EXODUS 23 EVALUATE YOUR ACTIONS BY GODS STANDARDS2018 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Exodus 23 Evaluate Your Actions By Gods Standards

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2018.

We continue to work our way through the Bible in three years, and here we are in the book of Exodus. This week we read chapter 23, and so we're looking at chapter 23 verses 1 through 9 this morning, and I've titled the message, Evaluate Your Actions by God's Standards.

Evaluate your actions by God's standards. Now, as we go through the book of Exodus and then on into Leviticus, you know, we're looking at the old covenant. We're looking at the laws of God. And sometimes we can feel far removed from that in that, you know, well, we're under the new covenant.

because of what Christ has done for us. And that is true. We are under a new covenant in our relationship to God. And sometimes we can kind of look back at the old covenant and the laws that are listed and mentioned and kind of disconnect ourselves from them and think that they are separate from us and there's not much need to spend much time in them or consider them very much. But I would encourage you as we work our way through Exodus and Leviticus that we

that these are things that are different for us in the sense that we are under a new covenant, but they're also still really important for us. The laws of God reveal to us the heart of God. The laws of God reveal to us what's important to God and what God desires of His people. And although they're not the standard by which we approach God, they do show us who God is.

God is, what He's like, what He cares about. And as we look at some examples this morning, we're seeing God's standards, and they are still standards. There's principles, and there's His character and nature revealed in these laws that instruct us in our behavior, and we need to evaluate the way that we live based on God's revelation of Himself, based on His standards.

The idea of a standard, it's something that's used as a measure to compare and to evaluate things. I like the illustration of a lifeguard booth because that's what I have on here. And the reason why is because, man, there was so many times, you know, being at the beach and you go in the water. And if you spend a lot of time in the water, Michael's nodding his head very vigorously in the back row there. If you spend a lot of time in the water, you know how it is that, well, you migrate, right? You drift, right?

But you're not conscious of the drifting. And so you're in the water. You're having a good time. You're bodyboarding. You're boogie boarding. You're surfing. You're doing whatever you're doing. And you're just having a lot of fun. And everything's great. And it feels like you're in the same place where you came in. But...

You notice, well, I'm at Lifeguard Tower 22, and well, I got into the water at Lifeguard Tower 17, and so I've drifted, right? It doesn't feel like I'm not conscious of it. If you would have asked me, you know, I would have not thought that I had moved at all, but here I am somewhere far away, and if there were no Lifeguard Towers, then I

Well, I could be, you know, a mile away and not really be conscious of it because of my time in the water and the drifting that has taken place. And so the lifeguard tower becomes a standard.

It becomes something to measure by, and I can see, okay, this is where I went in. Now, where am I compared to that? And that's what we need to do with God's standards, to look at our behavior, our actions, the choices that we make, and the decisions that we make, and compare them to what does God say about these things? There's a lot of inaccurate standards that we could look to.

And we can look at these things and, well, it's moving just as much as I'm moving. So if I'm with Michael Ochoa in the water and I look at Michael Ochoa, well, I must be in the right place because, you know, he's right here too. And so we're together. We look at each other. Well, I must be in the right place because Jerry's here. I must be in the right place because Michael's here. And we're looking at each other and evaluating where we are based on each other. Well, you'll understand we are inaccurate measurements. We're not good standards, right?

And in a similar way, as we look at life and our behavior and our actions, you need to understand your own emotions are not a good standard. They're not a good basis for you to evaluate yourself.

What it is that you're doing and the choices that you're making. Your own thoughts and ideas, those are not good standards. If you think you're doing good, that doesn't necessarily mean that you're doing good. If you think you're right on line with what God wants, well, that doesn't necessarily mean that. You need to look at God's standards. Another inaccurate standard that we can look to many times is the world around us.

We can look at society and the concepts and the norms and what is being declared and accepted generally in the lives of the people around us. And we can look at that and feel validation. Well, this is what other people are doing. This is what everyone else is doing. And if we use that as a standard, well, you need to understand that's not a stable standard. That's a moving standard also.

Consider this example to that end. Back in 1816, remember back in those days? I don't, but some of you might. The Times of London published this article. It says, "...we were marked with pain that the indecent foreign dance called the waltz was introduced."

Now, before...

sharing this article with you, would you have ever thought to call the waltz obscene? I mean, if you were going to ask somebody, you know, like what's one of the like safest dances that you could use as an example? Like, okay, if you're going to dance, well, at least if you dance this way, it'll be safe, right? It'll be clean. It'll be nice. It won't be bad, right? You might use the waltz as an example. Like, yeah, that's, you know, good old-fashioned dance. Nothing wrong with that, right? But if you were going to ask somebody,

But it wasn't that long ago, okay, maybe 200 years ago, but it wasn't that long ago that it was thought of as obscene, perverted. That kind of movement, that kind of behavior was restricted to prostitutes and adulteresses. And parents, you better be warned that you don't let your daughters participate in that, protect them from that. We have come a long way since those days, and not just in the passing of time, but in

Well, in the passing of dancing styles and movements and preferences. And it illustrates the point. Society changes. And if you're looking at what's accepted and normal within the society, well, you're going to have a drifting standard. It's going to be changing society.

And it's interesting, you know, pretty much every generation hates the next generation's music, right? Hates the next generation's dancing styles. Hates the next generation's social styles. Because it's shifting, it's changing all the time. And so we have to be careful to not just go with the flow and allow the forces around us to move us from the standards that God has placed.

And so again this morning, I want to encourage you to evaluate your actions by God's standards. Not by your own internal things that you think, feel, want, or desire. Not by what everybody else around us says. Not by those kinds of things. But to grab hold of something that is solid. Something that does not change. And that is what God has revealed of himself in his word.

And so we're going to look at several of these examples. There's many that we could look at, and we're not going to get into great detail on all of these, but just to kind of give an idea and to help us consider and evaluate our own hearts and lives and where we are in comparison to what it is that God has said. And so the first standard that we'll consider is found in verse 1 as well as verse 7, and that is, you shall not circulate a false report.

God has set a standard and he has said very clearly, you shall not, it is not right for you to circulate a false report. Verse one says, you shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. God has revealed, he has said very clearly in his word here, what he says, what he thinks about us.

The things that we say, the things that we communicate, the news that we share with one another. When it comes to the things that you say, and you could also include the things that you write, the things that you post, whether it be verbally or digitally, whether it be in social media or personally with friends, whatever the case, God is saying you need to evaluate what you communicate to

by his standards. And what is his standard? Well, he says, look, if it's false, you're not to share it. The word false, it literally means something that is empty or vain. The Greek scholar Spiros Zodiatis puts it this way. He says, the term designates anything that is insubstantial, unreal, or worthless. Insubstantial,

unreal, or worthless. Anything that falls into those categories, God says you are not to circulate that kind of information. The word circulate, it means to bear up, to carry, or to support. And the idea here, circulate's a good translation because it kind of gives us both sides of the circulation. That is the receiving of that information and

but then also then the passing on. And so there's that, we're carrying it along, you know, that news report continues. It's like, you know, it's crowd surfing and we're, you know, part of the process of receiving it and passing it on to the next person. And the Lord looks at this and he says, you are not to behave that way with information that is insubstantial, unreal, or worthless. No false reports. The word report just means something that is heard.

So we're not just talking about like, you know, heretical, the worst kind of bad doctrine here. We're talking about anything you hear, any information you receive, any news that you get, any, you know, word that you hear. God says, here's the standard. You are not to share, to pass along any of that if it's worthless, if it's not true, if it's false. You are not to circulate it.

It's interesting to consider this in our day today because, well, there's a lot of conversation going on in the news, in the media, regarding this idea of fake news. And it's really intensified over the past year and a half or so that this whole concept of fake news is kind of a hot topic these days. And although it might be a hot topic currently, it's not a new thing and it's not a new issue.

And we can look at this, and there's been lots of discussion about it, and what's the issue with fake news, and what's causing it, and some would blame the media, and it's because of our technology, or it's because of social media, and those kinds of interactions, and there's all kinds of discussion that can be had around this problem of fake news. But the problem really lies, well, at the root of every problem, and that is the problem is the heart of humanity.

The problem with fake news is not the technology. It's not, you know, the avenues that are available today that weren't available before. This has always been an issue. And that's why God has addressed it and said, look, this is an issue. This is something you need to pay attention to. And here's my standard. The problem is our heart doesn't really like that standard very much. And we prefer to circulate false reports. That's something that we prefer to participate in.

There was a study published recently regarding fake news. It was released in many places, but the New York Times released it as well. And they released it with this headline. It's true. False news spreads faster and wider and humans are to blame. Fake news spreads faster and it goes wider. It hits more people. A headline that is incorrect but catchy. A report that is not true but accurate.

stirs up an emotional connection in people, a headline, a news report that, well, it's not, it doesn't have any basis in reality, but it catches people's attention. Those reports go fast, and they go wide, and they hit more people. And the study shows

What was surprising to many people found that it wasn't bots that were the issue. Now, in the conversation about this fake news, there's been a lot of, you know, well, it's this fault, it's that fault, it's this person's fault, it's that person's fault, you know. And one of the things that has been blamed is the robots, that is the computers, the algorithms, and the fake accounts, and all the, you know, types of attacks that have been going on. And they're spreading all this fake news, and that has been, you know, the thought of many. But

This study went through and found, well, you know, actually the bots, they're dumb. When they share things, I mean, there are bots, there are fake accounts, there are these kinds of things going on, but it's about 50-50. They see fake news and real news and they can't distinguish the difference. They share those both alike, fake and real. But they found that it's humans. It's us. We're the ones who are sharing the fake news.

We're the ones who are getting caught by the bait. And again, you know, okay, well, it's Russian interference. Well, maybe in the sense that, you know, there's that provoking, but we're on the receiving end and grabbing onto that and passing that along. We are circulating false reports. One of the scholars who was doing the study that this report is talking about, he was from the MIT School of Management Institute.

He said, it's disheartening at first to realize how much we humans are responsible. It's not really the robots that are to blame. Like, big shock, right? It's like, I really thought it was not our problem. I didn't think it was a matter of us and our hearts. I thought it was, you know, these attacks from these computers and, you know, these malicious people overseas or whatever. And there was this

this idea that, well, it's not really people who share these things. But no, it turns out what the Lord has said from the beginning has always been true, that the problem is our heart. And it is a problem. There's so many things that we could talk about in this. I'm not going to get into all of them. But one thing I'll say is you need to understand that there is deliberate attempts to manipulate you.

With headlines, with news, with information. And that's true on like the media front. That's true on the gossip front. That's true, you know, there is deliberate attempts by the enemy and by society, by the people around us to manipulate us, to get us caught up in things that we don't need to be caught up in. And God says, look, you need to evaluate the information that you're receiving and don't participate in

And anything that is unsubstantiated and anything that is false and anything that is worthless, if it has no value, don't engage with that. Don't be part of circulating that. False reports, they cause damage.

There's issues that result from this kind of circulation of false reports. And again, there's lots of avenues that we can consider, but people get hurt and there are real costs involved. There was a prank that took place not too long ago. Sylvester Stallone is dead. That was the headlines. That was the thing that was circulated, the information that was posted everywhere and caught on and people saw it and shared it and, you know, it spread fast, but it wasn't true.

And Sylvester Stallone, you know, went online and said, hey, it's not true. I'm still punching, you know, still rocky. I'm still kicking. He kind of handled it gracefully. But his brother, and I don't know if you followed any of this, but his brother got all worked up. And he was like yelling at people on Twitter and stuff. He was all upset. And, you know, it's a hoax. It's kind of like, okay, it's a practical joke. You know, maybe it just kind of gets you a chuckle. But one thing that caused me to pause and consider is the brother, as he was yelling at people, he said, look, my mom saw this.

And first of all, I thought, wait, Sylvester Stallone has a mom that's still alive? Like, that's pretty amazing. But then secondly, here's a mom who hears the news that her son has died. And every time she turns on the TV, you know, news that her son has, like, it caused me to think about it a little bit differently. And we might be able, on this side, you know, to appreciate a little bit of a practical joke. But there's actual hurt that's caused. Right?

by that false report. We need to consider and evaluate. God set these standards for a reason. That's a mild hurt, you know, compared to many of the things that can be accomplished and can be done as a result of false reports. Today's trend, though, as you look at the society around us, I mean, it's share what you know as soon as you know it.

And there is not that much going on as far as fact-checking, as far as evaluating whether or not this is real or useful information to pass on. It used to be that publishers were very thorough in fact-checking, right? And we could trust, and okay, there's a credible source. And there are still some of those around, but generally speaking, it seems that there is not much checking going on.

And there's many times that breaking news is taking place, and then later on it has to be corrected. You know, we reported this, because that's what we knew at the time, that's what we thought at the time, and the urgency to get it out there and to circulate the report really fast, well, we ended up circulating false reports. You know, and good that you went and corrected that false report that you shared, but the fact that you shared it in the first place, God says, that's an issue. And you say, well, wait a minute, wait a minute. I mean, how do I know if it's a false report?

I mean, I can't be accountable for, I thought it was true, so I shared it. No, that doesn't excuse you. That's like saying, well, I didn't know the speed limit was 35, so that's why I was going 55. Like, you still broke the law, right? In the same way, circulating a false report is wrong, even if you believe it to be true. The standard is not whether or not you think it's true. The standard is not whether or not you feel strongly about it. The standard is not whether it made you laugh or not. The standard is...

Is it true? Is it real? Is it worthwhile? God says, you're not to circulate anything that's not in those categories. People in general are not evaluating things very well in that regard. And there's things that we could talk about as, you know, the harm and that kind of thing. But I think for us as believers today, here's what it boils down to. God cares about your credibility. God cares about your credibility. That you and I would be men and women of our word.

that we would be trusted, reliable sources for the people around us. God is concerned about your credibility. And if half the stuff that you share is nonsense, and then you share the gospel, well, the gospel gets piled into the rest of the nonsense as far as the people around you are concerned. I can tell you, there's a lot of people, just don't have an example, I'm not naming any names,

But I don't see every post of every friend that I have on Facebook because there's a lot of people, if there's too much nonsense that's coming through from that channel, I hide that. I don't unfriend and then they know like something's up, but I just hide it. So I don't need to see that. If half the stuff you post is nonsense, I don't need to see that. Are you posting nonsense? I don't know. I probably don't see it. What if 10% of what God said wasn't true?

What if you had to evaluate every time you dug into the Word of God? All right, well, I know most of this is true, but there's some of it that's not. How on earth would you evaluate that? Well, I could tell you how we'd evaluate it. We'd just pick our favorite things and say, well, that's the true thing, and then the things that we don't like, that's the 10% that's not true. We have a fully righteous, reliable standard in God's Word.

And there's a safety there. There's a security. And we can count on it. And so even when I feel differently than what God says, I can go back and hold on to God's word. It's my life tower. My lifeguard tower. I was like, that doesn't sound right. My lifeguard tower. I can look back and go, I feel like I'm at tower 17. I'm actually at tower 22. I need to get back. I can feel different, but look at God's word and go, okay, I know this is true. So what I'm feeling, it must not be true.

Where I think I am, there's a difference. And I can look back and understand this is something I can trust in and hold on to. And God says, look, I want you to be like that to the people around you. Not that you will ever take the place of God. Not that you will ever have the credibility and authority of God.

but that people would have a sense of safety, a sense of security that when you say something, when you share something, when you post something, it is true, it is real, it is worthwhile. Because you've been entrusted with representing God. You've been entrusted with His Word. You've been entrusted with the gospel. You can't throw that in with all the other nonsense. It's kind of like Lot, right? When Lot was in Sodom and Gomorrah.

And he was given the message, hey, judgment is coming. You have anybody in this town you care about? Go tell them to get out with you. And he goes to his sons-in-law and says, hey guys, God's going to judge this place. And you know what they thought? You're joking. You're joking. How can we expect people around us to trust us when we speak on behalf of God, when the rest of the things that we say have proven to be just utter nonsense and worthless information?

God says you shall not circulate a false report. In verse 7, he says, keep yourself far from a false matter. Stay far away from that. He says, do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not justify the wicked. God says, look, you need to keep yourself from that. People are affected. People are hurt. People are impacted by those things, and you don't want to have any part of that. You need to keep yourself far from those things that are false.

From those things that are not worthwhile. And you could look at this and wonder, wow, is this just, you know, Old Testament stuff? I would ask you to consider what the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 4, verse 29. He says, let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. This is still God's heart. This is still God's standard. He says, let no corrupt word proceed

proceed out of your mouth or from your fingers, however you communicate it. No corrupt word. That word corrupt, similar to the word false that we were looking at in Exodus. It means worthless, useless. None of that should come out of your mouth, God says. But only what is good, what is needed to build up, what is helpful and imparts grace to those who hear. That is the standard.

for everything that you communicate in whatever form or fashion you're communicating. Now, you can look at what people around you are saying. Well, Pastor George shares those kinds of things. Pastor George says this, you know, picking on him because he's not in the room. I pray that we could be a good model, but we're not the standard. God's word provides the standard and we need to get back

It's not about what's normal. It's not about what everybody else is doing. It's not about what we feel. Well, I got worked up by this, and so I just had to share it. Well, that's not the standard, and it's still wrong for you to do that. If you circulate a false report, God says that's wrong. You shall not circulate a false report. Well, let's move on to the next standard, and that's found in verse 2, and that is you shall not follow a crowd to do evil.

You shall not follow a crowd. This is something we've been dealing with since high school, it seems like, right? Verse 2. You shall not follow a crowd to do evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice. The idea here is, you know, there's some case or something going on. There's the public opinion. And God is saying, don't just join in with the public opinion.

Because that's what everybody is in agreement over. God is saying, look, the standard for your actions, for your choices, for your attitudes, for your decisions, for your beliefs, the standard is not whether or not it's popular. The standard is not whether or not it's generally accepted to be true. The standard is not, you know, that's what everybody says or does or thinks. Now, I would hope that we would look at this and go, of course, you know, we're not that shallow.

But I think it is important to evaluate and to consider because this is the standard that God has set. And you know, sometimes we allow ourselves to compromise if enough people agree. And we allow that to sway our opinion. Listen, there's a lot of pressure. There's tremendous pressure, I would say, upon us to accept sinful lifestyles as normal. And everybody agrees that

and i don't know why you can't get on board with this concept i don't know why you can't get on board all the scientists agree evolution is true and there was not the literal six days of creation it couldn't have happened that way it had to be by this other method all the scientists agree you just need to get on board and believe that and agree to that also and there can be great pressure upon us well they can't all be wrong we might think to ourselves

Like, I'm not a scientist. Like, how do I get to evaluate those things? You know, that's what they say. So, I mean, I guess it's just got to be true. They all agree. God says, that's not the standard. That's not the way to evaluate that. And there might be tremendous pressure to say, look, gender is fluid. You can choose whichever one you want. And there could be tremendous pressure to accept that.

There's tremendous pressure to say, look, living together outside of marriage is just a normal thing. It's to be expected. Like that's, you have to do that. That's part of life. You know, that's, you know, waiting till marriage. That's old school. You know, that's archaic. This is, you know, 2018 or whatever year it is. And, you know, there's tremendous pressure. Like just get in line. That's what's accepted. That's what's normal. It's the modern era. God says, you shall not follow a crowd to do evil.

It doesn't matter what everybody else is saying. It doesn't matter. If you're the only person on the planet that is in disagreement, if you're holding fast to what it is that God says, God says you are not to move from that opinion, from that decision, from that action. You are to hold fast, even if everybody else says you should do differently. Pastor John Wesley says it this way. He says, general usage will never excuse us in any ill practice.

nor is the broad way ever the safer for its being crowded. Just because everybody is doing that, behaving that way, living that way, thinking that way, talking that way, just because it's crowded on that path doesn't make it acceptable, right? Doesn't change the standard. The standard is still the same, and God will still evaluate you based on His standard.

I thought that was interesting the way he described it as the broad way being crowded. I always think of, you know, Jesus talked about the broad way and the narrow way, right? And when I picture that in my head, I always picture the broad way like having all this space. Like it's broad and there's a lot of people, but it's not crowded. But the idea of being crowded is interesting. You ever have this situation where you're trying to find maybe a place to eat and you're trying out something new, right? And you're going down the road and you look and there's this restaurant that's just packed.

and you can make some assumptions based on that like whoa there's a lot of people there that must be a good place just like you know a couple doors down here's another restaurant there's like two people in there well i'm not going there because uh this place is packed and then there's like four people here you know so that's probably not a good place so i better go to the packed place right and we can use the crowd to make judgments to make decisions and to evaluate it has nothing to do with the facts it has nothing to do with the food

We're watching what other people do, and we're making our decisions based on that. And God says, you're not to do that, to do evil. You're not to allow the crowd to get you to eat at a restaurant God doesn't want you to eat at. Maybe God wants you at the bad restaurant that has no people in it. But what's God's standard? That's the point. When I first started working for Paychex many years ago now, my job was...

to go to our clients and install our payroll software or fix problems that they were having. So we had our office in Orange County, and then I would go out to clients, and that was our job every day. We'd go out to different clients and install the software, deal with issues, that kind of thing. And as I was working there, still really new at it, and going out and installing software and everything, I had a coworker approach me.

I've shared this illustration before, but I like to share it because it makes me look good. So he said, you need to stop visiting so many clients every day. I was like, what do you mean? He's like, well, you're doing, you're scheduling like four or five installations every day. We prefer to do like two or three. So here's the thing.

Because we would start in the office but then go out of the office to go visit the clients, there's a lot of freedom in that. You don't have your boss looking over your shoulder all day. And so if it takes you an extra hour to get from one place to the next place, boss doesn't know. Oh yeah, that install took a lot longer. Yeah, it was more complicated than we expected. So yeah, that's why I was...

late getting there, or there was so much time in between, right? And then if it's three o'clock, and like, well, hey, it's three o'clock, I'm done with my appointments for the day, you know, kind of silly to drive back into the office just for an hour. So I just, I'm off at three. That was the common practice. So with that kind of pace, you can get two or three done a day, and just kind of like cruise through, and just kind of like enjoy, and

not get much work done. And so there was some expectation, Jerry, you need to get on board. This is the way that we handle this job. You shall not follow a crowd to do evil. Just because that's how all the other employees behave, that's not licensed for you to behave that way. Just because all the other employees talk about their boss that way, that's not licensed for you to talk about your boss the way. Just because all the other, you get the point. The crowd is not the standard. The

The crowd is fickle and not in line with what God says. We're seeing that in the book of Exodus as we watch the crowd, the congregation, and they're, you know, going back and forth and wanting to run back to Egypt. And it's not a safe measurement. It's not a safe standard as we consider the crucifixion of Jesus this coming week.

In Matthew 27 verse 29, it tells us that the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. When Pilate says, you want me to release to you Barabbas or Jesus? The crowd said, Barabbas, why? Well, it tells us very specifically the multitude was persuaded by the religious leaders.

There was a move. There was a persuasiveness. And I just kind of imagined it in my own head. I mean, there's the multitude, right? But there's individuals in the multitude, and they're making individual decisions. Why are we asking for Barabbas again? I don't know. But yeah, ask for Barabbas. Okay, Barabbas. Release for us Barabbas. Crucify Jesus. There's this acceptance because...

Well, I wasn't thinking that that's what we were going to do here today, but I mean, everybody else around me is doing that. So yeah, crucify him, crucify him. And they joined in. And the Lord says, you're not to do that. Even if everybody else is chanting and cheering and all pumped up about this, if it's not something that I've called you to do, if it's not something that I have set before you, don't allow the crowd to move you from what it is that God has called you to do.

I would also point out it's not about being different just for the sake of being different. Well, everybody dresses this way, so I'm going to dress, I just got to be different, you know, stand out from the crowd. Well, it's not that we all are supposed to be different for the sake of just, you know, being different. If the crowd's in the right direction, then, you know, keep going the right direction. But it's about not looking to the crowd to be the standard and not allowing the crowd to pressure you or to say, no, no, no.

This isn't what God wants. You know, this other thing, that's what God wants. It's about holding fast to God's word, even when it's not popular. The apostle Paul told it this way to Timothy, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and teaching. He called Paul to the ministry and he said to do it in season and out of season. Do it when it's fashionable,

And when it's not so fashionable. I don't know the right time of year to wear white, but I don't usually wear white anyway, so it doesn't matter. But it comes in season and out of season, right? There's like appropriate times you're supposed to wear certain things. It's not always popular. It's not always in season. 9-11 happens and suddenly it's in season. Calls to prayer, public, everybody pray, yes, pray, pray, pray.

And then it's out of season. Get away from me with your prayer. We don't need that. Keep that out of these places and these things. Keep that distant. It's sometimes in season and sometimes out of season. God says, you're not to follow that. Whether it's popular or not, whether it's in season or not, don't follow the crowd to do evil. You hold to the standard of what God has said and revealed in his word. Let's look at another standard found in verse 3 as well as verse 6.

you shall not show partiality. You shall not show partiality. Verse 3 says, you shall not show partiality to a poor man in his dispute. And then verse 6, you shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his dispute. This covers two sides of the issue of partiality.

Talking about partiality in two different ways. And both are problems. Both are issues. And so there can be the issue of favoring the poor because they're poor. So there is some injustice. There is some crime, perhaps. There is something that's wrong. But I will excuse that because you're poor. You've got a real hard life. Things have been really difficult for you. And so there's an excusing from...

the wrong that was done because you have such hard conditions. Then on the other side, there's favoritism against the poor or partiality against the poor. And so then it's like automatically harder. The rules are stricter on you. The attitude, the approach is much more targeted. It must be your fault because you're poor. You're the issue. You're the problem.

And again, man, God's word is relevant, right? Because in the city of Corona, we have...

an influx of the homeless population right now. I don't know if you're aware of that, but Anaheim is like cleansing and moving the homeless out of their area. At the same time, Riverside is moving the homeless out of their area. Guess who's between Anaheim and Riverside? Corona, right? There has been and there will be projected to continue to be a rise of this kind of population. And

And you maybe have noticed, I see it. You know, when I walk here to the church, there's much more noticeable activity than there has been. We see it around the property here as well. And in light of that, God says, you need to think about how you relate to people in those kinds of conditions and make sure that you don't show partiality, that you don't evaluate based on their social status or condition, right?

That's not the basis of how you relate to them or the way that you interact with people. So you don't automatically give them a pass, but you also don't automatically bring down a harsh judgment. If a person is given a pass because of their hard conditions, well, you also need to factor in that also means then that injustice is taking place to the other party.

If there's a just complaint, if there's a real issue, but, oh, they've had a hard life, it's been difficult, they've got challenging situations, and so we'll give you a pass. But then the person on the other end, there's injustice towards them. That's not right. God says, that's not good. I don't want you to relate that way. There needs to be an even standard, a measurement that is consistent.

But then also the other way, both sides need to be dealt with appropriately. In James chapter 2, we have a good discussion about partiality. It starts in verse 1 where James says, So again, these are not just Old Testament, Old Covenant things. This is for us today. God says, don't hold the faith back.

with partiality. And we could wonder, okay, so but what does that mean? Well, I would encourage you to check out James chapter 2 later on because in the next verses, he goes on to give a scenario. He says, look, imagine you're in church and somebody wealthy walks into the room. And you know they're wealthy because, you know, they're dressed in style, whatever season is appropriate, right? You know,

They've got nice clothes on. They drove a Mercedes into the parking lot. Maybe, you know, you've seen them, you know, on television or something like, whoa, this is someone important. And James says, if you invite them in and show them the best seat and just kind of like show them all kinds of attention, you know, and then a poor person comes in and you don't show that same kind of attention, you

You say, hey, yeah, you sit over here, you know, you're rough and you're gruff and you're not showing the same kind of, I would put it in quotes, love because it's not real love if it's not consistent. So you're favoring these kinds of people and you're disdaining other kinds of people. James says that's favoritism, that's partiality. And he says, if you're behaving that way, you've become judges with evil thoughts, right?

That's evil. To evaluate people that way and treat people that way as a result of your evaluations of them, that's evil. You shall not show partiality. This is the standard. It doesn't matter if everybody else behaves that way. God says, here's my standard. Here's the way that you're to behave. You are to treat people as people. You're to treat people as people that I love, that I died for. And you're not to treat them differently because their circumstances are one way or another way.

but you're to express the love of god you're you're to demonstrate the character and nature of god to people regardless of their social status of their favorite baseball team of their you know you get the point don't don't show partiality it's not that you can't have a best friend right i mean if you're a kid everybody's your best friend that's my best friend that's my best friend that's my best friend right

It's not that you can't have good relationships and some better relationships with some people versus others. That's not what God is saying. But to approach people with stereotypes in your head, with those kinds of concepts, that you're behaving differently with someone that you're just meeting because of what you prefer, God says that's evil. That's a hard one for us to deal with. It's a standard though.

And maybe you've swayed. You're down at lifeguard tower 22. You need to get back to 17. You shall not show partiality. Moving on to the fourth standard we'll look at. And that is you shall not have enemies. Found in verse 4 and 5. Here's what those verses say. If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden...

and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it. Here the Lord illustrates, look, you are not to treat people as enemies. Even people who would look at you and say, that's my enemy. He says in verse 5, the one who hates you. I don't know if you have any people like that in your life, but you know that person who hates you, that person who wants to get you, that person who like

annoys you and irritates you and troubles you every chance they get, that person, God says, you are not to count them as an enemy. So that if you see their ox or their donkey going astray, their dog gets out of the gate and you're like, once again, man, that stupid dog, I hope it gets hit by a car. God says, that's not right. You're not to treat people as enemies. Even if you are counted as an enemy on their part.

Even if there is deliberate, you know, hurt and harm that is brought, you're not to seek their ill. And if there's an opportunity for you to protect them from some loss, to help them recover some loss, God says, you shall bring that animal back to them. Albert Barnes puts it this way, so far was the spirit of the law from encouraging personal revenge,

that it would not allow a man to neglect an opportunity of saving his enemy from loss. I mean, how satisfying would it be to just sit there and just, yeah, watch that donkey stray. Like, oh man, he deserves it, man. This guy, he's giving me so much grief. Gonna get what's coming to him. That's right. Goodbye, donkey. Talking about the animal, not the guy, right? And there's that, well, we think it'll satisfy us, but it doesn't satisfy us.

Because it violates God's standard. It's not in God's nature. It's not accurate to God's character. And so we can't behave that way. Boy, David set such a great model for us in his relationship with Saul. As Saul was out to get David and Saul referred to David as his enemy. And Saul tried to kill David and persecuted David and chased David for years. And yet David never counted Saul as an enemy in his life or after his death.

And when he had opportunity to hurt Saul and to inflict harm and to even take him out, David refrained and he held his men back and he said, no, this is not how God would want us to behave. He never let Saul become an enemy from his perspective, even when Saul became an enemy against David. God says, you're not to behave that way. You're not to treat people that way.

even when they treat you poorly. The apostle Paul put it this way in Romans chapter 12. He says in verse 17, repay no one evil for evil. That's treating them as you're an enemy to me. I'm going to be an enemy to you. He says, have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men and women. With all mankind, you are to live peaceably. He says, look, it's not possible to always do this.

in the understanding that they might still hate you and work against you. But as far as you're concerned, you do them good. And if you have an opportunity to save them from loss, you do that. If you have an opportunity to bless them, you do that. If you have an opportunity to work on their behalf, you do that. If you have an opportunity to share the gospel, you do that. That you are to not have enemies. Doesn't mean you have to be best friends with everybody, but you're not to have enemies. You're not to do people harm, no matter what they've done to you.

This is God's standard. It's not the world's standard. You ask people around you, oh, here's what you should do to get them back. That's not the standard. This is what I would do. This is what everybody's doing. This is what I think and how I feel about it. That's not the standard. What does God say? That is the standard. Now, there's two more standards I want to share with you, but I'm just going to mention them briefly. We're not going to talk about them. And that was intentional. It's in my notes that way, okay? So don't stress about the time. We're good. Number five, you shall not take a bribe.

Verse 8 says, You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous. We understand the corruption that is involved in bribery, especially, you know, with public officials and judges and that kind of thing. We can easily picture that and understand that. But I think also maybe kind of think of ourselves far removed from that. But I would ask you to just allow the Lord to minister to your heart about these things because...

You may not be getting an envelope full of money, and maybe that would be a clear bribe, you know, as far as you're concerned, but sometimes there are situations that present themselves, and we compromise what it is that God has placed upon our hearts for some benefit that we get. So maybe, yeah, you know, I know the Lord really doesn't want my kids to be involved in that, but it gives me a couple hours of break every day. So because I get that benefit, I'll allow that.

And there's an exchange. There's a compromising of our values. There's a compromising of our integrity, perhaps. A compromising of what God has said. But it's kind of okay. I need that time. I need that whatever it is. We may not think of it as greed. We may not think of it as corruption in that sense. And yet, at the same time, I would ask you to consider. God says you shall not take a bribe. Don't compromise what God has said, even if you get some benefit from it right now. That's not...

what you are to do. And it doesn't matter if other people are doing it. Other people sit their kids down in front of that show, you know, so I can do it too. That's not the standard. The standard is what is God saying? What has God called you to? What has God set before you? And then the final standard I'll share with you, number six, is found in verse nine. You shall not forget where you came from. That's my rephrasing of verse nine. Here's what it really says. Also, you shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

God reminded the people of Israel, look, you were in Egypt. You were foreigners in Egypt. You were treated a certain way as a result. You experienced some difficulties and some conflict as a result. There were some problems that came from that. You know what that's like. So now when you're established in the land and now foreigners come amongst you, you're not to treat them the way that you were treated because you know what that's like and you know how hard that was. And you could look at that and think through that in a nationality type of sense, but you

Also, as believers today, I would encourage you to think about it in a maturity sense and understanding in your walk with the Lord, especially for those who have been around the Lord for a while. It is easy for us to forget where we came from and to, well, express a bit of a disdain, a bit of disgust with those who have not walked with the Lord like we have, who have not made the same decisions that we have. And many times we forget that.

what God has brought us out of, and the incredible work that he has done in our lives. We forget the own sinfulness of our heart because we're so caught up in our own self-righteousness. And so we relate to others in a way that does not represent God's heart because we've forgotten where we came from. You know, sometimes in ministry, there's the desire to place a standard. If you want to serve in this ministry, you must meet this standard. Now, there are standards in God's word for those who serve.

But it's interesting how many times we want to implement standards that are more strict than what God's word actually says. And if you consider those standards sometimes that are presented, I'm trying not to call out Pastor Cisco by name, but if you try to present or try to evaluate those, I go, look, Cisco, we wouldn't qualify if those standards were in place when we started, right? Like, and now we're going to turn around and say, well, now that we're in, you know, you must reach this height. Doesn't work that way. We forget where we came from.

We forget what God has done and we need to remember where we've come from. God says, don't forget that. I'm still doing a work and there's room for me to work. Evaluate your actions by God's standards. Not ours. Not how we feel about it. Not what I think about it. Not what I perceive. Check out this video that I found as an example. How you guys like this video? Is that moving for anybody? Anybody see it moving? It's not moving. It's a picture. It's an optical illusion.

And maybe you don't see it moving. I don't know if everybody sees it moving or if it's one of those things only some people see. But for me, it's like, I'm going to change it so nobody has a seizure. Your eyes tell you and you're absolutely convinced that's moving and it's not moving. And that is the way of life. And that is why we need to evaluate our actions by God's standards. Because everything within you is going to say, it's moving and this is what needs to happen and this is what I feel and this is what everybody's saying. And you can be absolutely, totally convinced and completely wrong.

Unless you look to the standard. This isn't moving, the word of God. It's the same. It's still God's word. It's still the truth by which we evaluate life and decisions and actions.

And here's what God says. Don't circulate a false report. Don't follow a crowd to do evil. Don't show partiality. Don't have enemies. Don't take a bribe. And don't forget where you came from. And there's many more that we'll look at as we continue reading through the word. But the point is, evaluate these things and let God's word be the standard for how you behave, for what you believe, for the decisions that you make and the actions that you take. Let's pray. God, I pray for each one of us.

that you would give us a clarity into our own hearts and minds and motivations, Lord, that we would be able to check what it is that we do and say and believe and think, Lord, that we would check it by you. What do you say? What do you think? What do you want? And Lord, it is easy. And there is so much around us and even within us working hard to convince us of things that are not true and to convince us to do things that are not of you.

God, I pray that you would give us the clarity and the sense to look to you, to grasp hold of your truth, your word, and to hold fast to that. Protect us, Lord, from the drifting. And Lord, as we do drift, as we do find ourselves way down far away from where we first began or where you've called us to be, Lord, I thank you that you give us the grace and the mercy to turn back to you and to get back in line.

I pray that you would help us to do that, Lord, not to be stuck in our pride, insisting, I haven't drifted, insisting that we're okay in the place that we are. Lord, I pray that you would help us to have enough humility to look to you and ask for forgiveness and to hold to your word as we take the next step and the next one. Lord, that we would begin from now on, from here on out, for this next step to seek to honor you and to live in a way that is in agreement with what you say.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.