Let's read the whole chapter
of Exodus 22. I read it again this morning.
It took me four minutes. We cannot deal with every verse
completely in depth for the sake of time, as you know, but we
want to be faithful in a Bible study and we can at least read
it, can't we? Chapter 22 of Exodus, if a man
shall steal an ox or a sheep and kill it or sell it, he shall
restore five oxen for an ox, four sheep for a sheep. If a
thief be found breaking up or breaking and entering and be
smitten that he die, no blood shed for him. If the sun be risen
upon him, if he doesn't die, there shall be blood shed for
him. He should make full restitution. If he have nothing, then he shall
be sold for his theft. If the theft be certainly found
in his hand alive, whether it be ox, ass, sheep, he shall restore
double. If a man shall cause a field
or vineyard to be eaten, put in his beast and shall feed in
another man's field, of the best of his own field and the best
of his own vineyard shall he make restitution. If fire break
out and catch in thorns so that the stacks of corn and standing
corn of the field be consumed therewith, he that kindled the
fire shall surely make restitution. If a man shall deliver unto his
neighbor money or stuff to keep, and it be stolen out of the man's
house, if the thief be found, let him pay double. If the thief
be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought
unto the judges, to see whether he hath put his hand unto his
neighbor's good. For all manner of trespass, whether
it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, for any manner of
lost thing, which another challengeth to be his, the cause of both
parties shall come before the judges, and whom the judges shall
condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbor. If a man deliver
unto his neighbor an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast
to keep, and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, and no man see
it, then shall an oath of the Lord be between them both, that
he that hath not put his hand unto his neighbor's good, and
the owner of it shall accept his oath, he shall not make it
good. If it be stolen from him, he shall make restitution unto
the owner thereof. If it be torn in pieces, then
let him bring it for witness, and he shall not make good that
which was torn. If a man borrow aught of his
neighbor, and it be hurt or die, the owner thereof be not with
it, he shall surely make it good. But the owner thereof be with
it, he shall not make it good. The being hired thing came for
his hire. If a man entice a maid that is
not betrothed, and lie with her, He shall surely endow her to
be his wife. If her father utterly refused
to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry
of virgins. Thou shalt not suffer a witch
to live. Whosoever lieth with a beast
shall surely be put to death. He that sacrificeth unto any
god save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed.
Thou shalt neither vex a stranger nor oppress him, for ye were
strangers in the land of Egypt. Ye shall not afflict any widow
or fatherless child. If thou afflict them and any
wives, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their
cry, and my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with a sword,
and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.
If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by then,
thou shalt not be to him as a usurer, a lender, neither shalt thou
lay upon him usury or interest. If thou at all take thy neighbor's
raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the
sun goeth down. For that is his covering only.
It is his raiment for his skin wherein shall he sleep. It shall
come to pass when he crieth unto me. that I will hear, for I am
gracious. Thou shalt not revile the gods,
the rulers, nor curse the ruler of thy people. Thou shalt not
delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits and of thy liquors.
The firstborn of thy son shalt thou give unto me. Likewise shalt
thou do with thine oxen and with thy sheep. Seven days it shall
be with his dam. On the eighth day thou shalt
give it to me, give it me. Ye shall be holy men under me,
neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the
field. You shall cast it to the dogs. Now, the purpose of the
law is threefold. To reveal the holiness and the
justice of God. To reveal the sinfulness of man. We wouldn't know sin except by
the law. and the gospel. The gospel is
witnessed by the law. How sinful people can be made
holy. How God can be just and yet justify
the ungodliness of sinners. God is holy. God is just. God is righteous in all his ways. The law reveals his justice.
Justice means fair. The judge of the earth does what
is right. Even by animals. Do you understand
how just our God is? How righteous? He makes sure
animals are not mistreated. How much more you? Yes, people. God dealt with every conceivable
sin and crime in His law. Okay? Strict justice. It was the Lord who established
strict justice, an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. That
strict justice like that was a deterrent to crime. Don't you
know? Even today in Muslim countries,
in Islam, if you caught stealing, they'd cut your hand off. Boy,
you'd think twice about stealing again, wouldn't you? So God's
the one that did it. It was a deterrent. It was a
restraint to some sin and some crime. It doesn't remove it,
but a deterrent. I told you about Brother Cody
telling me that down in Mexico and these villages, you know,
Mexico is not a democracy per se. It seems to be, but it's
not. It's a corrupt government. Guilty
rich people, rulers, do whatever they want to do. Police can do
whatever they want to do. I've seen it done, extort people
with money, pull them over and say, give me money. But Brother
Cody said in the villages, if someone is raped, a girl or a
woman is raped and they found out who it is, they take him
out and hang him. The villagers, the men, take him and hang him.
So Cody said there's not much rape that goes on there. You're not under the law, and
thankfully, because, you know, vigilante justice, that's what
you call vigilante justice. You can't take the law in your
own hands. You can't do it, because it needs to be proven beyond
a shadow of a doubt somebody's guilty, okay? You understand? Alright, verses 1 through 4 deals
with stealing, breaking and entering. If a thief is killed, breaking
and entering, and he's killed, he deserved it. We died. We got what it's come to. I guess
we all got what it's come to. No, we don't. And I didn't mean
to start here, but I need to declare the end from the beginning.
God hath not dealt with us according to our sins. We're not under
the law. Thank goodness. Something might
happen and I wouldn't be able to say that. I need to say it
real quickly. That doesn't belong, because
we're all guilty if he's thinking of it. How many times have you
gotten so mad at somebody if you had a gun in your hand? Right? Or not? Come on now. Be honest. Your husband? Your wife? Right? Who stopped you? Your
own goodness? your own, you know, determined
that we know. God says, I can. So whatever
happened, no matter how bad it might be, God was the cause and
God sent to me and nothing could stop it. How the Lord do all
these things. Verse 5, it says, let me turn
back there. Verse 5 talks about an animal
destroying property. You make it good. Verse 6, arson. Somebody commit arson, burn up
somebody's field or whatever. You're going to pay for it. Verses
7 through 9 deals with difficult matters, matters you can't really
discern. So he said they're to be brought
before the judges. This man says this and this man
says that. Who do you believe? Well, they're
brought before judges. And God raised up judges. And
they're supposed to be, judges back then, even now, are supposed
to be God-fearing men. That's the only way justice will
be served. That's the only way mercy will
be dealt with. God-fearing men. The election of the judge, maybe
two terms ago, when was Clyde Perdue first elected? Two terms
ago? And then Billy Overton, both
of which I knew. Hannah went to school with her
children. When they were elected, I wrote them both a letter and
included this verse of scripture. It says, he that ruleth over
men must be just ruling in the fear of God. And I told them,
I'm glad you were elected. I voted for you. But this is
the way you are to rule, according to Scripture. Well, sadly, it
ain't that way now. You find me a God-fearing man
in some kind of leadership capacity. Therefore, there's no real justice.
But God is just. You see that? The law is good.
The law is good. Verses 7-8 is what that is. I'm sorry if I'm wrong. Yeah,
okay. 7 through 9. All right. Verse 10. Verses 10 through 13 talks about
the care of someone else's property. Someone's giving you something
to take care of and it's been stolen and you say, I didn't
do it. Well, There'd be an oath, verse
11, this is interesting. There'd be an oath between them
and the Lord. One says, I didn't do it. I swear it. Did swearing
on the Bible come from this? I believe it did. You know that?
If you're going to be a witness in a court of law, you know what
you're going to be required to do? Put your hand on the Bible and
say, I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but
the truth, so help me, God. An oath before the Lord. I think
that's where that came from. That means nothing today, doesn't it? I thought about, you know,
on our money, of all places to put God's name, one nation under
God, on money. It's all corrupt, isn't it? But
look at verses 14 and 15. A man borrow from his neighbor
and it'd be hurt or die. The owner's not with it. He'll
make it good. If you borrow something, you're
liable for it. That's a good thing. Isn't it,
Mike? We hate to loan tools to people.
But here, you know, my dad taught me this, and I'm giving you some
practicalities of it. If you borrow something, you
return it in better shape than when you got it. If somebody loans you their car,
fill the gas tank up before you send it back. That's just reasonable. Because they're loaning it to
you free, without interest. Have you read anything from Tiger
Reynolds lately? It's not cheap. So, God's, He's
right in there. He's a good and right, good and
right thing. We're going to see the spirituality
of the Lord in the end of this, okay? Alright, verses 16. Now, all of you young people,
every boy back there, and girl, I want you to read this with
me, okay? Look at verse 16. Read it with me. Are you looking? Verse 16, Exodus 22, 16. If a
man entice a maid, not betrothed, and lie with her, sex before
marriage, you must marry her. Did you read that? Who said that? God said that, didn't he? But, but, no buts, Pat. So, you know, sexual intercourse
outside of marriage is strictly forbidden by God Almighty. Strictly
forbidden. Don't do it. Save yourself for
marriage. If it happens, marry that person. Is that what this is? Is there
any room for And God's just. God's just because
you can ruin somebody's life. If not, he says, if the father
says, no, I'm not letting her marry this worthless, no good
fellow. I don't want him marrying her
at all. Then he's going to pay. He's going to pay something for
what he's done. That's right. That's good. Verse 18. Thou shalt
not suffer a witch to live. Kill witches. And again, now,
be thankful we're not under the law, because the whole world
thinks we're a cult. You know that? They think what
we're saying and doing is a cult. So they just can't take matters
into their own hands. And there are no God-fearing
judges. The ones that are are in pulpits, and they're not going
to run for circuit judge. Verse 19. Whosoever lieth with
a beast shall surely be put to death." Bestiality. Turn with me to Leviticus
18. Leviticus 18. And again, I'm just telling you
what God's Word says, right? How dare I not say what God's
Word says? Leviticus 18. Everybody turn
there. And this whole chapter of Leviticus talks about nakedness. Listen to me. 24 times talks about nakedness. It condemns the looking on of
nakedness, nakedness, getting naked and sex and nakedness. 24 times the Lord condemns it
strongly. Don't do this. Don't do that. Cover yourself. Don't look on
nudity. That's what it said, 24 times.
All right, look at verses 22 through 25. Neither shalt thou lie with any
beast to defile thyself therewith. Neither shall any woman stand
before a beast to lie down there to its confusion. Defile not
ye yourselves and any of these things. For in all these the
nations are defiled which I cast out before you. Look at verse
22. I forgot to read that. Verse
22. Thou shalt not lie with mankind
as with womankind. It's abomination. It's homosexuality. Who said that? God did. It's an abomination to God. God
puts that before bestiality. It's just, it's worse to God. It makes man worse than a beast.
Beasts don't copulate with one another, male and male and female. Do you understand? Do you see
how corrupt mankind is? Do you not see that man is totally
depraved? Worse than a beast. John Cowan
said, we apologize to the beasts because they're not this bad,
and they suffer because of sins of men. They're not sinners.
We are. Read on, verse 24. Defile not
ye yourselves in any of these things. Are you listening, young
people? Old people. In all these, the nations are
defiled which I cast out before you. All through the epistles,
he says, fornicators, adulterers, effeminate, drunkards will not
enter the kingdom of heaven. Those who habitually live in
this, that's being dead and trespassing sin. When God redeems someone,
He redeems them from the power of that. Such were some of you,
but you're washed. No longer in heaven. That doesn't
mean you're not tempted or tried, but that's what that says. You've
read it. Have you read it? Am I telling
you the truth? I am telling you the truth in this book. It's
an abomination to God. It hasn't ceased to be an abomination
to God. God hasn't changed. He hasn't changed. Look at verse
25. The land is defiled, therefore
I do visit the iniquity there upon it. Romans 118, the wrath
of God against all unrighteousness. The land is vomiting out her
abomination. It's filthy. This place is filthy. I want out and I want it out
of me, man. Don't you? And the problem today, you know,
I didn't mean to get on this, but false preachers. Say God's changed. God loves
everybody no matter what. That's not true. He hasn't changed. Go to Revelation chapter 14. There's another beast which the
world is lying with. And it's even more damning. Another
beast said, Thou shalt not lie with a beast, a woman with a
beast. Revelation 14. You know, God's Word doesn't,
He doesn't mince words, does He? He says things exactly. Human
beings take pride in just saying anything that comes off, you
know. Well, God deals with everything. He doesn't sweep it under the
rug. He tells it like it is. Revelation
14, verse 1, And look, lo, a lamb stood on the mount with him a
hundred and forty-four thousand. Verse 4, These are they which
are not defiled with women. They are virgins. They follow
the Lamb with a sober ego. They were redeemed from among
men. Verse 5, their mouths found no guile or without fault before
the throne. Verse 7, and he said, I saw an
angel saying with a loud voice, fear God, give him the glory.
The hour of his judgment has come. Worship him that made heaven
and earth, the sea and the fountains of water. Verse 9, third angel
followed with a loud voice saying, if any man worshiped the beast
and his image and received his mark on his forehead or his hand,
He'll drink of the wine of the wrath of God. Look down at verse,
well, chapter 17. Quickly. Chapter 17. Deals with
this beast. All through the Revelation, this
beast, this false religion. False religion. Satan is the
dragon. You understand? The beast is
this monstrous thing, Babylon, false religion. Okay. All right,
read chapter 17, verse 1. It came, one of the seven angels
talked with me. Come hither, I'll show you the
judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters, with
whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication. Inhabitants
of the earth may drunk with the wine of her fornication. What's
that talking about? Religion. Everybody's in bed
with false religion. And all through here, it talks
about the great whore that everybody, for money and pleasure. That's
what she's about. Look at chapter 18, verse 2. Are you with me? It's a Bible
study, people. You've got to read it with me.
Babylon, the greatest fallen, is fallen. She's the habitation
of devils, the hold of every foul spirit, the cage of every
unclean and hateful bird, and all nations have drunk the wine
of the wrath of her fornication. Kings of the earth committed
fornication with her. Merchants of the earth made rich
there. Catholicism. Fundamental religion,
you know. It's a great beast. Verse 4,
I heard a voice say, Come out of her, my people, that ye be
not partakers of her sins and her plagues. Her sins have reached
unto heaven. God hath remembered her iniquity.
So that's a beast. We cannot be a part of any so-called
church in this county or anywhere that does not preach this exact
gospel, we pray. We cannot be a part of it. You can't do it. So, go back
to the tip. Exodus 22. Exodus 22. So that's a beast, he said. Don't
lie with beasts. And you know how many homosexual
preachers and priests and so forth in religion today? God sees it. We just saw the
tip of the iceberg of 300 and some so-called priests indicted
for child molestation. What'd they do to them? Hardly anything at all. God will. Look at this, verse 22. In Exodus 22, 22. He says, You shall not afflict
a widower or a fatherless child. If you afflict any of them in
any wise, and they cry unto me, I will hear it. And I'll deal with it. If man
won't, I will. Aren't you glad our God reigns? Pedophiles are predators. You
need to kill them off. You know that? Kill them. That's what God said. Preachers are too hard. I didn't
say that. And men are going to wail and
gnash their teeth at God. How could you do this? And we're
all going to be shouting hallelujah because we've received mercy. It's only the mercy of God, you
men, that you're not pedophiles. I've known some men, some good
men. We've known some good men that
something that turned out to just shock you. I can't believe
it. Nobody gets by with anything. I'm glad God's on the throne.
I really am. Widows. He said if a widow is
mistreated, I will hear. Did they cry unto me? Twice God
says, if someone cries, I will hear them. Don't you like that? If someone cries to me, I will
hear. God hears every cry. That's because
He's God. Because He's just. Because He's
merciful. He said, I am gracious. Look
at that with me again. Verse 27. He said, it will come
to pass when He crieth unto me, I will hear. I am gracious. An unjust judge takes a bribe
and it shuts his ears, shuts his eye, not God. Can't bribe
God. Can't do it. What does that say
about these preachers? Preachers, these false preachers
are worse than pedophiles. Preying on widows' houses. You
know what the Lord said about, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees
and hypocrites. The Lord had mercy on publicans
and sinners and harlots in the street, but he looked at these
Pharisees and said, and he had venom in his eyes. He said, whoa,
you devour widows' houses. How corrupt can you get someone
living on Social Security while he's a multimillionaire and taking
their Social Security check? God sees it. You're not getting
by with that. Aren't you glad God's reign?
Aren't you glad? I will hear. Now, God takes no
pleasure in the death of the wicked, does He? Isn't that what
the Scripture says? He's merciful to all. He hears
every cry. I love that. But here's the thing. Psalm 145, 18 says God will hear
those who call upon Him in truth. All that call upon Him in truth,
He'll hear them. Everybody cries when they get
in trouble. God will hear and God will save
and God will be merciful to those who cry unto Him in truth. What is truth? Come on. Christ in the name of Christ.
Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner. I'm the worst. I'm the
chief. Please be merciful to me. Let
the blood be propitiation on the mercy seat. Have mercy on
me for Christ's sake. God said, I'll hear, and I will
be gracious. Such were some of you. But you're
washed. How? In the blood of the Lamb.
You're redeemed. He's redeemed your life from
destruction, from destroying yourself, from sin destroying
you, and from Him destroying you. You've been saved from the
wrath of God by God Himself. All right? Now, he says in the
closing, Verse 28. You need to hear this. Young
people, listen. You reading it with me? Exodus 22, 28. Thou shalt not revile the gods
of the ruler, nor curse the ruler of thy people. Don't cuss your
president. Don't do it. You seen this sign
everywhere? Let's go, Brandon. You know what
that means, don't you? Don't you? Just nod your head
if you know what that means. You know what that means? Chance,
do you know what that means? Let's go, Brandon. It's a play on words. I'm using
the word F-word about the President of the United
States. This society is gone. It's gone. The Lord's lifted
his hand. We're going to look at Romans 1 later. God's lifted
his hand off the earth. Do you see how badly we need
this place right here? Your children aren't going to
hear this in public schools. They're not going to hear it
in so-called Christian schools. Because God loves everybody.
He loves me just like they are. Right? Now turn to Romans 3. Let's look at the extent of the
law and the spirituality of the law. I told you, I want to deal
faithfully with exactly what God's Word says. I must. And
God hasn't changed. Romans 3, let's look at that. Romans 3, real quickly. Verses
19, let's just read it. And Romans 3, the first part
talks about those Jew and Gentile, they're unsaved, unregenerate.
They don't know God. There's no fear of God. They
don't know the way to God, the way of peace. They don't know
fear of God. That's the unbelieving world
and that's the religious world. No fear of God. It's not talking
about God's people. They've been changed. And here's
how they were changed. Verse 19, we know, who's the
we? God's people. That whatsoever
things the law sayeth, that sayeth to them that are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become
guilty before God. God says, Thou shalt not commit
adultery. He said, well you look on someone
unless you're guilty. You just didn't get the opportunity,
and God kept you from it. But you're guilty. If you'd had
the opportunity, if it presented, you'd have done it. If God hadn't
stopped you. He's done it, right? Guilty. Stealing. Covetousness. Have you ever given more change
in the store than giving too much money back in the store
and you caught it? Have you ever thought about keeping
it? Come on now. Look, is anybody honest in here
besides me? But you're conscious. God put
the law on your heart, you know. That's stealing. You can't do
it. You can't do it. Where do you
draw the line? Fifty cents? Steel stealing. Right? Well,
we're guilty in thought of breaking every law. Okay? In all the world. Verse 20. So by the deeds of
the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. By the law is the
knowledge of sin, he said. That's why God sent the law.
If there wasn't any law, there would be no sin. Everybody does
whatever they feel like. That's today in America. You see why the modern world
hates the Bible? You see why the modern world
hates those who believe the Bible? Call them hate mongers, and they
hate homosexuals, and they hate... No, we just believe God. We just
fear God. We're just saying what God says,
right? And we're not saying we're better
than anybody else. We just believe God. And by His grace, we'll
come out from that. There won't be any more part
of that. Might have been in that, thank God. But God brought me
out of that. You're trying to tell people
the judgment of God is going to come down. Alright, read on. Verse 21, But now the righteousness
of God, how it can be wholly unblamable, unreprovable in God's
sight, undefiled. is witnessed by the law. The
righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ. There's one truly holy and righteous
human being that ever walked this earth. It wasn't Moses. It wasn't David. It sure wasn't
David. It was Jesus Christ, one human being to walk on this planet
that God looked and said, I'm well pleased for His righteousness. This is a holy, righteous, just,
good, clean, pure, spotless, unblameable, unreprovable, altogether
lovely person right there. Who is it? God's Son. Why? Why did He come down here? To
show us how to live? To show us if we live like Him,
God can't. He just said He can't do it.
That's not the way. If that's the way, why did He
die on a cross? God took Him and put Him on a
cross. Why? He's good. He's holy. He's just.
Why would God kill this just man? He didn't. God made Him to be sin. that we might be made in the
righteousness of God. Substitution was God. He kept
the law. The law witnesses the coming
of the Jesus Christ. There's someone coming. The one
who wrote the law. He's the only one that can keep
the law. And so he came to keep the law for his people. The faith of Jesus Christ. Now look at verse 22, and I've
got to quit. It's unto all And upon all them that believe. What's that mean? It means He
put it on you. He gave it to you. Imputed it
unto you. On you. In you. For you. It's
all of Him. Nakedness. All things are naked
and open before the eyes of Him. Thoughts. This is why our sins
vex us. It's all naked before God. We
need a covering, though. Adam and Eve, when they first
sinned, what did they realize? First thing, we're naked. We're
sinful. We're unholy. God's holy. God's
just. He ought to kill us right now.
But God. See, Christ came wearing a perfect,
holy, spotless robe of righteousness. And you're a naked sinner. He
says, you're shivering. You're cold. He said, His own skin wraps around
you. Cover you naked. That's the gospel
spirit I can make. Blood was shed. His own. He was stripped naked, hanging
on a cross naked before everybody to see. Everybody laughing and
scoffing and mocking and looking on the nakedness of the Son of
God. He had no sin. He had no shame in himself. He was barren eyes. This is what the law says. We're
guilty. Everybody's guilty. The law doesn't excuse any transgression
at all. It says this is still wrong and
I will deal with it. But those who repent, that doesn't
just mean say I'm sorry, it means turn from it. Some men take issue
with me on this, and I don't understand that. What are you
repenting from? Well, you're repenting all. What
does that mean? Sin. Turn from sin to God. Say, Lord, I want out. I want
it out of me. Take all my sin from me. Away
from me. Okay. That's as good as I can
do.