Verses 1-3, “You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice. You shall not show partiality to a poor man in his dispute." The law was made for the unlawful, to being their sins to light. This was us before we became saved, but shouldn't be us now that we've been washed by His blood. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." Don't be fooled. Those practicing these sins are not saved, no matter what they say with their lips, their actions give them away.
Verse 13, “And in all that I have said to you, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth." Our God is a jealous God and refuses to share the preeminence with anyone or anything, nor should He have to. The Jews are told not even to mention other gods, and He does not want us participating in any form of worship to other gods either, even when someone tries to make it Christian, which is simply a form of rebellion. He doesn't want to be worshiped the way false gods are. Jeremiah 10:2, "Thus says the Lord: 'Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, For the Gentiles are dismayed at them." This is referring to false god worship, occult practices, astrology and witchcraft. Yoga and Eastern practices have crept in the church and have no place being in them. It's just a sign of a rebellious generation.
When people pick up these practices from the heathen, it angers God, and there are consequences. Deuteronomy 29:25-28, "Then people would say: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt; for they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they did not know and that He had not given to them. Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against this land, to bring on it every curse that is written in this book. And the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’ " Our world is under the sway of the wicked one, so it is very important to pray for discernment. If you even suspect something is off, you should avoid it altogether and God will bless that choice.
Verses 20-26, “Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him. But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off. You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars. So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days."
God allows sickness as chastening to get us back on track. Is not because He doesn't love us, but quite the contrary. He wants our flesh destroyed that we may be saved. I Corinthians 11:27-32, "Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world."
Verses 32-33, "You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.” God knows that just dwelling with these people will cause harm to a believer. That is because, “Evil company corrupts good habits” 1 Corinthians 15:33. Having a covenant or agreement with them is no good either. It's like forming a partnership between the holy and unholy. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: 'I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.' Therefore 'Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.' 'I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty.' ”
You have nothing in common with unbelievers, and chances are you will be swayed by them. If you think otherwise, you are disagreeing with God who says it's a snare to you. 1 Corinthians 10:12, "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." Witnessing to unbelievers is a different story, but many dwell in the company of heathens way too long, telling themselves they will share the truth eventually when given the opportunity. That opportunity rarely comes, and they lose their light over time, making them less and less likely to share. You can tell because the truth when shared should divide and they would not be able to endure it, if it was actually being shared. Plus, if there is hope for their salvation, you enable them to sit on the fence and not decide by ignoring their current situation, for the sake of having worldly unity. One of the worst things you can do is allow your children to be in the company of unbelievers. If the adult Jews, who witnessed numerous miracles of God were swayed by the heathen, how much more will your impressionable children be? The world, under Satan's control, will try to convince them that you are keeping them from good things and stir up rebellion in their hearts.
“You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice. Exodus 23:1-2
ReplyDeleteAs Christians we are supossed to be different from the world, not sharing in there evil deeds. If we get caught in a situation where others are not telling the truth, we still need to be truthful even if others aren't. Sometimes people can get trapped into not wanting people to hate you. So you just go with what everyone is doing. No matter how hard it is we need to not follow the wicked No matter what situation we are in.
“You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice. You shall not show partiality to a poor man in his dispute. Keep yourself far from a false matter; do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked. And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous." As Christians, we are called to live a life that is separate from those around us. We should not go with the crowd and try to fit in. We can't hang out with those who are unbelievers and expect to be unaffected. God as called us to live holy and live a life pleasing to Him. This should be our one desire. We need to crucify our flesh, and live our lives on fire for the Lord. This does mean people will hate us. We shouldn't be trying to join hands with those who aren't believers.
ReplyDelete“Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year: You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty); and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field." These three feasts the Lord called the Jews to observe. No where in there does it say we need to celebrate Christ's birth! Christmas is a holiday that people try to "christianize" And put God in it. No where did God call them to observe this holiday.
“So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days. “I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land. And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the River. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.” if we serve the Lord, there is a certain blessing in that. When we are in his will serving Him, He will provide for us and bless us. This doesn't mean we'll be rolling in money and life will be great. We will still have trials and tribulations, but we will have the Lord on our side. God was warning His children not to make covenants with these people, but to drive them out. If they started making covenants with these people, they would ultimately corrupt them. Bad company corrupts good morals. If you hang out around people who aren't saved long enough, you will start to try to fit in. We need to keep ourselves separate from the world and live a life holy and well pleasing to the Lord.