A Holy Nation

What this episode covers

Old Testament Reading The Old Testament reading is Exodus chapter 22, verse 16, through chapter 23, verse nine. So let’s give our attention to God’s word. This is God’s inerrant, infallible, and holy word. If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall give the bride price for her and make her his wife. If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the bride price for virgins. You shall not permit a sorceress to live. Whoever lies with an animal shall be put to death. Whoever sacrifices to any God other than the Lord alone shall be devoted to destruction. You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him for you are sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry and my wrath will burn and I will kill you with the sword and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless. If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a money lender to him and you shall not exact interest from him. If ever you take your neighbor’s cloak and pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body, and what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate. You shall not revile God nor curse a ruler of your people. You shall not delay to offer from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me. You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep. Seven days it shall be with its mother. On the eighth day, you shall give it to me. You shall be consecrated to me. Therefore, you shall not eat any flesh that is torn by beasts in the field. You shall throw it to the dogs. You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit siding with the many so as to pervert justice, nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit. If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it. You shall rescue it with him. You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit. Keep far from a false charge and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked. And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right. You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. New Testament Reading Our New Testament reading is 1 Peter, Chapter 1, 13 through 16, 1 Peter 1, 13 through 16. Therefore, preparing your minds for action, be sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Since it is written, you shall be holy for I am holy. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Holiness Amidst Peer Pressure There is no kind of pressure like peer pressure. We all experience it and we’ve all succumbed to it. There’s something within us that really wants to be like everybody else, something within us that wants to do what everybody else is doing. We don’t want to stand out as odd or different or not with it. And when it comes to spiritual and moral concerns, this desire that we have within us to conform, to be like everyone else, to be like the world around us, this can lead us into all kinds of trouble. The Lord knew that the people of Israel were going to struggle w

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