← Back to sermon library

goat out into the wilderness. 
So after that, then we see the emphasis on personal holiness. 
In other words, the people of God had been forgiven as a result 
of God's grace, and because of that atonement, and now from 
chapter 17 to 26, the emphasis is upon their personal holiness, 
the way they are to conduct themselves as God's special people. So in 
chapter 17 we saw the emphasis on blood, in chapter 18 we saw 
the laws concerning sexual morality, And here in chapter 9, we have 
a mingling of both moral and ceremonial laws. The ceremonial 
laws, for the most part, are in the latter half of the chapter, 
from 19 to the end of the chapter. So tonight, our focus is on verses 
9 to 18, as last week we looked at verses 1 to 8. But I do want 
to read beginning in chapter 19 at verse 1. And the Lord spoke 
to Moses, saying, Speak to all the congregation of the children 
of Israel, and say to them, You shall be holy, for I, the Lord 
your God, am holy. Every one of you shall revere 
his mother and his father, and keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord 
your God. Do not turn to idols, nor make 
for yourselves molded gods. I am the Lord your God. And if 
you offer a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord, you shall 
offer it of your own free will. It shall be eaten the same day 
you offer it, and on the next day. And if any remains until 
the third day, it shall be burned in the fire. And if it is eaten 
at all on the third day, it is an abomination. It shall not 
be accepted. Therefore, everyone who eats 
it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned the hallowed 
offering of the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from 
his people. When you reap the harvest of your land, "'You shall 
not wholly reap the corners of your field, "'nor shall you gather 
the gleanings of your harvest. "'And you shall not glean your 
vineyard, "'nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard. 
"'You shall leave them for the poor and the stranger. "'I am 
the Lord, your God. "'You shall not steal, nor deal 
falsely, "'nor lie to one another. "'And you shall not swear by 
my name falsely, "'nor shall you profane the name of your 
God. "'I am the Lord. You shall not cheat your neighbor, 
nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired 
shall not remain with you all night until morning. You shall 
not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall 
fear your God. I am the Lord. You shall do no 
injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the 
poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness 
you shall judge your neighbor. You shall not go about as a tailbearer 
among your people, nor shall you take a stand against the 
life of your neighbor. I am the Lord. You shall not 
hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your 
neighbor and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance 
nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but 
you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Amen. Well, last week, as I said, 
we saw the emphasis on religious observances in verses 1 to 8. So we have a brief introduction 
to the section, which we'll look at in just a moment, in verses 
1 to 2a, and then a list of religious observances. Notice the pursuit 
of holiness in verse 2b. Now, holiness means moral purity, 
but the fundamental or the root meaning of holiness is to be 
set apart. Sanctification has the idea of being set apart from 
others, from sin and wickedness, and here specifically God mandates 
to the children of Israel that they be set apart from the heathen 
nations around them. That's why many of the ceremonial 
laws may seem a bit arbitrary to us in terms of eating certain 
things, but wearing certain things, but they were supposed to be 
distinguished and distinct from those heathen around them. I 
think the idea being is that if you participate in what they 
eat, and you participate in what they wear, it won't be long before 
you participate in what they worship. And so God wanted them 
to be a separate people, and that's the foundational command 
there in verse 2b. Notice then the reverence for 
parents, foundational to civil society, foundational to any 
sort of of an orderly society. If there is no functioning home, 
if there is no reverence for parents, there's not going to 
be any decency in society. And God establishes that. And 
notice, every one of you shall revere his mother and his father. It's not simply the father, but 
it's the mother and the father. And then next, you have the observance 
of the Sabbath. It was a central command in terms 
of the national identity of Israel. And then the prohibition of idolatry 
in verse 4. Fundamental, again, to society 
and to the order and discipline in that time frame. You're not 
supposed to go after the gods of the Egyptians, the nation 
that you just left. And you're certainly not supposed 
to pursue the gods of the Canaanites in the land that I am giving 
to you. And then the last part there is the consumption of sacrificial 
meat. Again, ceremonial mixed in with 
some moral law there. But just a reminder in terms 
of the introduction, look back in verse 1. The Lord spoke to 
Moses saying, speak to all the congregation of the children 
of Israel and say to them. And then look at the last part 
of verse 18. But you shall love your neighbor as yourself, I 
am the Lord." So God here is the one commanding the nation 
of Israel on how they are to function. This isn't the civil 
state. I think sometimes we read passages 
like this and we think, well, Trudeau should command us to 
love one another. No, this is a theocratic nation. God is directly governing these 
people. It's by His word, by His prophets, 
through His priests. Later it will be through the 
king that is seated upon the throne of Yahweh Himself. So 
the Lord is commanding these things. It's not the government. 
The government is not to command us to love or who we aren't supposed 
to hate and all that sort of thing. The government is simply 
to enforce law. It's God who deals with the heart, 
and that's one of the things we ought to appreciate in a passage 
like this. This is regulation for the covenant 
community in the land that God is giving them. Now, I'm not 
suggesting we can't learn anything in our new covenant setting. 
Obviously, as the covenant community of the people of God, we should 
live like this toward one another. We should love one another. We 
should care for one another. And as far as general society 
goes, of course, love your fellows. But we don't have the government 
enforcing who we love and who we can't love and all that sort 
of thing. God deals with the heart. In 
Romans 13, the civil magistrate is to function as an avenger 
of God's wrath upon those who engage in evil works. Not in 
evil thoughts, not in crimes of the mind, but they're to engage 
in restricting and prohibiting outward acts of lawlessness. They're not supposed to police 
the mind. And so as we move down this pathway, 
where it does seem that that's a purview that government wants 
to take on, they don't have that right under God. I like Machen, 
he says, the civil government is not intended to produce blessedness 
or happiness, but intended to prevent blessedness or happiness 
from being interfered with by wicked men. Their job is not 
to produce blessedness or happiness, but they are simply there to 
prohibit blessedness or happiness being interfered with by wicked 
men. I think that's a very crucial 
and important distinction. He goes on to say, the state 
exists for the repression of evildoers and the protection 
of individual liberty. And certainly, that's how it 
seemed to have functioned in Old Covenant Israel. You didn't 
have a massive bureaucracy. You had judges. higher courts, 
you had all of that to be sure, but it wasn't this multi-tentacled 
sort of a situation where they were in every jot and tittle 
of a person's lives. God was because He's God. The 
civil state isn't because they're not God. So never forget that. 
The Lord spoke to Moses to legislate how the covenant community was 
to function in the land that God was giving them. Then one 
other thing by way of introduction. Notice that last statement again 
in verse 18. I think this sort of summarizes 
the whole section. You shall love your neighbor 
as yourself. I am the Lord. Now, what is a 
neighbor? It's good for us to define that. 
A commentator named Stuart commenting on the ninth commandment. Remember, 
do not bear false witness against your neighbor. I think he gives 
a good statement concerning what a neighbor is. He says, this 
is the first commandment to employ the word neighbor in its general 
juridical sense of anyone else you happen to come into contact 
with, rather than the more narrow sense of someone living near 
you. In laws and formal rules, neighbor 
has nothing to do with proximity or familiarity. Your neighbor 
connotes any other human being you may have dealings with, actually 
or potentially. I think that's a good way to 
understand that. Well, it wasn't my next-door 
neighbor, so I really didn't have to love him. That's not 
the point. The point is, as he says, anybody 
you may have dealings with, actually or potentially. So keep that 
in mind as we move through this particular section. Now in verses 
9 to 18, as I said, I think 18b summarizes the entire section. 
The emphasis is on neighborly love. And notice first we have 
gleaning laws in verses 9 and 10. So God is pro-farming. God is pro-agriculture. God is pro-capitalism. In fact, 
the Eighth Commandment secures that for us. You shall not steal. God says it's okay for you to 
have private property. It's okay for you to, you know, 
dig your own well. It's okay for you to have your 
own house. It's okay for you to have your own possessions. 
But you should be charitable as well. And again, this isn't 
the state mandating it. This is God telling you that 
you need to be charitable. In other words, it's not just 
your profits, it's not just your increase, it's not just your 
goods that you should be concerned about, but you should be concerned 
about others as well. Last Sunday, or this past Sunday, 
I read from 1 Timothy 6, and we see the same principle there. 
In 1 Timothy 6, at verse 17, Paul tells Timothy to have a 
Bible study with the rich people. And in that Bible study with 
the rich people, Timothy is not to tell them to divest themselves 
of their riches. Go throw all your money in a 
lake, go give it to poor people and just sell everything and 
follow Jesus. That's not what he says. He says, 
command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, 
nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives 
us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be 
rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing 
up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they 
may lay hold on eternal life." And then turn back just a little 
bit to Ephesians 5. I'm sorry, Ephesians 4. In Ephesians 
4, we have the emphasis on walking as new men and women in our Lord 
Jesus Christ. And he deals with some specific 
situations, concrete application of God's law in chapter 4. And 
if you notice specifically at verse 27, I'm sorry, verse 28. Let him who stole, steal no longer, 
but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, 
that he may have something to give him who has need. So it's 
good for us to labor, it's good for us to secure property, it's 
good for us to have those things that God in His grace has given 
to us, as long as, you know, they don't become an idol, they 
don't become that thing that dominates our attention and our 
affection. There needs to be a charitable aspect in our hearts, 
and that's what Leviticus 19, verses 9 and 10 tell us. When 
you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap 
the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings 
of your harvest, and you shall not glean your vineyard, nor 
shall you gather every grape of your vineyard, you shall leave 
them for the poor and the stranger. I am the Lord your God. In other 
words, in all of your business pursuits and all of your capitalistic 
enterprise and all of your ventures where you increase your holdings 
and your benefit and all that sort of thing, make sure you 
don't forget the poor. Make sure you don't forget those 
people in the land that have need and leave them a bit so 
that they too can glean. Now, the obvious example, the 
obvious illustration of this is in the book of Ruth, Ruth 
chapter 2. Remember, Boaz gives the order with reference to his 
farm guys. He says, let things fall, let 
her have access to that. She gleaned so that she could 
prosper and so she could give it to her mother-in-law. So there 
is to be a benevolence and a charity built into the covenant community. Again, not the civil state telling 
you what you must do with your money, but God telling you what 
you must do with your money because he has the right to command that. 
Now notice next, we have these other community laws in verses 
11 to 18. The first is the prohibition 
of theft. Now this is the 7th commandment. 
So 11a says, you shall not steal. The 7th commandment is given 
in Exodus 20 at verse 15, and then repeated in Deuteronomy 
5.19. Now it's comprehensive. Remember, you've got the general 
principle stated in the moral law in the 10 commandments, and 
then you see concrete applications in other parts of the law. You 
see those concrete applications in the book of Proverbs, for 
instance. You see the concrete applications in the prophets. 
When the prophets come to upbraid the children of Israel for their 
covenant unfaithfulness, they take those general principles 
and then they apply them specifically to the people of Israel. You 
see the same emphasis in the New Testament. You see Paul tell 
us not to steal any longer, but rather go out and get a job and 
make enough so that you can give it to other people. Well, at 
the very center of that command is that eighth word, we're not 
supposed to steal. So in terms of theft, we have 
the act of burglary. You see that in Exodus chapter 
22, verses 2 and 3. That's entering a dwelling with 
the intent to steal. Now as you move through, as we 
move through this, this is the concrete application of what 
it looks like to love one another. Love one another doesn't mean 
hand everybody flowers, it doesn't mean take everybody for coffee, 
it means don't break God's law with reference to that particular 
individual. Now, that doesn't seem as romantic 
as, you know, a cup of coffee or flowers, but this is the concrete 
application of God's law. Turn to Romans chapter 13, just 
to see that the New Covenant, the same principle holds. How 
do I know what it is to love my fellow churchmen? Well, Paul 
tells us in Romans 13, specifically at verse 8. He says, O no one 
anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has 
fulfilled the law. For the commandments, you shall 
not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, 
you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet, and if there 
is any other commandment are all summed up in this saying, 
namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, Leviticus 19. Love 
does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the 
law. Again, that doesn't seem very romantic. You mean there's 
no flowers, there's no chocolates, there's no steak dinner at the 
keg? You mean I can actually love my neighbor without having 
done all those things? Yeah! We don't steal his stuff, 
we don't take his wife when you don't hurt him, when you don't 
kill him. That's the emphasis here in the passage. And I'm 
not suggesting you can't take people out for a steak dinner 
at the keg. I'm not suggesting you can't 
give flowers and coffee and all that sort of thing. But love 
is the concrete application of obedience to God's holy law. 
So the act of burglary is the entering a dwelling with the 
intent to steal. There's the act of robbery. Again, throughout 
the Pentateuch and other portions of Scripture, we see that. Robbery 
is taking something from someone by the use of violence or intimidation. And then kidnapping. is definitely 
prohibited. Paul repeats this in 1st Timothy 
chapter 1 verses 8 to 10. He talks about man-stealing. 
Deuteronomy 24, 7 prohibits stealing men. It prohibits kidnapping 
under the threat of death. It is a capital crime to deprive 
somebody of their liberty. It is a capital crime to take 
somebody away from their home and make them a slave or sell 
them into slavery. That is a capital offense to 
steal somebody's liberty away from them. And then the seventh 
commandment, or I'm sorry, the eighth commandment, do not steal, 
includes the act of fraud. Fraud is a deception deliberately 
practiced to secure unfair or unlawful gain. Again, as we move 
our way through this, that's what love looked like in the 
covenant community. You didn't defraud your neighbor. 
And there were certain ways you could commit fraud in Old Covenant 
Israel, the moving of a landmark. Remember that land was central 
in terms of God's gift to the children of Israel. It was promised 
to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Remember when Ahab wants Naboth's 
vineyard, and he wants him to sell him the vineyard. And what 
does Naboth say? I'm not going to sell you the 
land. I'm not going to sell you the 
dirt that God gave to my family. This is something that was given 
to us by Him. I'm going to hold on to it for 
dear life. Of course, that's when Ahab says 
to Jezebel, and Jezebel says, hey, you know, my daddy knew 
how to take care of these things, let me at it. So she conjures 
up these charges against Naboth, they stone him to death for blasphemy, 
and then Ahab co-opts his land. But moving a landmark, the use 
of unjust weights, it's intriguing how many times in the book of 
Proverbs, Proverbs 11.1, 16.11, 20.10, 20.23, 22.22, and 23, 
talks about an unjust scale. God abominates an unjust scale. He abominates deception. He abominates 
theft. The exploitation of hired workers, 
you see a bit of that later on. Verse 13b, the wages of him who 
is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning. 
You don't exploit the worker. You don't put down or keep down 
a man who's engaged in gainful employment. You pay him. You 
don't exploit him. As well, you've got the act of 
extortion, acquiring property by undue legal power or undue 
influence. In fact, turn to the book of 
Matthew, Matthew chapter 23. This is the way we should understand 
what Jesus is condemning in the woes to the scribes and Pharisees. 
Matthew 23, specifically at verse 14. Now, probably we read that passage 
and we say, okay, I get what it means. that, you know, making long prayers 
for pretense. I mean, Jesus speaks to that 
in the Sermon on the Mount. You don't stand out on the street 
corner to pray just so everybody can say, what a good prayer he 
or she is. But what does it mean you devour 
widows' houses? Well, the best I can tell is 
that widows, when their husbands died, would go to these religious 
leaders for counsel. They would go to these religious 
leaders for help. You know, how do I sustain, you 
know, the next 20 years now that my bread-winning husband is in 
the ground? How am I going to eat? I can't live on love and 
fresh air. Can you help me with whatever 
pittance I may have left? Well, it was at that time these 
corrupt men would extort them. It was at this time that these 
corrupt men would take from them. And then notice in verse 25, 
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the 
outside of the cup and dish, but inside they're full of what? 
Of extortion and self-indulgence. So God condemns that approach 
to dealing with your fellows. And again, the basis of this, 
the foundation of this, is the Eighth Commandment. You shall 
not steal. To steal from somebody is to not love them. To steal 
from somebody is to hate them. To steal from somebody by deception 
or by extortion or by undue influence upon them is an act of absolute 
wickedness. But under theft as well, you've 
got the destruction of property. We've moved our way up to this 
part in the Pentateuch. So we've gone through the Book 
of Exodus, and this is covered in various places in the Book 
of Exodus. The destruction of property through negligence, 
and you've got the destruction of property through wickedness. 
The destruction of property through negligence. If you have an ox 
that gored, and you didn't secure that ox, and it broke free, and 
it went and gored your neighbor, or it went and destroyed his 
property, you were criminally liable for the action of that 
particular beast. So in 11a, you shall not steal. This is what it looks like in 
a body politic when people are loving one another. Then notice 
in the next place the prohibition of lying. Again, the Ninth Commandment. The moral law of God is behind 
all of this. So nor deal falsely, nor lie 
to one another. Now certainly this is the Ninth 
Commandment, Exodus 20 and verse 16, Deuteronomy 5 and verse 20. 
This covers the sin of perjury. In fact, when we look at the 
commandment, the Ninth Commandment, do not bear false witness. The 
first and primary application is in a court of law. Now, this 
section is going to deal with that in more detail, specifically 
in verses 15 to 16, but it bears repetition here. The sin of perjury 
or the crime of perjury is bad. And then, of course, the sin 
or crime of lying. You're not supposed to do it. 
And again, Proverbs are filled. We see it all over the New Testament. 
When persons can't trust one another, society breaks down. 
When families can't trust one another, society breaks down. 
And we need to understand that. That's the sort of thing that 
we're dealing with in our own generation. As well, the sins 
of backbiting and slander. You're not supposed to engage 
in that sort of thing. Specifically, notice in verse 
16, you shall not go about as a tail bearer. I think that's 
connected very tightly with verse 15, and probably has to do with 
this person being a witness in a criminal court. But the principle 
is there. We're not to be tail-bearers. 
We're not to be gossips. We're not to be those who engage 
in what the New Testament calls whispering. So gossip and tail-bearing 
are condemned by God here in Leviticus chapter 19. Again, 
when we come to this, you know, the whole question of God's law. 
When Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount says, you have heard that 
it was said to those of old, but I say to you. The contrast is not Jesus and 
Moses. It's Jesus and bad interpreters 
of Moses. Moses always spoke to the heart 
because it's God speaking through Moses to the heart. You couldn't 
hate your neighbor in your heart in the Old Covenant any more 
than you can in the New Covenant. You couldn't lust after your 
neighbor in your heart in the Old Covenant any more than you 
can in the New Covenant. So Jesus is not saying, I've 
got a better law than what Moses has. No. The contrast is between 
scribal and Pharisaic misinterpretation that focus simply upon the external. As long as you don't actually 
stop someone's heart from beating, you've fulfilled the sixth commandment. 
As long as you haven't physically gone into your neighbor's wife, 
you've fulfilled the seventh commandment. Jesus says no. It's 
always been this way, and we see it here in very sharp detail 
in Leviticus chapter 19. And then as well, we've got the 
misuse of God's name in verse 12. You shall not swear by my 
name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God. I am the 
Lord. This, of course, being the third 
commandment. Now, Exodus 20 verse 7 and Deuteronomy 
5 verse 11. So blasphemy. Blasphemy is a 
capital offense in the book of Leviticus. Leviticus chapter 
24. You are not supposed to blaspheme the name of God Most High. And 
for good reason. That's His name. It's His sacred 
name and He commands it. But as well, when you live in 
a community that is a theocracy, and the highest standard in that 
theocratic nation is God, to engage in such an activity is 
sedition. It's treason of the highest order. 
And so that threat must be neutralized, and it is done so through stoning 
death. As well, the unlawful use of 
oaths and vows. Deuteronomy 6.13, Deuteronomy 
10.20. We're to swear by God's name 
in matters of import. When Jesus talks about not swearing 
in the Sermon on the Mount, He's talking about your day-in, day-out 
sort of situations. You don't have to swear on a 
stack of Bibles that you'll be home at 3. You don't have to 
swear on a stack of Bibles, ladies, that the roast will be ready 
at 5. You don't have to swear on a stack of Bibles that you're 
going to fulfill. No, no. For everyday life affairs, 
your yes is yes and your no is no. But in matters of weight 
and importance, the oath or the vow is absolutely crucial. It's an act of worship according 
to Scripture. So we're not to swear falsely 
by the name of God. As well, the use of magic or 
sorcery. That's a condemnation and a breach 
of the third commandment. Of course, magic and sorcery 
is condemned specifically in Deuteronomy chapter 18, but you 
see it all throughout the Old Testament. You see this emphasis 
on Israel being separate from the nations around them. That's 
the emphasis in Deuteronomy 18. You're a particular people. You're not supposed to go after 
soothsayers or necromancers. You're not supposed to engage 
in the witchcraft or the the paganism that obtains all around 
you, but rather you've got prophets that speak the word and you've 
got priests that come to me in terms of intercession. So you're 
not supposed to be like the nations around you. Now magic or sorcery 
typically invokes the name of a god or some higher power to 
try to appeal to people to get what you want. And so God says 
don't do that. And then the misapplication of 
God's providence. Westminster Larger Catechism 
under the third commandment says murmuring and quarreling at, 
curious prying into and misapplying God's decrees and providences. 
I doubt we ever think of the third commandment in that regard, 
but I think that's a lawful or a legitimate application. And 
then, of course, the misinterpretation of God's Word. Maintaining false 
doctrine. That's bad. Heresy is condemned 
by God. We saw it on Sunday morning, 
1 Timothy 6. Paul doesn't say, well, you know, 
they're just a little bit off. You know, give them their opportunity. 
Let them have a Thursday night so they can peddle their heresy. 
No, the Apostle Paul says, these are wretched men. In 1 Timothy 
chapter 4, he talks about doctrines of demons. Well, what are the doctrines 
of demons? Are they conjuring up the devil? Are they sacrificing 
children? There it's forbidding marriage 
and forbidding to eat meat that God gave to be enjoyed by his 
creatures. Paul says this is bad. Don't 
have truck with heretics. And then notice next in verses 
13 and 14, the prohibition of exploitation. Verse 13, you shall 
not cheat your neighbor nor rob him. Again, that's not loving, 
right? Cheating your, oh boy, I really 
got one over on him. That's not a statement of love. 
I'm not saying you can't get a good deal, negotiate your terms, 
and all that sort of thing, but if you crush your opponent, you 
clobber him, or you cheat him, and you step all over him, that's 
not a good thing. So the prohibition against cheating 
or robbing your neighbor, and then there's two specific examples 
of this. Notice in 13b. The wages of him 
who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning. This isn't the only place this 
is stated. It's in Deuteronomy 24 verse 
15 as well. You got a day laborer. Give him his wages. Give him 
what he has done. Don't hold back those things 
because the man depends upon it in order to live. You're not 
supposed to step on your fellows to try to make it in life. And 
then notice the abusive neighbors and their weak neighbors among 
you. Notice, you shall not curse the death nor put a stumbling 
block before the Lord. Don't do those things that take 
advantage of others. Again, I'm not suggesting you're 
the one that always gets walked over by everybody. I'm not suggesting 
that you don't engage in fair trade and that sort of thing. 
But you don't try to crush people. You don't try to step on people. And you certainly don't find 
their weakness and then exploit their weaknesses. That's not 
love. That's not kindness. That's not 
reflective of the God who has saved us by His grace and for 
His glory. So this whole idea of not cursing 
the deaf, not putting a stumbling block before the Lord, but rather 
fear God, I am the Lord. And then notice in verses 15 
and 16, the prohibition of a corrupt court. Now, probably for most 
of us, unless you happen to work in the court or you're a professional 
criminal, these sorts of things don't usually apply to us. We 
don't think a lot about criminal court. We really should think 
a lot more about criminal court. We really should think about 
the fact that when there is a two-tiered justice system in any body politic, 
it crushes the morale of persons under that. This is not a good 
thing when you see some people get away with murder and you 
see some people crushed by governing authorities for things that don't 
deserve that crushing. God speaks often to the judiciary 
and notice he does so here in verses 15 and 16. You shall do 
no injustice in judgment. you shall do no injustice in 
judgment." You know, we've got that Lady Liberty, she's holding 
the scales, she's got a blindfold on. Well, why is that? Because 
she's not supposed to be partial. She's not supposed to go, oh, 
well, that guy's poor, we're going to give him a break in 
the court. Or, that guy's rich, so we're going to give him a 
break in the court. No, she's blind, she's got her 
eyes covered, so that she doesn't rule based on any appearances. 
She doesn't rule based on anything other than the evidence that 
is presented. That's the mandate of God Almighty. You shall do no injustice in 
judgment. And then notice, you shall not 
be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. See, 
God's word is specific. These are the two tendencies 
that you might find in a corrupt judge. You might find a corrupt 
judge, and well, you know, the guy's poor. I can kind of understand 
why he did what he did. You're not supposed to understand 
why he did what he did. You're supposed to render a verdict 
based on what he did. There's a big difference there. 
We don't want touchy-feely judges that are letting horrible people 
go because they're poor. But by the same token, we don't 
want touchy-feeling judges or judges partial to bribes that 
are going to let rich people go because they might get their 
beak wet. You shall not be partial to the 
poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness 
you shall judge your neighbor." Again, notice how God just assumes 
this. And we saw this, I think, way 
back in Exodus chapter 24. When Moses goes up on the mountain 
once again to see God, God has him provide men who are able 
to adjudicate cases while Moses is absent. What does that mean? 
God knows us well. Even when our leaders are away, 
we're still going to fight, we're still going to argue, we're still 
going to engage in criminal activity. We're still going to need adjudication. 
God takes judges, and courts, and witnesses, and testimony, 
and laws of evidence, and due process. He takes all that very, 
very seriously. And it says, in righteousness 
you shall judge your neighbor. Again, I think verse 16, there's 
a general prohibition. Keep your big mouth shut. Don't 
go about as a tail bearer among your people. But because it's 
wedged in between verse 15 and verse 16b, I think it's probably 
a witness. I think it's probably somebody 
who's got a big mouth and is talking about a particular case. 
You shall not go about as a tail bearer among your people, nor 
shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor. See, 
again, my gossip on a regular basis doesn't usually take the 
life or endanger the life of my neighbor, but my false testimony 
does, my tail bearing, my giving false evidence, or my stretching 
the facts in a given case. So I think 15 and 16 go together 
as a particular unit to underscore and highlight what it is God 
demands in terms of a properly functioning court. Look at Deuteronomy 
for just a moment. Again, we could go back to Exodus, 
but look at Deuteronomy, just a couple of passages. Because 
I don't think we, at least not you guys, maybe I need to think 
more about this. Sometimes I see these bumper 
stickers around town. I've seen a billboard on the 
way to the city or on the freeway. I think it's around Langley, 
you know, something about judges. Judges are very important. If 
we don't have good judges, we're going to be in a mess. And brethren, 
I don't think we have good judges based on my experience with the 
courts during COVID. But back to Deuteronomy. Notice 
in chapter 17 specifically. I'm sorry, chapter 17. Yes. Yeah, chapter 17. We've got the laws of witnesses. Notice specifically at chapter 
17 verse 2. If there is found among you within 
any of your gates which the Lord your God gives you, a man or 
woman who has been wicked in the sight of the Lord your God 
in transgressing his covenant, who has gone and served other 
gods and worshiped them, either the sun or moon or any of the 
hosts of heaven, which I have not commanded, and it is told 
you and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently. 
And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination 
has been committed in Israel, Then you shall bring out to your 
gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing, 
and shall stone to death that man or woman with stones." Notice, 
you don't just do this willy-nilly. You examine, you investigate, 
you inquire. But then notice the stipulation 
was, whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on 
the testimony of two or three witnesses. He shall not be put 
to death on the testimony of one witness. The hands of the 
witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, 
and afterward the hands of all the people. so you shall put 
away the evil from among you." What do you think that does to 
a people? What do you think it does when the witnesses are the 
first to take up the stones to throw at the guilty party? Hopefully 
it instills a bit of fear in them because this is a very grave 
matter. This is what I think Jesus has 
in mind when he says, he who is without sin, let him cast 
the first stone. In other words, if you are the 
morally pure, upright people you say that you are, go ahead, 
pick up a stone and throw it at this woman who was caught 
in the act of adultery in the very act. He's got this in his 
mindset, the gravity of being a witness in a condition where 
you are throwing stones to kill your fellow. Remember, this isn't 
Los Angeles. This isn't Vancouver. We're not 
talking about millions of people. These are people you see on the 
way to the store. These are people that you go 
to the watering hole with. These are people that you know 
intimately. So I think that witness testimony and the witness throwing 
stones was to underscore the gravity involved. In other words, 
you don't just sort of make up these offenses. And then notice 
in verses 8 to 13, this is the function of the higher court. 
If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge between 
degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one punishment or another, 
matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise 
and go up to the place which the Lord your God chooses. So 
there's this mechanism in place to adjudicate those things that 
were too difficult for persons at a lower level. And then notice 
over in Deuteronomy chapter 19, specifically at verse 15, one 
witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity 
or any sin that he commits. By the mouth of two or three 
witnesses, the matter shall be established. If a false witness 
rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, then 
both men in the controversy shall stand before the Lord, before 
the priests and the judges who serve in those days. And the 
judges shall make careful inquiry. And indeed, if the witness is 
a false witness who has testified falsely against his brother, 
then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother, 
so you shall put away the evil from among you." Do you understand 
that principle? If I allege that Isaac is guilty 
of a capital crime and I take him before the judges and I can't 
prove my case, I'm going to be executed. What do you think that's 
going to do to me before I take Isaac to the judge? I'm going 
to have to really ponder the implications. Do I have a case? Do I have a good case? Do I have 
a good enough case so that Isaac will be found guilty and be executed? Because if not, I'm going to 
be found guilty and I'm going to be executed. See, we look 
at Old Covenant Law and we say, oh, it's so barbaric, stoning 
and killing and all that sort of thing. Listen to the due process. Listen to the things that are 
built in to serve as checks and balances. Verse 20, those who 
remain shall hear in fear and hereafter they shall not again 
commit such evil among you. You shall not pity, life shall 
be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot 
for foot. Again, that's a principle everybody cries about. Oh, that's 
terrible. It simply means the punishment 
must fit the crime. That's all that principle is. 
The punishment must fit the crime. When he says, life for life, 
eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 
everything built in terms of civil jurisprudence is on that 
principle. The punishment must fit the crime. 
That's what that principle is. Turn over the book of Proverbs, 
two texts, and then we'll move on. Proverbs chapter 18. Now, this is not only profitable 
for the civil court, this is very helpful for the life of 
the local church. Proverbs 18, two principles there 
concerning due process that all of us should keep in our minds 
and in our hearts. Notice in Proverbs 18, 13, he 
who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame 
to him. How many times do we... Oh, that's 
terrible! David does that, doesn't he, when he hears the parable 
of Nathan? That man deserves to die. You're the man, David. 
Oh, should have thought that one through. He who answers a 
matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him. Brethren, 
you're not omniscient. I'm not omniscient. We're not 
infallible people. We can't give answers to complicated 
situations based on, you know, that much information. And then 
notice in verse 17, the first one to plead his cause seems 
right. until his neighbor comes and examines him. That's the 
principle of cross-examination. If we don't have that, we don't 
have a justice system. Because you hear the facts stated 
by one man, oh yeah, the other man is guilty, he is terrible, 
he is horrible, let's do away with him. And then he comes and 
he's able to give credible evidence that suggests the other guy is 
lying, or suggests the other guy is faulty. There are principles 
in scripture that we dispense with to our destruction, and 
we are witnessing that in our current situation. And then head 
back to Leviticus chapter 19. The next section, the prohibition 
against hatred, this is the sixth under the other community laws 
in verses 11 to 18. So theft, lying, God's name, 
exploitation, corrupt court, and now hatred. Notice in verse 
17, you shall not hate your brother in your heart. So again, Jesus 
isn't elevating the commandment. Jesus isn't saying, well, I'm 
giving you a new extra special spiritual commandment. No, this 
was always stipulated in the law. You shall not hate your 
brother in your heart. Don't do it. You're not supposed 
to do that. You don't have to be his BFF. 
You don't have to be his closest buddy. You don't have to be his 
Facebook friend. But you're not supposed to hate him in your 
heart. That's just contrary to God's law. It's contrary to God's 
will. It's contrary to your life as 
a new man in Christ Jesus. Now notice the next section. 
You shall surely rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because 
of him. What does that mean? Well, I 
think this idea of rebuking him, I think it's twofold. One, in 
a general sense, rebuke him for sin in general. Notice, you shall 
surely rebuke your neighbor. If you see him going astray, 
it's an act of love to try to capture him, to keep him from 
going astray, right? Isn't it loving if you see somebody 
about to walk off a cliff to say, you know what, you're going 
to walk off a cliff and grab him by the shirt and pull on 
him? You rebuke him in general so that he doesn't continue in 
this path. But I think the specific application 
is there as well. You shall surely rebuke your 
neighbor and not bear sin because of him. Now, rebuke him for his 
sin against you. Because if you don't rebuke him 
for his sin against you, then you're going to hate him in your 
heart. Does that make sense? Well, I don't want to make a 
big deal out of it. So I'm just going to avoid that 
person and never look at him again. That's not biblical conduct, 
brethren. It is not biblical to say, well, 
I don't want to have any kind of a problem or any kind of a 
controversy, so I'll just avoid this person and never have dealings 
with them again. To change your attitude or action? 
No, it's better to rebuke them. Look, you sinned against me. 
You did wrong. You should repent. Oh yeah. Wow. Please forgive me. Okay. What 
happens? You mend the relationship. It's 
done. It's over. As a blood bought 
child of God, is there somebody in your life that you wouldn't 
forgive? I mean, even if they did some 
pretty horrible, of course we're going to forgive. Doesn't Paul 
tell us, forgive even as God and Christ forgave you? Of course, 
yeah, we forgive. That's what we do. So this, you 
shall surely rebuke your neighbor. Yeah, generally, so you can stop 
him from doing his foolishness, but not bear sin because of it. 
Rebuke him for the things he's done to you. And again, two places 
in scripture in the New Testament highlight this. You can turn 
to the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew's gospel. Matthew chapter five. We have two strategies in the 
book of Matthew on how to deal with sin. And there's only two 
strategies that we need. Because when it comes to sin, 
either I sin against somebody or they sin against me. Right? I mean, that's pretty much it. That exhausts the breach in interpersonal 
relations. You got two people. There's only 
one of two things. I mean, I guess they can both 
sin against each other, but indulge me for a moment. The two things 
that we're going to have problems with is either I sin against 
person B or he sins against me. Boy, it would be great if Jesus 
spoke to that. Well, he does. Notice in Matthew 
chapter 5, specifically at verse 23. Now, this is in the context. Go back to verse 21. You have 
heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder, 
and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. So it's 
a Sixth Commandment. This prohibition against hating 
people is a Sixth Commandment violation. Hatred of another 
is a desire at some level to rid the world of them. And so 
I think that it's connected to the Sixth Commandment. So Jesus 
deals with various things relative to the sixth commandment in a 
more sort of inward situation. He's not saying, you know, don't 
go to the store, buy a gun and shoot your neighbor in the head. 
Obviously that's condemned. That's prohibited. Don't misunderstand 
me. Don't do that. But he's dealing 
with the heart sins and verse 23, if you remember, or you bring 
your gift to the altar and there, remember that your brother has 
something against you. Leave your gift there. So there 
you are, you're at the altar, you're about to present your 
gift, vertically worshiping God, but you remember, man, I sinned 
against my brother. I gotta go fix my horizontal 
relationship or God's not gonna have any, you know, acceptance 
of my vertical offering, right? Does that ever happen? You come 
to church and you think, man, I got to deal with some sin here. 
I got to confess these things. But you know, you scream at your 
kid on the way. Not that I'm speaking by way 
of experience, but by any stretch, you scream at your kid on the 
way to church. Probably good, no parking lot, to make good 
on that. Please forgive me, son or daughter. 
My son's looking at me like, oh, I remember those times well, 
Dad. But we have to fix things. The vertical is affected by the 
horizontal. So notice, leave your gift there 
before the altar and go your way. First be reconciled to your 
brother and then come and offer your gift. So if I sin against 
somebody and I remember that, I need to go seek to fix it. 
Conversely, if somebody sins against me, do I just wait till 
they come and fix it? No! Matthew 18, verse 15. See, 
the onus and responsibility is upon you. You can't just wait 
for everybody else to deal with their sins or to deal with your 
sins. Jesus puts the onus upon us to deal. And I think that's 
what Leviticus 19.17 is about. And then notice in verse 18, 
to finalize the chapter, you shall not take vengeance nor 
bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall 
love your neighbor as yourself, I am the Lord. Now that statement, 
you shall love your neighbor as yourself, I am the Lord, summarizes 
the second table of the law. Remember, in Matthew 22, Jesus 
is asked, which is the first and foremost commandment? He 
says, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, 
soul, mind, and strength. That summarizes the first table 
of the law. And then he says, the second 
is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. That summarizes 
the second table. Now, a summary is only good as 
long as that which it's summarizing is binding upon us. And so the 
law of God in terms of its expression in the Ten Commandments, our 
duty to God and our duty to man. We've got the abiding perpetuity 
of moral law. We see Jesus and the apostles 
uphold it. We see that Jesus in the gospel 
says that he did not come to destroy or abolish, but rather 
to fulfill it, to confirm it. And we see by his life and practice 
and by his apostles that they maintain an emphasis on that 
law as a normative pattern for sanctification in the life of 
God's people. Well, let us pray, and if there's 
any questions, we can deal with those. Father, thank you for 
your word, and thank you for the consistency that we find 
between the covenants. Thank you as well for that moral 
law given initially in the Garden and then summarized at Sinai. 
We see it upheld in the New Covenant as well. We thank You that we're 
not justified by law, for that could never be. We're justified 
freely by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And 
we know that He then prays to sanctify us by Your truth, Your 
Word is truth. And we find that revelation of 
law as a pattern for us to follow. We thank You for the Holy Spirit. 
We thank You that there is forgiveness with You when we do fall, when 
we do stumble, when we do, in some sense, leave the God that 
we love. We pray that you would go with us now, and we ask through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Any questions or comments? One comment is that as we go 
through this in our justice system, our nation ejects the Judeo-Christian 
values. It's so apparent today that we're 
not seeing justice being done in our court system. I think, Jim, is that our society 
doesn't really know what justice looks like anymore. I think that's 
the terrifying thing. So these men don't be held accountable 
because people don't even know what it looks like anymore. Yeah. 
Yeah. I agree. Yeah. Yeah. And I think it is 
demoralizing, for sure, when you see two systems or two different 
approaches that really You don't feel like there's a fair shake. 
So it's like a rigged up.