Series: Exodus
Title: Thou Shalt Not Revile the Gods
Text: Exodus 22: 28
Date: Feb 17, 2019
Place: SGBC, NJ
Exodus 22: 28: Thou shalt
not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people.
What does God mean by “gods”?
Ps 82:1: « A
Psalm of Asaph. » God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he
judgeth among the gods….6: I have said, ‘Ye are gods’ and all of you are children of the most High.
In John 10, our Lord Jesus Christ gives us the meaning and application
of our text.
John
10: 31: Then the Jews took up
stones again to stone him.
These were the pious, religious leaders of the day. They were in the highest seats of authority. They are those God refers to as “gods”—men that
God has put in authority.
What made them mad enough to pick up stones and try to murder the
Lord Jesus in the very temple of God? He
declared himself to be the only Door of salvation. — “I am the Door” (v. 9). The
Lord Jesus declared himself to be the Good Shepherd who God promised to raise
up over his elect, by whom he promised to gather his sheep unto himself. — “I am the good Shepherd. The good Shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep” (vv. 11-15).
Then, he declared to these proud, racially bigoted Jews that the sheep
he came to save were not just Jews, but Gentiles, too (vv. 16-18). Then, on top of all that, the Lord Jesus, the
Man Christ Jesus, plainly asserted that he is God, one with the Father. — “I and my Father are one” (v. 30).
John 10: 32: Jesus answered them, Many good
works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone
me? 33: The Jews answered him,
saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that
thou, being a man, makest thyself God.
Religious folks do not reject us for good works. They reject us because we declare the Man,
Christ Jesus, is God. We declare it when
we declare that he is the Alpha and Omega of salvation and that sinners
contribute nothing to our salvation.
John 10: 34: Jesus answered them, Is it not
written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
He is quoting from our text
and from Psalm 82:1, 6. In the scripture—in their very law—he called men
“gods” because they were ordained of God.
They were placed in positions of authority by God to administer justice
in his name. For example, God made his prophet,
Moses, a god to Pharaoh (Ex 7:1 King
David was a god to Israel and her enemies.
Joseph was a god in Egypt. They
were God’s faithful men who God put in place to execute justice for his people.
These religious leaders that Christ stood before were put in
positions of authority by God, too. As
such God called them gods. Yet, they did not administer justice. Instead they killed the innocent Prince of
life, God in human flesh. Now, listen to our Lord’s point in
quoting our text.
John
10: 35: If he called them
gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; 36: Say ye of him, whom the Father
hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I
am the Son of God?”
Be sure to get what our Lord said: “the
scripture cannot be broken” His purpose in this is to show us that whatever
the Scriptures declare on any subject is true, whether we understand it or not.
The word of God is to be received as
fact and true because God declared it. Every
jot and tittle of Holy Scripture is true, and must be received as authoritative
and conclusive as from God.
This is the point of the law that is our
text: if God called mere sinners who he put in authority gods, then surely it
cannot be blasphemy for the Lord Jesus Christ to declare himself to be the Son
of God. He is one with God. He is God. God put him in the greatest position of
authority, making Jesus both Lord and Christ, our Mediator, our Prophet, Priest
and King.
So we see, our text speaks first and
foremost of Christ Jesus who is THE AUTHORITY!
All scripture speaks first and foremost of Christ.
THE KING OF KINGS
Exodus 22: 28: Thou shalt not revile the
gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people.
Christ Jesus is the GodMan.
He is KING of kings and LORD of lords.
The righteous, faithful Son of God became the GodMan and paid all the
debt his people owed to the law of God. He
purged our sins, justifying his people before the law of God. He, not only put away our sin for breaking
the law, Christ fulfilled the whole law of God fully for us.
As he did so he also declared God just. He highly exalted God the Father. The Lord Jesus highly honored God’s holy law. He manifest the holy, just and righteous God
of heaven and earth.
Therefore, God raised him as the glorified
GodMan. God gave him all power and all
authority over all as the Prophet, Priest and King of his people as the GodMan!
Matthew 28: 18: And Jesus came and spake
unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Mt
28:18).
Christ is the only Potentate, the King of
kings
1Timothy 6:
14…our Lord Jesus Christ, 15: Which in his times he shall shew, who is the
blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; 16: Who only
hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no
man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
All who make war with Christ our King always loose.
Revelations 17:14:
These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is
Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and
chosen, and faithful.
Christ is ruling this earth in righteousness for his people, using
a host of heavenly armies, and he is doing so through this gospel—his word!
Revelations 19: 11:
And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was
called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 12: His
eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a
name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 13: And he was clothed with a
vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. 14: And the
armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine
linen, white and clean. 15: And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with
it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he
treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16: And he
hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF
LORDS. 17: And I saw an angel standing
in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in
the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the
great God; 18: That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains,
and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on
them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. 19: And
I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered
together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. 20:
And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles
before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the
beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a
lake of fire burning with brimstone. 21: And the remnant were slain with the
sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth:
and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
Christ is KING of kings. He has, is and shall conquer all his enemies,
all our enemies. So, in our text, in his
law, God says “Thou shalt not revile the
gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people.”
We saw that Christ applied this law, first of all, to himself. If those God put in authority deserve
respect, how much more the Lord Jesus Christ who God has given all authority.
Brethren, would we revile and curse THE GOD, THE RULER OF ALL PEOPLE,
CHRIST OUR KING? No way! Believers obey God by his grace, constrained
by his love. We do so, not by law or legal
restraints with legal motives. God’s
gift of faith makes us behold Christ to whom all scripture applies. God makes us know that Christ is the
fulfillment and the glory of all scripture.
The grace of God makes us willing in the heart to believe no him and
reverence him. The love of Christ toward
sinners like us constrains us to trust Christ to rule justly on our behalf! So we see Christ is THE AUTHORITY—he is THE
KING OF kings and LORD of lords.
THE GODS
Exodus 22: 28: Thou shalt not revile the
gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people.
Knowing Christ is the authority who put all men in positions of
authority, we know that to revile them is to revile him. This is something we dare not do for the sake
of our Redeemer!
Romans 13: 1: Let every soul be subject unto the
higher powers. For there is no power but
of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2: Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the
ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. 3:
For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not
be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of
the same: 4: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do
that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is
the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth
evil. 5: Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath,
but also for conscience sake. 6:
For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending
continually upon this very thing.
God our Savior,
Christ our King, puts all men in positions of authority from his preacher to
the president, senator and congressman to the governor, mayor and police
officer. Whether we like the ruler or
not—whether we agree with him or not—“he
is the minister OF GOD to thee for good…And the minister OF GOD to execute
wrath on them that do evil.”
Therefore, our
gracious King says to his people, "Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only
for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For for this cause pay ye tribute
also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.”
We cannot earn a righteousness nor makes ourselves holy by our
personal obedience. Not one sinner has ever
kept the law given at Sinai. No
believer, in ourselves, has kept the law of Sinai. We all broke it in Adam. When Adam disobeyed, we all reviled God. Being born with Adam’s sin-nature, we cursed
Christ in our hearts all our days of rebellion.
Our old man of sin still makes us revile those in authority and we ought
not!
For instance, men will see others revile
the candidate they are for. They say,
“They shouldn’t do that!” Then we sit in our easy chair and run down the
candidates we don’t like. It is called
hypocrisy! It is our sin nature. And it is direct rebellion against God!
Christ has fulfilled this law perfectly
for us and put away our sin—past, present and future. Before God we have never reviled any
authority God has put in place. It is
because Christ honored them perfectly on behalf of his people.
For that reason, moved by that great love
for us, Christ our Lord says to you and I who believe, if my love means
anything to you—do not revile or curse those I have put in authority. Do not write negative things about them. Do not speak against them in public or in
your heart. The reason is because Christ
put them there. They cannot wiggle a toe
without his consent.
You see brethren, we serve a sovereign
Savior! He rules everything in our
salvation. As David said, “He hath made with me an everlasting covenant
ordered in all things and sure and this is all my hope and all my salvation.” There is not been one second out of God’s
control since he made the first second to tick on the clock.
If we believe that is true then know the
same is true of those in authority. Do
they say something you do not agree with.
Remember this,
Proverbs
16:1: The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is
from the LORD.
Do they do something you do not like.
Proverbs
16:9: A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.
Constrained by Christ’s love alone, let us
close our mouths to reviling and cursing those in authority, let us pay tribute
to whom tribute is due. Let us know that
Christ is ruling those in authority the same as he is working all things in our
salvation. In fact, in some way, the people
in authority, are being used of God to work our salvation. “The
king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it
whithersoever he will” (Pro 21: 1).
Therefore, let us be glad and rest content that we have a King who is
the KING of all kings and he is our Savior!
Amen!