Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20100411.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Exodus: God's Forming The Nation Israel For His Abrahamic Covenant
Part II: God's Forming Israel To Heed Him, Exodus 15:22-40:38
H. God's Clarifications Of The Ten Commandments In His Exodus 20:22-23:33 "Book Of The Covenant"
6. God's Motivation For Holiness To Obey Him For Blessing
(Exodus 23:20-33)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    Even people in the secular realm are concerned over how our nation has drifted away from the moral standards of its Founders:

    (1) Linda Czaplinski of Oxford, Connecticut wrote a letter to the editor in the April 5, 2010 Waterbury Republican-American, p. 4A, expressing hope that the November elections would lead to a Congress "that represents the . . . values and spirituality of our Founders . . ."

    (2) Reflecting her view, and expressing concern over it, other articles on that page complained about violation after violation of the Bible's Ten Commandments that were upheld by the Founding Fathers:

    (a) Chris Powell's article, "State is off on another unicorn hunt" told how Connecticut's policy for 33 years has been to seek a way to create the least tax burden to state residents in putting enough money in the poorest communities to educate their students.

    Nevertheless, he wrote, "beyond a certain point, school financing has little bearing on achievement . . . The overwhelming cause of poor student performance was and remains . . . children neglected at home; mostly fatherless children, demoralized and often incorrigible . . ." (Ibid.)

    This is a violation of the command on parents and the home.

    (b) The paper's editor wrote of efforts by two lawmakers to "reduce the penalties for sexting by teens", with "sexting" being the use of cell phones in a pornographic way. The editor expressed concern that reducing such penalties would send the signal to teens of a "tacit approval by society and government" of "sexting" that in turn would lead to "increasing promiscuity among children." (Ibid.)

    This is a violation of the command against adultery.

    (c) The editor added a critique of repeat government financial bailouts for people who (1) "lie about their income and assets and then give their word in writing that they will repay what they borrow with interest" in mortgages. Then, they default and (2) line up for another government handout to see their "old liar loans" largely forgiven so they can "continue to live in their homes long enough to fall back into default." (Ibid.)

    These are violations of the commands on lying and stealing.



    So, we may ask, "How does the drift from uprightness in our world occur, and what would God want us to do to avoid it?!"

    Need: "The drift from uprightness in the world leaves me asking how it occurs, and what does God want me to do to avoid it myself?"

  1. In giving Israel His Ten Commandments, GOD CLARIFIED the REASONS behind these commands in the "Book of the Covenant" supplied in Exodus 20:22-23:33, Bible Knowledge Com, O. T. , p. 140; www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org, "Book of the Covenant."
  2. At Exodus 23:20-33, God urged Israel to SEPARATE TOTALLY from ECUMENICAL CANAANITE PAGANISM and PAGANS to STAY TRUE to HIM in OBEYING His WORD for BLESSING:
    1. The pagans in Canaan "were very syncretistic, and so it would be dangerous to settle among them," net.bible.org, Ex. 23:33, footnote.
    2. Since "syncretism" is "the combination of different forms of belief" (Webster's Dictionary), Israel would face "ecumenical" pressure from Canaanites to mingle God's truth with their errant views and rituals.
    3. Thus, the Lord ended His "Book of the Covenant" commentary on His Ten Commandments by highlighting Israel's need to PART with influential paganism so she could keep heeding God for blessing:
      1. In Exodus 23:20-23, the Lord strongly urged Israel to OBEY His voice for SIGNIFICANT blessing:
        1. God strongly urged Israel to obey Him: He pledged to send His "Angel" Who had God's "name," the Preincarnate Lord Jesus (John F. Walvoord, Jesus Christ Our Lord, 1974, p. 52), and Israel was to obey Him diligently, Exodus 23:20-22a.
        2. If Israel thus heeded Him, God would (1) protect her en route to Canaan (Ex. 23:20a), (2) bring her into it (Ex. 23:20b) and (3) be a foe to Israel's foes, destroying the evil Canaanites of the Land so Israel could possess their territory, Exodus 23:22b-23.
      2. In Exodus 23:24-31, God strongly urged Israel specifically to SEPARATE from pagan RELIGION for EXTENSIVE blessing:
        1. In Exodus 23:24, God was more specific in calling Israel to separate from Canaanite RELIGION for BROAD blessings: (1) God directed that Israel obey Him specifically relative to not bowing down or serving Canaanite gods or practicing their pagan worship rituals, Ex. 23:24a. (2) God even commanded His people to crush the pagan standing stones to pieces (Exodus 23:24b), destroying the long stones erected near pagan idols or high places that represented the home of a spirit or a deity, Ibid., net.bible, Ex. 23:24, ftn. (3) Since the verbs "overthrow" and "break down" (KJV) "are joined with their infinitive absolutes to provide the strongest sense to these instructions" (Ibid.), God was stating as strongly as the Hebrew language would allow that Israel was to obliterate all such objects that competed with Him!
        2. The blessings for such obedience were extensive, and they specifically competed with what pagan fertility worship in Canaan offered its worshipers: (1) God promised to bless Israel's "bread and water", all she needed for food versus what Canaanite fertility religions offered, Ex. 23:25a; Z. P. E. B. , vol. One, p. 706. (2) He pledged to keep His people from illness, fertility and birth problems, and give them longevity, all key goals in Canaanite fertility religion, Exodus 23:25b-26! (3) Clearly, God presented Himself as Israel's Great Provider in contrast to the false gods and beliefs of Canaanite paganism!
      3. Yet, going even further, God in Exodus 23:32-33 urged Israel to PART with influential "ecumenical" PAGANS themselves:
        1. Urging Israel not to make treaties with pagan Canaanites or with their gods, God directed that obedience to such commands was to occur by not even letting the Canaanites live in the land with Israel lest their pagan syncretistic, ecumenical influence lead Israel easily to compromise obeying the Lord, Ex. 23:32-33a.
        2. Such extensive separation was directed by God's warning that Israel's exposure to such "very syncretistic" or ecumenical folk would make compromising God's truth easier to do, thus ensnaring Israel to sin against His Word to Israel's loss of God's great blessings, Exodus 23:33b; Ibid., ftn. to Exodus 23:33.
Application: (1) May we trust in Christ for salvation from sin (John 3:16), and (2) obey Scripture to enjoy rich blessing, Psalm 1:1-6. (3) To that end, may we SEPARATE from ERROR and from INFLUENTIAL ECUMENISTS who PROMOTE it! (Psa lm 1:1-2)

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 A dramatic illustration for this message appeared last week in reports of "sexual abuse scandals" in the Roman Catholic Church that began in the US and has spread in Europe. ("Lingering failures reignite Catholic child abuse scandal," April 5, 2010 USA TODAY, p. 11A)

Even Pope Benedict XVI is affected, for "news accounts . . . raise questions about whether the pope -- when he was an archbishop in Germany and later as a top Vatican official -- was part of the culture of secrecy that shielded molesters." Thus, "Easter Sunday, the scandals hovered over Mass in Vatican City's St. Peter's Square." (Ibid.)

If we dig deep into the story, we see the problem was fueled by compromise with "politically correct" ideology and its promoters versus heeding Scripture: "Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's permanent observer to the UN" last year said, "'Of all priests involved in the abuses, 80 to 90 per cent'" were "gay men preying on teenage boys, rather than paedophilia." ("Catholic church sex abuse 'caused by homosexuals, not paedophiles'" PinkNews.co.uk, October 1, 2009)

Tomasi noted the "most US churches embroiled in abuse scandals were Protestant, adding that the problem was also common in Jewish communities." (Ibid., emphases ours)

Now, it is "politically correct" in today's world to tolerate homosexuality: a play was planned as late as Friday to be performed in a Washington, D. C. university that portrays Jesus as a homosexual!

Accordingly, many Catholic, Protestant and Jewish religious leaders afraid to look "anti-gay" (or "homophobic") to a "politically correct" world let gays minister in their institutions. However, such acceptance only opened the door for a plague of abuse by the gay ministers! Nevertheless, afraid of appearing to be "homophobic" if they punished such homosexual abusers, the religious leaders privately moved them around from one ministry to the next, hoping the problem might somehow just go away! Yet, these moves only spread the abuse around, producing many more victims and an eventual public outcry!

So, had these leaders obeyed Leviticus 18:22 and opposed and separated from homosexuality opposite "politically correct" opinions to the contrary, a stand we as a Church take, the religious leaders, their groups and victims would have largely been spared!

May we KEEP heeding Scripture in PARTING from FALSE BELIEFS and INFLUENTIAL PARTIES for God's BLESSING!