You can keep your Bibles open to Deuteronomy. We're gonna be looking again into God's law this morning, that is the law that God gave to the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai. I struggled to come up with some very appropriate and interesting introduction for the message today. Gets a little bit harder when you're four parts into a seven part series to come up with an introduction every week. But you don't gather here in order to hear interesting introductions. You don't gather here because you like to listen to eloquent speakers. You gather here because you have a love for the Word of God. And that love for the Word of God is all the introduction that the believing soul needs. Once the believing soul hears those words, open your Bibles, and then the soul of the believer is rejoicing and tuned in. Praise God for that. So we have learned in our first three parts of this study that we as Christians are not under the law of Moses. That everything that was written to the people of Israel in that Sinaitic law code was not written to us. However, that's not to say that it wasn't written for us. We are not the audience. We are not those who received the blessing and the curse that we just read about in Deuteronomy chapter 11. We have a totally different way of coming to God in the new covenant than what the people of Israel had under the Sinaitic, the Mosaic covenant. But when God gave that covenant to the people of Israel, he had the church in mind. He knew about you. He knew how he was gonna call you to adoption in Jesus Christ. And that you would be able to go back and learn about who God is and what Christ has accomplished. And learn principles of wisdom on how to live a life that is good, that is right, that is acceptable in the eyes of our Creator and our Redeemer. And that's why we go back and we study the entire Old Testament. Everything that is in there is written for our instruction. And I've been enjoying getting into some of these laws. Last week we looked at all of the laws in the Old Covenant that fill out, that clarify, that give punishments, and also have illustrative scenarios of how to apply the Ten Commandments in ancient Israel. When we're not ancient Israel, we're going to apply those principles of God's righteousness in a different way, in a different time and place, with a different covenant. But we're learning from all of it. And God is teaching us a lot of wisdom. Today, we're going to be continuing that study. We've looked at the Ten Commandments, but we're going to be moving from the Ten Commandments to various laws that have to do with loving our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus said this was the second most important commandment, and Paul clarified that that is because it sums up all of the other commandments. If you look at the instructions that God gives us for how to live with one another, that they are all designed for our good. That they are designed to teach us to love one another the way that God has loved us. And so that's what I want to do. I want to take a look at various laws in the Old Testament that do teach this principle of loving one another. So turn to Deuteronomy chapter 22. Deuteronomy chapter 22 and verse 8. Time and place changes. We are not ancient Israel. We have a different culture. We have a different country. We have different laws. We have different technology. So much has changed in our lives from that of the Bronze Age. People wonder, how can any of those laws that were given for that people in a far off time and a far off place have anything to do with us? Well, the more things change, the more they stay the same. God has not changed, man has not changed, right has not changed, wrong has not changed. And if we go back and look at those laws in their context, we can learn the principles of wisdom and righteousness that are eternal. That's what we do with all of the laws of the Old Covenant. Some much more obvious in how those principles apply to today. Some you have to work a little bit harder to figure out, to dig in. What is the wisdom principle? What is the righteousness principle here? So Deuteronomy chapter 22 verse 8 has to do with a law that teaches us to look out for the concerns of others, which is the very heart of loving your neighbor as yourself. To love is to look out for other people's needs, to think about what they need and to meet those needs. And so, in the ancient world, they built houses differently than we do. Here's a picture of what a house might have looked like in the ancient Near East, and many, maybe even today in the Near East, still build houses of a similar nature. And you notice that their roof is not like our roof. that their roof is a place where you can work. Their roof is a place where you could even go up and put down a hammock and sleep, especially if it was a very hot summer day and the house was getting very warm inside. They didn't have the air conditioners that we do. And so they built their houses to make a workspace, a place for gathering and greeting, a place for rest. And they did all kinds of activities on the roofs. Therefore, God said in Deuteronomy chapter 22, verse eight, When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house if anyone should fall from it. So this little wall that's going around up on the top of the roof, that is called a parapet. It's a safety feature that God commanded the people of Israel to build into their houses. As you were up there working on the roof, as you were up there entertaining guests, they bring their young kids over, be very easy for someone to fall off the roof. And so this law only makes sense if you understand the culture in which God was giving the law. If you go out and you look at our houses, you say, well, why does God want me to build a fence on my roof? Nobody ever goes up there for anything. Well, yeah, that doesn't make a lot of sense for our culture. But it does make a lot of sense for their culture. And that's how we handle Scripture. We go back and look at it in its original setting, and then we draw out the truth that God was communicating in that, and then we make application to our lives today. One interpretation, many applications. So what is the basic wisdom principle, the basic righteousness rule that God is laying down for us here? When we are in construction, we should be thinking about safety. We should be thinking about the safety of those who are going to be using the buildings we construct. We should be thinking about the safety of those who are going to be using the tools that we construct. And this is not the only place in the Old Testament law where God shows a concern for safety. But this law, a case study from which we draw the principle that had many applications in ancient Israel and God expected them to not just think about safety with parapets, but this is an example that he gives that he expected the people of Israel to be able to apply to many different areas of life. Now whether or not you believe OSHA, the Department of Safety Standards, has gone too far with too many rules and has gotten a little bit overly safety conscious, we'll leave that aside and we can discuss and debate that in private. But the main point here is that God does expect those who are building, those who are constructing, those who are putting together all of the tools and the buildings that we use to have in mind basic safety features and to be responsible in that way. Now, this passage is also connected as a passage teaching us to love our neighbor with another one that I found very interesting in Deuteronomy chapter 27. So from Deuteronomy 22, head over to 27. Here we have the curses being recited from Mount Ebal. God gathered together the people and they pronounced curses upon those who would not keep God's law. And so these curses have to do with God's law. They are repetitions of what God has said previously in his law. One, however, is somewhat unique, although it is related to a law that was given earlier in the Pentateuch. And that's there in chapter 27, verse 18. And in Deuteronomy 27, 18, we learn, To take advantage of the disabilities of others, whether for personal gain or for just sport, is the mark of a wicked person. It is wicked to take advantage of the disabilities of others. This not only applies, of course, to those who are blind, but it would apply to any disability. As the law says in Leviticus 19.14, that you're not supposed to mock a deaf man who's not able to hear the things that you're saying about him and to make sport of him because of his deafness. What a wicked heart would engage in such activity, and yet this is exactly what we see. We've all seen it in our lives, among school children, and sadly even among adults who should know better. The mocking, the taking advantage of those who have disabilities. This ties in with other important ideas about your relationship to those who are disadvantaged in other ways, and we'll talk about those as we continue on this morning. But let's go back to Leviticus 19. Leviticus 19 is a fascinating chapter. It connects here as it has the law against mocking the deaf. Why are you able to see? Was it something that you did? Why are you able to hear? Was that something that you have accomplished? No, that was something that God has given to you. And so if you are arrogant and proud against those who do not have those blessings, then you show that you have no understanding of how God is the one who makes us what we are, and we cannot take credit for having some advantage over another. That's a broadly applicable principle against pride. Now, Leviticus 19.14, I already mentioned. You see it there. And this scripture is very close to verse 17, which was one that I also had jump out at me as I was reading through the law of Leviticus. I like this one. Listen. Leviticus 19, 17, you shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your brother, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not hate your brother in your heart. There's going to be many things that people do that are unkind, unthoughtful, maybe even wicked against you. And when someone does something that would cause you to mistrust or dislike or even go so far as to hate them in your heart, God says you are not allowed to go there. You are to not allow your heart to hate your brother. So what can you do? When people do things that are hateful, people do things that are despicable, well, you can reason frankly with your brother. The law of God assumes that there is a brotherhood that exists among the people of Israel, that they are of the same family, that they are neighbors, that they live in community. And what a healthy community looks like is still applicable today. What does God want us to think about each other in the church? Well, he often calls us brothers. sisters, family in the Lord. And so this is very applicable to our life together as brothers and sisters. You shall not hate your brother. There might be Christians who are very difficult to like. Let's put it that way. Very difficult to like. There may be Christians who have sinned against you. But do you know what the Lord Jesus Christ has commanded you in the law of Christ to do when a brother sins against you? Whether it's a big sin, whether it's a little sin, You go to him and you tell him the wrong that he has done. You reason frankly with your brother. You don't hide it in your heart. You don't stew on it. You don't say, I don't like that guy. Go and talk with him about it. A good example of this is shown in Abraham's life. Turn back from Leviticus for a moment. Keep your marker there. We're coming right back to Genesis chapter 21. I want to read a little paragraph here from the life of Abraham in Genesis chapter 21. To show you just such an example of a case like this, in Genesis 21 verses 25 to 34, you find that Abraham reproves Abimelech about a well of water that his servants had seized. So let's read the whole paragraph here. That's how it starts in verse 25. Genesis 21 verse 25. When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech's servants had seized, Abimelech said, So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant. Abraham set seven ewe lambs on the flock apart, and Abimelech said to Abraham, what is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart? He said, these seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well. Therefore, that place was called Beersheba, because there both of them swore an oath. So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines. Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God. And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines. Many times, the difficulties that we are going to have with one another are the result of a misunderstanding. Abimelech had not ordered his servants to go and take this well from Abraham. Abimelech had a big house. He had a commander of his army that we read about here. And so he's not aware of everything that's going on. And that's often going to be the case. Sometimes people are going to offend you in certain ways and they had no intention of offending you. They're not even aware that they have offended you. But if you hate your brother in your heart, instead of going and reproving him, instead of going and speaking frankly with him, well then we will not be the community that is a joy and a delight to the heart of God and is a light to the world around us. How important these little commands are that we are those who exercise faith in Christ's command in Matthew, How many of you have done that? Have you ever gone and reproved someone who sinned against you? Have you ever fulfilled the commandment of Matthew 18? Now, There are times where love overlooks. There are many things that people say, many things that people do, and you just overlook it. It's not like you have to write down every insensitive, unthoughtful thing that anyone's ever done and go and reprove them for it. That's not what I'm talking about. But if there's something that's bothering you and you're having a hard time getting over it and it's affecting your relationship, what do you do? Do you obey what God has told you to do? Do you obey the law of Christ? Or do you say, I don't want to. I don't feel like it. I don't know how he's going to take it. Better just to leave it alone and I can just hate him in my heart. No. Speak frankly. I love it when Christians speak frankly with me and I want to be able to speak frankly with you as God has revealed. Now, This truth is not only found in Matthew 18 and here in Genesis 21 and Leviticus 19, but also Proverbs. Proverbs has so much wisdom for life and it's fun connecting the laws in the Mosaic Covenant with the wisdom that is in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 27.5 says, better is open rebuke than hidden love. Better is open rebuke than hidden love. That's a good one to memorize and to put it into practice in our lives. Now, back to Leviticus 19 then. I told you we were coming right back. Look at verse 32. Leviticus 19, 32. You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God, I am the Lord. This week I had a man come out to my house to do some service at the house. And he was the old guy with his company. And he loved to talk, he loved to give advice, he loved to be asked questions. And so he was like, Timothy, can I give you some advice here? I said, yeah, give me what you got. I wanna know what you know. And so he gave me advice and I was asking more questions and he was thanking me for being someone that was open to receiving advice. Because apparently, a lot of places he goes, they're just like, whatever, just do what I told you to do. They don't honor the gray hair. That's foolishness. That is unwise and it's not right. The Bible talks about this in a number of places. Once again, in Proverbs, the glory of young men is their strength. We've got a lot of young men here. You're glorious in your strength. You go out on the football field and you've got the speed, you've got the strength, you've got the power. You go out to work and you can do the work of two men. That's great. Good to be young. But the splendor of old men is their gray hair. You shall stand up before the gray hair. You shall honor the face of the old man. That's what's right, that's what good, that's what builds community. That's the type of place where you wanna live, where people have that type of attitude in their heart, of recognizing, well, strength is great, but you know what also is even better? Experience, wisdom, knowledge. Young people, submit to your elders. Respect their wisdom, respect their knowledge. Seek it out, ask them questions. You honor the aged when you seek out and value their wisdom and the experience that they can pass on to you in all areas of life. Great law here. Let's also then go back to Deuteronomy once again. But before we do, stay here and look at verse 13 in Leviticus. Leviticus 19.13 is another great law. You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. Obviously, that's what we've talked about with the Ten Commandments. But notice what it says next. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. Right before the one we looked at about cursing the deaf or putting a stumbling block before the blind. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. This is one of those laws that's not immediately understandable for us in our culture because we have payday every two weeks. We would think, well, why can't you just wait till payday? Why do you have to give the person their wages on the day that they're working and not keep it overnight? Well, they had a subsistence culture. The work that the day laborer would do was the money that he used to buy food for his family for the next day. They were not as wealthy. They didn't have refrigerators full of food. They didn't have grocery stores that were stocked and packed with everything. They were not enjoying all of the benefits of technology that we have. And so if you haven't lived in a subsistence economy, then it can be difficult to understand some of the laws of the nation of Israel in that agrarian subsistence economy. So those who were hired as day workers were usually the poorest of the land. For those of you who've watched films or heard stories about what it was like to go through the Great Depression, and you've got hundreds of men showing up for a handful of jobs, and they're using their wages to go and keep their home for their wife and their children, you don't keep back the wages at the end of the day and say, well, you come back tomorrow and I'll give them to you tomorrow. You don't make it hard for them to collect. A simple application of this in my own life has been, don't make it hard for my kids to get paid after they mow the lawn. They don't have to come back and ask me day after day. I say, oh, I don't have it today. Come back next week and I'll pay you. And maybe they forget and maybe I forget. Well, that becomes a tactic that bad bosses can start to use. Maybe something will happen, maybe something will come up, maybe they'll get tired of asking for their pay and I'll just get to keep it. So that's why God told them, the wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning, but you pay people on time. That's how we apply this principle in our culture. If you're gonna hire somebody, then have the money to pay them and pay them when the work is done. Don't say, well, come back later and I'll finally have it. Paying people on time is important. Now this connects with a very important principle that is really at the heart of a lot of what we've been talking about here, is not taking advantage of those that you have the opportunity to take advantage of. Let's go to Deuteronomy 24. Deuteronomy 24. While you're turning to Deuteronomy 24, we'll talk about Proverbs 3.28. where it says, do not say to your neighbor, go and come back and tomorrow I will give it to you when you have it with you. The same tactic, trying to make it difficult for people to collect what you owe them, whether it's a physical object, borrowed their lawnmower or whatever. If you have it and they're asking for it and it's theirs, you give it to them. You don't make up excuses and give them the runaround. That's not what a righteous man does. So back in Deuteronomy then, chapter 24, you see this repeated in verses 14 and 15. Deuteronomy 24, 14, you shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. You shall give him his wages on the same day before the sun sets, for he is poor and counts on it, lest he cry against you to the Lord and you be guilty of sin. And then this principle of not taking advantage of those who are disadvantaged is really filled out specifically in verses 17 to 22. And Deuteronomy 24, 17 to 22 is not the only place where this is done, but this is a repeated and strong emphasis in God's law. Listen to what it says here in Deuteronomy 24, 17. You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or the fatherless, or take a widow's garment in pledge. But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. Therefore, I command you to do this. When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. You should remember that you are a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore, I command you to do this. The Israelites should be able to identify with those who are taken advantage of because for 400 years, they were taken advantage of by the Egyptians. If that doesn't teach them to have mercy upon those who are in a vulnerable position, then nothing will. And sadly, that is the case with the human heart. The human heart is hard, the human heart is proud, the human heart is quick to forget, the human heart is selfish and greedy, And therefore, those who are disadvantaged, those who can be taken advantage of, people do. One of the worst ways that this is done in our culture is elder abuse, when people look for those who are on their retirement funds, their welfare, their own personal retirement, and they target them with financial schemes, target them with emails and phone calls, or if someone moves in next to a person who is elderly and pretends that they're their friend, and then it works in to take all their money away from them, This is exactly the thing that God hates. This is exactly the attitude of not looking out for the fatherless, the widow, or anyone who is able to be taken advantage of. Now, this emphasis upon the sojourner is one that's been in public debate a lot lately in our culture, both among Christians and progressive Christians and non-Christians alike, because when it comes to loving our neighbor as ourself and looking out for the sojourner, the question arises, well, what does this mean for immigration policy? What was the sojourner in the ancient people of Israel? And what was the love that was due to the sojourner, the righteousness, the generosity that was due to the sojourner in the law of Moses? So the word sojourn, it just means to stay as a temporary resident. The idea is that you're living in a place that is a different culture from yours, a different people from your ancestry, and that you're not necessarily there permanently, but you're there for various reasons temporarily. The sojourner is one who is under the same laws. This is a repeated emphasis in the law. He's under the same laws as everyone else. And he needs to be treated the same way as everyone else. And even though he has no roots, he has no understanding of the culture, you don't take advantage of him for any of those reasons, just like you don't take advantage of the fatherless or the widow. Those who would exploit sojourners are those who are wicked in God's eyes. Very clear, that is the truth in scripture. Now sojourning, as a practice, is illustrated in the Bible in Israel's own experience. They were sojourners in Egypt. They were there, living among a culture and a people that were not their own, and they were there temporarily. But it was a long temporary, 400 years. And they were glad when they got out. Also, later in Israel's history, they were sojourners in the land of Babylon. And as they sojourned in Babylon for 70 years, they built houses, they lived there, until they received the good news that they could go back to their own land and have their own nation once again. So that gives you some idea of what the Bible is talking about when it's talking about the sojourner, and what's right and what's wrong about treating those who are living in our country, who are not a part of the culture, who do not have roots here, and who would be easy to take advantage of. You don't do that. But what does it mean for immigration policy? Well, I want to add this note that there is a difference between legal immigration and illegal immigration. There is a difference between a small number of people being sojourners and coming in and living under your laws and respecting your culture and an invasion. where another group of people, a very large group, comes in and takes over part of your country. I think that's a valid distinction to be made, and there's a lot of discussion that can be had on what is the right way to treat sojourners, and what is wrong about what some people do, and then what does that mean for the hotly debated issue of immigration policy in our time. Not gonna do a whole sermon on that, just wanted to give a few basic points related to these laws. All of these laws have to do with loving our neighbor as ourselves. And this is closely related to the second category of laws that I wanted to talk about this morning, and that is laws on money and lending. Because how you deal with money has a lot to do with whether or not you're loving your neighbor as yourself. How you go about lending has a lot to do with this idea of loving your neighbor as yourself. This is a specific example. And really, like I said, all of the laws have to do with loving your neighbor as yourself, including the Ten Commandments that we've already looked at. For this, I want to start with Deuteronomy chapter 23. Turn back a page to Deuteronomy 23, verses 19 and 20. It says there, you shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest. You may charge a foreigner interest, but you may not charge your brother interest, that the Lord your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land that you are entering to take possession of. Once again, this raises questions. Our culture is very different from their culture. And so some people are wondering, well, does that mean that people who are citizens of the United States of America can't loan out money at interest to other citizens of the United States, but maybe to foreign nations that we can collect interest if we make a loan to a business or a person or a foreign national entity? No, that's not, I think, the correct application. In the ancient Israelite context, loans were most often for the help of the poor. There weren't a lot of business loans, there weren't housing loans, there weren't auto loans, that's for sure. Loans were most often to help someone survive when they had tragedy in this subsistence economy. And so when you're talking about giving a loan to your countrymen, the context is loaning to someone who is so poor that they don't have food to eat. That is not something God wanted to be done at interest because that doesn't help the poor. If someone's had a very unfortunate situation, someone has had tragedy come into their life, well then, because God is expecting that this is a community of people who live together, who are looking out for one another's interests, you would loan without interest in that case. This has application in the church. There's a needy family in church. The deacons don't come to that family and say, well, the church is willing to loan you this much money until you're able to get back on your feet and get things sorted out. But, you know, the interest rate going right now is about 6%. So we expect to get some interest back on this after you get things worked out. No. We would not do that. No Christian should think that way. If you're making a personal loan to somebody who has fallen into hard times and they're in poverty, you don't charge them interest on that loan. You're doing it because you're doing it for love. You're doing it for community. You're doing it for good, not because you're trying to have a good investment. So that's why this law is here. It doesn't rule out the modern banking system. It doesn't mean that we shouldn't have car loans or auto loans and that interest rates are bad. No. What this is mostly talking about is taking advantage of the poor. And the term that is used in English to describe this is usury. Now, in older times, usury would describe any kind of interest, but in modern times, usury focuses especially on lending money at exorbitant interest rates. So when your interest rate is very high, Credit card companies are walking the line here. I don't know if I could work in good conscience for a credit card company where they have exorbitantly high interest rates and they are basically building their business model on taking advantage of the poor. Let's be honest. That's how the credit card companies make their money. So, also, payday loan companies. You go into Lincoln, you drive around, and they have the payday loan shops there. Well, those are designed for the poor, and they have high interest rates. And you get an advancement on your payday, and it's not a good practice. I wouldn't open one of those shops. I wouldn't work at one of those shops. I don't think that's ethical. What should you do for the poor? Well, you should build a community, a community that cares, a community that looks out for one another, a community that kind of looks like this. What should the poor do? They should believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and come and join his church and see what love looks like, see what community looks like, see what it's like for people to loan without interest. What you do with your money says a lot about you. I'd even go so far as to say some student loans are predatory. You've got to watch out. Don't just sign on the dotted line and you might be a debt slave for the rest of your life. Be careful about becoming indebted and be careful about high interest rates. That's something that is not a good practice. But normal banking practices, I don't have a problem with it. Another one that's very important here in the use of money and lending is in Deuteronomy chapter 24 verse 17. Actually, the whole section here. Start with verse six. Deuteronomy 24 verse six. No one shall take a mill or an upper millstone in pledge, for that would be taking a life in pledge. A pledge in their society was something that you would take from someone that you had loaned money to, to ensure that you were gonna get your money back. It's called surety. You don't take a millstone because that is the means that the person has to make money. So if you loan someone money, and in order for them to be able to pay it back, you hold their means of production, you see that that is cruel. Now that person has to find some other way than the normal way of farming, which was this agrarian economy, to be able to pay back the loan. So just simple wisdom principles, simple love principles. And for those who were the money lenders, they in the ancient world as now, would take advantage of people. And in order to look out for their own interests, they'd say, well, I'll take his millstone because then I know he's gonna have to pay me back because he needs his millstone to live. Look also at verse 17 here in the same chapter. You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner, we read this already, or to the fatherless, or take a, or, notice here, or take a widow's garment in pledge. The widow is the most vulnerable, the most poor in ancient Israel, and so to take her garment in pledge means that she's going to suffer in the cold nights until she pays you back, because they didn't have a closet full of clothes like we do. Very important to get into the mindset of the original setting so you can learn the principle and see how it applies in the modern time. Also, again in verses 10 through 13, when you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not go into his house to collect his pledge. You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the pledge out to you. And if he is a poor man, you shall not sleep in his pledge, You shall restore to him the pledge as the sun sets, that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you. And it shall be righteousness for you before the Lord your God. So why would somebody go into his house to get his pledge? Well, it's because you are in the position of power. You're in the position of control. You are the landlord or you're the loan shark. And so you are just showing your dominance by going in and taking the pledge. A man's home is his castle. You ever heard that before? And to intrude into that castle in order to take your pledge, it humiliates him. You don't humiliate somebody just because you're in a position of power and authority. No, you love your neighbor as yourself. How would you want to be treated if you were in that position? You want to be dishonored? You want your pride to be stomped on? No. So treat people with the respect and dignity that you would want to be treated with. Very simple principles here, very applicable, so much wisdom. Then also, while we're looking at the laws for usury, pledges, how we make loans and take surety for those loans, I wanted to put up here another proverb, Proverb 1431. Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him. Who has given you the ability to make wealth? God has. And so if you despise the poor and if you are proud because of your success and your wealth, then you are insulting your maker, the one who has made you, the one who has given you your intelligence, the one who has given you your family, the one who has given you your health. It's not the government that you owe all those things to, though our former president might have told you so. It's God that you owe those things to. And that's the reason why you are humble as a person of means, because you recognize that it's the maker who makes a distinction. As it says in Proverbs 22 too, the rich and the poor meet together. The Lord is the maker of them all. Never forget that. The Lord has made all mankind. They are made in his image and likeness and we treat them with the dignity and respect that that image and likeness deserves because of our fear of God. You see this all throughout the laws. I'm gonna skip over some of the other laws that I have here for time's sake because I really wanna get to a couple of the interesting laws here at the end. So let's get to some of these interesting laws. Just a handful to end with. First one is Leviticus 19, verses 23 to 25. Leviticus 19, 23 to 25. Back to Leviticus 19. Very interesting chapter, Leviticus 19. It says there, when you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden to you, it must not be eaten. And in the fourth year, all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. But in the fifth year, you may eat of its fruit to increase its yield for you. I am the Lord your God. Jamie and I planted some apple trees a few years ago. They're not doing as well as I'd hoped. I'm not a great farmer, I guess. And so our harvest has been pretty meager for the first five, six years here. And that offering, if I took the apples that were off of that tree and brought them like an Israelite to the tabernacle in the temple and say, God, here's your apples, here's your first fruit, it don't look so good. That's not a worthy offering for the Lord. And that's the idea here. Some people read this and it's like, well, why? Does this have to do with horticulture and you gotta be pruning the tree and then it gets more growth later? And all of that's secondary, okay? If there's anything to that, that's not the primary concern here. The primary concern is, is the idea that we honor God from the first fruits of our labor and that the first fruits of our labor should be something that is actually a good gift. It's not the garbage that we're giving. And those first few years of growth on most trees are kind of the garbage. They usually just fall off and you don't really know what to do with them anyway. So that's why this law is here. In the first few years, you don't eat any of it because why? Because you haven't yet given a first fruit offering. And then when you finally do give the first fruit offering, then you may eat of it after that. That's the law and very interesting application of honoring God from the produce in our lives in Leviticus 19, 23 to 25. You see how people could get around it and they'd say, oh yeah, I gave God the first fruits from the tree. I'm like, well, I don't think God was too pleased with those first fruits. Not much of a sacrifice. Deuteronomy 22 then. Let's come back. A very interesting verse here in Deuteronomy 22. This previous verse, Leviticus 19 and Deuteronomy 22, verses six and seven, are classified by Jewish scholars as a certain kind of law that you may not fully understand the reasons for it, but you do it because God said to do it. Now I think I've explained pretty well what the reason is for Leviticus 19, 23, and 25, but this next one, it definitely has a little bit more of that difficult to explain quality in Deuteronomy 22, six and seven. The Hebrew scholars, they have a word for this. It's one of those words in Hebrew that sounds like you're clearing your throat. Huch, this is a huch law. It's one that you do it because God said to do it even if you don't understand why he told you to do it. Deuteronomy 22, six and seven. If you come across a bird's nest in any tree or on the ground with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. You shall let the mother go. But the young you may take for yourself, that it may go well with you and that you may live long. Now, this law would be one that you might just pass over and not pay much attention to until you get to that last line, that it may be well with you and that you might live long. Well, that sounds familiar. God says that in commandment number five about honoring your father and mother. It's the first commandment with a promise. And there's just a few of these scattered throughout the law where you've got this important promise specifically attached to it. This has led some Jewish people, because they don't really understand the reason for the law, and they're doing it just because God told them to do it, they try to actually create the circumstance whereby they can fulfill this. So there's little farms where you can go, I've heard, I could be wrong, where they'll have mothers with their eggs on the ground, and you can come and gather the eggs and let the mother go, and then you get this blessing of letting the mother go when you collect the eggs. That's not really the spirit of the law here. That's not why God gives us commandments like this, so that we can set up scenarios where we can fulfill it and receive some mechanical blessing. No, but let's think, why? Why would God give this law and why would he attach such an important promise to the fulfilling of this command? I think one of the keys to understanding this chok law is when the New Testament interprets another seemingly, well, agricultural kindness towards animal law in a way that it's more than just about kindness to animals. We looked at the example of how the apostle Paul used twice, you shall not muzzle the ox while it's threshing. And Paul said, well, God's not primarily concerned about oxen, no, but this was given for our sake, because the laborer is worthy of his wages. And so I think in a similar way, the way you treat animals, it conditions your heart as to how you're going to treat people. The Bible says in Proverbs that the righteous man has compassion for the life of his beast, but that the compassion of the wicked is cruelty. If you are the type of person who is cruel to animals just for fun, you're probably not going to be a very good person. You may end up in jail someday. You see a kid who's cruel to animals just for fun, he might have a future at the penitentiary. How you treat animals conditions you, it trains you. Now, when you come across a nest with the babies and the mother there, and your heart says, hey, score, good for me, bad for you, the mother is there protecting her brood. And you look at it as just my advantage, your loss. That's training a heart, that's training a mindset. And it's punishing the maternal instinct, to kill the mother along with the brood. The mother is only there because of her maternal instinct. And to take advantage of that for yourself at her expense, it's not the kind of heart you want to develop. It's not the kind of heart that God is going to bless. It's not creating the kind of community that is going to live long in the land. You see? So I encourage you, even the laws that when you first read them, you're like, huh? Why? Think about it. Meditate. Compare it with scripture. There's a reason. God doesn't put everything right on the surface and make it easy for us. He wants us to think. He wants us to dig. He wants to challenge us. There's another law in Leviticus that I think really helps support this view. Leviticus 22, 28. Something not right about that. Oh sure, you can kill an ox and a sheep and you can kill the mother, but doing it on the same day, there's something wrong about that. Something not right. Something that trains the heart in a way that the heart doesn't need to be trained. Think about that. I like what Matthew Henry said, God cares for birds, so should we. CS Lewis said, And Chuck Swindoll said, And I think that's the key point there. How much more when we show kindness to people? Now, one more here. Have you ever seen these garments with the tassels here and the tassels that the Jewish people wear on the corners of their garments? Well, that comes from a couple of places in the law. The one I wanna look at is in Numbers chapter 15. Go back to Numbers 15. Numbers 15 verses 37 to 41 is the law about tassels on garments. And this is one of those laws where you're like, okay, sure. I can see why non-believers think that the law is irrelevant, that we're picking and choosing what we think is important. I mean, yeah, the Jewish people still do it. Christians don't do this, so maybe the whole law we just shouldn't pay any attention to because we don't understand it. Look at what it says. The Lord said to Moses, speak to the people of Israel and tell them to make tassels on the corner of their garments throughout their generations and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. So you shall remember and do all my commandments and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God. I think it's very likely that Jesus wore these tassels on his garments. He was born under the law. He lived under the law. The Jewish people call these tzitzit. They provide a tangible, ever-present reminder that is integrated into their daily clothing. And that's what people need. People are forgetful. People are distractible. People follow after what their own hearts and their own eyes lead them to, and so God put on the Jewish garments a constant reminder on their clothing. This is not a bad idea. It has worked well for the Jewish people. Now, it's no replacement for a heart that loves your neighbor or a heart that loves God. You can't just put the garments on and think that's enough. No, the garment is a reminder of what the law teaches. And we might need visual reminders around us. Many Christians wear a cross. If that's a visual reminder that helps you to remember what Christ has done for you and to live your life for him, then that's great. There's nothing wrong with having visual reminders around us. We need that. This law reveals that God is aware of how easily we are distracted and how we need constant reminders around us that are tangible, that are present, that are visible, so that we remember the Lord our God and what he has done for us. One last law here that is going to really be the coup de grace is Deuteronomy 21, verses 22 and 23. Deuteronomy 21, verses 22 and 23. So we're looking at various interesting laws. The people of Israel would sometimes read them and look at them and go, I don't know why God told us that, but he told us it for a reason, so we'll just trust him and obey him. Well, what about this one? Deuteronomy 21, 22 and 23. I'd like the Jewish people to keep this one in mind. If a man has committed a crime punishable by death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day. For a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance." God says in His law that a hanged man is cursed by God. And this law was not overlooked by the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ when Jesus, their rabbi, was hung on a tree. And his body, in accordance with this law, was taken down on that same day and put into the tomb. And the Apostle Paul took great note. that the curse of the law came down upon an innocent substitute, a sacrifice, like the Passover sacrifice of the Jewish people, like the sin offerings and the guilt offerings that were offered at the temple, that God hung his son, his only son, whom he loved, on a tree because cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. And so Jesus Christ became a curse for you, for me. For all the times that we broke God's law. For all the times that we were proud. For all the times that we mistook God's gifts for our own accomplishments. For every time that we mocked the poor. For every time that we looked out for our own interests and were cruel. That's the beauty of God's word. He knew the end from the beginning. And every word was written for a reason. Every word was written for a purpose. You may not understand the reason or the purpose for some of the words in the law. There is a reason. There is a purpose. Keep searching. Keep studying. Be humble. Be teachable. And let God's Word do its work in you. All of it. Treasure all of God's Word. That's the point of this sermon series, is to open up for you the law of God. There's still some tough stuff in there that we haven't touched on yet. So this series is going to go on. Because if you read through the law without some help, you're going to have some big questions. So we're going to try to answer some more of those here in the next three weeks. This will end up being a seven-part series.