on biblical principles, and some of it is,
okay? This is a nation where the gospel
has been preached, and so these fundamental principles of right,
wrong, good, and we're in places where there is no gospel, no
Bible, there is no, there are no human rights, so to speak.
There are despots, there are evil kings, and they just kill
somebody, you know, they can just, unrighteous judgment, and
they say, I don't like it, man, kill him. But not in this country. Everybody is entitled to a defense. And so they give. And this is
a good thing. If you're poor and you can't
plead your cause, you are appointed a public defender. I love, what are we going to
call this fellow? Public defender. You know, our Lord appointed
publican defenders. That's our Lord, isn't it? He's a publican defender. He's
came to defend publicans and sinners that can't plead their
cause. Poor. So, all right, verse 7. Keep
thee far from a false matter. Innocent and unrighteous slay
thou not. I will not justify the wicked. Keep thee far from
the false matter. Stay away from it. Keep your
distance Whatever cause the world is taken
up in, because you guarantee it, it's wrong. Right? Well, this seems like
a good cause. Brethren, we have one cause. The cause of crime. This pulpit,
this place, is taken up with one thing. I don't care how righteous
the cause seems to be. You know, the world is all taken
up with, you know, save our planet. Save our planet? Well, that sounds good. And that's
a world that doesn't believe there is a God. They worship
the creature rather than the Creator. side with them on it. We're not going to stand side
toe to toe with somebody about the injustice of our government
and so on. No, no, no, no, no, no. You know, if the true gospel
was preached, government would be would be good and just. We'd have a just
government if the pulpit was correct, doing what it should
be doing. Fear of God and preaching God, 2 Corinthians 6. Go over
2 Corinthians 6 with me. It says, keep far from a false
matter. I believe this certainly applies. 2 Corinthians 6. Our Lord talks about not being
yoked with unbelievers in anything. 2 Corinthians 6. Because you know what you're
going to do? You're going to be like Simon Peter. Simon Peter
was found sitting by the fire with a bunch of people that hated
Jesus Christ. And so he was linked right there with them. And to
keep anybody from finding him out, he kept his mouth shut. So he's guilty of killing his
Lord. You hear me? If you don't stand
up in defense, the witness of your Lord, and you keep silence
and faith in the presence of those who hate him, you're guilty. That's awful. If I'm sitting in a crowd of
people that hate my wife, you think I'm going to be silent? You can't do it. You can't, you
can't, you can't sit with, and you know, we have to deal with
people out there. We don't have, we can't have
any fellowship with them, companionship with them, can't. What are you
going to talk about? They hate God. Look at it, 2
Corinthians 6, verse 14, unequally yoked together with unbelievers,
what fellowship? What fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? What communion hath light with
dark? What concord hath Christ with
Baal, Belial? What part hath he that believeth
with an imitator? What agreement hath the temple
of God with idol? You're the temple of the living
God. God said, I will dwell in them and walk in them. I'll be
their God. They shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among
them. Is that what that says? Is that
what that means? Be ye separate, said the Lord.
That's not the unclean thing. You know, you say, well, our
Lord ate with publicans and sinners. Why? Why? To save them. And he did. But they weren't
his constant. He wasn't constant companion
with self-righteous Pharisees and, you know, he came to save
them. He can be right in the middle
of sinners and them not rub off on Him one bit. They not touch
Him at all. Because He's separate from sinners.
Holy, harmless, undefiled. You can't. You can't wallow with
pigs and not come out dirty. Right? Your cleanliness is not
going to rub off on them. It's the other way around. You
know it's so from experience. You know it's so. This is what
our Lord said. Come out from among them. Or
you're going to be guilty. And listen to this scripture
in Isaiah 8. He said, you know, come out from
among these. We're not with them in their
causes. Listen to Isaiah 8. The Lord
spake with me in a strong hand, instructed me I should not walk
in the way of this people. Say not a confederacy to them,
the people that say a confederacy. Don't fear their fear. Don't
be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself. Let him be your fear. Let him
be your dream. Don't join with this confederacy.
Back in 2020, when the Lord sent that plague, There were believers
that were taken up with that cause. And I've seen their Facebook
pages. And they have a big sign saying,
I was vaccinated. Let's all get vaccinated. We
can do this. They said that. We can do this. Come out of that. We can't do
nothing. I'll tell you what we can do.
Let's pray. that this righteous judge of
the earth that sent this plague will remove it. It ain't going
to be a vaccination, joining with the world and pleading these
causes. Come out! Destroy your Facebook
page, if that's what you're all about. Get out of that. We're not of the world. We're
in it and we're not of it. We're not joining its causes. We have one cause for being on
this world, on this earth, in this world. Christ came for one
cause. And He told His disciples, you're
in this world, but you're not of this world. Don't join with
them in any cause for any reasons. I don't care how righteous it
may seem. There's one righteous cause. What we want is for men and women
to know Jesus Christ. Because God is going to destroy
this planet. We're not out to save this world. We want the salvation of sinners.
All right, go back to Exodus 23. He said in verse 8, Thou shalt take no gift Gift
blinds the wise, perverts the words of the righteous. Oh, my. Oh, boy. The love of money, Scripture
says, is the root of all evil. The worst evil of all is false
religion. What's it all about? Very plain
to us what false religion is about. Money. It's all about
money. And so it perverts the eyes of
these who are supposed to be wise and supposed to be righteous,
these religious leaders. It perverts their eyes. And it
makes them pare down. You get a big crowd. You'll get
a big crowd if you tell them how much God loves them and needs
them and, you know, well, God wants them to be rich. And, you
know, Joel Osteen down there has watched more than anybody
anywhere. Millions and millions upon millions
of people watch him and give him their millions. He's worth
something like 50 or $60 million. He's not worth that, but he has
it. And they're just flocked. It's people all over here. God
wants you to be rich. And people love that. But if
you stand up and tell who God really is, that God is God, and
what man is, a worm, a hell-deserving, wrath-deserving rebel against
God, and what salvation is, it's not anything you can do. But you cannot save yourself.
All you can do is plead for mercy and ask God to forgive you of
your sins against Him. And there's one way, a substitute,
a bloody sacrifice, the blood of a lamb on your behalf. Oh,
that's old-fashioned. Preacher, that's over. That's
archaic. God's not that holy. Man's not
that bad. That's barbaric. No, it's not. It's truth. God hasn't changed. That's the God of the Bible.
This is about how many you'll get in any given place. Because God has a remnant according
to what? Somebody say the word. Election. Oh, don't you dare preach that
preacher. You won't get a big crowd talking
about God's sovereign election. I'll tell you who you'll get.
The elect. The doctrine won't save you.
But I tell you, if God saves you, you'll realize, you'll understand,
you'll give Him all the glory for choosing you. Oh, you'll know, I didn't choose
Him. I chose sin. But God. Stay far away from all that.
Take no gift. Verse 9, Our Lord didn't come
for gifts, did He? He came to give and tovert His
Word. Verse 9, Thou shalt not oppress
a stranger. You know the heart of a stranger.
You know the heart of a stranger seeing you are strangers in the
land of Israel. He's already told us this. He keeps reminding
us this. And He reminds us all the way
through Deuteronomy. Remember. How are you supposed
to treat strangers? Why? Because you were just like
them. Turn with me to Titus, really
quick, real quick. Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter
2, real quickly. I've got to hurry. Oh, my. Don't you love it? We're
looking at God's law. Don't you love it? Love it. Titus chapter 2. And these principles
of righteousness and holiness like God is, he said, be perfect.
It's what the grace of God, the gospel of God's grace teaches
us. Verse 11, Chitus 2, the grace of God brings salvation, appearing
unto all men, teaches us, deny ungodliness and worldly lusts,
live soberly and righteously and godly like God in this present
world. Verse 14, he gave himself for
us, redeem us. from all iniquity, purifying
himself, peculiar people, just and righteous, zealous of good
work. Chapter 3, they said now, verse
2, speak evil of no man, be no brawlers. Remember in the law
it said don't speak evil of the ruler. Don't do it. All these
principles are still in the New Testament. Principles of righteousness. God hasn't changed. Be gentle,
showing all meekness unto all men. Verse 3, remember, we ourselves
were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts
and pleasures, living in malice, envy, hateful, hating one another,
but God. That's Ephesians 2 and that's
Colossians 3. So remember, and that's the reason
God's people never look down on the world, we should pity
and have compassion on them, not take part with them, but have pity upon them. Now read on. I've got to just
get through this quickly. I'm out of time. Chapter 23,
verse 10. Six years thou shalt sow thy
land and gather in the fruits thereof. Seventh year, Thou shalt
let it rest and lie still, that the poor of thy people may eat."
That is, they go in and glean what came up from the last year. And what they leave, the beast
of the field shall eat. My, my. Doesn't our Lord feed
every creature on the earth? Yes, He does. In like manner,
deal with the vineyard and with thy olive yard. Six days, verse
12, thou shalt do thy work. On the seventh day, thou shalt
rest. Thine ox and thine ass may rest. Thine ox and thine
ass may rest. The son of thy handmaid, the
stranger, the slave may be refreshed. In all things, I've said unto
you, be circumspect. Rest. Now what is he speaking
of there? Rest. He tells them to rest the
land, to let the beast eat, be replenished and restored and
rejuvenated and rest, and your handmaid and a stranger, all
may be refreshed. What is all this speaking of?
Christ. Rest. The older I get, the more
I love rest. The more I need rest. When I was real young, I didn't
need rest. I didn't need rest. I remember my parents used to
take a nap every Sunday afternoon. And I remember thinking, what
a total waste. Why would anybody do that? Now,
you know what I find myself doing? Rest is wonderful, isn't it? So wonderful. Rest from labor,
rest from work, rest for the weary soul. Come unto me, Christ
said, I will give you rest. There's rest for those in religion,
trying to keep the law, trying to be righteous. Oh, how I wish
the Lord would I have pity on these German Baptists, these
Amish and all that. I really do. Don't you? I feel sorry for them. Don't
you wish the Lord would bring them in here and hear the Gospel
and they just... to hear them collectively sigh
really... You mean I don't have to? No.
Just rest. Rest. Martin Luther. Oh my. The Lord gave him rest. He went
out into the sunshine. The just shall live by faith.
Rest. Rest for those in the world trying
to find peace and happiness and security in all their labor,
trying to obtain things, trying to be happy and trying to get
security for them and their family and trying to find happiness
that you will never find it. You're going to work all your
life. It's like a man seeking goodly
pearls. When he finds one pearl, he searches
over. Rest for those in bondage of
sin and striving against sin. That's us. Striving, fighting
against the flesh. We're fighting and fighting and
fighting against this flesh. It's an unending fight. It seems
like it's an unwinnable fight, doesn't it? How can we find rest
from this struggle against sin? He looked and cried. He said,
I've finished the work. Look at him there. He said, tell
them the good news. The warfare is accomplished.
Their iniquity is purged. Rest for those who have all their
fears and all their worries, all their doubts, all their...
I just don't know if they can make it. How are we going to
make it? I'll tell you how. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. And he said in
closing, verse 13, in all things I've said unto you, be circumspect.
Circumspect. That word means watch. Watch
out now. Watch out against, pray against
false reports and false gospel and false witnesses and against
unrighteous judgment and dealings with strangers. And watch out,
falling in with the world, don't do that. Taking up false causes,
watch out now, pray about it. Watch out about missing this
rest. Some missed this rest. And he
said, and he's going to take this up much, much more, make
no mention of the name of the gods. Don't let that name be
in your mouth. God was so, he's jealous. His name is jealous. And brothers
and sisters in the world of religion thinks we're too hard, thinks
we're too narrow, thinks we won't join in with them for
anything. We can't. We can't pray with
them. We can't meet with them. We can't worship with them. We
serve different gods. And they hate our God, and we
hate theirs. And so, no, don't take no part
with any cause of man or certainly cause in religion. Can't do it.
Can't do it. Okay.