The sermon titled 'Living with Robbers' by Peter Allison focuses on Proverbs 28:24-28, examining the themes of robbery and wisdom. The speaker explains that robbery is not limited to the act of stealing money or possessions but includes failing to render what is due to others, as per the Eighth Commandment. The sermon discusses various forms of robbery, including familial, societal, and self-inflicted through pride and lack of generosity. It emphasizes the importance of fulfilling responsibilities, such as honoring contracts, providing for family, and caring for the poor. The sermon also critiques unjust taxation and societal structures that lead to oppression. Wisdom, as highlighted, is the antidote to these issues, directing individuals to trust in the Lord rather than their own understanding. The message concludes by urging listeners to model Christ's humility and generosity, highlighting that true prosperity comes from following God's statutes.

Please turn in your scriptures to Proverbs, Chapter 28. As Lord willing, we conclude our sojourn in the book of Proverbs, temporarily. Lord willing, next week we will resume our studies in the gospel of Luke, but today Proverbs 28 Beginning at verse 24 beginning at verse 24. Whoever robs his father or mother and says it is no transgression, the same is companion to a destroyer. He who has of a proud heart stirs up strife, but he who boasts in the Lord will be prospered.

He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered. He who gives to the poor will not lack, but he who hides his eyes will have many curses. When the wicked arise, men hide themselves, but when they perish, the righteous increase. May the Lord be our teacher that we may not depart from His statutes. Heavenly Father, thank you for your scriptures, for the light that they give to us.

And I pray that you would sanctify my sinful lips, that they may proclaim the riches of your grace this morning. And I pray that You would give to us faith that we may be able to hear with understanding ears and see and behold the wonderful wisdom of your Word, wisdom that is hid in Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, Amen. Well, as much of Proverbs is, for those of you that have been with us these years as we've been working our way through the book of Proverbs, you won't be surprised then to hear that this little passage is another little chiasm. And a chiasm, as you remember, is a symmetrical arrangement of verses, of sentences where the first and the last have some relation to each other and the second one and the second to the last have some relation to each other and so on. And then in the middle is the main point, the theme, if you will, of the passage.

In the back of your bulletin there, in the back flap, I've put the little chiasm of this passage. You can see that it deals with robbery. So I've titled the message, Living with Robbers. And when we see these connections in verses, I think it really helps our understanding of them, because as I've mentioned, Hebrew is a language where it doesn't need a subject or a verb in order to have a sentence. And so especially in proverbs, there are many times where the subject or the verb is missing, and it's supplied from the context.

And it helps in understanding that context when we can see a pattern to these verses. They're not just like strings of, a string of pearls all unrelated to each other but rather there is a connection and there's sometimes even interlocking connections between these passages. But this is dealing with, today, dealing with robbery. And it opens up the first, the A, the first and the last, deal with a robbery, robbers within families, right? And the last section deals with robbers of society.

And the second to last deal with robbers of civil peace and robbers of their own peace. And the middle verse, verse 26, then is the central message. Those who walk wisely are delivered from such robbers. But those who walk according to their own heart or trust in their own heart are described as fools. Well, that's the outline.

We'll be looking at the verses in groups. We'll look at group A, group B, and the middle. So what is robbery? I'm sure we all know what robbery is. I could probably ask the smallest of you here this morning and you would know exactly what robbery is because I'm sure that one of your siblings has taken something of yours and you've complained that they have robbed you.

We all know what that is when it involves our own possessions, the money that we earn, the toys that we have. We know when somebody takes those from a seemingly a very young age, we know exactly what that is. That's robbery. But robbery is a violation of the Eighth Commandment, you shall not steal. And it's often helpful in understanding what is involved in this commandment to look at what it requires us to do.

To look at it in a positive sense. What are the duties that this commandment gives to us? Because then our not stealing involves doing those duties and not doing the opposite of them. And of course robbery can involve far more than just money. Robbery, or I say not robbing from people, involves rendering to those, to them, what is due.

Rendering to people, rendering to others what is due to them. See, fundamentally theft involves taking from something, taking something from people that justly belongs to them, or not giving to them what is justly owed to them. And In Paul's summary of the law in Romans 13, he summed up the eighth commandment this way. Render therefore to all their due taxes, to whom taxes are due, that's money. Customs, to whom customs, That's getting beyond money.

Fear to whom fear, that's probably not money. Honor to whom honor is due. Render to all, therefore their due. Owe no one anything except to love one another, For he who loves another has fulfilled the law." Now some might see that oh no one anything as a prohibition against all debt, but I think while debt is in the Scripture always considered to be a calamity, something that is not desired, something that means a tragedy has fallen. It's not forbidden.

Owing no one anything except to love another means that we pay those things that we owe. And if you have a loan, then paying on the loan is paying what you owe. And so fundamentally then, The Eighth Commandment calls us to render to others what is due to them. To render to others what is due to them. And there are many, many applications of this basic principle.

One is maintaining truth and fairness and justice in contracts or agreements that we make with other people. When we give our word and agree to something, Not stealing means that we do what we have agreed to do, what we have promised to do, even if it's not convenient, even if it turns out differently than what we were expecting and it's not as convenient, or maybe even it's going to cause us a hardship or a financial loss. The Bible teaches us that not stealing means that we do what we have promised to do. Psalm 15 asks, who is righteous? Who is righteous?

Who can abide in your tabernacle? Who may dwell in your holy hill. And it answers, he who walks uprightly and works righteousness and speaks the truth in his heart, and then he who swears to his own hurt and does not change. No one would probably willingly swear to their own hurt. This is speaking of when we make a promise or even swear something, not expecting that we will be hurt by it, those who are walking uprightly will keep their word even when it hurts.

When we make other people wait for us, when we've agreed to be somewhere and their waiting is detrimental to them in some way. It's keeping them from doing something and we don't keep our word. We're really stealing their time. That's why it's nice to when you make arrangements to meet people to make it so that you can both be productive if there are delays. Keeping the Eighth Commandment means restoring goods that have been wrongfully separated, or inadvertently separated from their rightful owners.

And that can be accidental or it can be on purpose. Leviticus 6 says if a person sins and commits a trespass against the Lord by lying to his neighbor about what was delivered to him for safekeeping or about a pledge or about a robbery or if he is extorted from his neighbor or if he has found what was lost and lies about it and swears fault in any of these things, it says, that a man may do in which he sins, then it shall be because he has sinned and is guilty that he shall restore what has been stolen, the thing that was extorted or what was delivered to him for safekeeping or the lost thing which he found, whatever it might be. So that the way that we repent of any theft is by making restitution, by restoring what was taken or lost. Or then he shall restore its full value, add one-fifth more to it, and give it to whomever it belongs on the day of his trespass offering." So there's a restoration of everything that was taken plus 20% on top of that. Now that's in this particular case, in other cases where there's outright deliberate theft, then the restitution is much higher, three times, four times, even five times where it concerns work equipment, a man's tools, his ability to make a living.

That was the highest restitution. Remember Zacchaeus, when he was converted, recognized that he had extorted from people. He had taken money that wasn't his and he made a public promise there. It was part of his repentance that he would restore five-fold of everything that he had taken unlawfully from people. But it also includes this keeping of the Eighth Commandment also includes restoring things that are lost.

Where there's no fault on our part as the finder, but rather we simply come across something that is our neighbors. You shall not, Deuteronomy 22, you shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep going astray and hide yourself from them, saying, well, I'm too busy, that's not my concern today. You shall certainly bring them back to your brother. But it's more than that. It's more than that.

If your brother is not near you, or you don't know him, You don't know who it belongs to. Then you shall bring it to your own house and it shall remain with you until your brother seeks it and then you will restore it to Him. You shall do the same with his donkey, and so you shall do with his garment, with any lost thing of your brothers which he has lost and you have found. You shall do likewise. You must not hide yourself." It just dawned on me.

I left my raincoat at a place. I bought some things this week and the man's not a believer but he's been an honest businessman and so he found it yesterday and he texted me now he lives like an hour from my house so I wasn't going to run up there and get the get the coat but immediately but I so I told him well he could throw it out if he needed to, but he said no, he would keep it until the next time. I was up that way. He's doing exactly what this passage teaches. He's keeping it for me, something I have lost.

And it says that we have to do that with any lost thing of our brothers which he has lost and you have found. You must not hide yourself. You shall not see your brother's donkey or ox fall down along the road and hide yourself from them. You shall surely help him lift them up again." That's what it means. That's what it means to look out for the welfare, the outward estate of our neighbor.

And when we fail to do that, then we are committing robbery. Now, this keeping of the Eighth Commandment also involves giving and lending freely according to the need of others and according to our ability to meet that need. This is especially the case within the household of faith. Jesus said to us, give to everyone who asks of you, and from him who takes away your goods, do not ask them back. But whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are the household of faith. Galatians 6 and that previous passage was John's epistle, 1 John 3, 17. See, these aren't new principles. These are not things that came about in the New Testament. This is what the Old Testament has taught all along.

Leviticus 25 says, If any one of your brothers becomes poor and falls into poverty among you, then you should help him. Like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. Don't take interest, don't take usury from him, but fear your God that your brother may live among you. So not stealing means that we are giving and lending freely and where there is poverty or a need then we are not lending at interest. It also includes moderation of our judgments, temperance of our will and affections concerning the goods of this world.

Moderation or temperance concerning the goods of this world. Paul warned Timothy about improperly desiring the things of this world. He said, Godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and it is certain we can take nothing out. We were born naked and we leave the same way. We can't even take our clothes.

And having food and clothing with these we shall be content. Food and clothing and a place to live. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. There's a warning here That we exercise temperance with respect to the goods of this world. And that acquiring them not become an overriding drive or motivation in our lives.

Now not stealing also involves prudent foresight and diligent study. It takes work here in other words. Diligent study and prudent foresight to lawfully obtain and to properly use those things which are necessary for our lives, our physical lives, our bodily lives. In giving Timothy instruction about these practical matters, about who the church should support and who they should not financially support. Paul said that if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, so his own meaning our extended families, and those of our household meaning our immediate family, if we don't provide, especially for our immediate family, Paul said we are worse than an unbeliever.

We've denied the faith to not provide. And so this is a part then of not stealing. We exercise diligence and care and study and foresight to be able to provide our needs for ourselves and our families that we not become a burden on others when by more diligence and preparation on our part we could have avoided that. We spoke about this a little bit when we looked at the previous chapter in Proverbs a few months ago. Proverbs 27 says, Be diligent to know the state of your flocks and attend to your herds, For riches are not forever, nor does a crown endure to all generations.

But when the hay is removed and the tender grass shows itself and the herbs of the mountains are gathered in, the lambs will provide your clothing from their wool and the goats the price of a field. And you shall have enough goats milk for food, for your food, for the food of your household and the nourishment of your maidservants." That's God's promise. That's His instruction about taking care, being diligent to look after our flocks. In other words, looking after our business, looking after the means that God has given us to to earn an income. It also means having a lawful calling and being diligent in it.

God has ordained labor. Genesis 2, God took Adam and put him in the garden and commanded him to tend it and to keep it. That was before the fall. Labor is something that extends before the fall, something that we're to do even in the days before there was sin. And we certainly need to do it today as well.

The difference is that our labor is now toil and sorrow, whereas before it wasn't. So Paul said to the Ephesians that, "...him who stole, steal no longer, but rather labor, Working with his hands what is good that he may have something to give to him who has a need He who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich, Proverbs says. So having a lawful calling and being diligent in it. Frugality is another aspect of our keeping of the Eighth Commandment. In the beginning, the Green Movement portrayed itself as a movement concerned with conservation.

In fact, it was known as the Conservation Movement. Frugal use of the goods of this world. Then you had people trying to be hippies and live out in the woods and so on. But of course that wasn't what the conservation movement was all about, and it never was about that. But they attracted a lot of followers because conserving the goods of this world is an important aspect of our stewardship of the creation.

And so they latched on to something that is definitely true, and something that was a definite weakness in our land. And they could rightly point to egregious misuse and poor stewardship and profligate waste in our land and poor stewardship of our natural resources. And so there was an element of truth that they could point to. In fact, when Jesus fed the fed 5, 000 and the 4, 000, He made sure the disciples picked up all the leftovers. In fact, there were more leftovers at the end than there was food when they started.

Jesus could make food out of nothing whenever he was pleased to do so. So of all the people who could most afford to ignore the unused food and say, oh, don't worry about it, let the birds have it, of all the people, Jesus could most afford to do that because food he could make anytime, but he didn't. He had the disciples gather all the fragments and put them in baskets. Proverbs 12 describes this frugality, as the lazy man does not roast what he took in hunting, but the substance of a diligent man is precious. So we could, much of hunting today which is only for sport where there's no interest in eating is a violation of the Eighth Commandment.

It's poor stewardship of the resources. A lazy man doesn't roast, doesn't use what he captures in hunting. But for a diligent man, all of his possessions, whatever he has, whether it came to him for free, whether it came as a gift, or whether he had to work very very hard and long for it, all of his possessions are precious and he regards them with value and is frugal with them. Unlike the lazy man. Okay, so that's a summary.

Maybe that's a rather long introduction, but I think it's an integral part of this passage to really understand what is involved in robbery. So that when we look at this passage here that says, that speaks of children robbing their parents, their fathers and mother, we can understand that it's more than just children sneaking into their mother or father's wallet and pilfering a few dollars. Now, this passage speaks of children robbing parents. Now, parents can rob children too, but that looks a little different. Parents are obligated to teach their children the scriptures and the Christian faith, to train them to obey and to command their children after them in following the Lord.

And they're obligated to meet their children's basic needs for food, for clothing, for shelter, medical care, and education and so forth until they are no longer children, which historically and biblically, historically in this country and biblically, was 21 years of age. Parents had that obligation. When America became an empire and needed more soldiers to patrol the world, that age of adulthood was lowered to 18, creating a rather absurd situation today where a young man can be forced to go fight and die in a foreign land, but can't enjoy a beer or carry a gun at home. There's something wrong with that. Is a child an adult at 18?

Then there should be fully an adult. The biblical age is 21 as people have recognized most 18 year olds are not quite ready for all that responsibility. And biblically that age, and historically in this country, until the 70s, that age was 21. So Because of these biblical responsibilities, parents have a legal right to all the money their children make. They have a right to their labor, a legal right to all of their labor.

And they have a legal right to make all the decisions on the behalf of their children. And so parents steal from their children when they do not make wise decisions for them, when they don't prepare them to be able to earn a living. And of course, if your children's labor is not needed to help provide for them at that moment, then it's certainly a good gesture, a wise gesture to save that money for them later, so they can have it later. So how do children rob from parents? Well like we said, it's more than just taking a few dollars out of a wallet or stealing out of the pantry.

Any destruction, any misuse or abuse of parental property is robbing parents. Now I'm not suggesting that parents regard the destructive acts of their one or two year old toddler as theft. If any blame is to be assigned at that age, it could be seen as a failure to properly teach or to train children. But older children who are capable, who do know better, steal from their parents when household property is not properly cared for, when it's left out in the rain and ruined, when it's in anything done to it that is not taking proper care of it. It's stealing to waste household resources, wasting food by not cleaning your plate, eating all the food on your plate is a lack of frugality.

Remember Jesus saved all the food that was left over. None of it was thrown away. So I think wise parents, and I hear it quite a bit, wise parents will save that food and have their children eat it at the next meal if they're too full at the current one. Failing to render honor to parents is to rob them of what's due to them. We're to render honor to whom honor is due.

And that means honoring parents. Wasting time is another way that children can rob from their parents. Children, your time, just like your money and your labor, belongs to your parents legally speaking. And so wasting it steals from them. Of course everyone's time belongs to the Lord.

And the Lord tells us how we are to spend it in the Fourth Commandment and what we are to do with our time. So we all steal from God when we are not productive with our time, but particularly children in this case do steal from their parents. Now as we grow up, children grow up and become adults themselves, there are still ways that there is theft of parents. Some steal from their parents in failing to provide for themselves when they become of age by maybe failing to learn a calling or in remaining dependent upon them. This is captured today by the very popular memes of young men playing video games in their parents' basements, but that's a theft.

That's children robbing their parents, as this proverb speaks about. So next time you see that meme or that theme which seems to be fairly prevalent for some reason, you can think of this verse where God says in his word, whoso robs his father or mother and says, it's no transgression. It's no transgression. The same is companion to a destroyer. So there's people that are robbing their parents by wasting their time or failing to provide for themselves their companions to destroyers.

But I think children also rob from their parents by failing to provide for them when they are no longer able to provide for themselves. Jesus speaks about this in Mark 7, when he rebukes the Jews for saying, if a man says to his father or mother, whatever profit you might have received from me as Corbin, that is a gift to God, then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother, making the Word of God of no effect through your tradition, which you have handed down. In many such things you do. Found ways, legally, culturally acceptable ways to sin. There are many culturally acceptable ways to sin.

It's legal to commit murder, culturally acceptable by many, to murder unborn children. It's called an abortion. And it's legal to... It was legal in some cultures to murder by duels. It's culturally acceptable to commit adultery in our culture today by artificial insemination using genetic material outside of marriage.

That's adultery. I was talking to somebody the other day and they were shocked to learn that. But that's a child conceived outside of the marriage. But it's socially and culturally acceptable today. In fact, there are whole businesses that are built around that.

That's a moral equivalent of having businesses that say, Murder Inc. We contract anybody you don't like, we kill them. That's exactly morally what that is. Now, wisdom saves an inheritance for children. Wise parents will save an inheritance for their own children.

But many things might happen in God's providence that affect that. Parents may have financial means, but not the physical ability to care for themselves. And so it's part of our keeping of the Eighth Commandment as well as the Fifth Commandment that we care, provide for our parents in those situations. You see, people that steal think they are building their fortune. They think they are improving their lot, but God says they are actually tearing it down.

God says they're doing just the opposite. Well, the other counterpart to this is robbers of families, is robbers of society. And that's in verse 28. When the wicked arise, men hide themselves, but when they perish the righteous increase." And this theme is repeated a number of times, three times right in this immediate context, just two verses later. When the righteous are in authority the people rejoice, but when a wicked man rules the people groan.

And in verse 12 of this chapter as well, when the righteous rejoice there is glory, but when the wicked arise, men hide themselves. We live in a day of the ascendancy of the wicked and many people today are trying to hide themselves. People used to put gates on their property to keep out animals. Montgomery County where we are right now, we're in Montgomery County. Montgomery County was a free range county up into the middle 1950s.

What that meant is that your cattle, your goats, your horses, your animals could freely roam anywhere in the county. And it could freely roam onto anybody's property, private property, public property, and it's your responsibility to look out for them. If you hit one in the road, that's your fault. If you wanted to keep the animals off your property, then it was your responsibility to build a fence and to put a gate across your driveway. Now, people build fences and put gates across their driveway to keep civil servants from trespassing on their property, to give them some measure of warning or protection.

See, Gideon lived in a similar kind of day. When the wicked were in ascendancy, the Midianites suppressed the people through robbery. The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years. And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel because the Midianites, the children of Israel, made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds, which are in the mountains.

They're hiding. They were being oppressed. They were being robbed by these tyrants. And so they found places to hide in the dens and caves and mountains. And so it was, whatever Israel had sown, the Midianites would come up.

Also the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up, and they would encamp against them, and they would destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no substance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor donkey, for they would come up with their livestock." That's why they came up. And they grazed their livestock on Israel's land, on their pastures. And their livestock ate the food that the Israelites made for their animals and for their families. And they came as numerous, the Bible says, as locusts. And they're camels without number, and they entered the land to destroy it so Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites and they were hiding as best they could.

And it was because of this widespread robbery that Gideon was, remember, threshing his wheat in the wine press. Now why is he threshing his wheat in the wine press? Because he's trying to hide it. He's trying to conceal it from these Midianites who are roaming the land, stealing whatever they want because they could. They had bigger guns, faster horses, more powerful soldiers, and they oppressed the people and the people hid.

And that's when God, the angel of the Lord, came to Gideon and sat under the Terebinth tree as he was threshing his wheat in the winepress. So we live in a similar day and we have sort of a similar kind of oppression. We have unjust taxes that are a very significant way that a wicked government steals from its people. The Bible authorizes one form of taxation, That is a head tax. Because the principle is that the law is impartial.

It doesn't matter whether you're rich or you're poor. You pay one tax. The rich don't pay more. The poor don't pay less. Exodus 30, when you take a census of the children of Israel for their number, every man shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord when you number them.

And this is what everyone among you who are numbered shall give, half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary. Everyone included among those who are numbered from 20 years old and up shall give an offering to the Lord. The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel." That was the tax. That was what the government of that day lived on. And you see, as the number of people grew, their tax base would grow.

The number of people shrink, their tax base shrinks. Justice should come equally to the rich and the poor. So the rich and the poor pay equally for civil government. But that's not what we have today. And because that's not what we have today, we have a lot of hiding going on.

Income tax. A tax on trying to take a tax out of everybody's income. The increase belongs to the Lord. That's why we tithe on it. We are recognizing that the increase that we've received this year comes from the Lord.

Income taxes were forbidden in the original legal contracts of our land, which we call the Constitution. Direct taxes were and still are forbidden. The fact that they exist, direct taxes on people is wrong. And it's even more wrong that the tax is not a just tax, but the rich pay more and the poor pay less. That's unjust.

Property taxes is another way that steal especially from the elderly and those who are no longer able to work. They prevent people from being able to own their own land. You're always renting your land and there's always the threat that you will be removed from your land if you aren't able to pay the rent that year. That's oppression. And it drives many people off of their land, forces them to move, forces them to sell, especially widows.

Sales tax inhibits the ability to trade. It's really impossible to define or collect, actually when you think about it. And so it becomes in many ways unjust. What is the sale? How much is the sale worth?

Inventory taxes reduce the availability of goods and services because people no longer keep anything on hand because they have to pay a tax on it. So it's better to not have an inventory and make it when you need to sell it so you're not paying all the tax on the inventory. So then they go on and on and on. That used to be the thing 30 years ago was listing of all the taxes, you know, and I have these lists of taxes that go on for pages and pages. They're kind of humorous, they're kind of passe now, but it's still true.

We live in a oppressive land, oppressive time, like Gideon, where people are robbed by taxes, unjust taxes, not just taxes. So there is a phrase going around in some circles that says taxation is theft. That's not a biblical concept at all either. A just tax is not theft. Romans 13 teaches that the civil magistrate is full time in this work, and that's why he used to be supported from taxes.

But it's a very, very limited tax from what we're paying today. There are also robbers, verse 25 then, we'll look at verse 25 and 27, robbers of the peace, robbers of civil peace and robbers of their own peace pride He was of a proud heart stirs up strife, but he who trusts in the Lord Will be prospered Proud people ruin organizations. Pride stirs up strife. People attack those who try to climb to the top of the heap and the proud seem to attract the proud and it creates strife as one person trying to get to the top of the heap is fighting somebody else who is also trying to get there. Jesus or Paul told the Philippians that each of you look out not only for his own interest but also for the interest of others.

Pride doesn't look out for the interest of others, it looks out only for our own interests. And so that creates strife and it ruins an organization. But robbers of their own peace in verse 27, he who gives to the poor will not lack, but he who hides his eyes will have many curses. God rewards those who care for the poor. Jesus taught in Luke, Give and it will be given to you.

Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same manner of measure that you use, it will be measured back to you. Those who have, those who hide their eyes, they are saying, I didn't see that need. I didn't see that there was a need to give there. They looked away.

Well, I didn't know about it. God says those who hide their eyes will have plenty of curses. The Lord is said to have a bountiful eye. Means he sees and he gives bountifully. And we're to do likewise.

Not to have an evil eye. An evil eye is something that we see and not give. Hiding the eyes is pretending we don't even see the need. God said they will have many curses. They will rob their own peace and their own life.

The word of the Lord came to Zechariah in chapter 7, saying, Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother. And God gave in Exodus 22 this instruction. You shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child.

If you afflict them in any way, and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry. And my wrath will be hot, and I will kill you with the sword. Your wives will be widows and your children fatherless." That's what this passage is speaking of. He who gives to the poor will not lack. He will be given to him, pressed down, running over in the same measure.

But he who hides his eye will have many curses, because God himself will bring those. Verse 26 then is the center of this. He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered, delivered from these robberies, civil, personal, from parents, from families, and from society. To trust our own heart is to be foolish. We're to trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding, just the opposite.

And then God will direct our paths. So to walk wisely then is to fear the Lord, is to acknowledge that His law is the standard of truth, that His law is the standard of justice. And it is his law and its precepts that bring prosperity to a land. See, to walk after our own heart is to say we know better than God. We know better what is just in this.

We know better what is a penalty for this or that crime. We know better than God. That's to follow our own heart. And nations that do that bring great curses upon themselves. Bring judgments upon themselves.

They're foolish. The Bible describes them as foolish. So this principle applies not just to us as individuals, not just that we need to walk, that we need not to follow our own heart, or to families and churches, but it also involves nations. Nations should not be following their dictates of their own heart. That's what we have increasingly done in our land.

So when we first were founded back in the 1630s and 1640s, all of the civil contracts recognized the law of God as the law of the land. They recognized that God's Word was the guide not just in church and in the family, but in the state as well. And they recognize that Jesus Christ is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. They acknowledge these things in their contracts. Just look in the original constitutions, the very first constitutions in the modern age of the Western world.

I don't know what there was here long, long, long time ago. There apparently was things here, but as far as what we have good records of today, these original constitutions do not follow their own hearts. And so when a land is defiled like this, it needs to be cleansed. And we do that as a civil people when we repent and when we confess that Jesus is Lord and recognize his laws as our land. And I think that can be done even at a county level.

We don't have to wait till, you know, Congress in Washington, DC decides to do something. That'll never happen. It can happen in a county, in a county. It can recognize and acknowledge. You know, there are counties today that are starting to become sanctuary cities for the unborn.

And counties that are becoming sanctuary cities for people's right to bear arms and so forth. These are counties that are taking a step in the right direction. They're seeking to recognize the law of God in their land, in their little domain, and the covenant to follow the Lord. That's what we need to see, or that's what we can work for, and we should rejoice to see that. These are people who are no longer following their own hearts.

You know, Christ, brothers and sisters, is this generous and giving man that is being described here. Remember, Christ was offered all of the riches of the world, if he would just bow down and worship Satan. All the kingdoms, all the glory, there was offered to Christ and He turned it down. He said to him, Away with you, Satan. For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve." But Christ is also the generous God-man.

I referred to Philippians 2-4 that we are to look out for others' interests and not only our own interests, right? As sort of representative of what this commandment is about. Well, what is the very next verse, Philippians 2.5? Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. He was God, but he made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant, coming in the likeness of man, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

He gave up. His deity was veiled. He took upon himself a human nature. He condescended to live under the law, to be born of a woman and to live under their authority and to submit to them and to endure the hardships that go with being a human having hunger knowing tiredness and needing sleep and so forth he took all this upon himself That's the mind that we are called to have. He humbled himself to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Therefore, therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and those in heaven and those in earth and those under the earth, and Every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And brothers and sisters, when we are in Christ, then we are said to be seated with Him in the heavenlies and to reign with him as well. May that be so. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you that you are generous and that you look upon us with a bountiful eye.

Thank you Lord that you provide for all of our needs. And that David could say that he was young and that he had been young and now was old and had yet to see the righteous begging bread. For Father, you are a loving and gracious Heavenly Father, and you do provide for all of our needs. We ask, Lord, that You would incline our hearts toward You. That You would wean us of this world.

May our heart and our treasure be in heaven with You. And Lord, grant us wisdom. Grant us wisdom to apply these lessons, this teaching from your word, to be able to foresee evil and to hide ourselves from it. To be able to discern need from fraud. To be faithful in ministry and not hiding our eyes and not seeing the needs around us.

Well Lord, open our eyes. We may see more and more opportunities to model your behavior, your example that you've given and left for us and called us to follow in it. Lord we can do none of this on our own strength we ask for your Holy Spirit to empower us, to fill us, to lead us, to strengthen us, to guide us. In Jesus' name, Amen.