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Man, Exodus chapter 23, we're continuing with the commandments that God is giving to the children of Israel. He gave them the 10 commandments and he actually spoke those words directly to the people and then Moses goes up to get the rest of the commandments. So right now Moses is still up on Mount Sinai getting these commandments. The story is going to pick up again in chapter 24 of Exodus, but in chapter 23, we're still going through these different rules and statutes and judgments and ordinances, and these are providing not only the moral law, but also their civil law, their criminal law. These are going to be the laws of the nation of Israel. So it says in verse 23, thou shalt not raise a false report. Put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil, neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to rest judgment. So this is elaborating upon the concept of thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. This has to do with testifying falsely, lying about someone, accusing someone of something. The Bible here is saying that people who bring a false accusation or they bring false witness and they would falsify evidence, you know, police officers who would plant evidence on someone or other people who would fabricate evidence, witnesses that would come to the witness stand and tell lies, you know, the Bible calls them wicked. And he says if you participate in that, then you are with the wicked being an unrighteous witness. So we need to tell the truth. If we didn't see anything, we didn't see anything. Some people just want to be involved in everything. So they'll fabricate testimony or witness just to be involved in the drama or oh, here's what I saw. If you didn't see anything, then just keep your mouth shut. A lot of times people will know that someone's guilty. So then they'll falsify evidence that doesn't make it right. The ends doesn't justify the means. Just because you know someone's guilty or you think you know that they're guilty doesn't give you the right to lie and produce false evidence just in order to kind of seal the deal and make sure that that person gets nailed, right? We must tell the truth. And just because a whole bunch of people are doing something doesn't make it right, right? The Bible says in verse 2, thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil. So just because our whole society might think that certain things are okay in America in 2019, that doesn't make it okay. All right? We need to follow the Word of God. Doesn't matter what the majority is doing. Doesn't matter what our culture says. The Bible determines right and wrong. And we should not rest or twist judgment no matter what other people around us are doing. Verse 3, neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause. And again, we don't want to just railroad the poor because they don't have access to Johnny Cochran or Shapiro or whoever these high-priced lawyers are. We need to make sure that the poor get a fair shake in the justice system. Today you pretty much have to pay for justice because the only way to get a fair trial it seems is to have some high-dollar representation. And when we've seen people in our church have to go to court for these dumb little things or even, you know, issues out soul-winning or whatever, when they go with the public defender, usually they don't make it. You know, usually they end up getting nailed with the fines or they get nailed with the misdemeanors or whatever. Whereas if you buy the expensive lawyer, you typically end up winning, okay? And it shouldn't be that way. So we need to make sure that if we ever are doing any kind of judgment or judging between people, we need to make sure that we are not a respecter of persons and say, oh, this person has money, so they're obviously in the right. Or this is a middle-class person, this guy's kind of ghetto or derelict, so he must be guilty. We need to give everyone a fair shake is what the Bible is saying here and not just immediately assume that the poor person is guilty and the rich person is innocent. It says in verse four, so that's kind of the first three verses have to do with testifying, witness, courtroom, judgment type stuff. Look at verse four. If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him. So you know, you're walking down the road and you see your neighbor's either ox, which is a bull, or his ass, which is like a donkey, and you see these animals and you know they belong to your neighbor and they're wandering astray. He's not just telling you don't steal it. He's also saying don't just say, well, you know, it's not my problem and just kind of let them keep going. He's telling you that you should actually return that to your enemy. So if you have opportunity to prevent catastrophe in your neighbor's life, in your enemy's life, someone maybe on the job, let's say you're at work, right? And there's a guy at work that has been a jerk to you. He's an enemy to you. Maybe he's lied about you. He's always trying to saddle you with the worst jobs or blame you when things go wrong. You know, we've all had people like that at work that are enemies unto us, okay? Well, what if we see them and they're about to make a huge mistake? They're about to just destroy something and you know this is going to get them fired. Do you just kind of sit back and just let it happen? Or do you step in and say, whoa, don't flip that switch, right? Why? Because it's the right thing to do. Or if you see them about to slip on a banana peel or you see them about to get in a car accident or you see them, maybe they've forgotten an important tool behind at the job and they're going, you know, you tell them, hey, you've forgotten that. Go back for that. And not just let bad things happen to them and say, well, I didn't do anything to hurt him. I didn't attack him. I didn't take vengeance into my own hand. I did not revenge, but we should not just sit back and let bad things happen to our enemy if it's something where we would normally have a responsibility to warn them. Amen. And what the Bible is saying here is, look, when thou wouldest forbear to help him, it says in verse five, if thou see the ass of him that thou hated, excuse me, if thou see the ass of him that hated thee lying under his burden and wouldest forbear to help him. So God knows human nature. You don't want to help him. You know, you see your neighbor's ass smashed under its burden. You don't want to help it up because you're thinking, serves that guy right. That guy hates my guts. That guy has been mistreating me. But the Bible is saying, even though you're going to have that feeling in your heart where you don't want to help him, help him anyway, the Bible is saying. Now, this is more proof that the Bible's New Testament teaching of love your enemies is not a new teaching as some people have construed it. Some people have construed it as, oh, well, in the Old Testament, you know, you love your neighbor and you hate your enemy. But in the New Testament, we love our enemies. Folks, the Bible is teaching us to love our enemies from the very beginnings of the Mosaic law. And in the book of Exodus, we're getting a short version of God's law. In Deuteronomy, we get a longer, more in-depth expansion. But even in the short version, you have here teachings on loving your neighbor, okay, and loving your enemies. So this is not something that was new with Jesus Christ, okay? Jesus Christ is fulfilling the law. He's expounding the law. He's explaining and teaching and preaching the law of God. But he did not add this new teaching, okay? And the reason that this is important is that sometimes people will try to paint a huge difference between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament. Like, the God of the Old Testament is the mean God, and the New Testament God is the loving God. No, the loving God starts in Genesis 1-1, and the mean God starts in Genesis 1-1 as well, because there's one God. And he is filled with wrath and anger, and he will show himself froward, or, excuse me, he'll show himself unsavory to the froward. He will be harsh to those that are wicked, but he's also a God of love and mercy, but he doesn't change. He is immutable. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He said, I change not. So then, the other thing is, you'll see that there are some super wicked people in this world that are just these horrible, reprobate, God-hating devils, and David in Psalm 139, for example, says, Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? And people say, oh, that's the Old Testament. That's all, you know, Jesus changed that in Matthew chapter 5. Really? Because it looks to me like Jesus is teaching in Matthew 5 the same thing that Exodus is teaching, the same thing that we see in Leviticus 19, the same thing we see in Deuteronomy. And the Bible teaches that the New Testament church is supposed to sing the Psalms. And so, that would include Psalm 139. So, again, this is not teaching us love everybody. What this is saying is, love your enemy. Love those that do ill to you, those that despitefully use you, persecute you, hate you. Now, sometimes people fail to distinguish this. What is the difference between love everybody and love your enemies? Well, I'll tell you. My enemy is the person that has personally done me wrong, the person that is my opponent, the person that hates me, has lied about me, despitefully used me, persecuted me. I am to love that person. I'm not to take vengeance. I should pray that they get saved. I should do anything I can to help them, bless them that curse me. Okay. But what the Bible's teaching in places like Psalm 139, 2 Chronicles 19, 2, and about 20 other scriptures is it's teaching us that we should hate those that are the enemies of the Lord. Okay. So, if someone is a pedophile, I hate that person and want them dead. Oh, you're supposed to love your enemies. That person's not my enemy. That person didn't do anything to me. I have no dog in this fight. Okay. I hate that person because the Bible says they are an evil, reprobate, predator, and anyone, look, anyone who loves children is going to hate a pedophile. So, the stupid doctrine today in modern American churches of, well, we should even love pedophiles and we should even love, you know, serial rapists and serial murderers. We should just love everyone. It's a stupid doctrine. Okay. That is not what the Bible teaches. That's a big difference between love and enemy. That means somebody attacks you, hurts you, hates on you. Hey, love that person, be good to them, overcome evil with good. But if someone's some dangerous menace to society, predator, pedophile who's beyond the hope of salvation anyway according to Romans 1 because they're a reprobate, then we're not to love that person. I've even heard people say, hey, we should even love the devil. That's the stupidity that people take this to. So, we need to understand, loving your enemy is a Christian virtue. Loving those who hate God and abuse children, that just makes you a fool. Okay. And that is not a Christian virtue to say, oh, I just love Jeffrey Dahmer and I just love, you know, no, you're wrong. So, anyway, let's keep going here. We see that teaching on loving our enemies, people that do ill unto us, Father forgive them for they know not what they do, etc. So, the Bible says in verse number six again, thou shalt not rest the judgment of thy poor and his cause. He's reiterating that again. Verse seven, keep thee far from a false matter and the innocent and righteous slay thou not for I will not justify the wicked. I want you to remember that phrase. He's continuing the theme of don't be a false witness. Don't bear false witness. Don't lie about people. Don't falsely accuse people. Don't, you know, just railroad the poor because they can't afford the lawyer and stuff like that. He keeps coming back to that, but I want you to remember this part. I will not justify the wicked because we're going to come back to that thought later in the chapter. We're going to tie that in. Okay. Look at verse number eight. Thou shalt take no gift for the gift blindeth the wise and perverted the words of the righteous. So, this is talking about receiving bribes. So, this is saying, look, if you're on the jury, you're a judge, you're a lawyer, don't receive gifts from people. And this is how sometimes bribery is hidden. Like, oh, I'm not bribing the judge. I just wanted to give him something nice. You have no reason to be giving that judge a gift. If you're giving the judge a gift for any reason, it's because you're trying to bribe him. And the judge that loves gifts is a wicked judge, the Bible says. He should hate gifts. He should eschew gifts. If someone offers him a gift, someone who's part of the trial offers him a gift, he should say, no, I'm not going to accept this. Why? Because it's going to taint his judgment because he's going to have a little warm, fuzzy place in his heart toward the person that gave him that gift. So, that's what he's saying about don't take any gift. Obviously, he's not telling us, hey, don't receive gifts in your personal life. Of course, we all love to receive gifts. But what he's talking about here is in the context of judgment, in the context of the courtroom. Because the gift will blind the wise and pervert the words of the righteous. Verse 9, also thou shalt not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, seeing you were strangers in the land of Egypt. Now, when the Bible says stranger here, it means foreigner. That's how we would say it in our modern vernacular. So, we should not oppress foreigners. And he's telling them, you know what it's like to be a foreigner. You just came out of Egypt. You were the foreigner. So, don't turn around and mistreat the foreigners in your land. Verse 10, we're going to change gears here. Six years thou shalt sow thy land and shalt gather in the fruits thereof. But the seventh year, thou shalt let it rest and lie still that the poor of thy people may eat and what they leave the beast of the field shall eat. In like manner, thou shalt deal with thy vineyard and with thy olive yard. So, this is sort of like a Sabbath of years. Instead of just a Sabbath in the week, where you work six days and then take a day off, he's saying, plant crops in the field for six years. And then the seventh year, you don't plant anything. You just let the land rest. Now, this is something that the children of Israel almost never followed. In fact, there comes a time when God actually rebukes them for not following this for the space of like 400 and some years to where they had to do 70 Sabbaths to make up for all the Sabbaths that they had missed. All the years when they were supposed to let the land rest, he's saying, okay, I'm going to rest for 70 years in a row to make up for all the years that you disobeyed me on this. And then they have to go into captivity in Babylon for 70 years. Okay. That was the reason for that duration. That's why they went for 70 years. That was how many Sabbaths they'd skipped. And that's pretty much, you know, a lot of their history there that they skipped this. Almost 500 years of skipping this rule. Now, science has taught us that actually this is something that's good for the land anyway. To not just overuse the land by just planting the same crops over and over again every year. Having this wild year where you let everything go wild and you just let everything grow on its own and you don't sow, you don't reap, you just let it go to nature is actually good for the land. And God again is proven to be right. And you know what this shows us is that when God has a rule for us, it's typically for our benefit. Even though we think like, oh man, you know, God is stopping me from making all this money in the seventh year. I can make a bunch of money instead. I'm not making any money. What am I doing? Hey, God is doing that for your benefit. He's going to bless you more. Not only that, God promised them that he would supernaturally bless them during the sixth year if they followed this. And they would have such a good harvest that they would have enough to feed them for three years so that they would have enough for the sixth year and the seventh year that they're not sowing. And the eighth year, they'd still be eating in the eighth year when they're planting and harvesting because they would have such an abundance because if they followed this, God was going to bless them abundantly. And even just from a scientific perspective, it's going to be better for the land. So he says, just let it go for one year. And you know, obviously he doesn't want them to be idle during this year. He's not saying, hey, sit around for an entire year and do nothing. He's just saying you don't plant the crops. So this could be a time when they could work on their facilities. They could work on their tools. They could build onto the house. They could build the fences that, you know, there's all kinds of other things that they could do here as they let the land rest. Okay. And they've got their cattle. They've got their animals. They've got other things that they can live off of and other jobs to do during this Sabbath year. And so he tells them, let it go for one year. And he also says that the poor of thy people may eat. So remember, one of the ways that God cared for the poor was that he would allow the poor to glean fields. So it was legal for any poor person to enter any field and they could eat whatever they could put in their hand and eat. They just couldn't take a vessel in and fill up a vessel from the vineyard or the field of their neighbor. But during the harvest time, when they would actually do the harvest, they were not to go over it a second time. The poor were allowed to come in, even with a vessel. And at the end of the harvest, after the owner of the field has gone through and harvested it, they would go through and get everything that was dropped, everything that was missed. Because when you go through and harvest a field, you're not going to get everything. You're going to miss things. So the poor would come through and get everything that they missed and they could actually fill a vessel. And that was just a way for them to get some extra food. And so during this year of wildness, there's no harvest at all. It's just open season for whoever to just grab whatever's growing on whatever the tree or whatever the plant. And so he also says the beast of the field mate, you know, the animals would just come in and eat everything. It was just a year to just kind of let everything go wild. And that's actually good for the land because then all these variety of animals, they're going to come in and they're going to eat stuff and they're going to use the bathroom and that's going to fertilize it with exotic fertilizers of these wild animals that are coming in. Different bugs are coming in. Just kind of letting it go back to nature for one year is good for the land. It was what God wanted them to do. And also it's a picture just like the Sabbath day is a picture. And we talked about that many times. And it says in like manner, thou shalt do with thy vineyard, with thy olive yard. Verse 12, six days thou shalt do thy work and on the seventh day thou shalt rest. That thine ox and thine ass may rest and the son of thy handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed. Now in the New Testament, we are not required to keep the Sabbath. It's not a requirement, okay? But the Bible does say in Romans chapter 14, it says, one man esteemeth one day above another. Another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. So the Bible is telling us that if you want to observe one special day a week devoted to the Lord, it's okay to do that, okay? So for example, if you decide, you know what? In my family on Sunday, we're not going to have any worldly activities at all. We're not going to do any work or anything. We're just going to have a day dedicated to the things of God. We're going to focus on the things of God all day. That's going to be a special day for us where we would skip certain carnal activities on Sundays. That's okay. So you don't want to go too far with this thing like, no, you have to, you know, ignore that. Because the Bible says it's okay to go either way with that, okay? Now, you know, back when I ran my fire alarm business, if I had a service call to do or something, I had no problem doing a service call on a Sunday as long as it didn't make me miss church. I did have a thing of I'm never going to miss church. So, you know, my bosses would try to get me to miss church, and I would always refuse to miss any church. Now, I'd be willing to travel, but I told them, I said, look, I'm willing to travel, but wherever I'm at, I'm going to go to church in that area. So, you know, if you got me traveling for business, this is before I was a pastor. If you got me traveling for business, you know, I'll go to church in that area. I don't mind visiting other churches, it's just that I need to be in church, and, you know, I go to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. And I say there's 168 hours in the week, the rest of the week I'm yours, but these are three things that I do per week. And, you know, my bosses would work around that over the years. And then when I was pastoring, I had to be here Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. But I would do everything I could to make the boss happy and work all night if I have to, drive all night if I have to, to be able to make that happen so that I could always be here. But sometimes push came to shove and he's just like, you have to miss church on Wednesday night. And I just told him, I'm not going to do that. You know, and he tried to quote me scripture. Hey, if your ox or your ass falls in the ditch, you got to pull it out. I said, my ox is not in the ditch. You know, this is not, that's not what's going on here. This job can wait. So, you know, I've always made church the priority, okay, that I believe in that. But I do not believe in a Sunday Sabbatarianism where, you know, we can't do any work or anything on a Sunday. I don't think there's anything wrong with putting in hours, you know, on a Sunday. A lot of people work from home. I don't think there's anything wrong with clocking in and doing some hours, you know, just so long as you're worshiping the Lord, honoring the Lord, serving the Lord, you know, maybe you're doing a ton of service toward God the other six days. You know what I mean? And you're just esteeming every day alike. I mean, you're worshiping the Lord every day. You're reading your Bible every day. You're praying. You're serious about the things of God daily. You don't necessarily need that extra day like that. Whereas, you know, maybe you're super busy the other six days and you just don't have your mind on the things of God a whole lot. And you're like, you know, I kind of just need to take this one day and make this an extra spiritual day because of the way the rest of my week looks. So you could go either way on this, but we do not legalistically believe in following the Sabbath and the New Testament. It's not a New Testament commandment. It was an Old Testament commandment. It's fulfilled in Christ. Christ is our Sabbath. Christ is our rest. And the Bible's clear on that to not let anybody trouble you about the new moons, the Sabbaths, the meats, the drinks, that those carnal ordinances are done away in Christ. Now, that being said, although the Sabbath is done away in the New Testament, there is still a principle that we can learn from. The most important principle that we learn from the Sabbath is that Jesus Christ is our rest. And that's why the Bible says he that has entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works as God did from his. The picture of the Sabbath is don't try to work your way to heaven. You have to rest in what Christ has already done. Okay. So basically, Jesus Christ does the work of salvation. We rest. We just trust in what he has done. So working on the Sabbath is a picture of like you're trying to work your way to heaven. You're trying to earn it by doing your own works. You have to cease from your works and trust in Christ's work, the finished work. That's what the Sabbath represents. Hebrews chapter 4 is a beautiful passage that explains that very clearly. But we can still learn from the principle. Just like I said earlier, hey, it's good for the land to rest scientifically. Well, it's also good for our bodies to rest scientifically, right? I mean, we should rest. If we just go, go, go, that can be bad for our bodies. If you're an athlete and you're exercising seven days a week, that's not going to have you performing at your best. Even just worldly books that are telling you about exercise and nutrition are going to tell you to only work out six days a week because your body needs a day of rest and recovery. And so that concept is still there. And also, you know, sometimes our brains need rest. We just need to relax, take it easy, chill out. But it doesn't have to be Saturday. It doesn't have to be Sunday. It doesn't, you know, it's just whatever you choose to do in the New Testament. We have that liberty in the New Testament because we're not under the Mosaic law. Okay, so let's keep going here. Verse 13, and in all things that I've said unto you, be circumspect. Now, what does that mean to be circumspect? Well, what does circum mean? What does it mean to circumnavigate? What is the circumference? What's a circle, right? Circum is talking about something that is round, something that's a circle. And when he says circumspect, what does it mean to inspect something? You're looking at it, right? What's retrospective? You're looking back, okay? Spectacles are something that you look through. So being circumspect means that you're looking around, okay? And what that means when it says be circumspect, it is basically saying be on the alert, be sober, be vigilant, know what's going on around you. You're paying attention to your surroundings. Not literally. He's not saying you're walking down the street, you're constantly watching your back, you know, you're just constantly looking for something to pop out at you. But he's saying, you know, spiritually, you are like that. Where you're basically not just going through life naively, just walking into every trap of the devil, but rather you're paying attention and you're careful. And the Bible says, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. What's it mean to take heed? Pay attention lest you fall, right? Listen to the warnings. See the things that are happening around us and don't be deceived. Don't be a sitting duck when the devil or someone else tries to attack you. So he's saying, look, in all things that I've said unto you, he's giving us all these laws, all these rules, all these warnings. He's saying, look, be circumspect. Pay attention. Look for these things. Don't be aloof, right? Don't just go through life without paying attention. And he says, not only should you be circumspect, make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth. OK, so he doesn't want people talking about other gods. Now, this is not to say that you can't preach against them or, you know, rebuke false religion or something like that. Here's what he's talking about. He doesn't want us to be, you know, sitting down with our kids and just constantly telling them stories about false gods. He wants you to sit down and tell stories about the Bible to your kids. Tell a Bible story, you know, and don't just be mentioning other gods like by Jove or whatever. You know, he doesn't want you swearing by their name or just kind of throwing their name out there, constantly using illustrations of false gods. It should be biblical things. He wants us to have a biblical culture. And when we talk to our family, we should constantly be making reference to the Bible, not constantly referencing other gods, other religion. OK, so he's concerned and this is tied in with being circumspect, being careful, taking heed. He's saying, look, be careful because of your proximity to the Philistines and the Hivites and the Jebusites, and you've got the Edomites and the Moabites and the Ammonites. You've got Tyre and Zidane. Be careful because of the proximity that you don't start slowly adopting their culture, adopting their religion, and next thing you know, you're kind of incorporating little stories about their gods and kind of mixing it in with the God of the Bible. You know, the Baal worship, you're kind of tying that in. He's saying, look, don't make mention of other gods. Neither let it be heard out of the mouth. And in fact, he says that he wants them to even destroy the names of other gods if they can. So when they're coming in and taking over the land because they were supposed to take over all the land, but they failed to do that. You know, Judges Chapter 1 records their failure to take over all the land like they should. But when they were taking over the land, he said, look, you know, if you find their religious scriptures, destroy them. You know, I'm paraphrasing, but if you find their religious texts, destroy them. Trash it all. Their idols, break them. Blood out the names of their gods so that no one will even remember that there ever was whatever that god's name was. So people would forget. And I guarantee there are probably a lot of false gods in the ancient world that have been totally forgotten. You know, recently in the 20th century, there's been archeological excavation in Israel and in that region of the Middle East. And they've dug up, you know, ancient scriptures of the Baal worshippers. So there was a city called Ugarit and they dug up the city in Ugarit and they found these epic religious poems about Baal and telling all kinds of stories about Baal and all the doctrines of Baal and everything. And these biblical scholars are so excited because now they've got, you know, the Baal scriptures. And let me tell you something. These scriptures of Baal are actually influencing the modern Bible versions now. And they're actually influencing how the Bible is understood now. Okay. So basically now you have companies like Zondervan selling books where you can learn about the Baal worship religion and read their texts. And they say, hey, this can help you understand the Bible. Okay. And this isn't like a thing of just, well, know thy enemy or something. First of all, Baal worship isn't really a thing anymore. Number one. Okay. I mean, obviously today's false religions, you know, are similar in many ways, of course, because there's nothing new under the sun. But what we see is that if you read these textbooks that are being put out, where they're going back and studying Ugaritic and they're reading these Baal worshiping religious texts, they're basically saying, we can learn about the God of the Bible from these texts. They're not saying, hey, now we understand why God was so mad at Baal. That's not what they're saying. They're basically saying, oh, well, the Baal worshiping texts mentioned God too. So we can learn about God because they mentioned El, they mentioned Baal, but they also mentioned El. Cause you know how God in Hebrew is El, like remember Beth El, Jacob names the place Beth El, which means house of God. And so, oh, we can actually learn about God. And in this Baal worshiping text, I'm going to give you an example. In this Baal worshiping text, it said that El, which is the name of the God of the Bible, that he has 70 sons. Now is that what the Bible teaches? The Bible teaches that God has 70 sons. No, the Bible does not teach that. That's some garbage from some Satan worshiping, literal Satan worshiping, Baal worshipers because Baal is Satan. Okay. Even the name Beelzebub comes from a place called Zebub. There's Baal Zebub. The Baal of that Zebub was Beelzebub. And what did Jesus call Satan? Beelzebub. So Jesus was, was equating Baal and Satan. Okay. So this Baal worshiping text says, oh, you know, God has these 70 sons. So then in Deuteronomy chapter 32, eight, where it says that when God divided the nations, he divided them according to the number of the sons of Israel. He divided them according to the number of the children of Israel. That's what all the, now the modern versions are saying, well, he divided according to the sons of God. Okay. Because they found one little scrap with three words on it that are legible that said sons of God. And they say, well, this is part of Deuteronomy 32, this little scrap. And so all the Bibles have all been wrong. And so now the ESV says sons of God there. The NIV reader's edition says sons of God there. Other versions are changing it. So they used to say children of Israel, but you know, now that we've dug up this, this city and we've learned that, you know, turns out God has 70 sons. Now we know that he divided according to the sons of God. Folks, that's garbage. I don't need some Baal worshiping text to teach me about God. It's all lies. The devil's the father of lies. Okay. Because in Genesis chapter 10, it lists 70 names. And then it says, by these, the nations were divided after the flood. So they're saying, well, God has 70 sons. Then they, so then they changed the Bible in Deuteronomy 32, eight folks, didn't Jesus say that one jot or one tittle would not pass from the law until all is fulfilled. So how can you not believe that the old Testament is preserved? And then all of a sudden in the 21st century, we have to change it. Now in the 20th century, we have to change it. Folks. It's been right all along. The Deuteronomy in our 1611 King James Bible is correct. Every jot, every tittle is accurately represented in English. It's the children of Israel. Why? Because here's the thing. You know, symbolically, when Jacob went down into Egypt, guess what the Bible says in Exodus chapter one, verse five, the Bible says it was 70 persons that went down into Egypt. That's the 70 friend. It's the 70 people that went down into Egypt. That's the correlation with the 70 people mentioned in Genesis 10. I don't need some bail worshiping text to give me some new interpretation. And I don't care what stupid city that they dig up next. What are they going to dig up next? The temple of Dagon and dig up the temple of Ashtoreth and dig up Baal and dig up Molech. And Oh, we found the scriptures of the Molech worshipers. Good. Burn them. What do we need those for? I don't care what the Molech worshipers say. I don't care what the, but look folks, as we approach the end times, the devil is going to pull out more of these things. He's got all these little texts just waiting. He's got all his little demonic texts buried in clay pots all over the Middle East, right? To be dug up when he wants them to be dug up so that he can create all of the confusion and all of the delusion for the end times, preparing people for the anti-Christ folks. Do you realize that the people who are publishing these new versions, the ESV and the NIV, et cetera, do you realize that if they dug up some new scrap tomorrow, they would literally just change the Bible based on that scrap. I mean, stop and think about that. I mean, here, we believe that God has preserved his word, that we have the Bible. We believe that, you know, this is it. We've had it all along. It's been passed down. But they would literally, if they dug up an older text, you know what they'll say? Oh, well, it turns out this is what it really says. And then the ESV will start changing. The NIV is going to start. And who's making these decisions? Do you even know who they are? Well, I'll tell you who the experts in textual criticism are. You want to know who the top guys in textual criticism are? Atheists, literally. You know who's considered one of the best experts in textual criticism? A guy named Bart Ehrman. Who knows who I'm talking about? Yeah, well, if you go to Barnes and Noble, his books are, you know, front and center in the religion section. New York Times bestseller. One of his most popular books is called How Jesus Became God. His other most popular book is called Misquoting Jesus. And his whole thing is how the Bible has been corrupted. The Bible has been changed. The Bible that we have today is not what the apostles wrote. It's impossible to know what they wrote. Folks, this guy is a self-professed atheist. He's an atheist. But, you know, the editors of the ESV and the NIV, they're looking to guys like him, experts in textual criticism. They're looking at these liberal phonies, the Bruce Metzger's of the past, the Bart Ehrman of today, Gert Mink, whatever these bozos are. Who don't believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ, the virgin birth. They don't believe that every word of God is inspired and been preserved. Folks, many of these guys are atheists and agnostics. And they're the ones who are deciding what the Greek text is and what the Hebrew text is. And then that's what the NIV and ESV are going to translate. Whatever's handed to them by these unbelieving so-called scholars who are tools of the devil. And so don't you go soft on these modern versions. Oh, well, it's not that big of a deal. You know, maybe if somebody has trouble with the these and the those, at least if we could get them ready, the ESV is better than nothing. No. Oh, just get them on the NIV. No, it's King James or nothing. I'm telling you, these new versions, if you look where they're coming from, they're coming from the devil. Folks, if God is saying to the children of Israel, hey, don't make mention of the names of other gods. Don't talk about this. Be careful. Don't just get all into their folklore. Don't get all into what they believe. And then in Deuteronomy, when he expands on this, I mean, he really goes on in Deuteronomy like burn it, trash it, smash it, destroy it, blot out their names from from under heaven. That they not even be remembered. That people will forget that there ever was this God or that God. You know, you know, I could go the rest of my life and not know one story about Baal. Who cares? I already have the Bible here. It has what I need to know scripturally. I don't need to reinterpret and rethink the Bible based on some new Baal discovery. Folks, this is real. This is what's going on out there. And then you wonder why churches are the way they are. You wonder why the new versions are the way they are. It's because they're evil forces at work. Literally, the prophets of Baal are advising the editors of the ESV on Deuteronomy 32.8. That's one of the powerful pieces of evidence they point to in their own words. Powerful piece of evidence for changing Deuteronomy 32.8 is, you know, the Baal cycle text that we dug up. It's wicked, folks. Are they being circumspect? Are they like, hey, let's be really careful we don't get influenced by Baal worship? They're just like, oh, this is great. Let's study this. You know, it's amazing. Verse 14. I got to hurry. Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread. Thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days as I commanded thee. In the time appointed of the month Abib. For in it thou camest out from Egypt and none shall appear before me empty. So he's finished up with a lot of these laws from verses one through 13. Now he's getting into some of the feasts that they're going to do. And these are basically what we would call holidays. The word holiday comes from holy day. So they have these holy days or holidays. And they have three major times in the year where they have a major feast unto the Lord. Where basically the whole nation comes together geographically in one place to celebrate this. You know, eventually this is going to become Jerusalem. Eventually. And they're all going to go to Jerusalem. But before that, it's going to be the tabernacle wherever it happens to be pitched. So he says thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread. What's another name for that? Passover, right? So this is the Passover. Thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days as I appointed thee. So one of the three feasts is the Passover. In the time appointed of the month Abib, Abib is the first month. Remember, it's the 14th day of the first month they have the Passover. For in it thou camest out from Egypt and none shall appear before me empty. Now what does he mean when he says don't appear before me empty? He's basically saying, you know, don't show up at the potluck if you didn't bring anything. But anyway, now at our church, it's okay to show up empty. All right, so don't ever feel bad showing up empty because you're not going to show up empty. Because we're not Old Testament Israel here. So you don't have to bring stuff at our church. You show up empty and you leave full. Amen. So that's the New Testament for you. But what he's saying to them is that basically when they show up, they're supposed to bring a sacrifice. They're supposed to bring an offering. And he's going to explain to them what they bring. Sometimes they're supposed to bring the first fruits. Whatever it is that they're commanded to bring, the tithing or whatever, they're supposed to bring those things at the appointed times three times a year. So part of the purpose of this feast is so that they could get some time off from work and take a vacation. Part of the purpose of this feast is so that they could have a spiritual emphasis week where they're basically emphasizing the things of God and studying the Bible, listening to preaching, fellowshipping with other believers. So there's a rest from work aspect. There's a vacation aspect. There's a spiritual emphasis aspect. And then also this is just a practical way for them to bring their offerings onto the house of God so that the house of God could be maintained so that the priests and the Levites have materially what they need. That's brought to them three times a year. So that's why you don't show up empty because you're supposed to be contributing something toward the house of God. Okay. So the Bible says in verse 16 and the feast of harvest, the first fruits of thy labors, which thou has sown in the field and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year. When thou has gathered in the labors out of the field, three times in the year, all thy males shall appear before the Lord God. Thou shalt not offer. And then, so then he moves on to the next subject, verse 18. And again, remember when we're in Exodus, he really just gives a very skeletal law here. It's just, it's just a very stripped down basic law because he's going to fill all this in in Deuteronomy and in Leviticus as well. So in Exodus, we only have 40 chapters and a lot of that is spent on the story. And then a lot of that is spent on how to build the tabernacle. So you don't really have a ton of laws in Exodus. This is all going to need to be elaborated upon in great detail in Leviticus, a little bit in numbers and, and mainly in Deuteronomy. Okay. So that's why he just barely touches on the three times a year. Hey, three feasts. It only takes a few verses and then boom, we're onto the next subject. Verse 18, thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. Neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning. The first of the first fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God. Now this is a picture of God having the preeminence and everything. God always comes first, right? So we give him what's coming to him first. We seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then all the rest is added to us. The food and clothing that we need. First, we make sure that we're faithful to give God his portion before we take anything for ourselves. Then he says at the end of verse 19, because again, remember we're kind of just rapid firing a lot of different commandments here. Thou shalt not see the kid in his mother's milk. This is going to be elaborated on further in Deuteronomy about treatment of animals, how to deal with animals, and so forth. And those are a lot of symbolic things that we're not going to go into now. But I do want to just touch on one thing here. You know, the Jews are not the ones to go to to explain to you God's law. Don't ever think, oh, if we go to the rabbi, he's going to be able to explain Exodus to us. I mean, he's a rabbi. He knows. No, Christians know. The rabbi doesn't have the Holy Spirit. The rabbi has the veil over his eyes. He can't see the scripture. He's blinded, literally. Okay, cannot see what's in the scripture. It's impossible for the unregenerate man to understand God's word. This is why we see the Jews have ridiculous interpretations of the Torah. So going to them and saying, oh, well, they know. I mean, what do the Jews think? Folks, that's what most Christians think. Literally, most of evangelical Christians, if a rabbi started expounding to them what Exodus means, they'd just be, like, ready to take notes. They're sitting up. They're listening. Who's experienced that phenomenon? Oh, yeah, it's everywhere. Even independent Baptist churches have brought in rabbis. Bible colleges have brought in... Look, okay, I'll just as soon listen to a rabbi explain the Old Testament to me as that Baal stuff. You know what I mean? It's like, I don't want to listen to the worshipers of Baal or the Jews. Yeah, same thing. Exactly. Because they don't have the son, and they don't have the father. You know, Shekinah is just as demonic as Baal. You know, this female deity that they're worshiping. But anyhow, here's how they interpret this. Listen to how just crazy this is. Thou shalt not see the kid in his mother's mouth. That means you can't eat meat and dairy in the same meal. Is that what that says? That's why Paul Wittenberger was on a vain quest for a cheeseburger in Tel Aviv, and he couldn't find it. You know, when he was working on the Beyond Jordan film, he went back without me. See, when I was there, I made sure we didn't go to Israel. Hashtag boycott Israel. But he went back without me to get b-roll, and he ended up flying out of Tel Aviv. And were you looking for a cheeseburger, Paul? You're not going to find it. It's not kosher. Okay, you know, our church picnic is not going to be kosher. It's going to be a lot. We're going to have a lot of cheeseburgers. Okay, so that's ridiculous. That's not what this is saying. What this is saying is you don't see the kid in his mother's milk. You don't boil an animal in its mother's milk. That's what it says. That's what it means. It's not saying, oh, never eat any. So I can't take cheese from a goat and meat from a cow, and I can't make a cheeseburger out of that? You're crazy. It makes no sense. So these kosher laws, it goes beyond just abstaining from bacon, folks. It's not like, oh, I can have a cheeseburger without the bacon. Oh, no. You can have a cheeseburger without the cheese. I mean, it's nonsense. Not only that, you know, the most ridiculous thing, we went out soul winning today in a neighborhood where literally 50% of the doors were Jewish, where we were soul winning. There are certain pockets in Tempe that are like that. And literally every other door had that little scroll on the doorpost that shows that they're Jewish. With the letter Shin on the outside, because it's for Shekinah, right? This is what they do. They hold up. Did you know that Spock was actually doing a Jewish thing when he did this? Yeah. He was actually doing that because he learned that in a synagogue. He was supposed to have his eyes closed. He peeked at what they were, the secret rituals they were doing. And when he peeked, he saw the rabbis going like this. And they were making the letter Shin, you know. So if you look at those scrolls, we saw like 10 of them tonight. Literally at least 10. They all had the letter Shin on them. Okay. What's in it? A little microfilm of the Bible, because God said, write the word of God on the doorpost. Write it on the doorpost. Folks, that is insane. When he said write it on the doorpost, he means so you can read it. What he's talking about is like in a Christian home. When you have a little frame picture that says the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Who has something like that in your house somewhere? You have a, put it up your head if you have it. Virtually everyone. And if you don't, what are you, what's wrong with you? You know, we got to get that installed. I'm serious. I mean, you know, putting scripture on the wall or like, you know, once we get our mural done, we're going to have a Bible verse here because the idea of putting scripture on the wall above the door is a biblical concept, but they're like, Oh, okay. Well, let's take that scripture and let's just put it so tiny. Nobody can read it and put it in a box that cannot open. Because what's what they do. They touch it on the way in the house because they're a bunch of superstitious. It's like a little rabbit's foot to them. Little voodoo, hocus pocus. Oh, I can just kiss it and touch it. And then they do the same thing. He's talking about having it as be frontlets between your eyes. That means look at it. But here's what they do. They put the word of God in a box and they strap the box to their head. Who's seen the pictures of them with the box strapped to their head? Yeah. They strap a little box to their head and they're just like, oh, that's it. You know what? That's as stupid as putting your book under your pillow to study. Like, Oh, I didn't have, I didn't have time to study for the test. So I'm gonna put my, my school book under my pillow. And then when I wake up, I'm going to know all the information. That's basically what the Jews, that's Judaism in a nutshell. Put the textbook in a box and then God's going to bless us for that. But you know, they lock it up cause they don't want to read what it says. Cause they don't care what it says cause they don't obey what it says. And even the part that they read in their synagogue, they don't care. They don't obey it. They don't follow it. They don't believe it. If you don't believe me, then watch our film, Marching to Zion, where we talk to the rabbis themselves and get it out of their own mouth. But anyway, I digress. So quickly, I want to touch on one last thing. Cause we're out of time. This is a great scripture here. And I I've already covered this a few months ago in a sermon. So I don't mind not giving it the attention that it deserves because I already did a whole sermon on this a little while back behold verse 20. Behold, I send an angel before thee to keep thee in the way and to bring thee into the place which I prepared. Beware of him and obey his voice. Provoke him not. I mean, don't make this guy mad. Is that what he's saying? Don't provoke him. You better be aware of him. Like, Hey, Oh, great. You're sending your angel before us. Great. Yeah. But let me just warn you about this, this angel. You better be aware of him. You better not provoke him. Is everybody reading this? Beware of him and obey his voice. Provoke him not for he will not pardon your transgressions for my name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies and an adversary unto thine adversaries for mine angel shall go before thee. Who is this angel? It's Jesus. Here's the proof. Okay. In Joshua chapter five, when the conquest of Canaan is about to begin, where's the angel? Well, Joshua is out in the field and a man approaches him. And when that man approaches him, Joshua doesn't know who it is. So he says, art thou for us or art thou for our enemies? He said, Hey, are you friend or foe? Are you on our side? Are you an enemy? And he says, no. He says, I am come as the captain of the Lord's host. Okay. It's an angel. But then what does he say next? Put off thy shoes from off thy feet for the place where on thou standest his holy ground. That's what was spoken by the angel of the Lord at the burning bush. I am that I am. God spake to Moses out of the burning bush. The Bible says that there is now. Now, look, no, the Bush was not God. It's bizarre. Sometimes the, the, you can't just go by the movie. You know what I mean? Like people, it's like they watched that Charlton Heston movie and it's like, they just, they, they see the, the Bush is glowing and talking. It's no. The Bible says that the angel spoke, the angel was in the midst of the fire in the Bush, but that there was the angel of the Lord speaking to him. Okay. There's a person there speaking to him and that person is Jesus. Okay. So when we see a man walking up and basically demanding worship. And he's basically demanding Joshua shoes to come off and for him to any, and the Bible says that Joshua bows down and worships him. And we see the angel of the Lord in the old Testament receiving worship. We know that that's Jesus because only God receives worship. We see a man walk up to Abraham in Genesis 18 and it says it was the Lord that was speaking with Abraham folks. Nobody can see the face of God, the father and live. Nobody has, no man has seen God at any time. The only begotten son, which is in the bosom of the father. He has declared him. So these are old Testament appearances of Jesus. Okay. This is an important doctrine. Don't miss it. Old Testament appearances of Jesus. Why is that important? Because there is a false doctrine out there that Jesus did not exist in the old Testament, but let me tell you something. Jesus was in the beginning with God. He was in the beginning with God and he was God. All things were made by him. Jesus Christ, the creator. Okay. So you can't say, Oh, he didn't exist in the old. There was no son in the old Testament is only the father only wrong. The son and the father shared glory before the world began. That's what the Bible says in John chapter 17. So when we see the captain of the Lord's host, this angel Lord, it's, it's an old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ. And just like in the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that's an old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ. And then people say, well, yeah, but then Nebuchadnezzar said the Lord sent his angel, right? Because the angel of the Lord in the old Testament is often referring to Jesus. Jesus called the messenger of the Lord of hosts. He's called his messenger, the messenger of the covenant in Malachi talks about John the Baptist being a messenger. And then all this talks about Jesus being a messenger both in that passage. And so angel simply means messenger. And it makes sense is Jesus is the word. He's the messenger. He's the ultimate messenger. Okay. Now here it's saying, beware of him, obey his voice, provoke him not. So again, this debunks the myth of, Oh God, the father's the, the, the mean one. Jesus is the nice one. Is that what it sounds like here? We have God, the father warning people not to mess with Jesus. Beware of him. Don't provoke him. Don't make folks. What does the Bible say in Psalm 2? The Bible says in Psalm 2, it says, kiss the son, lest he be angry. And he perished from the way when his wrath is kindled, but a little. So Psalm chapter two, it doesn't even say the angel of the Lord. It specifically says the son of God. Thou art my son. This day of I begotten thee. And then he says, Hey, be wise. Now, therefore are you kings be instructed. You judge the earth, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son, lest he be angry. And you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled, but a little. Happy is he that put his trust in him. Whosoever puts his trust in him. So you see the son of God. Jesus Christ has the same attributes of God. The father he's he's yes. He's a loving and a, an a merciful God. He's also a wrathful God of vengeance as well. We see the wrath of the lamb in revelation, right? Book of revelation, new Testament, the wrath of the lamb. The unparalleled wrath of the lamb is coming from the son, not the father. It's specifically the son of God there. Okay. So when we're looking at this and he says, you know, he will not pardon your transgressions. What does that mean? And this is what I said. I wanted to tie in at the end of verse seven. Where it says, I will not justify the wicked. See, God is a God of justice. One of his attributes is ultimate justice. And this attribute is shared by both the father and the son. They both are the ultimate injustice, meaning that they will not clear the innocent. They will not pardon the wicked. They will not justify the way. Why? Because the Bible says that to condemn the just or to justify the wicked are both an abomination to God. Letting someone off the hook for a crime that they committed is an abomination to God. Does everybody understand that? Like it, let's say someone murders someone and the judge just says, not guilty. You know, you're free to go. That's an abomination. Just like if someone's innocent and it's like guilty electric chair, that would be an abomination to injustice. God is not in just. And the reason that this is so important to understand that even Jesus, it says he will not pardon your transgressions. Why? Because my name is in him. Why? Because he's like me. That's why. Because I don't clearly get he doesn't clear. We have ultimate justice. The guilty must be punished. The innocent must be exonerated. See, this is why the cross is absolutely essential. Because if God were this God that just clears the wicked, he just justifies the wicked, then maybe you could have this doctrine of, yeah, you can just go to heaven by being a good person. You know, because if you're just a pretty good person, you go to baptized, God's just going to look down and say like, well, you tried, you did some good stuff, so I'm just going to overlook all the wicked sins you did. No, God doesn't overlook sins that we did. He's the ultimate injustice. This is why the cross is absolutely essential. Because sin must be punished. This is at the core of who God is. The core of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Sin must be punished. The wicked must be condemned. It must be damned. There must be a payment made. The scales of justice have been tipped, and it has to be brought back into balance. That's who God is at his core. He's a God of righteousness, a God of justice. This is why Jesus Christ had to come to this earth and pay that punishment to satisfy God's justice. So when we go to heaven, it's not that our sins were just unpunished. It's that Jesus took the punishment for our sins. So that's how God's love and mercy basically balanced out God's wrath and justice by God sending his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. So he had to die to satisfy the requirements of the law. He had... So God's not just this unjust judge just saying, well, you know, you're a nice guy. You're a good person. You're so sweet. I'm just going to give you a break. That would be an unjust judge. But God is saying, you know what? This must be punished. And then Jesus Christ steps in, takes the punishment, and then the law is satisfied. And then God can forgive because Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. So now he has it. Now you say, well, what about when he forgives people in the Old Testament? He's forgiving people in the Old Testament because Jesus is already as good as crucified. Why? Because he's the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Okay. God dwells outside of time. He knows the end from the beginning. So, well, Jesus hadn't died on the cross yet. He's the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Obviously, in time, it hadn't happened yet. But as far as God is concerned, everything has already happened. God isn't living in 2019 and moving forward with us. God has already experienced all of it. Okay. Time is something that we are constrained by. God, with God, a day is like a thousand years, a thousand years is like a day. It's not a thing for him. He tells the end from the beginning. He's already seen it all. He's already, it's already happened. It's done. So basically, Jesus Christ's sacrifice, which in time happened 2000 years ago, is what allows God to forgive. Even though he's, you say, well, it's a contradiction. He said here, he's not going to forgive us. Yeah. He's not going to pardon the transgressions. They have to be punished, but there's still an allowance for Jesus to come in and pay for everything. Amen. Let's have a word of prayer. Thank you so much for your word, Lord. This wonderful chapter, and obviously I didn't have time to do everything justice in this one hour that we have, Lord. But I just pray that you would just motivate your people and work in their hearts that they would desire to read your word and understand more and learn more. Lord, help us not to go to the world's garbage can and use that to interpret the Bible and change what you've given us, Lord. Help us to have faith in what you have preserved for us today in our received text, King James Bible here, Lord. And help us to trust it, believe it, read it, and meditate upon it, and to learn about you from the word, not from the cunning craftiness of deceivers who lie in wait to deceive us. And in Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.