The Benefits of the Priesthood

The Forty-Third Sermon on Exodus

The Laws for Restitution

Exodus 22:1–17

The Twenty-Ninth Sermon on Exodus

Congregation of Jesus Christ and friends:

So did you let your dog graze on the food bowl of your neighbor’s dog? You need to give him a bowl full of premium dog food for restitution. Well we turn again to the book of the covenant, this section from Exodus 21–23 in which the law is applied in very concrete ways. And again I remind you that it is a part of the Scriptures that have been breathed out by God, as Paul says in 2 Timothy 3, and it is therefore to be our “delight” as we meditate upon it “day and night” as Psalm 1 says.

As a set of laws, Exodus 21:1–17 are applications of the eighth commandment. Children, which commandment is the eighth commandment? “You shall not . . . steal.” Here the Lord explains how the eighth commandment was to function in Hebrew society and how by what we call the general equity it is to apply today. Our text today is about the laws for restitution. In these laws the Lord desired to teach his people three things: first, to teach by principle, second, to teach by practice, and third, to teach by prophecy. May the Holy Spirit give us his special illuminating grace that we might understand and apply these delightful words.

To Teach by Principle

The first thing we learn about these laws in reading this text is that God desired to teach his people by principle. What would you say is the overall principle of these laws?

Notice the various parts of these laws. There are laws about stealing explicitly, there are laws about allowing your animals to graze on another’s field, there are laws about starting an out-of-control fire, there are laws about holding money and goods on behalf of a neighbor, there are laws about borrowing, and there are laws about taking a young Hebrew virgin.

Now notice the punishments for these laws. In the case of breaking and entering and the thief dies because the owner defends himself and his personal property, the thief’s death is the payment, but in all other cases there is some form of repayment.

So what is the principle? The principle is that sin must be paid for in order to satisfy the terms of justice. The Lord was teaching them this in these very practical, real-world laws. Dear congregation, your sin requires a payment to satisfy for it. In practical ways you need to reinforce this by disciplining your children for disobedience. If they grab an apple at the grocery store and bite it, you need to pay for it. What if they knock over a jar of jelly? Do you just find the nearest employee and have them clean it up? No, you do that and you pay for the loss. Whatever we are responsible for doing that causes a loss to our neighbor we are responsible for making restitution. Of course all of this points us to the fact that our sins most of all need to be paid for before Almighty God.

To Teach by Practice

The second thing we learn about these laws in reading this text is that God desired to teach his people by practice. The Lord desired his people to be godly. He said they would be a holy nation if they kept his covenant (19:6) and these were the means of that practical holiness.

If a Hebrew stole an ox or sheep he had to repay his neighbor five ox or four sheep. Notice that this taught the seriousness. Restitution was not one for one, but it was a restitution that went above and beyond.

We see this again in verse 5. Here God taught his people that they could not just allow their animals to run wild onto another man’s field and to graze all his grass. Notice that the repayment is “from the best in his own field and in his own vineyard.” God was teaching the seriousness, but also that we need to respect our neighbor’s property. Okay, so we don’t have animals like they did, but we have kids! They act like animals sometimes, don’t they? Well, the point is that what you have you must be responsible for, and what someone else has you must respect. You cannot allow your kids to run free through a store or a neighbor’s house and allow them to damage or destroy another’s property. If they do, you need to make restitution and teach your children what that means. I still remember vividly having to go back into a convenience store and give back a pack of gum and some money out of my piggy bank and to say sorry to the owner when my mom found out I had stolen. Here I am 25–30 years later remembering that.

So serious was God about restitution that if you as a neighbor needed your neighbor to hold some money or some property of yours, and it was stolen, but the thief was not found, there was a process for this. Notice verses 7–9. The two parties were to “come near to God” and await a verdict. How did this work? The two parties came before Moses for serious offenses, and came before the elders for lesser offenses. Remember we saw this in chapter 18, and we see this later in the book of Numbers 15:32–36. When a Sabbath-breaker was found gathering sticks, he was brought before Moses and Aaron and the congregation. Then the Lord spoke to Moses the judgment and the man was put to death for his sin. We see an application of this principle in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 6:1–8. Christians, do not sue your brothers and sisters in Christ. Instead, take your case before the elders of the church. In doing so, the one who is guilty will be punished but also restored, and the one offended will receive justice. In the end, the church is holier and the two parties can live in a reconciled state.

You see, as Reformed Christians we believe with Paul that “the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good” (Rom. 7:12). We are not sanctified by means of the law, that would be legalism or neo-nomianism, but on the other hand we are not sanctified by letting go and letting God or having a defeatist attitude, that would be quietism or anti-nomianism. Instead, we believe we are sanctified by the Holy Spirit who uses the law as a pathway that we are to follow. And we need to be concerned, then, with living godly lives so that we live in love with each other, but we also need to be concerned with living righteously for the sake of the world. Imagine what a powerful example of paying for that jar of jelly your child knocked over, or imagine if your dog ate all of your neighbors strawberries and you made full restitution; imagine what an opportunity that would afford of testifying of the power of Christ’s resurrection in your life.

To Teach by Prophecy

The third thing we learn about these laws in reading this text is that God desired to teach his people by prophecy. What is the principle, again? The principle is that sin must be paid for in order to satisfy the terms of justice. This was not only given to teach the Israelites how to live among themselves and among the world, as important as that was, but by this principle the Lord was establishing a pattern that would prophesy to his people. Their true problem was not restoring a man’s field or his flock, their true problem was that their sins needed satisfaction.

Our text, then, is a prophecy of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is “the end of the law” (Rom. 10:4) and he is revealed upon the pages of Scripture as the reality of these shadows (Luke 24; Heb. 10).

Brothers and sisters, because of God’s righteous judgment we deserve not only temporal but also eternal punishment for each and every one of our sins. The only way we can escape his severe and unmovable punishment is to satisfy his justice—whether by ourselves or by another (Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 12). So, can you make satisfaction for your sins? Certainly not! Never in a million years can you even begin to satisfy and pay for your sins. In fact, the truth of the matter is this: “we daily increase our guilt” (HC, Q&A 13). Okay, then I can just do what God told the Israelites to do and find some other creature to make satisfaction for me.” Good luck! Do you understand that God will not punish any other creature for the sin, which you personally have committed? You have sinned, and not just in a generic way, but you have sinned right before God with full knowledge of what you were doing. You have to pay for it, then! Even more, no creature, whether another man or any number of animal sacrifices and certainly not your money, possession, or position in this life, can sustain the burden of God’s eternal wrath against sin (HC, Q&A 14). Children, remember from my catechism class with you about this. Remember I asked you to describe what it is like climbing up a hill. Now, imagine doing that with a backpack with 100 books in it. Pretty hard, isn’t it? That weight doesn’t even begin to describe the weight of God’s wrath against your sins!

Sin must be paid for to satisfy the justice of God. “Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom. 7:24–25) Only Jesus Christ, who is not only a true man to stand in our place, but he is a righteous man who does not need to satisfy for himself first. Oh but even more, he is no mere creature, he is true God who can sustain the weight of his Father’s wrath and justice (HC, Q&A 15). Will you trust him today, to remove your burdens? Will you believe in him today to forgive your sins, especially those of theft, irresponsibility, and disdain of your neighbor?

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

The Laws for Causing Death and Injury

Exodus 21:12–36

The Twenty-Eighth Sermon on Exodus

Congregation of Jesus Christ and friends:

So did your ox gore anyone this week? Once again we turn to another seemingly irrelevant kind of text for us as new Covenant Christians. But let me remind you that this is not the case with two things by way of introduction.

First, this is the Word of the Lord. When Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:16–17, “All Scripture is breathed out by God,” he was especially speaking of the Old Testament Scriptures. And as breathed out Scripture, this text is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” And what is the purpose of Scripture? As Paul concludes, “That the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”

Second, not only do we want to say in principle and theory that all Scripture is God’s profitable Word for us, but we want to ask in relation to this text, “What benefit do these laws have for us?” The “blessed man” is the one whose “delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night” (Ps. 1:2). Listen to what Psalm 19 says about the law of the Lord: “More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb” (Ps. 19:10). Even as New Covenant Christians we can delight in and desire what God says here. When we read the Old Covenant laws we keep in mind a very helpful distinction that the law is made up of three kinds of laws: the moral, which are expressed in the Ten Commandments, the ceremonial, which are the laws of worship, and the judicial, which are the concrete applications of the moral laws in what we call cases of conscience. The Westminster Confession of Faith says that God gave to Israel “sundry judicial laws, which expired together with the State of that people; not obliging under any now, further than the general equity thereof may require.”

So we turn to this text that is about the laws for causing death and injury. These laws were given for three reasons: first, to punish the guilty, second, to protect the innocent, and third, to promote godliness. May the Holy Spirit give us his special illuminating grace that we might understand and apply these delightful words today.

To Punish the Guilty

In the first place, these laws were given to punish the guilty. The first example is in verses 13–14 concerning murder. If you committed murder, you deserved the death penalty: “Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death” (21:12). This general law is then given two applications. The unintentional killing of another was given a place of refuge, “But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee” (21:13), but intentional murder was given death: “But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die” (21:14). Capital punishment goes all the way back to Genesis 9:6 where the Lord said, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” This certainly shows how far our attitude has fallen. You probably heard about New Mexico repealing the death penalty, and of course all the typical reasons against capital punishment were cited. But the justice of God requires death.

Why does the Lord go on to speak of the death penalty if one “strikes his father or his mother” (21:15) or if he “curses his father or his mother” (21:17)? Doesn’t this seem harsh and unjust? Recall our Lord’s words: “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire” (Matt. 5:22). Not only is cursing or even hitting murder because of its intent, the Lord gave these laws to hold up authority in society, which we will explain in a few moments.

There are even laws about fighting. In verses 18–19 if you get into a fight and injure your neighbor, you were guilty and needed to pay restitution.

To Protect the Innocent

Second, these laws were given to protect the innocent. We see this in two cases. We see it with pregnant women and their unborn children in verses 22–25: "When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

We see this also with servants in various verses. Not only does the Lord condemn stealing a man in order to sell him in verse 16, but even the servant had the same rights if his or her master hit and killed them: “When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged” (21:20). If a master injured his servant, the servant was granted freedom: “When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye. If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free because of his tooth” (21:26–27).

Once again, as we saw last Lord’s Day, these laws reveal the compassion and concern of the Lord for the innocent, the weak, and the helpless in society. He has a special concern for the unborn, for the pregnant woman, for the servant, and as we might say in our day, for the homeless, for the handicapped, for those in poverty.

To Promote Godliness

Brothers and sisters in Christ, since we have been saved from our guilt by our Lord Jesus Christ, and since we are being conformed to his image by the power of the Holy Spirit, how can we learn from these laws? These laws were given promote godliness. Let me give four practical ways godliness is promoted in these laws.

Respect for Authority

First, we are taught to respect authority. When the Lord specified the death penalty for striking or cursing father and mother, he did so because of their authority. Children, you are called to listen to your parents’ instruction and discipline. If you work, you are called to respect the authority of your boss, no matter how bad he or she is. Congregation, you are called to respect your civil leaders. Do not curse them despite all you see them do, instead pray for them. You are also called to respect your church leaders.

Compassion on the Helpless

Second, we are taught to have compassion on the helpless. Verse 16 condemned man stealing. Not only are there thousands of men, women, and children in Africa that are still sold as slaves, but right here in our own backyard. There was recently a prostitution ring broken up here in San Diego in which men were kidnapping and selling young girls. We need to pray for the innocent and we need to help the innocent in any way we can.

This is especially true of what we read in verses 22–25. Let me say it like this. If the Lord was concerned for the unborn in the case of unintentionally hurting the mother and baby, how much more in our time when we as a people intentionally destroy life?

Responsibility for Actions

Third, we are taught to take responsibility for our actions. If you cause injury or damage, you need to own up to your fault and repay the damage. We see this in our text even in the case of the animals that the Israelites owned in verses 28–36. We are so easy to point the finger at others but fail to see the other fingers pointed back at us.

Love of Enemies

Fourth, we are taught to love our enemies. Our text speaks of the law of retaliation, “An eye for an eye.” But turn to Matthew 5:38–41 and see what our Lord says to us.

Beloved, we can thank God that we how insulted, hated, and reviled our Lord have not been treated with injustice, but in our Lord’s love and compassion. He knows we are guilty of all these laws, he knows that we are innocent of none of them, and he knows that we fail him in trying to promote godliness, nevertheless, he gave himself for us, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.

In the name of our gracious Savior. Amen.

The following is from my sermon on Exodus 13:1–16 entitled, "An Inaugural Sermon."

__________

Seminaries teach about it. Students read about it. Ministers work at it. Parishioners at times endure it. The world does not understand it. God’s Word commands it. What is it that causes all this commotion? Preaching. What is preaching? How would you explain it to your neighbor if asked? Let me say that I believe the greatest paragraph ever written on preaching and that I believe summarizes not only my belief and practice but that of the Reformed churches is from the Second Helvetic Confession, chapter 1, paragraph 4, written by Heinrich Bullinger in 1561:

Wherefore when this Word of God is now preached in the church by preachers lawfully called, we believe that the very Word of God is preached, and received of the faithful; and that neither any other Word of God is to be feigned, nor to be expected from heaven: and that now the Word itself which is preached is to be regarded, not the minister that preaches; who, although he be evil and a sinner, nevertheless the Word of God abides true and good.

In preaching we hear, receive, and need to expect the very voice of God himself through the means of sinful men. Can you understand why preaching is so vital to our faith and worship?

It was the same way in the days of Moses and the Israelites. Our text takes place right after the exodus from Egypt. And what was the first thing the narrative says happened? The church listened to Moses’ inaugural sermon to the newly freed people of God! Although this section of chapter 13 may seem disjointed and unorganized, there is a literary structure to it that gives us our three points today. Notice that in verses 1–2 the Lord speaks to Moses. This is a superscription over the entire text that gives the authorization for Moses to preach. Then in verses 3–16 we have Moses’ speech, which addresses the laws for the feast of Passover and the laws for the consecration of the firstborn. In reading these verses we come away impressed that the overall theme is the centrality and vitality of preaching the Word to the people of God. In this inaugural sermon, therefore, Moses challenged the people of God to respond to the gospel of the exodus in three ways, and the Holy Spirit today calls us to respond to our redemption in Christ in the same way: hear the Word, obey the Word, and teach the Word. 

Hear the Word (vv. 1–2)

God calls us to hear the Word. Notice that our text begins, “The Lord said to Moses” and this is contrasted with verse 3, which says, “Then Moses said to the people.” Verses 1–2 act as a superscription over this section of chapter 13. This means that it is like a heading that gives the reason for what Moses is about to say to the Israelites.

Even before Moses could preach he had to hear the Word of God from God. Of course this is the same as it is with ministers of the Word. When we were on vacation recently I was asked, “So how do you do it? Does a message just come to you?” I answered that God does speaks to me and I seek to deliver his message. I had this man's attention. But then I went on to that God speaks to me through his written Word! When a minister reads the Word prayerfully he enters the presence of God, and when he comes out to preach that Word, he should come out like Moses did when his face shone. He should come out with conviction, passion, and urgency.

So Moses and ministers must hear the Word, but since verses 1–2 were written down not only for later generations of Israelites to read, but especially "for our instruction" (1 Cor. 10), they apply to Israel and to all hearers of the Word in the same way. So how can you hear the Word week after week? Let me give you three practical ways.

First, you have to hear it expectantly. Do you come week after week expecting to hear the voice of God? This is what happens when the Word is preached: "When this Word of God is now preached in the church by preachers lawfully called, we believe that the very Word of God is preached." But let me say even more personally, do not come expecting to hear God's speak generally, but come expecting his particular word for your soul?

Second, you have to hear it faithfully. Remember, while you hear the voice of an evil and sinful man—your pastor—you hear in truth the very Word of God. And you must embrace his word with faith! Because this is so difficult for us, listen and learn from these words: "The Word itself which is preached is to be regarded, not the minister that preaches; who, although he be evil and a sinner, nevertheless the Word of God abides true and good."

Third, you have to hear it prayerfully. You must not only pray Monday through Saturday for your minister to preach the Word and that you will be enabled to hear it, but since the act of listening to the sermon is an act of worship you must be in an attitude of worship right now. When you hear the Law in the sermon you must humble your heart and confess your sins to God, and when you hear the Gospel you must rejoice and be glad in his salvation!

Last Lord's Day was sad as I finished my fifty-one sermons on Genesis, but I am glad to begin Exodus this coming Lord's Day. I've been preparing voraciously.

One resource I found and purchased is Theodoret of Cyrus' (393–460), Quaestiones in octateuchum (Questions on the Octateuch), a series of questions and answers on difficult portions of the first eight books of the Old Testament (Genesis–Ruth). As I've blogged before, I make it a practice to read at least one patristic exposition of every text I preach on, if available. Thankfully I have two on Exodus, Theodoret as well as Origen, to go along with my perennial favorite Jewish exegete, Nahum Sarna, and Brevard Childs' work.

As a side note, I went back and read some portions of Theodoret on Genesis and was happy to find some features that are in other patristic authors on the situation in the Garden. All the major strands of what our forefathers called "The Covenant of Works" are in the patristics. Here are a few references I have found in my studies over the past couple of years, which I hope to incorporate into an article someday on the incohate doctrine of the covenant of works in Belgic Confession article 14's language of "the commandment of life":

An example from the western church is Augustine of Hippo, who wrote in The City of God (12.21):

Man, on the other hand, whose nature was to be a mean between the angelic and bestial, He created in such sort, that if he remained in subjection to His Creator as his rightful Lord, and piously kept His commandments, he should pass into the company of the angels, and obtain, without the intervention of death, a blessed and endless immortality; but if he offended the Lord his God by a proud and disobedient use of his free will, he should become subject to death, and live as the beasts do the slave of appetite, and doomed to eternal punishment after death.

Augustine teaches, first, that there was life beyond the earthly life (“he should pass into the company of the angels, and obtain . . . a blessed and endless immortality), and second, that this was obtained by obedience to God’s commandments.

From the eastern church, two witnesses stand out. First, Theodoret of Cyrus (393–460) wrote soon before his death a series of Questions of the Octateuch. In question twenty-four on Genesis he asked, “Why did God plant the Garden of Paradise from which he would soon exclude Adam as a result of his sin?” Among the reasons given, Theodoret said, “Also, the Righteous Arbiter had to set the prize of victory before the athletes of virtue.” He went on to ask about the two trees mentioned in the Garden, saying, “Adam was set a trial with regard to the latter [tree of the knowledge of good and evil], whereas the tree of life was proposed as his prize for keeping the commandment.”

We learn from Theodoret first, that there was something more for Adam beyond life in the earthly Paradise of Eden, his “prize,” and second, that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a trial by his Adam’s obedience was the means of gaining the “prize.”

A second eastern witness is John of Damascus (676–749), known as the last of the church fathers. In his An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, he said,

When therefore He had furnished his nature with free-will, He imposed a law on him, not to taste of the tree of knowledge . . . And with this command He gave the promise that, if he should preserve the dignity of the soul by giving the victory to reason, and acknowledging his Creator and observing His command, he should share eternal blessedness and live to all eternity, proving mightier than death: but if forsooth he should subject the soul to the body, and prefer the delights of the body, comparing himself in ignorance of his true dignity to the senseless beasts, and shaking off his Creator’s yoke, and neglecting His divine injunction, he will be liable to death and corruption, and will be compelled to labour throughout a miserable life. For it was no profit to man to obtain incorruption while still untried and unproved, lest he should fall into pride and under the judgment of the devil . . . It was necessary, therefore, that man should first be put to the test (for man untried and unproved would be worth nothing), and being made perfect by the trial through the observance of the command should thus receive incorruption as the prize of his virtue. For being intermediate between God and matter he was destined, if he kept the command, to be delivered from his natural relation to existing things and to be made one with God’s estate, and to be immoveably established in goodness, but, if he transgressed and inclined the rather to what was material, and tore his mind from the Author of his being, I mean God, his fate was to be corruption, and he was to become subject to passion instead of passionless, and mortal instead of immortal, and dependent on connection and unsettled generation.

We learn from John that 1) there was something greater for Adam than life in the Garden, 2) that God gave a law to Adam, 3) that the promise of eternal life was attached to this commandment, 4) that obedience was the means to receive eternal life, 4) and that this obedience was tested in the Garden.