Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition?

Well, tonight, we continue, after some time, our study in the book of Exodus, and we're right in the thick of these sections of these laws that are rather challenging, quite a bit different from this morning, and yet I remember and think about as I work through these how helpful they are to discern that even though we're not in a theocracy, where in a sense church and state were one, we can take these laws and learn a lot from the general principles of equity, truth, and justice that the Lord wants as we see the moral law throughout these commandments working its way out in the lives to promote love of God and love of neighbor. If you're curious about my sermon title, I remember a long time ago that song. I should have hands raised. do the older people probably know the title of that song right praise the lord and pass the ammunition i'm seeing some nods um i i i remember that uh title so many years ago thinking that is a strange title that kind of bothers me should it bother me praise the lord and pass the ammunition and then i thought tonight well this really helps us to see how the lord thought in the old covenant about self-defense and how we were to regard people who break in and how we were to think about in those days it weren't guns but they had their laws for all sorts of weapons right and we're in the midst of an intense gun debate so i just thought that would help a little bit to capture and to bring more people back so exodus chapter 22 tonight exodus chapter 22 verse 15 verses. If a man steals an ox or a sheep and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep. If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no blood guilt for him. But if the sun has risen on him, there shall be blood guilt for him. He shall surely pay. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If the stolen beast is found alive in his possession, whether it is an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he shall pay double. If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed over or lets his beast loose and it feeds in another man's field, he shall make restitution from the best in his own field and in his own vineyard. If fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that the stacked grain or the standing grain or the field is consumed. He who started the fire shall make full restitution. If a man gives to his neighbor money or goods to keep safe and it is stolen from the man's house, then if the thief is found, he shall pay double. If the thief is not found, the owner of the house shall come near to God to show whether or not he has put his hand to his neighbor's property. For every breach of trust whether it is for an ox for a donkey for a sheep for a cloak or for any kind of lost thing of which one says this is it the case of both parties shall come before god the one whom god condemns shall pay double to his neighbor if a man gives to his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep safe and it dies or is injured or is driven away without anyone seeing it An oath by the Lord shall be between them both to see whether or not he has put his hand to his neighbor's property. The owner shall accept the oath and he shall not make restitution. But if it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to its owner. If it is torn by beasts, let him bring it as evidence. He shall not make restitution for what has been torn. If a man borrows anything of his neighbor and it is injured or dies, the owner not being with it, he shall make full restitution if the owner was with it he shall not make restitution if it was hired it came for its hiring fee there ends tonight the reading of god's word well there's no question that we are living in a society in time when there is no more trust being built among neighbors in the way that we interact in the business dealings and what's happened in our culture and society not only has our our service society seemingly fallen apart it seems to be though that for a society to function correctly for a society to be healthy for a society to be prosperous there has to be a measure of trust and a measure of respect among neighbors doesn't there that they will respect somebody else's property that they will do what is right that they will do what is honorable um i mean for my last two services on on my vehicle in my car in this town of escondido it's been awful everything went wrong that could have the service industry today is so discouraging to me i'm really having a hard time trusting anyone to make my burrito to be honest with you i'm hearing stories about what they do to burritos now i don't know who to trust it's really something we hear endless stories of now greedy ceos who have who have squandered inheritances of people who've invested taking huge salaries for themselves and then losing everything in ponzi schemes hurting millions of people this happened in linden where a retirement thing went bad due to greed and a lot of people lost a lot of money very sad that a i remember an 85 year old man who had done well most of his life said i don't even have money now because of this whole thing to give gifts at christmas to my children don't you feel that something has changed in society and just even service and general equity and the way people treat one another it used to be that the customer was always right that's gone i know i can get kind of cynical in all of this but don't you think that at least there's a general equity and concern that needs to be in place in a society for it to function properly and today it just seems to be falling over left and right we don't talk to people anymore social media has completely broken down the ability for people to communicate we're living in a me generation. It's all about me. We don't have respect for others. I mean, I was taught to take my hat off when I entered into a room. Today, people don't even do it in prayer. They look at you like, what do you mean? Are you kidding? Take off your hat? The me generation. This is what we're living. And our security measures, of course, seem to keep getting more advanced and more advanced because theft and crime is becoming more and more sophisticated. They're getting good, they're getting better, and we're doing all we can just to keep up. Our doors are locked, our alarms are on, and now we sit in the midst of an intense gun debate about the rights of citizens to defend themselves while many feel that these rights are being taken from them. And even this last week laws were put into place that people feel are being taken. This is going on while society becomes more and more wicked. Houston, we have a problem then, don't we? And then we see authority structures being assaulted left and right. Police officers and authority structures are constantly being thrown under the bus. I'm not quite sure anymore how committed they are to protect people in this environment. You keep hitting them, they're going to struggle. Well, all that's going on right now and that's what you're living in. We'll see all sorts of stuff unfold because of that. And I think it's a glorious moment to study God's economy. I really see the value of this. I'm glad that this world is temporary. I'm glad that this world, and you see right now all the more, aren't you thankful that this is not going to go on forever? That has a kind of good effect on us because it's making us long for the heavenly city It's making us long for a time when there will no longer be doors and locks and alarms. When the wicked will be gone forever. When there will be peace forevermore. When there will be love among neighbors. Pure, constant affection and love in the most holy and righteous way. And that's why studying this tonight helps us to see how God Himself regulated the society that was full of sin and full of this propensity to do what we're seeing unfold in our own society when injustice rocks the land, how in his economy, justice was preserved in the land or was intended to be. That's what these laws were for. And under his government, there were many things that happened that prevented what we're seeing unravel in front of us. He made provisions to see his people cared for. He made provisions to see the good gifts that He gave people protected. And that's an important point tonight. He gave laws so that you would see love excel among neighbors, peace that it would continue. And tonight we particularly come in the first 15 verses to a series of property laws. How did the Lord regulate property in the Old Covenant? How did He do that? This may not seem to be that important to us, but God's people throughout history have suffered a lot of loss of property have had things taken from them have had governments take it due to theft due to greed due to hatred among neighbors and tonight we have a window into how god wanted his people to be different in their world in the way that they interacted with each other different from how the world interacted with its people and that's what we're seeing in these passages that we would take these principles tonight. There are many principles we take from this of equity and of justice and of love shown here and promoted by God himself in the law of God so that we then would exercise this among us, that we would be careful to pursue these kind of things. And there you're going to have a strong witness, I promise you. You're going to have a really strong witness before the world if this is listened to, the principles that are taken from this. That's what this is about tonight. Love and respect of your neighbor even to the good gifts that God gives him. That's really the simple point. And that's what we see. That first he gives laws in love of how, and this will be a little bit surprising for a moment. I hope you'll see by the time we're done. Laws in how they were to love the thieves among them. Laws on how they were to respect their neighbor's property among them. And laws that were concerned about building trust in the community of one another. Building trust and not doubt. Not entertaining doubts in business dealings. But being willing to take the high road and always say, we want to pursue trust and love among brothers. That's what all these laws were promoting. And you'll see how the gospel was intended to motivate this kind of behavior. The first set of laws here tonight deal with the eighth commandment and theft of property. You'll notice that in verse 1 that he says, if a man steals an ox or a sheep and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep. If the thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there should be no blood guilt for him. But if the sun has risen on him, there shall be blood guilt for him. He shall surely pay. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If the stolen beast is found alive in his possession, whether it is an ox or a donkey or sheep, he shall pay double. It really is a somewhat straightforward series of laws here that if a man steals something and he slaughters or he sells it, think about the consequence of this. You had to pay four or five full, depending upon what it was. That's going to make you think a little bit about stealing, isn't it? Remember, oxen in those days were like a good tractor. This is how people made their living. There's a reason in the law, the 10th commandment, it says you shall not covet your neighbor's ox. Everyone got together at the local shop and talked about their oxes. Trust me, we've got a good ox over here. The ox was the thing everyone talked about. Well, they were the targets of theft, weren't they? And if the theft were to happen, you have to think about in that society how much that set back somebody. We often don't think about when one sin happens, the consequences of how it affects everyone. And think of all the months of work and the months of loss if you had your ox lost or stolen. That completely set back a farmer. And it's a really important point in and of itself that we don't think a lot about how destructive just what we think is a little sin of theft, how destructive that is in a society. One person's sin does sweeping damage to others. And the Lord was always instituting laws that made people realize this and that made them suffer the consequences appropriate to the damage that it caused in the society. I mean, just think about, and I call it this because it's what it is, think about the theft of adultery. Think about stealing another man's wife. Think of the hurt to the family. Think of the hurt to the wife. Think of the pain the children endure. And then all the questions, have you ever seen this when this stuff happens? Then all the question comes of how they're going to make it, how they're going to survive, how they're going to live, how they're going to be provided for. The sweeping damage of one sin. One sin. And here the Lord was having people and having thieves think about their actions. If he stole something of the property, he had to restore five or four to five times what he stole. And you see the wisdom in that. The restitution had a great restraint. They didn't just go to jail and sit there. Think about our prison system's full. They paid for it. And even if he was found with it, he was caught, and then he was found with the animal, he still, in that case, had to give the animal back and pay double. So, what a display from the Lord, first noticing here tonight that He cares about what He gives us. I find that to be a remarkable point. Isn't it an amazing thought that the Scriptures teach us that every perfect gift, good and perfect gift, comes down from the Father of lights who delights to give you all kinds of good things to enjoy in this life. And he loves to give his children good gifts. Think about it. He's zealous for the gifts that you're given, for you to use them for enjoyment and for his glory. And he hates theft because theft is in a sense somebody trying to play God and trying to take hold of what he decided not to give them, to give him. And so I stood back from this week and I realized that God even cares about how we use our possessions and the possessions that He gives us. It's a beautiful truth that all possessions that we own are God's. Everything you own is His. And He's specifically given it to you to use for His glory. And anything beyond that is off limits. Now in the next breath, after those series of laws, God gives instructions about breaking and entering. And it shows here His care about persons and people. In those days, walls were made of mud and you could just, in the middle of the night, break right in and get into the house. So you'll notice that He addresses this particular circumstance that at nighttime, if a thief breaks in and you strike him and he dies, the owner is not liable. But if it's daytime, verse 3, and the man strikes the thief and he dies, he's culpable. The point here, it's really interesting, isn't it? At nighttime, they didn't have lights to turn on. You had no idea of the intention of a thief. You have no idea what he was going to do. So a thief would come in and break into your house and the Lord made a provision to restrain the thief. Listen, I'm not going to hold anyone culpable in self-defense who defends himself from somebody who comes in like that. The darkness has concealed intention. The darkness having concealed intention means that a homeowner had every right to defend himself from the thief and if he struck him and he died that was the way it went so there's a clear teaching in the bible on the right of self-defense isn't it you can't get away from that god in his economy always gave his people the right of self-defense in these kind of situations and i believe that's very important to say it was not hey come on in and take us out it was not a kind of pacifist approach to this he always gave that right but then he gives a provision in the midst of this which i found really intriguing not having electricity the principle here what is when the lights come on when the sun's up and you see the person and you see the intention is not to harm you then you can't take him out and if you do go and take him out the lord said you're culpable you're guilty nobody had the right to take the law into their own hands when intention was clear and the lights were on the person that the person was not intending harm so there were two things going on here the lord was protecting people caught in sin he wanted people to be able to defend himself but he also wanted those with that right now listen to this, to consider the life of the thief. The Lord cared about protecting thieves from lawless aggression. Amazing, isn't it? What is that telling you a little bit? What is that promoting? Here's where we're challenged, and I don't mind challenging us in this whole gun debate. It's interesting that all the other laws of the other lands of the other times protected a thief only in relation to who he stole from. In other words, if he stole from a poor person, there were no real consequences. If he stole from a king, death. God's law, all theft had the same consequence. But the people being stolen from were then taught to look at a thief in a certain way. Today we're told, and I've been told this numerous times, listen, if somebody breaks into your home and you shoot, light goes on, I see him, and you shoot, you better kill him inside the boundary of your house. Police officers, maybe they'll know this. I've been told this all my life. You don't want to let him get up because you're going to get sued. So you better take them out. I've heard that my whole life. You better take them out when they're in the domain of your house and borders of your home. You better not do it when they're outside the home, but if they're in the home, you better do that. I agree, there are a few things that make us feel more violated than a thief coming into our home. But how do you look at him? At nighttime, you have no idea of intention. And if you strike and he dies, you're not at fault. But if you saw his face in the light, what did you see? The image of God. This is something very interesting to think about. Guns up. I see his face. Do I really want to take out his light? Do I? Someone made in God's image? Is that what I want to do? Put an end to his existence? What should it produce in God's people? Compassion. Compassion. We all think we're little rambos today. We're loading up our artillery. We're talking big. We got our guns. We store them up. I listen to, and listen, I'm all for the right of self-defense. I just proved it. But do you remember the intention of God for thieves? This is where I'm testing our knowledge now of what we've studied so far. What was the intention of God for thieves? They would be sold. Why would they be sold? They would be sold to go into a master's house for six years for the goal of rehabilitation so that they being rehabilitated and now working to pay for their debt would be looking forward to sabbath themselves remember that six years they'll work and then the seventh they'll be set free so the point was the goal you would want to have if your heart is right is to care for a thief and see his life preserved and i wonder if in all this bloodiness today of our society and all the murderous actions of our society we have in all the video games and all of the violence that we're just accustomed to we've forgotten that these are people dropping into eternity i wonder do you really want to kill him i endlessly hear and read of today people talking about the preserving of all of this with total disregard of the people who are made in his image aren't we being taught in some way to love our thieves as ourselves who's the real thief i'll come back to that the second category tonight had to do with negligence and resulting loss of property the lord was saying i want you to respect your neighbor's property he says in verse five if a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed over and lets his beast loose and it feeds in another man's field he shall make restitution from the best in his own field in his own vineyard think about that you mean just a little grass lost yep i care about your neighbor's grass if a fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that the stacked grain or the standing grain of the field is consumed he who started the fire shall make full restitution it's really remarkable isn't it two scenarios dealing with loss of property there were no boundary fences in those days they're not boundary markers everyone knew what their property lines were and if an animal crossed over and they ate of the good grass of the neighbor they were to make it right if you were burning in your field and a little spark happens to fly up and it catches on fire your neighbor's property uh you needed to make it good notice we'll keep coming to that statement you need to make it right you need to make it good people were taught what to be responsible for their actions. I mean, that's the basic truth there, isn't it? Can you imagine if we lived that way? The common sort of maxim in our society, the minute something happens, what is the first thing people say today? Well, I didn't mean to do it. And the Lord would say, that doesn't matter. It happened. And you need to go make it right. It was teaching responsibility and it was teaching stewardship of gifts, wasn't it? It was teaching people to be responsible about actions and to think about the responsibility, and this was so important, of replacing what was lost. See, something happens today and somebody says, oh, don't worry about it and we're all good. The Lord wanted it replaced. I find that just fascinating. I remember growing up in church at cadets when I was a cadet and I got into a scuffle. You probably can't imagine that. And some coins flew up and broke the cadet house window at church. And I remember saying, that's not my fault. And so I went home and my dad says, you're paying for that window. I said, but dad, you're paying for that window, boy. I said, okay. I paid for the window. And I never forget that. And there have been times where I remember these sort of things and then think, well, I failed there. I didn't make it right. In the Lord's economy, He wanted it made right. You forget to trim your trees and the wind comes and a branch flies off and does damage to your neighbor's house. The Lord says, you need to make it right. You bang up a door at Vaughn's, you need to leave the note. Hey, $100 bill, finders, keepers. Uh-uh, it's your neighbors. Give it back. He goes on to addressing borrowing and lending. There were no safety deposit boxes in those days. The only way you protected your property when you traveled was to have your neighbor watch it. Can you imagine this kind of situation for a minute? Remember, these are all very selective. Some of the most strange case laws to put into action and teach us principles of equity and justice. Think about the situation. We just traveled on a trip. We have no safety deposit box. You give your stuff to your neighbor. In my case, Pastor Donovan. Something goes wrong. What's going to happen? Right? But we have elders for that. This is exactly what the point was here. What happens if you give your ox or your money to your neighbor on watch while you're gone on vacation and the ox dies or the money's stolen? I know what the human heart's like. Yeah, right. Yeah, right. That's convenient. What if the thief wasn't found? Makes it even worse, right? What's the owner going to say? Well, why didn't you catch that thief? What were you doing? Why didn't you watch my ox? Where's my money? Come on. You can only imagine the fights and divisions that occurred in stuff like this. The borrower was then brought before the judges. This is how it was to go. Think about the scenario. The borrower was then brought in front of the judges and they would render a judgment as to whether he took them. If it was determined that he stole them, he had to pay double. If it was not, then the one who entrusted the goods simply lost the goods. Sounds right. Or think of this scenario. You had a cow and you lent it to be watched by your neighbor and verse 10, it dies or is hurt or is driven away without any witness. What had to happen? This is interesting. They had to come before the Lord lord and both swear an oath would be made that he intentionally the one who had it didn't intentionally do harm to the property or to the cow and the owner had to accept that oath but if it was stolen he had to pay it back now let me ask again what is god promoting in this economy. Trust among neighbors. Responsibility among neighbors. Let me put this together tonight of what I believe the big picture is for you. What happens when business deals go south among brethren? Every time it's a result of people trying to judge motivations. Well, I question why they did that. I question whether they're being honest. I question this. And you have all sorts of doubts and insinuations and charges that flow through the mind. Bitterness takes over. Business deals, loans, debts, loss of property, disputes. How many disputes have you seen among Christians over this stuff? I've seen a pile in the course of my ministry. How many conflicts over business deals? I've seen two brothers who refuse to talk to each other sitting in the same church taking communion who refuse to talk to each other over a business deal that went south. Now Paul would come along in Corinthians and say, what are you guys doing? You know, brother goes to law against brother. Don't you have elders and wise men to decide these cases? That was the principle taken from Exodus chapter 22, and that's what the law provided. if there was a dispute that could not be reconciled, there were judges who would render the judgment, and that was to be accepted. That's why they were wise men. That's why God put them in office. But here's my question. Was that the intention of the law? Was that the intention of the law? The only reason these things escalated and went bad, in every case, theft, loss of goods, brotherly separation, earthly things, earthly deals, was what? Worldliness. It's the only reason. Pride. Honor. Worldliness. Where do wars and fights come from among you? From your desires for pleasure to spend it on your own. What was the Lord's real intention in giving these laws? With the thief, should you just kill him? That really wasn't the goal of the law, was it? The law protected you, but the goal of the law was that the thief would be sold to be rehabilitated. That was love. It taught the person dishonored to love. With property, if you are at fault, wasn't the law teaching you to go the extra mile? In other words, didn't the law just continually say, over and over it keeps saying in the law, make it good, make it good, make it good. Keep coming across that. Third, wasn't the law promoting trust among neighbors? What I'm moved with here is that in all of these cases, they're completely out of the control of the owner. Here's what I love about this. A spark happens to fly. A bug happens to land in an ear. A beast happens to cross over and graze in a field. An animal happens to die under your watch. Happens, happens, happens. Are you getting something in this tonight? What do you confess about the doctrine of providence? Nothing happens by chance. Sparks don't fly by chance. Accidents are directly under the control of God. In God's providence, what has happened to you has happened for a purpose so that you would have the opportunity to foster the kind of love for your neighbor that is the intention in the law. Now imagine if we all thought like that. Everything that happens to you happen for a reason to give you an opportunity. Which means that these are all tests in your lives. That's what this means. What if every circumstance, every mess, every hardship, full of conflict with your neighbor, you said, thank you, Lord, for the bug you sent to my ear today. What if? Thank you for giving me an opportunity to love my neighbor. Well, I'd change everything. I wouldn't be saying I've been so hurt. No, it'd stop being about you. And you'd begin to say, what an opportunity to go show love to this person and show where my values are. I see Christians pushing for rights and end up over property and things leading to fight and separations and discord and quarrels and lawsuits. And that's evidence of something that you've forgotten. The very gospel that's proclaimed to you. A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for a wine press and built a tower and leased it to tenants and went into another country. When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some fruit from the vineyard. And they took him and they beat him. And they sent him away empty-handed. Again, he sent them another servant and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. And he sent another and they killed him. And so with many others, some they beat, some they killed, he had still one, a beloved son. Finally, he sent to them saying, they'll respect my son. But those tenants said to one another, remember, they're just workers in another man's vineyard. They'll respect my son. They said, this is the heir. Let's kill him and the inheritance. We'll steal it. And they took him and they killed him. And they threw him out of the vineyard. Who are the thieves, beloved? Us. This is what we did to God's Son. You all have borrowed capital. And yet, what did the Son do for you? He made full restitution. He paid it all for you. And He gave you a right to be in the vineyard. And don't you think this is what motivates Jesus to say, if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him too. Isn't that love? Give to the one who begs from you. And do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. In other words, it will only be the love of Christ that will motivate that kind of behavior. Because the other behavior is so to the natural man. But when this behavior flourishes among Christians, then society sees something they don't understand or know. But it's the greatest witness to them, isn't it? And this was the intention in the law. Boys and girls, I close with this. Remember your wee little friend Zacchaeus? He was a bad man. He was like one of those Enron guys. He was stealing. And that wee little man, Jesus said to Zacchaeus, I'm coming to your house today. Zacchaeus stood up and said, Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor. And if I've taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold. Jesus said to him, Today, salvation's come to this house. Because he's the son of Abraham, for the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost. He didn't have to give back that much. In that particular case, the law did not require it. He gave fourfold. If Christ loved him that much, what opportunities would he be blessed with now to mirror that love? Don't you see life now? If Christ loved him that much, what opportunities would he be given to mirror that love? What is money? What is property? What is livestock? What are cars? What are all these things if I've been given the one thing that can never be taken from me? that I'm bought with the precious blood of Jesus. So I guess I ask in closing, who do you need to talk to? Who do you need to repent to? Who do you need to forgive? Who do you need to bring into your house? If there's any other commandment, all are summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank You for teaching us about love and intention. Forgive us that we are selfish. And thank You that in Your perfect economy, in dealing with sinners, You show us and give us a glimpse of everything that is just and right and perfect. May we take these things and implement these principles of love in the way that we deal with one another in our church family here and the way that we treat others even in the world to love even our enemies. And to remember that we were bought. It's only the gospel of Christ that will motivate this kind of behavior. I thank you for training us and instructing us in righteousness that we might be men of God thoroughly equipped for every good work especially now as we go out into another week. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you.