Deuteronomy chapter 23. Last week we looked at verse
17. There shall be no whore of the
daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel. We looked
at that last week and talked a little bit about these sodomites.
And I got a little email from a lady. I think she lives out
in California. She said she was listening to
last week's lesson, and she said she thought it was somewhat interesting. She sent me a little link, and
I got on it, and they're trying to get a law passed in California
to kill homosexuals. And I thought, boy, they'll surely
not get a law passed that way, but you know who's going to get
blamed for a law like that, or attempting to get a law like
that. They do things like that to blame Christians. They said,
well, here's what Christians want to do. They want to kill
homosexuals. But I thought that was interesting.
She did, too. She said that law they were trying to get in the
legislature out there to get a hearing on it or something.
But let us begin tonight, and I think verse 18 is somewhat
linked to verse 17, but let's read verse 18 and begin there.
Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a
dog unto the house of the Lord thy God for any vow. For even
both these are abomination unto the Lord thy God." Now, verse
18 could be connected here to verse 17. These were whores and
sodomites who dedicated themselves to the temple, to these idolatrous
temples. And the vile acts that went on
inside these temples were very disgusting. So this probably,
verse 17 and 18, probably connect together. And one of the main
ways the heathen temples were maintained and some of it even
built was by these harlots selling themselves in the temple. That
happened so much in Babylonian area and in Assyria and even
Corinth, modern Corinth, they had that going on there in the
temple. I was reading John Gill and he quoted an historian, Herodotus
was his name, and here's what he said about what went on in
the idol's temple. He said, It was a law with the
Babylonians that every woman of that country should once in
her life sit in the temple of Venus. and lie with a strange
man. Here the women would sit with
crowns upon their heads in these temples, nor might they return
home again until some stranger threw money into their laps and
took them out of the temple and vulgarly laid with them. And
he that cast it into her lap must say, I implore the goddess
Melita for thee. the name by which the Assyrians
called Venus, nor was it lawful to reject the price, or the money,
or the gifts, whatever they be, for it was converted to holy
uses." Now that is what went on in their temple. We just cannot
relate to that, can we? John Gill went on and said also,
the Phoenician women used to prostitute themselves in the
temples of their idols, and dedicate there the power of their bodies
to their gods, thinking thereby to appease their deities, and
obtain some good things for themselves. So this was going on back in
Babylon and back in Assyria, so this was good instructions
and warnings from the Lord for Israel not to fall into these
things. And you know something? I want you to turn with me, hold
that chapter there, and I want you to turn to Micah. It's a little bit hard to find. It's over towards the last part
of the Old Testament, the Minor Prophets. It's on page 10 of
1005 in the Pew Bible. If you go to the book of Ezekiel
and begin to turn on to your right, you'll pass the book of
Daniel and Amos and Jonah. You'll come to Micah. Micah chapter
1 and verse 7. This is where Israel was going
to be taken into captivity by the Assyrians. They were coming
against them and here's one of the reasons they were coming
against them. They had set up their rivals even in the temple
of the Lord. We saw it last week that they
build like lean-to's onto the temple. And there's where these
sodomites stayed that had dedicated themselves to the Lord. But they
were supported in the temple by these prostitutes. Look here
in verse 7, Micah chapter 1 and verse 7. Here's what he said
was going to happen to them when the Syrians came against them.
And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces. They
had graven images set up in the temple. and all the hires thereof
shall be burned with the fire, and all the idles thereof will
I lay desolate. For she gathered it, she gathered
all these idles and all her little stuff she put in the temple,
of the hire of Nan Harlet, and they shall return to the hire
of Nan Harlet." They were supporting the temple just like The heathen
was supporting their temple. They had these harlots there.
And if this applies to our text, I think it does, this is what
was happening. They vowed to give so much money
or so many gifts to support the work of the temple. And they
didn't care how they got the money. The ends justify the means. If it was through the harlotry,
They would give it that way or through the sale of a dog. It
didn't matter how they got it. And that's why the Lord's judgment
and wrath come upon this people because of such vulgar, unheard
of sin. But the children of Israel were
always fallen into the sins of the heathen. That's why we, as
you look, as we looked in Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy and
He warns them about these things, you would think to yourself,
Why in the world would he get into things like this? But that's
exactly what they were doing. Warned them of it and yet they
fell into it themselves. And the judgment of God came
against them with Babylonians and the Assyrians. And these
dogs, the price of a dog, you shall not maintain the worship
of the Lord. Don't bring any price of a harlot
into the temple to support it. are the price of a dog. Now,
the Bible does not have very good things to say about a dog.
And it is not because it is any worse than any other animal,
but it is used to symbolize evil. Throughout the Scriptures, dogs
are used to symbolize evil and sin. Let me give you some places.
Anything that was ceremonial unclean that the children of
Israel were not to eat, they could feed it to their dogs.
They gave them everything that was unclean to be eaten. The
harlan shepherds, the shepherds that worked for a living, they
got into being pastors of Israel in the Old Testament, and here
is what the Lord called them. He called these shepherds dumb
dogs. And He called them that because
they wouldn't bark. They wouldn't warn the people of sin and of
judgment that was coming. He called them lazy dogs because
they wouldn't apply themselves spiritually. They were lazy dogs. And He called them greedy dogs
because they preached for money. Now you find that in Isaiah 56
in verses 10 and through verse 11. And you come over to the
New Testament and it's the same way. The Lord Jesus said, Give
not that which is holy to the dogs. And that woman that was
seeking the Lord for mercy, He said, Woman, it's not fit to
take the children's bread and give it to dogs. And she said,
True, Lord, but the dogs eat of the crumbs, the children's
crumbs that fall from their table. And then in Philippians chapter
2 and 3 verse 2, Paul says this, Beware of dogs, beware of evil
workers, beware of the concision. And apostates in the New Testament
are likened to dogs that return to their vomit again, and sows
that will wash to the water and in the mire. Last book of Revelations,
here is what the Lord Himself says, Blessed are they who do
His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life,
and enter through the gates into the city. For without are dogs,
and sorcerers, and adulterers, and idolaters, and every one
that loveth and maketh a lie. So what is our text teaching
when it is teaching this thing here in verse 18? Well, it is
teaching this, that God alone tells us how He's to be served. He tells us what He will receive
and what He won't receive. He tells us who He'll receive
it from and who He will not receive it from. God just don't receive
everything, does He? And He just don't receive it
from anybody. He'll take two little mites from
a poor widow that gives for His glory but he'll reject bags of
money from the scribes and pharisees who don't. He tells us how to
worship him. He tells us what he'll receive
and who he'll receive it from. And that's what he's doing here
with the children of Israel. He says, don't sell a dog and
bring the price of it into my house. Why? Because that's what
he said. That's just what he said. Sometimes
we don't need to know any more than that, do we? There's three
things that we think of when we think about giving. First
of all is this, it must be for God's glory. It must be for His
glory. Whatsoever you do in word or
deed, whether you eat or whether you drink or whatever you do,
do it all for God's glory. If a person is not given for
God's glory, he won't be accepted, will he? That's the first thing.
The second thing the Scripture teaches is to give from your
heart. Whatever we give to the Lord, it must come from the heart.
As every man has purpose in his heart, so let him give. And lastly, how do we get what
we give? How do we get? That matters,
doesn't it? How do we get what we give? Here's what David said.
David said, I will not offer unto the Lord that which costs
me nothing. I just ain't going to do it,
he said. The Lord will not accept that which is gone through lives
are through cheating or defrauded or wicked devices he just won't
do it he just won't do it I heard one woman talking about she'd
won a lot of money gambling and some fellow asked her what she
was going to do with it and she said I'm going to give part of
it to the church and I thought well you give it to the church
and they'll receive it but God won't God won't receive it you
can read you can read about the mafia specially upon the east
coast and they supported the catholic churches the catholic
churches would have went under without the mobsters and they
they would give the money they got from every vice and the catholic
church was glad to have it but god didn't accept it did he he
tells us what he will accept and what he will not accept here's
what proverb says The sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination
to the Lord. And why is that? The very next
verse tells us. Because the way of the wicked
is abomination to the Lord. He doesn't accept an offering
from wicked people, does he? And he says this, But the prayer
of the upright is his delight, and he loveth him that followeth
after righteousness. So it does matter why we give
it. We give it for His glory. We give it from the heart. We
give it by faith. And it matters how we got it.
It matters how we got it. I tell you, I'm amazed. I never
cease to be amazed with all the gimmicks religion has come up
with today to get money from people. I just stand amazed,
don't you? They're just constantly coming
up with all these gimmicks to get more money. It matters. God says it matters.
Back over here now in our text again, let's look in verses 19
and 20. Thou shalt not lend upon usury
to thy brother. Don't collect interest from him.
Usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of anything that is lent
upon usury. Unto a stranger thou mayest lend
upon usury. But unto thy brother thou shalt
not lend, upon usury, that the Lord thy God may bless thee,
and all that thou settest thine hand to in the land, whether
thou go to possess it." Now, what do we learn here about this?
Not loan into a person and charge them interest for money or something
like that. We know they weren't forbidden
to buy and sell and to trade. Some people make their living
that way. Some of the Jews no doubt made their living by buying
and trading and selling things. Made their living by giving loans. That wasn't for bid. That helped
society as well as giving them a job, doesn't it? So wasn't
anything wrong with making a living by having a bank. We need banks.
We need used car salesmen. Somebody can't afford a new car
and pay cash like Larry and Sue did to buy a new car. You have
to go buy a used car. So used car dealerships are good,
aren't they? But if they sold them for what
they had in them, they'd go out of business. If a bank didn't
charge you money on the interest they loaned you to buy a house,
they'd go out of business. So the Lord is not saying here,
don't charge interest, don't sell and buy and make a profit
on what you sell. But what He's saying is this,
and what He's forbidding is this. not to take advantage of a brother
that's fallen on hard times. That's what he was talking about.
Somebody's farm, their crops had failed, or their barn had
burned down, or the cattle had gotten diseased for some reason
or another. Don't take advantage of that person. Help him. Help
him out. Loan him whatever he needs, and
don't charge him interest of it. Don't take advantage of your
brother that has fallen on hard times. Now, I guess if he wanted
to borrow money to go on a cruise, that would be different, wouldn't
it? I see this nice horse and a nice
buggy and I don't need it but I want it, well, you might as
well get ready to pay some interest then, you know, if that's the
way you're going to be. But here's what the Lord Jesus said, even
about your enemies, love your enemies and do good and lend. hoping for nothing again, and
your reward shall be great, and you shall be the children of
the highest, for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil."
And what He is simply teaching us here is do not take advantage,
especially of your brother in hard times. If he has fallen
upon trouble, do not take advantage of him, help him out. And you
know there is one of the things even in the rich community among
the Jews now, they still do this. If they catch a Jew falling on
hard times, they'll have it. They still do that. But boy,
I tell you, they make sure he's on hard times. And he pays back
what he borrows from them. But they still have that sense
of community. At least I know in New York they do. Verses 21
through verse 23. This is concerning vows. This
is a very, very serious thing. Verse 21, And when thou shalt
vow a vow unto the Lord thy God, Thou shalt not slack. Don't slack
to pay it. Don't slack until you forget
it or don't have the means to pay what you vow. For the Lord
thy God will surely require it of thee, and it will be sin in
thee. But if thou shalt forbear to
vow, it shall not be a sin in thee. that which is gone out
of your lips thou shalt keep and perform even a freewill offering
according as thou hast vowed unto the Lord thy God which thou
hast promised with thy mouth." Now he defines what a vow is
there. It is a promise which you have promised. It is a serious
promise that you have made before the Lord, a solemn promise. And the wise man said this, He
tells us here how serious it is in Ecclesiastes. He says,
When you vow, vow unto God, defer not to pay it, for he has no
pleasure in fools. Pay that which thou hast vowed.
Better it is that you should not vow than you should vow and
break it. And what happens and what has
happened sometime in vows is that people make vows when they're
in trouble. And when you're in trouble and
you do something, it's usually done out of haste. And that's
what's so dangerous about making vows. Here's what David said
about it in Psalm 66, verse 13. I will go into the house of the
Lord with burnt offerings. I will pay Him my vows which
my lips have uttered and my mouth has spoken when I was in trouble. And in the Scriptures you see
sometimes people making vows in the time of their trouble.
One is very familiar. Probably all of you have read
the story about Japheth. Remember Japheth? He was in a
battle against Ammon. And he said, Lord, if you'll
deliver the Ammonites into my hands and let me slay them, when
I get back home, the first that meets me, the first thing that
meets me, out of my house, I'll offer it to you for a burnt offering."
Boy, that's bad. Why would you make a promise
like that? He's in trouble. He's in trouble. He thought himself and the whole
children of Israel were going to be beaten by the Ammonites.
Well, the Lord delivered the Ammonites into His hands and
He got back home. You remember the first one that
met Him? Here's what was said, Judges
11 and 34. And Japheth came to Mesphee unto his house, and behold,
his daughter met him with trembles and with dances." Daddy's home
from the war. She came out running and dancing.
And she was his only child. Besides her, he had neither son
nor daughter. And it came to pass, when he
saw her, that he rent his clothes and said, Alas, my daughter,
alas, you have brought me very low. You have troubled me, for
I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back. And he offered her a sacrifice
to the Lord. So that's a serious thing, isn't
it? He tells us it's serious, and the Lord tells us it's serious.
I tell you, my advice is found in verse 22. If thou shalt forbear
to vow, there shall be no sin in thee. That's my advice to
everybody. And the Lord Jesus Himself said,
Let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay. Whatsoever is more
than this, it just comes of evil. Just say yes. Yes, I'll do it. Or no, I won't do it. And let
it stand at that. Now God can vow, God can promise,
and God can swear, but He's God. He can promise, and He can keep
His promises. He swore to David, of the fruit
of your body, I will raise up Christ to sit on your throne.
And He did it, didn't He? He said to Abraham, when He made
promise to Abraham, He said, I swear by myself that blessing
I'll bless you. and multiplying, I will multiply
you. In you all the families of the
earth shall be blessed." And God is still keeping that promise
today. And He speaks to the errors of promise. When He speaks to
the errors of promise, He said, I want you to know that I am
infallible. I am wise and I have a will and
I have a determination to keep my promises. Whatever I promise,
I will keep. But you and I are not God, are
we? Well, we have to be careful when you and I promise. And I
emphasize this because your pastor got his step in trouble one time
when he was a young Christian, and I made a vow to the Lord,
and I didn't keep it. And when it was too late, when
I thought about it, it was too late, and I couldn't keep it.
What do you do in a situation like that? That was serious. I mean, I thought to myself,
I played the fool. I'm a fool before God. He has
no delight in fools who break vows. What do you do in that
situation? Do you offer another vow? You
know a passage of scripture I found that gave me so much comfort?
And I'll read it to you. Just hold that and look over
to your left in Numbers chapter 30. The 30th chapter of Numbers. This is one of the reasons I
emphasize this, especially to younger believers. This whole chapter is about making
vows. I tell you, it's always good
to remember that Jesus Christ died for our sins. For if He
didn't die for our sins, we're in trouble anyway, aren't we?
And if He didn't die for broken vows, If He didn't die for broken
promises, then all of us can be in trouble. With one sin or
another, we could all be in trouble. And it helps me greatly to think
that whatever sin I've ever committed, though I'm afflicted in my conscience,
Christ bore that sin, and therefore there's forgiveness for it. But
look here in the 30th chapter. This deals with two different
aspects of making vows and how one is released from them. And
Moses spake unto the heads of the tribes concerning the children
of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded,
If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his
soul with a bond, he shall not break his word, he shall do according
to all that proceedeth out of his mouth. Now in verse 3, If
a woman also avow unto the Lord, and bind herself by a bond, being
in her father's house in her youth, and her father hear her
vow, and her bond wherewith she hath bound her soul, and her
father shall hold his peace at her, then all her vows shall
stand, and every bond wherewith she hath bound her soul shall
stand. You will have to do it or she
is in trouble. But notice verse 5, But if her father disallowed
her in the day that he heareth, not any of her vows or of her
bonds wherewith she has bound her soul shall stand. And the
Lord shall forgive her, because her father disallowed her. And when I read that, my poor
soul took such great courage. Because I thought to myself,
I have a Father. I have a Father in heaven. And
when He heard me in the day of my trouble and He saw the vow
that I made should never have been made anyway, and He knowing
all things, knowing I wasn't going to keep it anyway, He disavowed
my vow. Now isn't that a blessing? I
thought to myself, what a blessing this is if my Father in heaven
says no. I'm not going to accept this
vow. And he didn't. And let's read on. And if she
had at all none husband when she vowed, or uttered aught out
of her lips wherewith she bound her soul, and her husband heard
it, and held his peace at her in the day that he heard it,
then her vow shall stand, and her bonds wherewith she bound
her soul shall stand. But if her husband disallowed,
her on the day that he heard it. Then he shall make her vow
which she vowed, and that which she uttered with her lips, wherewith
she bound her soul of none effect, and the Lord shall forgive her."
If she's got a husband, and the husband heard her making the
vows, and her husband said in himself, that's so unreasonable. You have no idea, my wife, what's
your vow, and I'm going to disallow. Now, isn't it a wonderful thing
to have a husband? Is Christ not our husband? And
can He not disallow the vow? Why would the Lord put this in
here, unless He has some dumb fellow like me that got in trouble
making a vow? Then I go here and say, I've
got a father, and I've got a husband, and if they disallow my vow,
then I'm forgiven. I'm forgiven. Boy, but woe be
to the widow, and woe be to her that has no husband and no father. Look in verse 9, But every vow
of a widow, and of her that is divorced, wherewith they have
bound their souls, shall stand against them. And if she vowed in her husband's
house, and bound her soul by a bond with an oath, and her
husband heard it, and held his peace in her, and disallowed
her not, then all her vows shall stand, and every bond which she
bound her soul shall stand. But if her husband hath utterly
made them void on the day he heard them, then whatsoever proceedeth
out of her lips concerning her vows, concerning the bond of
her soul, shall not stand. Her husband hath made them void,
and the Lord shall forgive them." Every vow, every binding oath
to humble the soul, her husband may establish it or he may Make
it void. I just want you to see that.
I don't know if you've ever had the trouble with that that I've
had or not, but I go back to verse 22 over in my text. For
bear to make a vow, it will not be sin in you. Look back over in my text again
right quickly. Look in verse 24 and verse 25. This was to serve different purposes,
I'm sure, and we'll look at just a few of them. When thou comest
unto thy neighbor's vineyard, then thou mayest eat grapes to
your fill at your own pleasure, but thou shalt not put any in
thy vessel. When thou comest unto the standing
corn of your neighbor, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine
hand, but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbor's
standing corn. Now, this served different purposes,
I'm sure, and we find these throughout the Scriptures. One was for the
laborers. The laborers that went in to
put a sickle in the corn and harvest it and pick their grapes,
they were allowed to eat the grapes and eat the corn. The
Scripture says don't even muzzle the ox that treadeth out the
corn. How much more the men or the women who gather your wheat
and so on. So that was the first thing.
And Jewish history shows this as well. And then the second
thing for those who were hungry, if they were coming by your field
and they were hungry, they were allowed to walk over in your
field and get some of the corn, which was probably some kind
of wheat, or pull your grapes and eat all they wanted. But
you would not get by with this in our day, would you? But they
did then, you see. And remember, this law was still
in effect in the New Testament. Remember when the Lord and His
disciples were walking through the field and they were plucking
the ears of corn? The disciples rebuked them, but not for plucking
the ears of corn because they did it on the Sabbath day. This
also here was for strangers in the land. The Jews were commanded
to take care of the strangers. When they harvested the wheat
fields, they were to leave corners unharvested. When they picked
the grapes, they weren't allowed to go back and re-pick them after
they picked them the first time because the Lord said, leave
the gleanings there for the strangers. When they picked their fruit
trees, they had to leave some fruit on the fruit trees for the stranger.
He always cared for the stranger. Look over here in a couple of
places with me. Look back in Deuteronomy chapter
10. If you ever want to take your
concordance and look up strangers, it would be profitable to you
how the Lord feels about strangers. But look here in Deuteronomy
chapter 10 and verse 17 and verse 18. Speaking now of strangers, the
Lord your God is a God of gods, the Lord of lords, a great God,
a mighty and terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh
reward. He doeth execute the judgment
of the followless and the widow, and he loveth the stranger in
giving him food and raiment. He loves the stranger. Now that
is so important. Look over here in 1 Kings chapter
8. Back to your right in 1 Kings
chapter 8. This is an interesting place
because Solomon was dedicating the temple of the Lord. They
had brought in the Ark of the Covenant and they had set it
in the most holy place, the glory of the Lord, the Shekinah glory
of the Lord, and filled the temple. They couldn't even minister in
there, it was so full. And Solomon got down on his knees and he
began to pray. And of all the things he could
pray about, he never forgot about the stranger. And look what he
says about him in verse 41. I Kings chapter 8 and look in
verse 41. Moreover, I can just see him
on his knees with his hands raised towards heaven, calling upon
the Lord. Moreover concerning a stranger,
that is not of thy people, Israel, but cometh out of the far country
for thy name's sake. For they shall hear of your great
name, and of your strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm,
when ye shall come and pray towards this house. Then heareth thou
in heaven thy dwelling place, and do according to all that
the stranger calleth to thee far, that all people of the earth
may know thy name, to fear thee, to do as do thy people Israel,
and that they may know that this house which I have built is called
by thy name." The stranger. Now why is that so important?
Well, listen to Ephesians 2. You and I were Gentiles in the
flesh, strangers from the covenants and promise, without Christ having
no hope and without God in the world. We were strangers, weren't
we? We weren't Jews. We didn't have
the Word. We didn't have any promises.
But now, in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes were far off are
made nigh by the blood of Christ. Now, therefore, He said, you're
no more strangers, you're no more foreigners, but fellow citizens
with the saints and of the household of God. Aren't you glad the Lord
loves strangers? Aren't you glad He hears strangers
when they call? Oh, my goodness. He tells us in the New Testament,
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for some have entertained
angels unaware. Now, you and I may have seen
angels and didn't even know it. I don't think it's forefested
at all to still believe that there's angels today that come
in human form. take on a human body for some
specific reason or something. I saw this the other night on
the news. I thought this was very interesting.
Of course, they'll make a big deal out of this. But there was
a car, a lady and a little infant, just a very, very young infant,
couldn't even talk, went over a bridge and turned upside down
on the edge of a creek. And there was a pocket of air
And in there, but they didn't know if anyone was even in the
car. It had laid there until some fisherman found it. And
all of these firemen and a few policemen were standing around.
They heard the voice inside the car. It was an adult voice saying,
help, help, help. And they said, when we heard
it, we all rushed. And they flipped the car back
over. And they said the woman had been dead for several hours.
And the infant was still alive. And they said, whose voice did
you hear? And they said, we have no idea. We have no idea, but
several of them heard it. Do I doubt that? No, I don't
doubt that. Be careful to entertain strangers because some have entertained
angels unaware. Do I go looking for angels? No.
No. But be careful with strangers.
Love the stranger. Love the stranger. The Lord Jesus
will say on the Day of Judgment, I was a stranger. And you tuck
me in. Ain't it something we're strangers
here and you tuck us in? And then we turn around and take
strangers in. And He's a stranger in His people. So the strangers, it had to do
with strangers. Now what we can learn from this,
I think, and what we see in this part of our text is this, that
the land of Israel was a land of plenty. Man, there was no
land like this, flowing with milk and honey. It was rich beyond
anybody's imagination. Man, they had grapes there. To
carry one cluster took two men to put it on a pole. This was
rich land. They had need of nothing. These
men didn't and these women didn't. They could never miss what little
was given away. Don't worry if you see someone
plucking a few ears of corn, you'll never miss it. You've
got plenty. The Lord has blessed you with
plenty. They were apt to stay rich by continuing to be generous. That's what the Lord was teaching
them. I'm the one that's blessing you. I'm giving you plenty. Don't
become miserly. Be generous. Yield, especially
to the stranger and to the traveler. John Bunyan wrote a little poem.
The part of it said, There was a man some say was mad, The more
he gave, the more he had. That's what he was telling them.
Don't get stingy. Don't get upset to give others
a portion of what you've got. It teaches them not to think
that everything they gave away was lost. Well, we'll lose the
corners, you know, these gleanings. We've got to leave them. We'll
lose all that. We may lose our savings, but
we'll never lose anything we give away. You hear that? We may put some savings back
in the bank. We may invest some stuff. We
may lose that. But God keeps account of everything
we give if we give for His glory and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which
you have shewed towards His name, that you have ministered to the
saints and ministered." He won't forget it. He's got to count
Himself. And I guess here too we could
see this last of all. It teaches them this. Don't abuse generosity. Don't
abuse anybody's generosity. It's very easy sometimes to take
advantage of somebody that's generous, ain't it? And generous
in whatever way. In doing things, you take somebody
that works hard and you take advantage of that person. A person
that will give, you'll take advantage of that person. But here, he
taught them not to take advantage of those who had the crops. You
pick all the grapes you wanted, but don't start putting any in
your vessel. And you go pull all the corn you can eat and
go on your way, but don't you put a sickle in there and start
harvesting it. Don't take advantage of that farmer and his generosity. So we've got two sides here,
haven't we? Those who give so generously and those who don't
take advantage of them. I think there's a good lesson
here, brothers and sisters, for us. We've got so much, haven't
we? We've just got so much. I remember
I used to have the attitude if I lost something, I would get
so upset. And one of the things that used
to upset me, somebody else is going to find that and use it.
Isn't that selfish? And I got to thinking one day,
how awful. You've got so much. You really
don't want for anything. What you ought to be saying,
I lost that. I hope somebody else finds it
and can use it. don't make a big deal out of
little things, brothers and sisters. Just don't make a big deal out
of anything. I think that's what that's teaching
us, too. Somebody, you've left a little crop in your field,
don't make a big deal. Somebody comes by that you don't
like him, and you see him there pulling some corn, no. No, you've got enough, haven't
you? You've got enough. Pray the Lord will bless you.
I hope that was a blessing to you, some practical things to
teach us.