Exodus 21. We haven't looked at this Exodus for a while, and I'll just be honest, I wasn't really looking forward to this portion of it. It's difficult, but let's go ahead and read it. The Gospel's here. Exodus 21, verse 12. Let's go ahead and read the whole thing so we won't... In a Bible study, you try to deal with every verse. Exodus 21, 12, He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death. If a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand, then I will appoint there be a place whither he shall flee. But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbor to slay him with guile, thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die. He that smiteth his father, his mother, shall be surely put to death. He that stealeth a man, selleth him. If he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. He that curseth his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. If men strive together and one smite another with a stone or with his fist, and he die not, but is bedridden, keepeth his bed, if he rise again and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit. Only he shall pay for the loss of the man's time, shall cause him to pay for his thorough healing. If a man smite his servant or his maid with a rod, and they die under his hand, he shall be surely punished. Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished. He is his money. That man was his livelihood. If men strive and hurt a woman with child, so the hurt fruit depart from her. Yet no mischief followeth. He shall be surely punished according as the woman's husband will lay upon him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. If any mischief follow, thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. If a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish, he shall let him go free for his eye's sake. If he smite out his man's servant's tooth, or his maid's servant's tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake. Animals, if an ox gore a man, or a woman, that they die, then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall be quit. to push with his horn in time past, and hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or woman, the ox shall be stoned, and his owner shall be put to death. If it be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him, whether he have gored a son or gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him. If the ox shall push A manservant or a maidservant shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned. If a man shall open a pit, and if a man shall dig a pit and not cover it, and an ox or asp fall therein, the owner of the pit shall make it good, and give money unto the owner of them, and the dead beast shall be hid. And if one man's ox hurt another's, that he die, then they shall sell the live ox, divide the money of it, and the dead ox also shall they divide. For if it be known that the ox hath used to push in time past, and his owner hath not kept him in, he shall surely pay ox for ox, and dead shall be his own. Paul said in Romans 7, the law is holy, just, and good. It is good. God is holy. This is a revelation of His sinless, perfectly pure mind. God's law is good. And God has made laws concerning everything. God reigns and rules. God regulates and rules everything down to the beasts. God is just. He's holy. He's just. Just means fair. He'll do what's right. He does what's right. The law is good. It's holy. It's just. It's right. It's equal. God's law is equal. There is no justice with man. There is no justice with man. But God is just. And don't think of that as being to our detriment, but to good. Good. Just. Good. Profitable. Needful. Helpful. If there's no law. If there's no law, everybody's going to do what's right in their own eyes. And nobody's going to do anything right. It's all going to be wrong. God's way is holy. It's just. It's good. Now we need to understand that God's law is spiritual. It's the first thing we need to understand. God's law requires perfection in thought. as word as well as deed, in motive as well as in action. God looks on the heart. And our Lord said, we're going to turn to Matthew 5, maybe if we have time, where the law said, our Lord magnified the law, blew it up to show that if you thought about killing somebody, you're guilty. And the only reason you didn't was because God kept you from it. It wasn't your goodness. It wasn't your restraint. It was his restraining grace, he said. So what we're going to see is how good and holy and just the law is and just how guilty we are on every point. With our eyes, with our hands, with our feet, with our motives and everything, we're guilty. And we're going to see the gospel in all this. Life for life. The soul that's sinning shall surely die. That's the law. We've all sinned, haven't we? Well, how is it we're going to live? Let me go ahead and ask this question. How can God be just and yet let guilty people go free? You know the answer to that, don't you? Substitution. Satisfaction. The law has got to be satisfaction. It says in verse 12 through 15, he that smiteth a man and he dies premeditatedly or ignorantly, if his thoughtful premeditated murder, desire to hurt someone and they die, you're going to be put to death. Now you tell me if there hadn't been a time where you've been so mad at somebody, if you had a gun in your hand. We, back in the old Wild West days, when they were out there, you know, settling the West, and there were no, there were very few lawmen. But the gun, buddy, guns, bullets were flying, weren't there? And there was no justice served. Now, you tell me, I've seen little blonde-headed girls turn into absolute maniacs in my rearview mirror. I guess this old man made him upset, you know, the way I was driving or something. Just this morning, I came over here early, and somebody got in front of me. I was a little bit of a hurry. And somebody got in front of me on a scuffling. He only was doing 21 miles per hour. I was trying my best. That's somebody's dad. He's old. He's whatever. Somebody's mother. They call it road rage. Well, if God didn't restrain people, we'd be killing each other left and right with it. And Matthew 5, let me just paraphrase it for you. Our Lord said, to look on a woman with lust, you've committed adultery with her. My dad used to say, don't come down on David. He said, your Bathsheba hasn't come around yet. Or your David. We're all guilty, right? Of breaking every law. To look upon the opposite sex with desire. Guilty. Guilty. To get mad at somebody without a cause. Hate. Guilty. You'd have killed him if you could have. It's just so instilling covetousness. We're all guilty. We're all guilty. But, and you say, that's not fair. Hold on a minute. As said, if there wasn't a law, this world would be an absolute anarchy. It's getting that way. It's getting that way. God's clearly lifting his hand off. In our, this nation that was formed by laws and rules and regulations, God's lifting his hand off of it. Anything goes. Well, you see, look what's happening. But look here, verse 13. If a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him in his hand. That means whoever dies, however they die, God did it. No accidents. God delivered. I didn't mean to kill him. Well, God did. You see that? How could this happen? Something horrific just happened Brother Jotaro, how could something like, it's just unthinkable, it's like a nightmare, it's like a bad dream. How could this, who, how, why did this happen? God did it. There's only one answer. If you don't believe that, why are you here? If you don't believe that, what possible peace and comfort could you possibly have in this world that's gone wild? You better get you some guns. You better. We better head to the hills and find us a cave and stock it with food and guns. And hold out, you know, right? But we don't have to do that. Our God sent his apostles out into a world that hated God and hated him and hated the truth. And he said, you go preach. Should we carry some guns? No. How about money? No. You go out. You just told us they hate us. They can't do anything to you, he said. Unless I allow it. So that's our comforting. That's our pity. Whoever dies, God did it. Whatever the means was, that's the means he sent. Well, you say, I don't understand. Yes, you do. If you believe, you'll see. Well, look at verse 14. For a man can come presumptuously on his neighbor and slay him with guile. He's going to die. He's going to die for that. He talked about a city of refuge. We're going to get into that later in the accident. A city of refuge for those, whether premeditated murder or innocent murder. Is there a difference between willful sin and sins of ignorance? Is there a difference? And we're all guilty of every sin, but is there a difference? Are there sins of ignorance? Oh, yeah. You know, the law Every jot and tittle of the law must be fulfilled. And there are, you know, German Baptists, Amish, people like that, and Jehovah's Witnesses that claim they keep the law. Hold on now. They keep what laws they want to keep, not all the law. Every law must be fulfilled. You're either under the law or you're not. If you're under the law, you better keep every single law. You better not slip up on one of them, right? Yeah. You know, there's sins of ignorance. And Paul said, I obtained mercy. I did it ignorantly. Paul said, I kept the law. No, you didn't, Paul. Later on, he found out. I didn't keep the law at all. The law was spiritual. It should outwit it. I was blameless, but I didn't realize. I'm guilty on the inside. An ignorant fool. Didn't our Lord say on the cross, first thing, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. They do, and yet they don't. God is so merciful. And there's a whole chapter in Leviticus about sins of ignorance. And, buddy, we better be glad that God forgives ignorance. The root word of ignorance is ignore. Let me show you something. Hebrews 6. You know, people pretty much believe what they want to believe and ignore what they don't want to believe. In Hebrews 6, this is willful and sinning. Hebrews 6, you have it? Hebrews 6, verse 6 says, If those who, verse 5, have tasted the Word of God, the power of the world, come, verse 4, under the sound of the gospel which the Holy Ghost sends, verse 6, if they fall away, fall into sin and stay there and fall back into the world and go after the world, it's impossible to renew them again in repentance because they've crucified the Son of God afresh, put Him to open shame. person claims to believe that Christ died for their sin, and they were ashamed of their sins, and they repented of their sins, and ask God for forgiveness for rejecting Him, rejecting Christ, and they're baptized, and they confess Him, and they come, and they seem to enjoy the gospel, and yet turn from it and go back to that world. That's not, you know, carelessness. That's willful I'm tired of this, I'm over this, I'm going back to the world. And you're putting the Son of God to open shame again, making a mockery. Look at Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10 tells us to not forsake, Hebrews 10.25, not forsake the assembly of ourselves together as a man of some ease. People don't just miss Christ, they sell it. Sell it. Judas, you know, didn't do it this ignorantly. He said, what do you give me? I'll turn him over to you. He's worth nothing to me. There was a time he seemed like Christ was everything to him, but he said, no, Give me money and I'll turn him over to you. I don't care. Simon Peter denied Him. He was fearful. He didn't speak when he should have spoke. And, you know, we've all done that. We've all denied Him when we didn't speak up in defense of our Lord. We did things, said things that seemed to deny that we knew Him. But would you sell Him? What would you take to renounce Jesus Christ? Now if you really love Christ, if God has put his love of his Son in you, you will not sell him out. You will deny him to your shame, but you will not sell him. No, you won't. This is willful sinning. Verse 26, if we sin willfully, people don't just miss Christ, they leave. They leave. You don't need Christ anymore. No, I like the world better. That's, that's just, that's willful, isn't it? Willful. All right. There's no more sacrifice for sin, verse 27, but a fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation. Verse 31, it's a fearful thing to fall in the hands of the living God. So he goes on, verse 32, he says, call to remembrance. You remember when you endured such a fight of afflictions and you were a mockery and you, you know, the Lord brought you out and you were so glad that he did and you were a witness and all that. What happened? And thank God, he says in verse 38, we're not of them that draw back under perdition, but them that believe in the saving of the soul. Oh, may God keep us from willfully rejecting the gospel and going back to this world. I've said this so many times. I heard an old preacher say it years ago. He said, if you can leave, you will. Why? Because if the love of the world is still in your heart like Lot's wife, you will go back. You will. It's just a matter of time before it shows up. But if the love of Christ is in you, really, you will not go back. You can't. Like Peter said. To whom? Peter had a wife and family. Peter had boats and nets he loved. Will you go back? No. No, this is my life. All right, where are we? Back to Exodus 21. Obviously, we're not going to cover every verse, but talked about, you know, the Gospels and all this, the city of refuge, city of refuge. And it talks about a man killing someone. He'll be killed. And look down at verse 23. Here's this eye for eye. If any mischief follow it, give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. I know some of you were That was ringing a bell with you, wasn't it? A gospel bell. But God's justice is just. It's effectual. It really is. He's a vengeance I will repay. This is why he tells us not to take vengeance, because he will someday. Every sin, Hebrews said, shall receive a just recompense of war. Can you imagine if someone killed someone you love and they were sentenced to life in prison? And here's how ridiculous man's justice is. He was given two life sentences. I thought we only lived once. That's man, we'll give him three. And he's paroled in seven years. He didn't serve life at all. There was no justice served at all. What if that man had killed your loved one? Vengeance. You'd want vengeance, wouldn't you? God says, vengeance is mine. I will repay. Every wrong shall be dealt with. Every right shall be rewarded in some way or another. God is just. He is just. So he tells us not to take vengeance in our own hands. He says, put away anger, wrath, malice, intent to do evil or hurt somebody. Don't do it. God says, I will. These men, we love westerns, don't we? Why? Because bad men get it coming. They got it coming. I love that line in Unforgiven. I guess he had it coming. Yeah, he did. But don't you love what Clint said? Stephen, he said, we all got it coming. We all got it coming. But God. Life for life. Life for life. He gave his life for our life that we might live. Soul that sins must surely die. Well, God made his soul an offering for sin. Eye for eye. Hand for hand. They nailed his hand. His hands only did good. His eye was good. The Lord one time says, If your eye be evil, pluck it out. His eyes were only good. And they smote him in the face till his eyes were closed. His hands went about doing good. His feet went about doing good. What does man do who is evil? His hands, his feet are filthy and sinful. What do they do to the Son of God? What did God do to the Son of God? Nail his hands, nail his feet, and that's your hands and your feet. Let him sin no more. Stripe for stripe. by his stripes." Isn't God good? Isn't justice wonderful? God's justice that said, you sinned, but God, who is merciful, said, I'm going to lay on my son the iniquity of you all, of all my people. I'm going to make him to be sinned for you. He who knew no sin, that you might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He's going to be punished, and you're going free. But you didn't go free. Your sins were punished in Him. By His stripes, you're healed. By His death, you live. That's justice and mercy. That's what that is. Justice and mercy. And then, don't you like this? Down in verse 30. He says, if it be laid on him a son of money and a ransom for his life, whoever is laid upon him, then that ransom is good enough. He don't have to die. He found a ransom. Does that sound familiar? Verse 33, it talks about a pit. A man dig a pit, something fall in it. Deliver him from going down into the pit. We dig ourselves a pit, don't we? People dig pits for us. He brought us up out of a horrible pit and set our feet on the rock because he found a ransom. Christ went into the pit. Christ went into the pit. Christ took our stripes. Christ took our punishment. Christ took our sins. The law says die, but the gospel says live. The law says guilty, and we're all guilty. But God says not guilty. Justify. How? How can this be? Because Christ died. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. How? He laid on Christ the iniquity of the Son. God's just. And the justifier. So the law is good, isn't it? The gospel is even better.