God’s Wisdom and Requirements
Wisdom in Justice and Land Use
Requirements of Feasts
Requirements of Nation in walking after God
DBF Sunday Sermon, 1/12/03, Exodus 23
I hear many things today about if people will only pray and believe that God will grant them the desires of their hearts.
I hear it and the way it’s presented there is no way that I agree that the word of God confirms this.
Why?
I cannot and would not agree because God’s will is not included in the above comment.
God does want us who follow after HIM and seek HIS ways to be able to do what is needed to complete HIS good and perfect will.
You see the problem is we seek after our riches and our ease and our pleasure without a thought of God’s will.
It is not nor should it be God’s intent to make you are me rich so that we forget HIM and HIS good and perfect will.
I can praise God for HIS wisdom in this matter because at one point in my life, I too waited for Ed McMann to come to my door during the super bowl.
I fully realize now that this would have taken me far, far from God’s will for me.
The testimony of the recent Lottery winner was a blessing.
He promised his tithes to three churches from his proceeds. What a blessing to God’s work, and God’s work was honored in this mans life.
Yet, it seems that this gentlemen had already learned the valuable lesson of being content wherever he was in God, because he was a faithful tither prior to winning this lottery and he remained a faithful tither and remained true to his calling even after God blessed him.
What would you do today if God blessed you with a large sum of money?
Your true answer shows where you are in accordance with seeking God’s good and perfect will in your life and in our current time.
We will see in Chapter 23 of Exodus God’s Wisdom in matters of justice and agricultural land use then look at requirements for bringing the nation unto HIMSELF a minimum of three times a year and requirements of the nation in following HIM in a manner that would bring them blessings and prosperity.
Wisdom in Justice and Land Use
Exodus 23:1-12 (KJV)
Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
[2] Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:
[3] Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause.
[4] If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. [5] If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him. [6] Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause. [7] Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.
[8] And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
[9] Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
[10] And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof: [11] But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard. [12] Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.
Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness…Many of you know what my feelings are on true justice and my feeling that what is practiced now is a far cry from the “true” justice that God meant to bring to us.
God tells us that we will not be a part of a lie. No colors, no emotions, just NO LIE.
You see the world under the deceiver tells us many things like, it’s OK to lie if you don’t hurt anyone…it’s OK to lie on your income tax because everyone else does…it’s OK to lie because even the government does so…
Yet, God’s word is plain that we shall have no part in being deceptive or deceived.
Matthew 6:8 (KJV)
Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
Matthew 23:2-3 (KJV)
Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: [3] All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. (Is this you?)
2 Peter 2:2 (KJV)
And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
3 John 1:11 (KJV)
Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.
Seems simple enough doesn’t it, so be about doing God’s “Good and Perfect” will in and about your life.
[2] Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil…Realize that we who are the called of Christ are “Set Apart”…why would we follow a multitude to do evil.
Let it not be so in your life or the life of your congregation. Be singular in God’s purpose. Singularity, if in the right, can never be criminal.
So disgraceful is the way of sin, that if there were not a multitude walking in that way, who could help to keep each other in countenance, every solitary sinner would be obliged to hide his head.
If we look at the sinfulness around Dillingham especially around alcohol and substance abuse…everyone here should know who supplies and who buys. If this community wanted to end the continuing abuse of its brothers and sisters they would simply go to the suppliers and buyers and tell them they no longer wish for this to be a part of the community and it would stop.
Yet because of past sins in their own lives people are afraid to confront the sinners for fear that their own sins might be revealed.
The glorious thing about being “set apart” under Jesus Christ is the sins are washed away by the live giving flow of Jesus’ blood.
By it we have been cleaned, our stripes were born by Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary—Amen…Jesus said, “IT IS DONE…and it was”.
[10] And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof: [11] But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard. [12] Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed…You see God’s plans are the absolute best. You see, God understands that all things need rest to continue to be sustained.
God ordered that on the seventh year a field would be left alone so that the stubble could grow, provide food for the needy and that the stubble and grain left would be reground and provide nitrates that would enrich the soil and provide for sustained growth for the next 6 year cycle. Amazing.
The reasons for this ordinance Calmet gives thus:—
“1. To maintain as far as possible an equality of condition among the people, in setting the slaves at liberty, and in permitting all, as children of one family, to have the free and indiscriminate use of whatever the earth produced.
“2. To inspire the people with sentiments of humanity, by making it their duty to give rest, and proper and sufficient nourishment, to the poor, the slave, and the stranger, and even to the cattle.
“3. To accustom the people to submit to and depend on the Divine providence, and expect their support from that in the seventh year, by an extraordinary provision on the sixth.
“4. To detach their affections from earthly and perishable things, and to make them disinterested and heavenly-minded.
“5. To show them God’s dominion over the country, and that HE, not they, was LORD of the soil and that they held it merely from his bounty.” (Adam Clarke Commentary)
What are your attachments to today? Are you heavenly minded or earthly minded?
That God intended to teach them the doctrine of providence by this ordinance, there can be no doubt; and this is marked very distinctly, Leviticus 25:20, 21: “And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase: then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.” That is, There shall be, not three crops in one year, but one crop equal in its abundance to three, because it must supply the wants of three years.
1. For the sixth year, supplying fruit for its own consumption;
2. For the seventh year, in which they were neither to sow nor reap; and
3. For the eighth year, for though they ploughed, sowed, etc., that year, yet a whole course of its seasons was requisite to bring all these fruits to perfection, so that they could not have the fruits of the eighth year till the ninth, (see Leviticus 25:22), till which time God promised that they should eat of the old store.
What an astonishing proof did this give of the being, power, providence, mercy, and goodness of God!
Could there be an infidel in such a land, or a sinner against God and his own soul, with such proofs before his eyes of God and his attributes as one sabbatical year afforded? (Adam Clarke Commentary)
Do you have this amount of “trust” in God today?
You see it is easy to ask, but much harder to trust that what comes our way is God’s divine providence is it not.
Requirements of Feasts
Exodus 23:13-19 (KJV)
And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.
[14] Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. [15] Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:) [16] And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field. [17] Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God. [18] Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning. [19] The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.
Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year—The three feasts here referred to were,
1. The feast of the PASSOVER;
2. The feast of PENTECOST;
3. The feast of TABERNACLES.
1. The feast of the Passover was celebrated to keep in remembrance the wonderful deliverance of the Hebrews from Egypt.
2. The feast of Pentecost, called also the feast of harvest and the feast of weeks, Exodus 34:22, was celebrated fifty days after the Passover to commemorate the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, which took place fifty days after, and hence called by the Greeks Pentecost.
3. The feast of Tabernacles, called also the feast of the ingathering, was celebrated about the 15th of the month Tisri (corresponding to part of September and October) to commemorate the Israelites’ dwelling in tents for forty years, during their stay in the wilderness. See on Leviticus 23 (note).
Why did God call them to the feasts?
“God, out of his great wisdom appointed several festivals among the Jews for many reasons:
1. To perpetuate the memory of those great events, and the wonders he had wrought for the people; for example, the Sabbath brought to remembrance the creation of the world; the Passover, the departure out of Egypt; the Pentecost, the giving of the law; the feast of Tabernacles, the sojourning of their fathers in the wilderness, etc.
2. To keep them faithful to their religion by appropriate ceremonies, and the splendor of Divine service.
3. To procure them lawful pleasures, and necessary rest.
4. To give them instruction; for in their religious assemblies the law of God was always read and explained.
5. To consolidate their social union, by renewing the acquaintance of their tribes and families; for on these occasions they come together from different parts of the land to the holy city.”
You see God still calls us to faithfully coming in fellowship and service to HIM on an ongoing basis. God also calls us to the privilege, honor and requirement of giving within this passage. Let us do no less.
Requirements of Nation in walking after God
Exodus 23:20-33 (KJV)
Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. [21] Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him. [22] But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. [23] For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off. [24] Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images. [25] And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.
[26] There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil. [27] I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee. [28] And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. [29] I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee. [30] By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land. [31] And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee. [32] Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. [33] They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.
As a nation we are called to walk in the ways that God set’s before us, just as God called the nation of Israel to walk in HIS ways. They were led by an angel known by God and we are led by the Spirit and the Word in all HIS ways.
You see God seeks to prosper those who walk after HIS ways if they will only harken after HIM.
Those who say that God does not take vengeance on those who disobey HIM should read carefully these words.
We serve a righteous and just God. God has known from the beginning and throughout eternity that some will follow and some will not. HE has called for us to follow from the very beginning and throughout HIS word HE tells us that those that do not the will of God will have consequences. Not only present consequences but eternal consequences.
We must understand this, Yes God wants to bless you if you seek after HIM and HIS “Good and Perfect” will, but God will not abide by anyone who seeks after the things in this world that have no part of HIM.
How does one come to know the things that are God’s and those things that are of this current age and world.
Well, first we must recognize that we are separated from God by the sinfulness within each of us, for God’s word says: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.
Do you see yourself as a sinner condemned to death and hell?
If you do, God so loved you that while we were yet sinners he sent HIS only begotten son to die for you, so that all who called upon the name of Jesus Christ might not perish but have everlasting life.
This is the “God News” (gospel) message that we are each tasked to bring to this lost and dying world around us.
If you would like to ask Jesus into your heart I ask you to come forward today. You see God wants to bring you into HIS place for you. A place that you will praise him and receive of HIS perfect will for you and your life. God’s will for you is perfect for you, whatever it may be.
You should be able to see that this is vastly different from the thought of what I think is God’s perfect will for me, as some believe is the manner in which this works.
We would love to lift you up in prayer as you grow in seeking God’s good and perfect will around you. Please let us know just how we might better pray for you.
Closing Prayer.
Dillingham Bible Fellowship
Ranger1401@hotmail.com
In Jesus’ love,
Bruce P. Landry
John 21:15-17
15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs." 16 A second time he said to him, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep." 17 He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.
