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. . We'll sing song 328 in your song books. We'll sing I want that mountain. If you would stand. We'll sing song 328. I saw the giant of prayerlessness Upon the mountain high He laughed so hard at my unbended knee No longer in the wilderness I saw the mountain high He laughed so hard at my unbended knee No longer in the wilderness I'll stay and so I cry I want that mountain It belongs to me I want that mountain I want that mountain I want that mountain Where the milk and honey flow Where the grapes of escrow grow I want that mountain I want that mountain The mountain that my Lord has given me There was a giant of laziness Who said I wouldn't go And witness for the one who set me free I'll come from out the wilderness I'll witness now I know I want that mountain It belongs to me I want that mountain I want that mountain I want that mountain Where the milk and honey flow Where the grapes of escrow grow I want that mountain I want that mountain The mountain that my Lord has given me One faithless giant upon the crest Of Hebron's lofty hide Has vowed that he's the one to make me flee I'll climb from out the wilderness And trust Jehovah's might I want that mountain It belongs to me I want that mountain I want that mountain I want that mountain I want that mountain I want that mountain Where the milk and honey flow Where the grapes of escrow grow I want that mountain I want that mountain The mountain that my Lord has given me Let every giant of distress And unbelief and sin Get ready now to vacate For you see I've come from out the wilderness I've come from out the wilderness I know I'm going to win I want that mountain It belongs to me I want that mountain I want that mountain I want that mountain Where the milk and honey flow Where the grapes of escrow grow I want that mountain I want that mountain The mountain that my Lord has given me Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we just want to thank you, God, for just another Wednesday night that we get to meet in your house and to hear your word preached. I pray, Lord, that you would just be with our pastor and fill him with your power and spirit. For it's in Jesus' name we ask all of it. Amen. Amen. All right, you may be seated. And turning your songbooks to song number 50. Song number 50 will sing, peace, perfect peace. Song number 50. Peace, perfect peace. In this dark world of sin The blood of Jesus whispers peace within. Peace, perfect peace. With sorrow surging round On Jesus' bosom, not but calm is found. Peace, perfect peace. Our future all unknown. Jesus, we know, and he is on the throne. Peace, perfect peace. Death, shadow, us are ours. Jesus has vanquished death and all its powers. It is enough. Earth's struggle soon shall cease. And Jesus, call us to heaven's perfect peace. Amen. I was waiting to see if we were going to do the Amen. So that was at the end of it, though. I feel like we were in the Catholic church if we did that, though. But welcome to Mount Baptist Church on this Wednesday evening. It is Wednesday evening this time that I said it. So just some general church announcements here. All service times should be normal this Sunday. So we'll have our Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon services. And then we'll have our soul winning time at 1 p.m. And so be here in places for that. And then also we'll have the regional soul winning times as well. And upcoming events. We have the men's prayer meeting at the end of the month here. And that's this Friday, right? Yes, it is. So it's already the 22nd. So that's Friday. And then on July 2nd, we had the women's prayer meeting. And we also have on July 2nd the firework display, which will obviously be at dark when it's dark. So that should be fun. With that, we'll send out the address for that. But the big thing with that is because of the barn that's there and everything, as far as parking, we're probably going to have we'll probably be having you parking like on the drive as you're coming up to the house. And then maybe giving you a shuttle, like kind of ride up to the house, unless you want to walk. But so we'll figure that out, though. And then we're going to have all the food and everything for that, the main food. If you want to bring anything as far as anything that would go with hot dogs or hamburgers, or if you want to bring any type of dessert, those are obviously welcome as well. So but you don't have to bring anything. Just bring yourselves and we'll have everything ready to go there. As far as the Bible memory, we're still in Psalm 16 for the month here until we get to the end of June. And then we have Philippians 4-7 there for our memory verse for the week. And I do like the fact that we're now like typing out the whole verse there. So if you're holding on to this, maybe you have it in your Bible during the week, you can pull it out and try to memorize that verse that we have there. Now, birthdays, anniversaries, we've got that, pregnancies. We will get Ms. Joyce on there eventually, but we are praying for you. But be in prayer for Ms. Katherine Racine particularly, because at any moment now I'm sure they're ready. But just be in prayer for her, for the baby, that everything goes well there. And then also for Ms. Rachel as she's got to be on her due date somewhere. And it's at the end of June here, so. Does anyone know what her due date actually was or is? The 27th? Monday. Either way, I mean, at this point, it could happen at any moment, so. But be in prayer for all the ladies there. And offering boxes in the back, mother baby room is to be silent, so you can learn in silence. No, but mother baby room for mother babies only. I didn't set out a text, but who's reading tonight as far as Exodus chapter? Okay, Exodus chapter 23, so brother Anthony will read that for us. And then brother Dave is going to sing one more song, and then we'll get into the Bible study. Emma's already got my Bible out ready to go, so. All right, take your songbooks and turn to song number one. Song number one in your songbooks, we'll sing Jesus, I, My Cross Have Taken. And we'll sing song number one. Jesus, I, my cross have taken, all to leave and follow thee. Destitute, despised, forsaken, thou from hence my all shall be. Perish every fond ambition, all I sought and hoped and known. Yet how rich is my condition, God and heaven are still my own. Let the world despise and leave me, they have left my Savior too. Human hearts and looks deceive me, thou art not like man untrue. And while thou shalt smile upon me, God of wisdom, love and might. Foes may hate and friends may shun me, show thy face and all is bright. Man may trouble and distress me, twill but drive me to thy breast. Life with trials, heart may press me, heaven will bring me sweeter rest. O, tis not in grief to harm me, while thy love is left to me. O, twere not in joy to charm me, were that joy unmixed with thee. Haste thee on from grace to glory, armed by faith and winged by prayer. Have's eternal days before thee, God's own hand shall guide thee there. Soon shall close thy earthly mission, swift shall pass thy pilgrim's days. Home shall change to glad fruition, faith to sight and prayer to praise. All right, take your Bibles and turn to Exodus chapter number 23. Exodus chapter number 23, and we'll have Brother Anthony come and read them for us. Exodus chapter 23, the Bible reads, Thou shalt not raise a false report, put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil, neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to rest judgment. Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause. If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and what is forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him. Thou shalt not rest 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. And thou shalt take no gift, for the gift blindeth the wise and perverted the words of the righteous. Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger, for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. In six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof. 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. And like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard and with thy olive yard. Six days shalt thou do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest, that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thine handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed. 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. Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. 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. And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labors, 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 labors out of the field. Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God. Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, neither shalt the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning. 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. Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my name is in him. 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. For mine angel shall go before thee, and bring thee unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I will cut them off. 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. 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. There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren in thy land, the number of thy days I will fulfill. 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. And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before thee. I will not drive them out from before thee in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the beasts of the field multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased and inherit the land. 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. Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. 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. Let's pray. Dear Lord, thank you for this night. We will continue the study of the book of Exodus. I pray God that you would be a pastor of Robeson, fill him with your Holy Spirit, and help us all to learn. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. So you're there in Exodus chapter 23, and we are continuing our study through the book of Exodus, and we are kind of going through different judgments, if you will. So if you remember after Exodus 20, we had the Ten Commandments that were given or that were stated by the Lord out of Mount Sinai, but then they didn't want to hear anything else. At least the children of Israel didn't want to hear anything else. They were too afraid. So this is what God is telling Moses in the mount to tell the children of Israel. So chapter 21, 22, coming into 23, we're still dealing with these judgments, if you will, as far as how to deal with certain cases. So it's really kind of expounding on thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal. So we kind of saw in the last chapter as far as if someone steals something. Here we're kind of dealing with thou shalt not lie, or thou shalt not bear false witness in some of this. And so there's other things in here as well that we're going to be getting into. But these are really just explaining, okay, you saw the commandment, but how do you deal with it? And kind of bringing out more information about what that actually means. And so in Exodus chapter 23 in verse 1 here, it says, Thou shalt not raise a false report, put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil, neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to rest judgment. Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause. So here we're dealing with bearing false witness, or basically lying about somebody bringing up a false report on somebody. And it's interesting because in the same kind of breath, it's saying thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil. And this idea is that just because everybody's doing it doesn't mean you should do it, right? Don't be a lemming, which is like that animal that basically would, if one starts falling off a cliff, they all just follow. They don't even think about where they're going. And so we're not, just because the majority is doing something does not mean that's where we should be going. If the majority is lying about something, that doesn't mean that you should follow them in that lie. And I want this to be very clear that we think about thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor, thou shalt not lie. Obviously we're dealing with the same thing there, is that the Lord hates that, okay? It's an abomination to the Lord. And obviously we use that a lot of times to show people, hey, you're a sinner, you've at least told a lie before. And we're kind of trying to show them, hey, you don't have to be a murderer, you don't have to commit cold blooded murder to be a sinner. But at the same time, let's not negate the fact that lying is a major sin. Notice what it says in Proverbs 6, go to Proverbs 6 and verse 16 about lying. It's interesting because there are seven things that the Lord hates that are an abomination to Him. And two of them are lying. And verse 16 here, these six things that the Lord hates, yea, seven are an abomination unto Him. Now, all seven He hates, okay? It's not like that last one. He's like, well, it's an abomination but I don't hate it, okay? It's a poetic way of saying it. Sometimes it will say these three, yea, four, right? And it's just a poetic way of saying He hates it, it's an abomination, which is another way of saying it's detestable, it's disgusting to Him, right? So either way, lying is an abomination and He hates it, even if you were to not understand that last one is also something He hates. But notice what it says in verse 17, a proud look, June, the month of June, a proud look, okay? Now, let's move on because it's not my point. But a proud look is definitely something that God hates, it's an abomination to Him. But a lying tongue and hands that shed innocent blood and heart that devises wicked imaginations, His feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and He that soweth discord among brethren. So we see that out of those seven, two of those are dealing with lying. I mean, think about, I'm going to show you a serious case as far as like, when you're talking about lying about somebody, obviously there's kind of levels of lying, if you will, right? People are like, well, I just told a white liar or told this or that. There's no truth in a lie. I mean, there's no, basically it's either a lie or it's a truth, right? But the idea here is that God hates the lying tongue, He hates the false witness that speaketh lies, and we need to recognize that, okay? And we need to recognize that we should be someone that's speaking the truth, that we're not bearing false witness on anybody, even if it's someone that is a wicked person, okay? And I'm just stating this is that even if someone's, let's say, a wicked false prophet, the same would apply that we don't want to bear false witness about that person, okay? There's plenty of things you can accuse them of, but we don't want to falsely accuse somebody and basically bring a railing accusation. Even Michael the Archangel wouldn't bring a railing accusation against the devil, okay? Meaning this is that if you're going to bring an accusation, it better be truthful. It better be a true witness. You better have proof about it, and that's another sermon for another day, okay? So even if the person's wicked and you want it to be true, right? We need to obviously not be bearing false witness, even against someone that's very wicked, okay? We want to be telling the truth and not bearing false witness. Now look at Deuteronomy 19. Deuteronomy 19, I want to show you the severity of how lying, lying, just as much as stealing. Remember we were talking about stealing? A lot of times you're just paying restitution, and there's different levels as far as punishment, dealing with certain sins. But with stealing, can you steal and be put to death? Yes, if you steal a person, right? We talked about stealing a man. So if you kidnap somebody, you get the death penalty, okay? How about lying? Okay, well let's read what it says here in Deuteronomy chapter 19, because some people would say, well, lying is not that bad. Well, it can be very bad, okay? Notice what it says here in Deuteronomy 19, verse 15. One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity or for any sin, and in any sin that he sinneth, at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established. So it's saying you can't just have one person come up and just make some statement or witness about somebody, and especially to be put to death, okay? Because it's clearly stating in the Bible that no man shall be put to death. No one shall be put to death but by the mouth of two or three witnesses, okay? So you have to have eyewitness accounts, okay? And you have to have at least two. But then it says, and three. So it's kind of one of those things that you're better off having three, but two would suffice, okay? But at the same time, more is better. Now, keep reading there. It says in verse 16, If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong, so get the picture here. You have someone that's basically being accused of something and you have a false witness coming against him. And it says, Then both the men between whom the controversy is shall stand before the Lord, before the priest and the judges, which shall be in those days. Now, this comes down to the idea that you should be able to face your accuser, okay? This is just judgment here to where if someone's accusing you of something and bringing a witness against you, you should be able to see the whites of their eyeballs. And not this, like, they accuse me and this person doesn't have to be accountable to anything that they say. They're just accusing you and now you happen to, like, defend yourself. This is the world we live in today where people bring up accusations about somebody and they have zero consequences for their false accusations. And what the Bible teaches here is that there's going to be serious consequences if you bring up a false accusation against somebody. And this is what should be done. Because if this happened, what I'm about to show you in the Bible here, if this happened, there'd be a lot less false accusations being made about people. This goes for ladies that are accusing men of rape and all these different things that go down or abuse. This can go in other cases as far as just someone accusing you of doing wrong or even saying something wrong. And as far as inciting violence or something like that, there's just all these false accusations that are brought out amongst Christians or just people in general, okay? But if there was a punishment for the false witness, then we'd have a better society. We'd have a better justice system here. Now notice what it says here in verse 18. It says, And the judges shall make diligent inquisition. Behold, if the witness be a false witness and hath testified falsely against his brother, notice what the punishment is here in verse 19. Then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother. So shalt thou put the evil away from among you, and those which remain shall hear and fear and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you, and thine eye shall not pity, but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. You know what that's stating is that if someone brings a false accusation, let's say someone says, you know, Jason murdered somebody in cold blood, and the penalty for that is death, and then they find out that that person falsely accused me and it was a false witness, then they're put to death even though they didn't murder somebody. That is righteousness. That's justice right there. And you know what it says here? That if they do that, then people are going to hear it and they're going to fear it. Okay? That will be a deterrent for the next person that brings up a false witness. By the way, when Jesus was put on trial by the Pharisees and the scribes and all that, do you remember that they brought all these false witnesses? And even the two witnesses that semi-agreed with each other still didn't agree with each other. You know what should have happened to every single one of them? They should have all been put to death. Every single one of those witnesses that came against Jesus should have been put to death according to the law. Because they didn't. I mean, let's say someone comes up and someone brings a false witness against somebody and it's a murder trial and it's like that's a false witness. But then someone comes up and it's a true witness and that person actually did commit murder, that person should still be put to death for bringing a false witness. You know, you're dealing with the fact that lying is a major sin. Bearing false witness is a major sin. And let's say that the punishment was to lose a tooth. Let's say the punishment was to lose a foot. Then the person that brings false witness against that person will, whatever the punishment would have been on that person he's falsely accusing, it goes back on them. Now, that's something that I wish our government would actually institute. Because then you're going to have a lot less false accusations. And what it comes down to is people can just say whatever they want to say, bring up all kinds of false accusations. People will lose their jobs, lose their reputations, and no consequences to their actions. It's like these red flag laws. By the way, I sent a nice little email to our senator, to one of our senators that voted for the gun control red flag laws in Washington, and I had some words to say to her. Of course, you know, it wasn't like foul or anything like that, but it definitely spoke my mind on what I had to say to this senator. Now, when it comes to that, a red flag law is where my neighbor can just basically call the authorities and say this person is mentally unsafe and he has guns, and I need you to come out here and take this person's guns away from him. Who sets the standard for the red flag? Who sets the standard for that? And what if that person lies? What's their consequence? That's what I wrote to the senator. I said what's their consequence if they lie about me and my mental state? And who determines what mental state? Does that mean that I can't be conservative? Who's making that line as far as the mental state? Because when you have a bunch of mentally ill people that are in power, and they're the ones that are judging what mental state you should be when it comes to if you should have a firearm, that's a slippery slope. I'm just giving you one example of how this does not apply in our country and how it's getting worse. That people can just accuse people, no consequences. You know what the consequence should be for that person? They should be going to prison for taking away my constitutional right to protect my family. They should never be able to have a gun. Ever. If you're going to play that game of basically falsely accusing people. And with the laws that they're trying to pass, they could be telling the truth. Like that guy's a Christian, he believes the Bible, he believes Leviticus 20-13, take away his guns. And they could be saying everything right about me, but their standard as far as what's morally right and what's mentally stable is so far off base from what the truth is that they could just start taking away stuff. Now, good luck in our country for them to actually try to do this. But Maryland has red flag laws. There are states that have those type of laws where they've just taken guns from people with no actual, you know, sit up Anna and stop messing around. And with no actual due process. You're like, are you a Trump supporter? Trump famously said, take the guns and do due process later. So if you want to know whether I like Trump or not, you already know just by what I just said right there. So I'm not a Trump supporter. And that's a big reason. He banned bump stocks and he basically said, you know, take the guns and do due process later. So you're guilty until proven innocent. Is that it? You know what the Bible teaches? You're innocent until proven guilty. And it has to be by two or three witnesses, eye witnesses. And if those witnesses are false witnesses, they get the punishment that you would have gotten for their false accusations. So these are very important judgments. These are very important things that should be applying in our country today. Now go to Exodus chapter 23 and verse 6. Exodus chapter 23 and verse 6. There's something else that's mentioned here when you're dealing with judgment, as far as not lying obviously, not bearing false witness, but also not resting judgment. Now resting, notice what it says here in verse 6. It says, Thou shalt not rest the judgment of the poor in his cause. Now resting, spelled W-R-E-S-T, think of the term wrestle, right? Or the word, right? Wrestle. So we're not talking about resting like taking rest. We're talking about twisting something, right? So they're basically perverting, twisting. You know, it even talks about a new set about resting the scriptures. Basically they're kind of twisting the scriptures. They don't understand them, right? And here they're kind of twisting judgment here based off whether the person's poor or rich. And it's saying don't do that. Then it goes on to say in verse 7, Keep thee far from a false matter, and the innocent and righteous slay thou not, for I will not justify the wicked. So note of this is that God sees all the injustice that's done in the world when you have the innocent and the righteous getting falsely accused and falsely charged that God will not excuse the wicked, okay, when they do that. Notice in verse 8, And thou shalt take no gift for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverted the words of the righteous. And thou shalt not oppress a stranger, for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. We kind of already covered that with a stranger as far as they're supposed to be as one born out of your own country, you know, all that when it comes to being a stranger. There's not to be any difference in judgment whether it's a stranger or, you know, a born citizen there. Now, when you're dealing with here is not taking a gift, what are we talking about? Modern vernacular would be a bribe, okay? A bribe, you know, like I'll give you, you know, this like a year's supply of such and such. Let's say it's someone that owns like a company and they're just like, you know what, you know, I'm just going to give you this and he gives it to the judge. You know what the judge is supposed to do? Not take anything like that. Now, get some other verses on this, okay, notice what it says in Deuteronomy chapter 16, Deuteronomy chapter 16. And if you ever notice when we go into Exodus and I go over Deuteronomy, it's because Deuteronomy is the second telling of the law, right? So a lot of the stuff you'll see in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers is going to be repeated in Deuteronomy and there's a reason for that. It's kind of the same reason why you'd have four gospels because you're going to see some more information. It's from a different perspective maybe to help you understand that subject. Deuteronomy 16 verse 19, it says, Thou shalt not rest judgment, thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift, for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise and pervert the words of the righteous. So we're talking about a bribe or the fancy Latin term, a quid pro quo, tit for tat, this for that. You know, basically, I'm giving you this so that you give me that, right? So that's what it's basically stating here is that you're not to take a bribe, okay? To pervert judgment, to rest judgment. And here's how you don't get into that case. You just never take any type of gift from people that are involved in the case, right? Judges are not to be taking anything from the accused or the defendant, or I guess that would be the same person, or the prosecuted, however you look at it. I'm not a lawyer. I've already preached against lawyers this past Sunday about how they're tempting the Lord, and, you know, they're pretty much, well, I'll just leave it at that. There's probably some, like, there's Zenas, okay? There's Zenas the lawyer. But there's other verses that you may think about when you're thinking about this, because some verses may come up and you're just like, what's wrong with loving a gift, right? For example, in Isaiah 123 it says, Thy princes are rebellious and companions of thieves, everyone that loveth gifts. Okay? And you're just like, what's wrong with loving the gifts, you know? Everybody likes Christmas, right? Everybody likes birthday gifts. But if you know the context, it says, and follows after rewards, they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. So in context, they love gifts because they love to pervert judgment for bribes. Okay? And some other verses on this, you could write them down if you want. Proverbs 17, 23, it says, A wicked man taketh the gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment. Proverbs 29, 4 says, The king by judgment establisheth the land, but he that receiveth gifts overthroweth it. So this is a theme throughout the Bible as far as someone taking a gift to pervert judgment. Okay? This happens today. This happens all the time. The injustice of the justice system, if you will, in people that are respecter of persons, it depends who you are, and, you know, you think about all the elites in government right now and how none of them go to jail for any of the stuff that they do. I mean, stuff that any normal person would go to jail for? Nah. I mean, think of Joe Biden's son, you know, with his laptop and his crack pipe. Nothing. Because of who he is. I mean, I don't know if I want to say that Hillary Clinton, because I might be unalived later. You know, but just so you know, if I commit suicide later, I didn't kill myself. Okay? But these people just murder people. It's just a well-known secret, isn't it? Everybody laughs about it. It's like Jeffrey Epstein didn't kill himself. We kind of laugh about it, but we're kind of like, they're just doing it out in the open. They don't care. They don't care that they know that they literally will kill anybody that has anything against them that will out them, and they're above the law, if you will. Why? Because you don't think that they're lacing the pockets and filling the pockets and the coffers of all these judges, or that they have dirt on all of them. So it's a filthy scheme that we're dealing with today. But as Christians, that doesn't mean we're like, well, they all do it. Don't fall in a multitude to do evil. Just because the world works that way and just because the higher-ups and elites and people that are in charge do that does not mean that that's the way we are supposed to act. When it comes to judgment here in the church or if it comes to judgment anywhere else and you're in that position of authority, the judge matters. You are not to respect persons. You're not to judge someone based off whether they're poor, they're rich, and you're supposed to just give righteous judgment and righteousness judge thy neighbor and not look on the outward appearance. So that's something to know there. Now, I skipped a couple of verses there, but I didn't really skip it. I just wanted to kind of hit on the verses that kind of hit on each other there. But in verse 4 there of Exodus, chapter 23, I want you to see here, we'll read this, verse 4, it says, If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt kill the ox and take it for thyself. Is that what it says? And the point that I'm trying to make here is that it doesn't say that at all. You know what the Bible is going to teach here is that we should love our enemy. And this is a very important point because what people want you to think is that, well, in the Old Testament, we're supposed to hate our enemies. No, the Bible doesn't say that. Actually, here in the law, in the judgments, we're in that first covenant, the Old Testament, and what does it say that we're supposed to do for our enemies? It says, If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. And if you don't understand who your enemy is, it's going to give it to you in another manner here. If thou see the ass of him that hated thee lying under his burden and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him. So what's it state here? You know, if someone is your enemy, someone that hates you, then you're supposed to help them out, not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing, but contrary blessing, knowing that we are there unto call that we should inherit a blessing. This is both a New Testament and Old Testament teaching. David, the king, is probably one of the poster board child for loving your enemy, so much so that his own friends were ready to leave him because he loved his enemy so much. And so go to Matthew, chapter 5, and I just want to kind of show you this, that what people want to try to say is that, well, now we're supposed to love our enemies, but it wasn't always that way. No, we were always supposed to love our enemies. That hasn't changed. And it says in Matthew, chapter 5, verse 43, it says, Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemies. Now, does it say, Ye have heard it written in the law, Thou shalt hate thine enemy? Is that what it says there? You know, every word's important. It doesn't say. It's just saying you have heard it said of old time or you've heard it said. It's been said. You know, there's places in the Bible where it says even your own poets have said this, and he's talking to a bunch of heathens. So Jesus is stating something here that this is being said. He also states in other places that you say that, you know what, if you say korban to your mother and father, it is a gift by whatsoever your prophet of me, and you don't honor your father and mother, then they're guiltless. They're basically free from any type of duty. So they're saying that. People are saying this, but it doesn't mean that it's the law, okay? Because notice what it says here in verse 44. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be the children of your father which is in heaven. For he maketh his son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same. And I preached a sermon kind of dealing with love thy neighbor as thyself, right? And it's kind of dealing with loving people that love you, okay? So how much, you know, like obviously that should be an obvious one. People that love you and that are good to you, you should be loving them, but also your enemies, okay? And Jesus isn't saying like, you know, the law said to hate your enemy, but now I'm saying to love your enemy. What does the law say? Would anyone say that exodus is not the law? I mean, we just started the law, really. I mean, you have the Ten Commandments. Where would you say that this isn't the law? But in Exodus 23, it's stating that we need to love our enemies. Love those that hate us. And notice that it says, him that loved thine enemy, and basically do good to him that hated thee. Okay, notice that it's a personal enemy. And go to Romans chapter 12, because I'm going to show you another place where the New Testament and Old Testament agree as far as loving your enemies. But you know what? Some people say, well, you should love all enemies, okay? Well, let me ask you this. Isn't death an enemy? The Bible says the last enemy to be destroyed is death, isn't it? That's what's going to be cast into hell, death and hell are cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. But it says that he shall reign until all enemies are put under his feet. We might make it through the service with the lights here. Do we have candles? That would be sweet, you know. People will be haunted in their dreams by these candles like coming up as I'm preaching this. But death is the final enemy to be destroyed. But what does the Bible say about those that love death? Should we love death? But that's an enemy, isn't it? But here's the thing. There's people that hate the Lord. They're obviously my enemies too. Does that make sense? Like obviously if someone hates the Lord and I hate them, they're not my friend, okay? But what we're talking about when we're talking about loving our enemies are loving those that hate us, loving those that despise us, loving those that persecute us and speak wrongfully about us, okay? Not those that hate the Lord, okay? So I want to make that distinction there. But notice in Romans chapter 12 and verse 17 it says, recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. Notice in verse 20, therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink. For in so doing, that shall heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Did you know that those last two verses, or that last verse, I'm sorry, verse 20 there is in the Old Testament? Go to Proverbs chapter 25, Proverbs chapter 25. So during the Old Testament, that's where that teaching came from, as far as if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him drink. Now, what the New Testament is clarifying is that God is avenger of all such, meaning that put vengeance into his hands, let him take care of it, right? But your job is to do good unto them. You know, overcome evil with good. Don't render evil for evil, okay? I'm constantly teaching my kids this. She hit me, so I hit her back. I'm like, we're not, no. We're not supposed to basically retaliate. Let me deal with it, okay? And that's the way we're supposed to be dealing with it as well. So Proverbs 25 and verse 21 says, If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat. And if he be thirsty, give him water to drink. For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee. Now, I remember someone preached, I think Pastor Anderson was preaching on the fact that there was someone out there teaching that this was a good thing to put coals of fire on this person's head. Who here has read these passages and been like, man, that's actually good for the enemy, right? Or did you understand from context that it's stating that when you do good unto somebody, when they hate you and are doing all these things to you, you're basically adding fuel to their fire for the Lord to avenge you. Now, I've always kind of looked at the passage, too, that when someone's really nasty to you and then you're nice to them, that burns them. They're just like, oh, I feel horrible. A lot of times that will turn the enemy around and be like, oh, maybe I shouldn't be so mean to this person. They're just being super nice to me and I'm horrible to this person. Now, there's cases where that doesn't work, okay? But at the same time, these verses apply to those that are nasty to you, those that hate you, that persecute you, but you're good back to them. You're just basically putting it on the Lord to avenge you for the injustice that that person is doing to you, okay? Now, go to Exodus 23 and verse 10. I probably need to move fast because who knows how long power is going to be on. So we don't have HREA up here, do we? My parents' power was out last Sunday and it was a beautiful sunny day. So Exodus 23 and verse 10 here, it says, In six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof. 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 olive yard. 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. So this gets into two different things. We've already seen the seventh day of the week Sabbath, but actually every single seven years they're supposed to let the land rest. Now, I don't think that in this case when you're dealing with this, what it states is that God is going to give them double that year, right? So that basically the year whether or not they're pulling a crop in and they have food left over from before, okay? That's another sermon for another day where it actually goes into more detail on this. But this is very interesting to know because this is how God determines how long Judah was going to be in captivity. Remember 70 years was how many years, but it was because of the 70 Sabbaths that the land missed. That's 490 years that they were not keeping the seventh year Sabbath on the land, okay? So this is right here at the very beginning. We see that it's being stated that they're supposed to let the land rest. Now, there's reasons that this would be the case. One, that the poorer the land will be able to get some in on that crop, but he's also going to bless them and give them even more so that they don't have to worry about losing a year of crop, right? And also, just on a physical natural level, you're supposed to let, now my brother could probably speak to this more, but you're supposed to let the land rejuvenate itself, right? You're not holding nutrients out of the land for your plants and everything that you're growing, and if you're just constantly doing that without letting it kind of repair itself, then it's not going to be good for itself. So sometimes it's good to maybe let one area just kind of rest a year and then come back to it and plant in it. So you can talk to Brother Joseph about that. I am not into horticulture, okay? I kind of am. I'm doing Christmas trees, okay? But at the same time, you know, there's obviously some physical things in there as far as the spiritual reasons as well, but that kind of gives you a little insight. This also shows you too that in Daniel when it talks about 70 weeks are determined upon Israel, that those don't have to be weeks as far as weeks of days, right? Because we see here that basically you have a week of years where you have the seven-year Sabbath, right? And how that works out perfectly. They were in captivity for 70 years, right? And then they have these 70 weeks, which would be 490 years. I don't want to get into Daniel too hard there, but you can kind of see how this correlates and how you can see how you can have a week of years, not just a week of days, okay? Now, verse 13 there, this verse just kind of sticks out to me. Verse 13 says, And in all things that I have said unto you, so it's kind of recapping, like I'm saying all these things to you, be circumspect, and make no mention of the name of other gods, and neither let it be heard out of thy mouth. That word circumspect is an interesting term, but the New Testament says that word, and it says in Ephesians 5, verse 15, it says, See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, at any time, because the days are evil. So circumspect is kind of the idea of basically being watchful or discreet about something or wary, if you will, meaning like everything that I'm telling you, you need to not take lightly. If you were to look at it like it's more like if there was a guideline or judgment, you shouldn't just be easy to like be right on the line of it. This is a very good principle to understand when it comes to having standards, especially things that, some of these things, it's just straight up telling you, like here's the judgment, here's what you're supposed to do in this case, but what about the cases where it doesn't give you the exact judgment, the exact, like here's exactly what you got to do. I would say, and the things that we're stating here, be circumspect. Basically, be cautious with it, right? Think about hair length, think about dress standards, think about a lot of things that we have standards on, where there's not like a line given or like an exact length of hair, exact like dress, you know, as far as like what we're supposed to be doing, but we're going to be cautious with it. Men are going to dress like men, women are going to dress like women, you know, like we're going to look like men, we're going to look like, you know, the ladies are going to look like women, and the idea there is just being cautious with the judgments and not, that's where you get into doubtful disputations, and if you're in a doubtful disputation, be on the side of caution and just walking circumspectly, and that's wise, you know, it's wise to just be careful and be on the side of, be on the conservative side when it comes to your standards if you have any doubt, okay? And so just one verse there that kind of just sticks out to me. Now, look at Exodus chapter 23 and verse 14, Exodus chapter 23 and verse 14. I'm going to abridge this portion right here and I'll, because a lot of this you know, the feast of the Lord, but there's something specifically stated here, and as far as there's three specific feasts that are very important that are regarded each year, and it says in verse 14, it says three times, thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread, thou shalt eat, thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days as I commanded thee in the time appointed at the month Abib, of the month Abib, for in it thou shall, thou camest out from Egypt, and none shall appear before me empty, and the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labors which thou hast sown in the field, and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field. Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God, thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning. The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God, thou shalt not see the kid in his mother's milk. What we're dealing with here, you could go to Leviticus chapter 23 later on and see all the feasts of the Lord. I believe there's seven feasts. Counting the Sabbath day itself, okay, was actually a feast, but that was a weekly feast that would happen throughout the year, right? But there was the feast of unleavened bread or the Passover. Then you had the firstfruits. Then you had the feast of weeks, which is what this is talking about. I'm sorry, you had the feast of unleavened bread that I'll be talking about here. But then you had the feast of weeks, which happened 50 days after the firstfruit was brought in, which is after the Sabbath that the firstfruit was reaped, okay? It just happened to be that when Jesus rose from the dead, that happened to be the day, okay? That He's the firstfruits of them that slept, and that happened to be the Sabbath after the days of unleavened bread had started, okay? And you mark 50 days after 49, you know, or seven Sabbaths, you know, after that, which gives you 50 days. And that being said is that you have the feast of weeks, then you have the feast of trumpets, the day of atonement, and then you have the feast of tabernacles. Now, in this passage here, the feast of unleavened bread is mentioned. You all know that. That's the Passover, okay? But then you have the feast of harvest, as mentioned here, and that's usually called the feast of weeks. Then it says the feast of ingathering, which is usually called the feast of tabernacles, okay? Now, what's interesting about this is the fact that these happen at different seasons, right? So if you think about the feast of unleavened bread that happens in the spring, right? And then you have 50 days from when that happened, from when the firstfruits reaped. Now, if you remember, obviously Easter can happen in March or it can happen at the end of April, right? So that firstfruit doesn't necessarily have to happen, like, right next to the days of unleavened bread. Does that make sense? It has to do with what's reaped. It just happened to be that it worked out all right. It worked out perfectly when Jesus rose from the dead that they happened right to coincide with each other, right? But that being said is that the feast of weeks happens in the summer, okay? Now, when you're reaping harvests, some of that reaping is going to start even close to the spring, right? You think about spring. I know with strawberries, unfortunately, they didn't work out that. Like, the firstfruit of that was really good this year for my brother. But then, you know, throughout summer, you're supposed to even be able to reap some, right? And especially with the one, depending on what type of fruit you're growing, what type of vegetables you're doing. But what it comes down to is in the summer, there's a harvest, if you will, but this is more like the firstfruits of the harvest before you get to the fall. And then the end gathering is at the end of the year, okay? And so this is basically stating that, and I was going to go through each one of these feasts, but that's for another term for another day. I've got to bide my time until the power goes off or something. But that being said is that in these feasts, though, they had to bring all the men there. Like, all the men had to show up for this. And this is very interesting as far as, like, each season this had to happen, okay, where everybody had to show up for this, for the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for the Feast of Weeks, which in the New Testament, you know what that's called? The Day of Pentecost, right? The Day of Pentecost, that's that feast, okay, that we're talking about there. And then you have end gathering, which is the Feast of Tabernacles, which happens in the seventh month, okay, which you're getting into fall, okay? Now, our seventh month is not in fall, but the way their calendar worked, more like April would have been their first month, and the seventh month is more like getting into September, right? So, you know, there's a lot that you can get into with this as far as end gathering, how we have, you know, what they represent and all that. But all I really want you to see here is that this is repeated over and over again, both in Exodus and in Deuteronomy, that three times a year, all the males had to show up for this, okay? And there's a significant thing that's going on there in each season, if you will. I guess winter is not regarded, you know, it's like winter is just dead. But you have spring, you have summer, you have the fall, but there's obviously a significance there. Now, go to Exodus chapter 23 and verse 20. Now, here it talks about this angel that God is going to send before them into the Promised Land, okay? Now, I personally believe that this angel is actually referring to the Lord Jesus, okay? Now, you can fight me on that, and I'm not going to be like maybe 100% dogmatic on this, but I just think that there's a lot that would point to the fact that this is the Lord Jesus. Now, I'll say this, I have no doubt that the Lord Jesus was there when he brought them into the Promised Land, okay? I'll show you that. But I believe that that's what he's referring to here when he's talking about this angel, okay? And it's not just because it's capitalized in my Bible, okay? I believe that there's reasons why this would be the case and that this is an Old Testament appearing aboard Jesus Christ bringing them into the Promised Land. Now, look what it says in verse 20. It says, Behold, I send an angel before thee to keep thee in the way and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Notice what it says in verse 21. Beware of him and obey his voice. Provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my name is in him. Now, that's a big reason why I believe that's the Lord. That's why I believe it's the Lord Jesus, okay? It's because that language right there, who can pardon transgressions? I mean, it says he will not pardon your transgressions, but at the same time, who could even do that but God anyway, right? But then it goes on to say in verse 22, it says, 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, for mine angels 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. Now, in Exodus 32 and verse 34, you can turn there with me if you want. I'm going to show you other places where it mentions this angel, okay? So in Exodus 32 and verse 34, it says, Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee. Behold, mine angel shall go before thee. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them. Now, obviously that's dealing with the golden calf that they did there, but he's kind of still mentioning like I'm still going to send my angel before thee. Chapter 33, so Exodus 33 and verse 2, it says in verse 2, It says, And I will send an angel before thee, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. Now, let me show you where I believe this happens. Go to Joshua chapter 5, Joshua chapter 5. Now, if you remember in Exodus when we were going through there, he had an angel that was going before them anyway into the wilderness, but then the angel went behind them when the Egyptians were coming to attack them. Kind of already hit on that, or I believe that's, you know, again, I believe this is the Lord Jesus in the wilderness, you know, that's protecting the Israelites, but also bringing them into the Promised Land, okay? But I'll say this, whether you believe this angel is the Lord or not, there's no doubt that this is the Lord right here that's bringing them into the Promised Land, okay? So I'll say this, either way, the Lord Jesus was there bringing them into the Promised Land, because it says in Joshua chapter 5 and verse 13, it says, And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went unto him and said unto him, Art thou for us or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay. So it wasn't a yes or no question, was it? But here's the problem, Joshua asked the wrong question. The question he should be asking is, you know, am I for you? Meaning that Joshua should be saying, I'm for you, the Lord of Hosts, meaning that it's not that Jesus is for them or the other person, it's the fact that we're for Jesus, right? And notice what it says here in verse 14, it says, And he said, Nay, but as captain of the host of the Lord, am I now come? And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant? So here it says the captain of the Lord told you, well, it could still be an angel, right? Well, it could be like an archangel or something like that. Well, notice what it says in verse 15, And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place wherein thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so. There's only one other place that that's stated, and that's at the burning bush, when God spoke it to him out of the burning bush. But do you remember it also states that an angel spoke to him out of the burning bush, which also I would believe give credence that that's the Lord Jesus speaking out of the burning bush. Because remember this, that no man hath heard his voice nor seen his face. That means that Jesus is the one that they hear when they're speaking. An angel can just mean messenger, right? It talks about the seven angels of the seven churches in Asia in Revelation. It's just talking about a messenger, someone that's bringing a message, okay? And it doesn't have to always be like the elect angels, the angelic beings, the living creatures of the cherubims or seraphims, right? It could be a messenger. Now, let me show you a couple verses here in the New Testament where I believe it's stating that, well, what I'll show you, go to Acts 7. Joshua obviously brought them in to the promised land, right? I mean, we have the book of Joshua, even, I mean, God tells Moses, it's by Joshua, that they're going to go into the promised land. So we know that to be true. Now, I taught on this before, but the name Jesus is just a derivative or a form of the word Joshua for the name Joshua, okay? So it's kind of like Elias is Elijah. Elisias is Elisha, right? Jonas, Jonah, I'm going down the line, right? Jeremy, Jeremiah. And Jesus is basically like Jeshua, you know, which in the Old Testament, Joshua is called Jehoshua, Joshua, Jeshua. So when you get into the New Testament, you're coming from the Greek language, transliterating these names, that's what you're coming up with here. So these two places here, I believe you're talking about Joshua, the son of Nun, but I believe it wouldn't be wrong to say you're talking about Jesus as well, okay? Because is it true that Jesus brought them into the promised land? Yes. But is it true that Joshua brought them into the promised land? Yes, okay? Okay, so I want you to read these verses and you can wrestle in your mind whether it's talking about the Lord Jesus or is he talking about Joshua, but here's the thing, I believe both would apply, okay? I'm just giving you my thoughts here. And Acts 7 verse 44 says, Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, and as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen, which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles whom God drove out before the face of our fathers unto the days of David. Sound familiar to the angel? What's the angel going to do? He's going to drive out the inhabitants, the Amorites, the Hittites, you know, going down the line, but didn't Joshua also drive them out, right? So I mean you can definitely see how this could be talking about the man Joshua, the Joshua the son of Nun, right? The servant of the Lord. But you could also see how this could also be talking about Jesus at the same time and the fact that the Lord Jesus was there, the captain of the Lord's host was there, the angel that he had sent forth to go in there. Hebrews chapter 4, Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 7. Now these are two passages that I believe is talking about Joshua the son of Nun, but it also kind of like a dual meaning of like, okay, but Jesus was there too, which is interesting how their names are the same as well and how that would even fit and work out, okay? Now in Hebrew chapter 4 and verse 7 it says, Again he limited it to certain days, saying to David, Today, after so long a time as it is written, Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Notice in verse 8, For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day, there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. Now if you know the context, Hebrews chapter 3 is talking about them coming into the Promised Land, entering into their rest and it says, Why didn't they answer in? Because of unbelief, right? And that whole story of why they were in the wilderness, why they died in the wilderness and didn't go in. You definitely see how this would be talking about Joshua, right? And the fact that if Joshua had truly given them rest, you know what that's stating? Is that when they went into the Promised Land, that wasn't the true rest that God was really talking about. It is a rest. It is kind of a picture of the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey and how that's like a picture of heaven, if you will, but it's not heaven itself, right? It's kind of like that's an earthly example of what it's going to be like when we cross over Jordan, if you will, to go into the Promised Land and go into heaven. So I just want to kind of show you that. I personally believe that the angel that he's sending before them is the Lord Jesus. Either way, I would say that it would be hard pressed for you to convince me that Joshua 5, the captain of the Lord's hosts, is not the Lord Jesus, but I think that they go hand in hand so well with those two passages, them coming into the Promised Land, and if you couple that with Acts 7 and Hebrews 4, I think that fits perfectly as well. And that saying that Jesus brought them in, that Jesus gave them rest, but it wasn't the ultimate rest that they're going to have with heaven, that that would apply obviously to the physical man Joshua, but also to the Lord Jesus himself. So I think some interesting stuff there dealing with that in Exodus 23. And the last thing here, kind of going on into how the Lord's going to bring them into the Promised Land. If I say into the land of Egypt, that's not what I mean. Okay, obviously we're coming out of the land of Egypt, going into the Promised Land, going to the land of Canaan, but it says in verse 24, so Exodus chapter 23 and verse 24, it says, Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do act after their works, but thou shalt utterly overthrow them and quite break down their images. So he's basically saying, when you go in there, you need to get rid of all these false gods, all these false images, and just destroy them. 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. I want you to look at this, because this is very interesting on what God is promising here, if they actually were to keep his covenant. Now obviously they don't. They mess up before they even get to the Promised Land and idolatry and all this, but notice what it's saying. I will take sickness away from the midst of thee, and there shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren in thy land, the number of thy days I will fulfill. Notice all those promises. You're not going to get sick, you're not going to have, what I believe that's talking about is like miscarriages, or like, you know, think about like babies that would die at birth or something like that. You're not going to be barren, meaning that you're going to be fruitful, you're going to be able to have kids, but then also you're just going to fulfill your days. You're going to live a long life. Those are some great promises just in that verse right, those couple verses right there. Now you can see how that's going to apply in the millennial reign, right? That's another summer for another day, but it kind of hits on these same points because you're going to have Jesus ruling and reigning, and they're going to be coming there for the law, and he's going to be laying down law and rule with a rod of iron, but these promises are actually going to be true then. They're actually going to come true because he's ruling and reigning, he's the one that's in charge, and that's going to be going forward. Now, look what it says here in verse 27. It says, And 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. Do you need to go, Anna? And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite and the Canaanite and Hittite from before thee. Now, I just want to state this, hornets are nasty, okay? So don't look at this fashion and be like, oh, I sent hornets, you know, like you need to send something bigger than that. Listen, I've been attacked by hornets before. I was driving a tractor, I was brush-hogging, and I was in the middle of a field, and apparently I made these hornets angry, I must have ran over their nest with the brush hog or whatever, and when I came back around, they were ready for me. It felt like, I'm just going to tell you what it felt like when I got stung. I got stung in the face. Now, those that knew me from Emmanuel know what my face looked like, but it was bad, okay? It felt like someone took a branch from a tree and held it back, and then I was standing right here, and they just let it go on my face. That's how hard those things hit my face. No lie. And I'm like, I'm in the middle of a field, how in the world a branch hit me? That's literally what was going through my head. I had no idea that it was hornets. It felt like someone took a branch and just whacked me in the face with it. Hornets are no joke, and when the Lord's sending hornets, that's no joke. So if you think about it, when they go, and obviously they're going to be afraid and all this stuff, but when you understand, send hornets into an army, then it's going to be very easy to take them out, okay? And so don't overlook this. I have a new respect for hornets. When I read this, I'm just like, yes, get them, Lord. That's a good punishment right there. I mean, that's doing some work because I know what that's like. But keep reading there. It says in verse 29. This is interesting, and it's very important to understand here. It says, I will not drive them out from before thee in one year. So he's not just going to completely wipe them out as soon as they get over across Jordan, okay? It says, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field multiply against thee. So he's basically like, I'm not just going to wipe them all out and then you get in there and everything just kind of falls apart because you don't have time to basically get into the place and move in, right? He's basically like, notice what it says here in verse 30. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee until thou be increased and inherit thy land, 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. Now, little and little until thou be increased. Now, there's a very great, there's a big sermon that's ready to be preached right there. And the idea that when you're fighting battles and you're trying to get into the promised land, so to speak, of your life, that it's not going to come all at once. The seasoned Christian, the person that knows the Bible, the person that's a mature Christian, it's by little and little. It doesn't all happen at once. It can't. Because if it does, then the beasts are going to overtake it. It's like the plant that springs up real quick, but doesn't have any root, or gets choked by the cares of this life, I mean, the seed, you know, the sower and the seed parable. But little and little, and we see that it takes seven years for them to get in to take out all what they're going to take out as far as the kings and all that. But there's a reason for that. God had a reason. It's not like He's just like, it's going to take a while to do this, guys. God could have snapped His fingers and just took them out. But there's a reason why He did it the way He did it. Now the last thing here is in Exodus 23 and verse 32, it says, Now go to Joshua 9. This stands out to me because this actually happens, okay? So when Joshua's going on this conquest, obviously a lot of people are afraid. They're just like, He's going to take us all out. Well, the Gibeonites, they realize this, and they're like, we need to make a peace treaty with them. So I'll give you the synopsis of the story, but basically they make it look like they come from a really far place, that they're nowhere even close to being in the land of Canaan. They have like tattered shoes, like everything's got holes in it. They're like, look at all our stuff. I mean, this was new when we left, right? That's basically what they're telling them. And they believed them, okay? When they actually were their neighbors, they're the ones that they're supposed to be taking out. And notice it says in Joshua chapter 9 verse 14, it says, Okay, so that was their mistake. They should have asked God about this to see, like, are these people really our neighbors? I mean, really strangers from afar off or not? And it says in verse 15, So basically like a few days later, just like, oh, yeah, by the way, yeah, we're your neighbors. Now they end up having a punishment for that. They ended up having to be basically servants of like hewers of wood and all this stuff to serve the Israelites because of it. But they didn't get destroyed like they were supposed to get destroyed. And that ended up being a snare to them. It ended up being a thorn in their side. And the last thing I'll say with this is that when you think about what God wanted to do with the children of Israel with this law and this covenant and this nation that he's regarding, right? At this point, it's God's nation that he's setting up here is that it doesn't start off perfect, okay? Meaning that when Jesus is ruling and reigning, that's going to be perfect. It's going to be right. Everything's going to be set in order, right? But when they did it, it wasn't perfect. But God can still work with an imperfect people with a system of government that he has set up, okay? Meaning this is that when you think about like our government and like the ideas and the principles that are laid out, a lot of them are biblical principles and it's not perfect. But God can still use that and still bless that and still do great things with a nation that's maybe not doing it exactly the way he wants it to be done. But when I read through Exodus, and especially when you go to Joshua and they're coming in and I'm like, they screwed up, man. It's just not going to be the way it should be. You know, they messed up. And you're reading through Judges and you're just like, man, there are going to be thorns in your side. It's like what would it have been like if they would have listened? What would it have been like? What kind of utopia would they have had if they would have just listened and actually done what they should have been doing? But you know what this shows us is that man is flawed. The Old Testament is proof that it can't be by man, that man will mess it up. I mean the whole, I believe, picture and point of the Old Testament is to show you that with men it is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. The Old Testament is the law, and we know that by the law there shall no flesh be justified in this sight, but it's by faith that we're going to be saved. It's going to be by grace. It's going to be by the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's where you get into that Old Testament, New Testament reasoning for why we're even, why you even set this up. But we're going to see very soon, chapter 32, you're going to be like, they messed up, right? And they've already messed up before that. They were murmuring and complaining before we even got to Mount Sinai where he's speaking to them. But these are the types of things I think about. I'm like, man, what would it have been like? What would those stories be like to think about like they wouldn't have sickness, that they would be having, obviously people would still be dying, but you just wouldn't have this rampant sickness. You wouldn't have like miscarriages. You wouldn't have, you know, people having struggle, having kids. You'd have people living a long life, a long life, you know, and just that kind of, I'll say a utopia within a broken system, right, because people are still dying. But in this world that we live in, when you think about a government, don't you want the best that you can deal with with what we're dealing with, right? We know we're all going to die, you know, because we're all sinners and we're all going to physically die. But you want to live as long as you can. You want to be as healthy as you can. You want to have the best form of justice that you can. And obviously God is laying it out as perfectly as He can. And even with that, with the broken aspect of the finding fault with them, God still does great things with Israel. And He can still do great things with us in that system. And so anyway, we'll be going on, obviously, Lord willing, into Exodus 24 next week. But I'm enjoying going through this. Hopefully it's not a drudgery to go through these chapters. Now when we get into the badger skins and the fine linen and, you know, dyed blue and purple and all that stuff, it'll still be interesting. But we're not even there yet, so you should be happy. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for today. Thank you for your word and thank you for these passages. Thank you for keeping the lights on to get through the service. And Lord, we just pray that you would be with us as we go back to work this week. And Lord, we love you. We pray all this in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. So Brother Dave will come and sing one more song, and that will be dismissed. All right, song number 66 in your song books. Song number 66, if you would stand, we'll sing at Calvary, song number 66. For me he died on Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiply to me. There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary. By God's word at last my sin I learned. Then I trembled at the law I'd spurned. Till my guilty soul imploring turned to Calvary.