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[Music] well good morning welcome to free grace Baptist Church and of course if our numbers seem a little depleted this morning is good reason for that of course today is the first Sunday for the Surry Reformed Baptist Church to be starting in Surry and so it is exciting too although sad to have lost a few of our a few of our members and adherents but nevertheless a very happy day a happy occasion which we rejoice in the Lord that he's given us the privilege to be able to plant a daughter church in Surrey so we'll certainly be remembering them in prayer and I trust that you'll remember them in prayer as well they need our prayers just as our own pastor here needs our prayer sites it's not easy things to be in the ministry and Micah's Mike has joined that ministry and he will I'm sure there'd be a few lots of highs and a few loaves along the way but he goes in the in the strength of the Lord gives them and we need to pray to that end for affirm Mike and for the surgery for Baptist Church well let's said there's no announcements for today and just so you know as well pastor Porter he is with them this morning just on on our behalf representing free grace Baptist Church so pastor Porter and family are there and he'll be back with us this evening that he will please turn your Bibles to Psalm 147 Psalm 147 as our call to worship Psalm 147 appraised the God for his word and Providence praise the Lord for it is good to sing praises to our God for his pleasant and praise is beautiful the Lord builds up Jerusalem he gathers together the outcasts of Israel he heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds he counts the number of the stars he calls them all by name great is our Lord and mighty in power his understanding is infinite the Lord lifts up the humble he casts the wicked down to the ground sing to the Lord with Thanksgiving sing praises on the heart to our God who covers the heavens with clouds who prepares rain for the earth who makes grass to grow on the mountains he gives to the Beast its food and to the young Ravens that cry he does not delight in the strength of the horse he does he takes no pleasure in the legs of a man the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him in those who hope in his mercy praise the Lord O Jerusalem praise your God o Zion for he has strengthened the bars of your gates he has blessed your children within you he makes peace in your borders and fills you with the finest wheat he sends out his command to the earth his word runs very swiftly he gives snow like wool he scatters the forest like ashes he casts out his hail like like morsels who can stand before his cold he sends out his word and melts them he causes his wind to blow and the waters flow he declares his word to Jacob his statutes and his judgments to Israel he has not dealt with thus with any nation and as for his judgments they have not known them praise the Lord Amen well please turn with me in your red Psalter to Psalm 110 Psalm 110 and I'll ask you to stand [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] and you maybe see well let's go to God in prayer our gracious and our loving Heavenly Father we come into your most holy presence a thrice holy God too to have dealings with you this day father and how we praise you you're pleased to Tabernacle amongst your people because of your son the Lord Jesus Christ and how grateful you are father that that you bend your ear towards us this day how we pray Lord that you would be pleased to to cause us to to lift you up for for who is like you Father who is holy like you majestic in holiness and you are awesome in your in your Glorian and and majesty and you work wonders father you've worked wonders in our hearts that we are called your children here this day that we have a vested interest in the things of God and meeting together here in this place how we praise you Father for the wonder of the new birth father how grateful we are for that that your that your love is an unfailing love towards us but father you have covenant 'add to love your people and we know lord that a covenant made by you cannot be broken how we praise you father that you have that you have gifted us this day with with eternal life with a knowledge that we will when we leave exit this earth that father we will be forever with you may this be a lord's day that would be but a downpayment on that on that eternalness of the Sabbath rest may we come into this place father forgetting the things of the week past and and of the week ahead and any troubles that may be upon individuals upon the people of God here this day now we pray father that you would give give caused it to give rest to those things and we pray that you truly would be worship here in in this place for father in your in your unfailing love you have been pleased to lead a people a people that you have redeemed here in this place and so cause us Lord to to rejoice in these things which really which really love you and desire to obey you and and follow you in all in all ways how father we we need to confess our sins before you as a holy God as well help how blessed we are to have that blood of your son the Lord Jesus Christ upon upon our souls that father you have been pleased to send the Lord Jesus Christ this earth as an insignificant baby as an insignificant youth who grew up in a home and obeyed his earthly parents and worked in an earthly employment and obeyed his his employers and his masters and and all these things in in relative obscurity that father when you called him tu-tu-tu-tu-tu to begin that ministry that public ministry he continued to lead a perfect life all through those years so that ultimately he might die a perfect sacrifice for our sins how gratefully our father for such a for such a savior as the Lord Jesus Christ we Lord we we praise you that said the Lord Jesus Christ lives even now the Father's right hand making intercession for us we would confess all of our sins to you father sins of omission sins of commission we pray Lord that you would be pleased to forgive us for Christ's sake we do pray lord we do ask you blessing this day to be upon the Surrey Reformed Baptist Church how we praise you Father that that they have been birth that that today is the beginning of their first Lord's Day we pray Lord that she would be pleased to Tabernacle amongst them as you do us here in this place do bless pastor Kirkpatrick we pray Lord that he would be a man of God set apart for the work of the ministry but father you have called him to this ministry and we believe that you will give him and supply him with all that he needs the Spirit of the Living God in order to in order to fulfill the that mandate that has been given to him to lead that flock and to be a shepherd to those people how we pray Lord that you would be pleased to bless them may their may their love abound more and more in knowledge as he opens up the Word of God Sunday in Sunday out even this Lord's Day we pray Lord that that that they may discern what is that what is best for them from the Word of God that they may that may be they may be a pure and blame this congregation before you we pray Lord that you would give to them a unity that that they would desire to love one another and love you and love their pastor and we do pray Lord that many good things would be said of them in in future years we pray Lord that your blessing might be upon them your rich blessing to be upon them as a congregate this day they're in Surrey lor we do pray your blessing to be upon our own congregation here give to us father a Peace in the unity we know that you are well pleased to say that how blessed it is it is when men dwell together in unity and love for one another that is what marks the marks marks a Christian is his ability to love one another and so Lord we pray that there would be a a gentleness amongst amongst the Brethren even here in this place and and a love for the things of Christ that's what would unite us here in this place at free Grace Baptist Church a love for your word a love for you and I love to obey your word father we do pray your blessing to be upon those who cannot be with us here this day perhaps they're sick or ill or not well they have issues that they're dealing with how we pray Lord that you would be pleased to to bless them this day cause them even though they're not with us to to enjoy your peace and your presence in their life and we pray Lord that that the Word of God might be made rich in their lives as well and that you would be pleased to bring healing to their bodies their minds whatever it is whatever their issues may be Lord we do ask your blessing to be upon those who are pregnant amongst us as well we thank you Lord for the her life and the womb and how we pray that your blessing may be upon those are the ones that they would continue to to grow in and be nourished and in time be born and and grow up to love you with all their heart soul mind and strength Lord we do think of this the sanctity Sunday a day we set aside two to consider the the blessedness of that that birth that happens that naturally in in in in in the human Lord how we praise you for the gift of life and Laurie we can only we can only confess our collective sin as a nation when we consider how those little ones that human life is is discarded in in the womb how its thought so little of and the importance of the mother and father is usurps they the the rights of the little one and how we pray Lord that you would be merciful to us as a nation in your judgment remember mercy we do pray Lord for truly we are we we are guilty of a great sin as we discard and throw away these little ones after day week after week year after year so they're moving that move it moving that in the hearts and lives and minds of Canadians that we would see this for what it is and we do pray Lord that you would be merciful to us as a nation and cause us as your church to be thinking rightly to be thinking biblically upon these things that we would see life beginning at conception in the womb and we pray Lord that we might say we might love these things and that we would pray against the the killing of innocent lives here in this nation of ours so Lord we pray that your blessing might be upon us here in this place we thank you for the gift of this place we thank you Lord for the blessing of a pastor who desires to teach from the Word of God and we pray Lord that you would be pleased to bless this day may be truly be worshippers of you in in in in heart and mind and spirit and bless us with your with the presence of your Holy Spirit give to pastor brother unction and aid and give to us as here is that that ability to hear the word and also be doers of the word and we just we just pray these things now and in the name of your son the Lord Jesus Christ amen well please turn with me in your him books - to him number 4 46 4 4 6 and I'll ask you to stand [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] she didn't please turn with me your Bibles to Luke Luke chapter 6 will be reading the first 19 verses Luke 6 1 2 19 and this this passage it appears in Matthew as well in Matthew chapter 12 and the end of the end of chapter 11 I think it's a good introduction to to what's what's about to be said here in in chapter 6 of Luke in chapter 11 if you are familiar with that Matthew chapter 11 that's where the Lord Jesus Christ says come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest and take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and and and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light and as we read this passage I won't make comment at the end my comment is at the beginning as we read this passage ask the cat the pastor's day and asked the question well whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light is it the is it the yoke and the burden of the fair season and we might say in today's generation the fundamentalists or whoever it may be might put upon about my put upon believers or is it the Lord Jesus Christ it truly is Christ whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light so let's just make that comparison as we read this passage to to that which the Pharisees are putting upon upon their their disciples or the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ so Luke chapter 6 the first 19 verses now it happened on the set on the second Sabbath after the first that he went through the grain fields and his disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them rubbing them in their hands and some of the Pharisees said to them what are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath but Jesus answering them said have you not read this what David did when he was hungry he and those who were with him how he went into the house of God took an the showbread and also gave some of those with him gave to some of those with him which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat and he said to them the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath now it happened on another Sabbath also that he entered the synagogue and taught and a man was there whose right hand was withered so the scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely whether he would heal on the Sabbath that they might find an accusation against him but he knew their thoughts and said to the man who was who had the withered hand arise and stand here and he rose and stood and then then jesus said to them I will ask you one thing is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil to save life or to destroy and when he had looked around at them at them all he said to the man stretch out your hand and he did so and his hand was restored as whole as the other but they were filled with rage and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus now it came to pass in those days that he went out to the mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God and when it was a day he called his disciples to himself and from them he chose twelve whom he also named apostles Simon whom he also named Peter and Andrew his brother James and John Philip and Bartholomew Matthew and Thomas James the son of Alphaeus Alphaeus and Simon called as a zealot Judas the son of James and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor and he came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and from the Seacoast of Tyre and Sidon who came to hear him and be healed of their diseases as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits and they were healed and the whole multitude sought to touch him for power went out from him and healed them all amen well let's pray our gracious and our loving Heavenly Father how we praise You Father Lord Jesus Christ truly was holy harmless he desired the the good of his of mankind he desired to help and to heal and how we praise you that that included our salvation that ultimately the the worst of all diseases was our own sin our own heart set to were born in iniquity and we we we needed cleansing by that precious Lord Jesus Christ and so learn how we pray that you would be pleased to bless the the preached word now that you would come with power that you would come to reach into every heart here this day those unsaved those saved and deliver the Word of God cause the word father to find its mark in each one of our hearts and again that not that we would be hearers of the word but that we would be hearers and doers of your holy word so learn how we praise you that you've gifted us with your Holy Spirit who has been given to make the things of Christ more clear and more clarified in our thoughts and our minds and we pray Lord that you would be pleased to do that even now in this next hour we pray in Jesus precious name Amen please turn with me in your hymn books to the last hymn hymn number 619 six one nine [Music] [Music] [Music] well please turn with me in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 5 Deuteronomy chapter 5 our focus will be on verse 17 you shall not murder but I do want to begin reading in chapter 5 at verse 1 here now the word of the living and true God and Moses called all Israel and said to them hear o Israel the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today that you may learn them and be careful to observe them the Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb the Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers but with us those who are here today all of us who are alive the Lord talked with you face-to-face on the mountain from the midst of the fire I stood between the Lord and you at that time to declare to you the word of the Lord for you were afraid because of the fire and you did not go up the mountain he said I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage you shall have no other gods before me you shall not make for yourself a carved image any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth you shall not bow down to them nor serve them for I the Lord your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the father's upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me but showing mercy to thousands to those who love me and keep my Commandments you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain observed the Sabbath day to keep it holy as the Lord your God commanded you six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God in it you shall do no work you nor your son nor your daughter nor your male servant nor your female servant nor your ox nor your donkey nor any of your cattle nor your stranger who isn't within your gates that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you and remember that you are a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day honor your father and your mother as the Lord your God has commanded you that your days may be long and that it may be well with you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you you shall not murder you shall not commit adultery you shall not steal you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor you shall not covet your neighbor's wife and you shall not desire your neighbor's house his field his male servant his female servant his ox is donkey or anything that is your neighbors these words the Lord spoke to all your assembly in the midst from the I'm sorry in the mountain from the midst of the fire the cloud and the thick darkness with a loud voice and he added no more and he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me amen will let us pray father we thank you for the written word we thank you for the commandments of God we know men aren't saved by the law but by the law is the knowledge of sin it serves that purpose to direct men to the cross as well that law does restrain the wickedness of man on earth and in this we give you thanks and praise and glory and we pray that in this aspect or in this function it would be recovered as well within the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ may we see it as that rule that standard for our lives in terms of our sanctification we thank you that the law drives us to Christ in Christ then sends us to the law in order that we may have that pattern for life in your kingdom we pray God in heaven that you would grant us grace to think biblically concerning this sixth commandment help us as well to see its application in our own society and in our own age give us the grace Lord God to weep with those who weep concerning such things give us grace to pray to you a holy God give us grace to know what scripture says concerning these issues and give us grace to shine as lights in a crooked and perverse generation and give us boldness to hold forth your word of truth and we do cry out to you Most High God that in your wrath you would remember mercy that you would turn the hearts of men women boys and girls from this murderous rage to embrace the truth as it is in Jesus we know that murder is ultimately devilish it is of that one whom Jesus calls the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning we see the wretchedness of this in abortion clinics we see it with euthanasia we see it in murder across the board we would pray to you God Almighty that you would send forth your word that you would save more sinners that you would sanctify your people and do forgive us now for our sins and our transgressions and whenever we come to your law may we always refresh our hearts with the fact that Jesus Christ lived in absolute and perfect obedience to that law that he was crucified on our behalf that he was raised the third day and it's as a result of his finished work that we have acceptance with God in this we rejoice Most High we praise you for your gospel and we praise you through Jesus Christ our Lord amen well we'll get right to our study this morning I want to look at the sixth commandment as I said Deuteronomy 5:17 you shall not murder the first place I want to look at the basis for the commandment secondly the prohibition of the commandment and then thirdly and probably very briefly the positive aspect of the commandment in other words when we find a commandment that is a prohibition don't murder we ought to infer properly that there's a positive injunction or positive aspect as well if we're not supposed to murder people then we are supposed to promote life and and health and safety and all those sorts of things so in the first place we ought to consider the basis of the commandment I want you to turn to Genesis chapter 1 Genesis chapter why does God forbid or why does God prohibit the crime the sin of murder well because God made man in His image and as your hardest vos says in life slain the divine majesty is assaulted in other words when an image-bearer is murdered it is an attack upon God most high and that is absolutely prohibited by God it is unlawful it is ungodly it is unrighteous so notice in Genesis 1:26 looking at the basis for the sixth commandment we see God as creator specifically God making man in His image notice in verse 26 let us make man in our image according to our likeness let them have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the air and over the cattle over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth so God created man in his own image in the image of God he created him male and female he created them then God blessed them and God said to them be fruitful and multiply fill the earth and subdue it have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth will not find that recorded of any other created thing in the creation narrative the Baltimore Oriole is not made in the image of God the beluga whale is not made in the image of God the cow is not made in the image of God now that doesn't mean we ought to miss treat and we ought to abuse animals but rather we are to exercise godly dominion subdue the earth as God commands us but recognizing that man alone is the image of God man alone is from God in a special way that the animal animals are not so the image of God is the basis for or foundation of or at least part of this prohibition against murder and we see the image of God consists before the fall Genesis 1:26 and 27 we see the image of God consists after the fall there is some degree of debate concerning this reality but I think it is safe to say at least in terms of man's dignity man's representation man's place over animal he retains the image of God after the fall James 3:9 alludes to this we'll look at that particular passage tonight as we return to the our exposition of James and then we see the image of God in the preborn and when I say in it's sort of hard to convey it's not as if you know you've got a thumb and you've got a heart and you've got a leg and you've got a head and then the image is just sort of in there somewhere I can't really think of any other way to convey it but to say the image of God in the preborn but the preborn is the image of God man doesn't contain it man is it man is the image of God most high and we'll see that as it applies to the preborn in a few moments we see the image of God in children Leviticus 18 21 contains a prohibition you cannot offer your children to Molech you're not supposed to cause them to pass through the fire why because they are image bearers as well we see Paul's admonition in Ephesians chapter 6 he wants father's to bring up their children in the training and admonition of the Lord he wants to make sure that father's do not exacerbate or rather destroy or hurt or or or or how they have a negative or impact negative or adverse effect upon their children why is that because their children are the image of God most high we see the image in the handicap we see the image in the ill we see the image in the elderly again we'll investigate tax more specifically as we proceed so we see the basis for the commandment is God the Creator visa vie he made us in His image but as well the basis for the commandment is God the lawgiver God prohibits murder God says no to murder it's obvious there in Deuteronomy 5:17 you'll notice something about the outline or probably you've noticed something about the outline of the Ten Commandments the first four contain our duty toward God and the last six contain our duty toward men they're often referred to as the two tables of the law of course the sixth commandment finds its place in that second table it is our duty toward man you want to know how you're supposed to treat your fellow man don't murder him don't commit adultery with his wife don't steal from him don't lie and ruin him and don't covet from him it's a pretty simple code the problem isn't the code the problem is the human heart we have an axe to grind with God and as a result we have an axe to grind with men and it exhibits itself in the sorts of lawlessness and violations of these commands that we see so rampantly now the second table of the law that Duty toward man is summarized in Leviticus 19:18 you shall love your neighbor as yourself the first table is summarized in the Shema of Deuteronomy chapter 6 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength but the second is summarized in this you shall love your neighbor as yourself the Commandments are in the second table protect Authority the fifth word children obey your parents honor your father and your mother that's not only familial but it's societal as well when you hit 18 it's not the case that you no longer have to be a subordinate to an authority we're all subordinate to the governing authority this is something that is still binding on all persons and all ages all the time there's always some Authority in our life and what are we told by God with reference to that authority murmur against them complain against them disobey them treat them with you know with ill treatment no you're supposed to obey you're supposed to honor insofar as your parents so the government does not tell you to sin you need to obey and toe the line that's God's word for us notice the sixth commandment as I said protects life the seventh protects marriage the eighth protects property from invasion or attack and then the last to move from deed to word and thought protects our speech against others and protects our minds in terms of what we want in this life Craigie summarizes and says since each individual israelite was bound to the Lord in the covenant his life lay in God's hands God alone who had made man in his own image had the right to terminate life so it's important for us to remember especially with the issue of euthanasia well they chose to die they want to die they want to be helped along because of the misery that's not their call it's God's alone now that may be a tough pill to swallow for somebody that's in a great deal of pain but it's a pill they need to swallow because God alone is the Lord God alone has sovereignty God alone has authority it is never the case where we're in we can say well a conspiracy to murder is okay if one of the conspirators happens to be the object no it's still murder it's still conspiracy to murder you cannot do that and think that all is well Greggy goes on the the sand act of murder involved the abrogation of divine power the taking away of that which God had given in which God alone could give namely life itself so when we look at this sixth commandment when we consider this prohibition you shall not murder we need to thank God as creator and we bear His image and we need to thank God as lawgiver we obey what he commands us and tells us brethren one of the things that ought to concern us is that Ben Shapiro is a better spokesperson for anti-abortion ism than much of the church why doesn't the church mount a better apologetic or a better sort of Anna and I respect what Ben Shapiro does I I'm not saying he's a bad guy I mean he's shocking and jiving with the most rabid god haters and I realize he's not a God lover because he doesn't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ he's smart and he's able to defend the anti-abortion position and somehow sometimes you meet with Chris well I I think the Bible says we're not supposed to do oh yeah I'm sure of it brethren we were perishing for a lack of knowledge in the church today someone was once asked what's wrong with the Church's doctrine of God today and he said their doctrine of God we might say the same thing what is wrong with the church's approach to social and societal ethics in the church today the church's approach to social and societal ethics well one hand we typically don't even talk about such things because it's just so unsavory it's just not something pleasant and if it's not about Pleasant then I don't want it we've let our feelings override biblical truth we've let our desires trump god's holy word and we have made our feelings the determiner of what will hear and what will approach when it comes to god's work i'm sorry that this is an unsavory subject but we live in a very unsavory world a godless wretched vile wicked world that opposes the lord at every step and this sixth commandment is basically something that has been trampled on for many many years now and the church unfortunately and i don't mean you guys go home and cry because i said this but the church in general just doesn't have the goods anymore so we need to appreciate the basis for the commandment god the creator god the lawgiver secondly the prohibition of the commandment the prohibition of the commandment you shall not murder I think it addresses in the first place and internal disposition an internal disposition in other words it doesn't do us any well any good to pray for you know the destruction of Planned Parenthood as I suggested in the earlier hour that we should doesn't do us any well any good to pray God destroy Planned Parenthood because they're destroying babies and then to hate our brethren in our hearts I mean I think it's to pray for their destruction but we're not supposed to hate brethren in our hearts there is an internal disposition dictated by the commandment and you see this throughout scriptural exposition you see the external act condemned and we'll look at that in just a moment but before we get to the hand we ought to consider the heart tonight we will see the tongues role in this murderous activity as well notice the hatred of others condemned in Leviticus 19 verses 17 and 18 you shall not hate your brother in your heart we considered that in the last hour Jesus says you have heard that it would say said to those of old in Matthew 5:43 you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy know you're not supposed to hate anybody according to the Old Testament he said it says you shall not hate your brother in your heart you shall surely rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because of him you shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your people but you shall love your neighbor as yourself I am Yahweh is he saying I'm your Creator I am your lawgiver therefore don't hate one another Zechariah 7 9 and 10 summarizing a tradition throughout the Old Testament we always think of Micah 6:8 210 what does the Lord require of you well that's one in a string of passages that say the same thing the Micah 6:1 is intriguing because God condemns them for their wickedness in their approach to him and he says he has shown you O man what is acceptable this isn't new information through Malachi or through Micah the Prophet you've always known what the Deuteronomy Deuteronomy laws demands it's that you're just sinning against God it's not a lack of information that Micah's hearers had suffered it's a lack of heart the Zechariah captures it in 7 9 and 10 execute true justice show mercy and compassion everyone to his brother do not oppress the widow of the father list the alien or the poor let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother so there's this internal disposition that is condemnable as well that is pro by the 6th word as well when John comes to deal with the people of God in his first epistle and he talks about murdering he's probably not suggesting to them or to us that there were actually persons in the congregation that took out their 38 wandered in the homes of other Christians and shot them between the eyes when he appeals to Cain killing his brother Abel and he applies all that murder language to the church again I really don't think he means that physical Christians were physically murdering other Christians it's the hatred of the heart it's the internal disposition you are Cain like whether you bash your brother's head in physically or spiritually that's condemned by the Lord in this sixth word the prohibition against unwarranted anger in Matthew 5:22 I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment that without a cause is important because we see Jesus angry in the New Testament don't we when he drove out the money changers when he drove out those who were who were prostituting the very temple precinct with their wares I doubt he did it with a big fat smile on his face some hippy sort of encounter where he was drinking chamomile and and gently turning tables over he drove them out because he was angry when the Pharisees get into his face in one particular instance he said says he he looked at them with indignation there is a righteous anger brethren but the commandment condemns an unrighteous anger what do you think resentment and bitterness if we trace those out to their source in the Decalogue it has to be the sixth word there's bitterness this anger this resentment this critical spirit it originates in our ultimate hatred for others and our desire to do them harm we just don't do it with 38 and then we see in Matthew 5 the prohibition against character assassin assassination whoever says to his brother raca shall be in danger of the council but whoever says you fool shall be in danger of hellfire again we need to understand Jesus talking about here the proverbs speak about fools a lot the Solomon a wretched guy going to hell no the idea being is that when we assassinate the character of another human being we are assassinating the human being you know that old saying sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me that's absolutely contrary to the truth bones heal a ruined reputation doesn't you know in a litigious age you know everybody is guilty of sexual harassment or racism or whatever it is whatever happens to be on the front page today we need to be very careful before we level accusations against I'm not saying you know shame oh no III don't know but we need to be very careful about the reputations of other people gonna destroy somebody then ruin their lives you need to be very careful I need to be very careful on this whole issue Spurgeon says to call a man raka or worthless fellow is to kill him in his reputation version also says thus our Lord and King restores the law of God to its true force and warns us that it denounces not only the overt act of killing but every thought feeling and word which would tend to injure a brother or annihilate him by contempt and first John 3:15 whoever hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him again I doubt that John is writing to churches where people are physically terminating the lives of other Christians it's this heart disposition it's this internal mess that the loss to as well but certainly once that heart disposition is entertained it does flesh itself out in external conduct and certainly the prohibition applies to that you shall as well you shall not murder now the word used is a word that means murder the old King James share transit eating it as thou shalt not kill is not the most helpful way to approach this particular term because there are instances of lawful killing in the Bible we will look at those in just a moment again the idea being that we need to know what the Bible says and people out there will say well you can't consistently oppose abortion and favor the death penalty that's just contradictory no it's not it's absolutely consistent the Bible demands there's nothing it's just suggested to have these positions when we're asking a pastor one time you ever preach it against abortion well it's such a you know it's such a hot topic I just kind of avoid it I said do you ever preach against death penalty well you know the Bible you know the Old Testament seems to teach it but Jesus just didn't this is a pastor can't imagine his flock or congregation was you know more Adam to say absolutely we embrace the prohibition and we see that abortion is wrong and the death penalty is absolutely essential when was the last time this even came up in political discussion when was the last time that any political party said hey we want to reinstitute in Canada something that was done away with in 1967 that God commands isn't even in the horizon is it even in the arena of discourse anymore to consider that a government official would say that a that a convicted murderer ought to be executed oh he would be a fanatic he would be tarred and feathered what I'm saying this morning is probably hate speech probably not only micro aggressive but macro aggressive and soon I'll be hauled off to jail that's where society is going and the church doesn't do anything we don't like such sermons we don't want to think about such unsavory things we don't want to have to think beyond what we're having for lunch this morning brethren if we don't start thinking if we don't start praying if we don't start looking at these things and start defending the truth we are in a whole world of trouble the word used Walter Kaiser says while Hebrew possesses seven words for killing the word used here at saw appears only 47 times in the Old Testament if any one of the seven words could signify murder where factors of premeditation and intentionality are present this is the verb no words not all killing is murder the Bible makes this distinction non murderous killing is called man slaughter and the Bible makes the distinction if you are chopping wood and your axe head flies off and finds its way into your neighbor's head such that he dies you had no malice aforethought there was no premeditation you didn't hate him in laying wait for him it was an accidental homicide that man doesn't get executed by the government that man doesn't get the death penalty that man must flee to a City of Refuge which even that shows us the value upon human life that God places it was an accident yeah but your life's gonna be disrupted for a little while why because you need to learn not to have such accidents you need to make sure your axe heads are fastened on because life is so precious life is so valuable it ought not to be the case that your axe head takes a leap and finds its way into your neighbor's head that City of Refuge law shows us God's concern for death so you see the Bible makes the distinction and we as God's people need to make the distinction as well premeditation malice hatred planning all those things are necessary for murder there is an accidental homicide there is murder now based on this we can conclude or infer or imply that there are three instances of lawful killing in the scriptures there are three occasions wherein persons may justly kill another person again we've passed microaggression we're right in the math so just bear with me here the first instance is the legitimacy of the death penalty and that's not a Mosaic law sometimes you see people do that they said well well that was in the law of Moses no it's in the Neue covenant what happens when Noah gets out of the Ark what happens when they embrace their role as the new man on earth what happens when God essentially repeats the creation mandate to Noah as a sort of a new Adam was an atom tool to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth isn't Noah told to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth you see something had happened after Adam by the time we get to Genesis 6 the earth is corrupt and it's full of violence exceedingly corrupt and full of violence such that God condemns the world save Noah and his family so when Noah and his family emerged from the ark you know what one of the first things is that God says to Noah whoever sheds man's blood by man his blood will be shed for in the image of God he made man Lords Noah we're not going to do it the same way this time we're not going to have Leigh Mac boasting in the amount of blood that he had spilled we're going to put the Hat of the sword in the hand of the civil government and they're gonna execute criminal offenders we get to the Mosaic legislation and it details for us all the capital crimes it highlights everything that is punishable by death we get to the New Testament and people say well that was in the Old Testament you've got a problem with Romans 13 you got a problem with Romans 13 1 to 4 and let every soul be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God and those which exist are established by God he goes on to say whoever resists the authority resists God and then he describes the civil magistrate with this terminology he is God's Minister his deacon same greek word the deacon in the church is a servant in the church the deacon in the mad Strait is a servant of society and God has given him the sword that does not necessitate that every punishment be the sword but it certainly includes the right to capital punishment that's legit it's not only legit God says in in the Book of Numbers that if we accept a payment if we accept a ransom for murder than we have defied God he says there is only one payment acceptable for the crime of murder and that's blood you see it's not just a suggestion this is the way to order a civil polity in a good way in a helpful way nations are sinning against God Almighty when they don't institute this again I just don't know that we ever think about such things secondly the legitimacy of self-defense contrary to people out there God authorizes self-defense doesn't Jesus assume it if this the strong man knew when the master was going to be at home he wouldn't come then what does Jesus assuming that the master is they're probably not with a 38 or 308 but with a stick or a club of some sort because he doesn't want the strongman to come in and plunder his home there's a specific law that protects people with reference to self-defense in the book of Exodus specifically Exodus 22 verses 2 & 3 I'll just give you the gist of that law we can't spend too much time on any one text I hope you're jotting these things down reflect upon them later but in Exodus chapter 22 it says of a man breaks in to another man's home and the man who broke into his home dies in the exchange the homeowner is not guilty what happens today somebody breaks into your house and they trip and they hit their head and then they sue you in the ultimate punishment upon the victim which our society is just keen on what happens to somebody when they get caught they go to jail to pay their fine to the state Danan steal the state's car they stole my car they should pay me back the whole structure could use a great big dose of God's law we take guys that aren't vile violent we take guys that that aren't you know threats or menaces to society and we send them into prison to become that but in Exodus 22 if someone breaks into your house and you trying to keep them from taking your stuff or hurting your family you happen to kill them that's not murder you're not guilty that's self-defense now there is a stipulation if the man breaks in during the day that's a bit of a different story I think the idea is is that if somebody comes into my house during the day I'm better able to assess the threat my neighbors are awake were able to oppose and stop the man but if he comes in at night I don't know what he's doing there and I'm not supposed to sit and dialogue with him to figure it figure it out I'm supposed to stop him to keep him from my wife to keep him from my kids to keep him ultimately from killing me that's legit Matthew Henry makes the comment with reference to exodus 20:2 a man's house is his castle and God's law as well as man's sets a guard upon it he that assaults it does so at his own peril it's another problem Cleese EOS tees because the the the sentence against unrighteousness is not executed speedily the sons of man are given over to evil I mean face it brethren there's no threat no consequence and do whatever we want we're really probably not gonna get in trouble now I'm not saying go out and steal today but not bud it's gonna say but if you do keep you probably won't even go jail don't take it that way it's not a lot of consequences I mean the fact that that a murderer again I don't think life imprisonment I think that's far more barbaric than the death penalty but life imprisonment should at least be the minimum for a murderer that's not the case anymore you commit murder and get out of jail what kind of a society is that and in Christians and people believe the Bible are barbaric you want to talk to barbaric look at the current way that we treat people in in prisons I mean I would opt for the death penalty if it was that or life and in prison because I think it's far more humane to end that way and then of course the legitimacy of and I will add the adjective here just war just war it's a whole huge topic on what does constitute a just war I'm not here to have that debate but it is legitimate when the magistrate bears the sword according to Romans chapter 13 it's not just to punish criminal offenders in their own society but it's to protect their people from encroaching armies I mean again this whole idea of you know pacifism have you read scripture have you ever looked at these things I mean how could you man you know to come out of Scripture with this this idea that pacifism is right and it's not just the Old Testament the holy war instituted by God where the Israelites went into Canaan and destroyed every inhabitant of Canaan that that's not what I'm talking about there's a favorable view of military in the New Testament what's John the Baptist say when the soldiers come and they want to repent what does John say well you need to renounce your service to the state get this in the Roman Empire even know John says be content with your wages and don't extort people Jesus treats soldiers well the new of the book of Acts treats soldiers well notice Paul's not you no lecture Cornelius on you got a renounce your job and then of course the magistrate's function in Romans 13 turret and says from the very fact that Christ did not take away but if confirmed the authority of the magistrate he also approved of the right of carrying on war since it pertains to the magistrate to defend his subjects against unjust violence which certainly cannot sometimes be done without war you see those are the three instances of lawful killing those are three instances that are not murder again I've seen this happen where the people of God how can I be opposed to abortion and and and support the death penalty as that just seems so contradictory and so so different it's so so paradoxical no not at all they're both grounded upon the dignity of the image of God in men the argument for the death penalty is for in the image of God he made man therefore God puts a premium upon those who are murdered those who are his image bearers when they are put to death the right response is for the government to execute those murderers it doesn't show the lack of value of human life it shows the value dare I say that the death penalty is an argument for the sanctity of life humanists everywhere would freak out at that statement and probably a lot of Christians would freak out at that statement but if you understand what Scripture is teaching us the death penalty is an argument for the sanctity of life brethren we ought to consider as well we're looking at the external act we looked at the word use the lawful instances of killing we need to understand third like the criminal nature of murder some sins aren't crimes some crimes aren't sins murder has the [Music] what's the word I'm looking for murder has the the ability to be both at the same time see not all sin is crime you do not want the government punishing the tenth commandment do you that you're supposed to be going no I don't want the government punishing the 10th commandment I really really don't want that to happen but not all crime is sin if you were preaching the gospel on a public corner in Saudi Arabia it would be a crime it's not a sin against God she seemed murder is always both criminal and sinful God is always going to deal with the murderer but the state must as well and by state I mean those in civil authority given that prerogative by God now fourthly I want to conclude or this section by looking at some specific violations in modern society the first as I've already mentioned is the act of euthanasia on the ill and or the elderly euthanasia also called mercy killing it is a sin and it ought to be a crime because God word God's word forbids at the Bible holds these weak ones in esteem we're not supposed to look at somebody who's ill as a plague we're not supposed to look at somebody who's handicapped as a hindrance we're not supposed to look at the elderly as if they they've gone past their time and it's just better now that they leave the know how does the Bible address the subject we are to honor the presence of an old man we are not to put a stumbling block before someone who is blind does our Savior show the dignity the beauty the glory involved in the handicapped when Bartimaeus says Jesus thou son of David have mercy on me the crowd didn't see his dignity the crowd didn't see his usefulness the crowd saw him as a blind beggar and they told him you need to be quiet this Jesus has more important things to do than you praise God for blind bartimaeus what does he do he doesn't kowtow to the crowd he doesn't listen to those who are in the know he raises his voice and once again says Jesus thou son of David have mercy on me it says that Jesus stopped Jesus walked over to him and Jesus says what would you have me to do that's a beautiful passage brethren what are the sick people in the church supposed to do schedule the pill call the doctor I've heard it's delivered to your door in certain countries we're not far remember when it was instituted or applied in this particular context my brother phoned me and said it's chilling the briefing we just got at work today it's a brave new world and it's certainly not a good one what are sick people in the church supposed to do call the euthanasia hotline and schedule a pill no call for the elders of the church you're not a second-class citizen because you're sick you're not a second-class citizen because you're handicapped you're not a second-class citizen because you're old you're not you are the image of the living and true God and as a result you nor any other person has the right to execute you it's again that argument well they chose it imagine how that would go in any other sphere well he chose to to deploy that bomb on the airplane oh well since he chose to it's okay why when it comes to conspiracy to murder in the actual act of murder us choosing it somehow well then it's okay you cannot choose to terminate your life God the Lord alone is sovereign god bolon the Lord is authority when it comes to this matter of life we see this with reference to abortion proverbs 31 8 says open your mouth for the speechless and the cause of all who are pointed to die open your mouth judge righteously and please the cause of the poor and the needy we see the image of God in the preborn Genesis 25 Jacob and Esau in the womb not product of conception not a massive undefined cells but children we see job's testimony to God's divine and II work in the womb into a job 10 and again in job 31 we see the divine weaver and in Psalm 139 I'm sure that text has been read and preached all over the world today on sanctity of life Sunday it's he's saying God knit me together in my mother's womb you see the Scriptures are not silent when it comes to what's in the womb the scriptures are deafening on what's in the womb it's just that man rejects it man wants convenience man doesn't like anything that will stop his his trajectory to success and if a baby gets in the way the baby's going to die that's the society we live in that is where we find ourselves the New Testament the Greek word that is used of John the Baptist in the whoa the Greek word that is used of of Jesus in the womb is the same Greek word in Luke 18 when they bring the infants the little ones to Jesus to bless them there's no separate word there's no well you've got an out of the womb baby or child and you've got the end the womb product of conception or the end the womb undefined massive cells now that's not it it's a baby in there it's a baby there's a specific text that treats that deals with again some of this may be repetitious my hope is until the day I die I will preach this sermon and maybe after 2025 years if I die in five years you'll say I know what the Bible says about that now because Jim Butler said it but because I'm directing your attention and consider texts notice in Exodus 21 22 to 25 if men fight and hurt a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely yet no harm follows she shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman's husband imposes on him and he shall pay as the judges determined but if any harm follows then you shall give life for life eye for eye tooth for tooth hand for hand foot for foot for burn wound for wound stripe for stripe now the New King James excuse me and the ESV have the accurate translation if you have a translation that says miscarries it's wrong if you have a translation the message Bible is especially terrible I know that some pastors use the message Bible to preach from that that's a whole different way to come at the issue but man the churches embeds a bad state when the message becomes a pulpit Bible yeah we might as well hang our heads in shame and just say you know we're done but if the translation you hold in your lap says if men fight and hurt a woman with child so that she miss carries it's wrong you see that translation supports this view if two men fight they had a woman that's pregnant and she miscarries yet no harm follows to the woman then it's premature and not to be read this way if men fight and hurt a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely yet no harm follows to the woman and the child then you see if we translate it miscarry which Hebrew has words for miscarriage Hebrew has words for one untimely born they're not in this text this text uses the language literally and her children it's a plural form of the noun to envisage the possibility of twins triplets quadruplets quintuplets and whatever goes on from there it's not even I mean premature gets it it's good good translation but it's literally and her children come out yet no harm follows to mother and the children who have come out then the man will pay a fine dot if harm follows to mother and children then he shall pay a fine the death penalty this is a text that protects babies in their mothers wombs and we ought to appreciate that in many respects and I'm using this terminology loosely but I think you'll follow the argument this is an accidental abortion these two you know brain surgeons that are fighting on the city streets are not trying to murder the baby in this mother's womb these two fools for whatever reason break out in a fight with one another and a woman who is pregnant happens to be standing there arguably probably a wife of one of the the men that are involved in the brawl and in the course of their fight which is the focus she gets hit and then harmed follows so it's really an accidental abortion that wasn't the focus that wasn't the goal the fellow didn't rise up in the morning say I really want to kill the baby that's in that mother's womb so I'm gonna fake a fight with this guy I'm gonna blow this way and if that happens and that's all what happened are you gonna fight and in the course of that fight she had harm to her and her baby or babies and therefore he must pay the ultimate price with his own life now if this text speaks to accidental abortion and protects babies in the womb like that what should we think of the sorts of places that exist today what should we think of Planned Parenthood you know that recently in America I get a little you know information with reference to America Canada's just bad there I said it there's this idea in Canada that we and I'm a Canadian citizen so grant me the right to speak on behalf of the citizenry today all those Americans are terrible you know a million abortions a year yeah ours is a hundred thousand and we have 30 million people in our country versus their 300 million as far as my son tells me that's the same percentage we're not any better you know there's no law whatsoever in terms of terminating a baby and you ever try master I mean so there I said it recently in America they voted to pass the born like born alive infant infant Protection Act something that was voted against by Barack Obama when he was a senator now let me just tell you what this means if a baby survives an abortion this law mandates that the medical staff does everything in their power to make the baby live what kind of a goal votes against that law what kind of a monster votes against that law well you survived the abortion good on you now we're gonna leave you in a bucket to die somewhere no this law says no if they survive the abortion the medical staff is now duty-bound to try to make sure the baby lives that was just passed in America again it's mind-blowing that that seems a victory but that's how bad things are you know Planned Parenthood says how dare anybody do such a thing like that you have an organization that is so committed to what has become sacramental to the left that they will condemn the efforts to try to save a human being who has escaped the clutches of death via doctor I mean I just yeah we look at the Bible say wow that's terrible you know a house the other day second Kings 16 what do you know he made his children pass through the fires that meant he offered up offered him up to Molech we do the same thing today we're engaged in the same practice today we treat babies with as much disdain today the increased protection for the preborn is set forth by the text and then the penal sanction involved for those who call farm to follow either on the mother or on her children but if any harm follows then you shall give life for life eye for eye tooth for tooth hand for hand foot for foot burned for burn wound for wound stripe for stripe john calvin made this observation concerning abortion he says if it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house than in a field because a man's house is his place of most secure refuge it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a fetus in the womb before it has come to light the Didache a which was an early christian sort of teaching manual it dates to probably one i mean late late date is 120 80 120 some say it was 80 110 you shall not abort a child or commit infanticide you see this is not new there's nothing new Under the Sun brethren it's just become somewhat more polished somewhat more acceptable somewhat more in vogue and dare I say somewhat more celebrated in our own day and age Jesus speaking his wisdom and proverbs 8 says that he who hates me loves death I think that's such a commentary upon society today he who hates me loves death Jesus said to his disciples or rather in the context of dealing with his disciples the Pharisees and the scribes of course oppose him and he says to the Pharisees you are of your father the devil you're of your father the devil he was a murderer from the beginning is the father of lies the sorts of things that you are doing the fact that you want to murder Jesus the fact that you do nothing but lie shows your solidarity was Satan himself that's our society in many respects brethren so we see euthanasia abortion and then I'll just close by saying us application is the neglect of the death penalty the neglect of the death penalty Watson puts it in a way that I I couldn't was thankful for Watson yesterday I pulled his Ten Commandments out and he's discussing the crime of murder and he deals with this neglecting the tenth the the death penalty is a violation of the sixth word he says by not executing the law upon capital offenders a felon having committed six murders the judge may be said to be guilty of five of them because he did not execute the felon for his first offense and if we applied that today I thought this just epic and in person say well if you took that seriously the gutters would run with blood no if it had always been in place persons would know the boundaries persons would know the limitations persons would know that if I go out and murder somebody I'm going to be executed by the state ergo I'm not gonna go murder somebody we've never tried that approach you hear the argument against capital punishment well it's not a deterrent it is in one instance I guarantee you 100% money back it deters that man from ever going out and murdering again you know Paul tells us differently when we see the magistrate functioning the way he ought how are we supposed to respond but fear other words Paul says in Romans 13 as the people of God you ought to realize God means business and that he has instituted the civil government to execute criminal offenders as the people of God and I would argue outside the people of God the creatures of God should see a fully-functional civil authority and be afraid to go out and commit crime positive aspect of the commandment be nice to people what is required in the sixth commandment the sixth commandment requires all lawful endeavors to preserve our own life and the life of others it's the Westminster Shorter Catechism brethren in conclusion the Bible and murder highlights its pervasiveness its pervasiveness in Genesis chapter 4 verse 9 Cain tries to cover up the fact that he murdered Abel by the time we get to Genesis 4 for the latter part of the chapter his great-great grandson lemak glories in murder didn't take long for that sin to catch didn't take long for for the violation of the sixth commandment to spread God arms the civil magistrate with the sword and the responsibility to execute murderers according to Genesis 9:6 for the purpose of ensuring that the earth does not once again become exceedingly corrupt and filled with violence so for the civil government to resist that and to reject that and to disobey God's commandment in that is wicked Ness so I said proverbs 8:36 he who sins against me wrongs his own soul all those who love me love death john murray well said nothing shows the moral bankruptcy of the people or the generation more than disregard for the sanctity of life you see the wretchedness of it underscored throughout scripture but two particular passages I direct your attention to proverbs 6 these six things Yahweh hates GA seven are an abomination to him hands that shed innocent blood I saw recently when there's a Christian abortionist that thinks they're doing God's will how does that happen I can't blame pastors or churches but how does that kind of a mindset get spawned from when's does that flow that somebody actually thinks that they could be a Christian and a murderer of babies in their mother's womb I get it brethren remaining corruption is a reality but not that kind of remaining corruption and then revelation 21 John tells us who is populating the lekha fire murderers murderers secondly we ought to consider the state level government and abortion there's an interesting website but you know I'll just tell you right now you should grab on to your chair when you click on it because it's horrifying it's a counter ww number of abortions dot org tells you how many abortions at us don't know if there's a Canadian one us this year us since roe v-- wade worldwide over the last however many years how many since you clicked on this page it's horrifying you know what some geniuses say well the government's not commanding persons to murder their babies the government doesn't command men to engage in bank robbery and murder people in that pursuit doesn't make it right if abortion is murder and it is murder it ought to be condemned every step of the way you think I said III I think that in our our I don't know if it's a craving desire maybe longing for the the government to do everything for us we forgot that they're not doing what they're actually supposed to do you get that again when you look at Romans 13 the role of government is pretty delimited when you look at the old testament theocracy and again i'm not saying we're the new testament theocracy you can say well i get it but if you look at what god thinks a civil polity it's a great place to go the old testament theocracy and ask how does God approve of government run it's a very small government Israel was not populated with presents people who stole had to pay back I mean there's just some things in there that you know far from being barbaric makes our current system look absolutely and tragically barbaric brethren what is the purpose of the civil government it's to wield the sword but no no what about this care and that plan and this subsidy in this program and this regulation I mean it's gonna be the case where we can't flip our lights up well we can't even buy the old light bulbs anymore who ever said they wanted the government involved in light bulbs or toilets one of the libertarian economic economists made this observation if the federal government was given charge of the Sahara Desert it would be it would be void of sand in five years see we want them to do all this stuff except what they're supposed to do I think Machin was a whole lot better on the ball than we are he says the state exists for the repression of evildoers and the protection of individual liberty that that's so far gone from us today no the state exists for me to make sure I can get whatever I need to care for me in my young age to care for me in my middle age to care for me in my what happened to the family there's a pecking order in God's Word if you got problems your first stop ought not to be to Canada services it ought to be your kids or your parents or your sisters or your brother and then the church see we want the state to do everything except what the state's supposed to do how did we end up here the state exists for the repression of evildoers and the protection of individual liberty and finally the church and murder we ought to appreciate the connection between internal and external the commandment for bids abortion the commandment forbids euthanasia the commandment forbids the lack of death penalty but the commandment also forbids hating your brother in your heart I guarantee you you're not going to be able to go fix the abortion problem tomorrow but there is one thing you can work on and probably gain a degree of success in stop hating your brother secondly we need to appreciate that with reference to this issue of abortion the people of God sometimes lack knowledge that's why I preach the law on this particular side of thing because I want you to understand what does the text of Scripture say I know these are unsavory topics I know they're not happy topics I know you don't run out of you know here today said man I just feel a boost I feel so invigorated you might but it's for a different reason I've come to embrace the thought that I need to pray against this particular sin cuz I'm one of those sermons where you know you leave skipping I get that I understand that the preparation of these kinds of sermons and other sermons are different as well yeah there's a heaviness you look at number of abortions org and just kind of want to sit there and knelt and say why am I even here this is happening constantly regularly since I clicked on this page there's been 40 abortions I mean that stuff's difficult to deal with but brethren you need to know what the scripture says you need to understand God's mind on this it's not mysterious it's not a so Tarek I saw a debate recently a clip of one by with ben shapiro and a guy dave rubin i think it was and ben said you know it's not that hard the baby in the wombs a human being you shouldn't kill him he says I think we complicate the discussion and the debate when we make it a lot more difficult than it needs to be if what's in that mother's womb is a human being then you're not supposed to kill it it really is that simple you get crucially we can't explain justification by faith we can't give any explanation a six word what are we doing what is our purpose it's to shine his lights and a crooked and perverse generation one man randy alcorn and his book says that the church or the professing church abortion is rampant within it as well so the professing people of God have a problem with surgical abortion they do it they engage in it Davis on 2nd Kings 16 verse 3 we looked at that on Wednesday night a has made his sons to pass through the fire Davis makes this observation of course our abominations are often de sacralized in other words it's not a religious context what I'm making these children pass through the fire to that particular Idol he says of course our abominations are often decentralized in my own country or in my own land our fertility rates are more often celebrated in university dormant dormitories than at astra chapels and molette receives his due in sterile sterile clinics rather than at religious shrines he's right it's just as bad I mean just because we have and I use this word not it's more ironic because we have perfected the art of murder doesn't make it okay just because we remove it out of the public eye we take it to these particular clinics we have it out of sight and out of mind doesn't mean it's any less horrific than throwing babies into the arms of bail as he stands in the fire and I think that's one of the machinations of the devil himself is he's not only a murder but he's a deceiver he's the father of lies how many of you this past week thought once about abortion don't raise your hands how many of you this past week prayed once for God to intervene with reference to abortion it's out of sight out of mind it happens in medical clinics and and we can't even use the word sterile anymore I mean didn't Gosnell show us that the feds came in to raid his abortion clinic they were horrified they're not pro-life Christians but even God hating pagans are repulsed by the way that that mad man not mad cuz he's mentally out of it mad because he's a baby murderer conducted business disgusting and as well the professing people of God and the voting booth I hear this a lot well you can't turn the pulpit into a political vehicle I'm not I just can't imagine for the life of me that's how pastors get around that you can't imagine how anybody could vote for Justin Trudeau no again if you did that you're gonna go home you're gonna probably have a problem with me but here's a guy who celebrates abortion you can't be in his liberal party unless you're pro-life here's a guy who touts himself as a feminist and will not speak to the issue of sex selective abortion that's between a woman and her doctor' oh if you're a feminist and you're a champion of women why don't you champion those little ones that are in their mothers wounds or Barack Obama the man who died or who did as a senator vote against the born alive infant poacher Protection Act I remember the Gosnell situation I remember speaking about Gosnell I'm not looking for credit here when the feds did raid him this was back and then as the years went by everybody heard about what this monster Gosnell had done but I remember very specifically because we're in Idaho were visiting mica and we're watching the news and it was the week that Gosnell was in trial that same week Barack Obama spoke at a Planned Parenthood conference and he ended ended his speech by saying god bless Planned Parenthood how can any believer who knows the fear of God vote for something like that if I have betrayed my calling if I have preached politics then they can take me away today to jail that's fine but she need to deal with that that observation how do you vote for that could you imagine voting for a pro rape candidate oh yeah he believes rapes okay but he's good with economics a pro pedophile candidate oh yeah he's got this affinity for children but boy he's really good over here we do that with a pro murder candidate really brethren we just need to think through these things we need to have our minds informed III have other things but I don't want to keep going it's unsavory unhappy but I would highlight the professing people of God and sexual immorality no good thing comes from sexual immorality you know that abortion a lot of times is to cover up sexual immorality don't do that even pornography Jonathan van Marin wrote an article on that particular topic was pornography do it strips down inhibition it helps us to overcome obstacles you know with what most of us were kids there was a lot of steps involved to try to get pornography those of you who are kids have the potential in your pocket at any given time during the day you start playing games with that you start filling your minds with that you say well that doesn't necessarily follow that everybody who looks at porn is going to commit abortion no it doesn't necessarily follow but I would suggest that those who look at porn will oftentimes take it to the next level they'll take the next step it reduces inhibition it breaks down boundaries ultimately they may find themselves in that position of fornication we're in a baby now arrives and more often than not abortion is the method to try and clean it up and that brings us finally to the consideration of the gospel I am NOT suggesting for a moment that persons who have had abortions or even abortionists are outside the saving power of the gospel listen King David great King David's great because he wrote many of the Psalms King David led an exemplary life in terms of devotion to God but King David's also great because he shows us that with thee there is forgiveness that thou mayest be feared King David teaches us that one of the effective arguments in the private place is Psalm 25 11 pardon my iniquity O Lord for it is great imagine that is an argument that God would forgive you because it's sinful it's bad do you imagine going to the bank and say please cancel out my debt because I owe you a million dollars you can do that with God you can go to God the Lord Jesus is a real Savior for real sinners the Lord Jesus bled for sinners the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin David rejoices in the Savior and Psalm thirty two David rejoices in the Savior in Psalm 25 David rejoices in Psalm 130 if the Lord should mark iniquities O Lord who could stand but there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared that passage that Steve referred to in Matthew 11 come to me all you who are weary and heavy-laden he doesn't mean physically he doesn't mean you only got three hours in the rack last night you've been burning the candle he means those who are weary and heavy-laden with sin come and you will find rest what we see when we considered the baptism of Abigail stare what did we see when I'm sorry of Emma Jones when we looked at Acts chapter two who is Peter addressing Jerusalem sinners what was the characteristic crime of Jerusalem sinners the murder of the Lord of glory if you have committed this sin come to the Savior if you have ordered the Commission this sin come to the Savior men get off all the time all those women those women those women behind every woman is a man writing a check behind every woman is a man pushing her into that position there are blessed exceptions and you read of those men sometimes that are hurt and aching because their wives or their girlfriends went and murdered the babies but for the most part it's not just a woman thing and this is what drives us crazy as well well it's a woman's issue no it's not it's a theological issue for in the image of God he made man that's where we go brethren there is forgiveness with God that he may be feared if you have participated in this then come come to the Savior come to Jesus and know the rest that he alone gifts will let us pray my father we thank you for your word we thank you for your truth we thank you that it speaks not only to church life but to society as well we know that you are not just lord over the church but you are lord over creation that your Ten Commandments are binding upon all men in all places in every age and father we pray that you had aroused the church to preach the law to preach the gospel to preach the truth as it is in Jesus and God in heaven we cry out to you from Mercy we know that we live in a sin sick world and society a society that celebrates death a society that hates Christ a society that murders the most helpless among us god we pray that you would send forth your gospel she would save men women boys and girls as one has well said we want to have it such that such a sin such a crime would even be unthinkable in a civilized society we do pray now that you would go with us we pray that you would help us to glorify you on this day and we ask in Jesus Holy Name Amen we'll close with a brief time of meditation and then be dismissed [Music]