Please look to Exodus 21, turn to that passage, friends, and our text is found from verse 12 through to verse 17 in Exodus 21. As we continue our in-depth study of the book of the covenant we spoke about, the book of the covenant, which is found in the section But at the end of chapter 20 through to chapter 24, this collection of laws that God gave, His will, His laws represents God's practical application, friends, of the principles encapsulated within the Ten Commandments. So the Ten Commandments are now being applied to the to the nation of Israel. Now it is the Lord is showing sample text or sample samples of how they should use it. These are case studies or case laws. If you want to see the practical outworking of things, there's not just laws, but they are actually real. They are applicable to people's lives for the glory of God. So it addresses various issues. prevalent in Israel's society at that time. And within the context of the wilderness, we witness how God meticulously, we could say, works out these principles within the fabric of Israel's society. And so the groundwork of the book, of this covenant, is laid in Exodus 19. We've seen that, where we find ourselves at the foot of Mount Sinai. The nation of Israel had gathered together, God had called them, He'd rescued them out of Egypt, He'd brought them through, now they were at the foot of Mount Sinai. Exodus 20, the Lord introduces the Ten Commandments, inscribed by his very finger, showing that it is not going to change. It will remain as the law in people's hearts. And so that law has been written on your heart. Now it has been deformed, but the law of not stealing, not murdering, not on all of these things are upon your heart. And so your conscience speaks to you because God with his finger wrote it and he's inscribed it on your heart as well, as well as mine. And so he wrote it on those two tables of stone. And then what we find is that the actual code, the actual law, however, initiated in chapter 21 and verse one, but a prelude to it. is found in the context of Exodus 20. And so this theme carries through into chapter 23 and up to chapter 24. And friends, it's vital for us to distinguish the Book of the Covenant from the Ten Commandments. I try to explain that to you. While the Ten Commandments were etched in stone directly by God, the Book of the Covenant was transcribed by Moses onto parchment. The term ordinances or judgments that the Lord use, that is used here in verse one. It says that, now these are the judgments. Bistan shall set before them. That word. judgment that is used there it suggests this legal decisions influenced by by what has happened before what has been given before the guiding principles of the 10 commandments and so these laws were never intended dear friends to serve as an exhaustive legal code, but rather as illustrations, we could say. God is saying, this is how you are going to use it. This is these are the types of things. These are the ways that you will be putting these things into practice. So the principles are now being illustrated. So we have to distinguish between the two, the illustrations, the case laws, because they are not comprehensive. They are not about everything and anything. You'd see, you go and you, I was talking to a Muslim man and he said, you know, the Christians have such a small amount of laws, but in our legal code, we have laws about every single thing. Well, my friends, the God of the Bible gave the principles and gave illustrations. for how to use it. So that is something to think about. But also, it's essential to recognize that the book of the covenant, the book of these laws addresses a specific social and economic context in contrast to the broad and universal and transcendent principles presented in the Ten Commandments. So the Ten Commandments is for everybody at all times, everywhere. And so while the Ten Commandments lay down sweeping moral imperatives and commands, the Book of the Covenant is descriptive. It is applicatory. It is illustrative of the principles within the Ten Commandments. I've said this a number of times because I think it's helpful for you and I to remind ourselves of this. And so this collection comprises of negative prohibitions, so case laws, exhortations, in a contemporary civil law code. So it's a blend of variety, diverse elements, demonstrating God's earnestness and earnest desire for the principles of the Ten Commandments to permeate the entirety of Israel society. So this is what God is saying. God is saying, I want you, my people, Have my law throughout all of your life, in different aspects of your life. I don't want you to be without my law in any part of your life. I don't want you to have a sort of a secular life and say, this is my secular life, from Monday to, or from Sunday to Friday for the Jews, or for a Christian, Monday to Saturday, and then just have the word of God and the worship of God on Sundays. Do whatever you want during the week and then become religious on a Sunday. That's not what God wants. He's not merely concerned with personal private righteousness and say, well, my my home is a Christian home, but not my office, not my my checkbook, not my account, not my what I do with my business. The Lord's heart, if we could say this, beats for social justice in the sense of the welfare of the people amongst his people. He desires public morality. He desires fairness. And when I say social justice, I don't mean the kind of social justice that people talk about today. The Lord desires his principles to saturate the very code of his people's society. And so friends, we have already studied the subjects of worship as we began our journey, as it were, into the book of the covenant, this section of the book of Exodus. And it naturally commenced with the worship of God and the principles surrounding it. And then what we did in chapter 21, the early part of it, we encountered the subject of the great significance of slavery. And for those of you who were not there last week, you missed it, but you can listen to it about slavery. What does the Word of God say about this very controversial subject? And we said what we have in the Word of God is very different to what we normally think of, of slavery. God's book of the covenant starts by outlining just treatment of slaves. And this highlights God's deep concern for the most vulnerable and marginalized within his society. He cares for every member of the community. That's why these case laws are given. He's showing, I do care for all, especially for those who are very vulnerable and marginalized. He cares for every member of the community, not just for some, regardless of their station in life, He cares for them. And so today we want to think of another challenging topic, the death penalty, the death penalty. As soon as you say that, you think, well, we are against that, aren't we? Are we not against death penalty? isn't the nation, isn't our country since 1969, I wasn't born then, you were there, I don't know what you did that such laws were passed, but 1969, the death penalty was no longer applicable in this land and was over. And so when we talk about that, we think, well, that's something of the past. Most churches, even most evangelical churches don't believe in the death penalty. And they said, well, these things don't apply to us. What we read here is just something of old fashion. It's all related to Israel, and that's it. But as we dive into this passage, and that's all my concern is. My concern is not what you think. My concern is not what I think. My concern is what God says. That's the thing that is important for us. So as we delve into this passage, it's natural for us to have a number of questions. I'm sure it arises in your mind. You might find yourself pondering how a study of the Old Testament death penalty laws could possibly hold any practical relevance for the Christian life today. And you might think this is nonsense. We shouldn't be talking about that. Well, this is the issue, you see. When we are going through the Word of God, we have to deal with stuff. We can't jump over this and say this is not applicable. We have to deal with it and we have to say, what is God saying? Has God changed his mind? And if we say, well, I'm not going to agree with this part of the Bible, you have to ask yourself, what parts will you agree? Where do you draw the line? Where are you going to say, no, I will take this part and take that and leave the other part. You have to become an editor of the Bible. So you have, beyond the overarching debate about the moral rightness or wrongness of the death penalty, you might wonder how these ancient laws can be applicable to us at present time. On the other hand, some individuals, when confronted with a passage like this may question the morality that is presented in the Bible. They may struggle to reconcile the notion of a loving, kind and gracious God with the seemingly severe and exacting and demanding penalties and laws outlined here. And some people say, as I've heard, some people who claim to be Christians, they say, I don't believe in the Old Testament God. I believe in the New Testament God. And the New Testament God, they edit out the parts that they don't like. So they edit out anything about the Lord casting people in a place of darkness, which is called hell. They edit out that the God that we worship is a consuming fire that we have in the New Testament. But tonight, I would like to offer several responses to these questions and also make a case for the legitimacy of capital punishment or death penalty as an expression of, and you might be surprised, of God's love. It's an expression of God's love for humanity. And so I intend to approach this in three key ways. First, we'll examine verses 12 through to 14, where God provides us with a principle, an exemption and a clarification regarding capital punishment or death penalty. Then we'll turn to the New Testament, especially to the favorite passage that is often cited by those who argue that the New Testament cancels out and nullifies the Old Testament death penalty, which can be found in John chapter eight and verses one through to 11. I hope you have a Bible that has that passage in it. And then finally, we'll return to Exodus 21, and we would look at verses 15 through to 17, where we encounter three additional specific cases in which God commands the death penalty. So first of all, we want to think about God's high view of life is seen in the death penalty. God's high view of life is seen in the death penalty. I hope you hear me out. I hope you hear me out and actually see and look at the passage and study it for yourself. Now in verses 12 to 14 of Exodus 21, you will encounter a principle, an exemption and a clarification concerning the death penalty. found respectively in verses 12, 13, and 14. It may come as a surprise, dear friends, but I want to emphasize the point clearly. God's command regarding the death penalty in these verses are all about establishing a high view of life and nurturing a culture that values and upholds life. This is actually it. Does our culture values life? Does our culture value the life of the unborn? And people say, well, that's just, it's the woman's choice. The issue is, is it life? Do you say that baby in the womb is life? And then the culture that says, well, the old people, when you start losing your faculties, we'll just switch you off. We'll just put you to sleep. We'll just get rid of you. That's the culture in which we are living in, dear friends. And even when we talk about these issues now, within the NHS of our land, it is being discussed that there should be abortion right up to the point of birth. And even at birth, there was a doctor that I was listening to that he said that if an abortion takes place in this country, done by the taxpayer's money, and the abortion doesn't take place, doesn't go through in the sense that it has failed to kill the child, that child that is born is left to die by itself. That's unbelievable. This is our modern culture. It's our culture valuing life. Do you value life? So when we first read these verses, especially as modern Western people influenced by various cultural ideologies, it's common for our initial reaction to be one of shock and bewilderment. Let us read it. Verse 12, he that smiteth a man so that he die shall be surely put to death. The stern and concise nature of these penalties can be jarring for us. And to many contemporary sensibilities, these laws may seem to be seen as barbaric. Some may argue that they reflect the culture of death, suggesting that this society doesn't place a high value on human life. But I've just tried to say to you that actually, our culture does that. But we sanitize it. We say, we'll just give you a pill, and the child in the womb dies without you even realizing it. so the child won't implant into the mother's womb. That's quite sanitized. You don't know anything about it, and it's all done and dusted. Consequently, because of this kind of thinking, People conclude that these commands have little to teach us in today's world. And even though even some theologians and supposed to be Christians, they identify as Christians, they grapple with similar questions when they read these passages. So what should we do with these verses? How should we interpret them? What can we learn from them and what is their significance for us today? These are all important questions that you ought to be asking. Certainly, let's now look into this. Look at verse 12. and 13 and 14 to gain better understanding. So in verse 12, we encounter what I call a categorical command that provides us with a foundational principle. So the principle is laid down. This principle will subsequently be applied in specific situations with particular qualification and exemptions. that you have in verses 13 to 17. You work through it. You see, people want to be spoon-fed about these things, but you have to work through these things one by one and see it for yourself. And so I'm just trying to push you to do your study. So in verse 12, It offers us this initial categorical command, which is as follows. He that smiteth a man so that he die shall be surely put to death. So let's explore the continuity of this principle. Here in verse 12, we essentially find a restatement of a principle that God has had previously told and conveyed through Moses in Genesis chapter nine. It's nothing new. It's not a new law. But in Genesis chapter nine, especially verses five and six, I'll just read it to you. Genesis nine, verses five and six. Moses is not introducing a new concept of a capital punishment here. Rather, he's enforcing it. So look at verse five of Genesis nine. It says, and surely your blood of your lives will I require. At the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man, at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso shedeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. For in the image of God made he man. And that's the key. For in the image of God made he man. That's why we have no right to take anyone's life. We have no right to take anyone's life by our own judgments. because they have been made, every person you included, you've been made in the image of God. And that's so important for you to grasp. So Moses is not introducing something new here. God is not introducing something new, but it goes all the way back to Genesis chapter nine. And so God had already articulated his divine command. But to further clarify, let's turn again to chapter nine and verses five and six of Genesis and think through the words, dear friends. And surely your blood of your lives will I require. At who? At the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man, at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. So if that beast or that man has shed that man's blood and taken the life of that person, then God requires their life. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. For in the image of God made he man. So this is a principle established in Genesis. And it serves as a foundation for the command in chapter 21 of Exodus. Notice now two or three things. In Genesis 9 and verse 5, it emphasizes the accountability of all creatures, both animals and men, to God for the taking of human life. You're accountable. I'm accountable for the taking of life. And that's how seriously God takes human life. He holds every animal as well as men accountable to him for the taking of human life. And secondly, in verse six of Genesis nine, the principle of capital punishment is instituted in this connection and grounded in the doctrine that is man has been made in the image of God. Why is it that when man wrongfully sheds man's blood, By man shall his blood be shed. Why is that done? Because in the image of God created a man. An assault on a human, the wrongful taking of life of a human life is an assault on God. So this is the thing. We are assaulting God. We are attacking the image of God. That's what we are doing. So capital punishment, death penalty, even in the In the post fall, after the fall in that world, Moses says, is designed to uphold the sanctity of life and the preciousness of man in the image of God, even though the image is defaced by the fall of man into sin. And even though man has grievously sinned against God, yet the image of God is still in man. So that is telling you, you and I, we are precious in the sight of God. Every child is precious, and it doesn't matter how they have come into this world. Still, they are precious. If it is through rape, if it is through a person is in a broken home, if they're suffering with great difficulties, if they have been disabled, if they have fallen and they are no longer able to walk, Their life is precious, dear friends. This is how God takes it. And we need to see the preciousness of lives. But then if you go back now to Exodus 21, and verses 12 to 13, it's going to elaborate on three commands that you have already heard in the Ten Commandments. It's the fifth command. honoring father and mother. There's a sixth commandment. There's the eighth commandment, not to murder, not to steal. That includes man stealing, stealing of a person's life, murder, kidnapping. honoring your father and mother. It's all paralleled in this passage. So we are seeing societal application. So the word of God, the 10 commandments are now being applied in society. And verse 12 in Exodus 21, the reference here is to the premeditated criminal homicide. It's the ultimate offense against the image of God. It's not talking about accidental death. It's talking about premeditated murder. Someone is deciding, I'm going to end this life. I'm going to attack this person or whatever. So the principle is when man does that kind of murder, his life is required. And then immediately, verse 13, the law of asylum is given. An exemption is given. And if a man lie not in wait, so the person is not waiting to kill that person, but God deliver him into his hand. Then I will appoint thee a place where there he shall flee. So there's this exemption. There's a place of escape. There's a place of, of being, uh, far from this, this point of being punished. The exemption is made in the case of a manslaughter on premeditated murder. And in that case, the perpetrator has the opportunity to flee to a place of refuge until such time as his case can be judged. Now we see that the blood that is caused in the fight, and also private justice in background to Exodus 21 and this section. Dear friends, in the ancient Middle East, in their culture, where societal justice was not terribly highly developed, family justice, private justice, people taking their own thoughts and law into their own hand. sort of vigilante law, and family blood feuds were common. In fact, today you hear it as well. You hear, especially within Islamic cultures, and you hear a daughter being murdered by the father, and you say, how can a father does that? To kill his own daughter? You see it in other cultures too, in Hindu cultures, in animist African cultures. You see that even today. And you hear it in the news from time to time. That kind of a thing happened, then it happens today. And what God is saying, you can't take a man's life just the way you want. You can't just go ahead and just do whatever you want. No, there is a law that is given. So that kind of a thing was quite common in the days in which Moses was writing and what you see actually in in Exodus 13 or 21 verse 13 is God putting boundaries on blood feuds and putting into process principles which would restrict private vigilante justice and would establish proper justice operated through the judgments of elders and judges. So it says you can't do your own thing. There is going to be places of refuge, which is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. We seek refuge in him. But these things were given in that culture under the law of God. So then moving on to verse 14, you see a law against the abuse of the law of the asylum. In verse 13, we saw that if a person had committed manslaughter, He had not premeditated it, but it happened through an accident or something like that. You have that law. He had the opportunity to seek asylum in a place of refuge until that case was judged by the judges. But if he had committed premeditated murder, he is to be taken from the altar of God. and execute it. You see that in verse 14. But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbor to slay him with guile, so he has deceived a man like Cain with his brother, thou shalt take him from mine altar that he may die, it says. So in other words, God is protecting against an abuse of this provision because of the value of human life. Now, What do we do with all of this? Let me just say a few things. First, it is a gross misinterpretation of the sixth commandment to say that it forbids capital punishment. So people say, oh, well, God says, do not murder, thou shalt not kill. And so, but God is saying here to kill. There's inconsistency there. People say, well, that's, you misunderstood it. You're not really reading it properly. You're not thinking properly. And people might be just looking for some inconsistencies, but they haven't really thought things through carefully. So let me explain this. Some people say, well, there it says not to kill, but here it says it is allowed to kill and actually promote it. The sixth commandment, it doesn't forbid all putting life to death. It doesn't forbid capital punishment or all kinds of taking of human life. And that is clear from the context of this passage that we are reading. Unless Moses got really confused between chapter 20 and chapter 21 in then these two things go together. Whatever a person thinks of capital punishment, it is clear that Moses did not see it as incompatible with the sixth commandment. And there are many Christians today, who claim to be Christians, who believe that the death penalty and the capital punishment is absolutely immoral. I've read statements by supposed Christians and the Christian churches who speak against capital punishment, and I'll quote it to you. But these are people who say, well, actually, no, we have to move away from the Bible. They say this, and I'll quote. This is from one letter. All human life is sacred, even the life of the criminal. And every person who claims to be pro-life must seriously reflect on this. Society doesn't need the death penalty to protect itself. Long-term incarceration, that is being put in jail, is sufficient. The death penalty promotes a culture of violence and revenge and death. The death penalty is not a deterrent to crime. The criminal justice system is flawed with racial disparities and therefore the death penalty is invalid. The race of the victim determines who ends up on death row. Innocent people have been sentenced to death. Juvenile offenders are not excluded from execution. The death penalty is more costly than life in prison and so on. These are the arguments that are given. Let me say a few things. I want you to understand that here in Exodus 21 and in Genesis 9, that the biblical and the theological ground for supporting death penalty are different from political ground. These are all political grounds. There's no appeal to deterrent. You will not ever find anywhere in the Bible that death penalty will deter violent crime. It will deter it for that individual, but they won't do it again. But it's not for other people. And so that's not an argument. There's no appeal to vengeance in the Bible. There's no appeal to cost effectiveness in the Bible. There's no appeal to protection because the Bible's reason, dear friends, and this is the thing that we must get into our heads and hearts. The Bible's reason for the death penalty are God's image and the sanctity of life. God's image and the sanctity of life. That is why God says that the life of the perpetrator of murder is to be taken. In other Near Eastern laws, law codes, penalties for violent acts vary depending on the social status of the victim. And so if you had a certain social status, this law wouldn't apply to you and so on. That's the kind of attitude that various cultures had. But in God's law, every life was precious. So in the old Roman law, life of a child, they said that, oh, the child will not actually be a real person until the age of one, or some people would say the age of three. So you said that that person isn't the real person. What would you say to that? And, and, and, and so on. There are various arguments that various cultures give, but the, but the word of God says, no, every life is precious. Every life. is precious. The right of every victim were protected. And so showing the ground of death penalty, not in economic rationale, not in deterrent, not in penal rationale, but in the image of God. That's why Moses, that's why God imposes the death penalty here. Now, the second thing I want to say is what the Lord Jesus Christ says, and the account that people referred to oftentimes in John's Gospel, in chapter eight, John's Gospel, chapter eight. If you turn to that passage very quickly, we'll just pass it through as fast as we can. But the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament and the New Testament nowhere contradicts the principle of life for life because of the image of God. So the Lord Jesus Christ upholds these things. What does the Lord Jesus says about these things? What about the Lord Jesus and that woman who was caught in adultery? You know that account in John chapter eight. The Pharisees bring this woman who is caught in adultery. They say in verse one or verse four, I should say, they say unto him, master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned. But what thou sayest, they say. This is what the law of Moses says, but what would you say? Then we read this. It says, this they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. So he says, what are you saying here? Those who among you that are without sin, let that person first cast the stone. Then they run away one after another, they leave the place. Then he says to this woman, go and sin no more. That passage is often appealed to as proving that Jesus Christ overturned the death penalty. I want to say a couple of things about that. First of all, I need to say publicly that we must uphold and defend this passage as inspired as an infallible authoritative word because it is in the canon of God's holy scripture. If you have a modern Bible, dear friends, you most likely will have, at least in the margin, if this passage hasn't been removed from that modern Bible, at least you will have it in the margin that this passage is not found in the best manuscripts of the Greek manuscripts. But modern Bibles base their translation on the minority text of the Greek New Testament. And so there will be a marginal reading. But my friends, we defend and uphold this passage as the inspired and infallible Word of God. But I want you to notice a couple of things. Note that the Lord Jesus Christ does not condemn Moses's penalty in this passage. He condemns and he defers its administration in this case until specific circumstances. What are those circumstances? What are two of the circumstances? Well, first of all, let me ask you a question. Where was the guy? Where is the man? Do you see a man there? Did they catch the man? They catch the woman, but where is the man? That's something important for us to consider here. If you are caught in the very act, as they said, there has to be two people. But there isn't. Where is the man? So there is already a miscarriage of justice going on. This woman has been, and somehow the man with whom she was committing this crime has got away. So the Lord Jesus Christ would not have it. Bring the man as well. Then we'll see. Secondly, you remember our Lord's words. He that is without sin, he who is without sin. In this context, those very words, probably mean the one who among you who is not guilty of this sin cast the first stone. In other words, the Lord Jesus Christ is drawing attention to the hypocrisy of these Pharisees which are about to bring to bear the ultimate penalty against this woman and they themselves are guilty of these very same crimes. The Lord is saying, you yourselves have done these things. That's why they're blushing, that's why they're ashamed, that's why they leave. They don't come back and say, oh, what are you talking about? They don't retaliate, they don't say anything. Yes, the Lord Jesus Christ and his mercy is all over this passage, all throughout it. His concern is to call into question the legitimacy of the Pharisees' justice by drawing attention to their own hypocrisy. There are very special circumstances going on in this passage. Let me say that turning the other cheek isn't relevant either because the death penalty isn't a matter of revenge. It's not a matter of retaliation. It's a matter of protecting the sanctity of life because of the image of God. Now, very quickly, finally, The third thing is this, that God's death penalty commands here are all about establishing a high view of family and human freedom. It's establishing high view of family and human freedom. Now, very quickly, go back to chapter 21 of Exodus and look at verses 15 through to 17. And he that smiteth his father, his mother shall be surely put to death and so on. There are three specific cases and two categories for the death penalty in application. The first verse is verse 15. this verse and the following verses, they make emphatic the importance that biblical religion places an integrity of the family and respect for parental authority, which we don't have today. Verse 15 addresses violent assault on a parent, probably an older child, and verse 17, deals with verbal abuse, not of a common sort, but of a very particular sort of apparent by, again, an older child. It's dealing with flagrant verbal violation of the principle of Exodus 20 and verse 12, honoring thy father and thy mother. And it probably denotes a parent with utter contempt and humiliation. Now, the penalty assigned Here is the thing that probably takes our breath away more than anything else in the whole of this passage. Death. Death for striking a parent or death for cursing a parent in verse 16. And he that stealeth a man and selleth him or if he be found in his hand shall surely be put to death. You see a command with regard to man stealing or kidnapping. In the background of this is obviously the prevalence of the slave trade. Other law, those other law codes treated kidnapping as a mere economic offense. So there were other laws in other nations. They said it was just merely an offense but for economy. But once again, God treats it as a gross moral offense. And so again, we see God establishing human rights in a culture of life through the death penalty for kidnapping here. But what do we say? What do we say to this command that says to put to death these children who were striking father or mother or cursing father or mother? The Lord Jesus Christ even quotes this passage in the New Testament. Obviously, one way we could apply this command is our society is realizing that absolute vital importance of the continuation of of society with regard to the family. If the family breaks down the society will be gone dear friends. The heart of a society is the family and so what happens to a nation where governments are trying to destroy the family and that's what we have in our in our culture more and more. We need a to battle for the family in a crumbling culture. And this is one of those passages, however, I would say that it is especially designed to strike us with the exceeding sinfulness of sin. A lot of times when we come to a passage like this, the reason that we recoil, we don't like it, is that the Penalty seems disappropriate and disproportionate, I should say, to the crime. And I understand that. I struggle with that. And let me suggest that many people recoil from this passage because they don't believe what the Apostle Paul said in Romans chapter six. What does he say in Romans chapter six? The wages of sin is what? Is prison? No, the wages of sin is death, the Apostle Paul says. You know, there are far more shocking examples of that in the Bible than this passage that we have been talking about. The most shocking example, do you want to know the most shocking example? Of all that is, we find in the Word of God is the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the most shocking thing that you find in the Word of God and people won't blush at it. The very people who say, no, this is all wrong. They won't blush at the fact that God sent forth his son into this world to pay the price of our sin and our shame. If you don't believe that the wages of sin is death, all you have to do is to look at the cross of Jesus Christ. If you don't think that God is serious about sin, you must look at the cross of Jesus Christ and think, what happened there on the cross? This is one of those many passages in the Bible, in the book of Exodus, that just reminds us of how horrible sin is, what sin deserves, and how awesome a thing it is for our gracious God to forgive forgive that very sin at the cost of the death of His only begotten Son. So think on these things, dear friends. So the word of God upholds this form. The will of God is the death of those who steal a man's life, those who premeditatively take away a man's life. The word of God upholds the sanctity of life. May you and I, and may in time our nation, would value life too. Amen.