Dear friends, starting with Exodus 21, we have been seeing applications and applications of the laws that God gives us, especially the second table of the law of God. The second table, those last six commandments out of the 10 commandments, they have to do with societal conduct. What happens between people? And we have previously discussed variety of topics in the earlier part of chapter 21, or at the latter part of chapter 20, we have talked about worship, we have talked about things such as slavery, we've talked about the emphasis on protection of the rights of slaves and the laws distinguishing murder from manslaughter, and all the various penalties connected with it. And these laws are also provided biblical support for capital punishment. So a lot of things that maybe in a course of a minister's preaching schedule, he doesn't plan to preach on these things. Oftentimes it is only as we go through systematically through the scriptures that we come across these things. And it's helpful for us because we are living in a society where people don't know what the scripture says about these things. They don't know how to apply these things in day-to-day life. And they think, well, governments just come up with their ideas. They think this is a good idea to do this and to do that. This is how we set up laws. And remember, all kingdoms are to base their laws of the land from the principles and the teachings of the law of God from the Bible. And that's why it is important for Christians to be engaged and understand how the laws are applied. Now, we delve into a new set of laws. covering theft and negligence and restitution. And remarkably, these diverse laws all stem from the, we could say, or generally stem from the Eighth Commandment. This commandment not only prohibits theft, but also obligates us to safeguard our neighbors' possessions and interest. What's the point of all this passage? When we are approaching this lengthy passage, it's natural to question its relevance. Why are we thinking about this even? Why are we reading through this passage? What's the purpose of a sermon that you are to spend some time on to listen to? How will this do us good? Well, as we have seen in these case laws, there are lessons here for us, for our lives, so that we might glorify God in our lives. So here in this passage, what we are talking about, what we are going to learn is about accountability, accountability to God. That actually God says, you and I ought to care for our neighbor. Who is our neighbor? Our fellow man. Boys and girls, your brothers and sisters, your fathers and mothers, your people that you are seeing day in and day out, they're your neighbors. And you're accountable before God who sees everything to love them, to care for them. That's what he's talking about. It's about your concern for the welfare of your neighbor. It's speaking about holiness in your public life. That you are to live a holy life in society, in your work situation, in your studies, in all the tasks that you have got to do. This is not about just being holy privately and say, well, I keep my Christianity to myself and I follow these things myself privately, but then I can do whatever outside. So it's talking about these things. So in these ancient laws, we find enduring principles relevant to our daily lives and also our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And we will finish with the Lord Jesus Christ this evening. So when we read through these long passages like this, you begin to wonder, and I've had to wonder as well with you, what am I supposed to get from this? How is this support supposed to convict me? How is it supposed to comfort me? How is it supposed to instruct me? Where do I find Christ, my savior in this? Where is the gospel? Is this totally unrelated, irrelevant to our day and life? And so the answer is no. In fact, I would like to show you that it is not the case, that actually it is very helpful, very practical, very relevant in our day. So let us now jump into this passage before us. Verses 33 onwards from Exodus chapter 21, and we will, God willing, finish at verse 15 of chapter 22. And there are a number of points that I have. First of all, if you want to write down the title of the first point, that we are accountable to God. That's the first thing. We are accountable to God. This is what we learn. Over and over in what anyone would simply consider secular, domestic business transaction, over and over in these laws, we are reminded that God actually cares about our conduct. There is nothing secular in this world. That's what it's saying. You can't divide up and say, well, I'm going into office and that's my secular work. And then what I do in evangelism, in the church, that's spiritual work. When I pray, when I read my Bible, that's my spiritual work. No, no. The Lord cares about our ethics, about our behavior all the time. He cares about how we treat our neighbors, people around us. He cares about how we look out for the welfare of our neighbor. He cares about our witness. He cares about his glory. We are always accountable to God. So you're maybe, I don't see anyone, but you're sketching your head theoretically, and you are wondering to yourself, well, where do you see all of these things in this passage? In verse 11 of chapter 22, in verse 11, what do we read? What's to happen in the circumstance that then shall an oath of the Lord be between both that he does not put his hand onto his neighbor's goods and the owner of it shall accept thereof and he shall not make it good. What's that talking about? What's happening? What's to happen in a circumstance where there is no way to verify whether a man is actually telling the truth or not. He is to be taken before the judges. He's to testify before the Lord, we are told, that he is innocent. A man in this life can lie before the Lord. It happens all the time. People lie. But remember this. The point here is that it's done before the Lord. It's done before God. We can't hide ourselves from God. People take false oaths. People make vows falsely. They don't mean to keep. But the passage requires that to be done because there will be a day, dear friends, when every man stands before the Lord and is accountable before God. Every one of us, the scripture says in the New Testament, shall give an account of himself to God. There's a day of reckoning coming. And on that day, no one will get by with untruthfulness. No one will get by with lies. And so this pledge in the present life, in this life, that one is telling the truth before the Lord is a reminder that everything that we do is before the Lord and will be brought before His searching judgment. That's what is emphasizing here. All of these things is done before the Lord. And this is emphasized throughout this book of the covenant, this covenant code. Over and over, the law reminds us that all that we do in this life is before the Lord. So it makes everything relevant. Not just the things that people see, but even the things that people cannot see. You can't hide from the Lord. You can't say, well, I'm doing it behind my closed doors. I have all of these things set up that nobody will find out. Have you calculated God? Have you put God in that calculation? We cannot keep him out. There is no filter. There is no thing that we can put and say, God is now out of my life. No. So over and over again, the law of God is reminding us of this. These passages that we are coming to, it is reminding God is seeing everything. And so if things are done before the Lord and we must act with integrity in the public view because it's all before the Lord. And so that's one thing that is emphasized throughout the law of God in this passage. And it's so important for us today because there are so many, many opportunities for us to act today in things that we don't think anyone else will ever see or will ever know. And we are tempted to act without integrity in those areas. You see it amongst people in high places. You hear it of famous people. You hear it amongst the politicians. Things will come out in time. Things that they thought no one will find out. And we are tempted, dear friends. Who are we? Are we better than the politicians? Are we better than those people who've been found out? No. We are tempted in this world in which we are living in to act without integrity in many areas in our lives. But in all those areas, we do them before the Lord. And so this ancient law, this passage, meant for an agricultural society with these case laws that seem so out of touch with where we are in our day-to-day life, but it is actually speaking to us today. So we are accountable to God. The second thing is this, that I want you just to see the principles here. We are to be concerned for the welfare of our neighbor. That's another thing. We are to be concerned for the welfare of our neighbor. God wants us to care for others around us. God doesn't want us to just pass by people. God wants us to be the good Samaritan in our society. But all of these things is so that we would demonstrate and we would glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. It's this gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that has taken hold of us. And then now we are loving people who we would normally not love. We would never ever in our lives would have encountered. We wouldn't be in their lives. But all of these laws are turning us to the Lord Jesus saying, look what he has done. And then look how your life ought to be. You ought to care for your neighbor. So we are told again and again in these laws that we are to be concerned for the welfare of our neighbor. And so in this very passage, if you dig a pit, whether it be for grains, granary, or to hold water. It says here in verse 33, and if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein, the owner of the pit shall make it good and give money unto the owner of them, and the dead beast shall be his. So you dig a pit, and you don't do due diligence to protect it from injuring someone else, to mark it, to prevent them from falling into it unawares. You're responsible. Why is that? Why is that? They should have looked, they should have had their eyes open. Why is it that you're responsible? Because you are your brother's keeper. That's the teaching of the word of God. You are your brother's keeper. You are your neighbor's keeper. Your neighbor's welfare is your concern. Sad thing is this, that there are people in families even, they don't care for one another. There are sibling rivalries, young and old. And friends, we ought to think about that. So, Another thing as I'm thinking about this is that, yes, there are all kinds of abuses that people make, sort of that they sue. We have a sue society today. So you're in McDonald's, you buy a cup of coffee. It says on it, this is hot. Why is it that they have had to put these things on? Why is it that they have had to put on a carton of milk about allergies? It contains milk. Well, why is that? Because people have this Sue mentality that they would go after and say, I spilled a hot cup of coffee on my lap. I drank this milk. It never told me that I would be allergic to it or it would harm me. I should have been told and so on. And I'm not talking about that kind of a mentality. The sad thing is this is the kind of world we are living in. We're not talking about that kind of ungodly behavior that people have, but this principle of care we are talking about. And you ought to be concerned. You ought to be diligent to protect the others, the welfare of others. That's what this passage is telling you. As far as God is concerned, we are liable to put our neighbor's neighbor right. Is that how you think? Is that how you feel? Is that how we are acting in our lives? The third point is this, that I'm just laying down principles. The third point is that personal holiness involves all of actions, personal and public. Personal holiness involves all of our actions, personal and public. That's the third thing. So as far as God is concerned, it's not just about our private piety and holiness, it involves public morality. It involves the way we relate to one another. It involves the way we deal in ethical sort of intercourse in public business transactions, in whatever else. Our morality, our ethics, our behavior, and public behavior matters to God. And the law teaches us, the word of God is teaching us that over and over again, that God cares for that. So all three of our truths come out, as it were, in the passage that we are studying this evening. All the laws here have to do with depriving others through negligence or theft, and then what is to be done when that happens. There are nine general cases listed here. And by the way, the general cases and the types of cases that are listed here provide us yet another example that this law which God is giving from Exodus 21 through to 23 is illustrative of how God wants his moral principles, the Ten Commandments, to be applied in lives. And it is not a comprehensive set of civil laws. There are more, much more. examples that could be given. But it's simply giving you some examples of general principles of moral commands of God found in Exodus 20. So the Ten Commandments is the summary and then it is applied in all sorts of ways. It's applied to life situations and it expects judges but also citizens to draw the other implications. And so isn't it interesting that even in Exodus, when we think of the church in its infancy, if we could use that term as Stephen used it, God is requiring believers to consciously Think as believers about the way they conduct their lives because he doesn't spell out everything that they need to do. He expects them to think about what their responsibilities are and to apply the general principles of his word to the everyday situations and circumstances of their lives and to do God's will in the spirit, in a spirit which is well-pleasing in his sight. So the Lord wants us to have our minds engaged. have our hearts engaged and be the people of the book that we are searching the scriptures, we are applying things to different situations of our lives. So it is saying, it's not a black and white issue. You ought to be diligent in the study of the word. So let's very quickly walk through these nine general laws that we have here. And I want to divide them up for you just so that you can see. So in verses 33 and 34, If you look at that, that's the first law. First principle has to do with the loss of livestock. So that's one thing. In the second one, you have 35 and 36 versus 35 and 36. That's the second case law. It has to do with the loss of livestock in a case of negligence. And then third thing, you have it in verse one of chapter 22, where we have the law regarding theft and restitution. And then you have verses 22, sorry, verses two and three of chapter 22, and we come to the fourth case law. having to do with a thief breaking in at night as opposed to breaking in during the day when he can be identified and his responsibility of restitution if caught and the liability that he has to death if the break is at night. And then you have Number five, verse five of chapter 22, there's a law about negligence of animals as they graze another man's field. And then verse six, there is yet another law about negligence and an outbreak of fire which ruins a neighbor's field. Verses seven and nine, or seven through to nine. There's a law about lending or leasing or bailment regarding possessions. And then you have in verses 10 through to 13 of chapter 22, there's a law about lending or leasing or hiring out of domestic animals. And what happens if there is loss and then finally, Here you have verses 14 and 15. There's a law about borrowing from the neighbor and restitution in certain cases relating to that. So those are the nine special or specific laws. And I want to very quickly work through these things with you. How God applies basic biblical principles. That's the thing we want to think about now. How does God apply basic biblical principles? So look at these verses. Verses 33 and 34. If a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein, the owner of the pit shall make it good. That means it makes restitution. And give money unto the owner of them, and the dead beast shall be his. So negligence, which results in the loss of an owner's livestock requires restitution, and he shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall become his." So he gets the dead ox, he pays the owner the equivalent value, whether it's ox or donkey or whatever, so that he can be made right. And because of his negligence, he ends up with a dead ox. And because of this experience, the other owner is put right. So you think about this. In these times, a poor subsistence farmer's family life or at least freedom might depend on having a live ox. A live ox was as important to a farmer in Israel at that time as a water buffalo, we could say, to a family in the Southern Eastern Asia today. Whatever that water buffalo, that man may die of starvation. Without that, they would die. And so it takes years to train that ox or that water buffalo. And that loss of it requires something dramatic to be done. So you might think, well, this is too drastic. But the issue is that people were depending, their lives were dependent on these things. And so the law said, you put it right. You give him the money for another ox. You put him right. You be concerned for the welfare of your neighbor and the carefulness in the treatment of your neighbor. Then you go on to the next one, 35 and 36. This is the case in which your animal harms another person's animal. It is a situation which couldn't have been foreseen. There is no track record on this animal. This animal has never done this kind of a thing before and it happens. Even in that case where there is no negligence involved, notice that the responsibility of one's domestic animals require that to be there to be some form of restitution done. Saying hurt has been caused. You can't just walk away from it and say, well, I wasn't responsible for that. I didn't know that. You see, this is how the laws of a nation, if it is based on the word of God, then it becomes just. People just can't leave their responsibilities as we have it so often in this land. So there is no negligence involved in this, but the consequences of the actions of one's own domestic animals demand that something must be done. And so in that case, what has to happen is this. Your ox, which is still alive, is sold. Your neighbor then gets half of it, and you get half of it. And then you divide the dead animal and do whatever you want to do with it. You sell it for meat or you eat it or whatever you want to do with that dead animal. But you split it down the middle, the money and the thing. So the person who was injured isn't whole, and there is no apparent negligence in the situation. It was one of those things, we say. It is part of the providence of God, and yet I'm responsible. So you see, it's the responsibility, it's the accountability that it's talking about. But if there is negligence, look at verse 36. If there is negligence, in the case of this animal's death, then the full value of the animal is to be paid. The owner of the ox who gores the other man's ox is to be put right. He gives him a new ox and he ends up with a dead ox and he's out of money for a live one, as it were. And so he has done restitution for the negligence of not penning up his ox. So in both laws, we see a concern for the welfare and a fairness, a concern for the welfare of our neighbor and a concern for the protection of that which is his. That's an application of thou shalt not steal. You're not to steal. You shall not take something that is your neighbor's or be negligent in such a way as It results in the loss of the neighbor. So you and I are responsible. If we have caused loss for someone, we ought to make it right, make it good. And then we could go on to talk about the following verses in chapter 22, verse 1. So there is a stealing issue. If a man steals an ox or a sheep or slaughters it, sells it, That shows his intent. He didn't accidentally walk down the road and the sheep followed the man. No, it shows that he meant to steal that sheep or the sheep. He meant to sell them. He meant to reap the benefit. And so he shall pay five oxen for the ox or four sheep for the sheep. And so, as I mentioned before, ox took a long time to train for work. They were more valuable animal, and so the restitution is higher. Five oxen for one oxen, four sheep for the sheep. And then you have the caught thief. That's five-fold restitution, or four-fold restitution. So what is the thief trying to do? The thief is trying to enrich himself at the expense of the impoverishment of his victim. That's what he's trying to do. And then notice what the law says has to happen in this case. The law says that that theft should result in the enrichment of the victim and the impoverishment of the thief. The law is designed, dear friends, to exactly counteract the intentions of the thief's crime. What a tremendous deterrent. to the crime itself. The law is designed to enhance the harm that has been done to the victim and to bring upon the perpetrator the same harm that he was ready and willing to bring upon his victim. Do you see how things have turned upside down? The way a nation then calls evil good and good evil can affect so many things in our society, in people's lives. I must move on, but I'm just giving you highlights of these things. How should you interpret these laws? Now, let me finish with this. Why are these laws important for the Christian? Why are these laws important for the Christian? Because dear friends, one of the things we could say is that we are living in a society that there is no regard for law. Be it the law of the land, just laws, be it for the laws of God, people say it is irrelevant. You have a situation, as I know of, of someone who experienced this. This was in Northern Ireland. A thief comes. He's walking on a glass roof. He's a thief. He wants to steal the stuff. The glass roof breaks, the thief falls through the glass, he hits his head against the table, and then he sues the owner of that house, and he wins the case. Imagine that, this is the law of this country. This just happened some years back. And that actually was a minister. That minister had to pay the thief who was there. And so they managed, the lawyers managed to find a certain case situation about the fact that, well, the man had not kept the roof up properly and so on. Do you see what's happening in this country? So why are these principles important for Christians? Given the principles that we do everything that we do before God, that we are to be concerned for the welfare of our neighbor and that our morality, our behavior before the Lord is to be not only private piety, but also public in our ethical dealings. Is there anything in this passage for us as Christians which lead us to Christ? Yes, there is. What leads a person to steal? actively. What leads a person to be negligent in the care of others' property? Well, there are several answers to that question. What is it that makes people be negligent? What is it that makes people steal? One thing is this. One thing that leads people to steal is a failure to believe in God's providence. They don't believe that God will provide for them. And so a person, if you are tempted in that situation, you're not believing that the Lord is going to provide for you what you are actually needing. And so you need to go out and you need to take it even if it's wrong. And so people reason in their mind, but I need this thing and the Lord is not giving it to me. And the man on the street, the man who steals the stuff, this is what I need. And so you have the lootings and you have all sorts of things that happens. And the issue is the government doesn't do much about it. You have it now, videos of people running into shops, stealing stuff. In United States now there is, by law, a person can steal $900. I don't know what it is in this country, but it's happening here too, that you can go and steal stuff and get away with it. And it's amazing, it's unbelievable. And the person, if the thief is taken hold of, and if the security hurts the thief by taking hold of them, the security officer, he is sued by the thief. But the reason people do that, one of the reasons is that of their failure to believe in the Lord, in his providence. Another thing that leads people to steal or to not look out for the welfare of their neighbor's property is greed or envy or a sense of entitlement. That's the thing in our society, a sense of entitlement. they have it, they say, I deserve it too. I've heard that people say that. If they have it, I deserve it too. Why should other people have this thing and not me? And so it either makes you lax about protecting your neighbor's property, or it may even give you a sense of entitlement that you can take your neighbor's property. So that's another thing. Another thing that leads people to break this commandment is a failure to appreciate the image of God in man. The image of God in man. We think of people as objects that we can make use of. Not as people who have been created in the image of God. These are actually people. And so that when we are stealing that which is our neighbors or failing to protect that which is our neighbors, the offense is against someone who is in the image of God and in that sense is a sin against God himself because we don't think enough of God to treat his image with respect. So you see this in a godless society because they're not thinking of God. And so they treat one another in the way they do. The fourth thing is another reason why this commandment is broken is because of that intrinsic or instinctive self-interest, which is built into us. And oftentimes in a moment of panic, we choose self over neighbor. This is part of our sinful nature. We choose self. You and I do it. And it is only by the grace of God that as we follow the Lord, fighting this battle, not me, not self, but the will of the Lord be done. Another reason this commandment is broken is because we often place self over the welfare of the community around us. We think that the needs of this one outweigh the needs of the many. And so people think like that. me first, not other people. So do you ever wonder why stealing is often factored into gang initiations? It is this perverseness in the human heart. Well, how do you combat these things? How do you combat those motivations and reasons? How do you combat these temptations of the heart? What do you do about it? When you're reading these things and you might say, as you begin to study, as you begin to compare these things with your heart and you realize, I actually have done some of these things myself. I've been negligent in this. I didn't care about this individual. I didn't think about the welfare of somebody else. I was just thinking about me and my house and my family and my job and this and that and the other. How do you combat these things? How do you combat their motivations and reasons? Well, the only solution to these things, and this is how Christ factors into the law, is that is in hearts changed by the grace of God through faith in the Lord Jesus. We need to have a changed heart. That's the issue. Theft, like all outward sin, is indicative of a heart problem. And you can add that to any other thing. So all of these laws that are given is showing we fail. We fail. We are not thinking. We are quarreling. We are not happy with our situation. We are not happy with God. We are not happy with our fellow men who have the image of God upon them. And he's saying, there is something wrong with my heart. It's not about my upbringing. It's not about my psychology. It's not about this and that and the other thing. There's something wrong in my heart. Our Lord Jesus Christ said this. You see, theft, like all outward sin, is indicative of a heart problem, and people do it. They think, well, I don't need to do this. The government will provide for me this and that, and I don't, and they think, well, it's free. There's nothing free. Someone has to pay. People that pays taxes. And there is so much abuse inside systems too. And, but all of that, it's telling you that something wrong with my heart and it's theft and the Lord Jesus Christ is for out of the heart come evil thoughts. And then he says, and thefts. So the answer is to pursue Christ for grace. I need grace. And it's only found in the Lord Jesus Christ. So you read these laws. It should lead you to the Lord Jesus. And you remember that there was a thief on the cross, a man who had robbed things, robbed people. And this is the precise thing. The man is now being punished on the cross, rightly so, he says. And on that Christ, at the point, at some point during that day, there were these two thieves. Both are hurling abuse at the Lord Jesus Christ. And something happens in this man. And during that afternoon, the heart of one of those thieves was changed and he sought the grace of Christ and his life was changed. He received the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verily I say unto thee, the Lord Jesus Christ looked at that thief on the cross. And he said, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. There's hope for lawbreakers. There is hope for thieves. There's hope for those who have done injury to others. The law is showing us how we are to glorify God and follow. But the ultimate thing is that who can keep any of these things. I need the Lord Jesus in my life. So that the man who has the heart problem of theft will only find an ultimate solution to it by seeking the same savior that the thief on the cross sought. So we ought to seek him then. Let us seek him now. Let us all.