Keep - Exodus 23:1-33

[0:00] Well, good morning, everybody. So Exodus 23, as we continue through the book of Exodus and through the law, as Moses is receiving the law from the Lord, as he's received the Ten Commandments, and then Israel says, no, we don't want to hear anything more than ten.

[0:15] And God says, yeah, well, I got a whole lot more you need to hear. But it's all based in those ten. Everything we're reading is based out of those ten first commandments. And then the Lord then begins to give this to Moses and speak all these things to Moses. Moses faithfully then passes that on to the people.

[0:30] He said it's not his job to make the people do it or obey it. He's just to simply present it, to put it literally before their face. When it says before them, it means before the face of them. Last week, we looked at how God established this law of within the law, this idea of restoration and restitution to make up, to make whole, to restore that which was lost, which was taken advantage of, which was taken away.

[0:57] God says, no, that's going to be restored, that you will not take an advantage through someone else's disadvantage. And in Christ, all relationships, they find their wholeness. They find their fullness, their completeness.

[1:12] So because under the law, well, what if you don't want to make restitution? Or what if the person doesn't want to receive your restitution or won't give back to you? You know, restoration and restitution, it's not an option.

[1:23] But at the same time, what if the person says, no, I don't want to do that, or I'm not going to allow the relationship to be restored after what was taken away is restored. Well, then you're kind of left. You're just kind of stuck.

[1:38] But under the new covenant in Christ, in Jesus, that which is lost never stays at a loss because he makes up the whole, right? So I may be in a relationship that's broken, but he makes it up.

[1:50] He makes up the difference, even where I can't or another party can't. And we can always fulfill our part in relationships because Jesus has fulfilled his part, because he's fulfilled the whole of the relationship.

[2:02] It is now whole in Christ, even if I don't experience that with that person. I can forgive whether that person repents or not, because Jesus makes up the whole of that relationship.

[2:15] I can receive forgiveness for my part in a relationship, even if the other part won't forgive me, because Jesus makes up the whole and he brings forgiveness. Jesus is able to keep what is entrusted to him.

[2:28] And that's what we're going to look at today as we move into Exodus 23. We continue going through these precepts of the law. A lot of them read like the Proverbs. When you're reading through Proverbs, it's this proverb, which is kind of self-contained.

[2:40] And then the next proverb, which is self-contained. And the next one, and there's a flow to it for sure. But there's like precept and principle one after another as God is revealing his heart and his plan for humanity.

[2:52] And here is he's giving this to Israel. It's very much reads like that, especially the first part of this chapter. It's very much like the Proverbs. You see a principle and then he goes into some more principles. But God's going to talk about things that need to be kept.

[3:04] The word keep is going to be very much in the forefront of the message today and of the study. That there are things that God wants us to keep. There's things that we keep that we place value in. Great value.

[3:15] But that changes as our value system changes. There's things that when you're six years old that are very valuable that you keep. And they're your treasures. And then you're 26, 36, 46, and things change.

[3:31] And it doesn't have quite the value. It has a different type of value. You find that little trinket and you're like, oh, man, I used to keep these and collect these. And now I send them to Goodwill. Right? Or you find some little treasure that meant much to you.

[3:43] But there are things that are very valuable that we keep. And there are things that God puts great value in that he expects us to keep as well. So the word keep is going to appear in this chapter four times.

[3:55] And it's the word in the Hebrew, semar. And it means to hedge about with thorns, to guard, to watch, to have charge. To give heed. And you've probably heard that term before, you know, to be hedged about with thorns.

[4:08] Especially in the scriptures, you hear that God's going to hedge about his people. And you think, well, I mean, if you had a machete, there goes the thorns. God, couldn't you hedge us about with maybe a steel wall? But it's an agricultural thing.

[4:20] Right? It refers to if you've got sheep in a pasture or your livestock, you just make a hedge of thorns and they're not going to push through that. You're going to keep them secure.

[4:30] You're going to keep them. They're going to be there. They're going to be kept. They're going to be hedged about. They're going to be guarded. They're guarded, watched, to have charge, and to give heed. So there are things that we are to keep. That which is kept by nature is three things.

[4:44] It's secure. If you're going to keep something, it is secure. You're not going to lose it. You know where it is. It's in a safe place. It's then safe. Not only is it secure, but it's safe there.

[4:56] Nothing's going to come in and harm it because it's now kept and it's settled. You know where it is. You know where that treasure is. It's secure. It's safe. It's settled. You've got an X marked on it and a map drawn to it.

[5:07] So it's okay. It's safe. It's secure. And it's settled. This word keep, the first place it appears, is in Genesis 2.15. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it, to guard it, to watch it, to take charge over it.

[5:25] That's why God placed him there. It's the first time we see the word keep. And here we are again, as God is telling Israel, telling man, telling Adam, there are things you need to keep. We also see it in Genesis chapter four.

[5:39] If you remember when Cain decides to kill his brother Abel. And why? Because Abel's deeds were righteous and Cain's were not. So he kills Abel and God comes to him and says, Cain, where's your brother? And what does Cain say?

[5:50] Am I my brother's keeper? It's that same word. Am I the one who's to have charge over my brother, to watch over my brother, to guard my brother, to hedge my brother about? And we would all answer, especially after the new covenant, yes, I shall love your neighbor as yourself.

[6:07] This is a second commandment. Yes, all the law is fulfilled and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You are to keep him. And the last place that word in the Hebrew, Samar, is seen is the last book of the Old Testament in Malachi.

[6:19] And it's kind of sad because the Lord is speaking through the prophet Malachi to Israel. And he says this in Malachi 3.14. He says to Israel, you have said it is a vain, it is vain to serve God.

[6:35] And what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance? How sad. After all of this, here we are where God is giving them at the very beginning in Exodus, the ordinance, the precepts, the principles, the truths.

[6:46] And they will end up at the end of the Old Testament, the last book as it's being written before those 400 years of silence. They say, man, it is, it's a vain thing. What profit is it that we have watched, guarded, given charge, and taken heed to the word of God?

[7:03] How sad that that is where they end up. But we're not there yet with Israel. In Exodus 23, I don't usually, I put the outline in the bulletin, I don't usually necessarily reference it during the message, but today we're gonna, because it kind of breaks the chapter down for us.

[7:20] We're gonna see these five different areas that we're to keep, that God is to tell Israel, things you need to keep. We're gonna keep truth. He's gonna prioritize the need for truth and to reject falsehood, to keep rest, where he reiterates that his people are to be a people of rest.

[7:34] To keep remembrance as he institutes the three main feasts in Israel, to keep going, where he says, hey, I've gone before you, I've led you, very specifically.

[7:46] And then lastly, to keep out, that when you get into the land, there's things that you need to keep out, to keep out of your life, and to keep out of this land. So the first one we're gonna see as we jump into verse one is, keep truth, verses one through nine.

[8:01] Verse one of Exodus 23, you shall not raise a false report. Put not your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. And as we said, all of these precepts and truths and laws, they're just extrapolations of one of the Ten Commandments.

[8:17] So here we, right away, we see Exodus 20, 16, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not raise a false report. The word raise in the Hebrew is to bear.

[8:29] You shall not carry, you shall not bear it. A false witness is not to find a home with God's people. So this isn't to be something that is to be comfortable with you. Don't bear this.

[8:39] Don't carry it. Well, that makes us think of another of the Ten Commandments, doesn't it? Exodus 20, verse seven, you shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain. That word is to bear.

[8:50] It's the same word right there. You shall not raise a false witness. You shall not take the name of the Lord in your vain. You shall not bear it in vain. For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that bears his name in vain.

[9:02] What is Israel? Israel is a people who bear God's name. God has placed his name upon them. He says, you bear my name. That means they bear the truth because he is the way, the truth, and the life.

[9:14] God is truth. So if we bear God's name, we bear truth. He says, man, you are not to bear a false witness. Put not your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Verse two, you shall not follow a multitude to do evil.

[9:30] Neither shall thou speak in a cause to decline after, to rest judgment. I'm reading from the King James. Yours may already say, but to decline or to rest judgment is to turn it or pervert it.

[9:43] You shall not follow a multitude to do evil, and neither shall you pervert justice. The idea here is it's a crowd, that you're going along with the crowd, and that they're saying, hey, this is just, and this is right.

[9:53] And God says, well, no, it's not. Why? Because you bear my name and you bear the truth. It doesn't matter how many people there are that say otherwise if it's against God's word. Why would we follow a crowd?

[10:05] What does following a crowd do for us? Well, it gives a sense of legitimacy to our cause. Whether it's a right or wrong cause, we feel a lot better when we have a crowd. It's not always that easy to stand alone.

[10:17] Paul tells us that in the last days, this is going to be a sign of what's happening in the days we live in. In 2 Timothy chapter 4, beginning in verse 3, he says, the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.

[10:32] They won't endure that which is truth. They won't endure sound teaching. The systematic, steady teaching of God's word. But after their own deceitful lusts, their own desires, they will heap to themselves teachers having itching ears.

[10:47] They'll gather themselves around them a crowd. Literally, they'll pile on pile on pile. They'll continue to pile these, trying to drown out the truth. And they shall turn their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables.

[11:00] Because following a crowd gives a sense of legitimacy to my actions. It gives a false sense of legitimacy to sin. Well, the world's doing it. They voted it in. It's now legal, so we can do it.

[11:10] But we stand with the truth because we bear his name. Even when the truth stands alone, we're to stand with the truth. On to our next proverb.

[11:25] They're all, all of these fall under that idea of how we are to, if you remember last week, we looked at restoring. And this week is now, in a sense, not causing a disadvantage through our propensity, our nature, to join with that which is not true.

[11:42] Saying, neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause. Okay, so he's saying, you need to uphold the truth. And now he focuses on the poor. And you think, okay, well, this is good. We should, we should uphold the poor man.

[11:55] Why does it say here, he shall not? Well, I don't know what your Bible, what version you're in, but the King James says countenance. And countenance means to honor. Literally to swell. We shall not swell up the cause of the poor because he's poor.

[12:07] Or, well, God likes it. God likes the poor. So I'm going to show favoritism over here. God says, no, there's no favoritism. We're not to swell up. We're not to show favoritism and honor someone who does not deserve it just because of the fact that they're poor.

[12:26] Should we honor the poor? We should. But honor belongs to all men. Honor should be for all. It should not be their state materially or where they are in their position in life that determines how we relate to them.

[12:39] So I think in here, God is kind of guarding against the person that would want to curry God's favor. You're like, oh, yeah, yeah, look at God. I know the poor man.

[12:49] He's unjust in his cause. But, you know, I know you like those that are downtrodden. So I'm going to pervert justice to try and raise this person up. God is not into socialism for the sake of it, if it's unjust.

[13:07] Honor is to be for all. No favoritism. Verse 4. So these next two verses are going to cover, one, my relationship with someone, and then, two, their relationship with me.

[13:22] It starts with someone where it says, if you meet an enemy. So this is my relationship with them. I look on this person as if they're an enemy. To me, I don't want anything to do with them. And I meet his ox or his donkey going astray.

[13:36] God says, bring it back. Why would he say that? Because, like, oh, my word. That's, oh, there it goes. Yeah. Oh, well. I'm not going to do anything about that.

[13:48] Dude, that dude's my enemy. There goes his ox. God says, no, bring it back to him again. What's going to happen if I bring it back to him again? What's that going to do in my heart?

[13:59] That I'm taking this ox, all right? God's word tells me I have to bring it back. I'm going to restore it to him. I'm going to give it back to him as God is trying to work on my heart.

[14:10] And turning my heart towards my enemy. Saying, hey, love your enemies. Do good to those that persecute you. We are responsible. God holds us responsible to respond as we've been enabled.

[14:21] He says, do you have the ability? Response, ability, the ability to respond. Did you have the ability to turn that ox back and bring it back? You're responsible to do it then. Even if you don't want to.

[14:32] Paul writes in Colossians chapter three, he says, To put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, depths of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long sufferings.

[14:47] We're the beloved of God. We're the elect of God. We have opportunity and enablement now to bring all these things into our lives because of Christ. And what do we do with it? Forbearing one another.

[14:58] Forgiving one another. If any man, any man, have a quarrel against any. Even as Christ forgave you, so also do you. Well, what if they won't receive my forgiveness?

[15:08] Doesn't matter. Jesus will. Jesus makes the hole in that relationship. We're responsible to respond as we've been enabled. To all men to forgive. If any have a quarrel against us.

[15:19] Verse five, if you see the donkey of him that hates you. So this is now that it's not my way that I'm looking at this person.

[15:30] This is now the person looking to me and they see me as the enemy. If you see the donkey of him that hates you lying under his burden and would forbear to help him, you shall surely help with him.

[15:40] In other words, you see a situation. You're like, oh, that guy. That guy, he hates me. But he's struggling. He's struggling. And his donkey's struggling. He's struggling in a situation here where he's too burdened.

[15:52] And he says, you would forbear to help. I don't want to get involved. I really don't want to go over there. I don't want to put up with that. That guy hates me. And God says, no, you should surely go help him.

[16:02] Go and help him. We do what is right, whether we want to or not. God's word says we step in and do what is right, whether we feel like it or not, whether we want to or not. I think the idea here, too, is his animal's overloaded.

[16:16] That there's almost this idea behind it that there's a cruelty. And like, you need to step in and you need to bring help. That we cannot let another man's cruelty make us cruel. We can't let someone else's hatred bring about a response in us that, well, I don't hate him, but I'm acting in a way that hatred acts.

[16:35] I'm not going to go help. Proverbs 20 or 12 verse 10 says, A righteous man regards the life of his beast, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. That the righteous looks at his, you know, it's just an animal, but he regards the life of it.

[16:50] It doesn't take it for granted. An animal that, yes, is going to be used for his work, for his agriculture, for slaughtering, for eating. But he values what it is.

[17:02] Where it says the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. That the wicked can't even come up with legitimate form of mercy. But I think what God's trying to get across here between these two verses with Israel is, that when the source is love, the recipient doesn't matter.

[17:17] The source is love. What's it matter who then it goes to? Jesus said the same. He says, God, the source is the same with God.

[17:43] It's always love. Always. It doesn't matter who the recipient is. Whether they reject it or not, God doesn't change. They rejected my love. Now I'm angry. I don't love them anymore.

[17:54] I'm not a God of love now. Now I'm a God of wrath and cruelty. No, he's a God of love. It doesn't matter when the source is love. The recipient shouldn't matter. Whether the person receives it or not.

[18:05] So from my heart is coming that love. And I look at a situation. I think that is a situation that love would step into. Even if it costs love. Because Jesus did the same. When he stepped in.

[18:17] When those that hated him had a burden they couldn't bear. He stepped in. He said, well, I'm going to go over and I'm going to help bear that burden. Even though they hate me. Verse six.

[18:27] You shall not rest the judgment of the poor in his cause. It's okay. Here we have these two verses of the poor being bookend in this section. You shall show no favoritism. No partiality.

[18:38] And you shall show no discrimination. Now this is saying you shall not rest. You shall not turn or pervert the judgment of the poor. Because he's poor. All right. You're not going to take advantage of him now.

[18:48] Where before it was. Oh, we're going to inflate this cause unjustly. Well, now we're going to tear down his cause unjustly. The standard is God and he never changes. It never changes. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

[18:59] Jesus is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Malachi 3.6. The Lord says, I am the Lord. I change not. So the standard is always the same. It's always God, and God doesn't change.

[19:12] He says, we're going to show honor. We're going to show love. Cross the board. Doesn't matter the situation. This is in the law. You know, where Jesus, when he said to the Pharisees, you've heard that it is said, love your neighbor and hate your enemies.

[19:26] It's not written. He heard. The Pharisees were saying this at the time. This is what you hear, but it's not what I wrote. Even as we come back to Exodus, and then we get into Leviticus, we're going to see God's law, the heart behind God's law, doesn't change.

[19:39] It's love. Keep you far from a false matter. And the innocent and righteous slay you not, for I will not justify the wicked.

[19:52] So just keep as far from it as you can. Keep a distance. God tells us in Romans 13, 14, to put you on the Lord Jesus Christ, to make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lust thereof.

[20:05] Don't provide opportunity. Don't provide resources. Don't provide time. Don't provide location. Don't provide your thoughts. Don't provide for the flesh. Don't provide for something is to take forethought and expect to act upon it.

[20:20] Right? It's not saying like, oh man, I just had a thought come into my mind or a desire flared up. No, it's saying you have given forethought and foreaction to make something come about.

[20:31] Do not make provision for the flesh. Consistency is found in Christ. Our consistency is in him. He doesn't change. I don't have to then vary with the situation.

[20:44] He says, hey, keep far from a false matter. Abstain from all appearance of evil. Don't even, don't even look like you're part of that. If the truth stands alone, stand alone with it. The further we draw away from the truth, what's the problem?

[20:58] Well, the closer we get to the rest of this verse, the innocent and the righteous slay not. Keep far from a false matter. I mean, it was just a, it was just a little something.

[21:09] And before I know it, now I'm over here bringing an end to innocence and an end to righteousness. The further we draw away from truth, the closer we draw to destruction. And so God says, stay far away from a falsehood.

[21:22] It's going to end in death. It's going to end in a loss of innocence. Interesting here because he says, I will not justify the wicked.

[21:34] And he won't. God will not justify the wicked in his wickedness. But God will gladly justify any wicked who wants to come out of his wickedness.

[21:45] Here we all sit. Who's not wicked? Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[21:58] God would not justify the wicked until the law was fulfilled. And the law was fulfilled. God was able to step in and he justified the wicked who wanted to come out from their wickedness. For you and I, if we're justifying something in our lives, if we're saying this is just, to justify is to say, is a just cause and has a just source to this matter.

[22:21] I am justifying. Well, how do I know if it's just? How do I know if it lines up with God's word? Is it removing life? Is it removing innocence? Is it removing righteousness?

[22:32] Then my cause is not just. Neither is it of God. Remove yourself far from a false matter. Because a false matter removes innocence, life, and righteousness.

[22:44] And so it's easy to tell, am I justifying something in my life that's of God or not? Well, I mean, it removes innocence, but it's entertainment. It removes life, but the law says it's okay.

[22:57] I can do that now. It's just getting rid of something unwanted. It removes righteousness. Well, God says it's righteous, but that's so old-fashioned. Nobody does that anymore.

[23:10] Am I justifying my actions? Well, I want God to justify me. I want him to be the one who justifies me. If I try and justify myself, I remove myself from a place where God is the one justifying.

[23:23] And you shall take no gift. So in judgment, in these matters of falsehood and truth and upholding that which is of just cause and the right judgment, he says take no gift.

[23:35] Not a bribe. Don't be bribed. Why? Because the gift blinds the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. A gift changes perspective.

[23:47] A bribe. It blinds the wise. One who should know. One who should have the wisdom to deal in this matter. And now their perspective's been changed. They no longer see the cause.

[23:59] They now see the contribution. Well, this was a just cause until someone paid me $3 million to make this a just cause. And now this is the just cause. We call those interest groups today.

[24:11] But we are not to judge according to appearance. We're to judge righteous judgments. We no longer see the cause, but we see the contribution. It changes our perspective.

[24:24] The gift blinds the eyes. You and I, on this side of the cross, you know, as we go through the laws, we look at all of this. What are we looking at? We want to see Jesus.

[24:35] Jesus said to the Pharisees, you search the scriptures and you think in them you have life, which is true. But these are they which speak of me. You can find it if you find me in here. Jesus is on the pages of his word.

[24:48] He's the word made flash. As we go through the law, the point is to see Jesus. On this side of the cross, it's to look back through the filter of the cross and see Jesus. So we look here and we see, well, wait a minute. How are we saved?

[25:01] Wasn't there a cause? Our injustice? Wasn't there a cause that we were not justified, that we had sinned and come short of the glory of God? But didn't a gift totally change that perspective?

[25:15] Doesn't a gift now make it so God no longer looks at the cause, but he looks at the contribution? Ephesians 2.8, For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God.

[25:27] Because of a gift, God no longer looks at us and sees the cause of our sin. He sees the contribution and it completely changes his perspective. And he sees Jesus instead.

[25:39] But in a matter that you would pervert justice, that you would pervert the words of righteousness, he says, take no gift.

[25:51] Don't let it influence you. Verse 9, Also, you shall not oppress, you shall not squeeze or pressure a stranger. For you know the heart, literally the soul.

[26:03] You understand the soul of a stranger. Seeing you are strangers in the land of Egypt. I love how God is telling them to do all these things that you think, who would do that? I'm like, well, who would just watch his neighbors, you know?

[26:15] Nope, he left the gate open and there goes all of his livestock. Oh well, he's my enemy, I don't care. That's terrible. But I find that same type of thing in my heart, right? I think of the proverb that says, hey, don't take, don't exalt.

[26:28] Don't rejoice when you see your enemy put down. Because God will see that in your heart and he'll stop putting down your enemy. He's more concerned with your heart and my soul and my heart than he is with what's happening in the life of materially someone else.

[26:44] But he says, don't oppress or squeeze a stranger. Why? Because you know in your soul, you know what it is to have the soul of a stranger. You are strangers in the land of Egypt. We know what it is to be on the outside looking in.

[26:55] We all know that. Paul would tell us in 1 Corinthians. He tells us that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. And he describes what the unrighteous are. He says, do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God.

[27:18] And such were some of you. At one time, you were on the outside looking in. You know what it is to be that. Say, well, no, I've never been that. I was not a, you know, I wasn't a thief, or I didn't do any of the adulterers.

[27:31] I was covetous. That one got me. As Paul says, oh, that one killed me. Revilers, I've reviled. Such were some of you. We've been on the outside looking in.

[27:41] But you are washed. You are sanctified. You are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. We know what it's like to be on the outside looking in. It doesn't do any good to put someone down, to put someone down in the world because they're struggling in sin.

[27:53] Of course they are. That's who they are. They're strangers, but we want to bring them in. We want to make them part of the family. You see, love is not based upon familiarity. Well, are you part of the group?

[28:05] If you're not part of the group, the kingdom of God is an exclusive, all-inclusive club. Absolutely exclusive.

[28:17] But it's all-inclusive for anyone who wants to come in and be a part of it. Yes, you have to be part of the kingdom. It's an exclusive thing if you want to be in a relationship with God. But everybody's included who wants to be a part of it.

[28:28] Remember when Jesus was, I think he was in Peter's house in Capernaum. And he was teaching and there's a crowd there. Someone comes to him and says, hey, your mom's outside with all the rest of your family.

[28:39] And they want to come and see you. And he looks around on all those that are with him. And he says, behold, my mother and my brethren.

[28:50] Looks at his disciples. He says, these are my mother and my brethren. Those who do the will of my father, which is in heaven. Familiarity is not the basis of our relationship with one another.

[29:03] It's love. It's love that brings us into a family relationship with each other and with God. But that's not exclusive. It's exclusive in that everybody needs to be a part of it. But it's 100% inclusive.

[29:15] So he says, don't squeeze or pressure. Don't make someone feel on the outside. Don't make it like, well, we're part of the clique and you're not. No, no, no. Don't do that. Don't pressure them. Bring them in.

[29:25] Make them feel a part. We want to do that. We want people who walk through the door. It's a very light crowd today. But that's all right. Whoever comes in. It's like, man, we want you to know you're loved. That you're part of what we're doing here. Whether you're here for a week or a month or a year or whatever.

[29:39] We're all part of this. So that was keeping the truth. As God establishes for his people, you'll be a nation based in truth.

[29:50] You'll also be a nation based in rest, which is our next section. Verses 10 through 13. It says, in six years, you shall sow your land and you shall gather in the fruits thereof.

[30:02] But the seventh year, you shall let it rest and lie still. The word rest there is to release, to let drop, to let it go. It says, hey, in the seventh year, you just let it go.

[30:15] You shall let it lie still. To lie still means to leave it alone, to forsake. It has within it the meaning of permit. I'm giving permission to this. Permit it. Let it do that.

[30:26] You have to choose as an action involved in it. Let it go. Release it. Leave it. Rest is for restoration. You shall let it rest and lie still.

[30:37] That the poor of your people may eat. And what they leave, the beasts of the field shall eat. So we're going to find out later in the scripture, another part, that the seventh year is to be for rest.

[30:48] As we're reading here. But the sixth year, God says, hey, I'm going to give you twice as much. That your fields will produce twice as much. Your vineyards will produce twice as much. Everything is going to produce twice as much so that you'll have enough for the seventh year.

[31:00] And then whatever then just comes up, you know, like, so you got a vineyard and you harvest it the sixth year. Whatever then grows on it in the seventh year, throughout any effort of your own, you're not going to care for it.

[31:10] You're not going to husband it. You're just going to leave it. Whatever grows is for the poor. Let them come and have it. God's system puts work and welfare in the proper perspective. You know, you don't squeeze every bit out of life for the sake of work.

[31:25] Well, I know, I know God's calling me to this. He wants me to enter into his rest over here. But you know what? I need to make up some lost time. So I'm going to work.

[31:36] I'm going to work, work, work, work. But it puts welfare in perspective, too. It's not a free handout. It's there, but you got to go and get it. You're going to have to go and you're going to have to get the grapes and you're going to have to go and you have to thresh the wheat. God puts God's system puts work in proper perspective.

[31:50] You shall leave it for the poor and what they leave, the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner, thou shall deal with thy vineyard and with thy olive yard.

[32:00] I think God put that in there, the beasts of the field shall eat, because they'd be thinking, all right, well, after the poor collect what they need, I'll go get the rest. All right. He's like, no, no, you just leave it completely. God's people were commanded to let God keep them.

[32:15] There's our word keep. We're to be kept in truth. We're to be kept in rest. God's word, God's people were commanded to let God keep them in rest. Can you trust God to keep you during this seventh year?

[32:27] Six days you shall do your work. Now he brings it down to the Sabbath day. And on the seventh day, you shall rest. That your ox and your donkey may rest. That the son of your handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed.

[32:41] Rest is for restoration and rest is for refreshing. God wants us to be refreshed. That word refreshed literally means to breathe, to take a breath, to take a breather.

[32:52] God said once a week, every seven days, you're to breathe. You're to take a breath. Remember what God did when he created man? He says he did what to Adam? He breathed into his nostrils.

[33:04] Breath of life. What day was that? It was the sixth day. What was the first full day Adam experienced? Day of rest. Because I want you to remember that. Once a week, every seventh day, remember that I breathe into you life.

[33:18] But it wasn't so you could work yourself to death. It's to enter into my rest. And that again, Exodus 20, verse 8 through 11. We won't read it. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

[33:28] One of our other 10 commandments. Rest is not an option for God's people. You cannot enter into relationship with God without entering into God's rest. For he that has entered into his rest, into Christ's rest, he also has ceased from his own works, his own efforts, his own works to bring himself into right relationship to God, as God did from his when he created.

[33:52] Let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. So we enter into rest, not through effort and work, but through faith, through belief. How do we not enter into rest?

[34:04] Well, we don't believe. I don't trust that God is able to keep me when I'm in rest. We enter into rest, just like you said here. We cease. We let go.

[34:15] We release. We cease our own works. When we let go of our own efforts, we enter into God's rest. It's much easier to just keep striving, striving, striving.

[34:29] Whatever it is. And I'm not even talking about, like, work for material gain now. Whatever it is we're working towards in our life, that's in our nature, in our character, or whatever it is. So much easier just to try and keep pushing, pushing, pushing, because we feel like we have a partner.

[34:43] We feel like we have some control. And just let it go and trust that God can do it. But what if he doesn't do it as quick as I want? What if he, his provision is different than I would do it?

[34:54] Can you trust that God can keep you in rest? And in all things that I have said unto you, be circumspect. That is the word samar. In the English here, it's interpreted that way in the King James.

[35:07] But in all things that I've said unto you, keep watch. Keep guard. Literally, guard the things I say. Watch and keep my word. And make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of your mouth.

[35:22] Make no mention is, do not call it to mind. Don't make a memorial. Don't bring it in remembrance. Every false god originates in the heart of man. And out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

[35:35] God says, don't even let these be named in your mouth. Because it's from our hearts that the false gods come. They didn't come from outer space. They magically appear. There's only one god. But all other gods, false gods, come from the heart of man.

[35:50] Proverbs 4, verse 23 says, To keep the heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Out of the heart flow the things that we keep watch over, that we keep guard of.

[36:06] Jesus would say in Luke 6.45, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And God says, don't even let it be mentioned. Don't let it be a part of who you are.

[36:18] Keep truth. Keep rest. Keep remembrance. Verse 14. Three times you shall keep a feast unto me in the year. Israel was to keep three feasts of remembrance.

[36:30] There'll be a whole lot other feasts. Not a whole lot, but more. But these are three main feasts. Remember when Jesus, he's talked about this before, when he's on the road to Emmaus. What did he say to them?

[36:41] He opened their minds and he's expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And I think this was some of the scripture he came to, these three feasts. He says, hey, let me show you how these point directly to me.

[36:52] You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Verse 15. You shall eat unleavened bread seven days as I commanded you. This would be back in Exodus 12 at the time of Passover. The lamb is slain and they keep a feast of unleavened bread for seven days.

[37:06] At the time as I commanded you in the time appointed of the month of Eib. For in it you came out of Egypt and none shall appear before me empty. So the first feast is unleavened bread or Passover.

[37:19] Follows Passover. You know, it's interesting. God is instituting this and he says, you shall do this. There's gonna be three feasts and you shall do it. They don't get an option. We don't either.

[37:30] We don't get to decide how we relate to God. He said, well, you know what? I don't want to relate to God through his word, through faith, through the spirit and through the body of Christ. I don't want to continue steadfastly in the apostles, doctrine, fellowship, breaking bread and prayer.

[37:43] I don't. I want to sleep with my Bible under my pillow and drink carrot juice and relate to God that way. We don't get to decide. We simply respond. That's all we are in this scenario.

[37:56] We are responders to God or we're not. We can be included in the exclusive family of God or not. God's the one who decides. But he says, I don't want anyone to come before me empty.

[38:07] What does that mean? And none shall appear before me empty. That's the word vain. No one shall come before me vainly. In other words, the feast will be started by bringing the lamb.

[38:21] No one is going to just make this an empty thing. None are to seek God's face vainly and make it an empty thing. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just coming to the feast. Yeah, yeah. I'm a Christian. Yeah. But what way did you come though? Did you come by way of Passover?

[38:33] Did you come by way of unleavened bread? Or how are you entering into this? Are you making light of something that God holds such value on? And the feast of the harvest. Feast number two.

[38:44] The first fruits of your labors. This one confused me. I thought it was the feast of first fruits. It's not. It's the feast of harvest of the first fruits of your labors, which you have sown in the field. This would be, and then we're going to see the next feast.

[38:57] I'll just read it. And the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year. When you've gathered in your labors out of the field. So it's two feasts of harvest. The first one is what we call Pentecost. Penta meaning five. It comes 50 days after Passover.

[39:09] The wheat harvest is finished. It's the first of the wheat. The first of your harvest. And you bring that in and you celebrate this feast. And what happened on Pentecost? As the first of the harvest of God's people, of the church, of the result of the Passover lamb being slain, of Jesus is brought in.

[39:26] Well, then in gatherings at the end of the year, when all of your harvest has been finished, there's nothing left to be gathered. It's also called the feast of trumpets or eventually tabernacles after they've wandered through the wilderness.

[39:39] See, whatever God asks us to keep in our lives, he says, keep this. It always leads to Jesus. Always. Whatever God asks you to keep generally through his word and whatever he asks you to keep specifically in your life and says, this is something I want you to keep in your life.

[39:54] Well, yeah, but that guy doesn't have to. Yeah, but this is how I want you to relate to me. I want you to keep this in your life. It will always lead to Jesus. We may not see how it does in the moment or for Israel for centuries.

[40:06] They did not realize how this led to Jesus. Unleavened bread, a spotless lamb and a leavened free life was offered at the cross.

[40:17] The harvest, the first fruits of the harvest, Pentecost, 50 days after Pentecost, the wheat is harvested, the very first fruits of the harvest. And then in gathering, the feasts of trumpets when all other harvests have been gathered in.

[40:29] It points to Jesus. It shows us Jesus. Three times in the year, all your males shall appear before the Lord God. All males. I think that's great.

[40:40] God knows us, guys. Adam needs accountability. Adam needs fellowship. And Adam needs remembrance. God says three times you're going to be there. You need to be accountable.

[40:51] You need to be in fellowship. And you need remembrance. What God asks us to keep will ultimately be what keeps us. You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. This is the blood of atonement.

[41:02] It shall not be offered with leaven and neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until morning. Two things. It's not offered with leaven, a type of sin, and it's a completed work. The blood of atonement is offered without sin and it's offered as a completed work.

[41:15] There's nothing left till morning. Jesus was taken off the cross because he said that we don't want him to hang until morning because it's Passover. The first of the first fruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God.

[41:27] You shall not see a kid in his mother's milk. We'll get to that one in a second. But the first fruits you bring into the house of the Lord your God. You're to acknowledge that the source is from God.

[41:38] It's not a ritual. We are to keep the principles and practices of God because through them we know God, his promise and his person. It's not through a ritual that we obtain this fruitfulness.

[41:49] Coming here, as valuable as it is, is not a ritual that then leads to some type of magical fruitfulness in our life. No. We come here because it's through the principles and practices of God that we get to know his promises, this person.

[42:05] That's why I come to the word. Read my Bible every day because it's a ritual. No. Because Jesus is there. Then this last part.

[42:16] You shall not see the kid in his mother's milk. Well, today, the Orthodox Jews, they won't mix dairy and meat because of this verse. But what it means is, in context with the fruitfulness here, is the pagan nations, after, like, say, all their olive harvest was in, they would then take a mother, sheep, or goat.

[42:33] They would take the milk from it, and they would take its child, the kid, and they would kill it and then cook it in the milk. And then they would take that liquid solution and sprinkle it on all their trees as a ritual.

[42:46] Like, yeah, this creates fertility and fruitfulness, you know? And God says, no. It's not through ritual. Prosperity and fruitfulness come by way of faithfulness, not a ritual.

[42:58] It comes by way of your relationship with me. And I will be faithful to you if you're faithful to me. You don't need these rituals. Behold, now we move into our second to last section.

[43:12] Keep going. And God's going to tell them, you're to keep truth, you're to keep rest, you're to keep remembrance, but keep going. I'm going to go before you. Don't stop. I have a plan and a purpose.

[43:22] Behold, I send an angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. The word angel is just literally the word messenger throughout Scripture, throughout the Old Testament.

[43:34] You'll see where it's interchanged, where it could be some ungodly person talking about sending a messenger or God talking about sending his angel. But it's a messenger. The idea here is it's a divine messenger.

[43:46] It's one who's sent by God. And he said, I will send my angel before you. And he's going to do three things. He's going to keep you. There's our word keep again. He's going to lead you.

[43:59] He's keeping you in the way to go somewhere. It means he's leading you. And the third thing is he's going to bring you. To bring you to the place which I prepared. God's divine messenger was sent to keep, to lead, and to bring.

[44:11] To bring us in. Who do you think this messenger is? I think it's kind of twofold. I think we're going to see that he says he's put his name in him. The idea is in this very midst, indwelling.

[44:24] I think this is very literally Jesus. A pre-Christophany. A pre-figuring of Jesus in the Old Testament. Saying that I have gone before you. But I also think he's talking about Moses in the type here.

[44:35] And Moses is the one who's the divine messenger. I think they both find a place in here. But this is very profound but very true. A messenger must have a message.

[44:46] You can't be a messenger without a message. You say, well, I'm a messenger. Do you deliver messages? No. Do you have a message? No. But I've got a badge that says messenger. Then you're not a messenger.

[44:57] It's just kind of how it works. The purpose of a messenger is to do what? To deliver the message. You could be a messenger with a message.

[45:08] But if you don't deliver it, what good are you? Romans 10.15 says, And how shall they preach except they be sent with a message? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, that bring glad tidings of good things.

[45:25] There's a message that we've been given. We have to first own the message. But we're no good if we don't deliver the message. What good is that? But ultimately, what God is saying here to Israel is, I've sent a messenger before you.

[45:41] And the message is this, that I'm going to keep you in every place I take you. Every place you go, I've led you to. And I will keep you, hold you, secure you. Can we believe that? Can I believe the message that's sent to me, that God says to me, that all places, he will not only lead me, but keep me?

[46:00] Do I believe he's led me to all places? In Psalm 23, verse 4, there's a place I might not want to be led. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

[46:12] For thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Can I believe God's led me there? And can I believe he keeps me there? Do I believe that message? God sent a messenger before them.

[46:22] He will bring them into all the places where he's prepared them. Beware of him, verse 21. Beware is the same word for keep again. Same word we've seen for circumspect.

[46:34] It's the same R. Beware of him. Literally keep him. Observe him. Give heed to him. And obey his voice. Provoke him not, for he will not pardon.

[46:46] That's that word bear. He will not bear. Do not raise up a false witness. Do not bear a false witness. For he will not bear your transgressions. For my name is in him.

[46:58] In his very midst. In who he is. In his very essence. God's divine messenger was sent to not only represent God, but to be God. Saying, hey, my name is in the midst of him.

[47:08] I've gone before you. The divine messenger of the old covenant, he said, I will not bear your transgressions. I will not. Until the law is fulfilled.

[47:20] Just as we looked at earlier. Isaiah 53.5 says that he, this divine messenger, was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was born by him.

[47:35] And with his stripes we are healed. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No, the divine messenger would not bear the transgressions of Israel until the law was fulfilled.

[47:47] And then he said, yeah, I'll bear your transgressions by grace and truth, not by law. So in Jesus, the man and the divine are one. Jesus leads us as both man, Moses, the type of the deliverer, and the divine, the angel.

[48:03] But Jesus brings them both together. The two become one. And if you shall indeed obey his voice and do all that I speak. To obey means more than just to hear, doesn't it? To obey means to be informed and understand what's being asked of us to do and then to do it.

[48:17] In the Old Testament and the New Testament alike, a person's response to God's word determines their relationship to God. The difference is that the New Testament relates by promise, not law.

[48:32] But if you shall indeed obey his voice and do all that I speak, then I'll be an enemy unto your enemies, an adversary unto thine adversaries.

[48:44] And for my angel shall go before you and bring you unto the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and Jebusites. And I will cut them off. If you indeed obey my voice and do all that I speak.

[48:58] The angel of God opens to us all the promises of God. All of these promises God says he will do. And God's angel opens to us all of those promises. His messenger is divine messenger.

[49:09] But we have to receive them by faith. These are all things God says to Israel, I will do, but he's not currently doing. They're all things he had to believe would be, they had to believe would be done. You shall not bow down to these gods, to the gods of these nations.

[49:23] Christians don't bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do to them after their works. But you shall utterly overthrow them and quite break down their images. God said don't leave any remembrance of them. He knows our nature.

[49:34] He knows we follow what we can see. And he wants Israel to keep only one God in view. The one true God. And you shall serve the Lord your God. And he shall bless your bread and your water.

[49:46] And I'll take sickness away from the midst of you. And there shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren in the land. The number of your days I will fulfill. God says serve and be blessed.

[49:57] If you serve me, I will bless you. None of these other gods will do that. None of these other gods can do that. Psalm 100 verse 2 says serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. Because we are his people.

[50:09] The sheep of his pasture. When we keep the faith. When we trust God to do all of this. And we follow his word and we obey him. God is able to keep the rest. God says I'll take care of the rest.

[50:20] You just keep the faith. Jesus essentially says the same thing in Matthew chapter 6. Verse 31 through 33. He says therefore take no thought saying.

[50:31] What are we going to eat? Or what are we going to drink? Or what are we going to be clothed with? As we follow you God. As we follow your divine messenger. As you lead us. For your heavenly father knows you have need of all these things.

[50:44] But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these things shall be added unto you. God desires his people to live full lives. He wants them to live in fullness. We're to be filled with the spirit.

[50:56] We do that by seeking first. The things he gives us priority for. And I will send my fear before you. And I will destroy all the people to whom thou shall come.

[51:07] And I will make all your enemies turn their backs unto you. Verse 27 begins our next section. Keep truth. Keep rest. Keep remembrance.

[51:17] Keep going. And now there's things to keep out. As we walk with the Lord. He said I will send my fear before you. And I will destroy all the people to whom you shall come.

[51:28] And I will make all your enemies turn their backs unto you. You know what that means? It means God's people follow victory. They don't have to go and get victory. He says I'm going to send it before you.

[51:38] I'm going to send before you victory. And I'll turn your enemies back. Victory doesn't follow in the wake of God's people. It goes before them. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2.14.

[51:50] Now thanks be unto God. Which always causes us to be led in triumphal procession in Christ. The idea there is that the Roman general, the conquering general comes back. Marches through Rome.

[52:02] Leading the procession. Victory going before that which is conquered going behind. Victory doesn't follow. It goes before us. We walk in a victory that has gone before us.

[52:13] Do we believe that? Do I believe that the enemy in front of me is defeated? Or that I have to go in and somehow bring defeat? We have a part. But victory goes before.

[52:25] And I will send hornets before you. Which you shall drive out. Which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you. Must all be allergic to bees. The Lord's methods are effective.

[52:37] They will accomplish his purposes. No matter how small. How insignificant. Or how silly. They may seem. God's purpose. God's purpose. It accomplishes what he sends it to do.

[52:49] His methods, I'm sorry. It's not about the means and the methods. It's about what he wants to accomplish. The result is always the same. Literally, where he says that they will be driven out from before them.

[53:01] That is the word in before your face. The enemy cannot stand before the face of God's people. He will get the victory. But I will not drive them out from before you in one year.

[53:12] Lest the land become desolate. And the beasts of the field multiply against you. But little by little, I will drive them out from before you until you be increased. Inherit the land. There's so many things we want God to do in our life.

[53:24] We're like, God, why don't you do it all now? I can handle it, Lord. He's like, no, we're going to do this a little at a time. You can't handle this. Inheritance is obtained by promise. The promise is the land is theirs.

[53:36] But it's experienced through growth. There's a promise given them. You have an inheritance. We have the same promise given to us. In 1 Peter 1, verses 3-4, We have an inheritance.

[53:46] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy has begotten us unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. To an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fades not away.

[54:01] It's reserved in heaven for you. I have that inheritance. That's by promise. It's there for me. How do I experience that now? How do I partake of that? Well, Ephesians 4-13 says, That we are all to come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, complete, whole, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

[54:21] It's obtained by promise, but we experience it by growth. As much of that inheritance as we are able to obtain by promise, and experience then comes by our growth.

[54:33] God says, I can't give it all to you at once because you can't handle it. Two more verses. We'll do it. And I will set bounds from the Red Sea, even under the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert under the river, for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand.

[54:48] You shall drive them out from before you. So we do have a part to play. God sends victory before us, but we have a part to play. We are to enter in and follow after victory. And here we see that God's land is not determined by man.

[55:02] God sets the bounds of his land. It's not by diplomacy or by man's decision, but it's God's the one who determined it. As we see today, man seeking to tear apart God's land, which is one of the things that Joel tells us that they will be judged for in the last days.

[55:19] And in those days and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations and bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, the Valley of Armageddon, Megiddo, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations.

[55:37] And whose land did they part? Parted my land. God's the one who determines the boundaries of his land, not man. You know, God will not force us to do our part.

[55:49] We have a part to play in this, and you shall drive them out. But if we don't walk in it, we don't partake in it. God's promised that he would overcome all of our enemies, that we walk in the flesh, but we do not war after the flesh.

[56:01] The weapons of our warfare aren't carnal. They're mighty through God, to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. But I have to partake in that.

[56:13] The victory is sure, but my participation is on me, not on the Lord. And thou shalt not make, actually, there's two more verses now.

[56:24] My bad. And thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. Don't make any covenant with these nations or their gods. The only reason Israel would make a covenant with a false god, why? Because they think something can be gained there.

[56:35] They think that maybe the one true God is withholding something. It's no different in our lives. Why would we ever join with, we'd have no fellowship with darkness. What fellowship has light with darkness? Paul would tell the Galatians, he would say, you've been delivered from that.

[56:50] Why do you turn back to that? Why do you think now that you know God, more importantly, are known by God, why do you think there's something to be gained back in that which God has delivered you from?

[57:02] They shall not dwell in the land, in your land. The false gods, the false religions that come with the other nations, now those other nations, they can dwell in your land if they're willing to be a part of what God is doing in your land.

[57:17] The stranger can be there. Don't oppress them, don't squeeze them, but don't let them influence you with their false gods. You shall not dwell in the land, or they shall not, lest they make you sin against me.

[57:28] For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto you. A snare is a lure or a bait. It's like going fishing, you know? God says, hey, they're going to catch you. I don't catch fish, but this would catch these people if there was these false gods.

[57:41] If you remember in Exodus 22, 31, it ended and said, you should be holy men unto me. The holy people are for a holy God. God said, you shall not serve these.

[57:53] They will be a snare unto you. They will cause you to sin, but I'm a holy God and you're to be a holy people. What fellowship has light with darkness? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?

[58:05] For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people.

[58:17] A holy God for holy people. Holiness is not an option. Just like rest is not an option. We don't get to choose if we want to partake in that.

[58:29] 1 Peter 1, 16 says, be you holy for I am holy. The choice is ours. This section we've just looked at between verses 25 through 33. The Lord says he will do many, many, many, many, many things.

[58:43] The beginning of that section in verse 25, it simply says, you shall serve the Lord and he will bless you. Just obey him.

[58:55] Just serve him. And then God's going to do all these things. The Lord will bless. The Lord will provide. The Lord will heal. The Lord will deliver. The Lord will defeat. And the Lord will increase if Israel only keep to the one thing God asks of them.

[59:10] One thing. You see that in one of my favorite stories in scripture is when Elijah's on Mount Carmel. I love it when he turns to the people and you know, they've got the prophets of Baal, the 400 plus prophets.

[59:21] And then Elijah's there with his one little altar. And he turns to the people and he says, how long holds you between two opinions? If the Lord is God to follow him. And if Baal follow him.

[59:31] And sadly it says, and the people answered him, not a word. They're like, we don't know. How sad. If Israel would only keep to their one thing that God asks of them, God would take care of the rest.

[59:46] We read in first Peter chapter one, that there's an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, that fades not away, reserved in heaven for us. But the next verse in verse five says, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

[60:06] We have an inheritance, but it's kept because we are kept. We are kept by God's power. That which is kept is secure, it's safe, and it's settled.

[60:17] If only we will keep the one thing God asks of us, then we can obtain all of the inheritance God has for us to walk into this life.

[60:28] Yes, there's an inheritance reserved for us in heaven, but we don't have to reserve ourselves to experience that. God's keeping us. He's promised to keep us. We're secure. We're safe. We're settled. If we would just do the one thing God asks of us, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.

[60:49] Paul would tell Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter four, he says, I'm ready to be offered. And the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I have finished the course.

[61:00] I have kept the faith. And henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. There's an inheritance that Paul says, I'm going to go to. And I've kept my part. And God's going to keep his part.

[61:11] That's not in question. Even if I don't keep mine, God will keep his. Henceforth, there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, judges righteously.

[61:22] She'll give me at that day. And not to me only, but to all them that love his appearing. It's exclusive, but it's all inclusive. And this morning, God would place before us these five things to keep truth, to keep rest, to keep remembrance, to keep going, and to keep out.

[61:43] God would put all these things in front of us. Say, well, God, these are so hard to do. How am I going to do that? He says, oh, it's all right. I've kept you. I'm going to keep you for all these things. Victory goes before you. No problem.

[61:55] Just do the one thing. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the law that has so effectively led us to the cross, that has led us to a place where we realize we need to be kept.

[62:12] We can't keep all these things as much as we would like to. I would love to live a life where I know I'm always keeping truth and keeping rest and keeping remembrance, where I never falter.

[62:22] I keep going. And all the things that are in this world that would creep into my life, I'm keeping out. But Lord, I can't. But Lord, I come to your word and it gives me such assurance because it tells me that you have kept me, that you have forgiven my transgressions, that in Christ, the divine and the man come together in one and satisfy all of the requirements of the atoning blood, and that we are kept for an inheritance that's reserved for us.

[62:50] And remarkably, we can experience as much of that now as we want to through our growth, through obedience, through keeping hold of our relationship with you.

[63:03] Lord, we don't want to live by law. We want to live by love. And so, Lord, I pray that you would keep in view, in view in our minds, the minds of our, the eyes of our mind, Lord, and in our hearts, Lord, that you would keep in view that wonderful gift that changes perspective, that allows me not to see the failures, but allows me to see the one who makes up all differences and all things owed.

[63:31] We love you, we praise you, in your name we pray. Amen. You know, we looked at in Malachi, that verse where the people said, it's a vain thing to serve God.

[63:43] And what profit is there? Well, it is not a vain thing to serve God. And there is great profit when we keep his word. Amen. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you.

[63:54] The Lord be gracious unto you and lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you peace. God bless you.