The Christian Family: Marriage and Household Order: The Family

Application & Practicality of Biblical Law

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Family Government

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2000-08-18

Synopsis: John Weaver argues that all law is inherently religious and that the only alternative to God's law is humanistic, man-made law. He contrasts three unbiblical theories of law—reformation, regulation, and redistribution—with the biblical concept of law as restitution, expounding Exodus 22:1-17 to show that God's law requires offenders to make proportional restitution to victims, thereby teaching responsibility and justice.

[John Weaver] Let me say I appreciate that singing. I thank Him for singing each night. When the Lord was passing out musical talent, He totally overlooked me, I can assure you. And I have a pastor friend who has a very beautiful voice. He sings regularly. And I was in his church preaching one time, and I was standing right beside him, and he was singing. And I thought, now is my opportunity, because I'm going to try to hit the notes exactly the way he hits the notes, you know. So, you know, I thought I was doing pretty good.

[John Weaver] And so after the song was over, he stepped up to the pulpit. He said, folks, he said, you know, all my life I've prayed and asked the Lord to help me to sing. He said, from here to four, I'm not going to pray that prayer anymore. I'm going to ask God to help John Weaver to sing. So I need all the help I can get, I can assure you. Let me say that I appreciate the graciousness and the hospitality of the Wilsons this week and of course for Pastor Wardlaw and you folks for allowing me to preach here. I'm always delighted to share the Word of God and I trust that God will bless your heart and answer a lot of questions as we look in the Bible.

[John Weaver] I want you to turn tonight to the book of Exodus chapter 22. Exodus chapter 22. We'll read the first 17 verses.

[John Weaver] Now, let me tell you that when I get started tonight, we're not going to be using too much scripture to begin with, and I think you'll see why in just a little bit. And then all of a sudden we're going to use an awful lot. I'll explain a little bit more in just a moment. Exodus chapter 22, beginning with verse one. If a man shall steal an ox or a sheep and kill it or sell it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.

[John Weaver] If a thief be found breaking up and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him. If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him, for he should make full restitution." By the way, it would pay you to underline this word each time we read it. For he should make full restitution. If he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox or ass or sheep, he shall restore double. If a man shall cause a field or a vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man's field, of the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard shall he make restitution. If fire break out and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn or the standing corn of the field be consumed therewith, he that kindle the fire shall surely make restitution. If a man shall deliver unto his neighbor money or stuff to keep, and be stolen out of the man's house, if the thief be found, let him pay double.

[John Weaver] If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges, to see whether he put his hand into his neighbor's goods. For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for rammoth, or for any manner of lost thing which another challenge it to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges, and whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbor. If a man deliver unto his neighbor an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast to keep, and it die, or be heard, or driven away, no man seeing it, then shall an oath of the Lord be between them both, that he hath not put his hand unto his neighbor's good. And the owner of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good. But if it be stolen from him, he shall make restitution unto the owner thereof. If it be torn in pieces, then let him bring it for witness, and he shall not make good that which was torn.

[John Weaver] If a man borrow aught of his neighbor, and it be hurt or die, the owner thereof being not with it, he shall surely make it good. But if the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good, if to be a hired thing it came for its hire. And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife.

[John Weaver] If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins. I want to bring a message which I have entitled, The Law as Restitution. John Wycliffe had written in the flyleaf of his Bible this statement. This Bible is for the government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

[John Weaver] Now you know that Abraham Lincoln was a plagiarist. He just simply dropped the Bible. But it was John Wycliffe who said that this Bible is for the government of the people, by the people, and for the people. You see, God is one and His law is one. And it's important to note in the Bible that law is revelation. In fact, the Hebrew word for law is Torah, which literally means authoritative revelation or authoritative instruction or authoritative direction. The law is the revelation of God and His righteousness. As I've tried to point out for the last several nights, there is absolutely no ground in Scripture for despising the law of God. Neither can you relegate law to the Old Testament and grace to the New Testament. For there is grace in the Old Testament and there is law in the New Testament.

[John Weaver] Now, whenever you begin to think about God's law, you have to consider this, that the only alternative to God's law is what you and I would call humanism, or modern-day relativism. You see, anytime anyone denies the law of God, it is for a reason. And that reason is that they might establish their own law. You see, it is absolutely impossible to live without law. In fact, what has happened today is this. We have literally denied the law of God. And we have established our law.

[John Weaver] The theme for the book of Judges is found in Judges 17, verse 6, and Judges 21 and verse 25. And there the Bible says simply this, there was no king in Israel in those days, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. And so what we have done is basically we have denied God and we've denied God's law, and every man is just doing that which is right in his own eyes, so to speak. So when you deny God's law, When you say that God's law is no longer binding, you do so only to establish your law or someone else's law. You see, it is impossible for an individual to live without law. An individual has to have law. A family has to have law. A community has to have law. A church has to have law. A state or a nation has to have law. So the question is not whether or not you will have law. The question is whose law will you have? gods or mans, but you're going to have law.

[John Weaver] You see, you can determine who an individual's God is by determining which law system the individual follows. Have you ever stopped to think that law is inescapably religious? There is no such thing as an unreligious law. When our Congress, when our Supreme Court tells us and says that we are neutral, we are unbiased, that is a bald-faced lie. No one is neutral and no one is unbiased.

[John Weaver] Now, I'm going to tell you folks tonight, I have a bias. And I confess it and I acknowledge it. My bias is toward the Word of God. My bias is toward the Lord Jesus Christ. But I want you to understand that there is no such thing as a neutral law. There is no such thing as an unbiased law. You see, let's take our federal Congress, for instance. Here the Congress says, well, we're not going to get involved in religion. That's hogwash. Because when those congressmen begin to legislate, when they begin to pass law, they have to determine whether a law is good or bad, whether a law is right or wrong. And are you listening? It is their religion that determines good and evil, right and wrong for them. And every law they pass has a religious basis and a religious foundation. Now, it may be a Christian religion, or it may be a pagan religion, but it is still religious. There is no such thing as an irreligious or an unreligious law. All law is inherently religious.

[John Weaver] Many times when anthropologists go to study dead cities and dead civilizations, the very first thing they want to know, or one of the first things is, what was the source of their law? Because if they ever determine what the source of their law is, they can determine who was the God of that society. So if the source of man's law is man's reason, then man is his own God. If the source of our law are those nine black-robed Supreme Court justices, then the Supreme Court is our God. But if God Himself is the source of our law, then God is our God. I want you to understand that modern humanism always, always makes the state the God of society.

[John Weaver] Now, I'm going to give you five quotes tonight very quickly. I'm going to tell you who said the first four.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to give me a guess or two at who said the fifth one. Here's the first one. This first quote is given by Hegel, the Marxist philosopher, and he says, the state incarnates the divine idea upon earth. Let me paraphrase that for you. Hegel taught the state was God walking on earth. Literally, government is God. That's what Hegel thought. He was a Marxist. The second quote is from the German philosopher, Johann Fichte. He also was basically a Marxist. And here's what he said. The state is the supreme power, ultimate, and beyond repeal, absolutely independent.

[John Weaver] Did you hear what he said? The state is the supreme power, ultimate, and beyond repeal. What is he saying? He is saying the state is God. The third quote came from Benito Mussolini. Most of you recognize that name. He said this, everything for the state, nothing outside the state, and nothing against the state.

[John Weaver] Now, have you ever wondered why these totalitarian regimes can line people up, hundreds at the time, and set up machine guns and just literally mow them down and turn around and walk off? I'll tell you why. Because they believe that everything is for the state and nothing can be outside of the state and nothing can be against the state. And if anything is against the government, if anything is against the state, it has no right to exist.

[John Weaver] And so that's how they can do that because of their philosophy or their theology. It was Adolf Hitler who said this one, the state dominates the nation because it alone represents the nation.

[John Weaver] Now, here's the fifth quote. And I want you to guess who said this one. Quote, the state embraces everything. Nothing has value outside of the state. The state creates right."

[John Weaver] Now listen to that again. The state embraces everything. Nothing has value outside of the state. The state creates right. Would you like to guess who said that? Someone guess. Well, that's pretty close. He didn't say it, but it was an American president. I wouldn't surprise that either, but let me just stop you from guessing. It was, it was what? Jesse Jackson. No, he wasn't a president yet.

[John Weaver] FDR, Federal Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Listen to what Roosevelt said. The state embraces everything. Nothing has value outside of the state. Which means this, if you're not a good little statist, you have no value. You are worthless. And then listen to what he said, the state creates right.

[John Weaver] Now, let me give you an illustration. This was told to me by a friend of mine who was president at the time. When Senator John Tooney from California, he was a senator back at this particular time. When he was being confronted by a pro-life group, And he was asked, is not abortion murder? And you would think that Senator Tooney would be pro-life because he is a nominal Roman Catholic anyhow. But Senator Tooney responded that abortion was not murder. And they asked him, how could that be? And his answer was, because the Supreme Court has ruled that it's not murder. And they asked Senator Tooney these several questions. They said, Senator Tooney, first of all, is it wrong to steal?

[John Weaver] He said, well, of course it is. They said, well, if the Supreme Court ruled tomorrow that theft was right, would it still be wrong to steal? He said, of course it would not be. What was he saying? The state creates right.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to understand, you can always tell who the God of a society is because whenever society gets in trouble, they always cry immediately to their God. I was driving down the road with a pickup truck and I had my truck loaded with lumber and I was pulling a trailer and I had lumber on that trailer and it was loaded as well. Well, I hit a little bump, and I wasn't going more than 15 miles an hour in second gear. And I hit a little bump, and that lumber shifted. And I looked in my rearview mirror, and here came my trailer passing me.

[John Weaver] And before I could do anything, the first thing I said was, Help, Lord! And guess what? That trailer just kind of pushed me very carefully right off the road into the ditch. And it was a large ditch, not deep. And I stopped just about that far from a big pine tree. And just as I got out of the truck to look, here came a neighbor of mine in a four-wheel drive pickup.

[John Weaver] He said, oh, Brother Weaver, looks like you're in a lot of trouble. I said, yes, I am. He said, I can get you out. He hooked me up to the chain. He pulled the trailer out. Then he pulled the truck out. I hooked back up to the trailer. He helped me rearrange the lumber. And in 15, 20 minutes, I was gone. You know what happened? The time I saw that, I immediately cried to the Lord for help. You look around in our country at the floods and the droughts and the tornadoes and the hurricanes, and you tell me, who is it our people cry to instantly and immediately? Federal government. Federal government.

[John Weaver] Now, what I want to do tonight is this. I want to give you four theories of law. I'm going to show you the first three are unbiblical They are humanistic to the core. That's why there will not be much Scripture used on these first three points. Oh, I could use Scripture alright, but it would be against them and certainly not to support them. But I think everyone in this room is capable of understanding that these three theories that I'm about to give you are absolutely, totally humanistic. Only the last one is biblical, and only the last one am I going to show you and expound verse for verse and show you the true biblical definition of law or the law as restitution. Now, here are the four concepts. First of all, I want you to understand law as reformation. I'll explain it. Then secondly, law as regulation. Thirdly, law as redistribution. And fourthly, law as restitution. So let's take these one at a time. First of all, law as reformation. May I remind you that this is absolutely humanistic to the core.

[John Weaver] It is unbiblical. It is ungodly. But may I tell you, this is why we have so many rehabilitation centers and reformatories and prisons and penitentiaries that dot the land.

[John Weaver] Now, I don't know if you're ready for this or not, but I'm going to tell it to you. Prisons are unbiblical. Prisons are unbiblical. There was not a prison in God's economy. There was a place where a man was held temporarily. When he was brought to trial, if he was found guilty of theft, which I'll explain later, he had to make restitution. If he was found guilty of some minor crime, he was beaten. If he was found guilty of a capital crime, he was taken out and executed. It was that simple. You didn't need a prison. Now, there were prisons during Bible times, but those prisons and those dungeons were operated by a pagan people and not by God's people.

[John Weaver] In fact, that's why Paul got thrown in the dungeon. It was a Roman dungeon. It was not an Israelite dungeon. Israel did not have any prisons or dungeons per se. So here is the law as Reformation. This is where man thinks that he is going to reform individuals or rehabilitate individuals. By His law. Here's the standard or the slogan. Law is salvation. In other words, we're going to take this law and rehabilitate or reform or save the individual.

[John Weaver] Now, let me show you how arrogant that is. As holy and as righteous and as godly as God's law is, God's law was never designed to save. That law certainly will direct us. That law certainly will quicken us. That law certainly will convict us. That law certainly will lead us. That law certainly will do many things, but it does not reform us. It does not... rehabilitate us as such.

[John Weaver] You know what the Bible says in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 21? The Apostle Paul said, Verily, if salvation had been by the law, then Christ died in vain. If there could have been law passed that would save, why in the world did Jesus Christ come and die? Very clearly, law does not save, God's law does not save us, and man's law certainly cannot save. Have you ever stopped to think, where in the world did we get our prison systems from?

[John Weaver] How is it that we have prisons? There was a man that most of you know. He was a Quaker. He lived from 1644 to 1718. He was an English Quaker by the name of William Penn. In fact, the founder of Pennsylvania. It's an interesting story how he got the property there as Pennsylvania. To make it a long story short, the king owed his father boo coodles of money. After his father died, William Penn knew that the king would never pay him back what he owed his family because Penn was a Quaker and Quakers did not believe in bowing to the king. They wouldn't take their hat off for the king and the king didn't like that. And the king was against Quakerism. And so Penn just made a suggestion to him, well, that he'd be willing to forgive the money that the king owed him and his family if he would give him some land in the New World. Well, the king was more than happy to do that because that way he would not only get rid of the debt, but he'd get rid of the Quakers as well.

[John Weaver] And so he swapped his debt for the land. And the word Pennsylvania just simply means Penn's woods. Well, you say, Brother Weaver, what significance is that? Well, you see, Quakers believed and taught that every man has a spark of divinity in him. Every man has a spark of good in him. And they believed this, that when a man did wrong, and when a man did bad, if you could get that man by himself, and just kind of fan that little flame of divinity or fan that little flame of goodness that pretty soon it would burst into a roaring fire of just goodness and Godhood and man would just automatically do what was right.

[John Weaver] Now, the only thing wrong with that, it was absolutely, totally unscriptural and unbiblical. You see, our English word penitentiary comes from the Latin penitentia Which means to do penance. Have you ever stopped to think that when a prisoner goes to prison, or he goes to jail, he has a little room, and that little room that he stays in is called a what? A cell. And when you have a number of these little rooms, one right after the other, join one to each other, you have what? A cell block.

[John Weaver] Now, let's go back to the monasteries. The monks each had their little room and his little room was called what? A cell. And when you had several of those little rooms joined to each other, you had a cell block. And so what in the world was the prisoner to do? The prisoner then was supposed to be separated. He was supposed to do penance. He was supposed to think about his evil deeds. And someone was supposed to be there to flame that little fire of goodness. And it would just simply burst forth into goodness, which is totally unscriptural and totally ungodly.

[John Weaver] And that's basically how penitentiaries got started in this country because of bad theology. May I remind you? You don't even have to talk to the wardens. You don't even have to talk to the guards. Listen, I had a gentleman in my church for years who was on the probation and parole board, and he was called upon to make a talk one time. to the other probation and parole officers.

[John Weaver] And he came to me and said, Pastor, what can I do to teach them the biblical truth? I said, well, you can tell them, first of all, that prisons are unbiblical. And here's one point and here's another point. And I showed him a lot of things. He said, good, that's exactly what I'm going to do. And he did. But all you've got to do is talk to the wardens. All you've got to do is talk to the guards. They will tell you it doesn't work. Talk to the prisoners. They will tell you it doesn't work. Let me tell you, you can take a man that's a petty thief, that's ignorant, that's stupid, that doesn't know what he's doing, and there's a lot of them. They're bad thieves. One man went in to rob a bank and he wrote the note on the back of his deposit slip. Now that doesn't take, you know, Too much brains to figure out who robbed the bank.

[John Weaver] Here it is in his own handwriting and he left it. And there was his address and phone number and social security number on the other side. That's not too smart. But you can take somebody that does something dumb and stupid like that and sentence him to five years with a group of hardened, accomplished criminals. Guess what? He comes out a more educated and more accomplished thief than when he went in.

[John Weaver] He doesn't come back reformed. He doesn't come back rehabilitated. Alice and I were going to a meeting in Indiana, and we passed a busload of prisoners. In fact, they were out on the side of the road working, and the bus had on it, Indiana Department of Corrections. I said, I wonder how many they're correcting. Just stop and think about that.

[John Weaver] Now, you see, here's law as Reformation. You do wickedly. And you will get caught and we will put you in the prison system and we will rehabilitate you. Did you know that America now has more people in prison than many totalitarian countries? I wish I had time to preach this tonight. You need to study about Unicor. You need to find out who has investments in Unicor. Unicor is the prison system. Do you realize it's judges and lawyers that have stocks and interest in Unicor? What is it? You get these men in federal prison and guess what? They put them to work and they pay those men a grand total, last time I checked with some friends who were in, a grand total of 11 cents an hour.

[John Weaver] And some of them are fine furniture makers and other things, and then they will take this furniture and sell it. They're not supposed to sell it in competition to other folks, but they do. And one of the reasons we have such a high turnover is we have to keep the system going so money can go in the right pockets. But the truth is, law as reformation is humanistic and unbiblical. Very quickly, law as regulation. Here's the second idea. This is humanistic also. This is where the law tries to make it impossible for men to sin by controlling their activities. This is literally salvation by regulation. In other words, they're going to make sure that businessmen do not cheat and lie and steal by literally regulating them to death. Now, let me tell you what regulation does. This type of regulation makes crooks out of honest men. How? Because now the honest man has to keep two sets of books, one that is true and accurate and one to show the government just to keep them from stealing everything that he's made.

[John Weaver] When, on the other hand, if government was not involved in it, you would have basically what is known as the law of supply and demand. And you would also have what is known as character and integrity. Let me just try to give you an illustration. Let's suppose that Ron had a store. And I went into this store to do some business. And he and I talked a while and I finally made a deal with him or he made a deal with me. Anyhow, we just agreed on this little deal. And so I gave him some money and he gave me some goods and I went outside and got down the road. Maybe I got down there two or three hours later and I thought, hey, wait a minute.

[John Weaver] You know, he cheated me. No wonder he was ready to do this. He never told me something else. And I just thought about it. So I come back and I see Ron. And I say, now, Ron, listen, you never mentioned this. And what you did was you took advantage of me and I want my money back. Here's your goods back. You give my money back right now. And suppose he looked at me and said, let me tell you something. You're crazy if you think I'm giving you your money back. You made the deal. You live with it. Caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware. Well, now, I might not get my money back from him. But let me tell you something. I'm going to go over to Kevin. I'm going to say, Kevin, you better stay away from Ron's store. Let me tell you what he did to me.

[John Weaver] Mark, don't you go near that man. Let me tell you what he did to me. Jeff, let me tell you. And listen, by the time I get through and by the time everybody else that he took has gotten through, guess what? He's going out of business. But guess what happens day to the crooks? If they fill out all the necessary forms and follow the regulations to a certain degree, they can get all kind of small business loans and federal loans and they can be subsidized by the government and stay in business for years on taxpayers' money.

[John Weaver] Now, let me show you something. I was in Pennsylvania preaching and there was an antique bookstore and I walked into the bookstore. And I asked the lady, I said, do you happen to have the two-volume set of Alexander Hamilton Stevens, A Constitutional View of the Late War Between the States? In time, I asked for those two books. She says, oh, you must be a rebel. I said, yes, ma'am, I am.

[John Weaver] And probably you are, too. Oh, no, she said, I'm a Yankee. I'm a Federalist. I said, well, let me just tell you a few things. I said, first of all, let me tell you that the war was really the war of northern aggression because Lincoln started it. After he said he would not re-fortify Fort Sumter, he sent ships in contrary to his word, and there's documentation that he and one man planned to start that war, and certainly Beauregard and those people had a right to fire on those ships because Lincoln was violating his word and they were trespassing on

[John Weaver] the property of South Carolina. And I said, furthermore, I said, I want you to understand the war had nothing to do with slavery. Slavery was not the issue. Lincoln said if he could win the war without freeing any slave, he would do it. And that wasn't the issue. I said, the issue was not over slavery. The issue was over states' rights. The issue was, do we have the right to defend ourselves and do we have the right to direct our own government?

[John Weaver] Or are we going to be regulated death by a federal bureaucracy? I said, lady, let me ask you just a few questions. Number one, do you like the IRS? No. Do you like HEW? No. Do you like OSHA? No. And I went right on down the line. She said no to every one of them. I said, you know, you're a pretty good rebel. She said, well, I guess I am. I guess I am.

[John Weaver] You see, I want you to see how absolutely stupid and asinine this is. And yet, you know, we never think about this. Let's pretend for a moment. This is the 1930s. 1930s. And here I am. I'm walking down the street and I've got a fifth of liquor sticking in my back pocket. And I'm flipping a gold coin in the air, and a policeman happens to see me, and he arrests me. Now, it's the 1930s.

[John Weaver] Please tell me why he's arresting me. No, not the gold coin. Not to begin with. Prohibition. I got the liquor. So, he's going to arrest me for the liquor. Now, it's the 1970s. I'm walking down the street. I've got the same fifth of liquor in my pocket. I'm flipping the gold coin. Now it's the gold coin because it's unlawful for us to have gold. You see what I'm saying? When you begin to regulate things, you can make lawful things illegal and illegal things lawful.

[John Weaver] Let me give you an illustration. There were some Christian students out in California who were protesting the fact that there was a house of prostitution across from their campus. And they were walking up and down with billboards, protesting and making all the fuss they can. And all of a sudden, here comes the pimp. And he pulls up and those students watch him go up and collect the money from those prostitutes. And about that time, a policeman comes by and the Christian young people flag him down and said, look, we've been watching this house. This is a house of prostitution.

[John Weaver] We can testify to it. There's the pimp. We just saw the girls pay him the money. We want you to arrest him. And the policeman said, watch me. And he goes over, puts his foot on the back bumper of the pimp's car, writes him free tickets, one for illegal parking, one for this and one for that. But he doesn't do anything for the house of prostitution. You know why? Because it was a licensed, regulated house of prostitution. See, you can have prostitution.

[John Weaver] That's what Nevada's known for as well. But it is regulated. It is licensed. In other words, you can make sin legal by regulation, and you can make righteousness illegal by regulation. You know, we have a saying, and that saying is this, ignorance is no excuse of the law. You know where that came from? That came from when our country was first founded, because our law was based upon the Word of God. Did you know that juries determine guilt and innocence by use of their Bibles? Did you know that judges, and the reason we stand when the judge walks into the courtroom, was because initially the judge walked in holding the Bible and men stood, not out of respect for the judge, but out of respect for the Word of God. Now they take the Word of God out and want you to stand for them. But everybody knew the Bible. Ignorance is no excuse. Everybody had a copy of the Bible.

[John Weaver] Let me tell you something, folks. Every one of you in here violate the law, multitudinous laws, every day, and you don't even know it. How many of you have ever read the Federal Register all the way through? How many of you have ever read it all the way through every year? If you were to start reading today, it would take you about 10 or 15 years just to get through it one time. English isn't Tuesday. There's no way that you can know what the law is. There are so multitudinous. But the ignorance of the law, there's no excuse, is based upon the Word of God. So here is law as reformation, as humanism. Here is law as regulation, as humanism. Thirdly, here is law as redistribution.

[John Weaver] That too is humanistic to the core. Let me explain. If you remember the Bolshevik revelation in 1917. Here the Bolsheviks came along and they're going to take all the land from the Tsar and all the riches from the Tsar and they're going to distribute it to the peasants. Everybody's going to have some. How many peasants in Russia own land today? How many of them are wealthy? You see, it was redistribution all right, but it was taking from the czar and keeping it there with a certain elite and a certain little group. You see, that's basically what we have today in our land in the income tax.

[John Weaver] It is nothing more than a redistributing of the wealth. Listen, our government no more needs taxes to run itself than you need an extra set of eyes to see, if you can already see. You say, well, how in the world can you say that? Well, let me tell you something, folks. Did you realize that before 1913, there was no income tax? How did our government run itself before 1913? And may I remind you, before 1913, we did not have a several trillion dollar debt. You see, what we have today is a redistribution of wealth.

[John Weaver] We have a social manipulation and social control, and we have it taking from the haves and giving to the have-nots. We're taking it from those who work and giving it to those who will not work. I remember my daddy one time was talking to an old black man, and the black man told my daddy, he said, you know, Mr. D.J., he said, I think what they ought to do and whoever the they is, but here's what he said. I think what they ought to do is take all the money in the world, put it in one pile and divide it between everybody equally. Daddy said, do you realize?

[John Weaver] If they did that, before the week was over, there would again be an inequality. Because some men are smarter than others. Some men work harder than others. Some men are crooks and thieves. Before the week was over, there would be an inequality. It just wouldn't work. And the old black man looked at Dad and said, I meant they ought to do it every Saturday night. Well, that might work. if they do it every Saturday night. Well, let me tell you, you know what we have forgotten? We've forgotten that when God says, Thou shalt not steal, that applies to governments equally as it applies to individuals. And when God says, Thou shalt not steal, that is all-encompassing.

[John Weaver] And all you've got to do is read Frederick Bastier's book, The Law, and he will distinguish for you the difference between legal plunder and illegal plunder. You see, if I pull out a pistol and stick it to your head, and say, give me your money, I can go to jail or I might get shot or you might whip me. I might get hurt. But if I really want what you have and I don't want to suffer for it, all I've got to do is get in a position where I can pass a law that will make you give to me. And if you don't, you go to jail. Now, that's still plunder, but it's illegal plunder. I wish I had time tonight to read from the Fairfax Resolves. Our Founding Fathers said, when we no longer have the right to give or withhold our money, we are under a complete tyranny.

[John Weaver] Now, I'm just simply pointing out, here is redistribution. I suppose everyone here knows that a progressive graduated income tax is the second plank in the Communist Manifesto. So here we have redistribution. That's one of the ways. Somebody says, ah, but Brother Weaver, don't you know the Bible says, in fact, our Lord Himself said it, render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's. Isn't it amazing that so many people can quote that, but they can't quote the rest of the verse. Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God's the things that belong unto God. And may I tell you this, dear friend, the God who instituted government, the God who set up government, is the same God that tells you what belongs to government. If you let Caesar tell you, he'll take everything you've got. But what we've got today is redistribution. Inheritance tax. Inheritance. Totally, completely unbiblical. Do you realize? that most people cannot afford to inherit their family farms or their family properties because of inheritance taxes. I, with my own eyes, have seen grown men fall on the floor weeping and crying like babies because they had to sell the family farm just to pay the inheritance tax.

[John Weaver] Let me ask you a question. Don't answer out loud, but how many of you still live on the original family home place. Let me see your hands. Look there. One person in the entire congregation. You know what has happened in this country? We have become a generation of displaced Americans. Our forefathers, many of them were born and died on a farm or born and died on a homestead and never even left it. And if you tried to mess with that farm or that homestead, you got in trouble. Why?

[John Weaver] Because those men said, this is what God gave me. This is what God gave our family. It's been in our family for years, for generations, and I'll die fighting before I see you take it. What has happened in America is this. We've lost our home places. We've lost our farms. And we've lost everything worth fighting for. You get that? We've nothing left. We have become a generation of displaced Americas in our own home, in our own homeland.

[John Weaver] Let me very quickly tell you another one, and that's property tax. I suppose the most unbiblical tax of all is the property tax. Why? The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. Have you ever stopped to think? that when a government begins to tax property, the government is usurping the ownership of God over that property. The state of South Carolina doesn't own the property in the state of South Carolina. God owns it.

[John Weaver] Did you know that when the American Revolution was being fought, now listen, the colonists went to the Canadians and tried to get Canadians to help them fight England, and one of their arguments was this. If you don't help us stop this parliament and stop this king, the next thing you know, they'll be trying to even tax our land. In Atlanta, Georgia, there was a widow woman who had a piece of property. Her home was on it, and right beside her home, she had a second piece of property that was an acre. And all she did on that piece of property was that was her garden.

[John Weaver] It had been in her family for years. That piece of property she had been paying property taxes on had a value of $50,000. And of course, she paid, you know, a lower percentage of that. And that's what she had been paying for years. Well, she got her property taxes, notice, And now that piece of property has an estimated tax value of $3.2 million. And she asked, how can this be? Last year, it was only $50,000. Here's the answer. Well, some other property in the neighborhood sold for a good figure. and a high figure because a big corporation came in. And so that's the value we had to put on all the surrounding property. Let's translate that.

[John Weaver] What that means is this. The corporation would really like to buy your property as well, but you probably wouldn't be able to sell it. So we're going to tax you until you can't pay it and you will have to sell it just for taxes. Or some of us good old boys will step in and buy it from you for a measly $50,000-$60,000 and then we'll turn around and sell it for $3 million to the corporation. That's what it means.

[John Weaver] I get so aggravated at some of those people. My aunt came up to me. She said, you need to help me. I said, what do you mean? She's a widow woman. They had raised her taxes like you wouldn't believe. I said, well, I'll go and talk with him." So I went down to talk with him. And finally, here is what the man told me. Well, we're probably raising everybody's taxes to the same amount, and what we want to be is fair. Now, you want us to be fair, don't you? I said, no, sir, I don't. He said, what do you mean you don't? I said, well, let me ask you a question. Suppose a rapist came into a neighborhood and raped a woman. And he got to thinking, he said, I wasn't fair to all those other women.

[John Weaver] I better go back and rape them. Or a thief comes in and robs one house and he says, you know, I wasn't fair to those other houses. I better go back and steal everything they've got too. I said, no, sir, I don't want you to be fair. What I want is justice. What I want is what is biblical and right. I said, don't talk to me about fairness.

[John Weaver] You see, the point I'm trying to make is this is redistribution, and I'm not going to take the time to preach this, but inflation is a tax that most of us never see. You say, Brother Weaver, bless God, I got $50,000 in a bank account. Well, I tell you what, you just give it 30 days, you won't have $50,000 worth of buying power because inflation will eat it up. It's a redistribution of wealth. Nobody's going to argue with me here tonight.

[John Weaver] That is highly humanistic and unbiblical. Now watch. Here's law as reformation, law as regulation, law as redistribution.

[John Weaver] Now I want to take the time and ask you to look in your Bibles, Exodus chapter 22, because I want to show you the biblical idea, and that is law as restitution. So in Exodus chapter 22, verses 1 through 17, it tells us a number of things about God's law as restitution. First of all, in verse one, you have the ratio of restitution given.

[John Weaver] Now watch, he says, if a man shall steal an ox for a sheep and kill it, or sell it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep. Now I want you to note there is a five-fold restitution and there is a four-fold restitution. Well, why is there a discrepancy? Why is there a difference in that ratio? You've got to stop and understand that the ratio is based upon the value and the usefulness of the object, both at the present and for the future. You can take a sheep and you can eat the sheep and you can make clothes out of the sheep. And you might could use the sheep for pet. I don't know if you drink sheep milk or not.

[John Weaver] I'd include that with food maybe. That's about all you can do with a sheep. But you could take an ox and you could have milk. You could have meat that would be food. You could use the hide for clothes and for tents. But more than that, an ox is a trained work animal. And so God says the value of restitution, if something is stolen, depends upon the usefulness.

[John Weaver] For instance, let's suppose that Chuck is a plumber. Chuck's a plumber and he's got a work truck and it's full of all of his plumbing tools. and all these supplies. And he drives that truck every day except on Sunday. And on Sunday, he drives a family car. Now, if I were to ask Chuck, if one of those vehicles had to be stolen, which one had he rather have stolen? Well, his car. He doesn't need the car that much. He needs that work truck with all his tools in it.

[John Weaver] You see what I'm saying? So the work truck has a higher value and would have a higher value of restitution than the family car. So here's a five-fold restitution. Here's a four-fold restitution. And it's based upon the usefulness and the value and the use of the object.

[John Weaver] Now, we're talking about thievery now. I want you to understand this. He said in verse one, if a man steals, an ox or a sheep, and kill it or sell it, he shall restore it," that is, make restitution, fivefold for an ox and fourfold for a sheep.

[John Weaver] Now, look in verses 2 and 3. Here is the problem of defense resolved when it comes to thievery. He says, if a thief be found breaking up and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him. If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him, for he should make full restitution. If he have nothing, then he should be sold for his theft."

[John Weaver] Now, I'm going to cover verse 3 a little bit later, but note if you would verse 2. He said, first of all, if a thief be found breaking up, that is, he's breaking in, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him. I was here in Greenville. This was a good while back. And I had a man come up to me and said, Brother Weaver, let me ask you a question. I said, go ahead. He said, what would you do if you woke up during the night and there was a man breaking in your bedroom window? I said, that depends.

[John Weaver] He said, what does it depend upon? I said, well, it depends on whether or not I get my hands on the gun or not. If I get my hands on a gun, I'd shoot him. If I couldn't, I'd get my hands on a baseball bat and I'd beat him in the head. He said, well, I don't think you ought to do that. I said, well, what do you think I ought to do? He said, well, I think you ought to go in the other room and pray about it. I said, you mean to tell me you think I ought to be in the other room praying while the man's in there raping my wife or murdering my children? I said, I'd be praying alright. I'd pull that baseball bat back and I'd say, dear God, don't let me miss him this time! Pow! I said, I'd pray.

[John Weaver] That's what the Scripture says. If a man is breaking in at night, listen, you don't know who he is. You don't know whether he's armed or not. You don't know what his intent is. God says, kill him, get it over with. There shall be no bloodshed for him. Ah, but look in verse three. If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be bloodshed for him, for he should make full restitution. Now, wait a minute. God says it's a little different during the daytime. What difference is there? Well, in the daytime, you can see whether or not he's armed. In the daytime, you can recognize him and perhaps even catch him, if not immediately, a short time later. And God said in that case, you don't kill him. Let him make the restitution. Now, wait a minute. There is a way that you could lawfully kill Him biblically in the daytime as well. And that is if He is armed and if your life is in danger, as I told you last night, you still have the right of self-defense.

[John Weaver] And you could lawfully shoot Him even in the daytime. But God said if He's breaking in at night, you don't know who He is, you can't see Him, you don't know what His intent is, you don't know whether He's armed or not, just shoot Him and get it over with. That's it. There's to be no blood shed, He said, on that count. But if it's daytime, He said, don't kill him unless he's trying to hurt you. In other words, you can see he said, give him the opportunity to make restitution.

[John Weaver] I'll explain that a little bit now. Skip down, if you would, to verse four. There is specific restitution required when a thief is caught in the act. or before he has time to dispose of or abuse the goods. He says in verse 4, if the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox or ass or sheep, he shall restore double. Now we get a double at restitution. Not a fivefold, not a fourfold, but a double.

[John Weaver] So let's suppose, go back to this illustration, let's suppose Sean stole Chuck's work truck. And he's caught two blocks from the house. He never got two blocks away. Well, God said just let him pay Chuck double if the truck and the equipment is worth $20,000. That means he owes him now $40,000. Why? Because he hasn't really been hurt. He hasn't really suffered anything. He's just been inconvenienced for a short period of time. So here's a fivefold. Here's a fourfold. Here's double.

[John Weaver] Now, look down verses five and six. Listen to me now. It's going to get quite touching in just a moment. Certain acts whether they are deliberate or accidental, incur a liability which requires restitution. Verse 5, If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man's field of the best of his own field, of the best of his own vineyard, shall he make restitution? If fire break out and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn or the standing corn of the field be consumed therewith, he that kindle the fire will surely make restitution. Now, God says, If my horse gets out of my pasture and gets in my neighbor's cornfield and he eats 20 bushels of corn before I can catch him, then I'm responsible to replace or restore, to make restitution of 20 bushels of corn to my neighbor. And of the best of what I have, I'm to make the restitution. Now, you say, but Brother Weaver, you didn't intend for your horse to get out.

[John Weaver] That's immaterial. That doesn't matter. It was my horse. I'm responsible. If I come to your house and your dog runs out and bites my leg, I'm sorry. It's your dog. You're responsible. Can't help that. If you don't want the responsibility, don't have the dog. It's just that simple. See, at our house, we have an attack pig. We don't have something like that. I've often said I pitied the poor thief that came to my house.

[John Weaver] He would probably trip over one of the animals and break his neck and sue me for everything, you know. But that's the way it goes. But you understand what I'm saying? We're responsible.

[John Weaver] Now, look what he said in verse 6. If fire break out and catch in thorns, so that the standing corn of the field be consumed therewith, he that kindle a fire shall surely make restitution.

[John Weaver] Now, let me explain that. Here you are. You're raking your yard. You've raked up all the leaves and you set the leaves on fire. And the next thing you know, man, the wind comes along and takes your leaves that are on fire, blows them over in your neighbor's yard, sets his yard on fire. It goes up this house. His house catches on fire. And by the time the fire department gets there, his house is burned down. Guess who's responsible to build him a house? You are.

[John Weaver] You say, but Brother Weaver, it was an accident. It doesn't matter. You know what God's teaching us? God is teaching us responsibility. What he's saying is this, if you're going to play with fire, you ought to be responsible and have enough people out there, enough equipment out there to keep it in control. You don't let things like that happen. You have to learn responsibility. Let me tell you, if I step out this church building or if I step out your house door and there's a rotten step and I fall through and break my leg, you're responsible for my medical bill. He said, but Brother Weaver, the board was rotten. Well, you had a responsibility to fix the rotten board. You see, God keeps us responsible.

[John Weaver] What we want to do is this. We want to do like Israel. Hey, we want a king to rule over us that we may be like everybody else and that the king will fight our wars for us. We don't want responsibility. We just simply do not want responsibility. When I was a boy, I had some cherry bombs and I was out in the yard bursting those cherry bombs and my mother came out and she said, son, your grandmother has a headache.

[John Weaver] If you're going to burst those things, go down to the woods. My dad had plenty of property, but I don't know why, but I crossed the field, climbed over my neighbor's fence. Went across his field and went down into a stand of pine trees. Maybe I went there because it's cool. I don't know. Those little pine trees were about that big around and the straw was real thick under there. You know, it was shady and cool. And I stood there and I burst those cherry bombs until I got to the last one. And I lit that last one and I threw it over my shoulder like that and I started walking home. I got about 50 yards and I smelled smoke. And I turned around and looked, and that last cherry bomb had set that pine straw on fire. And there was already a place as big around as that organ, that piano together. My heart went in my throat. I went and broke me off some pine limbs, and I went to fighting that fire.

[John Weaver] And I want you to know it took me 30 to 45 minutes to put that thing out. My heart was in my throat. I finally got it out. I said, God, my helper, I'm not going to play with cherry bombs again. I'm not going to get on my neighbor's property. Of course, I didn't know any better then. But if I had burned down that man's pine stand, my father would have been responsible.

[John Weaver] I mean, I was only 11 or 12 years old. God says there are certain acts that require restitution, whether they're accidental or not. That's immaterial. Look at it, if you would, please. in verse 7-13. I want to just lump this in one, because here in verses 7-13, responsibility is determined for goods held in custody. After you read this and understand this, you may not want to be responsible for holding your neighbor's goods in custody any longer. He says in verse 7, if a man shall deliver unto his neighbor money or stuff to keep, And if it be stolen out of the man's house, if the thief be found, let him pay double. Watch. If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges to see whether he hath put his hand into his neighbor's goods.

[John Weaver] For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox or ass, for sheep, for raiment, for any manner of lost thing, which in other challenges to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges. Watch it. And whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbor. Ah! So here I go. I come up to Brother Greg. I said, now, Brother Greg, now listen, here's this knife. This knife is a genuine buck knife. This knife belonged to my great grandfather. That's great sentimental value. And let's say this knife is worth five thousand bucks. OK, fine. And I said, now, Brother Greg, would you keep this for me?

[John Weaver] He said, well, sure, I'll be glad to. Now, the word keep literally means to guard and protect. So he agrees to keep it for me. And while he's keeping it for me, someone breaks in and steals it.

[John Weaver] Now, if the thief is found, the thief is only to pay double. Why? Because I wasn't using it anyhow. Once again, I've just been merely inconvenienced. But let's suppose the thief gets in and steals it, and it's not found. And the thief's not found. And so I said, now wait a minute, Greg. You told me you were going to keep my knife. Well, Brother Weaver, You know, I had it laying up there on that mantel and, you know, I thought that would be a safe place. Well, Greg, don't you know folks can break in and see it there and they will take it?

[John Weaver] God says, now, there's a controversy. And if I think Greg has been negligent, he's to stand before the judges. And if the judges has found that he has been negligent, let him pay me double. So Greg would then owe me $10,000. Why? Because when he agreed to keep my knife, he was saying, I'm going to guard it. I'm going to protect it. So when people deliver things to you to keep for them, God says you are responsible.

[John Weaver] You better make sure that it does not get stolen. You better make sure that you are not negligent.

[John Weaver] Now, if you're not negligent, He says in verse 10, if a man delivered to his neighbor an ass or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep it, and it die or be hurt or driven away, no man seeing it, then shall an oath of the Lord be between them both, that he had not put his hand into his neighbor's goods, and the owner of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good."

[John Weaver] Now, if he wasn't negligent, that's one thing. But if he was negligent, he owes me double. Now, watch. He says,"...and if it be stolen from him," that is, even while he's keeping it now,"...he shall make restitution to the owner thereof." In other words, he would at least owe me one night back. There is a restitution demanded for goods held in custody that you allow to get lost or stolen or abused through your negligence.

[John Weaver] Now, look down, if you would, verses 14 and 15. Watch it carefully. In fact, you understand verse 13. He said, if it be torn in pieces, so if Greg is keeping my horse, if it be torn in pieces, a wildcat gets it, then let him bring it for a witness, and he shall not make good that which was torn. In other words, the wildcat got it. He had no control over that. Now watch verse 14. If a man borrow aught of his neighbor, and it be hurt or die, the owner thereof being not with it, he shall surely make it good. But if the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good, If it be a hired thing, it came for its hire. Now, let's watch this.

[John Weaver] What God is telling us, there are special principles that are involved in rental and loan arrangements. Now, let me just try to put this in the proper perspective. You see, when we read, if it be hurt or die, we think of animals and not everybody has animals, especially folks who live in town. So let's work it out where you can understand it if you live in town.

[John Weaver] So I go over to Brother Tony and say, now, let me ask you a question. My lawnmower is torn up. My grass needs cutting. May I borrow your lawnmower? Well, he said, of course, Brother Weaver, you may borrow it. And so I get his lawnmower and I go back to my house and I start cutting my grass. And I have it cut at five minutes and the motor blows up. Now what happens? Well, if I'm the average American Christian, what I do is I sneak back to his house and I push it back under his garage and hope he doesn't remember I'm the last person that borrowed it. God says if I borrowed it, it's my responsibility, I get to fix it. It's my responsibility to put a new motor in it. It's my responsibility to bring it back to Him working just like it was when I got it.

[John Weaver] Now, what I could do is this. I could say, Brother Tony, loan me your lawn mower. He says, wonderful, fine. He said, you may borrow it, but I tell you what, I'm not doing anything. I will come over and watch you and maybe even help you cut your grass. I said, sure, come on over. And he's sitting there while I'm pushing the mower and all of a sudden, the mower and all of a sudden, plooey, the motor blows up. Guess what?

[John Weaver] He gets to pay for it. Because he was with it and he saw that it was no negligence on my part. It was just time for the motor to go and it went. But if I borrow it and he's not there, guess what? It's my responsibility to fix it.

[John Weaver] Now, there's another way out of it. I could come up and say, Brother Tony, I need a lawnmower. Fine, Brother Weaver. You may use mine. But, Brother Tony, I'll give you 20 bucks. I want to rent it from you. He said, well, fine, wonderful. I give him 20 bucks. And the motor blows up. Guess what? According to the Bible, it's his responsibility because he rented it to me.

[John Weaver] It came for its hire. But if I borrow it, It's my responsibility. You know what I learned a long time ago? And I learned it the hard way. I learned it's easier to own something yourself than to borrow it. It seemed like, brother, everything I borrowed tore up. I was building a house that we lived in for 15 years. Well, the men in my church said, Brother Weaver, I'll loan you my skill saw.

[John Weaver] You won't have to buy one. I said, well, thank you, David. And he brought to me a brand new skill saw. I took it out of the box myself. Did you know I used that skill saw a week and someone came on the job site and stole it? I went downtown and I bought two just like it. And I took one to David. I said, David, thank you for letting me use your skill saw. And although yours got stolen, here's a brand new one to replace it. And I won't need to borrow this one because I have one for myself and I can assure you mine will be locked up when I leave. You understand responsibility? God's law teaches us responsibility.

[John Weaver] I borrowed my father's chainsaw. I had a chainsaw. Mine was in the shop. Daddy had one of those brand new $500 steel chainsaws. I have a special gas can that I use that says, chainsaw gas. Oil is already mixed with it. I took my father's chainsaw. I poured gas into it. I went out and I cut wood for about two seconds, it seemed like, maybe 30 seconds, and all of a sudden the motor locked up. It wouldn't start. I took it to the chainsaw man.

[John Weaver] I said, what in the world is wrong? He said, somebody put gas in this thing without oil in it and locked the motor down. I said, it couldn't have been me because that's the only thing I used. And guess what? I went back and checked my can and one of my kids had poured that gas out, put regular gas in it and used it for the lawnmower gas. You know what?

[John Weaver] It cost me $150 to get my daddy's chainsaw fixed. I had to pay it. To this day, even my chainsaw, before I put gas in it, I pour it in my hand or I look at it or I make sure oil's in it. Listen, you start obeying God's law and you start paying for some of your mistakes, it doesn't take you long to learn. You take God's law seriously, folks, on restitution, and I'm going to tell you something. You're going to learn to be responsible. Now, look very quickly at verses 16 and 17. This would take care of the fornication that we've got running around rampant.

[John Weaver] He said,"...if a man entices a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife." So God says when a man seduces a woman, he must marry her. Watch verse 17. Here's the only way he can get out of marrying her biblically. If her father utterly refused to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins." So God says, here's a young man. He seduces a young woman. God says, you must marry her. Then if you'll read Deuteronomy 22, the last three verses, God says, you can never, ever put her away. You can never divorce her. You can never separate from her. You can never put her away.

[John Weaver] You're the one that humbled her. God says, she's yours and she's yours from then on. That's it. Now, God says, the only way the man can get out of marrying her is if her father utterly refused to give her unto him. And if the father refuses, then the young man has to pay dowry according to the Dowry of Virgins.

[John Weaver] Now, dowry in the Bible was three-year wages. So, let's say the average man in this community makes $50,000 a year. That means that young man that seduces your daughter owes your daughter $150,000 if you're not going to let her marry him. You say, why would God say that? Because God is looking out for the woman. You say, what are you talking about, Brother Weaver? Well, every man wants to marry a pure woman. But when the man finds out the woman he is in love with may not be pure, but that she can come into the marriage with 150,000 bucks, he tends to be a little more forgiving and understanding.

[John Weaver] That's the truth. God's looking out for the woman. And let me tell you something, folks. You start making every young man that sleeps with a young girl marry her or pay three years' worth of dowry, I'll guarantee you, The fornication rate will drop dramatically. You understand that what God is telling us is this, that seduction is a breach of the 8th commandment, thou shalt not steal, as well as a breach of the 7th commandment, thou shalt not commit adultery. And since this young man has stolen her virginity, he must pay. He must make restitution. Now. I want you to understand something about restitution, I've covered tonight very quickly, a five full restitution, a four full restitution, a two full restitution. There's one other restitution that I haven't covered, and I'm not going to ask you to read it.

[John Weaver] You just jot it down. You can read when you get home. That is. A one fifth or 20 percent restitution. There's one avenue that I haven't covered, but God's Word covers it in Leviticus 6, verses 1-7. Let's suppose that Brother Roger comes up to me, and while we're talking, he sticks his hand in my pocket and steals a $100 bill. Now, I don't have a $100 bill in my pocket, but let's suppose I did, and he stole it.

[John Weaver] And he gets away with it. I mean, he's gone. In fact, he was so good, that it was maybe two or three days before I even realized that money was gone. And then after I realized the money was gone, I had no idea it was him. He got slapped away with it. No one suspected him. But a week or two later, God convicted him. And he says, I want not to have done that. That was wicked. That was wrong. That was ungodly. Guess what?

[John Weaver] Roger is supposed to come back to me and say, Brother Weaver, I need to ask your forgiveness. I stole from you. I took that $100 bill. Here is that $100 bill back. plus 20% restitution. I want to be right with you and right with God. The 20% was when the man got away. Nobody saw him, but God convicted him. And by the way, if I'm dead and gone, he's to give it to my family. If I have no family, guess what? He's to give it to the church.

[John Weaver] Read Leviticus 6 when you get home tonight. I want you to understand that God requires restitution. Do you remember 2 Samuel chapter 12? David had committed adultery with Bathsheba. And Nathan the prophet came along and he said, let me tell you a story, King. There's a rich man who had all these sheep. He was a poor man who had one little ewe lamb and he nursed it in his bosom just like a child. And a stranger came to that rich man And the rich man spared to take of his own flock and went over and stole that poor little lamb from that poor man and killed it and fed his guest. Boy, David got so angry. He said, let me tell you something. The man that had done that shall surely die and he shall make a fourfold restitution. He knew God demanded restitution.

[John Weaver] Have you ever wondered why when the children of Israel departed out of Egypt They ask, not borrowed. The word is literally asked. They ask of the Egyptians gold and silver. They did not borrow it with the intent of returning it. They borrowed it by saying, give it to me permanently. Why did God move on those Egyptians to give it? God was making those Egyptians pay restitution for the years that they held His people into captivity and in bondage.

[John Weaver] Abimelech in Genesis chapter 20 had taken Sarah. And God had fast closed up the womb of every woman in His house. And God told Abimelech, unless you restore the man his wife, you're a dead man. I'm going to kill you. And you restore his wife and you make restitution. And Abimelech gave him back Sarah and he gave him sheep and oxen. And he said, here, just leave me. Don't stay around me. Go wherever you want to go in my land, but don't stay around me. And he made Abimelech give restitution.

[John Weaver] Have you ever asked yourself why did the children of Judah go into captivity in the Babylon for 70 years? You say, well, Brother Weaver, the answer to that is very obvious. Because of their sins. Ah, but what specific sins? If when you get home tonight, if you'll read 2 Chronicles 36 and verse 21, you will find that the sin that they committed and broke the most was the fact they failed to let the land keep its Sabbaths. They failed to let the land rest. And God said as long as they were in captivity, the land kept for Sabbaths. God demanded that His people make restitution for abusing His land. Now, folks, let me tell you, God requires restitution.

[John Weaver] There is no other just and equitable way to deal with sinners. Some little kid throws a baseball through your window and daddy comes over and says, now Johnny, apologize to the good man. I'm sorry I broke your window. There Johnny, now don't you feel better? Now let's go home. Oh no, you don't. I'll take your apology plus a new window. You make restitution. You do that which is right and equitable.

[John Weaver] Now let me just try to show you The difference between God's law and humanism, the difference between God's law and man's law. I want to show you so you can see and judge where we are in this country. Let's suppose that you worked hard and you saved your money and you go out and buy a brand new car. Let's suppose that brand new car cost you $30,000. And you're so excited, you want to show it to everyone. You drive at church night and so you run in and you forget and leave the keys in the car. But you're just going to be in here for a few minutes. And when you come back out, that new car is gone. Man, you get so excited, you run in the office, you call the sheriff's department. You said, look, there's a brand new LTD going down the road and it's blue in color and the license number such and such and it's just been stolen. In fact, we saw it heading east on such and such road.

[John Weaver] And so the sheriff then puts an APB out and a deputy calls back in and says, well, I've got that car right in front of me. I'm going to pull him over. The deputy turns on his light, turns on his siren, and the individual driving that car, instead of pulling over, just foreboards it and tries to escape. And so the deputy calls back in. He said, he's trying to get away. I'm going to give chase. And here's that new car going around curve after curve after curve. And finally, the man driving your car leaves the road, wraps it around a pine tree and absolutely totals it. And when the sheriff's deputy gets there, Here's the old drunk behind the wheel, and he's not hurt.

[John Weaver] Most of them never are. And the deputy says, you got me! And the old drunk says, so what? Well, he gets arrested and thrown in jail. Now, here's man's law. You get ripped off one time because your car is stolen. You get ripped off a second time because if you had insurance, And if insurance replaces it, you're going to have to wait a while. Plus, your insurance rates are going to go up because insurance companies are not going to lose. You get ripped off a third time because now this old drunk is thrown in the county jail. And guess what? You get to feed and clothe him with your tax dollars. You get ripped off a fourth time because the old drunk can't afford a lawyer. And guess what? He gets a court-appointed attorney at your tax dollars. You get ripped off a fifth time because once he is found guilty, he's sentenced to five to six years in prison and you get to feed him and clothe him for that time. You get ripped off another time because while he's in prison, somebody has got to take care of his wife and children.

[John Weaver] And guess what? Your tax monies do it again.

[John Weaver] Now, let's take it under God's law. The old drunk steals your car. He wrecks it. He totals it. He's brought before the judge. It's proved. He's stolen your car. Let's say that it was just a leisure car. It wasn't a work car or anything. And the judge looks at the old drunk and he said, alright, I fine you $120,000. Fourfold restitution to be given, not to the state, but to the man that you stole from. You say, Brother Weaver, come on. What's that old drunk going to do? That old drunk's going to stand there and say, $120,000. Judge, you must be crazy. Judge says, no, I'm not crazy, sir. Little drunk said, I don't have $120,000. The old judge said, that's very simple. You see, we believe in biblical law. In Exodus 22, verse 3 says, if a man have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. That means, sir, you now become the personal servant and slave of this man until you work out $120,000. You say, oh, oh, oh, amen, Brother Weaver.

[John Weaver] What's to stop that old drunk from running off? Oh, Deuteronomy 17, turn there. I want to show it to you. I can quote it, but I want you to see it. Look at Deuteronomy 17. You say, Brother Weaver, what's to stop him from running off and never, ever finish paying? Deuteronomy chapter 17, beginning there with verse 8, God says, If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gate, Then shalt thou rise and get thee up into the place which the Lord thy God shall choose. And thou shalt come unto the priests, the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire, and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment. And thou shalt do according to the sentence of that place which the Lord shall choose. Show thee, and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee. according to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgments which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do, thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall show thee to the right hand or to the left.

[John Weaver] And the man that will do presumptuously and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth at the minster, therefore, before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die. And thou shalt put away the evil from Israel." I'm going to tell you something, folks. If I know that if I get caught stealing, that I have to make four-fold restitution, I'm not going to steal. And if I know if I get caught and I don't have the money to make the four-fold restitution, I'm going to be sold as a servant or a slave, it's going to make me think twice. And if I refuse to work it out like the judge tells me, they put me to death. Don't you think that would tend to cut down on theft? it tend to stop it. You see what I'm saying?

[John Weaver] We have an expression in our land, and that is, crime doesn't pay. That depends on whose law you're under. If you're under man's law, it does pay. That's why we have so many criminals. If you're under God's law, it doesn't pay because it's the criminal who suffers and not the victim. If a man comes up to Brother Roger and let's say he steals $20,000 from him, if he had that and he stole it, guess what? That man will be thrown into prison and he'll have to support him that time. And any restitution is usually made to the court or to the state and not to Brother Roger. You see, crime doesn't pay only when you follow God's law. You see, folks, in Georgia, We have at least taken a step in the right direction because we have what are known as restitution centers. If a man is not involved in a crime where there is a weapon involved, a nonviolent crime, let's suppose the man just breaks into the house and steals. Guess what many of the judges in Georgia are doing?

[John Weaver] They now sentence these men to restitution centers. They take these old motels and refurbish them. And those men have to stay at that motel, go out every day and work and come back and spend the night at that motel until they pay back their victim and all court costs.

[John Weaver] Now, that's not a four-fold or five-fold yet, but at least it's a step in the right direction. Let me show you something. I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Romans, chapter three, because I want to head off an objection. Inevitably, somebody's going to say, oh, brother, that's Old Testament. Yeah, it is, but the Old Testament is just as much the word of God as the New Testament. We don't have two Bibles, we have one Bible. Somebody said, Brother Weaver, I don't know whether I like this idea of restitution or not.

[John Weaver] I mean, it might cost me. It might. But you say, I don't know if I like restitution or not. Well, let me just tell you very plainly. If you don't like restitution, you don't like God's salvation. Because there is no salvation without restitution. Do you realize that we sinned against God? We offended God's righteousness and God's holiness and God's justice and God's law. Do you know what Jesus Christ did? Jesus Christ was made of a woman and made under the law to redeem them under the law. Jesus Christ came and worked out a perfect righteousness in obedience to the law.

[John Weaver] Look what the Bible says, Romans 3, verse 23. Everybody can quote it. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Verse 24,"...being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Watch it,"...whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood." You say, Brother Weaver, what does that mean? The word propitiation is the Greek word halasmos.

[John Weaver] And it literally means to placate. It means to appease. It means to satisfy. Do you know what the death of Jesus Christ did? It placated. It appeased. It satisfied the wrath of God. How? Because Jesus Christ made restitution in our stead. He did what we could not do. And the man who hates restitution hates salvation. Because there is no salvation without restitution. Now, let me just tell you very quickly, folks, God demands restitution. He not only demands restitution for himself, but from man to man. Do you realize one of the greatest evidences that we have been genuinely converted by the grace of God? Is that we're willing to make restitution. You remember in Luke chapter 19, there was a man by the name of Zacchaeus, the wee little man.

[John Weaver] He climbed up in that sycamore tree. He was a tax collector, and he was a thief. When Jesus came along, he looked up. He said, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. I've often wondered if he got a splinter in his pants sliding down that tree. I bet he slid down that thing so fast. But time his feet hit the ground, Here's what he said, Lord behold, the half my goods I give to the poor and those that I've taken wrongly from I restore fourfold. I'm willing to make restitution. I'm willing to do what's right.

[John Weaver] Folks, let me tell you something. You can talk about loving the Lord and you talk about being a Christian, but until you are willing to obey, and do what's right, your talk is meaningless. There are plenty of teenagers that owe their parents restitution. You may have stolen from your parents. You may have dishonored your parents. You may have done things that were wicked and wrong. You need to restore things.

[John Weaver] There are husbands and wives who are at each other's throat, husbands and wives who have differences. Listen, if you're a child of God, you need to make restitution when and wherever necessary. I don't care if it's your wife or your husband. You need to do what's right. You see, biblical law teaches us that so far from enriching man, sin will destroy man. And God's Word makes us responsible. Let me tell you, you need to forget this philosophy of the world that just says, well, just forgive and forget. First of all, most people don't know what forgiveness is. But what they mean by that, well, I'm just going to forgive you and I'm going to forget about it. We don't forgive and forget, folks. We forgive, we forget, and we make restitution.

[John Weaver] That way it can really be forgotten. I walked up to see one of the men in our church, and he had a secretary, and his secretary happened to be a pastor friend's wife. And I was waiting on my man to get through with a phone call, and I saw on Roxy's desk there was a beautiful jar of candy. I said, oh, Roxy, may I have a piece of candy? She said, yes. And so I picked up that jar of candy. It was a glass jar. And by the time I picked it up, I want you to know, that thing slipped out of my hands hit the floor, candy and glass went everywhere. I turned red.

[John Weaver] I immediately looked at her and apologized. I said, Roxy, I'm sorry. I said, let me get the room and I'll clean it up. She said, no, no, Brother Weaver. She said, I'll clean it up. I said, no, ma'am, you will not. I dropped it. I broke it. I will clean it up. And so I cleaned it up. When I got through, I said, now, Roxy, where did you get this jar of candy? She said, well, I got it at the drugstore. Why? I said, because I'm going to replace it. I'm going to make restitution. She said, well, you don't have to do that.

[John Weaver] I said, yes, I do. And I went down to that drugstore and I couldn't find a jar of candy exactly like hers. So I bought her another one that was larger and had more candy in it. And I brought it back and I set it on her desk. She said, Bro. Weaver, you didn't have to. I said, yes, I did. I had to. I said, I'm going to tell you something. That one penny piece of candy cost me about ten bucks. And I can assure you, Roxy, the next time I pick up a glass candy dish, I will hold it.

[John Weaver] Because I've learned my lesson. You see, folks, God wants us to be responsible. God's law teaches us that we must be responsible. We must learn to restore and make restitution and be Christian and not humanist. Remember I told you this? If you want to establish God's law, you do so by obedience. If you want to establish man's law, You disobey God and obey man. Let's pray. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we ask that You would teach us tonight and show us how desperately we need the truth of Thy Word. How practical. How applicable. Look how many social and civil and state and national problems would be resolved if we would just simply go back to Your law, to Your Word.

[John Weaver] Give us wisdom and give us repentance. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray, Amen.

[John Weaver] you

Application & Practicality of Biblical Law

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	829071458475
Subject	Family Government
Course	The Christian Family: Marriage and Household Order: The Family
Genre	Sermon
Date	2000-08-18
Dictation Name
Book	Book 027: The Christian Family: Marriage and Household Order — Chapter 1
Source Timed Segments	147

Formatted Transcript

Opening

Let me say I appreciate that singing. I thank Him for singing each night. When the Lord was passing out musical talent, He totally overlooked me, I can assure you. And I have a pastor friend who has a very beautiful voice. He sings regularly. And I was in his church preaching one time, and I was standing right beside him, and he was singing. And I thought, now is my opportunity, because I'm going to try to hit the notes exactly the way he hits the notes, you know. So, you know, I thought I was doing pretty good.

And so after the song was over, he stepped up to the pulpit. He said, folks, he said, you know, all my life I've prayed and asked the Lord to help me to sing. He said, from here on out, I'm not going to pray that prayer anymore. I'm going to ask God to help John Weaver to sing. So I need all the help I can get, I can assure you. Let me say that I appreciate the graciousness and the hospitality of the Wilsons this week and of course for Pastor Wardlaw and you folks for allowing me to preach here. I'm always delighted to share the Word of God and I trust that God will bless your heart and answer a lot of questions as we look in the Bible.

I want you to turn tonight to the book of Exodus chapter 22. Exodus chapter 22. We'll read the first 17 verses. Now, let me tell you that when I get started tonight, we're not going to be using too much scripture to begin with, and I think you'll see why in just a little bit. And then all of a sudden we're going to use an awful lot. I'll explain a little bit more in just a moment. Exodus chapter 22, beginning with verse one.

Scripture Reading — Exodus 22:1-17

"If a man shall steal an ox or a sheep and kill it or sell it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep." "If a thief be found breaking up and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him. If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him, for he should make full restitution."

By the way, it would pay you to underline this word each time we read it.

Scripture Reading — Exodus 22:1-17

"For he should make full restitution. If he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox or ass or sheep, he shall restore double. If a man shall cause a field or a vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man's field, of the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard shall he make restitution. If fire break out and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn or the standing corn of the field be consumed therewith, he that kindle the fire shall surely make restitution. If a man shall deliver unto his neighbor money or stuff to keep, and be stolen out of the man's house, if the thief be found, let him pay double." "If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges, to see whether he put his hand into his neighbor's goods. For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing which another challengeth to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges, and whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbor. If a man deliver unto his neighbor an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast to keep, and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, no man seeing it, then shall an oath of the Lord be between them both, that he hath not put his hand unto his neighbor's goods. And the owner of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good. But if it be stolen from him, he shall make restitution unto the owner thereof. If it be torn in pieces, then let him bring it for witness, and he shall not make good that which was torn." "If a man borrow aught of his neighbor, and it be hurt or die, the owner thereof being not with it, he shall surely make it good. But if the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good, if it be a hired thing it came for its hire. And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife." "If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins."

I want to bring a message which I have entitled, "The Law as Restitution." John Wycliffe had written in the flyleaf of his Bible this statement: "This Bible is for the government of the people, by the people, and for the people."

Introduction: The Inescapably Religious Nature of Law

Weaver asserts that law is revelation from God and that denying God's law only establishes man's law. All law is religious, and the source of law reveals a society's god.

Now you know that Abraham Lincoln was a plagiarist. He just simply dropped the "Bible." But it was John Wycliffe who said that this Bible is for the government of the people, by the people, and for the people. You see, God is one and His law is one. And it's important to note in the Bible that law is revelation. In fact, the Hebrew word for law is Torah, which literally means authoritative revelation or authoritative instruction or authoritative direction. The law is the revelation of God and His righteousness. As I've tried to point out for the last several nights, there is absolutely no ground in Scripture for despising the law of God. Neither can you relegate law to the Old Testament and grace to the New Testament. For there is grace in the Old Testament and there is law in the New Testament.

Now, whenever you begin to think about God's law, you have to consider this, that the only alternative to God's law is what you and I would call humanism, or modern-day relativism. You see, anytime anyone denies the law of God, it is for a reason. And that reason is that they might establish their own law. You see, it is absolutely impossible to live without law. In fact, what has happened today is this. We have literally denied the law of God. And we have established our law.

The theme for the book of Judges is found in Judges 17, verse 6, and Judges 21 and verse 25. And there the Bible says simply this,

Scripture Reading — Judges 17:6; 21:25

"There was no king in Israel in those days, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes."

And so what we have done is basically we have denied God and we've denied God's law, and every man is just doing that which is right in his own eyes, so to speak. So when you deny God's law, when you say that God's law is no longer binding, you do so only to establish your law or someone else's law. You see, it is impossible for an individual to live without law. An individual has to have law. A family has to have law. A community has to have law. A church has to have law. A state or a nation has to have law. So the question is not whether or not you will have law. The question is whose law will you have? God's or man's, but you're going to have law.

You see, you can determine who an individual's God is by determining which law system the individual follows. Have you ever stopped to think that law is inescapably religious? There is no such thing as an unreligious law. When our Congress, when our Supreme Court tells us and says that we are neutral, we are unbiased, that is a bald-faced lie. No one is neutral and no one is unbiased.

Now, I'm going to tell you folks tonight, I have a bias. And I confess it and I acknowledge it. My bias is toward the Word of God. My bias is toward the Lord Jesus Christ. But I want you to understand that there is no such thing as a neutral law. There is no such thing as an unbiased law. You see, let's take our federal Congress, for instance. Here the Congress says, well, we're not going to get involved in religion. That's hogwash. Because when those congressmen begin to legislate, when they begin to pass law, they have to determine whether a law is good or bad, whether a law is right or wrong. And are you listening? It is their religion that determines good and evil, right and wrong for them. And every law they pass has a religious basis and a religious foundation. Now, it may be a Christian religion, or it may be a pagan religion, but it is still religious. There is no such thing as an irreligious or an unreligious law. All law is inherently religious.

Many times when anthropologists go to study dead cities and dead civilizations, the very first thing they want to know, or one of the first things is, what was the source of their law? Because if they ever determine what the source of their law is, they can determine who was the God of that society. So if the source of man's law is man's reason, then man is his own God. If the source of our law are those nine black-robed Supreme Court justices, then the Supreme Court is our God. But if God Himself is the source of our law, then God is our God. I want you to understand that modern humanism always, always makes the state the God of society.

Now, I'm going to give you five quotes tonight very quickly. I'm going to tell you who said the first four.

The State as God in Humanistic Thought

Quotes from Hegel, Fichte, Mussolini, Hitler, and FDR illustrate how humanism makes the state the ultimate authority, creating right and embracing everything.

Now, I'm going to give you five quotes tonight very quickly. I'm going to tell you who said the first four. Now, I want you to give me a guess or two at who said the fifth one. Here's the first one. This first quote is given by Hegel, the Marxist philosopher, and he says, "The state incarnates the divine idea upon earth." Let me paraphrase that for you. Hegel taught the state was God walking on earth. Literally, government is God. That's what Hegel thought. He was a Marxist. The second quote is from the German philosopher, Johann Fichte. He also was basically a Marxist. And here's what he said. "The state is the supreme power, ultimate, and beyond repeal, absolutely independent."

Did you hear what he said? "The state is the supreme power, ultimate, and beyond repeal." What is he saying? He is saying the state is God. The third quote came from Benito Mussolini. Most of you recognize that name. He said this, "Everything for the state, nothing outside the state, and nothing against the state."

Now, have you ever wondered why these totalitarian regimes can line people up, hundreds at the time, and set up machine guns and just literally mow them down and turn around and walk off? I'll tell you why. Because they believe that everything is for the state and nothing can be outside of the state and nothing can be against the state. And if anything is against the government, if anything is against the state, it has no right to exist. And so that's how they can do that because of their philosophy or their theology. It was Adolf Hitler who said this one, "The state dominates the nation because it alone represents the nation."

Now, here's the fifth quote. And I want you to guess who said this one. Quote, "The state embraces everything. Nothing has value outside of the state. The state creates right."

Now listen to that again. "The state embraces everything. Nothing has value outside of the state. The state creates right." Would you like to guess who said that? Someone guess. Well, that's pretty close. He didn't say it, but it was an American president. I wouldn't surprise that either, but let me just stop you from guessing. It was, it was what? Jesse Jackson. No, he wasn't a president yet.

FDR, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Listen to what Roosevelt said. "The state embraces everything. Nothing has value outside of the state." Which means this, if you're not a good little statist, you have no value. You are worthless. And then listen to what he said, "The state creates right."

Now, let me give you an illustration. This was told to me by a friend of mine who was president at the time. When Senator John Tunney from California, he was a senator back at this particular time. When he was being confronted by a pro-life group, and he was asked, "Is not abortion murder?" And you would think that Senator Tunney would be pro-life because he is a nominal Roman Catholic anyhow. But Senator Tunney responded that abortion was not murder. And they asked him, "How could that be?" And his answer was, "Because the Supreme Court has ruled that it's not murder." And they asked Senator Tunney these several questions. They said, "Senator Tunney, first of all, is it wrong to steal?"

Four Theories of Law: Three Unbiblical and One Biblical

Weaver introduces four concepts: law as reformation, regulation, redistribution (all humanistic), and law as restitution (biblical).

It is unbiblical. It is ungodly. But may I tell you, this is why we have so many rehabilitation centers and reformatories and prisons and penitentiaries that dot the land. Now, I don't know if you're ready for this or not, but I'm going to tell it to you. Prisons are unbiblical. Prisons are unbiblical. There was not a prison in God's economy. There was a place where a man was held temporarily. When he was brought to trial, if he was found guilty of theft, which I'll explain later, he had to make restitution. If he was found guilty of some minor crime, he was beaten. If he was found guilty of a capital crime, he was taken out and executed. It was that simple. You didn't need a prison. Now, there were prisons during Bible times, but those prisons and those dungeons were operated by a pagan people and not by God's people.

Law as Reformation: The Failure of Prisons

Prisons are unbiblical; God's law never designed to save or reform. The penitentiary system originated from Quaker theology and fails to rehabilitate.

In fact, that's why Paul got thrown in the dungeon. It was a Roman dungeon. It was not an Israelite dungeon. Israel did not have any prisons or dungeons per se. So here is the law as reformation. This is where man thinks that he is going to reform individuals or rehabilitate individuals by his law. Here's the standard or the slogan. Law is salvation. In other words, we're going to take this law and rehabilitate or reform or save the individual.

Now, let me show you how arrogant that is. As holy and as righteous and as godly as God's law is, God's law was never designed to save. That law certainly will direct us. That law certainly will quicken us. That law certainly will convict us. That law certainly will lead us. That law certainly will do many things, but it does not reform us. It does not rehabilitate us as such.

You know what the Bible says in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 21? The Apostle Paul said, "Verily, if salvation had been by the law, then Christ died in vain." If there could have been law passed that would save, why in the world did Jesus Christ come and die? Very clearly, law does not save, God's law does not save us, and man's law certainly cannot save. Have you ever stopped to think, where in the world did we get our prison systems from? How is it that we have prisons? There was a man that most of you know. He was a Quaker. He lived from 1644 to 1718. He was an English Quaker by the name of William Penn. In fact, the founder of Pennsylvania. It's an interesting story how he got the property there as Pennsylvania. To make it a long story short, the king owed his father boo coodles of money. After his father died, William Penn knew that the king would never pay him back what he owed his family because Penn was a Quaker and Quakers did not believe in bowing to the king. They wouldn't take their hat off for the king and the king didn't like that. And the king was against Quakerism. And so Penn just made a suggestion to him, well, that he'd be willing to forgive the money that the king owed him and his family if he would give him some land in the New World. Well, the king was more than happy to do that because that way he would not only get rid of the debt, but he'd get rid of the Quakers as well.

And so he swapped his debt for the land. And the word Pennsylvania just simply means "Penn's woods." Well, you say, "Brother Weaver, what significance is that?" Well, you see, Quakers believed and taught that every man has a spark of divinity in him. Every man has a spark of good in him. And they believed this, that when a man did wrong, and when a man did bad, if you could get that man by himself, and just kind of fan that little flame of divinity or fan that little flame of goodness that pretty soon it would burst into a roaring fire of just goodness and Godhood and man would just automatically do what was right.

Now, the only thing wrong with that, it was absolutely, totally unscriptural and unbiblical. You see, our English word penitentiary comes from the Latin penitentia, which means to do penance. Have you ever stopped to think that when a prisoner goes to prison, or he goes to jail, he has a little room, and that little room that he stays in is called a what? A cell. And when you have a number of these little rooms, one right after the other, join one to each other, you have what? A cell block.

Now, let's go back to the monasteries. The monks each had their little room and his little room was called what? A cell. And when you had several of those little rooms joined to each other, you had a cell block. And so what in the world was the prisoner to do? The prisoner then was supposed to be separated. He was supposed to do penance. He was supposed to think about his evil deeds. And someone was supposed to be there to flame that little fire of goodness. And it would just simply burst forth into goodness, which is totally unscriptural and totally ungodly.

And that's basically how penitentiaries got started in this country because of bad theology. May I remind you? You don't even have to talk to the wardens. You don't even have to talk to the guards. Listen, I had a gentleman in my church for years who was on the probation and parole board, and he was called upon to make a talk one time to the other probation and parole officers. And he came to me and said, "Pastor, what can I do to teach them the biblical truth?" I said, "Well, you can tell them, first of all, that prisons are unbiblical. And here's one point and here's another point." And I showed him a lot of things. He said, "Good, that's exactly what I'm going to do." And he did. But all you've got to do is talk to the wardens. All you've got to do is talk to the guards. They will tell you it doesn't work. Talk to the prisoners. They will tell you it doesn't work. Let me tell you, you can take a man that's a petty thief, that's ignorant, that's stupid, that doesn't know what he's doing, and there's a lot of them. They're bad thieves. One man went in to rob a bank and he wrote the note on the back of his deposit slip. Now that doesn't take, you know, too much brains to figure out who robbed the bank.

Here it is in his own handwriting and he left it. And there was his address and phone number and social security number on the other side. That's not too smart. But you can take somebody that does something dumb and stupid like that and sentence him to five years with a group of hardened, accomplished criminals. Guess what? He comes out a more educated and more accomplished thief than when he went in. He doesn't come back reformed. He doesn't come back rehabilitated. Alice and I were going to a meeting in Indiana, and we passed a busload of prisoners. In fact, they were out on the side of the road working, and the bus had on it, "Indiana Department of Corrections." I said, "I wonder how many they're correcting." Just stop and think about that.

Now, you see, here's law as reformation. You do wickedly. And you will get caught and we will put you in the prison system and we will rehabilitate you. Did you know that America now has more people in prison than many totalitarian countries? I wish I had time to preach this tonight. You need to study about UNICOR. You need to find out who has investments in UNICOR. UNICOR is the prison system. Do you realize it's judges and lawyers that have stocks and interest in UNICOR? What is it? You get these men in federal prison and guess what? They put them to work and they pay those men a grand total, last time I checked with some friends who were in, a grand total of 11 cents an hour.

Law as Regulation: Salvation by Control

Regulation makes crooks of honest men and can legalize sin while criminalizing righteousness. Ignorance of the law is no excuse only under biblical law.

When, on the other hand, if government was not involved in it, you would have basically what is known as the law of supply and demand. And you would also have what is known as character and integrity. Let me just try to give you an illustration. Let's suppose that Ron had a store. And I went into this store to do some business. And he and I talked a while and I finally made a deal with him or he made a deal with me. Anyhow, we just agreed on this little deal. And so I gave him some money and he gave me some goods and I went outside and got down the road. Maybe I got down there two or three hours later and I thought, "Hey, wait a minute."

"You know, he cheated me. No wonder he was ready to do this. He never told me something else." And I just thought about it. So I come back and I see Ron. And I say, "Now, Ron, listen, you never mentioned this. And what you did was you took advantage of me and I want my money back. Here's your goods back. You give my money back right now." And suppose he looked at me and said, "Let me tell you something. You're crazy if you think I'm giving you your money back. You made the deal. You live with it. Caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware." Well, now, I might not get my money back from him. But let me tell you something. I'm going to go over to Kevin. I'm going to say, "Kevin, you better stay away from Ron's store. Let me tell you what he did to me."

"Mark, don't you go near that man. Let me tell you what he did to me. Jeff, let me tell you." And listen, by the time I get through and by the time everybody else that he took has gotten through, guess what? He's going out of business. But guess what happens day to the crooks? If they fill out all the necessary forms and follow the regulations to a certain degree, they can get all kind of small business loans and federal loans and they can be subsidized by the government and stay in business for years on taxpayers' money.

Now, let me show you something. I was in Pennsylvania preaching and there was an antique bookstore and I walked into the bookstore. And I asked the lady, I said, "Do you happen to have the two-volume set of Alexander Hamilton Stevens, A Constitutional View of the Late War Between the States?" In time, I asked for those two books. She says, "Oh, you must be a rebel." I said, "Yes, ma'am, I am." "And probably you are, too." "Oh, no," she said, "I'm a Yankee. I'm a Federalist." I said, "Well, let me just tell you a few things." I said, "First of all, let me tell you that the war was really the war of northern aggression because Lincoln started it. After he said he would not re-fortify Fort Sumter, he sent ships in contrary to his word, and there's documentation that he and one man planned to start that war, and certainly Beauregard and those people had a right to fire on those ships because Lincoln was violating his word and they were trespassing on

the property of South Carolina." And I said, "Furthermore, I said, I want you to understand the war had nothing to do with slavery. Slavery was not the issue. Lincoln said if he could win the war without freeing any slave, he would do it. And that wasn't the issue." I said, "The issue was not over slavery. The issue was over states' rights. The issue was, do we have the right to defend ourselves and do we have the right to direct our own government?" "Or are we going to be regulated to death by a federal bureaucracy?" I said, "Lady, let me ask you just a few questions. Number one, do you like the IRS?" "No." "Do you like HEW?" "No." "Do you like OSHA?" "No." And I went right on down the line. She said no to every one of them. I said, "You know, you're a pretty good rebel." She said, "Well, I guess I am. I guess I am."

You see, I want you to see how absolutely stupid and asinine this is. And yet, you know, we never think about this. Let's pretend for a moment. This is the 1930s. 1930s. And here I am. I'm walking down the street and I've got a fifth of liquor sticking in my back pocket. And I'm flipping a gold coin in the air, and a policeman happens to see me, and he arrests me. Now, it's the 1930s.

Please tell me why he's arresting me. No, not the gold coin. Not to begin with. Prohibition. I got the liquor. So, he's going to arrest me for the liquor. Now, it's the 1970s. I'm walking down the street. I've got the same fifth of liquor in my pocket. I'm flipping the gold coin. Now it's the gold coin because it's unlawful for us to have gold. You see what I'm saying? When you begin to regulate things, you can make lawful things illegal and illegal things lawful.

Let me give you an illustration. There were some Christian students out in California who were protesting the fact that there was a house of prostitution across from their campus. And they were walking up and down with billboards, protesting and making all the fuss they can. And all of a sudden, here comes the pimp. And he pulls up and those students watch him go up and collect the money from those prostitutes. And about that time, a policeman comes by and the Christian young people flag him down and said, "Look, we've been watching this house. This is a house of prostitution."

"We can testify to it. There's the pimp. We just saw the girls pay him the money. We want you to arrest him." And the policeman said, "Watch me." And he goes over, puts his foot on the back bumper of the pimp's car, writes him three tickets, one for illegal parking, one for this and one for that. But he doesn't do anything for the house of prostitution. You know why? Because it was a licensed, regulated house of prostitution. See, you can have prostitution.

That's what Nevada's known for as well. But it is regulated. It is licensed. In other words, you can make sin legal by regulation, and you can make righteousness illegal by regulation. You know, we have a saying, and that saying is this, "Ignorance is no excuse of the law." You know where that came from? That came from when our country was first founded, because our law was based upon the Word of God. Did you know that juries determine guilt and innocence by use of their Bibles? Did you know that judges, and the reason we stand when the judge walks into the courtroom, was because initially the judge walked in holding the Bible and men stood, not out of respect for the judge, but out of respect for the Word of God. Now they take the Word of God out and want you to stand for them. But everybody knew the Bible. Ignorance is no excuse. Everybody had a copy of the Bible.

Let me tell you something, folks. Every one of you in here violate the law, multitudinous laws, every day, and you don't even know it. How many of you have ever read the Federal Register all the way through? How many of you have ever read it all the way through every year? If you were to start reading today, it would take you about 10 or 15 years just to get through it one time. English isn't Tuesday. There's no way that you can know what the law is. There are so multitudinous. But the ignorance of the law, there's no excuse, is based upon the Word of God. So here is law as reformation, as humanism. Here is law as regulation, as humanism. Thirdly, here is law as redistribution.

Law as Redistribution: Legal Plunder

Redistribution through income tax, inheritance tax, and property tax is theft by government. Inflation is a hidden tax. This is humanistic and unbiblical.

That too is humanistic to the core. Let me explain. If you remember the Bolshevik revolution in 1917. Here the Bolsheviks came along and they're going to take all the land from the Tsar and all the riches from the Tsar and they're going to distribute it to the peasants. Everybody's going to have some. How many peasants in Russia own land today? How many of them are wealthy? You see, it was redistribution all right, but it was taking from the czar and keeping it there with a certain elite and a certain little group. You see, that's basically what we have today in our land in the income tax.

It is nothing more than a redistributing of the wealth. Listen, our government no more needs taxes to run itself than you need an extra set of eyes to see, if you can already see. You say, "Well, how in the world can you say that?" Well, let me tell you something, folks. Did you realize that before 1913, there was no income tax? How did our government run itself before 1913? And may I remind you, before 1913, we did not have a several trillion dollar debt. You see, what we have today is a redistribution of wealth.

We have a social manipulation and social control, and we have it taking from the haves and giving to the have-nots. We're taking it from those who work and giving it to those who will not work. I remember my daddy one time was talking to an old black man, and the black man told my daddy, he said, "You know, Mr. D.J.," he said, "I think what they ought to do"—and whoever the 'they' is—but here's what he said. "I think what they ought to do is take all the money in the world, put it in one pile and divide it between everybody equally." Daddy said, "Do you realize?" "If they did that, before the week was over, there would again be an inequality. Because some men are smarter than others. Some men work harder than others. Some men are crooks and thieves. Before the week was over, there would be an inequality. It just wouldn't work." And the old black man looked at Dad and said, "I meant they ought to do it every Saturday night." Well, that might work if they do it every Saturday night. Well, let me tell you, you know what we have forgotten? We've forgotten that when God says, "Thou shalt not steal," that applies to governments equally as it applies to individuals. And when God says, "Thou shalt not steal," that is all-encompassing.

And all you've got to do is read Frederick Bastiat's book, The Law, and he will distinguish for you the difference between legal plunder and illegal plunder. You see, if I pull out a pistol and stick it to your head, and say, "Give me your money," I can go to jail or I might get shot or you might whip me. I might get hurt. But if I really want what you have and I don't want to suffer for it, all I've got to do is get in a position where I can pass a law that will make you give to me. And if you don't, you go to jail. Now, that's still plunder, but it's legal plunder. I wish I had time tonight to read from the Fairfax Resolves. Our Founding Fathers said, "When we no longer have the right to give or withhold our money, we are under a complete tyranny."

Now, I'm just simply pointing out, here is redistribution. I suppose everyone here knows that a progressive graduated income tax is the second plank in the Communist Manifesto. So here we have redistribution. That's one of the ways. Somebody says, "Ah, but Brother Weaver, don't you know the Bible says, in fact, our Lord Himself said it, 'Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's.'" Isn't it amazing that so many people can quote that, but they can't quote the rest of the verse. "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that belong unto God." And may I tell you this, dear friend, the God who instituted government, the God who set up government, is the same God that tells you what belongs to government. If you let Caesar tell you, he'll take everything you've got. But what we've got today is redistribution. Inheritance tax. Inheritance. Totally, completely unbiblical. Do you realize that most people cannot afford to inherit their family farms or their family properties because of inheritance taxes? I, with my own eyes, have seen grown men fall on the floor weeping and crying like babies because they had to sell the family farm just to pay the inheritance tax.

Let me ask you a question. Don't answer out loud, but how many of you still live on the original family home place. Let me see your hands. Look there. One person in the entire congregation. You know what has happened in this country? We have become a generation of displaced Americans. Our forefathers, many of them were born and died on a farm or born and died on a homestead and never even left it. And if you tried to mess with that farm or that homestead, you got in trouble. Why?

Because those men said, "This is what God gave me. This is what God gave our family. It's been in our family for years, for generations, and I'll die fighting before I see you take it." What has happened in America is this. We've lost our home places. We've lost our farms. And we've lost everything worth fighting for. You get that? We've nothing left. We have become a generation of displaced Americans in our own home, in our own homeland.

Let me very quickly tell you another one, and that's property tax. I suppose the most unbiblical tax of all is the property tax. Why? "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein." Have you ever stopped to think that when a government begins to tax property, the government is usurping the ownership of God over that property? The state of South Carolina doesn't own the property in the state of South Carolina. God owns it. Did you know that when the American Revolution was being fought, now listen, the colonists went to the Canadians and tried to get Canadians to help them fight England, and one of their arguments was this. "If you don't help us stop this parliament and stop this king, the next thing you know, they'll be trying to even tax our land." In Atlanta, Georgia, there was a widow woman who had a piece of property. Her home was on it, and right beside her home, she had a second piece of property that was an acre. And all she did on that piece of property was that was her garden.

It had been in her family for years. That piece of property she had been paying property taxes on had a value of $50,000. And of course, she paid, you know, a lower percentage of that. And that's what she had been paying for years. Well, she got her property taxes notice, and now that piece of property has an estimated tax value of $3.2 million. And she asked, "How can this be? Last year, it was only $50,000." Here's the answer. "Well, some other property in the neighborhood sold for a good figure, and a high figure because a big corporation came in. And so that's the value we had to put on all the surrounding property." Let's translate that.

What that means is this. The corporation would really like to buy your property as well, but you probably wouldn't be able to sell it. So we're going to tax you until you can't pay it and you will have to sell it just for taxes. Or some of us good old boys will step in and buy it from you for a measly $50,000-$60,000 and then we'll turn around and sell it for $3 million to the corporation. That's what it means. I get so aggravated at some of those people. My aunt came up to me. She said, "You need to help me." I said, "What do you mean?" She's a widow woman. They had raised her taxes like you wouldn't believe. I said, "Well, I'll go and talk with him." So I went down to talk with him. And finally, here is what the man told me. "Well, we're probably raising everybody's taxes to the same amount, and what we want to be is fair. Now, you want us to be fair, don't you?" I said, "No, sir, I don't." He said, "What do you mean you don't?" I said, "Well, let me ask you a question. Suppose a rapist came into a neighborhood and raped a woman. And he got to thinking, he said, 'I wasn't fair to all those other women.'

'I better go back and rape them.' Or a thief comes in and robs one house and he says, 'You know, I wasn't fair to those other houses. I better go back and steal everything they've got too.'" I said, "No, sir, I don't want you to be fair. What I want is justice. What I want is what is biblical and right." I said, "Don't talk to me about fairness." You see, the point I'm trying to make is this is redistribution, and I'm not going to take the time to preach this, but inflation is a tax that most of us never see. You say, "Brother Weaver, bless God, I got $50,000 in a bank account." Well, I tell you what, you just give it 30 days, you won't have $50,000 worth of buying power because inflation will eat it up. It's a redistribution of wealth. Nobody's going to argue with me here tonight.

That is highly humanistic and unbiblical. Now watch. Here's law as reformation, law as regulation, law as redistribution.

Law as Restitution: Biblical Principles from Exodus 22

Weaver expounds Exodus 22:1-17, detailing ratios of restitution (fivefold, fourfold, double), defense against thieves, liability for accidents, custody responsibilities, rental/loan principles, and seduction restitution.

Now I want to take the time and ask you to look in your Bibles, Exodus chapter 22, because I want to show you the biblical idea, and that is law as restitution. So in Exodus chapter 22, verses 1 through 17, it tells us a number of things about God's law as restitution. First of all, in verse one, you have the ratio of restitution given. Now watch, he says, "If a man shall steal an ox or a sheep and kill it, or sell it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep." Now I want you to note there is a five-fold restitution and there is a four-fold restitution. Well, why is there a discrepancy? Why is there a difference in that ratio? You've got to stop and understand that the ratio is based upon the value and the usefulness of the object, both at the present and for the future. You can take a sheep and you can eat the sheep and you can make clothes out of the sheep. And you might could use the sheep for pet. I don't know if you drink sheep milk or not.

I'd include that with food maybe. That's about all you can do with a sheep. But you could take an ox and you could have milk. You could have meat that would be food. You could use the hide for clothes and for tents. But more than that, an ox is a trained work animal. And so God says the value of restitution, if something is stolen, depends upon the usefulness.

For instance, let's suppose that Chuck is a plumber. Chuck's a plumber and he's got a work truck and it's full of all of his plumbing tools and all these supplies. And he drives that truck every day except on Sunday. And on Sunday, he drives a family car. Now, if I were to ask Chuck, if one of those vehicles had to be stolen, which one had he rather have stolen? Well, his car. He doesn't need the car that much. He needs that work truck with all his tools in it.

You see what I'm saying? So the work truck has a higher value and would have a higher value of restitution than the family car. So here's a five-fold restitution. Here's a four-fold restitution. And it's based upon the usefulness and the value and the use of the object.

Now, we're talking about thievery now. I want you to understand this. He said in verse one, "If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kill it or sell it, he shall restore it," that is, make restitution, fivefold for an ox and fourfold for a sheep. Now, look in verses 2 and 3. Here is the problem of defense resolved when it comes to thievery. He says, "If a thief be found breaking up and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him. If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him, for he should make full restitution. If he have nothing, then he should be sold for his theft."

Now, I'm going to cover verse 3 a little bit later, but note if you would verse 2. He said, first of all, "If a thief be found breaking up," that is, he's breaking in, "and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him." I was here in Greenville. This was a good while back. And I had a man come up to me and said, "Brother Weaver, let me ask you a question." I said, "Go ahead." He said, "What would you do if you woke up during the night and there was a man breaking in your bedroom window?" I said, "That depends." He said, "What does it depend upon?" I said, "Well, it depends on whether or not I get my hands on the gun or not. If I get my hands on a gun, I'd shoot him. If I couldn't, I'd get my hands on a baseball bat and I'd beat him in the head." He said, "Well, I don't think you ought to do that." I said, "Well, what do you think I ought to do?" He said, "Well, I think you ought to go in the other room and pray about it." I said, "You mean to tell me you think I ought to be in the other room praying while the man's in there raping my wife or murdering my children? I said, I'd be praying alright. I'd pull that baseball bat back and I'd say, 'Dear God, don't let me miss him this time!' Pow! I said, I'd pray."

That's what the Scripture says. If a man is breaking in at night, listen, you don't know who he is. You don't know whether he's armed or not. You don't know what his intent is. God says, kill him, get it over with. There shall be no bloodshed for him. Ah, but look in verse three. "If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be bloodshed for him, for he should make full restitution." Now, wait a minute. God says it's a little different during the daytime. What difference is there? Well, in the daytime, you can see whether or not he's armed. In the daytime, you can recognize him and perhaps even catch him, if not immediately, a short time later. And God said in that case, you don't kill him. Let him make the restitution. Now, wait a minute. There is a way that you could lawfully kill him biblically in the daytime as well. And that is if he is armed and if your life is in danger, as I told you last night, you still have the right of self-defense.

And you could lawfully shoot him even in the daytime. But God said if he's breaking in at night, you don't know who he is, you can't see him, you don't know what his intent is, you don't know whether he's armed or not, just shoot him and get it over with. That's it. There's to be no blood shed, He said, on that count. But if it's daytime, He said, don't kill him unless he's trying to hurt you. In other words, you can see he said, give him the opportunity to make restitution. I'll explain that a little bit now. Skip down, if you would, to verse four. There is specific restitution required when a thief is caught in the act, or before he has time to dispose of or abuse the goods. He says in verse 4, "If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox or ass or sheep, he shall restore double." Now we get a double restitution. Not a fivefold, not a fourfold, but a double.

So let's suppose, go back to this illustration, let's suppose Sean stole Chuck's work truck. And he's caught two blocks from the house. He never got two blocks away. Well, God said just let him pay Chuck double if the truck and the equipment is worth $20,000. That means he owes him now $40,000. Why? Because he hasn't really been hurt. He hasn't really suffered anything. He's just been inconvenienced for a short period of time. So here's a fivefold. Here's a fourfold. Here's double.

Now, look down verses five and six. Listen to me now. It's going to get quite touching in just a moment. Certain acts whether they are deliberate or accidental, incur a liability which requires restitution. Verse 5, "If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man's field of the best of his own field, of the best of his own vineyard, shall he make restitution? If fire break out and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn or the standing corn of the field be consumed therewith, he that kindle the fire will surely make restitution." Now, God says, if my horse gets out of my pasture and gets in my neighbor's cornfield and he eats 20 bushels of corn before I can catch him, then I'm responsible to replace or restore, to make restitution of 20 bushels of corn to my neighbor. And of the best of what I have, I'm to make the restitution. Now, you say, "But Brother Weaver, you didn't intend for your horse to get out."

That's immaterial. That doesn't matter. It was my horse. I'm responsible. If I come to your house and your dog runs out and bites my leg, I'm sorry. It's your dog. You're responsible. Can't help that. If you don't want the responsibility, don't have the dog. It's just that simple. See, at our house, we have an attack pig. We don't have something like that. I've often said I pitied the poor thief that came to my house.

He would probably trip over one of the animals and break his neck and sue me for everything, you know. But that's the way it goes. But you understand what I'm saying? We're responsible.

Now, look what he said in verse 6. "If fire break out and catch in thorns, so that the standing corn of the field be consumed therewith, he that kindle a fire shall surely make restitution." Now, let me explain that. Here you are. You're raking your yard. You've raked up all the leaves and you set the leaves on fire. And the next thing you know, man, the wind comes along and takes your leaves that are on fire, blows them over in your neighbor's yard, sets his yard on fire. It goes up his house. His house catches on fire. And by the time the fire department gets there, his house is burned down. Guess who's responsible to build him a house? You are.

You say, "But Brother Weaver, it was an accident." It doesn't matter. You know what God's teaching us? God is teaching us responsibility. What he's saying is this, if you're going to play with fire, you ought to be responsible and have enough people out there, enough equipment out there to keep it in control. You don't let things like that happen. You have to learn responsibility. Let me tell you, if I step out this church building or if I step out your house door and there's a rotten step and I fall through and break my leg, you're responsible for my medical bill. He said, "But Brother Weaver, the board was rotten." Well, you had a responsibility to fix the rotten board. You see, God keeps us responsible.

What we want to do is this. We want to do like Israel. "Hey, we want a king to rule over us that we may be like everybody else and that the king will fight our wars for us." We don't want responsibility. We just simply do not want responsibility. When I was a boy, I had some cherry bombs and I was out in the yard bursting those cherry bombs and my mother came out and she said, "Son, your grandmother has a headache." "If you're going to burst those things, go down to the woods." My dad had plenty of property, but I don't know why, but I crossed the field, climbed over my neighbor's fence. Went across his field and went down into a stand of pine trees. Maybe I went there because it's cool. I don't know. Those little pine trees were about that big around and the straw was real thick under there. You know, it was shady and cool. And I stood there and I burst those cherry bombs until I got to the last one. And I lit that last one and I threw it over my shoulder like that and I started walking home. I got about 50 yards and I smelled smoke. And I turned around and looked, and that last cherry bomb had set that pine straw on fire. And there was already a place as big around as that organ, that piano together. My heart went in my throat. I went and broke me off some pine limbs, and I went to fighting that fire.

And I want you to know it took me 30 to 45 minutes to put that thing out. My heart was in my throat. I finally got it out. I said, "God, my helper, I'm not going to play with cherry bombs again. I'm not going to get on my neighbor's property." Of course, I didn't know any better then. But if I had burned down that man's pine stand, my father would have been responsible. I mean, I was only 11 or 12 years old. God says there are certain acts that require restitution, whether they're accidental or not. That's immaterial. Look at it, if you would, please, in verse 7-13. I want to just lump this in one, because here in verses 7-13, responsibility is determined for goods held in custody. After you read this and understand this, you may not want to be responsible for holding your neighbor's goods in custody any longer. He says in verse 7, "If a man shall deliver unto his neighbor money or stuff to keep, and if it be stolen out of the man's house, if the thief be found, let him pay double." Watch. "If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges to see whether he hath put his hand into his neighbor's goods."

"For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox or ass, for sheep, for raiment, for any manner of lost thing, which another challengeth to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges." Watch it. "And whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbor." Ah! So here I go. I come up to Brother Greg. I said, "Now, Brother Greg, now listen, here's this knife. This knife is a genuine buck knife. This knife belonged to my great grandfather. That's great sentimental value. And let's say this knife is worth five thousand bucks. OK, fine. And I said, now, Brother Greg, would you keep this for me?"

He said, "Well, sure, I'll be glad to." Now, the word keep literally means to guard and protect. So he agrees to keep it for me. And while he's keeping it for me, someone breaks in and steals it. Now, if the thief is found, the thief is only to pay double. Why? Because I wasn't using it anyhow. Once again, I've just been merely inconvenienced. But let's suppose the thief gets in and steals it, and it's not found. And the thief's not found. And so I said, "Now wait a minute, Greg. You told me you were going to keep my knife." "Well, Brother Weaver, you know, I had it laying up there on that mantel and, you know, I thought that would be a safe place." "Well, Greg, don't you know folks can break in and see it there and they will take it?"

God says, now, there's a controversy. And if I think Greg has been negligent, he's to stand before the judges. And if the judges has found that he has been negligent, let him pay me double. So Greg would then owe me $10,000. Why? Because when he agreed to keep my knife, he was saying, "I'm going to guard it. I'm going to protect it." So when people deliver things to you to keep for them, God says you are responsible.

You better make sure that it does not get stolen. You better make sure that you are not negligent. Now, if you're not negligent, He says in verse 10, "If a man delivered to his neighbor an ass or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep it, and it die or be hurt or driven away, no man seeing it, then shall an oath of the Lord be between them both, that he had not put his hand into his neighbor's goods, and the owner of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good." Now, if he wasn't negligent, that's one thing. But if he was negligent, he owes me double. Now, watch. He says, "...and if it be stolen from him," that is, even while he's keeping it now, "...he shall make restitution to the owner thereof." In other words, he would at least owe me one night back. There is a restitution demanded for goods held in custody that you allow to get lost or stolen or abused through your negligence.

Now, look down, if you would, verses 14 and 15. Watch it carefully. In fact, you understand verse 13. He said, "If it be torn in pieces," so if Greg is keeping my horse, "if it be torn in pieces," a wildcat gets it, "then let him bring it for a witness, and he shall not make good that which was torn." In other words, the wildcat got it. He had no control over that. Now watch verse 14. "If a man borrow aught of his neighbor, and it be hurt or die, the owner thereof being not with it, he shall surely make it good. But if the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good, if it be a hired thing it came for its hire." Now, let's watch this.

What God is telling us, there are special principles that are involved in rental and loan arrangements. Now, let me just try to put this in the proper perspective. You see, when we read, "if it be hurt or die," we think of animals and not everybody has animals, especially folks who live in town. So let's work it out where you can understand it if you live in town.

So I go over to Brother Tony and say, "Now, let me ask you a question. My lawnmower is torn up. My grass needs cutting. May I borrow your lawnmower?" Well, he said, "Of course, Brother Weaver, you may borrow it." And so I get his lawnmower and I go back to my house and I start cutting my grass. And I have it cut at five minutes and the motor blows up. Now what happens? Well, if I'm the average American Christian, what I do is I sneak back to his house and I push it back under his garage and hope he doesn't remember I'm the last person that borrowed it. God says if I borrowed it, it's my responsibility, I get to fix it. It's my responsibility to put a new motor in it. It's my responsibility to bring it back to him working just like it was when I got it.

Now, what I could do is this. I could say, "Brother Tony, loan me your lawn mower." He says, "Wonderful, fine." He said, "You may borrow it, but I tell you what, I'm not doing anything. I will come over and watch you and maybe even help you cut your grass." I said, "Sure, come on over." And he's sitting there while I'm pushing the mower and all of a sudden, the mower and all of a sudden, plooey, the motor blows up. Guess what? He gets to pay for it. Because he was with it and he saw that it was no negligence on my part. It was just time for the motor to go and it went. But if I borrow it and he's not there, guess what? It's my responsibility to fix it.

Now, there's another way out of it. I could come up and say, "Brother Tony, I need a lawnmower." "Fine, Brother Weaver. You may use mine." "But, Brother Tony, I'll give you 20 bucks. I want to rent it from you." He said, "Well, fine, wonderful." I give him 20 bucks. And the motor blows up. Guess what? According to the Bible, it's his responsibility because he rented it to me.

It came for its hire. But if I borrow it, it's my responsibility. You know what I learned a long time ago? And I learned it the hard way. I learned it's easier to own something yourself than to borrow it. It seemed like, brother, everything I borrowed tore up. I was building a house that we lived in for 15 years. Well, the men in my church said, "Brother Weaver, I'll loan you my skill saw."

"You won't have to buy one." I said, "Well, thank you, David." And he brought to me a brand new skill saw. I took it out of the box myself. Did you know I used that skill saw a week and someone came on the job site and stole it? I went downtown and I bought two just like it. And I took one to David. I said, "David, thank you for letting me use your skill saw. And although yours got stolen, here's a brand new one to replace it. And I won't need to borrow this one because I have one for myself and I can assure you mine will be locked up when I leave." You understand responsibility? God's law teaches us responsibility.

I borrowed my father's chainsaw. I had a chainsaw. Mine was in the shop. Daddy had one of those brand new $500 Stihl chainsaws. I have a special gas can that I use that says, "Chainsaw gas." Oil is already mixed with it. I took my father's chainsaw. I poured gas into it. I went out and I cut wood for about two seconds, it seemed like, maybe 30 seconds, and all of a sudden the motor locked up. It wouldn't start. I took it to the chainsaw man.

I said, "What in the world is wrong?" He said, "Somebody put gas in this thing without oil in it and locked the motor down." I said, "It couldn't have been me because that's the only thing I used." And guess what? I went back and checked my can and one of my kids had poured that gas out, put regular gas in it and used it for the lawnmower gas. You know what? It cost me $150 to get my daddy's chainsaw fixed. I had to pay it. To this day, even my chainsaw, before I put gas in it, I pour it in my hand or I look at it or I make sure oil's in it. Listen, you start obeying God's law and you start paying for some of your mistakes, it doesn't take you long to learn. You take God's law seriously, folks, on restitution, and I'm going to tell you something. You're going to learn to be responsible. Now, look very quickly at verses 16 and 17. This would take care of the fornication that we've got running around rampant.

He said, "...if a man entices a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife." So God says when a man seduces a woman, he must marry her. Watch verse 17. Here's the only way he can get out of marrying her biblically. "If her father utterly refused to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins." So God says, here's a young man. He seduces a young woman. God says, you must marry her. Then if you'll read Deuteronomy 22, the last three verses, God says, you can never, ever put her away. You can never divorce her. You can never separate from her. You can never put her away.

You're the one that humbled her. God says, she's yours and she's yours from then on. That's it. Now, God says, the only way the man can get out of marrying her is if her father utterly refused to give her unto him. And if the father refuses, then the young man has to pay dowry according to the dowry of virgins.

Now, dowry in the Bible was three-year wages. So, let's say the average man in this community makes $50,000 a year. That means that young man that seduces your daughter owes your daughter $150,000 if you're not going to let her marry him. You say, "Why would God say that?" Because God is looking out for the woman. You say, "What are you talking about, Brother Weaver?" Well, every man wants to marry a pure woman. But when the man finds out the woman he is in love with may not be pure, but that she can come into the marriage with 150,000 bucks, he tends to be a little more forgiving and understanding.

The Necessity of Restitution in Salvation

Restitution is central to the gospel: Christ made restitution for sin. Genuine conversion produces willingness to make restitution, as seen in Zacchaeus.

"I mean, it might cost me." It might. But you say, "I don't know if I like restitution or not." Well, let me just tell you very plainly. If you don't like restitution, you don't like God's salvation. Because there is no salvation without restitution. Do you realize that we sinned against God? We offended God's righteousness and God's holiness and God's justice and God's law. Do you know what Jesus Christ did? Jesus Christ was made of a woman and made under the law to redeem them under the law. Jesus Christ came and worked out a perfect righteousness in obedience to the law.

Look what the Bible says, Romans 3, verse 23. Everybody can quote it.

Scripture Reading — Romans 3:23-25

"For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."

Verse 24,

Scripture Reading — Romans 3:23-25

"...being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

Watch it,

Scripture Reading — Romans 3:23-25

"...whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood."

You say, "Brother Weaver, what does that mean?" The word propitiation is the Greek word hilasmos. And it literally means to placate. It means to appease. It means to satisfy. Do you know what the death of Jesus Christ did? It placated. It appeased. It satisfied the wrath of God. How? Because Jesus Christ made restitution in our stead. He did what we could not do. And the man who hates restitution hates salvation. Because there is no salvation without restitution. Now, let me just tell you very quickly, folks, God demands restitution. He not only demands restitution for himself, but from man to man. Do you realize one of the greatest evidences that we have been genuinely converted by the grace of God is that we're willing to make restitution. You remember in Luke chapter 19, there was a man by the name of Zacchaeus, the wee little man.

He climbed up in that sycamore tree. He was a tax collector, and he was a thief. When Jesus came along, he looked up. He said, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house." I've often wondered if he got a splinter in his pants sliding down that tree. I bet he slid down that thing so fast. But time his feet hit the ground, here's what he said, "Lord behold, the half my goods I give to the poor and those that I've taken wrongly from I restore fourfold. I'm willing to make restitution. I'm willing to do what's right."

Folks, let me tell you something. You can talk about loving the Lord and you talk about being a Christian, but until you are willing to obey, and do what's right, your talk is meaningless. There are plenty of teenagers that owe their parents restitution. You may have stolen from your parents. You may have dishonored your parents. You may have done things that were wicked and wrong. You need to restore things.

Study Guide

Major Themes

The Religious Nature of All Law

Summary: Every legal system is based on a religious foundation; neutrality is impossible. The source of law reveals a society's god.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'There is no such thing as an unreligious law... All law is inherently religious.'

Humanism vs. God's Law

Summary: Denying God's law leads to humanism, where man or the state becomes the ultimate authority, resulting in tyranny.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'The only alternative to God's law is what you and I would call humanism, or modern-day relativism.'

Biblical Restitution as Justice

Summary: God's law requires offenders to restore what was taken, with proportional penalties, teaching responsibility and protecting victims.

Evidence: Exposition of Exodus 22 shows fivefold, fourfold, and double restitution based on the value and use of stolen property.

The Failure of Man-Made Penal Systems

Summary: Prisons, regulation, and redistribution are unbiblical and ineffective; they punish victims rather than criminals.

Evidence: Weaver argues, 'Prisons are unbiblical... You didn't need a prison' under God's law.

Responsibility and Liability

Summary: God's law holds individuals accountable for both deliberate and accidental harm, fostering personal responsibility.

Evidence: Examples include a horse eating a neighbor's corn or a fire spreading; the owner must make restitution.

Restitution as a Sign of Genuine Conversion

Summary: Willingness to make restitution demonstrates true repentance and salvation, as seen in Zacchaeus.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'One of the greatest evidences that we have been genuinely converted... is that we're willing to make restitution.'

Key Arguments

Law is inescapably religious

Summary: Every law reflects a religious worldview; there is no neutral law. The source of law determines a society's god.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'All law is inherently religious... If the source of our law are those nine black-robed Supreme Court justices, then the Supreme Court is our God.'

Humanistic law leads to statism and tyranny

Summary: When the state is seen as the source of law, it becomes a totalitarian god, as illustrated by quotes from Hegel to FDR.

Evidence: Weaver quotes FDR: 'The state embraces everything. Nothing has value outside of the state. The state creates right.'

Prisons are unbiblical and ineffective

Summary: The Bible prescribes restitution, not incarceration. Prisons fail to reform and often make criminals worse.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Prisons are unbiblical. There was not a prison in God's economy.'

Regulation legalizes sin and criminalizes righteousness

Summary: Government regulation can make lawful things illegal and vice versa, undermining true justice.

Evidence: Weaver gives the example of prohibition vs. gold ownership and licensed prostitution.

Redistribution is legalized theft

Summary: Progressive taxation, inheritance tax, and property tax are unbiblical forms of plunder by the state.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'When God says, "Thou shalt not steal," that applies to governments equally as it applies to individuals.'

Biblical restitution is proportional and victim-focused

Summary: Exodus 22 prescribes varying levels of restitution based on the value of stolen goods and circumstances, ensuring justice for the victim.

Evidence: Weaver explains fivefold for an ox (work animal) vs. fourfold for a sheep, and double if the thief is caught quickly.

Restitution teaches responsibility

Summary: God's law holds people accountable for accidents and negligence, fostering a culture of carefulness and integrity.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'God is teaching us responsibility... You have to learn responsibility.'

Christ's atonement is the ultimate restitution

Summary: Salvation is based on Christ satisfying God's justice through restitution; rejecting restitution is rejecting the gospel.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'If you don't like restitution, you don't like God's salvation. Because there is no salvation without restitution.'

Scripture References

Exodus 22:1-17

Context: Primary text for the sermon, detailing laws of restitution for theft, property damage, custody, borrowing, and seduction.

Judges 17:6; 21:25

Context: Cited to illustrate that when there is no king (God's law), every man does what is right in his own eyes.

Galatians 3:21

Context: Used to argue that law cannot save; if it could, Christ died in vain.

Deuteronomy 22:28-29

Context: Referenced to show that a man who seduces a virgin must marry her and can never divorce her.

Leviticus 6:1-7

Context: Mentioned for the 20% restitution when a thief is convicted by God and confesses.

2 Samuel 12

Context: David's reaction to Nathan's parable shows he knew God demanded fourfold restitution.

Genesis 20

Context: Abimelech made restitution to Abraham for taking Sarah.

2 Chronicles 36:21

Context: Judah's captivity was restitution for failing to let the land keep its Sabbaths.

Deuteronomy 17:8-13

Context: Prescribes death for those who presumptuously refuse to obey the judge's sentence, enforcing restitution orders.

Romans 3:23-25

Context: Christ as propitiation (hilasmos) satisfied God's wrath, making restitution for sin.

Luke 19:1-10

Context: Zacchaeus' willingness to make fourfold restitution evidenced his genuine conversion.

Historical References

John Wycliffe

Context: Wrote in his Bible flyleaf: 'This Bible is for the government of the people, by the people, and for the people,' later plagiarized by Lincoln.

Hegel (Marxist philosopher)

Context: Quoted: 'The state incarnates the divine idea upon earth,' illustrating statism.

Johann Fichte (German philosopher)

Context: Quoted: 'The state is the supreme power, ultimate, and beyond repeal, absolutely independent.'

Benito Mussolini

Context: Quoted: 'Everything for the state, nothing outside the state, and nothing against the state.'

Adolf Hitler

Context: Quoted: 'The state dominates the nation because it alone represents the nation.'

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Context: Quoted: 'The state embraces everything. Nothing has value outside of the state. The state creates right.'

William Penn (Quaker, founder of Pennsylvania)

Context: His theology of an inner divine spark led to the penitentiary system, based on penance and solitary confinement.

Bolshevik Revolution (1917)

Context: Example of redistribution that failed to benefit peasants, illustrating the deceit of redistributionist policies.

Fairfax Resolves

Context: Founding Fathers stated that when we lose the right to give or withhold money, we are under complete tyranny.

Communist Manifesto

Context: A progressive graduated income tax is the second plank, showing its humanistic roots.

Important Quotes

This Bible is for the government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Significance: Attributed to John Wycliffe, showing the historical view that the Bible should govern society, later secularized by Lincoln.

The state embraces everything. Nothing has value outside of the state. The state creates right.

Significance: FDR quote used to illustrate how American statism mirrors totalitarian ideology.

Prisons are unbiblical. There was not a prison in God's economy.

Significance: Bold claim that the modern penal system has no biblical basis; restitution was the biblical remedy.

If you don't like restitution, you don't like God's salvation. Because there is no salvation without restitution.

Significance: Connects the principle of restitution to the atonement, making it essential to the gospel.

When God says, 'Thou shalt not steal,' that applies to governments equally as it applies to individuals.

Significance: Argues that taxation beyond biblical limits is theft, holding civil government to the same moral law.

Lord behold, the half my goods I give to the poor and those that I've taken wrongly from I restore fourfold.

Significance: Zacchaeus' response as evidence that true conversion produces restitution.

Discussion Questions

How does the claim that 'all law is inherently religious' challenge modern views of secular government?

Context: Weaver argues that every law reflects a religious worldview; discuss examples in current legislation.

In what ways do the quotes from Hegel to FDR reveal a common thread of statism, and how does this compare to biblical teaching on government?

Context: Weaver uses these quotes to show that humanism exalts the state; contrast with Romans 13.

Why does Weaver call prisons 'unbiblical,' and what would a biblical justice system look like based on Exodus 22?

Context: He argues for restitution over incarceration; discuss practical implications.

How does the concept of 'legal plunder' through taxation relate to the eighth commandment, and where should Christians draw the line?

Context: Weaver critiques income, inheritance, and property taxes as theft; explore biblical limits on taxation.

What does the varying ratio of restitution (fivefold, fourfold, double) teach us about God's view of property and justice?

Context: Weaver explains the ratios based on usefulness and circumstances; discuss how this reflects God's character.

How does the principle of restitution apply to modern situations like accidental property damage or professional negligence?

Context: Weaver gives examples of fire spreading and borrowed items breaking; apply to contemporary scenarios.

In what way is Christ's atonement the ultimate act of restitution, and how should that shape our willingness to make restitution to others?

Context: Weaver links propitiation to restitution; discuss how the gospel motivates personal restitution.

How can the church model biblical restitution in its own community, and what obstacles might it face from civil law?

Context: Weaver calls for obedience to God's law; discuss practical steps and potential conflicts.

Applications

Make restitution for past wrongs

Summary: Believers should examine their lives and make restitution to those they have wronged, whether through theft, dishonor, or negligence.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'There are plenty of teenagers that owe their parents restitution... You need to restore things.'

Take personal responsibility for accidents

Summary: When we cause accidental damage or loss, we should proactively make it right rather than avoiding responsibility.

Evidence: Weaver's personal story of breaking a candy jar and replacing it with a larger one.

Be careful when borrowing or keeping others' property

Summary: Understand that borrowing or holding goods for others carries biblical liability; treat others' property with greater care than your own.

Evidence: Weaver explains that if a borrowed item breaks, the borrower must make it good unless the owner was present.

Reject humanistic views of law in civil matters

Summary: Christians should advocate for and practice biblical principles of justice, including restitution, rather than relying on unbiblical penal systems.

Evidence: Weaver contrasts man's law (which punishes victims) with God's law (which makes criminals pay).

Teach children responsibility through restitution

Summary: Parents should require children to make restitution for damage or theft, teaching them biblical responsibility early.

Evidence: Weaver's story of almost burning a neighbor's pine stand and knowing his father would be responsible.

View taxation and government through a biblical lens

Summary: Evaluate tax policies and government programs by the standard of God's law, recognizing that some forms of taxation may be unbiblical plunder.

Evidence: Weaver calls inheritance tax 'totally, completely unbiblical' and property tax a usurpation of God's ownership.

Practice restitution in marriage and family

Summary: Husbands and wives should make restitution for wrongs against each other, not merely 'forgive and forget.'

Evidence: Weaver says, 'If you're a child of God, you need to make restitution when and wherever necessary. I don't care if it's your wife or your husband.'

Use restitution as a witness to the gospel

Summary: Willingness to make restitution demonstrates genuine repentance and points to Christ's atoning work.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'One of the greatest evidences that we have been genuinely converted... is that we're willing to make restitution.'

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Clean Transcript

Application & Practicality of Biblical Law

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Let me say I appreciate that singing. I thank Him for singing each night. When the Lord was passing out musical talent, He totally overlooked me, I can assure you. And I have a pastor friend who has a very beautiful voice. He sings regularly. And I was in his church preaching one time, and I was standing right beside him, and he was singing. And I thought, now is my opportunity, because I'm going to try to hit the notes exactly the way he hits the notes, you know. So, you know, I thought I was doing pretty good.
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And so after the song was over, he stepped up to the pulpit. He said, folks, he said, you know, all my life I've prayed and asked the Lord to help me to sing. He said, from here on out, I'm not going to pray that prayer anymore. I'm going to ask God to help John Weaver to sing. So I need all the help I can get, I can assure you. Let me say that I appreciate the graciousness and the hospitality of the Wilsons this week and of course for Pastor Wardlaw and you folks for allowing me to preach here. I'm always delighted to share the Word of God and I trust that God will bless your heart and answer a lot of questions as we look in the Bible.
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I want you to turn tonight to the book of Exodus chapter 22. Exodus chapter 22. We'll read the first 17 verses.
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Now, let me tell you that when I get started tonight, we're not going to be using too much scripture to begin with, and I think you'll see why in just a little bit. And then all of a sudden we're going to use an awful lot. I'll explain a little bit more in just a moment. Exodus chapter 22, beginning with verse one. "If a man shall steal an ox or a sheep and kill it or sell it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep."
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"If a thief be found breaking up and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him. If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him, for he should make full restitution." By the way, it would pay you to underline this word each time we read it. "For he should make full restitution. If he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox or ass or sheep, he shall restore double. If a man shall cause a field or a vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man's field, of the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard shall he make restitution. If fire break out and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn or the standing corn of the field be consumed therewith, he that kindle the fire shall surely make restitution. If a man shall deliver unto his neighbor money or stuff to keep, and be stolen out of the man's house, if the thief be found, let him pay double."
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"If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges, to see whether he put his hand into his neighbor's goods. For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing which another challengeth to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges, and whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbor. If a man deliver unto his neighbor an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast to keep, and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, no man seeing it, then shall an oath of the Lord be between them both, that he hath not put his hand unto his neighbor's goods. And the owner of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good. But if it be stolen from him, he shall make restitution unto the owner thereof. If it be torn in pieces, then let him bring it for witness, and he shall not make good that which was torn."
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"If a man borrow aught of his neighbor, and it be hurt or die, the owner thereof being not with it, he shall surely make it good. But if the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good, if it be a hired thing it came for its hire. And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife."
#7 | 3:48 to 4:07 | cleaned
"If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins." I want to bring a message which I have entitled, "The Law as Restitution." John Wycliffe had written in the flyleaf of his Bible this statement: "This Bible is for the government of the people, by the people, and for the people."
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Now you know that Abraham Lincoln was a plagiarist. He just simply dropped the "Bible." But it was John Wycliffe who said that this Bible is for the government of the people, by the people, and for the people. You see, God is one and His law is one. And it's important to note in the Bible that law is revelation. In fact, the Hebrew word for law is Torah, which literally means authoritative revelation or authoritative instruction or authoritative direction. The law is the revelation of God and His righteousness. As I've tried to point out for the last several nights, there is absolutely no ground in Scripture for despising the law of God. Neither can you relegate law to the Old Testament and grace to the New Testament. For there is grace in the Old Testament and there is law in the New Testament.
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Now, whenever you begin to think about God's law, you have to consider this, that the only alternative to God's law is what you and I would call humanism, or modern-day relativism. You see, anytime anyone denies the law of God, it is for a reason. And that reason is that they might establish their own law. You see, it is absolutely impossible to live without law. In fact, what has happened today is this. We have literally denied the law of God. And we have established our law.
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The theme for the book of Judges is found in Judges 17, verse 6, and Judges 21 and verse 25. And there the Bible says simply this, "There was no king in Israel in those days, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes." And so what we have done is basically we have denied God and we've denied God's law, and every man is just doing that which is right in his own eyes, so to speak. So when you deny God's law, when you say that God's law is no longer binding, you do so only to establish your law or someone else's law. You see, it is impossible for an individual to live without law. An individual has to have law. A family has to have law. A community has to have law. A church has to have law. A state or a nation has to have law. So the question is not whether or not you will have law. The question is whose law will you have? God's or man's, but you're going to have law.
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You see, you can determine who an individual's God is by determining which law system the individual follows. Have you ever stopped to think that law is inescapably religious? There is no such thing as an unreligious law. When our Congress, when our Supreme Court tells us and says that we are neutral, we are unbiased, that is a bald-faced lie. No one is neutral and no one is unbiased.
#12 | 7:00 to 7:37 | cleaned
Now, I'm going to tell you folks tonight, I have a bias. And I confess it and I acknowledge it. My bias is toward the Word of God. My bias is toward the Lord Jesus Christ. But I want you to understand that there is no such thing as a neutral law. There is no such thing as an unbiased law. You see, let's take our federal Congress, for instance. Here the Congress says, well, we're not going to get involved in religion. That's hogwash. Because when those congressmen begin to legislate, when they begin to pass law, they have to determine whether a law is good or bad, whether a law is right or wrong. And are you listening? It is their religion that determines good and evil, right and wrong for them. And every law they pass has a religious basis and a religious foundation. Now, it may be a Christian religion, or it may be a pagan religion, but it is still religious. There is no such thing as an irreligious or an unreligious law. All law is inherently religious.
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Many times when anthropologists go to study dead cities and dead civilizations, the very first thing they want to know, or one of the first things is, what was the source of their law? Because if they ever determine what the source of their law is, they can determine who was the God of that society. So if the source of man's law is man's reason, then man is his own God. If the source of our law are those nine black-robed Supreme Court justices, then the Supreme Court is our God. But if God Himself is the source of our law, then God is our God. I want you to understand that modern humanism always, always makes the state the God of society.
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Now, I'm going to give you five quotes tonight very quickly. I'm going to tell you who said the first four.
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Now, I want you to give me a guess or two at who said the fifth one. Here's the first one. This first quote is given by Hegel, the Marxist philosopher, and he says, "The state incarnates the divine idea upon earth." Let me paraphrase that for you. Hegel taught the state was God walking on earth. Literally, government is God. That's what Hegel thought. He was a Marxist. The second quote is from the German philosopher, Johann Fichte. He also was basically a Marxist. And here's what he said. "The state is the supreme power, ultimate, and beyond repeal, absolutely independent."
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Did you hear what he said? "The state is the supreme power, ultimate, and beyond repeal." What is he saying? He is saying the state is God. The third quote came from Benito Mussolini. Most of you recognize that name. He said this, "Everything for the state, nothing outside the state, and nothing against the state."
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Now, have you ever wondered why these totalitarian regimes can line people up, hundreds at the time, and set up machine guns and just literally mow them down and turn around and walk off? I'll tell you why. Because they believe that everything is for the state and nothing can be outside of the state and nothing can be against the state. And if anything is against the government, if anything is against the state, it has no right to exist.
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And so that's how they can do that because of their philosophy or their theology. It was Adolf Hitler who said this one, "The state dominates the nation because it alone represents the nation."
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Now, here's the fifth quote. And I want you to guess who said this one. Quote, "The state embraces everything. Nothing has value outside of the state. The state creates right."
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Now listen to that again. "The state embraces everything. Nothing has value outside of the state. The state creates right." Would you like to guess who said that? Someone guess. Well, that's pretty close. He didn't say it, but it was an American president. I wouldn't surprise that either, but let me just stop you from guessing. It was, it was what? Jesse Jackson. No, he wasn't a president yet.
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FDR, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Listen to what Roosevelt said. "The state embraces everything. Nothing has value outside of the state." Which means this, if you're not a good little statist, you have no value. You are worthless. And then listen to what he said, "The state creates right."
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Now, let me give you an illustration. This was told to me by a friend of mine who was president at the time. When Senator John Tunney from California, he was a senator back at this particular time. When he was being confronted by a pro-life group, and he was asked, "Is not abortion murder?" And you would think that Senator Tunney would be pro-life because he is a nominal Roman Catholic anyhow. But Senator Tunney responded that abortion was not murder. And they asked him, "How could that be?" And his answer was, "Because the Supreme Court has ruled that it's not murder." And they asked Senator Tunney these several questions. They said, "Senator Tunney, first of all, is it wrong to steal?"
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He said, "Well, of course it is." They said, "Well, if the Supreme Court ruled tomorrow that theft was right, would it still be wrong to steal?" He said, "Of course it would not be." What was he saying? The state creates right.
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Now, I want you to understand, you can always tell who the God of a society is because whenever society gets in trouble, they always cry immediately to their God. I was driving down the road with a pickup truck and I had my truck loaded with lumber and I was pulling a trailer and I had lumber on that trailer and it was loaded as well. Well, I hit a little bump, and I wasn't going more than 15 miles an hour in second gear. And I hit a little bump, and that lumber shifted. And I looked in my rearview mirror, and here came my trailer passing me.
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And before I could do anything, the first thing I said was, "Help, Lord!" And guess what? That trailer just kind of pushed me very carefully right off the road into the ditch. And it was a large ditch, not deep. And I stopped just about that far from a big pine tree. And just as I got out of the truck to look, here came a neighbor of mine in a four-wheel drive pickup.
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He said, "Oh, Brother Weaver, looks like you're in a lot of trouble." I said, "Yes, I am." He said, "I can get you out." He hooked me up to the chain. He pulled the trailer out. Then he pulled the truck out. I hooked back up to the trailer. He helped me rearrange the lumber. And in 15, 20 minutes, I was gone. You know what happened? The time I saw that, I immediately cried to the Lord for help. You look around in our country at the floods and the droughts and the tornadoes and the hurricanes, and you tell me, who is it our people cry to instantly and immediately? Federal government. Federal government.
#27 | 15:23 to 15:56 | cleaned
Now, what I want to do tonight is this. I want to give you four theories of law. I'm going to show you the first three are unbiblical. They are humanistic to the core. That's why there will not be much Scripture used on these first three points. Oh, I could use Scripture alright, but it would be against them and certainly not to support them. But I think everyone in this room is capable of understanding that these three theories that I'm about to give you are absolutely, totally humanistic. Only the last one is biblical, and only the last one am I going to show you and expound verse for verse and show you the true biblical definition of law or the law as restitution. Now, here are the four concepts. First of all, I want you to understand law as reformation. I'll explain it. Then secondly, law as regulation. Thirdly, law as redistribution. And fourthly, law as restitution. So let's take these one at a time. First of all, law as reformation. May I remind you that this is absolutely humanistic to the core.
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It is unbiblical. It is ungodly. But may I tell you, this is why we have so many rehabilitation centers and reformatories and prisons and penitentiaries that dot the land.
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Now, I don't know if you're ready for this or not, but I'm going to tell it to you. Prisons are unbiblical. Prisons are unbiblical. There was not a prison in God's economy. There was a place where a man was held temporarily. When he was brought to trial, if he was found guilty of theft, which I'll explain later, he had to make restitution. If he was found guilty of some minor crime, he was beaten. If he was found guilty of a capital crime, he was taken out and executed. It was that simple. You didn't need a prison. Now, there were prisons during Bible times, but those prisons and those dungeons were operated by a pagan people and not by God's people.
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In fact, that's why Paul got thrown in the dungeon. It was a Roman dungeon. It was not an Israelite dungeon. Israel did not have any prisons or dungeons per se. So here is the law as reformation. This is where man thinks that he is going to reform individuals or rehabilitate individuals by his law. Here's the standard or the slogan. Law is salvation. In other words, we're going to take this law and rehabilitate or reform or save the individual.
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Now, let me show you how arrogant that is. As holy and as righteous and as godly as God's law is, God's law was never designed to save. That law certainly will direct us. That law certainly will quicken us. That law certainly will convict us. That law certainly will lead us. That law certainly will do many things, but it does not reform us. It does not rehabilitate us as such.
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You know what the Bible says in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 21? The Apostle Paul said, "Verily, if salvation had been by the law, then Christ died in vain." If there could have been law passed that would save, why in the world did Jesus Christ come and die? Very clearly, law does not save, God's law does not save us, and man's law certainly cannot save. Have you ever stopped to think, where in the world did we get our prison systems from?
#33 | 19:18 to 19:46 | cleaned
How is it that we have prisons? There was a man that most of you know. He was a Quaker. He lived from 1644 to 1718. He was an English Quaker by the name of William Penn. In fact, the founder of Pennsylvania. It's an interesting story how he got the property there as Pennsylvania. To make it a long story short, the king owed his father boo coodles of money. After his father died, William Penn knew that the king would never pay him back what he owed his family because Penn was a Quaker and Quakers did not believe in bowing to the king. They wouldn't take their hat off for the king and the king didn't like that. And the king was against Quakerism. And so Penn just made a suggestion to him, well, that he'd be willing to forgive the money that the king owed him and his family if he would give him some land in the New World. Well, the king was more than happy to do that because that way he would not only get rid of the debt, but he'd get rid of the Quakers as well.
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And so he swapped his debt for the land. And the word Pennsylvania just simply means "Penn's woods." Well, you say, "Brother Weaver, what significance is that?" Well, you see, Quakers believed and taught that every man has a spark of divinity in him. Every man has a spark of good in him. And they believed this, that when a man did wrong, and when a man did bad, if you could get that man by himself, and just kind of fan that little flame of divinity or fan that little flame of goodness that pretty soon it would burst into a roaring fire of just goodness and Godhood and man would just automatically do what was right.
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Now, the only thing wrong with that, it was absolutely, totally unscriptural and unbiblical. You see, our English word penitentiary comes from the Latin penitentia, which means to do penance. Have you ever stopped to think that when a prisoner goes to prison, or he goes to jail, he has a little room, and that little room that he stays in is called a what? A cell. And when you have a number of these little rooms, one right after the other, join one to each other, you have what? A cell block.
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Now, let's go back to the monasteries. The monks each had their little room and his little room was called what? A cell. And when you had several of those little rooms joined to each other, you had a cell block. And so what in the world was the prisoner to do? The prisoner then was supposed to be separated. He was supposed to do penance. He was supposed to think about his evil deeds. And someone was supposed to be there to flame that little fire of goodness. And it would just simply burst forth into goodness, which is totally unscriptural and totally ungodly.
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And that's basically how penitentiaries got started in this country because of bad theology. May I remind you? You don't even have to talk to the wardens. You don't even have to talk to the guards. Listen, I had a gentleman in my church for years who was on the probation and parole board, and he was called upon to make a talk one time to the other probation and parole officers.
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And he came to me and said, "Pastor, what can I do to teach them the biblical truth?" I said, "Well, you can tell them, first of all, that prisons are unbiblical. And here's one point and here's another point." And I showed him a lot of things. He said, "Good, that's exactly what I'm going to do." And he did. But all you've got to do is talk to the wardens. All you've got to do is talk to the guards. They will tell you it doesn't work. Talk to the prisoners. They will tell you it doesn't work. Let me tell you, you can take a man that's a petty thief, that's ignorant, that's stupid, that doesn't know what he's doing, and there's a lot of them. They're bad thieves. One man went in to rob a bank and he wrote the note on the back of his deposit slip. Now that doesn't take, you know, too much brains to figure out who robbed the bank.
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Here it is in his own handwriting and he left it. And there was his address and phone number and social security number on the other side. That's not too smart. But you can take somebody that does something dumb and stupid like that and sentence him to five years with a group of hardened, accomplished criminals. Guess what? He comes out a more educated and more accomplished thief than when he went in.
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He doesn't come back reformed. He doesn't come back rehabilitated. Alice and I were going to a meeting in Indiana, and we passed a busload of prisoners. In fact, they were out on the side of the road working, and the bus had on it, "Indiana Department of Corrections." I said, "I wonder how many they're correcting." Just stop and think about that.
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Now, you see, here's law as reformation. You do wickedly. And you will get caught and we will put you in the prison system and we will rehabilitate you. Did you know that America now has more people in prison than many totalitarian countries? I wish I had time to preach this tonight. You need to study about UNICOR. You need to find out who has investments in UNICOR. UNICOR is the prison system. Do you realize it's judges and lawyers that have stocks and interest in UNICOR? What is it? You get these men in federal prison and guess what? They put them to work and they pay those men a grand total, last time I checked with some friends who were in, a grand total of 11 cents an hour.
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And some of them are fine furniture makers and other things, and then they will take this furniture and sell it. They're not supposed to sell it in competition to other folks, but they do. And one of the reasons we have such a high turnover is we have to keep the system going so money can go in the right pockets. But the truth is, law as reformation is humanistic and unbiblical. Very quickly, law as regulation. Here's the second idea. This is humanistic also. This is where the law tries to make it impossible for men to sin by controlling their activities. This is literally salvation by regulation. In other words, they're going to make sure that businessmen do not cheat and lie and steal by literally regulating them to death. Now, let me tell you what regulation does. This type of regulation makes crooks out of honest men. How? Because now the honest man has to keep two sets of books, one that is true and accurate and one to show the government just to keep them from stealing everything that he's made.
#43 | 25:51 to 27:00 | cleaned
When, on the other hand, if government was not involved in it, you would have basically what is known as the law of supply and demand. And you would also have what is known as character and integrity. Let me just try to give you an illustration. Let's suppose that Ron had a store. And I went into this store to do some business. And he and I talked a while and I finally made a deal with him or he made a deal with me. Anyhow, we just agreed on this little deal. And so I gave him some money and he gave me some goods and I went outside and got down the road. Maybe I got down there two or three hours later and I thought, "Hey, wait a minute."
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"You know, he cheated me. No wonder he was ready to do this. He never told me something else." And I just thought about it. So I come back and I see Ron. And I say, "Now, Ron, listen, you never mentioned this. And what you did was you took advantage of me and I want my money back. Here's your goods back. You give my money back right now." And suppose he looked at me and said, "Let me tell you something. You're crazy if you think I'm giving you your money back. You made the deal. You live with it. Caveat emptor. Let the buyer beware." Well, now, I might not get my money back from him. But let me tell you something. I'm going to go over to Kevin. I'm going to say, "Kevin, you better stay away from Ron's store. Let me tell you what he did to me."
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"Mark, don't you go near that man. Let me tell you what he did to me. Jeff, let me tell you." And listen, by the time I get through and by the time everybody else that he took has gotten through, guess what? He's going out of business. But guess what happens day to the crooks? If they fill out all the necessary forms and follow the regulations to a certain degree, they can get all kind of small business loans and federal loans and they can be subsidized by the government and stay in business for years on taxpayers' money.
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Now, let me show you something. I was in Pennsylvania preaching and there was an antique bookstore and I walked into the bookstore. And I asked the lady, I said, "Do you happen to have the two-volume set of Alexander Hamilton Stevens, A Constitutional View of the Late War Between the States?" In time, I asked for those two books. She says, "Oh, you must be a rebel." I said, "Yes, ma'am, I am."
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"And probably you are, too." "Oh, no," she said, "I'm a Yankee. I'm a Federalist." I said, "Well, let me just tell you a few things." I said, "First of all, let me tell you that the war was really the war of northern aggression because Lincoln started it. After he said he would not re-fortify Fort Sumter, he sent ships in contrary to his word, and there's documentation that he and one man planned to start that war, and certainly Beauregard and those people had a right to fire on those ships because Lincoln was violating his word and they were trespassing on
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the property of South Carolina." And I said, "Furthermore, I said, I want you to understand the war had nothing to do with slavery. Slavery was not the issue. Lincoln said if he could win the war without freeing any slave, he would do it. And that wasn't the issue." I said, "The issue was not over slavery. The issue was over states' rights. The issue was, do we have the right to defend ourselves and do we have the right to direct our own government?"
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"Or are we going to be regulated to death by a federal bureaucracy?" I said, "Lady, let me ask you just a few questions. Number one, do you like the IRS?" "No." "Do you like HEW?" "No." "Do you like OSHA?" "No." And I went right on down the line. She said no to every one of them. I said, "You know, you're a pretty good rebel." She said, "Well, I guess I am. I guess I am."
#50 | 30:43 to 31:06 | cleaned
You see, I want you to see how absolutely stupid and asinine this is. And yet, you know, we never think about this. Let's pretend for a moment. This is the 1930s. 1930s. And here I am. I'm walking down the street and I've got a fifth of liquor sticking in my back pocket. And I'm flipping a gold coin in the air, and a policeman happens to see me, and he arrests me. Now, it's the 1930s.
#51 | 31:07 to 31:33 | cleaned
Please tell me why he's arresting me. No, not the gold coin. Not to begin with. Prohibition. I got the liquor. So, he's going to arrest me for the liquor. Now, it's the 1970s. I'm walking down the street. I've got the same fifth of liquor in my pocket. I'm flipping the gold coin. Now it's the gold coin because it's unlawful for us to have gold. You see what I'm saying? When you begin to regulate things, you can make lawful things illegal and illegal things lawful.
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Let me give you an illustration. There were some Christian students out in California who were protesting the fact that there was a house of prostitution across from their campus. And they were walking up and down with billboards, protesting and making all the fuss they can. And all of a sudden, here comes the pimp. And he pulls up and those students watch him go up and collect the money from those prostitutes. And about that time, a policeman comes by and the Christian young people flag him down and said, "Look, we've been watching this house. This is a house of prostitution."
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"We can testify to it. There's the pimp. We just saw the girls pay him the money. We want you to arrest him." And the policeman said, "Watch me." And he goes over, puts his foot on the back bumper of the pimp's car, writes him three tickets, one for illegal parking, one for this and one for that. But he doesn't do anything for the house of prostitution. You know why? Because it was a licensed, regulated house of prostitution. See, you can have prostitution.
#54 | 32:42 to 33:13 | cleaned
That's what Nevada's known for as well. But it is regulated. It is licensed. In other words, you can make sin legal by regulation, and you can make righteousness illegal by regulation. You know, we have a saying, and that saying is this, "Ignorance is no excuse of the law." You know where that came from? That came from when our country was first founded, because our law was based upon the Word of God. Did you know that juries determine guilt and innocence by use of their Bibles? Did you know that judges, and the reason we stand when the judge walks into the courtroom, was because initially the judge walked in holding the Bible and men stood, not out of respect for the judge, but out of respect for the Word of God. Now they take the Word of God out and want you to stand for them. But everybody knew the Bible. Ignorance is no excuse. Everybody had a copy of the Bible.
#55 | 33:13 to 34:11 | cleaned
Let me tell you something, folks. Every one of you in here violate the law, multitudinous laws, every day, and you don't even know it. How many of you have ever read the Federal Register all the way through? How many of you have ever read it all the way through every year? If you were to start reading today, it would take you about 10 or 15 years just to get through it one time. English isn't Tuesday. There's no way that you can know what the law is. There are so multitudinous. But the ignorance of the law, there's no excuse, is based upon the Word of God. So here is law as reformation, as humanism. Here is law as regulation, as humanism. Thirdly, here is law as redistribution.
#56 | 34:11 to 34:52 | cleaned
That too is humanistic to the core. Let me explain. If you remember the Bolshevik revolution in 1917. Here the Bolsheviks came along and they're going to take all the land from the Tsar and all the riches from the Tsar and they're going to distribute it to the peasants. Everybody's going to have some. How many peasants in Russia own land today? How many of them are wealthy? You see, it was redistribution all right, but it was taking from the czar and keeping it there with a certain elite and a certain little group. You see, that's basically what we have today in our land in the income tax.
#57 | 34:52 to 35:33 | cleaned
It is nothing more than a redistributing of the wealth. Listen, our government no more needs taxes to run itself than you need an extra set of eyes to see, if you can already see. You say, "Well, how in the world can you say that?" Well, let me tell you something, folks. Did you realize that before 1913, there was no income tax? How did our government run itself before 1913? And may I remind you, before 1913, we did not have a several trillion dollar debt. You see, what we have today is a redistribution of wealth.
#58 | 35:35 to 36:20 | cleaned
We have a social manipulation and social control, and we have it taking from the haves and giving to the have-nots. We're taking it from those who work and giving it to those who will not work. I remember my daddy one time was talking to an old black man, and the black man told my daddy, he said, "You know, Mr. D.J.," he said, "I think what they ought to do"—and whoever the 'they' is—but here's what he said. "I think what they ought to do is take all the money in the world, put it in one pile and divide it between everybody equally." Daddy said, "Do you realize?"
#59 | 36:21 to 36:58 | cleaned
"If they did that, before the week was over, there would again be an inequality. Because some men are smarter than others. Some men work harder than others. Some men are crooks and thieves. Before the week was over, there would be an inequality. It just wouldn't work." And the old black man looked at Dad and said, "I meant they ought to do it every Saturday night." Well, that might work if they do it every Saturday night. Well, let me tell you, you know what we have forgotten? We've forgotten that when God says, "Thou shalt not steal," that applies to governments equally as it applies to individuals. And when God says, "Thou shalt not steal," that is all-encompassing.
#60 | 36:59 to 37:48 | cleaned
And all you've got to do is read Frederick Bastiat's book, The Law, and he will distinguish for you the difference between legal plunder and illegal plunder. You see, if I pull out a pistol and stick it to your head, and say, "Give me your money," I can go to jail or I might get shot or you might whip me. I might get hurt. But if I really want what you have and I don't want to suffer for it, all I've got to do is get in a position where I can pass a law that will make you give to me. And if you don't, you go to jail. Now, that's still plunder, but it's legal plunder. I wish I had time tonight to read from the Fairfax Resolves. Our Founding Fathers said, "When we no longer have the right to give or withhold our money, we are under a complete tyranny."
#61 | 37:48 to 38:34 | cleaned
Now, I'm just simply pointing out, here is redistribution. I suppose everyone here knows that a progressive graduated income tax is the second plank in the Communist Manifesto. So here we have redistribution. That's one of the ways. Somebody says, "Ah, but Brother Weaver, don't you know the Bible says, in fact, our Lord Himself said it, 'Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's.'" Isn't it amazing that so many people can quote that, but they can't quote the rest of the verse. "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that belong unto God." And may I tell you this, dear friend, the God who instituted government, the God who set up government, is the same God that tells you what belongs to government. If you let Caesar tell you, he'll take everything you've got. But what we've got today is redistribution. Inheritance tax. Inheritance. Totally, completely unbiblical. Do you realize that most people cannot afford to inherit their family farms or their family properties because of inheritance taxes? I, with my own eyes, have seen grown men fall on the floor weeping and crying like babies because they had to sell the family farm just to pay the inheritance tax.
#62 | 38:37 to 40:04 | cleaned
Let me ask you a question. Don't answer out loud, but how many of you still live on the original family home place. Let me see your hands. Look there. One person in the entire congregation. You know what has happened in this country? We have become a generation of displaced Americans. Our forefathers, many of them were born and died on a farm or born and died on a homestead and never even left it. And if you tried to mess with that farm or that homestead, you got in trouble. Why?
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Because those men said, "This is what God gave me. This is what God gave our family. It's been in our family for years, for generations, and I'll die fighting before I see you take it." What has happened in America is this. We've lost our home places. We've lost our farms. And we've lost everything worth fighting for. You get that? We've nothing left. We have become a generation of displaced Americans in our own home, in our own homeland.
#64 | 40:49 to 41:21 | cleaned
Let me very quickly tell you another one, and that's property tax. I suppose the most unbiblical tax of all is the property tax. Why? "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein." Have you ever stopped to think that when a government begins to tax property, the government is usurping the ownership of God over that property? The state of South Carolina doesn't own the property in the state of South Carolina. God owns it.
#65 | 41:23 to 41:49 | cleaned
Did you know that when the American Revolution was being fought, now listen, the colonists went to the Canadians and tried to get Canadians to help them fight England, and one of their arguments was this. "If you don't help us stop this parliament and stop this king, the next thing you know, they'll be trying to even tax our land." In Atlanta, Georgia, there was a widow woman who had a piece of property. Her home was on it, and right beside her home, she had a second piece of property that was an acre. And all she did on that piece of property was that was her garden.
#66 | 41:50 to 42:38 | cleaned
It had been in her family for years. That piece of property she had been paying property taxes on had a value of $50,000. And of course, she paid, you know, a lower percentage of that. And that's what she had been paying for years. Well, she got her property taxes notice, and now that piece of property has an estimated tax value of $3.2 million. And she asked, "How can this be? Last year, it was only $50,000." Here's the answer. "Well, some other property in the neighborhood sold for a good figure, and a high figure because a big corporation came in. And so that's the value we had to put on all the surrounding property." Let's translate that.
#67 | 42:39 to 43:36 | cleaned
What that means is this. The corporation would really like to buy your property as well, but you probably wouldn't be able to sell it. So we're going to tax you until you can't pay it and you will have to sell it just for taxes. Or some of us good old boys will step in and buy it from you for a measly $50,000-$60,000 and then we'll turn around and sell it for $3 million to the corporation. That's what it means.
#68 | 43:37 to 44:00 | cleaned
I get so aggravated at some of those people. My aunt came up to me. She said, "You need to help me." I said, "What do you mean?" She's a widow woman. They had raised her taxes like you wouldn't believe. I said, "Well, I'll go and talk with him." So I went down to talk with him. And finally, here is what the man told me. "Well, we're probably raising everybody's taxes to the same amount, and what we want to be is fair. Now, you want us to be fair, don't you?" I said, "No, sir, I don't." He said, "What do you mean you don't?" I said, "Well, let me ask you a question. Suppose a rapist came into a neighborhood and raped a woman. And he got to thinking, he said, 'I wasn't fair to all those other women.'
#69 | 44:05 to 45:00 | cleaned
'I better go back and rape them.' Or a thief comes in and robs one house and he says, 'You know, I wasn't fair to those other houses. I better go back and steal everything they've got too.'" I said, "No, sir, I don't want you to be fair. What I want is justice. What I want is what is biblical and right." I said, "Don't talk to me about fairness."
#70 | 45:01 to 45:22 | cleaned
You see, the point I'm trying to make is this is redistribution, and I'm not going to take the time to preach this, but inflation is a tax that most of us never see. You say, "Brother Weaver, bless God, I got $50,000 in a bank account." Well, I tell you what, you just give it 30 days, you won't have $50,000 worth of buying power because inflation will eat it up. It's a redistribution of wealth. Nobody's going to argue with me here tonight.
#71 | 45:25 to 45:51 | cleaned
That is highly humanistic and unbiblical. Now watch. Here's law as reformation, law as regulation, law as redistribution.
#72 | 45:51 to 45:58 | cleaned
Now I want to take the time and ask you to look in your Bibles, Exodus chapter 22, because I want to show you the biblical idea, and that is law as restitution. So in Exodus chapter 22, verses 1 through 17, it tells us a number of things about God's law as restitution. First of all, in verse one, you have the ratio of restitution given.
#73 | 45:59 to 46:23 | cleaned
Now watch, he says, "If a man shall steal an ox or a sheep and kill it, or sell it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep." Now I want you to note there is a five-fold restitution and there is a four-fold restitution. Well, why is there a discrepancy? Why is there a difference in that ratio? You've got to stop and understand that the ratio is based upon the value and the usefulness of the object, both at the present and for the future. You can take a sheep and you can eat the sheep and you can make clothes out of the sheep. And you might could use the sheep for pet. I don't know if you drink sheep milk or not.
#74 | 46:23 to 47:01 | cleaned
I'd include that with food maybe. That's about all you can do with a sheep. But you could take an ox and you could have milk. You could have meat that would be food. You could use the hide for clothes and for tents. But more than that, an ox is a trained work animal. And so God says the value of restitution, if something is stolen, depends upon the usefulness.
#75 | 47:02 to 47:24 | cleaned
For instance, let's suppose that Chuck is a plumber. Chuck's a plumber and he's got a work truck and it's full of all of his plumbing tools and all these supplies. And he drives that truck every day except on Sunday. And on Sunday, he drives a family car. Now, if I were to ask Chuck, if one of those vehicles had to be stolen, which one had he rather have stolen? Well, his car. He doesn't need the car that much. He needs that work truck with all his tools in it.
#76 | 47:25 to 47:55 | cleaned
You see what I'm saying? So the work truck has a higher value and would have a higher value of restitution than the family car. So here's a five-fold restitution. Here's a four-fold restitution. And it's based upon the usefulness and the value and the use of the object.
#77 | 47:55 to 48:12 | cleaned
Now, we're talking about thievery now. I want you to understand this. He said in verse one, "If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kill it or sell it, he shall restore it," that is, make restitution, fivefold for an ox and fourfold for a sheep.
#78 | 48:13 to 48:26 | cleaned
Now, look in verses 2 and 3. Here is the problem of defense resolved when it comes to thievery. He says, "If a thief be found breaking up and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him. If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him, for he should make full restitution. If he have nothing, then he should be sold for his theft."
#79 | 48:26 to 48:47 | cleaned
Now, I'm going to cover verse 3 a little bit later, but note if you would verse 2. He said, first of all, "If a thief be found breaking up," that is, he's breaking in, "and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him." I was here in Greenville. This was a good while back. And I had a man come up to me and said, "Brother Weaver, let me ask you a question." I said, "Go ahead." He said, "What would you do if you woke up during the night and there was a man breaking in your bedroom window?" I said, "That depends."
#80 | 48:47 to 49:21 | cleaned
He said, "What does it depend upon?" I said, "Well, it depends on whether or not I get my hands on the gun or not. If I get my hands on a gun, I'd shoot him. If I couldn't, I'd get my hands on a baseball bat and I'd beat him in the head." He said, "Well, I don't think you ought to do that." I said, "Well, what do you think I ought to do?" He said, "Well, I think you ought to go in the other room and pray about it." I said, "You mean to tell me you think I ought to be in the other room praying while the man's in there raping my wife or murdering my children? I said, I'd be praying alright. I'd pull that baseball bat back and I'd say, 'Dear God, don't let me miss him this time!' Pow! I said, I'd pray."
#81 | 49:22 to 49:56 | cleaned
That's what the Scripture says. If a man is breaking in at night, listen, you don't know who he is. You don't know whether he's armed or not. You don't know what his intent is. God says, kill him, get it over with. There shall be no bloodshed for him. Ah, but look in verse three. "If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be bloodshed for him, for he should make full restitution." Now, wait a minute. God says it's a little different during the daytime. What difference is there? Well, in the daytime, you can see whether or not he's armed. In the daytime, you can recognize him and perhaps even catch him, if not immediately, a short time later. And God said in that case, you don't kill him. Let him make the restitution. Now, wait a minute. There is a way that you could lawfully kill him biblically in the daytime as well. And that is if he is armed and if your life is in danger, as I told you last night, you still have the right of self-defense.
#82 | 49:57 to 51:02 | cleaned
And you could lawfully shoot him even in the daytime. But God said if he's breaking in at night, you don't know who he is, you can't see him, you don't know what his intent is, you don't know whether he's armed or not, just shoot him and get it over with. That's it. There's to be no blood shed, He said, on that count. But if it's daytime, He said, don't kill him unless he's trying to hurt you. In other words, you can see he said, give him the opportunity to make restitution.
#83 | 51:03 to 51:27 | cleaned
I'll explain that a little bit now. Skip down, if you would, to verse four. There is specific restitution required when a thief is caught in the act, or before he has time to dispose of or abuse the goods. He says in verse 4, "If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox or ass or sheep, he shall restore double." Now we get a double restitution. Not a fivefold, not a fourfold, but a double.
#84 | 51:27 to 51:56 | cleaned
So let's suppose, go back to this illustration, let's suppose Sean stole Chuck's work truck. And he's caught two blocks from the house. He never got two blocks away. Well, God said just let him pay Chuck double if the truck and the equipment is worth $20,000. That means he owes him now $40,000. Why? Because he hasn't really been hurt. He hasn't really suffered anything. He's just been inconvenienced for a short period of time. So here's a fivefold. Here's a fourfold. Here's double.
#85 | 51:57 to 52:29 | cleaned
Now, look down verses five and six. Listen to me now. It's going to get quite touching in just a moment. Certain acts whether they are deliberate or accidental, incur a liability which requires restitution. Verse 5, "If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man's field of the best of his own field, of the best of his own vineyard, shall he make restitution? If fire break out and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn or the standing corn of the field be consumed therewith, he that kindle the fire will surely make restitution." Now, God says, if my horse gets out of my pasture and gets in my neighbor's cornfield and he eats 20 bushels of corn before I can catch him, then I'm responsible to replace or restore, to make restitution of 20 bushels of corn to my neighbor. And of the best of what I have, I'm to make the restitution. Now, you say, "But Brother Weaver, you didn't intend for your horse to get out."
#86 | 52:29 to 53:32 | cleaned
That's immaterial. That doesn't matter. It was my horse. I'm responsible. If I come to your house and your dog runs out and bites my leg, I'm sorry. It's your dog. You're responsible. Can't help that. If you don't want the responsibility, don't have the dog. It's just that simple. See, at our house, we have an attack pig. We don't have something like that. I've often said I pitied the poor thief that came to my house.
#87 | 53:32 to 54:07 | cleaned
He would probably trip over one of the animals and break his neck and sue me for everything, you know. But that's the way it goes. But you understand what I'm saying? We're responsible.
#88 | 54:08 to 54:17 | cleaned
Now, look what he said in verse 6. "If fire break out and catch in thorns, so that the standing corn of the field be consumed therewith, he that kindle a fire shall surely make restitution."
#89 | 54:18 to 54:27 | cleaned
Now, let me explain that. Here you are. You're raking your yard. You've raked up all the leaves and you set the leaves on fire. And the next thing you know, man, the wind comes along and takes your leaves that are on fire, blows them over in your neighbor's yard, sets his yard on fire. It goes up his house. His house catches on fire. And by the time the fire department gets there, his house is burned down. Guess who's responsible to build him a house? You are.
#90 | 54:27 to 54:57 | cleaned
You say, "But Brother Weaver, it was an accident." It doesn't matter. You know what God's teaching us? God is teaching us responsibility. What he's saying is this, if you're going to play with fire, you ought to be responsible and have enough people out there, enough equipment out there to keep it in control. You don't let things like that happen. You have to learn responsibility. Let me tell you, if I step out this church building or if I step out your house door and there's a rotten step and I fall through and break my leg, you're responsible for my medical bill. He said, "But Brother Weaver, the board was rotten." Well, you had a responsibility to fix the rotten board. You see, God keeps us responsible.
#91 | 54:58 to 55:41 | cleaned
What we want to do is this. We want to do like Israel. "Hey, we want a king to rule over us that we may be like everybody else and that the king will fight our wars for us." We don't want responsibility. We just simply do not want responsibility. When I was a boy, I had some cherry bombs and I was out in the yard bursting those cherry bombs and my mother came out and she said, "Son, your grandmother has a headache."
#92 | 55:42 to 56:11 | cleaned
"If you're going to burst those things, go down to the woods." My dad had plenty of property, but I don't know why, but I crossed the field, climbed over my neighbor's fence. Went across his field and went down into a stand of pine trees. Maybe I went there because it's cool. I don't know. Those little pine trees were about that big around and the straw was real thick under there. You know, it was shady and cool. And I stood there and I burst those cherry bombs until I got to the last one. And I lit that last one and I threw it over my shoulder like that and I started walking home. I got about 50 yards and I smelled smoke. And I turned around and looked, and that last cherry bomb had set that pine straw on fire. And there was already a place as big around as that organ, that piano together. My heart went in my throat. I went and broke me off some pine limbs, and I went to fighting that fire.
#93 | 56:12 to 57:11 | cleaned
And I want you to know it took me 30 to 45 minutes to put that thing out. My heart was in my throat. I finally got it out. I said, "God, my helper, I'm not going to play with cherry bombs again. I'm not going to get on my neighbor's property." Of course, I didn't know any better then. But if I had burned down that man's pine stand, my father would have been responsible.
#94 | 57:11 to 57:32 | cleaned
I mean, I was only 11 or 12 years old. God says there are certain acts that require restitution, whether they're accidental or not. That's immaterial. Look at it, if you would, please, in verse 7-13. I want to just lump this in one, because here in verses 7-13, responsibility is determined for goods held in custody. After you read this and understand this, you may not want to be responsible for holding your neighbor's goods in custody any longer. He says in verse 7, "If a man shall deliver unto his neighbor money or stuff to keep, and if it be stolen out of the man's house, if the thief be found, let him pay double." Watch. "If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges to see whether he hath put his hand into his neighbor's goods."
#95 | 57:32 to 58:32 | cleaned
"For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox or ass, for sheep, for raiment, for any manner of lost thing, which another challengeth to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges." Watch it. "And whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbor." Ah! So here I go. I come up to Brother Greg. I said, "Now, Brother Greg, now listen, here's this knife. This knife is a genuine buck knife. This knife belonged to my great grandfather. That's great sentimental value. And let's say this knife is worth five thousand bucks. OK, fine. And I said, now, Brother Greg, would you keep this for me?"
#96 | 58:32 to 59:06 | cleaned
He said, "Well, sure, I'll be glad to." Now, the word keep literally means to guard and protect. So he agrees to keep it for me. And while he's keeping it for me, someone breaks in and steals it.
#97 | 59:06 to 59:19 | cleaned
Now, if the thief is found, the thief is only to pay double. Why? Because I wasn't using it anyhow. Once again, I've just been merely inconvenienced. But let's suppose the thief gets in and steals it, and it's not found. And the thief's not found. And so I said, "Now wait a minute, Greg. You told me you were going to keep my knife." "Well, Brother Weaver, you know, I had it laying up there on that mantel and, you know, I thought that would be a safe place." "Well, Greg, don't you know folks can break in and see it there and they will take it?"
#98 | 59:20 to 59:52 | cleaned
God says, now, there's a controversy. And if I think Greg has been negligent, he's to stand before the judges. And if the judges has found that he has been negligent, let him pay me double. So Greg would then owe me $10,000. Why? Because when he agreed to keep my knife, he was saying, "I'm going to guard it. I'm going to protect it." So when people deliver things to you to keep for them, God says you are responsible.
#99 | 59:54 to 1:00:26 | cleaned
You better make sure that it does not get stolen. You better make sure that you are not negligent.
#100 | 1:00:26 to 1:00:31 | cleaned
Now, if you're not negligent, He says in verse 10, "If a man delivered to his neighbor an ass or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep it, and it die or be hurt or driven away, no man seeing it, then shall an oath of the Lord be between them both, that he had not put his hand into his neighbor's goods, and the owner of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good."
#101 | 1:00:32 to 1:00:48 | cleaned
Now, if he wasn't negligent, that's one thing. But if he was negligent, he owes me double. Now, watch. He says, "...and if it be stolen from him," that is, even while he's keeping it now, "...he shall make restitution to the owner thereof." In other words, he would at least owe me one night back. There is a restitution demanded for goods held in custody that you allow to get lost or stolen or abused through your negligence.
#102 | 1:00:48 to 1:01:19 | cleaned
Now, look down, if you would, verses 14 and 15. Watch it carefully. In fact, you understand verse 13. He said, "If it be torn in pieces," so if Greg is keeping my horse, "if it be torn in pieces," a wildcat gets it, "then let him bring it for a witness, and he shall not make good that which was torn." In other words, the wildcat got it. He had no control over that. Now watch verse 14. "If a man borrow aught of his neighbor, and it be hurt or die, the owner thereof being not with it, he shall surely make it good. But if the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good, if it be a hired thing it came for its hire." Now, let's watch this.
#103 | 1:01:21 to 1:01:59 | cleaned
What God is telling us, there are special principles that are involved in rental and loan arrangements. Now, let me just try to put this in the proper perspective. You see, when we read, "if it be hurt or die," we think of animals and not everybody has animals, especially folks who live in town. So let's work it out where you can understand it if you live in town.
#104 | 1:02:00 to 1:02:23 | cleaned
So I go over to Brother Tony and say, "Now, let me ask you a question. My lawnmower is torn up. My grass needs cutting. May I borrow your lawnmower?" Well, he said, "Of course, Brother Weaver, you may borrow it." And so I get his lawnmower and I go back to my house and I start cutting my grass. And I have it cut at five minutes and the motor blows up. Now what happens? Well, if I'm the average American Christian, what I do is I sneak back to his house and I push it back under his garage and hope he doesn't remember I'm the last person that borrowed it. God says if I borrowed it, it's my responsibility, I get to fix it. It's my responsibility to put a new motor in it. It's my responsibility to bring it back to him working just like it was when I got it.
#105 | 1:02:23 to 1:03:19 | cleaned
Now, what I could do is this. I could say, "Brother Tony, loan me your lawn mower." He says, "Wonderful, fine." He said, "You may borrow it, but I tell you what, I'm not doing anything. I will come over and watch you and maybe even help you cut your grass." I said, "Sure, come on over." And he's sitting there while I'm pushing the mower and all of a sudden, the mower and all of a sudden, plooey, the motor blows up. Guess what?
#106 | 1:03:21 to 1:03:43 | cleaned
He gets to pay for it. Because he was with it and he saw that it was no negligence on my part. It was just time for the motor to go and it went. But if I borrow it and he's not there, guess what? It's my responsibility to fix it.
#107 | 1:03:43 to 1:03:59 | cleaned
Now, there's another way out of it. I could come up and say, "Brother Tony, I need a lawnmower." "Fine, Brother Weaver. You may use mine." "But, Brother Tony, I'll give you 20 bucks. I want to rent it from you." He said, "Well, fine, wonderful." I give him 20 bucks. And the motor blows up. Guess what? According to the Bible, it's his responsibility because he rented it to me.
#108 | 1:03:59 to 1:04:21 | cleaned
It came for its hire. But if I borrow it, it's my responsibility. You know what I learned a long time ago? And I learned it the hard way. I learned it's easier to own something yourself than to borrow it. It seemed like, brother, everything I borrowed tore up. I was building a house that we lived in for 15 years. Well, the men in my church said, "Brother Weaver, I'll loan you my skill saw."
#109 | 1:04:22 to 1:04:56 | cleaned
"You won't have to buy one." I said, "Well, thank you, David." And he brought to me a brand new skill saw. I took it out of the box myself. Did you know I used that skill saw a week and someone came on the job site and stole it? I went downtown and I bought two just like it. And I took one to David. I said, "David, thank you for letting me use your skill saw. And although yours got stolen, here's a brand new one to replace it. And I won't need to borrow this one because I have one for myself and I can assure you mine will be locked up when I leave." You understand responsibility? God's law teaches us responsibility.
#110 | 1:04:56 to 1:05:40 | cleaned
I borrowed my father's chainsaw. I had a chainsaw. Mine was in the shop. Daddy had one of those brand new $500 Stihl chainsaws. I have a special gas can that I use that says, "Chainsaw gas." Oil is already mixed with it. I took my father's chainsaw. I poured gas into it. I went out and I cut wood for about two seconds, it seemed like, maybe 30 seconds, and all of a sudden the motor locked up. It wouldn't start. I took it to the chainsaw man.
#111 | 1:05:40 to 1:06:18 | cleaned
I said, "What in the world is wrong?" He said, "Somebody put gas in this thing without oil in it and locked the motor down." I said, "It couldn't have been me because that's the only thing I used." And guess what? I went back and checked my can and one of my kids had poured that gas out, put regular gas in it and used it for the lawnmower gas. You know what?
#112 | 1:06:18 to 1:06:41 | cleaned
It cost me $150 to get my daddy's chainsaw fixed. I had to pay it. To this day, even my chainsaw, before I put gas in it, I pour it in my hand or I look at it or I make sure oil's in it. Listen, you start obeying God's law and you start paying for some of your mistakes, it doesn't take you long to learn. You take God's law seriously, folks, on restitution, and I'm going to tell you something. You're going to learn to be responsible. Now, look very quickly at verses 16 and 17. This would take care of the fornication that we've got running around rampant.
#113 | 1:06:42 to 1:07:26 | cleaned
He said, "...if a man entices a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife." So God says when a man seduces a woman, he must marry her. Watch verse 17. Here's the only way he can get out of marrying her biblically. "If her father utterly refused to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins." So God says, here's a young man. He seduces a young woman. God says, you must marry her. Then if you'll read Deuteronomy 22, the last three verses, God says, you can never, ever put her away. You can never divorce her. You can never separate from her. You can never put her away.
#114 | 1:07:27 to 1:08:12 | cleaned
You're the one that humbled her. God says, she's yours and she's yours from then on. That's it. Now, God says, the only way the man can get out of marrying her is if her father utterly refused to give her unto him. And if the father refuses, then the young man has to pay dowry according to the dowry of virgins.
#115 | 1:08:12 to 1:08:35 | cleaned
Now, dowry in the Bible was three-year wages. So, let's say the average man in this community makes $50,000 a year. That means that young man that seduces your daughter owes your daughter $150,000 if you're not going to let her marry him. You say, "Why would God say that?" Because God is looking out for the woman. You say, "What are you talking about, Brother Weaver?" Well, every man wants to marry a pure woman. But when the man finds out the woman he is in love with may not be pure, but that she can come into the marriage with 150,000 bucks, he tends to be a little more forgiving and understanding.
#116 | 1:08:35 to 1:09:26 | cleaned
That's the truth. God's looking out for the woman. And let me tell you something, folks. You start making every young man that sleeps with a young girl marry her or pay three years' worth of dowry, I'll guarantee you, the fornication rate will drop dramatically. You understand that what God is telling us is this, that seduction is a breach of the 8th commandment, "Thou shalt not steal," as well as a breach of the 7th commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." And since this young man has stolen her virginity, he must pay. He must make restitution. Now, I want you to understand something about restitution, I've covered tonight very quickly, a fivefold restitution, a fourfold restitution, a twofold restitution. There's one other restitution that I haven't covered, and I'm not going to ask you to read it.
#117 | 1:09:34 to 1:10:32 | cleaned
You just jot it down. You can read when you get home. That is a one-fifth or 20 percent restitution. There's one avenue that I haven't covered, but God's Word covers it in Leviticus 6, verses 1-7. Let's suppose that Brother Roger comes up to me, and while we're talking, he sticks his hand in my pocket and steals a $100 bill. Now, I don't have a $100 bill in my pocket, but let's suppose I did, and he stole it.
#118 | 1:10:33 to 1:11:01 | cleaned
And he gets away with it. I mean, he's gone. In fact, he was so good, that it was maybe two or three days before I even realized that money was gone. And then after I realized the money was gone, I had no idea it was him. He got slap away with it. No one suspected him. But a week or two later, God convicted him. And he says, "I want not to have done that. That was wicked. That was wrong. That was ungodly." Guess what?
#119 | 1:11:03 to 1:11:44 | cleaned
Roger is supposed to come back to me and say, "Brother Weaver, I need to ask your forgiveness. I stole from you. I took that $100 bill. Here is that $100 bill back, plus 20% restitution. I want to be right with you and right with God." The 20% was when the man got away. Nobody saw him, but God convicted him. And by the way, if I'm dead and gone, he's to give it to my family. If I have no family, guess what? He's to give it to the church.
#120 | 1:11:45 to 1:12:20 | cleaned
Read Leviticus 6 when you get home tonight. I want you to understand that God requires restitution. Do you remember 2 Samuel chapter 12? David had committed adultery with Bathsheba. And Nathan the prophet came along and he said, "Let me tell you a story, King. There's a rich man who had all these sheep. He was a poor man who had one little ewe lamb and he nursed it in his bosom just like a child. And a stranger came to that rich man and the rich man spared to take of his own flock and went over and stole that poor little lamb from that poor man and killed it and fed his guest." Boy, David got so angry. He said, "Let me tell you something. The man that had done that shall surely die and he shall make a fourfold restitution." He knew God demanded restitution.
#121 | 1:12:23 to 1:13:19 | cleaned
Have you ever wondered why when the children of Israel departed out of Egypt they ask, not borrowed. The word is literally asked. They ask of the Egyptians gold and silver. They did not borrow it with the intent of returning it. They borrowed it by saying, "Give it to me permanently." Why did God move on those Egyptians to give it? God was making those Egyptians pay restitution for the years that they held His people into captivity and in bondage.
#122 | 1:13:20 to 1:13:49 | cleaned
Abimelech in Genesis chapter 20 had taken Sarah. And God had fast closed up the womb of every woman in His house. And God told Abimelech, "Unless you restore the man his wife, you're a dead man. I'm going to kill you. And you restore his wife and you make restitution." And Abimelech gave him back Sarah and he gave him sheep and oxen. And he said, "Here, just leave me. Don't stay around me. Go wherever you want to go in my land, but don't stay around me." And he made Abimelech give restitution.
#123 | 1:13:50 to 1:14:26 | cleaned
Have you ever asked yourself why did the children of Judah go into captivity in Babylon for 70 years? You say, "Well, Brother Weaver, the answer to that is very obvious. Because of their sins." Ah, but what specific sins? If when you get home tonight, if you'll read 2 Chronicles 36 and verse 21, you will find that the sin that they committed and broke the most was the fact they failed to let the land keep its Sabbaths. They failed to let the land rest. And God said as long as they were in captivity, the land kept for Sabbaths. God demanded that His people make restitution for abusing His land. Now, folks, let me tell you, God requires restitution.
#124 | 1:14:26 to 1:15:18 | cleaned
There is no other just and equitable way to deal with sinners. Some little kid throws a baseball through your window and daddy comes over and says, "Now Johnny, apologize to the good man." "I'm sorry I broke your window." "There Johnny, now don't you feel better? Now let's go home." Oh no, you don't. I'll take your apology plus a new window. You make restitution. You do that which is right and equitable.
#125 | 1:15:20 to 1:15:51 | cleaned
Now let me just try to show you the difference between God's law and humanism, the difference between God's law and man's law. I want to show you so you can see and judge where we are in this country. Let's suppose that you worked hard and you saved your money and you go out and buy a brand new car. Let's suppose that brand new car cost you $30,000. And you're so excited, you want to show it to everyone. You drive at church night and so you run in and you forget and leave the keys in the car. But you're just going to be in here for a few minutes. And when you come back out, that new car is gone. Man, you get so excited, you run in the office, you call the sheriff's department. You said, "Look, there's a brand new LTD going down the road and it's blue in color and the license number such and such and it's just been stolen. In fact, we saw it heading east on such and such road."
#126 | 1:15:52 to 1:16:54 | cleaned
And so the sheriff then puts an APB out and a deputy calls back in and says, "Well, I've got that car right in front of me. I'm going to pull him over." The deputy turns on his light, turns on his siren, and the individual driving that car, instead of pulling over, just foreboards it and tries to escape. And so the deputy calls back in. He said, "He's trying to get away. I'm going to give chase." And here's that new car going around curve after curve after curve. And finally, the man driving your car leaves the road, wraps it around a pine tree and absolutely totals it. And when the sheriff's deputy gets there, here's the old drunk behind the wheel, and he's not hurt.
#127 | 1:16:55 to 1:17:35 | cleaned
Most of them never are. And the deputy says, "You got me!" And the old drunk says, "So what?" Well, he gets arrested and thrown in jail. Now, here's man's law. You get ripped off one time because your car is stolen. You get ripped off a second time because if you had insurance, and if insurance replaces it, you're going to have to wait a while. Plus, your insurance rates are going to go up because insurance companies are not going to lose. You get ripped off a third time because now this old drunk is thrown in the county jail. And guess what? You get to feed and clothe him with your tax dollars. You get ripped off a fourth time because the old drunk can't afford a lawyer. And guess what? He gets a court-appointed attorney at your tax dollars. You get ripped off a fifth time because once he is found guilty, he's sentenced to five to six years in prison and you get to feed him and clothe him for that time. You get ripped off another time because while he's in prison, somebody has got to take care of his wife and children.
#128 | 1:17:36 to 1:18:53 | cleaned
And guess what? Your tax monies do it again.
#129 | 1:18:53 to 1:18:56 | cleaned
Now, let's take it under God's law. The old drunk steals your car. He wrecks it. He totals it. He's brought before the judge. It's proved. He's stolen your car. Let's say that it was just a leisure car. It wasn't a work car or anything. And the judge looks at the old drunk and he said, "Alright, I fine you $120,000. Fourfold restitution to be given, not to the state, but to the man that you stole from." You say, "Brother Weaver, come on. What's that old drunk going to do?" That old drunk's going to stand there and say, "$120,000. Judge, you must be crazy." Judge says, "No, I'm not crazy, sir." Little drunk said, "I don't have $120,000." The old judge said, "That's very simple. You see, we believe in biblical law. In Exodus 22, verse 3 says, 'If a man have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.' That means, sir, you now become the personal servant and slave of this man until you work out $120,000." You say, "Oh, oh, oh, amen, Brother Weaver."
#130 | 1:19:01 to 1:20:28 | cleaned
What's to stop that old drunk from running off? Oh, Deuteronomy 17, turn there. I want to show it to you. I can quote it, but I want you to see it. Look at Deuteronomy 17. You say, "Brother Weaver, what's to stop him from running off and never, ever finish paying?" Deuteronomy chapter 17, beginning there with verse 8, God says, "If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gate, then shalt thou rise and get thee up into the place which the Lord thy God shall choose. And thou shalt come unto the priests, the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire, and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment. And thou shalt do according to the sentence of that place which the Lord shall choose. Show thee, and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee, according to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgments which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do, thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall show thee to the right hand or to the left."
#131 | 1:20:28 to 1:21:36 | cleaned
"And the man that will do presumptuously and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth at the minister, therefore, before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die. And thou shalt put away the evil from Israel." I'm going to tell you something, folks. If I know that if I get caught stealing, that I have to make four-fold restitution, I'm not going to steal. And if I know if I get caught and I don't have the money to make the four-fold restitution, I'm going to be sold as a servant or a slave, it's going to make me think twice. And if I refuse to work it out like the judge tells me, they put me to death. Don't you think that would tend to cut down on theft? It tend to stop it. You see what I'm saying?
#132 | 1:21:37 to 1:22:29 | cleaned
We have an expression in our land, and that is, "Crime doesn't pay." That depends on whose law you're under. If you're under man's law, it does pay. That's why we have so many criminals. If you're under God's law, it doesn't pay because it's the criminal who suffers and not the victim. If a man comes up to Brother Roger and let's say he steals $20,000 from him, if he had that and he stole it, guess what? That man will be thrown into prison and he'll have to support him that time. And any restitution is usually made to the court or to the state and not to Brother Roger. You see, crime doesn't pay only when you follow God's law. You see, folks, in Georgia, we have at least taken a step in the right direction because we have what are known as restitution centers. If a man is not involved in a crime where there is a weapon involved, a nonviolent crime, let's suppose the man just breaks into the house and steals. Guess what many of the judges in Georgia are doing?
#133 | 1:22:30 to 1:23:48 | cleaned
They now sentence these men to restitution centers. They take these old motels and refurbish them. And those men have to stay at that motel, go out every day and work and come back and spend the night at that motel until they pay back their victim and all court costs.
#134 | 1:23:49 to 1:24:10 | cleaned
Now, that's not a four-fold or five-fold yet, but at least it's a step in the right direction. Let me show you something. I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Romans, chapter three, because I want to head off an objection. Inevitably, somebody's going to say, "Oh, brother, that's Old Testament." Yeah, it is, but the Old Testament is just as much the word of God as the New Testament. We don't have two Bibles, we have one Bible. Somebody said, "Brother Weaver, I don't know whether I like this idea of restitution or not."
#135 | 1:24:13 to 1:24:50 | cleaned
"I mean, it might cost me." It might. But you say, "I don't know if I like restitution or not." Well, let me just tell you very plainly. If you don't like restitution, you don't like God's salvation. Because there is no salvation without restitution. Do you realize that we sinned against God? We offended God's righteousness and God's holiness and God's justice and God's law. Do you know what Jesus Christ did? Jesus Christ was made of a woman and made under the law to redeem them under the law. Jesus Christ came and worked out a perfect righteousness in obedience to the law.
#136 | 1:24:50 to 1:25:39 | cleaned
Look what the Bible says, Romans 3, verse 23. Everybody can quote it. "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Verse 24, "...being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Watch it, "...whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood." You say, "Brother Weaver, what does that mean?" The word propitiation is the Greek word hilasmos.
#137 | 1:25:40 to 1:26:03 | cleaned
And it literally means to placate. It means to appease. It means to satisfy. Do you know what the death of Jesus Christ did? It placated. It appeased. It satisfied the wrath of God. How? Because Jesus Christ made restitution in our stead. He did what we could not do. And the man who hates restitution hates salvation. Because there is no salvation without restitution. Now, let me just tell you very quickly, folks, God demands restitution. He not only demands restitution for himself, but from man to man. Do you realize one of the greatest evidences that we have been genuinely converted by the grace of God is that we're willing to make restitution. You remember in Luke chapter 19, there was a man by the name of Zacchaeus, the wee little man.
#138 | 1:26:04 to 1:27:05 | cleaned
He climbed up in that sycamore tree. He was a tax collector, and he was a thief. When Jesus came along, he looked up. He said, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house." I've often wondered if he got a splinter in his pants sliding down that tree. I bet he slid down that thing so fast. But time his feet hit the ground, here's what he said, "Lord behold, the half my goods I give to the poor and those that I've taken wrongly from I restore fourfold. I'm willing to make restitution. I'm willing to do what's right."
#139 | 1:27:08 to 1:27:48 | cleaned
Folks, let me tell you something. You can talk about loving the Lord and you talk about being a Christian, but until you are willing to obey, and do what's right, your talk is meaningless. There are plenty of teenagers that owe their parents restitution. You may have stolen from your parents. You may have dishonored your parents. You may have done things that were wicked and wrong. You need to restore things.
#140 | 1:27:49 to 1:28:22 | cleaned
There are husbands and wives who are at each other's throat, husbands and wives who have differences. Listen, if you're a child of God, you need to make restitution when and wherever necessary. I don't care if it's your wife or your husband. You need to do what's right. You see, biblical law teaches us that so far from enriching man, sin will destroy man. And God's Word makes us responsible. Let me tell you, you need to forget this philosophy of the world that just says, "Well, just forgive and forget." First of all, most people don't know what forgiveness is. But what they mean by that, "Well, I'm just going to forgive you and I'm going to forget about it." We don't forgive and forget, folks. We forgive, we forget, and we make restitution.
#141 | 1:28:24 to 1:29:14 | cleaned
That way it can really be forgotten. I walked up to see one of the men in our church, and he had a secretary, and his secretary happened to be a pastor friend's wife. And I was waiting on my man to get through with a phone call, and I saw on Roxy's desk there was a beautiful jar of candy. I said, "Oh, Roxy, may I have a piece of candy?" She said, "Yes." And so I picked up that jar of candy. It was a glass jar. And by the time I picked it up, I want you to know, that thing slipped out of my hands hit the floor, candy and glass went everywhere. I turned red.
#142 | 1:29:16 to 1:29:56 | cleaned
I immediately looked at her and apologized. I said, "Roxy, I'm sorry. I said, let me get the broom and I'll clean it up." She said, "No, no, Brother Weaver." She said, "I'll clean it up." I said, "No, ma'am, you will not. I dropped it. I broke it. I will clean it up." And so I cleaned it up. When I got through, I said, "Now, Roxy, where did you get this jar of candy?" She said, "Well, I got it at the drugstore. Why?" I said, "Because I'm going to replace it. I'm going to make restitution." She said, "Well, you don't have to do that."
#143 | 1:29:56 to 1:30:25 | cleaned
I said, "Yes, I do." And I went down to that drugstore and I couldn't find a jar of candy exactly like hers. So I bought her another one that was larger and had more candy in it. And I brought it back and I set it on her desk. She said, "Bro. Weaver, you didn't have to." I said, "Yes, I did. I had to." I said, "I'm going to tell you something. That one penny piece of candy cost me about ten bucks. And I can assure you, Roxy, the next time I pick up a glass candy dish, I will hold it."
#144 | 1:30:26 to 1:30:57 | cleaned
Because I've learned my lesson. You see, folks, God wants us to be responsible. God's law teaches us that we must be responsible. We must learn to restore and make restitution and be Christian and not humanist. Remember I told you this? If you want to establish God's law, you do so by obedience. If you want to establish man's law, you disobey God and obey man. Let's pray. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we ask that You would teach us tonight and show us how desperately we need the truth of Thy Word. How practical. How applicable. Look how many social and civil and state and national problems would be resolved if we would just simply go back to Your law, to Your Word.
#145 | 1:30:59 to 1:32:07 | cleaned
Give us wisdom and give us repentance. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray, Amen.
#146 | 1:32:09 to 1:32:17 | cleaned
you
#147 | 1:33:34 to 1:33:34 | cleaned

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T05:19:34Z

Application & Practicality of Biblical Law

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver argues that all law is inherently religious and that the only alternative to God's law is humanistic, man-made law. He contrasts three unbiblical theories of law—reformation, regulation, and redistribution—with the biblical concept of law as restitution, expounding Exodus 22:1-17 to show that God's law requires offenders to make proportional restitution to victims, thereby teaching responsibility and justice.

Opening

Scripture Reading — Exodus 22:1-17

"If a man shall steal an ox or a sheep and kill it or sell it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep." "If a thief be found breaking up and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him. If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him, for he should make full restitution."

By the way, it would pay you to underline this word each time we read it.

Scripture Reading — Exodus 22:1-17

"For he should make full restitution. If he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox or ass or sheep, he shall restore double. If a man shall cause a field or a vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man's field, of the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard shall he make restitution. If fire break out and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn or the standing corn of the field be consumed therewith, he that kindle the fire shall surely make restitution. If a man shall deliver unto his neighbor money or stuff to keep, and be stolen out of the man's house, if the thief be found, let him pay double." "If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges, to see whether he put his hand into his neighbor's goods. For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing which another challengeth to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges, and whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbor. If a man deliver unto his neighbor an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast to keep, and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, no man seeing it, then shall an oath of the Lord be between them both, that he hath not put his hand unto his neighbor's goods. And the owner of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good. But if it be stolen from him, he shall make restitution unto the owner thereof. If it be torn in pieces, then let him bring it for witness, and he shall not make good that which was torn." "If a man borrow aught of his neighbor, and it be hurt or die, the owner thereof being not with it, he shall surely make it good. But if the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good, if it be a hired thing it came for its hire. And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife." "If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins."

Introduction: The Inescapably Religious Nature of Law

Weaver asserts that law is revelation from God and that denying God's law only establishes man's law. All law is religious, and the source of law reveals a society's god.

The theme for the book of Judges is found in Judges 17, verse 6, and Judges 21 and verse 25. And there the Bible says simply this,

Scripture Reading — Judges 17:6; 21:25

"There was no king in Israel in those days, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes."

Now, I'm going to give you five quotes tonight very quickly. I'm going to tell you who said the first four.

The State as God in Humanistic Thought

Quotes from Hegel, Fichte, Mussolini, Hitler, and FDR illustrate how humanism makes the state the ultimate authority, creating right and embracing everything.

Now, here's the fifth quote. And I want you to guess who said this one. Quote, "The state embraces everything. Nothing has value outside of the state. The state creates right."

Four Theories of Law: Three Unbiblical and One Biblical

Weaver introduces four concepts: law as reformation, regulation, redistribution (all humanistic), and law as restitution (biblical).

Law as Reformation: The Failure of Prisons

Prisons are unbiblical; God's law never designed to save or reform. The penitentiary system originated from Quaker theology and fails to rehabilitate.

Law as Regulation: Salvation by Control

Regulation makes crooks of honest men and can legalize sin while criminalizing righteousness. Ignorance of the law is no excuse only under biblical law.

Law as Redistribution: Legal Plunder

Redistribution through income tax, inheritance tax, and property tax is theft by government. Inflation is a hidden tax. This is humanistic and unbiblical.

That is highly humanistic and unbiblical. Now watch. Here's law as reformation, law as regulation, law as redistribution.

Law as Restitution: Biblical Principles from Exodus 22

He would probably trip over one of the animals and break his neck and sue me for everything, you know. But that's the way it goes. But you understand what I'm saying? We're responsible.

The Necessity of Restitution in Salvation

Restitution is central to the gospel: Christ made restitution for sin. Genuine conversion produces willingness to make restitution, as seen in Zacchaeus.

Look what the Bible says, Romans 3, verse 23. Everybody can quote it.

Scripture Reading — Romans 3:23-25

"For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."

Verse 24,

Scripture Reading — Romans 3:23-25

"...being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

Watch it,

Scripture Reading — Romans 3:23-25

"...whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood."

Application & Practicality of Biblical Law

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	829071458475
Subject	Family Government
Course	The Christian Family: Marriage and Household Order: The Family
Genre	Sermon
Date	2000-08-18
Dictation Name
Book	Book 027: The Christian Family: Marriage and Household Order — Chapter 1
Source Timed Segments	147

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: The Inescapably Religious Nature of Law: Weaver asserts that law is revelation from God and that denying God's law only establishes man's law. All law is religious, and the source of law reveals a society's god.
The State as God in Humanistic Thought: Quotes from Hegel, Fichte, Mussolini, Hitler, and FDR illustrate how humanism makes the state the ultimate authority, creating right and embracing everything.
Four Theories of Law: Three Unbiblical and One Biblical: Weaver introduces four concepts: law as reformation, regulation, redistribution (all humanistic), and law as restitution (biblical).
Law as Reformation: The Failure of Prisons: Prisons are unbiblical; God's law never designed to save or reform. The penitentiary system originated from Quaker theology and fails to rehabilitate.
Law as Regulation: Salvation by Control: Regulation makes crooks of honest men and can legalize sin while criminalizing righteousness. Ignorance of the law is no excuse only under biblical law.
Law as Redistribution: Legal Plunder: Redistribution through income tax, inheritance tax, and property tax is theft by government. Inflation is a hidden tax. This is humanistic and unbiblical.
Law as Restitution: Biblical Principles from Exodus 22: Weaver expounds Exodus 22:1-17, detailing ratios of restitution (fivefold, fourfold, double), defense against thieves, liability for accidents, custody responsibilities, rental/loan principles, and seduction restitution.
The Necessity of Restitution in Salvation: Restitution is central to the gospel: Christ made restitution for sin. Genuine conversion produces willingness to make restitution, as seen in Zacchaeus.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Law is inescapably religious

Every law reflects a religious worldview; there is no neutral law. The source of law determines a society's god.

Weaver states, 'All law is inherently religious... If the source of our law are those nine black-robed Supreme Court justices, then the Supreme Court is our God.'

Humanistic law leads to statism and tyranny

When the state is seen as the source of law, it becomes a totalitarian god, as illustrated by quotes from Hegel to FDR.

Weaver quotes FDR: 'The state embraces everything. Nothing has value outside of the state. The state creates right.'

Prisons are unbiblical and ineffective

The Bible prescribes restitution, not incarceration. Prisons fail to reform and often make criminals worse.

Weaver says, 'Prisons are unbiblical. There was not a prison in God's economy.'

Regulation legalizes sin and criminalizes righteousness

Government regulation can make lawful things illegal and vice versa, undermining true justice.

Weaver gives the example of prohibition vs. gold ownership and licensed prostitution.

Redistribution is legalized theft

Progressive taxation, inheritance tax, and property tax are unbiblical forms of plunder by the state.

Weaver says, 'When God says, "Thou shalt not steal," that applies to governments equally as it applies to individuals.'

Biblical restitution is proportional and victim-focused

Exodus 22 prescribes varying levels of restitution based on the value of stolen goods and circumstances, ensuring justice for the victim.

Weaver explains fivefold for an ox (work animal) vs. fourfold for a sheep, and double if the thief is caught quickly.

Restitution teaches responsibility

God's law holds people accountable for accidents and negligence, fostering a culture of carefulness and integrity.

Weaver says, 'God is teaching us responsibility... You have to learn responsibility.'

Christ's atonement is the ultimate restitution

Salvation is based on Christ satisfying God's justice through restitution; rejecting restitution is rejecting the gospel.

Weaver says, 'If you don't like restitution, you don't like God's salvation. Because there is no salvation without restitution.'

Scripture References

Exodus 22:1-17: Primary text for the sermon, detailing laws of restitution for theft, property damage, custody, borrowing, and seduction.
Judges 17:6; 21:25: Cited to illustrate that when there is no king (God's law), every man does what is right in his own eyes.
Galatians 3:21: Used to argue that law cannot save; if it could, Christ died in vain.
Deuteronomy 22:28-29: Referenced to show that a man who seduces a virgin must marry her and can never divorce her.
Leviticus 6:1-7: Mentioned for the 20% restitution when a thief is convicted by God and confesses.
2 Samuel 12: David's reaction to Nathan's parable shows he knew God demanded fourfold restitution.
Genesis 20: Abimelech made restitution to Abraham for taking Sarah.
2 Chronicles 36:21: Judah's captivity was restitution for failing to let the land keep its Sabbaths.
Deuteronomy 17:8-13: Prescribes death for those who presumptuously refuse to obey the judge's sentence, enforcing restitution orders.
Romans 3:23-25: Christ as propitiation (hilasmos) satisfied God's wrath, making restitution for sin.
Luke 19:1-10: Zacchaeus' willingness to make fourfold restitution evidenced his genuine conversion.

Historical References

John Wycliffe: Wrote in his Bible flyleaf: 'This Bible is for the government of the people, by the people, and for the people,' later plagiarized by Lincoln.
Hegel (Marxist philosopher): Quoted: 'The state incarnates the divine idea upon earth,' illustrating statism.
Johann Fichte (German philosopher): Quoted: 'The state is the supreme power, ultimate, and beyond repeal, absolutely independent.'
Benito Mussolini: Quoted: 'Everything for the state, nothing outside the state, and nothing against the state.'
Adolf Hitler: Quoted: 'The state dominates the nation because it alone represents the nation.'
Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Quoted: 'The state embraces everything. Nothing has value outside of the state. The state creates right.'
William Penn (Quaker, founder of Pennsylvania): His theology of an inner divine spark led to the penitentiary system, based on penance and solitary confinement.
Bolshevik Revolution (1917): Example of redistribution that failed to benefit peasants, illustrating the deceit of redistributionist policies.
Fairfax Resolves: Founding Fathers stated that when we lose the right to give or withhold money, we are under complete tyranny.
Communist Manifesto: A progressive graduated income tax is the second plank, showing its humanistic roots.

Important Quotes

This Bible is for the government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Attributed to John Wycliffe, showing the historical view that the Bible should govern society, later secularized by Lincoln.

The state embraces everything. Nothing has value outside of the state. The state creates right.

FDR quote used to illustrate how American statism mirrors totalitarian ideology.

Prisons are unbiblical. There was not a prison in God's economy.

Bold claim that the modern penal system has no biblical basis; restitution was the biblical remedy.

If you don't like restitution, you don't like God's salvation. Because there is no salvation without restitution.

Connects the principle of restitution to the atonement, making it essential to the gospel.

When God says, 'Thou shalt not steal,' that applies to governments equally as it applies to individuals.

Argues that taxation beyond biblical limits is theft, holding civil government to the same moral law.

Lord behold, the half my goods I give to the poor and those that I've taken wrongly from I restore fourfold.

Zacchaeus' response as evidence that true conversion produces restitution.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

How does the claim that 'all law is inherently religious' challenge modern views of secular government?

[Context]

Weaver argues that every law reflects a religious worldview; discuss examples in current legislation.

[Question]

In what ways do the quotes from Hegel to FDR reveal a common thread of statism, and how does this compare to biblical teaching on government?

[Context]

Weaver uses these quotes to show that humanism exalts the state; contrast with Romans 13.

[Question]

Why does Weaver call prisons 'unbiblical,' and what would a biblical justice system look like based on Exodus 22?

[Context]

He argues for restitution over incarceration; discuss practical implications.

[Question]

How does the concept of 'legal plunder' through taxation relate to the eighth commandment, and where should Christians draw the line?

[Context]

Weaver critiques income, inheritance, and property taxes as theft; explore biblical limits on taxation.

[Question]

What does the varying ratio of restitution (fivefold, fourfold, double) teach us about God's view of property and justice?

[Context]

Weaver explains the ratios based on usefulness and circumstances; discuss how this reflects God's character.

[Question]

How does the principle of restitution apply to modern situations like accidental property damage or professional negligence?

[Context]

Weaver gives examples of fire spreading and borrowed items breaking; apply to contemporary scenarios.

[Question]

In what way is Christ's atonement the ultimate act of restitution, and how should that shape our willingness to make restitution to others?

[Context]

Weaver links propitiation to restitution; discuss how the gospel motivates personal restitution.

[Question]

How can the church model biblical restitution in its own community, and what obstacles might it face from civil law?

[Context]

Weaver calls for obedience to God's law; discuss practical steps and potential conflicts.

Applications

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T17:05:39Z