EXODUS 22 LESSONS FROM GODS LAWS2021 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Exodus 22 Lessons From Gods Laws

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 2021.

Amen. Well, as we look at Exodus chapter 22 this evening, I've titled the message Lessons from God's Laws. Lessons from God's Laws. And as we look at this passage, and of course, many of the passages that are like this in the Old Testament, these can be challenging passages for many.

as we look at the Old Testament law. Now, this is just the beginning of it here in the book of Exodus. We're getting some laws here. We saw the Ten Commandments back in chapter 20. And now God is kind of elaborating on those a little bit and giving a little bit more detail about laws and regulations for his people here in Exodus as the children of Israel are camped out at Mount Sinai and hearing from the Lord.

But we're going to get in, of course, into much more detail about the laws of God in the book of Leviticus as well. And so there's a lot of chapters like this. There's a lot of passages like this where there's these Old Testament laws that are given to the children of Israel. And it can be a very big challenge for many people.

What do we do with all these laws? What do we do with these scriptures? And are we to obey these? And do we have to apply these? And how do we apply these? And it can be troubling and difficult for us to consider what is the application for them. Now, as you consider Old Testament laws, of course, one of the most important things to understand is the context.

And a big part of the context in the giving of the laws here in Exodus and Leviticus and what we'll see again as well in Numbers and Deuteronomy, a big part of this whole context is God establishing a nation.

The children of Israel coming out of Egypt, they were not a nation before. They didn't have their own judicial system. They didn't have protocols and principles in place. They were slaves in Egypt for those 400 years. And so now as God brings them out, he's going to establish them as a nation and

give them laws to govern by, give them the principles of a judicial system. And so a lot of these laws that we're reading are specifically for that purpose. If you look at verse 9 here of Exodus chapter 22, you can kind of see that taking shape.

Again, verse 9 says, for any kind of trespass, whether it concerns an ox, a donkey, a sheep, or a clothing, or any kind of lost thing, which another claims to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges, and whomever the judges condemn shall pay double to his neighbor. You can see here, God is setting and establishing here the judicial system. He's addressing situations that judges need to be involved in.

He is appointing judges for the people. He's establishing that role within the nation for there to be that right place of having a judge who decides on matters. And so as he establishes that, he's giving those judges principles by which to make those decisions and to determine what is right and what penalties should be there and the course, you know, for various different situations.

And so as we read through chapter 22, we can, first of all, start thinking, well, I'm not a judge back in Old Testament Israel, and so I don't really need to know these things, you know, that these are things that were for them and for that context. And absolutely, that is appropriate to consider and understand in that way. Not every law that we read in the Old Testament has direct application to us today.

And yet, at the same time, I would suggest that we learn a lot about God's perspective through the laws that he gave. We learn a lot about God's heart and the way that he thinks about things and the weight that he gives to things and the priorities that he has in his heart. We learn a lot about God through his laws.

And so these laws perhaps may not be meant for us to directly apply and enforce in the moment, but at the same time, they're worth considering and spending time in because God here is revealing what he sees as important and what he thinks we need to be considering. Now, I've put together a while back now, but I continue to refer back to it, something that may help you when you're thinking about Old Testament laws.

When to obey an Old Testament law? When is it that we take these things directly and put them into practice in our lives? Not just consider the heart of God, not just consider the judge's responsibility, but when do we take these things and then implement them in our life today or tomorrow, this week, right? How do we know when to do that?

Well, here's some things to consider, I think, that will help us evaluate different laws. And we're not going to get into all of these things tonight, but as you go forward, perhaps this might help you consider and evaluate the things that you're reading as we work our way through the Old Testament laws in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. And so you need to obey an Old Testament law when it is repeated in the New Testament.

When commands are given in the New Testament that, you know, line up with the Old Testament commands, we can see that that is for sure continuing to be the heart of God for us, that we are to obey these things. And

And as you look at, for example, the Ten Commandments, you can see instances of them being repeated in the New Testament and commanded to us with the exception of the Sabbath law. And so that brings us to the second point on this list, and that is you obey an Old Testament law unless it is reversed in the New Testament.

And in that case, for Gentiles, the Sabbath law was reversed. And it was specifically, we're specifically instructed, we no longer are bound by the Sabbath law. And so that is a change that God's allowed to do. He can command a law and give a command and that it gives, you know, or is applied for a certain amount of time. And then later on, it's not.

That command is no longer valid, and so there are some instances like that. And so if it's repeated in the New Testament, we can see and understand clearly this is a law, a command for us today, and we're to continue in those commands. When it's reversed in the New Testament, well, then we have the freedom to not continue in those commands, and we can follow the instruction given to us to not obey those commands or that we're not bound to them any longer.

The third thing, though, is when God's heart is clearly revealed. Now, for you and I today, as we consider these things, I would hope that we are those who would say, you know, it's really important to me to please God. I really want to

Be pleasing to God and follow his heart. I really want to do the things that God wants me to do. And that's an important thing to consider as you look at the Old Testament laws. Again, God is speaking truth. He's giving instruction. And although the direct application may not be necessary for us today,

to consider, but at the same time, the heart of God is revealed, and there's principles that we can learn and things that we can apply to our lives as a result of understanding God a little bit better. And so God's heart being clearly revealed is an important thing to consider.

Now, we also obey Old Testament laws unless it's restricted to a certain time or context. Sometimes, as I mentioned previously, God gives laws and he specifies, this is for this time period.

This is for, you know, begins here, ends there, and during this time frame, you know, these are the things that are to take place. He gave commands to the children of Israel when they went into the promised land, and not just when they lived there, but, you know, on their first entrance, and the things that they were to do, and how they were to behave.

And that was not the permanent forever, you know, everybody was supposed to do this. But for that specific context and in that specific situation, this command applied. And so once again, understanding the context is really important. And that's why it is important to go through the scriptures and have the full picture of what's happening here in the book of Exodus as we look at these things.

Well, the last one is a little bit familiar. It's when the Old Testament repetition makes God's heart clear.

So when God's heart is clearly revealed is the third one. But then the last one is when you can look at this command and see, you know, this command is repeated not just here in Exodus, but also in Leviticus and also in Numbers and also in Deuteronomy. And then also I see it in Isaiah and Daniel and Jeremiah, right? Like when you see these commands repeated, then it's very clear, it's abundantly clear that the heart of God is revealed and

And as those who desire to know God, those who desire to please God, the heart of God being revealed should be pretty important to us. In fact, of all of these things that I'm looking at here, of course, the repeated in the New Testament is the clearest one. We can see those commands and we continue to follow them. But

I think the thing that I would focus on the most as we work our way through the laws is looking at the heart of God being revealed. God's revealing himself. He's showing himself. He's saying, look, this is what's important.

And so let's allow the heart of God to be open before us and for that to impact us in our lives. And so as we look at these things in chapter 22, we're not just looking for, you know, direct things that maybe we have to take and we have to do it and it's a law for us today. It might not be a law for us today, but it might be something that God desires for us to behave ourselves in a certain way today.

that corresponds with, that reflects his heart and demonstrates his heart to the people around us. I would ask you to consider the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter 22. When he was asked what the most important commandment was, he answered and said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and with all your mind. That's the first commandment. He says that's the greatest commandment. The second greatest commandment is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

And Jesus goes on to say, on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Jesus says all the laws that you can find in the book of Exodus...

All those that you can find there, they hang on one of two things, either loving God or loving your neighbor, or perhaps, you know, both. That on these two things, everything that we can read about, everything that we can consider boils down to loving God and loving your neighbor. And so as we consider these laws, we can consider how it applies to loving God and loving your neighbor and have a better understanding of what God desires for us as a result.

And so lessons from God's laws. That was a long introduction, but getting into the passage now here in chapter 22, there's six lessons that we need to consider here in Exodus chapter 22. The first one is found in the verses that we read, verses 1 through 9. Here's point number one, lesson number one, make restitution for damage you have done.

Make restitution for damage you have done. Check out verse 1 again. It says, So here, as God is giving laws, he now gives some principles for penalty for stealing. And if someone steals an ox or a sheep,

and then slaughters that animal and sells it, or sells it rather, then when he is caught, if he is caught, his repayment will be fourfold or fivefold, depending on the type of animal, for what was taken. So if he takes an ox and he slaughters it or he sells it, so it's no longer in his possession, he can't give it back,

Then the judge in that case is to say, okay, you stole an ox. Now you are to pay back five oxen to that person you stole the ox from.

Or you stole the sheep, and so you're to pay back for sheep, for the sheep that you took because you slaughtered it or you sold it. It's no longer in your possession. And so this is the penalty. This is the repayment. This is restitution.

The idea of restitution is to pay something back. It is to make someone whole again. You have subtracted from them. You have taken from them. And so now there needs to be something given in order for there to be a wholeness in the victim of the person that was stolen from.

Now, this restitution that's specified here in verse 1 is a little bit unique compared to the rest as you continue on in the verses. Most of the time here, God is going to say, you know, you have to pay back double for what you have stolen.

But here in this case, he's saying you have to pay back four times, sometimes five times more than what you stole. And that can be interesting to consider. Is that excessive for four oxen or four sheep to be paid back for one sheep that was stolen? But the thing to consider in that and to understand what's happening here, this is not just the loss of a pet, right?

This is the loss of an animal that was essential for them for their livelihood. And so they weren't just robbing them of an animal that, you know, was just out in the pasture they didn't need, right? But the loss of the sheep isn't just the loss of that animal, but it's the loss of the next few seasons of wool from that animal. It's the loss of productivity from the oxen that were stolen, you know, so that they couldn't plow the grounds. They couldn't, you know...

sow their seed or reap the harvest or whatever was needed at the time. And so the repayment here that is required is a little bit steeper because the effect is much greater than other situations where it's something that is relied upon for their livelihood and to sustain them. And so four or five fold is the repayment, the restitution for this type of theft.

You might consider Luke chapter 19, verse 8, where Zacchaeus, you remember him, the wee little man, right? He is converted, and he says to the Lord, I'm giving half my goods to the poor, and if I've taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I've robbed them of their livelihood by false accusation. He says, I restore it fourfold.

Probably thinking directly back to this verse saying, you know, I took away from them. They lost opportunity from the funds that I collected that I shouldn't have. And so I need to pay them back, not just the funds that I took, but fourfold so that they are compensated for the amount that was taken and the opportunities that were lost. Interesting thing to consider. Restitution is not something that maybe, you know, you or I think about a lot today.

And yet, as you work your way through these verses, I would suggest to you, restitution is something that is important to God, that is regarded highly in the heart of God, and something for us to consider in our lives as well. Well, he goes on to give a couple thief examples in verse 2 and 3. He says, if the thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed.

If the sun has risen on him, there shall be guilt for his bloodshed. He shall make full restitution. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.

And so the idea here is a thief breaking in during the night, and there's a struggle, and the thief dies as a result. God says there's no guilt for his bloodshed. The, you know, occupant, the owner that was there when the break-in occurred, if there was, you know, a battle, a struggle, it's self-defense. There's no guilt for bloodshed in that circumstance. But if the son's risen and

And so, you know, the threat is known and clear and it's manageable, then there will be guilt. So if you pay back, you know, hey, you broke into my house, you know, that doesn't necessarily deserve the death penalty. But if I kill you anyways, well, God says, no, no, no, that's taking it too far. There will be guilt for that. And so God's setting boundaries and parameters for how these things are handled.

But moving on from that, he goes on to say he should make full restitution. Now, this is in the case where he's caught, but he wasn't killed, right? So if the thief is caught, he should make full restitution. And if he has nothing, if he can't pay back for what he has taken, then he shall be sold for his theft.

And so this thief now would be a servant, a slave, and the previous chapter, chapter 21, gives laws about that as well. And so he would serve a maximum of six years of servitude to repay for what was taken, for the thievery or the theft that happened. Verse 4, if the theft is certainly found alive in his hand, whether it is an ox or donkey or sheep, he shall restore double.

Okay, so the first example that was given, the ox or the sheep, whatever was taken, it was slaughtered or it was sold off. So he didn't have it in his possession to be able to give it back. And so then the penalty was fourfold or fivefold, depending on the type of animal. Here, it goes on to say, if the thief is found with the thing he stole in his possession, then he should restore double.

And so it's a different circumstance, it's a different restitution, but notice it is a restitution of the full sheep that was taken, and then another sheep on top of that, or another donkey or another oxen on top of that. There is this penalty, this restitution that must be made whenever something is stolen.

And so here the Lord is making clear that he honors possessions. He honors, you know, the idea of personal property. And when something is taken, it is right for it to be given back, but it's also right for it to be given back in a sense with interest, that it should be paid back with an amount that is fair for restitution, to make that person whole once again.

Now he's going to go on and give a few other examples that are related to that, but slightly different. Check out verse 5. If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed and lets loose his animal and it feeds in another man's field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard.

You could maybe think about this as like accidental stealing, right? So here you are, you're taking your cattle out to graze in your yard, to graze in your field, right? Now, in those days, they didn't usually have fences between all the properties. They had boundary stones that would mark the territory. And they had a lot of

And so, you know, you kind of let your cattle graze and you're sitting back in your hammock, you know, with a piece of straw in your mouth, just kind of relaxing. You fall asleep a little bit. You wake up and your cattle have wandered into your neighbor's field and have grazed and eaten your neighbor's land or from your neighbor's land. Well, if that happens, the Lord says, you shall make restitution.

Well, but I was sleeping. You know, I wasn't paying attention. It wasn't my fault, right? All of these things that we might be able to think about if we were in the circumstance. But no, God says, look, you should make restitution. That's your responsibility. You allowed that to happen. And so you need to pay that back. And you need to do it from the best of your own field and the best of your own vineyard.

You need to not just like, okay, well, here's some leftovers and, you know, just kind of throw them away at the person that you, you know, took from in their field with your cattle grazing over there. God says, no, take the best that you have and give that as repayment, as restitution for that situation.

Now, again, as we look at these things, you probably don't have cattle grazing, you know, in your yard and need to be worrying about, you know, them grazing in other people's yard. That specific scenario may not be relevant to you. But again, God is here illustrating some principles. He's revealing his heart. When there are things that are under our control, when there are things that we are responsible for, and then, you know,

there is a loss to someone around us as a result of us not paying attention and being diligent, then it is our responsibility to make that person whole. So if you're paid for 40 hours of work, but you know, you only end up working 38 hours because you know, you have things going on or something happens or, you know, you didn't intend to do that, but just kind of just the grazing just kind of got out of hand. And, uh,

The Lord would say, hey, make it good from your own time, from the best of your time, make it good and pay back what was owed, that amount that you were paid for, make sure that you cover that and take care of that. Or maybe you do have some grazing animals, you might call them your kids, right? And your kids are grazing in other people's yards, they're running around and they cause some loss, right?

It was some years ago now, here in the church parking lot, of course, we are all familiar with the rocks that abound here in our parking lot, right? Well, on one particular occasion, a rock or two happened to come in contact with the back window of Kim's car. It was a brand new car, first payment hadn't even been made on it yet, right? And it

Kids came running in from the outside saying, hey, your window's making a funny sound. And we went outside, and sure enough, it was just like, you know, spiderwebbed all the way across this brand new car. And it was like, oh, heartbreaking. I think it was like a $500 replacement. Now, we weren't there to witness it, but we are pretty confident those kids who were playing outside had something to do with rocks magically entering into the car from the back window, right?

But, you know, it's kind of an awkward situation, so we didn't press any parents or, like, try to force anything. But you know what? As parents, can I just say, it would be really nice for you if you kind of suspect, you know, if there's potential that your kid was involved in

you know, it'd be really good for you to manage, you know, the cattle that are grazing in somebody else's land and to cover that payment. Just a few weeks ago, you know, we love to have the kids around and we love for them to play after service. They're playing in the sanctuary here and there was a cable that got broken and I don't know which kid it was and we're not trying to accuse. It's a $10 cable. It's not a big deal, right? But all that to illustrate, this is the kind of thing that happens. There's

Cattle in your care that are, you know, causing damage or causing loss, and it is our responsibility. God's heart is being revealed here. We need to make it good and make it right for those who are experiencing the loss. Well, moving on to verse 6 before I get into more trouble. Verse 6 says, "...if fire breaks out and catches in thorns, so that stacked grain and standing grain or the field is consumed, he who kindled the fire shall surely make restitution."

So again, a loss occurs. This time, it's by fire. And so whoever starts the fire...

Well, they're responsible to make restitution for the loss that occurred. And so, you know, whether it was intended to cause damage to the neighbor or it was just, hey, you know, I was just having a bonfire in my yard and it got out of control. The Lord says, no, no, that's your responsibility. You started that fire. You need to make restitution and cover the loss that was occurred as a result.

Verse 7, if a man delivers to his neighbor money or articles to keep, and it is stolen out of the man's house, if the thief is found, he shall pay double. If the thief is not found, then the master of the house shall be brought to the judges to see whether he has put his hand into his neighbor's goods. So here I am, I'm entrusted with you. You let me hold on to, or you asked me to hold on to some of your property. Now, if it's stolen, then...

I'm not responsible for it if the thief is found. If the thief is found, okay, he stole it. So now that thief pays double. Again, that same restitution because the thief is found with the property in his possession.

But if the thief is not found, well, then I am on the hook. And so we have to go to the judges and let the judges interrogate me to find out, did I have a responsibility in this or a part in this? Did I have my hand on the neighbor's goods? Or was this something that was out of my control and happened even though I was diligent and vigilant in taking care of the property? And so God says, again, there is to be this responsibility

responsibility and there is to be this honor of a person's possessions and a personal property that is there. Well, there in verse 9, I mentioned that earlier, it says that any kind of these situations are really to be brought before the judges. And the judges are going to make their decision. Whoever the judge condemns shall pay double.

Restitution should be made. And so, again, God is establishing here a judicial system for the people and saying this is the role of judges. They're to be handling these kinds of situations, and here's some principles by which they should govern. And there's going to be a lot more things that are spoken for the judges throughout the scriptures as we go forward.

Now, as you look at these verses, though, and consider this restitution that God is calling for, there's different amounts depending on the situation, depending on, you know, what is right and fair for a situation. Primarily, the restitution is double. That is, it's to be paid back

plus another so that the person is made whole once again. Now, in some cases, going back to verse 1, it's four or five times the amount. It's pretty steep and should cause us to stop and consider our responsibility with the property of others. Now, you know, for us today, we have auto insurance. I

for this very reason, but also because of this, we don't necessarily think through all of these things and we don't think of it beyond the context of automobile accidents and those kinds of things. But we are on the hook. As far as God is concerned, we are responsible for

for losses that we cause, for losses that we bring to people around us. And it is appropriate in those situations for restitution to be made. Now for you and I, hey, it might not be the law. We might not be legally required, you know, by United States law to pay back. But perhaps the Lord would say, you know, it would really demonstrate my heart well

if you would honor that person's personal property and restore what was lost and then some to reflect my heart and to demonstrate my character and nature to those who incurred such loss. And so sometimes it was double penalty. Sometimes it was four or five times. But what's interesting, and you can check this out later on, Leviticus chapter six and Numbers chapter five, God gave the opportunity for there to be confession.

So not a criminal being caught in the crime, but when there was the confession, then the restitution was a little bit different. Instead of 100% plus another 100%, double, or 100% plus the 400%, this time it's 20%. So the full amount needs to be paid back,

But because there was this repentance and there's the bringing of an offering, because there was this confession, then the restitution is 20%. So it's the full amount plus the 20%. Numbers 5, verse 6 and 7, God says,

And so there is to be this payment of 20% when there is this confession and as they bring their offering to the Lord. And so God gave the opportunity.

You can be caught and pay back double, or you can confess, and you still have to pay it back, but the restitution is less steep because of the confession and the forgiveness and the grace and the mercy that God extends when we come to him in that way. And so, again, the heart of God is clear in these things, that restitution is appropriate. And so I would encourage you to think about that. Make restitution for damage you have done.

If there's damage that has been caused by you or by your cattle that's grazing, for you to consider how you can make that person whole and make things right once again. If you steal, make restitution. If you cause damage, make restitution. Now again, all these hang on loving God and loving your neighbor.

And so, of course, it's easy to see this all falls on this loving your neighbor, that because you love your neighbor, you want to make them whole. Because you love your neighbor, you want to make things right. Paul says in Romans chapter 13, verse 10, love does no harm to a neighbor. But if you burn down their field, well, now you've done harm, right? But if you

pay back, if you restore, if you make it right, then love does no harm to its neighbor. Then love fulfills the law by making restitution for what was lost. I'll finish up this point with this quote from Warren Wiersbe. He says, God wants us to respect personal property. And the key idea here is restitution. It's not enough to admit the crime and show sorrow over it,

There must also be a readiness to make things right with those who have been hurt. A readiness to make things right. A readiness to make restitution is important for us. Again, are we legally bound to these things by U.S. law? Probably not in many cases. Is this Levitical system? Hey, we don't have the judges of Israel over us, so these verses don't necessarily directly apply.

But I would suggest that the heart of God is revealed. And so whether or not we are forced to and required to is different than, you know, Lord, this is your heart. This is what you desire. And so I need to honor you as you have revealed your heart and your will for these situations. And so make restitution for damage you have done.

Well, secondly, moving on to verses 10 through 15, make restitution for careless losses. Restitution for careless losses. This is similar, but instead of stealing, this is, you know, accidental type things or things that were done as a result of carelessness. Verse 10 through 15 here in Exodus chapter 22 says this.

If a man delivers to his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep, and it dies, is hurt, or driven away, no one seeing it, then an oath of the Lord shall be between them both, that he has not put his hand into his neighbor's goods, and the owner of it shall accept that, and he shall not make it good. But if, in fact, it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to the owner of it."

If it is torn in pieces by a beast, then he shall bring it as evidence. He shall not make good what was torn. And if a man borrows anything from his neighbor and it becomes injured or dies, the owner of it not being with it, he shall surely make it good. If its owner was with it, he shall not make it good. If it was hired, it came for its hire.

And so here in these verses, it's a similar thought, similar vein of thought. Still, the idea is loss occurring and restitution needing to take place. Now, again, he gives the example of someone being entrusted with somebody else's property. Now, if that property is stolen, but there's no witnesses, there's investigation done, you know, nobody can find out. It's not apparent. It's not clear who stole the property.

then God says, okay, here's what you need to do. Then that person who is entrusted with the property needs to make an oath. It's a very serious oath before the Lord. I had nothing to do with the loss of your property. And he says, hey, as the one who incurred the loss, you shall accept that.

You shall accept your neighbor's word, accept his promise. You entrusted that property to him, so you should have trusted him. Don't entrust property to people that you don't trust so that if they come back and make an oath and say, I had nothing to do with that, that you don't believe that. No, no. So be careful who you entrust property to. That's important. But also when they give that oath, then accept that.

He says, the owner shall accept that and he shall not make it good. And so if there is no case to be made, again, judges are involved in this situation, but if there's no case to be made, if the idea of innocence is there, then the person who is in charge of the property doesn't have to make it good. But if it was stolen in verse 12, he shall make restitution. And so the idea here is negligence.

If it was stolen, but there's kind of, you know, no way to track down who it was, then, you know, they make this deal before the judge, they make an oath. But

But if they find out it is stolen, then the idea here is that it was stolen because the owner wasn't very careful with it. He was negligent in it. And so now the owner who was holding the property, let me just put it in different terms. If you give me the keys to your car and I leave the keys to your car in your car and then the car is stolen...

I'm responsible for that. That's what the Lord is saying here. I'm responsible to make restitution for that. That negligence on my part caused the car to be stolen, and so now I'm responsible to make restitution for that car. And so again, God says he values the idea of personal property, and it's important for us to take serious the property of others and to take that responsibility very seriously.

carefully, and when we're careless and it causes loss, for there to be restitution. Verse 14, and if a man borrows anything from his neighbor and it becomes injured or dies, the owner of it not being with it, he shall surely make it good. Okay, so if I borrow something from you and it breaks, let's say, you know, I borrow a skill saw from you and I'm, you know, working on my house, but that skill saw breaks, I'm

Well, because I borrowed it, it's in my care. Now I need to make it good. I can't give you back the broken thing and says, hey, your thing broke. Yeah, it was a piece of junk. So there you go. You got to replace it yourself. No, I broke it. It broke under my responsibility, under my domain. And so I need to give you back a working skill saw in order to make it good. However, verse 15, if the owner was with it, he shall not make it good.

So if I say, hey, come over and you use your skill saw to help me and you break your skill saw while you're helping me, well, it was in your hands. You broke it. That's your responsibility, not my responsibility. That's what the Lord is saying here. Or if it was hired, it came for its hire. So if I rented it or I paid you to come and work on this, then that's part of the payment. It covers those kinds of loss.

And so if you break your saw on the job at my house, well, you're responsible for your own saw. But if I borrow your saw and I'm using your saw and I break your saw, then it's my responsibility to make restitution, to make it right, to make restitution for careless losses or accidental losses. This wasn't stealing or thieving, you know, that kind of thing. But hey, there was damage, there was loss. And so on my watch and my responsibility is

God says, love your neighbor and make restitution for those things that were damaged or lost on your watch. Moving on to verses 16 through 17, we get the third lesson from God's laws this evening, and that is own your life's decisions. This is kind of an interesting one for us to consider today. Verse 16 says,

Here, this is a different culture and context than we are familiar with, of course. But the idea here is that the father of a virgin would be paid...

a dowry or a bride price when his daughter is given away. And the way that it was working within the culture is it was, in a sense, alimony. So that if anything happened in the marriage, the father was entrusted with this amount of money that was meant to be invested so that if the daughter ever needed it, she could come back home and the father would have means to provide for her in that kind of situation.

So that was the context. That's the normal practice. Now, if a man entices a virgin who's not betrothed, and so he convinces her to sleep with him, then God says, okay, you made your choice now. Own it. You're to marry that girl.

You chose her, you enticed her, you seduced her essentially. And so now you two are to be married and you are on the hook for the bride price. You're on the hook for how many of her thousands of dollars was the appropriate bride price for that situation, for that culture and that context at that time. Now in the case of verse 17, he says, if the father says, no way, I don't want to give my daughter to him, then the daughter doesn't have to be married to this guy.

But the guy does have to pay the bride price. So again, that price has to be paid. Restitution has to be made. That's owed nonetheless because now he's changed her life.

And for life, you know, she'll have a whole different type of life as a result of this situation. And so that is the payment that must be made. It's the right thing to do. And so here I titled it this way, Own Your Life Decisions, because sometimes we make decisions that impact the rest of our lives.

and really make drastic and dramatic impacts on the rest of our lives. And sometimes, hey, we're like, ah, man, I wish I didn't have to, or we're trying to weasel out, or we're trying to protect people. Hey, he's young. Don't ruin his life for this decision, or don't let this, it's gonna go with him for a long time or go with her for a long time.

And yet God says here, no, you know, when you make those decisions, they impact lives. And so you need to handle it in that way. You need to own those life decisions and own up to the responsibility that comes along with them.

Own your life decisions. Again, God gives us freedom. He gives us the opportunity to choose. Just as he honors possessions and personal property, he honors our choices. And so that's the choice that you made. Now walk down that path because you're headed in that direction. There's no going back from that situation. And so you got to make things right and you got to go forward in that way.

There's many ways we could think about this, but I'm going to keep moving on for lack of time. Verses 18 through 21, I'm sorry, verses 18 through 20 gives us the fourth point to consider this evening. Lesson number four, do not dabble with things God hates. Do not dabble with things that God hates. Here, verses 18 through 20 says this, you shall not permit a sorceress to live. Whoever lies with an animal shall surely be put to death.

He who sacrifices to any God except to the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed. Here God gives three cases for the death penalty. Again, he's establishing a judicial system. He's establishing a nation, and he's saying these are the kinds of laws that you need to have, and these are the kind of things that you need to abide by. So sorcery, that's not anything that any of you should have anything to do with, God says.

Don't allow a sorceress to live. Practicing sorcery within the nation of Israel, that is subject to the death penalty.

practicing bestiality, lying with an animal, that is subject to the death penalty as well. Don't allow those things to go on. Don't allow that kind of behavior. Don't put up with it. And, you know, of course, as individuals, don't dabble in it. And then don't sacrifice to any other God. Only the Lord is the one you're to sacrifice to. And if anyone is worshiping a different God, a false God, as God is establishing this nation, he's saying, no, you are to be faithful to me.

And so again, the heart of God is clear here. Here's a couple examples of things that God says, this is really bad for you. Stay far away from it. It's so bad. If it happens in your midst, you're to get rid of it. Again, to the nation of Israel. Now again, these are not individual commands to individuals, you know, for you and I to say, all right, it says you shall not permit a sorceress to live. And so you and I are to take up a sword and go execute this command. No, this is for the judges of the nation of Israel.

They were the ones to execute this command. But for you and I, we learn a lot about the heart of God. That we're not to be dabbling in sorcery or mysticism, magic of those kinds. We're not to be playing around with those things. God is firmly against those things and they're not good for us.

Sexual immorality is really bad. Stay away from it. Don't dabble in it. And worshiping other gods, of course, is bad for your health. Stay away from other gods, idolatry, false gods, demon worship, Satan worship, you know, all of those things, and keep your eyes on the true and living God. Well, moving on to verses 21 through 27, we get the fifth lesson this evening, and that is do not take advantage of people.

Here verses 21 through 27 says this,

If you lend money to any of my people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a money lender to him. You shall not charge him interest. If you ever take your neighbor's garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down. For that is his only covering. It is his garment for his skin. What will he sleep in? And it will be that when he cries to me, I will hear him, for I am gracious.

Here the Lord gives a few examples of people that are commonly taken advantage of. And God says, you are not to do that. You shall not do that. Again, his heart is clearly revealed in these things. Don't mistreat a stranger or oppress him. He says, look, you guys know what it was like to be strangers in Egypt. You just came out of there. Don't mistreat strangers like you were mistreated as a stranger. Strangers or foreigners are often vulnerable.

because, well, they're outnumbered. They're easily oppressed. They're foreigners in another land. And so God says, you need to be very careful that you don't take advantage of someone who is disadvantaged because of their status or because they are outnumbered, that you're to treat them well, not to abuse them, not to take advantage of the fact that they don't have a lot of help or that they don't have a lot of support.

In a similar way, he says in verse 22, you shall not afflict a widow or a fatherless child. Now in the context of the Hebrew culture, there was a very strong understanding of this idea of covering.

that the father was a covering for the household. The husband was a covering for the wife, a protector and one who would make sure that justice was done and that nothing bad or injustice was taking place against anyone within their covering.

Well, here, with a widow or a fatherless child, you had someone who didn't have that covering that was typical in the culture. And so, in a sense, they were defenderless. There was nobody to defend the widow. And so, people would take advantage of widows because there was no husband to come back and, you know, make things right or make them deal with the consequences. A fatherless child, people would take advantage of because, hey...

What's going to happen? You know, there's no consequences. There's no dad to come and, you know, challenge me on this. It seems like you're getting away with afflicting them when you're taking advantage of those who are in this kind of situation. But here's what God says. God says, I will defend them. He says, look, if you afflict them, when they cry to me, I will hear their cry.

Now, if you're on the other side of this and you're the one who's afflicted, this is great and important to know. God hears your cry when you're afflicted and when people are taking advantage of you. God says, my wrath will become hot and I will kill you with the sword. Now, again, do you think God's heart is clear on this, right? Listen, when you take advantage of people,

God says, I take that seriously. And I'm going to bring judgment upon you if you take advantage of those who don't have help, who don't have support, who don't have defenders. He says, your wife shall be a widow. You're taking advantage of widows, so your wife will be a widow. You're going to bring that consequence upon your own family. And your children will be fatherless. Again, God's heart is abundantly clear here. Do not take advantage of people.

He goes on to describe taking advantage with money. In verse 25, he talks about lending money. He says, look, if you lend money to my people who are poor, you shall not be like a money lender to him. You shall not charge him interest. Now here, God is not forbidding completely any charging of interest at any time.

The idea here is, listen, you're hungry, you're starving, and you need to go to the grocery store. And so if I lend you money, here's 20 bucks, but you got to pay me back 25. Well, God says, no, that is wrong. That's taking advantage of someone who's desperate for money, but you're requiring more back. In those circumstances, God is saying, don't add interest.

Loan the money, perhaps, or just give the money, whatever's on your heart. But you can loan the money, but don't require interest. Man, I remember when I was really young, I got sucked into those cash advance loans, and that was a terrible system, right? And so I needed the money. I was desperate for the money, so I got it out, but then I had to pay back, like, you know,

a ton more, but then because I had to pay back a ton more, then I had to take out a loan the next week and then pay back a ton more. And then the next week I still, you know, like it was just this perpetual cycle. God says that is not to be done. You are not to treat people in that way. When someone's in need and you need to lend them money or you want to lend them money, don't charge them interest. Now, if someone needs money for a business venture, you know, there's, you know, some kind of opportunity, that's a different situation. And that's not what God is addressing here.

Verse 26, if you take your neighbor's garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down. So when there was the lending of money, there would often be that security that was taken. And sometimes the garment was the most valuable thing that a person would have. And so if that's the pledge, then God says, don't hold on to it overnight. He's going to be freezing all night. Give it back to him. Let him, you know, be warm at night. And so don't hold that pledge so tightly. But notice what he says in verse 27.

What will he sleep in? And it will be that when he cries to me, I will hear, for I am gracious. God hears those who nobody else is listening to. And when people are being taken advantage of and they cry out to God, God says, I'm gracious. I'm going to hear them and I'm going to act on their behalf.

Now, of course, it's not always in our time frame when we're the ones crying out to God, right? We want it always immediately, but we can take great comfort in this. God hears, and He is acting on our behalf. We will see the results of that at some point. He is going to bring justice and right the wrong that is being done. Well, finally, the sixth lesson we learned today.

from God's laws this evening. Be holy unto the Lord. Verse 28 through 31, it says, You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people. You shall not delay to offer the first of your ripe produce and your juices, the firstborn of your sons, you shall give to me. Likewise, you shall do with your oxen and your sheep. It shall be with its mother seven days. On the eighth day, you shall give it to me.

Here God gives a few other various instructions. You're not to revile God, speak evil of God. You're not to curse or speak evil of a ruler of your people.

And that's a challenging one for us as Americans. You know, we live in a completely different context and a democracy and we have a voice and we need to be careful to balance that, the voice that we have without reviling or cursing those who have been appointed or elected into various roles. The Apostle Paul referenced this phrase,

principle or this law from God in Acts chapter 23 verse 5 he says like I didn't know that this was the high priest when I said what I said and not that something that Paul said was wrong but

But in keeping this command, not speaking evil of a ruler of your people, he says, oh yeah, maybe I took it a little bit too far. And so I shouldn't have said it that way to the high priest. I didn't realize it was the high priest. And so it gives us a little bit of insight how the Lord wants us to apply that, that we need to be careful the things we say about those who are in authority.

He says you shouldn't delay in offering your produce to the Lord. God required a tithe. He required, you know, for the people to give of what he was giving to them. He says don't put it off. Don't wait till another time. And no, no, honor me.

Be holy unto me, be devoted to me, and make sure that you give me in a timely fashion in response to the things that I'm giving to you. And so he has, you know, examples here of the produce, the firstborn, which I'm not going to get into, but

there was to be the redemption of the firstborn. And so God says, don't put it off. Don't put it away. Don't push it down the line. Take care of it. Deal with that. And so bring it to the Lord quickly. Your ox and your sheep, make sure, you know, at the appropriate time, don't put it off. You know, the idea of putting it off is like, well, wait till later. Wait to see if that one lives or that one dies. You know, all kinds of reasons and excuses and forgetfulness. God says, no, make it a point. And

to bring in your gift to the Lord quickly at the appropriate time so that it's not lost, so that it's not forgotten, so that you demonstrate your honor to the Lord by the priority that you give in giving unto the Lord in a timely manner. And so he says, you shall be holy men to me or holy people unto the Lord.

To be holy means to be set apart, to be devoted to, to be consecrated for, and so we are to be about the Lord's business is the idea here. And so being about the Lord's business, well, we learn a lot about God's heart and God's business. It means making restitution for damage that we've done

making restitution for losses that occurred on our watch, under the realm of our responsibility for our carelessness or neglect or whatever the case may be. It means owning our life decisions, staying away from the things that God hates.

taking care of people, not taking advantage of people, and we devote ourselves to the Lord in the exercising of all of these things. Again, Jesus said it all boils down to love God and love your neighbor. And you can see that clearly demonstrated in all of these. We are to love people and to love God and to not do anything against either of them. I think there's some key things here for us to consider. Here in Southern California, these

laws perhaps maybe seem a little bit foreign, may not be things that we consider that much. But they are things that we should consider. And there are some challenging things in there. It would require for us, in order for us to make restitution for things, we're going to have to live and budget our lives, budget our finances in a way that we have some room to

to be able to pay back when we break things or when we destroy things or damage things. This one can be really hard for us. I'm trying to learn this myself, you know, having that buffer to be able to take care of those responsibilities and to honor the Lord in that way, respecting other people's property, respecting other people and honoring the Lord. Some great lessons for us here in the law of God here in Exodus chapter 22. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for your word and the exhortation, Lord. And Lord, these things that perhaps are not frequently on our minds, on our hearts, Lord, not popular subjects or things to think about,

And yet, Lord, you care about the things that are included here in your word, and you wrote them, you recorded them for us, for our benefit and for our good. Lord, it's in our best interest to take to heart these things that you have written. As you have revealed yourself, you've shown us your heart. God, I pray that you would help us to love you, to desire to please you, and to live lives in a way that honor you.

And so, God, may we take the principles that we can learn from these laws and live them out and walk in them. Lord, in our love for you as an expression of our devotion to you, Lord, as an expression of our worship of you, but Lord, also as a demonstration to the world around us of who you are, your nature, your character, and what you're like. And so, God, I pray that you would lead us by your spirit, give us boldness, give us wisdom, and give us great understanding. I pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.