Exodus (Lesson 42)

Welcome to the Preaching of the Cross Radio Podcast, featuring the radio ministry of Pastor James W.

Knox of the Bible Baptist Church of Delant, Florida.

Our prayer is that these half-hour Bible study programs will bring the lost to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and enable the saved to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Savior.

Now here's your host, Pastor James W.

Knox.

Who said, who said if you keep preaching like that, nobody's going to listen?

Well, it couldn't have been you, because there you are.

And I'm Brother James, and I greet you once again in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

This is the preaching, and that's what it is, it's preaching, the preaching of the cross radio broadcast.

This program is a ministry of the Bible Baptist Church in the land of Florida, United States of America.

By the grace of God, and through your prayers and your support, it's heard on many stations across this land and around the world.

In fact, responses have come now from almost 150 nations since we began these broadcasts back in 1981.

Thank you for tuning in today.

We trust that God will bless your heart as we study his word together.

If you can get a Bible and follow along with us, that would help you and see it and hear it.

You get a little better chance of recalling what you've learned.

But we are studying the Bible book of Exodus.

We are right in the middle of the laws that God gave Moses to give the children of Israel.

When he met with Moses on Mount Sinai, and we are learning a number of things.

First of all, the severity of God's laws against those who would harm their fellow man for the well-being of society as a whole.

And the only prevention measures that will work to stop crime and violence is a harsh sentence against those who commit crime, so that the consequences of a criminal act are greater than the benefits of a criminal act.

That's the only way to stop it, and we're seeing that as we come down through here.

And then we're also learning that those who say or believe that they are going to earn heaven by keeping the law just don't know what they're talking about.

We've seen that over and over again.

Now, we're in Exodus 22, Exodus 22, and verse number 28.

Thou shalt not revile the gods, small g, nor curse the ruler of thy people.

God's here, we we know there's no other God, capital G, real God, true God, than one.

That's the Lord God Almighty, the creator of the heavens and the earth, existing eternally as the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.

That God, that God is the only real God.

But there are many things or people or beings or imaginary beings that are worshipped by other men.

And these gods, these overlords, we are to leave their judgment and leave their destruction in the hands of the one true and living God.

Likewise, the ruler of the people who may claim the divine right to rule by this God or that God or this deity or that deity.

The scripture is pretty clear.

We are to busy ourselves with proclaiming the truth of the one true God, and to allow that one true God to settle matters of government and dominion as he will.

The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 10, verse 20, curse not the king, know not in thy thought, and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber.

Ecclesiastes 10:20

For a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.

Now here's what you got to think about.

If Jesus Christ is not ruling and reigning, then your governor, whoever he might be, whoever she might be, is a faulty, failing, sinful human being.

It would take no skill or intelligence whatsoever to observe that monarch, that president, that prince, that ruler, and find ample reason to criticize their actions or their decisions.

However, once you have done that, that ruler, that governor, that prince has the power to punish you because of your dissent.

Now, if I'm going to be punished, I want it to be because I was preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I don't want punishment.

I don't want affliction, I don't want oppression, I don't want to be punished.

But if I must suffer in this life, I want to suffer because I was telling people something that could result in the salvation of their everlasting soul, rather than suffer punishment because I was objecting to some governmental policy affecting only temporal matters, money, and so forth.

The Bible says in Acts 23 and verse number 5.

Then Paul said, I wis not, brethren, that he was the high priest, for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.

And there's there's the direct quotation from Deuteronomy, or I'm sorry, from Exodus 28 or 22, 28, I'm trying to call the verse to mind.

It says, uh, nor curse the ruler of thy people.

When the Holy Spirit puts those words in the mouth of the Apostle Paul, he says, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.

So to curse him, to curse him, doesn't necessarily mean you're using nasty words.

It means you're speaking evil, desiring his harm, desiring his hurt.

In 2 Peter chapter 2, 2 Peter 2, and verse number 10, a verse that none of us like under certain circumstances, but chiefly them that walk after the flesh and the lust of uncleanness and despise government.

2 Peter 2 · chapter mention

Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.

So it's very easy to get caught in the trap of using your time to preach, whether to an individual or to a group of people, to preach against government.

But the next government and the next government, the government after that, listen, all of them you could preach against if you saw fit, if they're not explicitly obeying God's words and God's commandments, there is much to criticize and much to speak against, but that's not gonna get anybody to Jesus.

That's not gonna get anybody saved.

The Bible says, like Jude verse 8, likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

We gotta be careful.

We gotta be careful.

It may just be discontent on our part, it may just be rebellion on our part, it may be they are genuinely wrong.

But here's something I want you to consider, and then we'll move on.

I just want you to think about something just for a minute, please.

Let's suppose you're listening right now and you live in the United States of America, and the current political power is controlled by Republicans, and you you believe that things would be better if the current political power were controlled by Democrats.

Or, or let's suppose that the current political power is controlled by Democrats, and you believe, you believe the country would be better off if it was controlled by Republicans.

Okay, now come on, think think with me for a minute.

Follow with me.

I'm not saying you're right or you're wrong.

I'm not saying your political views are correct or incorrect.

Here's what I'm saying to you.

Sitting before you in that church is a congregation full of people who need to know Jesus Christ as their savior, or who need to be instructed from the Bible as to how to live the Christian life since they have been saved.

The minute you stand in that pulpit and promote the Republican Party, all of those who support the Democrat Party are no longer going to listen to what you have to say about Jesus Christ and living the Christian life.

Why would you look, it's hard enough to get people to listen to a preacher preach and teach the Bible without him dividing the congregation over political party affiliation.

You understand?

Now, let's suppose you take the other side.

Oh, yeah, yeah, that's our side.

No, our side is Jesus.

Our side is the Bible.

And when we start dividing our side into two sides, over temporal politics, we are harming the cause of Jesus Christ.

Now, now hang on, hang on.

I I've got to listen, I've got to say these things.

Somebody's got to say these things, it's going to be me.

Christians in America love money.

If the government becomes too great a threat to their money, since they love their money more than they love Jesus, and since it bothers them anyway to speak for Jesus, but it doesn't bother them to speak for money, it will be very easy for the Christians in America to get involved in politics, and you won't be able to get them to show up for visitation to tell others about Jesus Christ.

You can get saved people to forward a thousand emails criticizing the government before you can get them to send out one telling people they're going to go to hell if they don't trust Jesus Christ as their savior.

Why?

They love their money.

Listen, stay with me.

Don't quit on me.

You say, well, that's just not true.

It is true, it is true.

If saved people in America, I'm telling all of them, as a whole, if saved people in America spent the time listening to Bible preaching that they spend listening to unsaved political commentators on the radio, if saved people spend as much time in prayer as they spend watching Fox News as though that was somehow Christian, what they desire could come to pass.

They're looking to politicians, conservative politicians, to fix what only Jesus Christ can fix.

Now you better hear me, I'm telling the truth.

In the in the 1950s, 40, 1940s in America, people were getting saved by the thousands, 1950s, people getting saved by the thousands, 1960s, people getting saved by the thousands, 1970s, people getting saved by the thousands.

Then what happened?

Well, now that we got so many saved people, let's start a moral majority and get involved in politics.

And so instead of uniting around salvation through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, we ban we began uniting around a belief in God and conservative politics.

Look what that has done to your nation and your churches.

And when you're done looking at that, how about repent of it and get back to the Bible?

You're welcome twice.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Have a nice day.

I just told the truth.

It's just too bad more people don't want to hear it.

All right, Exodus 22, verse number 29.

Thou should not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits.

That's, by the way, that's not outside your home or office.

We've got a little building project going on here, and you might hear some hammering now and again.

Do not adjust your set.

Do not reach for more of that medication.

It is on your radio coming from our end.

Exodus 22, 29.

Thou should not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits and to thy liqueurs, the firstborn of thy son shalt thou give unto me.

Likewise shalt thou do with thine oxen and with thy sheep.

Seven days it shall be with his damn.

On the eighth day thou shalt give it me.

Okay, 29 to 30, saying what?

Don't wait for a better day to give to God.

Don't wait for a better crop to give to God.

Don't wait for a better economic situation to give to God.

Don't wait for your finances to improve, to give to God.

What belongs to God belongs to God.

And don't put it off.

Don't put it off.

Go ahead, get that thing settled right up front.

Put God first.

You'll always be better off for it.

31.

And ye shall be holy men unto me.

Neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field, ye shall cast it to the dogs.

Okay, three great truths.

Four, I'm sorry, four great truths in one verse.

First of all, ye shall be holy men, holy man, not polluted by sin, not defiled by the world, not united to paganism, holy men, separated, dedicated, clean, pure, righteous.

Ye shall be holy men.

Number two, unto me, unto me, our lives are to be devoted to God, not to sports, not to money, not to fame, not to fortune, not to play, not to idleness, not to false religions, not to lodge religions, not to clubs, to God.

Holy, holy men unto me, unto me.

Number three, number three, you should not eat something you find laying in the woods or laying by the road.

You wouldn't think that'd have to be in the Bible, but there it is.

You come up, oh, look here, here's a dead animal.

How long do you think it's been dead?

I don't know, let's give it a try.

No, don't give it a try.

Just leave it alone.

That's what that's what the verse says.

And then number four, number four, you can throw that dead carcass to the dogs and let them eat it, which proves once again from God's law that animals and humans are not part of the same family, and animals and humans are not supposed to get the same treatment, and that might be your dog, it's not your child, and you might buy a dog, you don't adopt a pet.

Thank you.

It's just it's just my my pleasure, it's my pleasure to try and help you think like the Bible wants you to think.

It's my pleasure to try and help you see how absolutely insane a nation becomes when they wander away from the truth of God's word.

23 1.

That should not raise a false report.

How about that?

That ought to be that ought to be on the desk of every media employee on the face of the earth.

Thou should not raise a false report.

That ought to be that ought to be posted above the desk of every police station in the world.

Thou should not raise a false report.

That ought to be just set in front of the face of every church member from north to south to east to west.

Thou should not raise a false report.

Why would you do that?

Get attention.

Why would you do that?

Hurt somebody else?

Why would you do that just to mess up somebody or something?

Don't do it.

Thou should not raise false reports.

Put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness?

How many times today will somebody raise their hand in a court of law and swear to tell the truth and they're on the take?

They'll perjure themselves, they'll lie, they'll take bribes.

How many times, how many times will somebody who claims to be saved side with some rebel to try and destroy a Bible preacher or a good Church.

God said, You better not join that wicked man.

He's lying and you know it.

He's up to no good and you know it.

Don't you put add your voice to his.

Don't you put your hand with his.

Thou should not follow a multitude to do evil.

Well, that should that that'd keep you from going to the concert, wouldn't it?

That'd keep you from going to that theater, wouldn't it?

That'd keep you from going to that movie house when you say, Badgie, there's nothing in the Bible about those things.

Yeah, yeah, there is.

It's right there.

Thou should not follow a multitude to do evil.

Who cares what the fashion of the day is?

Who cares what the popular activity of the day is?

Who cares what the acceptable vocabulary of the day is?

Who cares what the crowd is doing?

Who cares what all your friends are doing?

Why are those your friends anyway?

You know something?

If that Hollywood starts using a word that had been a vile, filthy, dirty, curse word, then all the imbeciles that sit around and watch Hollywood start using that word.

And then the church kids come home and use that word, and and mom or dad uh is outraged and begins to discipline them, and they say, But that mom, it's not a bad word.

Who said it wasn't a bad word?

The multitude or the holy God?

Now you've got preacher, you got preachers following a multitude to do evil.

Well, look at all the other churches that are and they're growing, and look at all the people they've got, and thou shalt not follow the multitude to do evil.

What's right or wrong is not determined by a popularity contest.

What's good or bad is not determined by a vote of the populace.

Thou should not follow a multitude to do evil.

That's why democracy ends up being a degenerate form of government.

Because the multitude, if the multitude says it's okay to abort uh abort babies, if the multitude says it's okay to drink booze, if the multitude says it's okay to uh run about naked, in a democracy that becomes the law of the land, you gotta be kidding me.

Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil, neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to rest judgment.

Don't, don't side with any group that is violating or desires to have violated the plain statutes and the grand truths of God's holy word.

Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause.

Hey, you give everyone an equal hearing, you give everyone equal treatment, you do not give special treatment to the rich, you do not give more severe treatment to the poor.

Verse 4 If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou should surely bring it back to him again.

So you don't like him, he doesn't like you, he's harmed you, he's done you wrong.

It is not a justification for you to be cruel just because someone else has been cruel.

It is not a justification for you to be unkind just because someone else has been unkind.

It's not a justification for you to be mean-spirited, just because someone else has been mean-spirited.

You see that poor uh beast of burden out there?

He doesn't know that his master's a bad man.

He doesn't know that his master has mistreated you.

Why should you let that poor animal suffer just because you've suffered?

Take the thing home, give it back to its master.

You say, I don't like that man, doesn't matter.

You say that man's been bad to me, doesn't matter.

Doesn't matter.

You do right, you do right, whether the person's done right or not.

If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee, lying under his burden, and wouldst forbear to help him, thou shouldst surely help with him.

Now the Lord understands you might, you might think your first response might be, I don't want to help that.

Why, after what that guy did to me?

And so God says, Look, look, you your your first inclination is to forbear, to not help.

But you've got to get over that, you've got to get beyond that and do right.

Help that poor creature up, change that tire, uh, help put out that fire, so forth.

Thou should not rest judgment, the judgment of thy poor in his cause.

Keep thee far from a false matter, and the innocent and righteous slay thou not, for I will not justify the wicked.

See that?

Something not right, stay away from it.

Say there's money in it, stay away from it.

You say there's opportunity in it, stay away from it.

You say I could advance, stay away from it.

Look, if something's not right, it's wrong.

How's that?

How's that?

And whatever whatever benefit may come of it, it's still wrong.

Whatever personal advantage you might derive there from, it's still wrong.

However, you might see look look, just if it's wrong, stay away from it.

There's enough right in this world to occupy your time.

There's enough good in this world to occupy your energy, there's enough decent in this world to fill your heart, leave that which is wrong, that which is evil, leave it alone.

Simple enough.

Simple enough.

Now, to finish up today, I, this is God, I said, God said, I will not justify the wicked.

You do wrong, your boyfriend might justify it.

God won't.

Your girlfriend might say it's okay.

God won't.

Your parents might excuse it, God won't.

Your children might approve, God won't.

Your good for nothing, sorry, Bible-denying preacher might say it's okay.

God won't.

Your friends that you go to church with might pat you on the back and say, oh, don't worry about him.

He's just old-fashioned, and he's just out of the times, and he's just got that mean God of the Old Testament.

And Jesus in the New Testament, he just loves all kinds of thin.

No, you're wrong.

God will not justify the wicked.

Exhibit A.

If you don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of your soul, if you're not born again by the grace of God, your sins are not washed away in the blood of Jesus Christ, God, the God of love, will put you in hell.

Why?

He will not justify the wicked.

If you stand before the Lord at the judgment seat of Christ, my Christian friend, my saved friend, if you've not done right, you're not going to be rewarded.

God will not justify the wicked.

We need to preach that.

We need to teach that.

It's true.

It's absolutely true.

Well, we've been covering some things on the radio these last few times that haven't been touched upon in a long, long time, and we've got a good ways to go.

Still, if you'd like a copy of today's program, of this study on Exodus, or of the thousands of hours of recorded teaching that we have available, you may write to us and we'll send a catalog, or you may visit us at our website.

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Until then, I'm Brother James.

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