My actual, the context from which
my message will come this morning is Deuteronomy 22, all the way
through chapter 26. As most of you are now, of course,
aware, I told you you had six chapters to read, and then I
realized my math was way off, and you only have five, but that
was for your benefit. It was not as long as you thought
it was going to be. I wish that was the only fault
I had. last week. Consider a brief overview. Of course, I'm not going to have
time to read these five chapters. Consider a brief overview, and
this is just going to be from chapter 22, verse 1, through
chapter 24, verse 22. And I want to think about these
commands. There's commands concerning lost
items. There is commands concerning
cross-dressing. There is commands concerning
birds and their broods. There is a command concerning
housetop guardrails. There is commands concerning
never mixing opposites. There is commands concerning
tassels for the clothing. There is a command concerning
promiscuity, rape, castration, bastard children, alien people,
with some exceptions. Even, now don't you get upset
with me, this is in God's word, there's even a commands concerning
bowel movements when you're at war. I know that'll go over well with
some. There's command concerning escaped slaves. There's commands
concerning whoredom and sodomy. There's commands concerning lending
with interest attached. You're not supposed to do it
in the law. No interest attached. There's commands concerning eating
from someone else's land. There's a command concerning
divorce. There's commands concerning newlyweds.
There's commands concerning millstones. There's commands concerning kidnapping.
There's a command concerning leprosy. Remember Miriam? Remember
Miriam Moses, that's his sister. There's commands concerning debts,
there's commands concerning slaves, there's commands concerning patricide
and matricide, and I've only got up to chapter 24, verse 22. There's still a couple chapters
left. And this is just five chapters
in 30 some chapters, and this is just one book amongst five
books. Wait a minute. I am wearied in
even paraphrasing. I'm wearied in even paraphrasing. Why? Here's where you really
need to turn to. Turn to Galatians, the book of
Galatians, and I will read to you one verse. Had I stood here,
and we heard two able messages this morning. Those of you who
were with us live stream, if you didn't get to hear those
when they're finally put online, you need to go back and listen
to those. Here's why this is wearying, because this thing,
I've just scratched the surface of the commands of God's law. I've just scratched the surface. Galatians chapter three, Verse
10, this is familiar, but you know, until God opens a man or
a woman's eyes, ears, and their heart, everything they heard
before has been of no avail until God opens their heart, minds,
and ears. For as many as, that means everyone
who is, That's what that means, and you know that. I don't mean
that to be condescending. For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse. For it is written, this is what
the law says, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things. Well, wait a minute, that just
means all the really important things. Are you saying God gave
us a law that's not important? Well that, you probably heard
that, well, we're talking about the moral law. You still have
to be under the moral law. Are you telling me there's a
law that God gave that's immoral? But yet there are some, if they
ever really read the law, they would call some of them immoral. We read a few, a few weeks ago.
You see, the natural man's not going to receive the things of
the Spirit of God, whether it's law or grace. God must work a
work in the heart, mind, and soul of an individual before
they'll understand, Paul, that wall that they bump up against.
Or before they even begin to understand the glorious gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. And as I said, I have just scratched
the surface. Scratched the surface. Now, having
even said this, there are some who would hear this message,
if they heard this message, if they're unregenerate, if they're
unregenerate, they steal. I could read that list again.
And I can add to that list the next time. More commands. And I can add to that list the
next time. And they can listen to all of those messages I preach,
and yet they still seek to be justified before God by the works
of the law. Are there not still people out
there that do that? Turn with me to Acts chapter 15. Acts chapter 15. And listen to what
Peter wrote, and Luke is recording this. Verse 10 of Acts 15, now
therefore why tempt ye ye God? What's he talking about? There's
some people that come in to Jerusalem and were saying you need to be
circumcised to keep the law of Moses to go along with Jesus
Christ. They weren't denying Jesus Christ.
Mason, they weren't even denying sovereignty. They weren't even
denying his efficacious death. They're just saying that death
also has to have with it. Now you say that don't make sense.
The natural man don't make sense. the enemies of God don't make
sense from this book. They do in their own minds. They
do so to other liars. But look, now therefore why tempt
ye ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which
neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? You read this law
and the more you read it, the more you realize I haven't done
it. Even the ones you haven't read yet the ones you have you
realized even when I put forth my best effort It didn't really
be all I did was summarize and that list just wears you down
does it not? Huh, I just briefly paraphrase
and the list wears you down We're not able to bear it if you think
you are you are blind You are deceived, but we believe that
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved
even as they. In other words, Christ does it
all in everybody that he does it for. And Christ alone. Listen to what also is said in
chapter 13. This is Paul now, so here's two
witnesses. That's the first witness, that's Peter, right? Here's what
Paul said in Acts chapter 13, verse 38, be it known unto you
therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. We don't offer it, we preach
it. We preach it. And there's a big
difference in that, but I don't have time to spend on that. We
preach forgiveness of sins. We don't offer it. God don't
offer it. Jesus doesn't offer it. The church
doesn't offer it. The Holy Spirit doesn't offer
it. We preach it. And by him, all that believe,
and the point, the emphasis is believe in him, believe on him,
and believe him. All of those, and all that believe
are justified from all things. All things. From which ye could
not be justified by the law of God. Moses now you be careful. I'm paraphrasing he goes on so
you be careful that you if you're one that don't listen to what
I've just said Do you what is it? You want to read it later?
Think then how abominable it is when men hammer on just one
or two commands Huh? They hammer on one or two commands.
You know what I'm talking about? In case you don't, there are
those who constantly, if you watch them, I'm not encouraging
you to do it, but if you listen to them on the internet, radio,
or watch them on TV, they will always, almost every message
is something about keeping the Sabbath. And especially for one
group, it's not the Christian Sabbath. It's the Levitical Sabbath. Friday evening at sundown to
Saturday evening at sundown. And those who call that the Sabbath
are more correct than the ones that talk about the Christian
Sabbath, which begins Saturday night at midnight and ends Sunday
night at midnight. Right? The Christian Sabbath
is a person, Jesus Christ. but these people hammer on the
Sabbath, the Sabbath. And I've listened to them a little
bit. I've never once heard them ever mention the law of the bowel
movement. Have you? Have you heard any
preacher get up and preach about that subject? Yet is it not a
command of God? Now you read it. Is it not a
command of God or to hammer on tithing? Just tithing, or maybe
a couple, or on divorce. And you know why usually, you
know why the Sabbatarians are crying out Sabbaths, and the
tithers are crying out tithing, or those are preaching against,
because somebody in their congregation ain't doing those things. And
they gotta bring them back in line, or somebody's doing one,
so and so been stepping out over there, and it's time to hammer
on divorce. Well what about loaning somebody
some money, and then wanting a couple extra dollars back with
it? We've got banks that do that all the time. God said by his
law, you don't do that. Man needs $100, you give him
$100. And what does he owe you back? $100. But I'm not, as Paul said, I'm not
here to preach the law. I've tried to give you, just
to scratch the surface of what the law says. Who among us has only one or
two shortcomings when it comes to God's holy law? Who among us has only one or
two shortcomings when it comes to God's holy law? If you think
you only have one or two, you have never really read God's
law, let alone God show you down in here what his law really is. I need the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ. But let's glean now for the remainder
of my time. And you know what I mean by glean?
To glean doesn't mean you go in and get big handfuls. It was
picking up the drops, the specks. In the corners, it may have been
a handful or two because they were told not to reap the corners
but leave that for the gleaners. But gleaning means you go around
and get a little bit here and a little bit there. There's two
reasons why I say that. One, I don't have time to try
to deal with every commandment. All of them have a spiritual
application, just like don't muzzle the mouth of the ox that
treads the corn. And Paul said that applies to
gospel preachers. Don't expect them to provide to you spiritual
truth and then not help them along the way monetarily some,
however it be. A dozen eggs or a $5 bill, whatever
it is. And that's about what it costs
now, a couple, two or three dollars for a dozen eggs now. Unless
you got chickens and I think they're unclean, ain't they?
So, you can't win for losing, as we say. But let's glean just
a little. And I'm gonna try to give you
five. I will give you all five. Lord willing, if he don't kill
me dead right here, and those who get this on TV probably won't
get all five. But let's look at this lost items. Turn back now to Leviticus chapter
22. Leviticus chapter, Leviticus, I'm sorry, Deuteronomy chapter
22. Deuteronomy 22. Thou shalt not see thy brother's
ox or his sheep go astray and hide thyself from them. Thou
shalt in any case bring them again to thy brother. Now you
understand that, right? You got a brother and he's got an animal
that got loose, you take that animal back to your brother.
You don't get that animal, sneak it over here somewhere and wait
several days till it's dead down and you slaughter it for yourself.
You take it back to him. And if thy brother be not nigh
unto thee, or if thou know him not, you don't know whose animal
it was, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house. Well,
what is it today we use? Finders keepers. Don't we? And we justify ourselves on things
like that, right? Bring it to thy house and it
shall be It shall be with thee until thy brother seek after
it, and thou shalt restore it unto him again. In other words,
you don't do anything with it if nobody ever comes for it.
That's what it's saying, right? Look, in like manner shall thou
do with his ass, and thou shalt do with his raiment. When thou
hast lost the slave of thy brothers, which he hath lost, thou hast
found thou shalt do likewise, thou mayest not hide thyself.
You see your brother's ass or ox fall down by the way, and
hide thyself from him, thou shalt surely help him to lift them
up again. Well, he got himself, he shouldn't
have been out there doing that anyway. Christ said if your ox
fell in the ditch on the Sabbath day, you get it out. And if you
see your brother's ox, then you break the Sabbath and go help
him get his ox out. Yes or no? Is that not what Christ
said? That's the way you'd apply this
law, but think about this. There is something that's lost.
They're called lost sheep. And they're owned by a great
and good and merciful and compassionate shepherd. And under the law,
almost all of us has probably picked up a $5 bill. And if we
never knew who it was, did we at least take it and give it
to somebody else? Or what do we do? Put it back
here, don't we? I've done it before. Have you? I ain't never done that one. Well, OK. I got about 600 and some more,
they say. We could go through them until we find one, right?
Now what does it say about the good shepherd in Luke 15, one
through seven? When he has a lost sheep, he
goes out and he searches till he finds it, and he's not depending
on me, and he's not depending on you, he's not depending upon
anything else but himself, and he'll go out until he finds that
lost sheep, and he'll lay it on his shoulders, and he'll bring
it all the way back home, and then he'll say, let's have a
party. Listen, I'm not talking about
a riotous, you know what I'm talking about. He said rejoice
with me. I found my sheep. I ain't never
found one. I might have happened to been
around every once in a while when God found one, but God his
son finds the sheep. I might even have preached a
message, Joe, that God used to help someone, but one sows and
another waters, but God Almighty gives the increase. What about
the law of birds and broods? Chapter 22, verse six and seven. If a bird's nest chants to go
before thee in the way of any tree or on the ground, because
there are nesters in the ground, in trees, whether they be young
ones or eggs or the dam sitting upon the young or upon the eggs,
thou shalt not take the dam with the young, but thou shalt in
any wise let the dam go and take the young to thee, that it may
be well with thee and that thou mayest prolong thy days. I got to be careful how I say
this because I don't know when the statute of limitations run out on man's
law. You're waiting? You waiting on this? I'll tell
you exactly what it was one time. But I dispatched a beast one
time that should not have been dispatched. Boy, I thought I
made such a great shot. But I was a little fella. But
Mason, my conscience later began to eat me alive. And I didn't
even know this law then. I have no recollection of this
law then. You know what that was? That was the law of God
written in my heart and mind, even as an unregenerate individual.
I knew that was wrong. I knew that was wrong. But in Mark, he records in chapter
four, verse 30, 31, 32, Christ said, what can I like in the
kingdom of heaven until it's like a grain of mustard seed?
little, teeny, weeny thing. And you plant that little, and
it's a herb. It's not an oak tree, it's a herb, but you plant
that thing and it becomes the greatest of the herbs. So that
what, even the fowls of the air, and some of the fowls of the
air are unclean animals, aren't they? And even some of those
fowls of the air come and nest, rest, lighten the branches thereof. God does care about sparrows.
But he cares more about his people. Now is that what Christ said
or not? Are you not worth more than the sparrows? That's not
your own personal worth. That's a worth that is granted
because God Almighty loved you from before the foundation of
the world. You know, one preacher said one
time, worth is determined by what you pay for it. Right? I mean, I see a pair of $500
shoes. It ain't worth that to me. I'm not going to do it. I
don't got it. Another guy comes along, he sees
a pair of $500 shoes, and he's been wanting them shoes. It ain't
no problem for him. You see, it's how much you pay
for something that shows how much you see as worthy. What
did God pay for us? His Son became eternal flesh. Eternal flesh. Think about this. Total opposites not to be mixed.
22, 9, 10, and 11. Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard
with diverse seeds, lest thy fruit of thy seed which thou
hast sown and the fruit of thy vineyard be defiled. Thou shalt
not plow with the ox or ass together. Thou shalt not wear a garment
of diverse sorts as of wool and linen together. Thou shalt not
make thee fringes upon the four quarter of one end to another.
I'm sorry. You see this? Don't mix opposites. Now where do you think this is
gleaned from in grace? If by grace, then it's not by
works. And if it's by works, then it's
not by grace. Otherwise, grace ain't gonna
be grace then, and work ain't gonna be work. And it is called
the election, right there in that passage, Romans 11, one
through six. It's even connected to election. The election of grace. Now, when you read that list,
I started reading that list to you. Come on, be honest. And especially when I got to
the one about what you gotta do at war. And it's like, that's
disgusting. Yes, it is disgusting. But now
I'm starting to worry the self-righteous about what I've been saying now,
ain't I? If there's a self-righteous person hearing this message,
they're thinking, wait a minute, I mean, that, that, that, those
laws can't be important now. It's God's law. It's still God's
law. And if you're trying to be justified
in God's sight by the law, you got to do it all. People really think just give
it your best shot and Jesus fills in the gaps. That's not the truth. That's the lie that was being
taught at Jerusalem. De-circumcised, keep the law
of Moses and believe in Jesus. That way you got everything covered.
No, if you don't believe in God's Christ, you don't bow down to
him, you have nothing covered. You are naked and open before
God and he's gonna judge you by his holy law. Wait a minute, chapter 23. Chapter
23, verse 12. Thou shalt have a place also
without the camp, whether thou shalt go forth abroad. And thou
shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon. A paddle is like a trenching
tool, or something to dig a hole with. Thou shalt have a paddle
upon thy weapon, and it shall be when thou will ease thyself
abroad. You've thought about it, don't
you? You have to go to the restroom, hmm? Then thou shalt dig therewith,
and thou shalt turn back and cover that which cometh out of
thee, or cometh from thee. I'm not trying us to be vulgar,
I want you to understand, cover it up like a cat. Dig a hole
and cover it up. Now you read that, and if you're
at least trying to be honest, trying to be honest, you say,
well, I understand this, if you go to war, and think of it, sometimes
they had 70, 80, 90,000 men. And they didn't have, like we
have today, portable Johnny houses. You understand what I'm saying?
You're going to fail your camp in no time. Right? But it's not just that. As a
matter of fact, that's not what's mentioned. Look, look. Verse 14, for the Lord thy God
walketh in the midst of thy camp. I'd love to say it the way I
want to say it, but God ain't going to walk in your defecation.
You see that? God ain't gonna walk in what
comes out of you. To deliver thee, and to keep,
and to give up thy enemies before thee, therefore shall thy camp
be holy, that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away
from thee. Do you see that? Now let's glean. Our Lord Jesus
Christ became human flesh. And the Lord of glory had to
go to the outhouse. You ever think about that? Yeah. The Lord of glory had to go to
a secret place. Did Jesus Christ ever preach
about bowel movements? Yeah, he did one time. His disciples
were eating, not washing their hands. People got upset. You're
defiling yourself. And Christ said, what you eat
and it goes inside of you, that don't defile you. It goes into
your belly and then you go to the outhouse. Now I'm paraphrasing,
and you go to your outhouse and you do what you gotta do and
get rid of what's left. He said, here's your problem. It's what
comes out of your evil, wicked heart. I'm sure there are a few of them
old Pharisees probably thought, but what about Deuteronomy 23?
Hmm? But see, they'd even taken that
and just washed your hands and it don't matter. Huh? God says you cover it up. But
even that don't make you really holy. Because you got to do the
rest of it too. Last one. Never pervert the right
way. Deuteronomy 24, 17 through 22. I'm not going to turn and read
that one. You don't pervert right and wrong. You don't even take
a man that's an unbeliever and treat him wrongly because he's
an unbeliever. You don't take a man or a woman that's a believer
and treat them right just because they're a believer. That's what
he says, that's what that law said. But in 2 Corinthians chapter
four verses one through six, what did God say through the
apostle Paul? We don't corrupt the word of
God, but we preach the truth of God in Christ to every man's
conscience. We don't lie about man and we
don't lie about God. Now I know that hurts man, it
angers man, it offends man, but it's the truth. Now turn with
me to Jeremiah chapter 31, and I'm closing with this. I have
surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus. Thou hast chastised
me, and I was chastised as a bullock, unaccustomed to the yoke. Don't
like it. don't like it, turn thou me,
and I shall be turned. For thou art the Lord my God.
Surely after that I was turned, then I turned. You see it? I
repented, and after that I was instructed. I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed, yet even confounded,
because I did bear the reproach of my youth. I want to be like
that. Don't you? I want God to show
me how bad I am and show me how glorious and righteous Jesus
Christ is.