You Shall Not Follow a Crowd to do Evil

1. Read: Exodus 23:2 – “You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice.”

2. About the Text:

1) Maybe you have heard this saying: “Wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it. Right is right even if no one is doing it.”

2) In contrast to the world’s changing standards, the Bible remains the same.

3) God has revealed the truth to us about who we are as human beings.

4) The world wants you to follow the crowd and be like them.

5) Christians follow the standard of Jesus Christ as revealed in the scriptures.

3. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.

1. Have you ever heard of cultural relativism?

1) This is the notion that the culture defines what is right and wrong.

2) The problem is that different cultures define things differently.

3) Some cultures in recent history were racist. Was racism right in that culture?

4) Contemporary culture approves homosexuality. Does that make it right?

5) Following the crowd is letting the culture define right and wrong.

2. The Bible teaches that Jesus defines what is right and wrong.

1) “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

2) “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come” (John 16:13).

3) “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

3. The crowd will not like it that we don’t let them control us.

1) “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-19).

2) “For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you” (1 Peter 3:3-4).

1. God is the standard for right and wrong and He does not change.

1) “For I am the Lord, I do not change” (Malachi 3:6).

2) “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

3) “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19).

2. The Bible teaches that it is evil to change the truth.

1) “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20).

2) “He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, Both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 17:15).

3) “Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness” (Luke 11:35).

3. This isn’t limited to just morality, but true regarding all of God’s teaching.

1) The crowd often substitutes their own plan of salvation for God’s plan.

2) The crowd substitutes their own worship for God’s worship.

3) The crowd substitutes their own religion for God’s religion.

4) “Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” (Matthew 15:6-9).

5) Many times when children grow up and leave the home, they give up what they have been taught by the church.

6) Have some integrity and don’t follow the crowd.

1. Why do we let the crowd influence us to begin with?

1) We want to feel part of something bigger than ourselves.

2) We want to be accepted by others.

3) We want validation for what we think and feel.

4) Following the crowd is really about trying to relieve our own negative feelings.

5) Only Jesus can address all of our spiritual needs.

6) The crowd is not a substitute for Jesus.

7) “And He said to them, ‘You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God’” (Luke 16:15).

2. When we let the crowd influence us, we become someone different than who God made us to be.

1) “Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits.’” (1 Corinthians 15:33).

2) “Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” (1 Corinthians 5:6).

3) “He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will be destroyed” (Proverbs 13:20).

3. Don’t be defined by the crowd; Be Defined by Jesus.

1) “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10).

2) “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

3) “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:27-28).

1. Christians must have integrity to do what is right even when no one else is looking.

2. Do Not Follow a Crowd to do Evil

1) The Crowd Does not Define Right and Wrong.

2) Evil is Always Evil No Matter How Many People Do It.

3) Running With the Crowd Will Change You To Who They Want You To Be.

3. Invitation