Welcome to our 14th Deuteronomy study in chapter 14, covering all 29 verses, Lord willing, and the church don't rise, as we send out our Hebelehala out to Brother David Sutton. Brother David, is your Hebelehala? And he's a BBF Ohio radio listener. I think he's been listening on the Rumble. Feed but we have a number of different people who listen to all the different ways. We have it out there preaching the word in season out of season so brother David, there's your heavenly holla as We get into our study in Deuteronomy 14 with the word of prayer father. We thank you Lord for another opportunity an opportunity to study and prepare and now an opportunity to present and Lord none of us are masters of this book and but we want to study until you take us out of here to show ourselves approved unto the master, God, who authored this book. And we thank you so much for this book you've given us. Thank you for your Holy Spirit. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for salvation. Thank you for everything. And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. So we come to, again, another example of the larger application of the Ten Commandments and the Mosaic Law relating to laws of cleanliness. And a lot of those laws, like not committing adultery, for example, are a matter of cleanliness. And the Lord will describe here the differences between clean and unclean because yes, there are areas that we might consider gray areas or areas where we need some more specific instructions. Now, do not steal, do not kill. I mean, you know, the do not kill one we've talked about, self-defense is not included in that. Government is allowed to kill murderers and other violent criminals. Self-defense war you're allowed to kill and that's all this that's what these books are for it's to help us understand those differences So the key to This chapter and all these cleanliness laws that are found in the first nine verses of the chapter So let's get right in here in verse 1 ye are the children of the Lord your God That's it. That's why these are so important and He goes on then in verse one to say, ye shall not cut yourselves nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. Now the key there, as I said, is ye are the children of the Lord your God. God's people were supposed to be unlike any other. It's not only the fact that we worship the true God and they don't, the others don't, but right down to the way we even appear. I know some people go too far with that. You've got these guys that say it's always a sin for women to wear slacks and women shouldn't wear makeup, women should never cut their hair, that kind of stuff. The Bible doesn't say those things. But the Bible does say that a Christian woman shouldn't be immodest. Don't be hanging out your cleavage and short skirts and attracting the attention of men that you are not supposed to be attracting. It's one thing to be attractive, it's another to attract the attention of men in the way of lust. I think, in a different way, men should be careful to present themselves in ways like, we're gonna talk about tattoos, that's a big thing with most men, it's becoming more of a thing with women. But today, it'd be like, some of the T-shirts I see Christians wear, and they'll have satanic things on it, because it's some rock group they listen to. In the past, a lot of times, they don't even listen to them anymore, but they still wear the T-shirt. You know, throw the thing away and get a new T-shirt. So our appearance is one way that we should look different. And God says, you shall not cut yourselves. Why? Because that's what the pagans do. You go around to pagan countries today, but back in the time of Moses, you see people, they'd cut themselves when someone died. And it would be like a lifetime thing where that would symbolize the death of someone. And a lot of times it would be carved with a message or carved with some representation. And God says you shouldn't do that. And it says to make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. It would like shave down the middle from what I understand. They'd just shave like that and they'd leave hair on the sides. They'd also, another place talks about how they would trim their beards in a certain way. And it's just, we're not supposed to try to imitate the unbelievers Leviticus 21 5 you remember we read going through the book of Leviticus They shall not make baldness upon their head and that's what it's talking about between the eyes in this text Neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard and that's what's talking about nor make any cuttings in their flesh now It appears that cuts and this unnatural looking shaving down the middle of the head and that sort of thing was the practice of pagans, and so God said, don't try to look like the pagans. Verse two, why? For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth. One of the saddest things is how Christians spend so much time trying to mimic the world. And Christian music today, I can't stand any of the CCM I'm hearing today. I don't listen to it a lot, but when I hear it, I'm like, that's why I don't listen to it a lot. It's not worth hearing. And they just try to sound like all the secular artists, and that's just a bunch of sheeple. For the most part, they'll follow any musician that's made into a big hero like they've done with Taylor Swift in the year 2024. But she's just one of many. They do it too. And all the blind, stupid sheep will just hear. They see, oh, she's the new thing. Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift, call themselves Swifties, you know, that kind of thing. It's been going on since I was a kid, but I think it started before Elvis. But it's just sad. Christians just trying to be like the world. And the Lack of that kind of thing is going to, to me, one thing is going to make heaven so heavenly. But verse three says, thou shalt not eat any abominable thing. He begins, you know, giving more than just these issues. He's going to go through several here, separating God's people from the pagans and the way the pagans do things. The pagans were given over to their animal nature. God says, here's how you're going to do it. And we've come to refer to this as being civilized. You ever heard of the term cleanliness is next to godliness? Some people think that's in the Bible. And it's not in the Bible as far as those words cleanliness is next to godliness. But this is what this is saying is that God's people were to be a clean people. We don't get involved in, you know, some of the things we're going to talk about here I won't repeat, but there's other things. We don't get into sexual things, but that's one of the ways God's people are to be clean and not get involved in the filthy, nasty fornication and adultery and everything going on. So, we'll read the specifics of the list of clean animals after he says, So, this is the, as I said, the list of the clean animals. And, you know, steak, lamb steak, goat meat, venison. The simple rule is that if they part the hoof into two claws and they chew the cub, it's on the menu. And what about the unclean? Well, we pick up there in verse seven. Nevertheless, these you shall not eat of them that chew the cud. They may chew the cud, but they have other problems. Or of them that divide the cloven hoof, as the camel, as the hare, and the coney. For they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof. Therefore, they are unclean unto you. Verse eight, and the swine. You know, no bacon. Because it divided the hoof, yet cheweth not the cut. It is unclean unto you. Ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch of their dead carcass. And to us it seems, why does that make one clean and one unclean? You know, there are scientific studies, medical and health studies done that pretty much confirm that God gave the really good stuff to eat and the stuff he says not to eat really isn't real good for you. It's like bacon. I love bacon, but you shouldn't eat a lot of it. And everything in moderation, as the Bible says anyway. So, it's really simple. If they don't meet the rule in verse 6, then you just don't eat it. That's the land animal rule. And again, we remind you, this is for those under Mosaic law. It doesn't apply to us in this dispensation. We'll come back to that. But what about fish and seafood? Well, verses nine and 10, these you shall eat of all that are in the waters. All that have fins and scales shall you eat. And whatsoever have not fins and scales, you may not eat. It is unclean unto you. That's simple enough. And I'm glad that we're no longer under that. regulation. I love shrimp and I love what else we're talking about here crab I guess and different types of things. We won't go into and a long explanation, but this is where a lot of the homosexuals and sodomite allies love to come back here and say, well, if you eat shrimp, you're a hypocrite. Because homosexuality and adultery and sexual sin altogether, fornication, anything outside of the marriage between a man and a woman is sin. And so in the same Mosaic law, these other laws are here. But, you know, we've we've explained that before, just like the Constitution is amended. And so slavery is now outlawed. The same thing's true of the Bible. The New Testament amended the old. So sexual sin is still a sin in the New Testament. Go to Romans 1, 18 to 32. And that's clear in other places, obviously. And yet there's nothing anymore about kosher cleanliness laws of food in the New Testament and Acts chapter 10 and our studies in Acts, we've explained all that, that we're no longer under these particular laws. So we're not a hypocrite if we're against sexual sin, but we eat shrimp. That's not hypocrisy in any way, shape or form. But the the Jew under Mosaic law, at this time, this was very important. And so we'll keep our focus there just as you hopefully understand that as we continue. But as we move beyond the issue of fish and seafood and that kind of thing. The issue of birds may seem a little more complicated to us non-kosher Gentiles who haven't been raised to understand these things. But verse 11 says, of all clean birds ye shall eat. And that's all it says. It doesn't list them. The reason for that is because Jews knew that you could eat fowl like chickens and that sort of thing, but there were some that God said, now these I don't want you to eat. I want to read a few verses here, verses 12 through 18. They're short. Verses but it says but these are they which of which he shall not eat the eagle and the ossifrage and the osprey Verse 13 and the gleed and the kite and the vulture after his kind verse 14 and every raven after his kind verse 15, and the owl, and the night hawk, and the cacaw, and the hawk after his kind. Verse 16, the little owl, and the great owl, and the swan. Verse 17, and the pelican, and the gear eagle, and the cormorant. 18, and the stork, and the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat. Now, one of the common denominators of those birds or fowl that you're not supposed to eat is that they would eat roadkill. And that seems like the main reason God didn't want Jews eating those. I do want to point out though that the eagles listed here, because no matter what your so-called scholar or scribe tells you, eagles will eat dead things. They just don't, they're a little pickier. They won't eat something that's been dead for days and is rotting. A raven and a crow and some of those, they'll eat anything. It'll be rotted and they'll eat it. And why is that important? Well, in Luke 17, 37, Jesus said, Where soever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together. And that's what it says in the Greek New Testament, no matter what Greek New Testament you're reading. Aetos, aetos, eagle, that's what that means. So these apostates have changed that in their new Bibles to vulture. In the NIV, in the ESV, and I didn't look them all up, but I'm sure most of the others do the same, and they're changing The word from Greek, they're not just translating it differently, they're totally throwing it out. They're smarter than God, they think. That's why you should trash the new versions and stick with the King James Bible. But we continue and see the Jew under Mosaic law, then it's told in verse 19, and every creeping thing that flyeth is unclean unto you. They shall not be eaten. There's different things, probably among the reptiles, but it says any creeping thing that flyeth. We don't need to get into specifics about this, and I've looked at a lot of this, but I'm not gonna spend time on it. For the sake of time, I'm not gonna get into it, because we're not under this restriction today. Our main purpose is to understand God wanted his people then to be separate and different from the pagan world. Today, the application is different, but the principle is the same. We are to be in the world, but not of the world. So verse 20 says, but of all clean fowls you may eat. And the Jew would have known exactly what that meant, but then again, he's going to then say, not only do I not want you to eat these animals that eat roadkill, I don't want you to eat roadkill either. Verse 21, ye shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself. Thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat of it. Or thou mayest sell it unto an alien. For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk. That just gets thrown in there every once in a while, you'll notice, and that speaks of, I believe, it speaks of humanity. Not only do you not eat roadkill, but you also treat animals humanely, even the ones that are unclean, but you just don't treat them inhumanely. So, the fact is, a lot of people have gotten sick and died over the centuries because they ate rotted meat. It's true, desperate times call for desperate measures, and I've heard stories of roadkill stew from people who lived through the Great Depression. But God didn't want His people to live like that, and if they obeyed the law, followed God, they wouldn't ever have to worry about eating roadkill. They'd have plenty of food. But the non-Jew neighbor, the alien, you know, you could give it to them. And as long as they prepared it correctly and cooked it correctly, there wouldn't be any problems. But us today, shouldn't be eating guard kill, especially we don't have any problem getting food. in the United States of America, and of course we see the homeless out there and everything, but most all of them choose not to go where they can get food. They choose not to eat. They want money for drugs. They don't want money for food. That's a whole different thing. And as far as we're concerned, you know, when you see a TV show like the Beverly Hillbillies and they eat roadkill, just remember it's a TV show, not a documentary. Now we've come to a passage that is abused by backslidden Christians. to excuse their refusal to give a tenth to the Lord from their paycheck. In verse 22, thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed that the field bringeth forth year by year. And no, this wasn't a cash tithe, but you aren't living, I am not living in the pre-monetary times under Mosaic law, where bartering was the general way of doing business, but there was cash, just wasn't a cash heavy, Economy like we have today people say well, that's law. We're not under law Well, Abraham wasn't under the law when he tied to my kids the deck in Genesis 14 Paul explains the permanent nature of and principle of tithing in Hebrews 7 a New Testament book and He was referring to Abraham's pre Mosaic tithing and the fact that Levi was tithing before a Mosaic law in Abraham And then we're not under law, but neither was Jacob in Genesis 28, 22, when he said he'd give a tenth to the Lord, whether it was seed, corn, or cash, didn't matter. But we leave that issue there for those whose greed and ingratitude sears their consciences, they worship mammon, that's really their God, so they can't give it up to God, just even a tenth they can't give to God, the true God. So we can continue with the application of Mosaic law for those under the law here with verse 23, and thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn and of thy wine and of thine oil and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks, that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always. And we know this to eventually be established in Jerusalem, the place that they would go, And the importance of that will be discussed in future studies. We've talked about it in the past as well. If you look at the past studies, Lord willing, we'll talk about it again. But as we mentioned, the Lord showed mercy on those who lived long distance from Jerusalem. We've seen this before in verse 24. And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it, or if the place be too far from thee, which the Lord thy God shall choose to set his name there, When the Lord thy God hath blessed thee, then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shalt choose. So if you live too far away and couldn't make it to the temple, Yeah, that's the way it is now, whether it's BBF or some other local church that you should tie into online. You live too far away to travel there, but you can still support that work. And I'm talking to people, if you are involved in an online church, it's a Bible-believing church, and it's not BBF, doesn't matter, wherever it is, then you should support that work. And God gives them the ability to do so. They could cash in their crops and animals. that they would normally bring to the temple, and then they'd carry that cash to Jerusalem, and then when they get there, verse 26 says, and thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen or for sheep or for wine or for strong drink. or for whatsoever thy soul desireth, and thou shalt eat there before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou and thine household. Now, you'd make an equal exchange for the food and drink and accomplish the same thing by different means. The same amount would be given then to the temple. It'd just be done through different means. And I have to say this, the teetotalers hate this because, you know, God says right there it's permissible to buy wine, which had alcohol in it, no matter how many well-meaning fundamentalists change the Bible to pretend otherwise. Wine is wine. Be not drunk with wine. It had alcohol in it. And you could buy strong drink. and it didn't mean it was concentrated or had high sugar content, as again, many well-meaning liars have claimed over the years. But on the other hand, there's nothing here about getting that wine and strong drink and getting drunk. I've read enough to understand. I believe it's accurate that people would buy wine and strong drink but they would mix it with clean water and Or mix it with any water because it would have a purifying effect on the water. It would be diluted there It'd be very difficult to get drunk on it be like drinking a a non-alcohol beer or they used to have a 3-2 beer I think they called it which you'd have to drink a case to even get a buzz off of and most people would get sick from ingesting that much beer before they'd ever feel a buzz. This isn't promoting drunkenness. Ephesians 5.18 tempers any permission to drink wine or strong drink for us today, obviously, saying, and be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the spirit. And I'll add that today's alcohol is processed, it's filled with chemicals to such an extent that you substantially increase your risk of disease and cancers, throat, esophageal, I think it's esophageal, cancers, stomach cancers, liver cancers, pancreatic cancers, among others. You can also bring on the onset of type two diabetes, alcoholic fatty liver, which then contributes to diabetes as well. You can get cirrhosis of the liver and on and on it goes. So I don't drink. I haven't had a drink in years. I don't plan on it, but I won't change God's word to bolster the argument for teetotalism either. And shame on those of you who do. There's some who do. Some of them stopped listening to me because I won't. I don't care. I'm worried about faithfulness to God and his word, not faithfulness to cultic fundamentalists. I am a fundamentalist in the true sense of the word, but most of you are mature enough to know what I mean by that. And if you're not, ask and I'll explain it to you. If you haven't, you'll hear it in other studies. With that, though, we close with the reminder that all these tithes are to support the Levites, whose whole life is spent in service to the other 11 tribes of Israel. 27 through 29 says, and the Levite that is within thy gates, thou shalt not forsake him, for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee. Verse 28, at the end of three years, thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates. Verse 29, and the Levite, because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come and shall eat and be satisfied, that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest. So when God's people give cheerfully and give a minimum of a tithe, God's work is supported, and churches can then help the poor, the homeless, the orphan, the widow, other helpless and needy, including the elderly and infirm. God's way always works.