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Please turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy 21. We'll be looking at some various laws from chapter 21, 22, 23. Just to bring you back up to speed where we are, we're looking at this statement that Paul made that the law is our glorious tutor. And if you've been around, you know I really love God's law.

There is so much insight that it gives us about the lawgiver. And I know there are movements today and thoughts today that want to detach the Old Testament from the New Testament, unhinge it, as if to say that the God of the Old Testament is not the same as the God in the New Testament.

In fact, it's quite the opposite. If you really go deeply into the law and understand the lawgiver, when he showed up and walked among us, you'd recognize him. But what happened was people didn't understand Moses. They didn't understand the law. They didn't understand what it pointed to. And therefore, they missed the lawgiver when he was standing right in front of them.

Tonight, I want to just, well, I want to talk about The civil law for just a moment, or for our evening. And I've outlined just a whole bunch of laws. I don't know if we'll be able to get to them all. I've already cut them in half, and we'll just see how far we get.

But the law of Moses, one of the last thoughts we left off of last time, we were looking at Deuteronomy 27:26 that says, Cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them. And all of the people shall say, Amen. And so the Mosaic law wanted perfection, that the law would be obeyed.

I mean, perfection in the sense of needing to be completely obeyed. And it was intended that people would continue to do the law. And that's how people affirmed it. And the law left no uncertainty, and Paul picks it up: that cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book.

And so the Mosaic law expected perfect compliance. The problem with it is it didn't come with batteries. I could say it like that. You think about it, have you ever gotten one of those gifts? Somebody gives you this wonderful gift, and you, I remember. A young boy, somebody gave me a little handhold video game, and I was so excited, but guess what didn't come with it?

Batteries. And so you've got this thing that could be used, but with no batteries, it doesn't have any use. And that's basically what the law of Moses came with the stipulations, and it needed faith, and those who applied faith were by God's Spirit blessed and in the faith.

But the law of Christ is something different. The law of Christ does also expect perfection, but it does come with batteries. Law of Christ, God provided the payment for sin through faith in Him, through Christ. The law of Christ gives us the power to walk with Him by His Spirit.

And it also gives us the promise that we will be confirmed in holiness. And so the law, when you think about the Law of Christ, it has a way to God and a walk with God. Same was true about the law of Moses. It had a way to God and a walk with God.

And so, as you think about just For a moment, the law of Moses. It describes the way to God. And I'm talking about the first five books of the Bible. And second, it describes the walk with God. But before Israel could walk with God, guess what? It had to come to God.

And before it came to God, Israel had to leave Egypt. So you think about what's taking place in the Mosaic law or the Torah as it's laid out before us. There was a calling out of Egypt, there was a departure from Egypt, there was an arrival at Sinai, and then that's where they received the tabernacle, received the law, and then from there, the walk began.

That's where the theocracy, God in the midst of his people, began. And so, as we're thinking about the law, there's five, or let me just say a few things. The law shows us several things that we need to know about the way to God. And see it in Mosaic law.

First thing you need to know is that God does what he says, he keeps his promises. What he sets out to do, he does. And he does what he sets out to do because he keeps his promise. You remember in Exodus 2, chapter 2, verse 23, just read to you a few excerpts.

Now it came about. In the course of those many days, that the king of Egypt died, and the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage. And they cried out, and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And God took notice of them. And as you know, he set forth to deliver them. But he remembered his promise, as he told to Abraham. And then what happens in Exodus 3, God calls Moses, there at the burning bush, and he says, I'm going to send you there to bring the people out.

That's going to be the calling. He's going to send his spokesman. He's going to call the people out. And in verse 13 of chapter 3, then Moses said to God, Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel. And I will say to him, The God of your fathers has sent me to you.

Now they may say to me, What is his name? What shall I say to them? In other words, what's your name? God. And thus, what God said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I am has sent me to you.

God furthermore said to Moses, Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, The Lord, Yahweh. Yod Habab He, that word that the Jews wouldn't even pronounce. I am the Lord, Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, God of Isaac. This is my name forever.

What that word means is, I am the covenant-keeping God. That's the Lord. When you see the all capital, the all caps, the Lord, I am the covenant-keeping God. So that's the first thing you need to know about God, is he does what he says he's going to do.

He makes a promise, he keeps it. But everything he says, he's going to do. Second thing you need to know about the way to God is that he's powerful enough to bring about what he says. He will do what he said he will do because he is capable of doing what he said he would do.

He promises to do what he says he would do, but then he does what he says he's going to do because he's able to do what he says he's going to do. And whether you were an Egyptian or an Israelite, you had to understand this. Pharaoh was going to learn this, and so were the Egyptians.

God is powerful enough. This is the superpower of the world. Exodus 5:1, afterward, Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh. And said, Thus says the Lord, covenant-keeping God, Yahweh, the God of Israel, let my people go, that they may celebrate a feast to me in the wilderness. But Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice and let Israel go?

I do not know the Lord, and besides, I will not let Israel go. Well, you know the story of the Exodus. Guess what Pharaoh ended up doing? Letting Israel go. Because God is able to do what he says he's going to do. It's part of the way to God.

You think about even in the Torah, you see this laid out before us. Third thing you need to know about God and the way to God is that he is a distinguishing God, a choosing God. He distinguishes between good and evil. He judges the evil. He expects his people also to distinguish between good and evil, clean and unclean, and the holy and the profane.

But in Exodus 11, if you'll remember, there was the Passover. He was laying out before them what they were to do. They were to take the blood of a lamb, put it on the lintels of the door. And then he says this in Exodus 11:7, But against any of the sons of Israel, a dog will not even bark, whether against man or beast, that you may understand how the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.

And in the context, what God is saying. That whole thing is about the blood of the Passover lamb. That was the distinction. It was the blood of an innocent lamb applied to the lentils. And that's how he made a distinction. It wasn't in their DNA, it was in the blood, the DNA of an innocent lamb, that God made a distinction.

And that's how. Fourth thing you need to know about God and the way to God is that he has a destination in mind. When he called the children of Israel out, he wasn't just calling them out, he had something in mind, a destination. Of course, he had that at Sinai.

But that destination was more than just a mountain. It was a life with God. To come out of Egypt and then to have a life with him, fellowshipping with him, walking with him. And so it was, and as a nation, as he calls this people out of Israel, brings them to Sinai, he then gives them his law.

This is the true theocracy. This is God in the midst of his people. So he's called, that's the way to God, but now they've got to walk with God, and they've got to walk with God as a nation, not just as an individual, but they have to relate to one another.

And so much of the Torah is aimed at these fundamental laws, civil law, what we would call code, civil code, how we live together, or how Israel was to live together in the wilderness and in the land with God as their king. That was the true theocracy. So I want to spend some time thinking about what this civil law is about and just, again, look at a few of them so you can get an idea of the lawgiver and see the lawgiver.

Now, we're not trying to be justified by the law. We're not trying to earn salvation or anything like that. But we are free to study the law. And so much is said in the scriptures about the law. It is perfect. Looking at the law, the Torah, is perfect and it restores the soul.

It has a conversion effect. You really come under truth. So as we look at a few of these laws, we'll go back to some of those same basic questions. What does this text say about God? What does this text say about the society that God envisions, whether that's earth or heaven?

What does it say about how we are to relate to him? And to each other. And so we want to look at the beauty and the wisdom of the lawgiver in the law. The law is our tutor. As Paul pointed out, and we're going with it, the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by Christ.

So I'll pick up just looking at asking some of these questions of some of the basic civil laws. We'll just start in chapter 21 with what I call the law of an unsolved murder. The law of an unsolved murder. And this is first nine verses of Deuteronomy 21.

So let's lay it out here. Verse 1: If a slain person is found lying in the open country in the land which the Lord your God gives you to possess, and it is not known who struck him, then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the slain one.

So here you are. Imagine, Israel, you're in the land, and if you go into the land and you've got your cities everywhere, and then all of a sudden you find a dead person, a person who has been obviously killed, murdered, slain, and he's laying out there. Then you need to get the survey crew out there and you need to measure from the body which is the closest city.

Verse 3: it shall be. That the city which is nearest to the slain man, that is, the elders of that city, shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked and which has not been pulled in a yoke, and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which has not been plowed or sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley.

Then the priests, the son of Levi, shall come near, for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to bless in the name of the Lord, and every dispute and every assault shall be settled by them. Then he says these words, and just pick up in verse 6: All the elders of that city, which is nearest to the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley.

And they shall answer and say, Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. Forgive your people, Israel, whom you have redeemed, O Lord, and do not place the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people, Israel, and the blood guiltiness shall be forgiven them.

Who is the them? Those in the city, Israel. The whole nation. So you shall remove the guilt of innocent. Blood from your midst when you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord. That's kind of an interesting thing, isn't it? There's a murder that takes place, and the idea is: okay, well, I don't know who did it.

God says, look into it. There has been a slain person in your land. So, what does this say about God? Just thinking about it. What are some things you can see about God in this? I'm sorry? He values life and justice. Yes. Anyone else? Atonement must be made.

He hears the cry of the innocent, doesn't he? Innocent blood. God is serious about innocent blood being shed in the land. What does this say about the society he envisions? One where every person is accounted for. One where every person is accounted for. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, God's paying attention, isn't he?

And he wants other people to pay. What else? He wants us free. From blood guilty. He wants the corporate group. And what's going to be the basis of that freedom from blood guiltiness? The sacrifice. I think it also points to a corporate responsibility, doesn't it? Because I think about it, well, Lord, that happened way out there in the sticks.

I have no idea who did that. But it's interesting, he says it's like he wants there to be a sense of responsibility. There's not going to be this, oh, oh, well, Lord, that wasn't me. That wasn't even my city, but it's still our land. So a corporate responsibility, an accounting for every soul, a value of human life.

We don't just say, oh, well, what God is saying is, you deal with the crime. God is very serious about it. That's the society that he envisions. What does this say about the way we are to relate to him or maybe relate to others in our own society?

And we're not Israel, we're not in the Torah, we're not. But what does this say? What are some things about the kind of countrymen we should be? Respect human life. Respect human life. What else? I think it's important to point out the blood guiltiness was committed by one, let's just say in this situation, one man killed another man, but the blood guiltiness was upon the whole nation.

It always, when I read Daniel, the book of Daniel, I am moved by Daniel's prayer. And this is one of the most squeaky, clean individuals on the pages of Scripture. And yet when you hear his prayer, he's praying, Lord, forgive us. Lord, we did this. Lord, we. There is a corporate responsibility that I think we've lost in our society to a large degree.

But, you know, maybe a thought. I mean, there's a lot of ways you can apply this, and we can sit here all night looking about. You can understand how entire encyclopedias of laws can come out of these principles. But, you know, when I look on the news, what do we typically do when we see, I mean, it's horrific when you just see the headlines.

The murders, the death. Maybe at a minimum, as God's people, we should mourn the loss of life. We should pray for the victims. We should pray for justice. Maybe we should take time. Even I know we're. There's limited things that we can do, but maybe just even as we read the headlines, we can be moved.

But think about even on a more local level, like even in your own family. Think about God as a family. We are, there's a corporate entity as a family. We should be concerned about what happens in our family. We should be concerned about what happens in our nation.

And when things, there is a corporate identity and a responsibility that even though we didn't participate in the crime, it is happening in our midst and our territory. And we are to cry out to God for His mercy and justice and do what we can to make it right.

Just a few thoughts. Let's go to another one. The lost and found. The lost and found. You can look at chapter 22 and verse 1. I've just picked out some. I mean, I'm just randomly going through. I'm kind of trying to march through some. I removed a lot of them, but you'll.

So I just turned to a few pages. You can do this pretty much anywhere in the law that you have these kind of laws. But Deuteronomy 22, you think about, think about what the main hinge points of the whole law is. What are they? Two hinge points. What are they?

You are to love God what? With all your minds. With all your heart and mind. You should love Him supremely and totally. And what else? Love your neighbor as yourself. And so, as you enter into Deuteronomy 22, you're going to see a lot of that second. What does it look like to love your neighbor as yourself?

So, here's this law of what I call the lost and found in Deuteronomy 21 or 22:1. You shall not see your countryman's ox or his sheep straying away and pay no attention to them. You shall certainly bring them back to your countrymen. If your countryman is not near you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it home to your house and shall restore it to him.

Thus you shall do with his donkey, and you shall do the same with his garment, and you shall do likewise with anything lost by your countrymen, which he has lost and you have found. You are not allowed to neglect them. You shall not see your countryman's donkey or his ox fallen down on the way and pay no attention to them.

You shall certainly help him to raise them up. So just lost and found. What does this say about God? He what? He cares about us. Yes, he cares about us. About us. You say that? Interesting. He cares about us? Very interesting. Yes, yeah, very interesting. He wants, he's concerned about a person's property.

God pays attention because he wants us to pay attention. It'd be pretty hypocritical of him if he wanted us to pay attention to things and then he wasn't paying attention. This is what I love about the law: God's not a hypocrite. He's going to be the one who perfectly embodies these things and relates to us in the same vein.

He wants things restored, doesn't he? That's what it says about God. I love the connection. What does this say about he loves us? We'll come back to that in just a minute. What does this say about the society that he envisions? I'm sorry? To be honest. Yes, to be honest.

Love your neighbor. Love your neighbor. Yeah, if this was your ox trampling down the road, you'd want, or if you've lost something, something's wandering away from you. A society that looks out for the well-being of others. That's what he envisions. You can see it right there. This is.

What, yeah, a nation like this is going to thrive. If they will love each other like this and stick together like this, this nation's going to thrive. Thank you. Yes, the effort. Pay attention, look out for your brother's well-being and get after it, restore it, exert the effort necessary to restore that which you belong to your neighborhood.

That's a very powerful expression of love. To say, okay, because what would we typically do? That's his donkey. I didn't see that. I've got my donkeys over here, and I'm already late. I'm not going to take time to go after that. What does this say about the way we are to relate to him or relate to each other in creation?

How does it say about we should relate to him? Yeah, we should be diligent. Don't neglect the little things that are going on around us that would call for us to act. It's like what God is interested in these people is serving one another, helping one another, loving one another.

And if you're looking out for your brother's donkey, well, your sister's probably going to have an eye on your donkey, and you just keep going on down the road. You've got a nation taking care of one another, many eyes. But I think about what this says about God, and I'd read something like this: and I am just struck with confidence before God.

I am struck with a great sense of my security before God. Why might that be? Why would I have great confidence in a God who says, if you see someone going astray, stop what you're doing, go after, restore that one to its proper owner? Why would that cause a great sense of gratitude in my heart?

Because if you go astray, he's going to come after you away. Thank you. Yes, do you see? Who is the best one who embodied this principle? Christ. What did he came to do? He came to seek and save that which was lost. It was us who were going astray.

From his father, and he inserted himself, and he brings us along. He did what was necessary. This is what loving somebody like Christ loves, or what loving your neighbor as yourself. Do you see that display? You see the heart of the lawgiver here. It's like he's not a hypocrite.

He's given this law because it's good. This is what he expects of the society, but this is what he also embodies himself. He seeks the loss, he restores it to its rightful owner. And so he wants us paying attention to one another. We can have confidence and security before him.

He wants us to seek and to restore that which has been lost as it relates to others. A lot of beautiful thoughts, just in a donkey walking down the road. But you can just see how it's a window into something really beautiful and something really wise. I can tell you, a nation that does this, if everybody's looking out for each other like this kind of degree and loves each other, this church, I'll tell you, it will thrive if we will learn this principle, to be looking out for the well-being of others and restoring.

That's it. Yes? Yeah, what do you see about the whole exercise of church discipline or somebody who's caught up in sin even? Isn't that a beautiful thought? You know, like, okay, here's somebody going astray, and that we are to be mindful of here's a duty to restore. And you see that.

You see that same person. The God of the Old Testament isn't somebody different. You see, that's. Here's another one. Gender distinctions. I know this is kind of a hot button today, but it's there in 22. It's the next verse, actually. So we might as well look at Deuteronomy 22, 5.

A woman shall not wear man's clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman's clothing. For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God. Well, what does this say about God? I know. Just stay with it. We'll just look at what does it say?

What does it say on the surface? He intended different things. I'm sorry? He intended different things. Yeah, he loves gender distinctions, doesn't he? He loves male and female. It's what? It's lying. Lying? Lying. Lying. Yeah, it's deceitful. But he has something about boundaries. I cut out a lot of the property and the boundary things because we talked about that under the curses.

But God gives inheritances. He gives boundaries to properties. You just saw in the last one, if you see your neighbor's donkey walking down the road, that's his property. God is concerned about people's inheritance. He's concerned about the land that was given and the inheritance from that. Boundaries, and certainly male and female.

What does this say about the society that God envisions? He made us the way we are for a reason. Yes. He made us the way we are for a reason, and they are to be recognized, not obliterated. God values male and female. You look at the whole natural order.

You see. What does this say about how we're to relate to him, creation, each other? Whatever God created, he shouldn't describe it to change. Yeah, but celebrate. Exactly. We shouldn't try to change these things, but to celebrate, to recognize their uniqueness and what God celebrates. I mean, God's the one who put it all into motion.

Let's keep going. I'm sorry? Order, not confusion, not blurred bound. Yeah, something very discreet, distinct, clear. It's an act of Christ to deface what you breathe. Yes, yes. It's a to deface. It's an act of defiance. Is that what you said? Yes. Let's talk about the next one's the birdie and her eggs.

I mean, just it's interesting how these just come. I kind of want to. Okay, so what was it like up there receiving this law? Because Moses goes up there, and he sees this pavement that almost sounds like it's out of Revelation, you know, the clear pavement. He gets up there, he eats, and he's up there, and he's getting these things.

What is that like? Oh, yeah, let me tell you about the birdie. I don't know what it was like, but he's getting these things, and it's just you see a real interesting thing. There's an order here that's kind of seemingly random at times, and then very, but it's just an interesting way.

But the birdie and eggs. Think about this. To come upon a bird's nest along the way in any tree or on the ground with young ones or eggs, and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. You shall certainly let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself in order that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.

What does this say about God? He has a system in place for completion. Yeah, he has a system in place, a long-term care, provision, thinking about, thinking ahead. And it's also like there's almost like a cause and effect, isn't it? There is like, okay, if you go and you destroy the source of future food, and in military battle, he had in chapter 20, he talks about military when you're besieging a city.

Yeah, cut down the cedar trees, basically, but don't cut down the fruit trees. You know, don't do that. But there is this cause and effect, this provision, reaping and sowing. You cut down, if you destroy the source of future food, guess what? You're not going to have food.

What does this say about the society he envisions? Long lasting. Long lasting, uh, in the back, yes. And they literally started starving. And so they they passed a law, the Bell's Code, one of the first laws. And the law was, if you kill a chicken without the governor's permission, it's a capital offense.

Something on you. They'll kill you, yeah. Interesting, but you can see that just a cause and effect. Yeah, you kill all the chickens, you don't have any more eggs. Jamestown, you're in trouble. I saw another hand. That we can the earth is ours to use for our benefit, but we don't we shouldn't take more than what we really need.

That's right. To be wise with the resources, to think ahead. Grandpa, go plant some trees for the next generation. Be thinking ahead. Be providing ahead long term. Don't just think about your immediate need. I mean, yeah, you you know a land's going to be blessed when old men are planting trees.

They're thinking ahead. Or when they when When you're thinking about that kind of thing, be wise with your resources. Let's talk about maybe some general liability. Let's go on to 22, verse 8. When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof so that you will not bring blood guilt on your house if anyone falls from it.

So, in other words, if you think about you build a house back then, you got it flat, and a parapet would be a wall on the edge to make sure people didn't just go tumbling off the edge. So, when you build that, make sure you put a parapet, a little wall on the top, so that somebody doesn't go and fall off, and you bring blood guilt on your house.

What does this say about God? Individual responsibility. Yeah, individual responsibility. He's mindful of what harms. He wants, I like that. God is not negligent, is he? He knows what will harm. He knows what if he's mindful, that a little kid may go up there and go tumbling off.

What else does it say about God? Okay, yeah, you should have been dialed. In that somebody's going to go up to your house, fall off, that's on you. Because an expression of love for your neighbor is that when you bring somebody in to your realm, that you're mindful of what may be a source of harm.

Did I see somebody else say something? Yes. God wants us to create like a firm foundation to sustain our temple strong. Yes. And nothing, what? Nothing can get inside of it. Yes. Good. Good. What does it say about the society that he envisions? People that will protect each other.

Yeah. Love by protecting each other. God wants us to be mindful of the harm that others can incur. Well, on our premises or on our jurisdiction, just think about the church. How might that people come up here? We need to be mindful of that which could harm, correct?

What does this say about the way we are to relate to him or each other? Why do I find good, yes, buddy? You can't just say, oh, don't worry, God will protect us. Yeah, uh oh, don't worry, God will protect us. No, he wants to protect us by you loving your neighbor and being engaged in them.

So he's a society. And uh that's how he protects his. Why am I again, why do I read something like this and just be so confident in God? Why does this up my trust in him? I was just talking about a civil law. Why would that engender a lot of trust in God?

I'm sorry, what's that? He's already thought ahead about all the dumb things you might do. He knows all the dumb things I will do. He knows all the potential harm. What were you going to say, Patricia? Just his provision for us no matter what we do. Yeah, we can trust him.

He is not going to lead us into ruin. He is not going to lead us into harm. We can take the boundaries. We can take his advice. We can take all of that and trust him because he's not going to be liable for our harm. He's good. Okay, let's go to another one.

We're about out of time, so let me just do this one: runaway slaves. Deuteronomy 23, 15. You shall not hand over to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you. He shall live with you in your midst, in the place which he shall choose, in one of your towns, where it pleases him.

You shall not mistreat him. This is Deuteronomy 23, verses 15 and 16. What does this say about God? Well, I find this really interesting because a lot of second-hand people say that the Bible approves slavery, you know, and talks about slavery and that sort of thing. It approves it, but in this case, clearly, it's saying that, yeah, God welcomes fugitives.

He's sympathetic to the plight of a slave. And this is the law. I mean, this is the Torah. And yet, you see, yeah, that's a very good observation because you hear, well, God sanctions slavery. No, he certainly, and even in the Torah, he talks about kidnapping. You know, he's totally against kidnapping.

And that's much of what slavery was built upon. So he's very adamant against. That. But, yeah, he welcomes fugitives. What else could we say about God with this? What about the society he envisions? Yeah, to protect those fleeing from harm, to give them a sanctuary, to provide for them.

Yeah, you see, and to not mistreat them. What does this say about the way we are to relate to him or to each other? Regardless of somebody's estate, they're still made in the image of God. Still made in the image of God, you are to, yes, treat and dignify them as such.

Now, here's an interesting question: What about Paul, Onisimus, and Philemon? You guys read the little letter to Philemon? What's it about? A runaway slave. And what did Paul do? He sent him back. So you know Paul ain't under the Mosaic law here. Because here's Onesimus fleeing from Philemon.

Just read what he says. Philemon, it's just one chapter. Philemon 15. Paul says this. For perhaps he, Onesimus, was for this reason separated you for a while that you would have him back forever, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me.

But how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. So he sends Onesimus back, which would be not what the law said, said, don't send a slave back. But he sends him back as he takes the slave and he makes the slave a brother to Onesimus.

Yes, ma'am. So he did not forcefully send Onesimus back with a guard, but because Onesimus had been saved, I think Paul convinced him to go back. And I think this is more talking about forcefully treating the slave. Yeah, Paul didn't forcefully take him back, but he does send him back.

He does encourage him to go back. And because there's something in Christ that's new here, and that is that the slave, the brother, a believing slave, and his slave owner are both brothers by the work of Christ. So he sends them back as a brother and not as just a slave, but as a brother.

But again, I look at this, and why would this encourage my heart before the Lord? Why would I look at this and just say, God, you are so good? Why? That's right. We are fleeing from one of the most cruel taskmasters of them all. And we have fled to God for refuge.

He's going to do with those who flee to him? He's not going to violate this principle here. Of course not. He's going to welcome them. Whoever takes refuge in him, you can be sure, are secure. And I love that. That's why it's so important to call out to him, to cry out to him, to come to him.

And Jesus said, Whoever comes to me, what? I will certainly not cast out. Does that sound familiar? Does that personality sound familiar? Come to me, I will certainly not cast you out. It's the same God who said, Look, don't return a runaway slave to his master. Cruel master.

Anyway, if we could, well, I'll just end with this tonight: that when we start talking about the law of Christ, God has purposed a way that we would come to Him, and that purpose is in Christ. He has provided the power to bring it about. That is. He plants His Spirit in us, giving us what we need to come out of this world, to come to Him, to be secure in Him, to enjoy life with Him, and to get on with living for Him.

So if you come to Him, I mean, you can see the goodness of the lawgiver is all in the law, the Mosaic law. But the problem is when you don't understand, when the people wouldn't even listen to Moses, of course, they didn't recognize Christ. Well, any thoughts for just before we close our time?

Yes, sir? I just love that idea that when we escape the little taskmaster, Christ promises to dwell with us today. And He promises to dwell with us. When we escape that Taskmaster, He promises to receive us, to dwell with us. And if you have doubt about that, you're making God out to be a hypocrite.

When you really study the law, you've got one choice: either you have to believe He's going to receive you, or you're going to have to go down the road and think God violates His own law, which you know you can't do that. So you're left with the one option.

Believe the good news and be secure in Him. Lord, we give you thanks. We give you thanks for all these glimpses into your heart. And, Father, you've been revealing this all along: that you are a good, loving God who is slow to anger, who delights in relationship with people and delights people to have relationships with one another.

So, Father, we see that, and Father, we see it more perfectly and vividly portrayed in your Son and His walking and sojourning among us, and laying down his life and putting the face to the name. Father, we thank you so much for all this. Go with us tonight, to this week, for your namesake and for your glory.

It's in Christ's name. Amen.