Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Good morning, everyone.
Welcome to our services this morning here at Faithful Word Baptist Church.
Very good to see you all here for our Sunday morning service.
Find your seats, please, and take a psalm book.
Go to hymn number 56 to get started this morning.
Hymn number 56.
When we all get to heaven.
Hymn number 56.
We'll sing it out nice and strong starting on that verse.
56.
Hymn number 56.
Sing the wondrous love of Jesus.
Hymn number 56.
Sing the wondrous love of Jesus.
Sing his mercy and his grace.
In the mansion, bright and blessed.
He'll bring care for us a place.
When we all get to heaven.
What a day of rejoicing that will be.
When we all see Jesus.
We'll sing and shout the victory.
While we walk the hill.
Round that plain glass.
We'll go over and spread the sky.
But when traveling days are over.
Not a shadow, not a sign.
When we all get to heaven.
What a day of rejoicing that will be.
When we all see Jesus.
We'll sing and shout the victory.
Let us send the true and faithful.
Trusting, serving every day.
Just one glimpse of heaven and glory.
Well, the joys of life today.
When we all get to heaven.
What a day of rejoicing that will be.
When we all see Jesus.
We'll sing and shout the victory.
Onward to the Christ before us.
Soon His beauty will be whole.
Still the early gates will open.
We shall spread the streets of God.
When we all get to heaven.
What a day of rejoicing that will be.
When we all see Jesus.
We'll sing and shout the victory.
Amen.
That's a good start to our singing this morning.
We want to go before the Lord and ask for his blessing on this service.
I ask for the next Macintosh if you please.
Thank you for allowing us to be gathered here this morning.
We pray that you would bless this singing and fill Pastor Anderson with the power of your Holy Spirit as he preaches to us later.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Number 43 begins, come we that love the Lord.
And let our joys be known. That means you have to sing it out with me this morning.
Number 43. Him number 43. Sing it out now.
Come we that love the Lord.
And let our joys be known.
Join in the song that's sweet of Lord.
You are God, but children of the heavenly King.
But children of the heavenly King.
They speak their joys abroad.
We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion.
We're marching onward to Zion, the beautiful city of God.
The hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred sweets.
Before we reach the heavenly pew.
Or was the golden streams, or was the golden streams?
We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion.
We're marching onward to Zion, the beautiful city of God.
Then let our songs abound and every tear be tried.
We're marching through Emmanuel's crown.
To fairer worlds on high, to fairer worlds on high.
We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion.
We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God.
Thank you for singing.
All right.
At this time, we'll go through our announcements together.
If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high.
We'll get to you with one.
On the inside we have our service time.
Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service.
Sunday nights at six.
Wednesday nights at seven is our Bible study.
This week we will be in 2 Chronicles chapter 34.
We've got the soul winning times listed there below.
As well as salvations and baptisms.
Across the page are the birthdays and anniversaries for
the month of February.
And then on the back we've got the list of expectant ladies.
Please pray for them to have a safe and healthy pregnancy and
delivery.
We've got a baby shower today.
All ladies and teenage girls are invited to attend.
We'd rather that you leave the kids at home, but nurselings are
okay.
And food will be provided.
And so again, that's at two o'clock.
Don't be shy if you don't know Lola.
Because again, all ladies and girls are invited to these
things.
And so we'd love for you to show up and just enjoy some
fellowship.
Meet some new people.
Other upcoming events.
February 19th we've got pastor Jonathan Shelley preaching here
on Wednesday night.
Then next month, March 12th, we've got pastor Corbin Ressel
preaching here as well.
So those are some special Wednesday nights.
Mark the calendar for those.
And then of course we've got the mission strip coming up in
March.
That is about it for announcements.
Let's go ahead and sing our next song.
We're going to do the answer in front of your hymnal with Psalm
126.
If you don't have an answer, please raise your hand.
You'll receive one.
And we'll sing it on that verse together.
When the Lord turned again, the captivity of Zion.
Psalm 126.
When the Lord turned again, the captivity of Zion.
We were like that, that dream.
That was our mouth filled with laughter.
We were like that, that dream.
That was our mouth filled with laughter.
We were like that, that dream.
That was our mouth filled with laughter.
We were like that, that dream.
That dream.
That was our mouth filled with laughter.
And our dog was singing.
Then said they among the heat.
Then the Lord had done great things for them.
The Lord had done great things for us.
Whereof we are glad.
Turn again our captivity.
Oh, Lord.
As the streams in the south.
They that sow in tears shall ring.
Oh, Lord.
As the streams in the south.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
Then said they among the heat.
Then the Lord had done great things for them.
The Lord had done great things for us.
Whereof we are glad.
He that goeth forth and cleaveth.
Bearing flesh to see.
Shout doubtless,
Come again.
Shout doubtless,
Come again.
Shout doubtless,
Come again.
Shout out, let's come again with rejoicing.
When he did, she's with him.
There's a day of unbelieving.
The Lord has done great things for them.
The Lord has done great things for us.
Whereof we are glad.
Amen.
Good singing, everybody.
Go to hymn number 441, your psalm looks now
number 441.
Keep up the good singing.
We'll sing great is thy faithfulness.
Hymn number 441.
441, great is thy faithfulness,
O God my Father.
Hymn number 441.
Lift it up now.
Great is thy faithfulness,
O God my Father.
There is no shadow of turning with Thee.
Thou changest not the confessions they failed not.
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.
Great is thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness,
Lord unto me.
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon, and stars and their forces above,
Joy with all nature and painful witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.
Great is thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness,
Lord unto me.
Heart and for sin and up whose path in Your hand
Thy oh near presence to cheer and to guide,
Strength for today and bridal for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside.
Great is thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness,
Lord unto me.
All right, at this time, we'll quickly pass our offering plates.
As the plates go around, let's turn in our Bibles to Numbers chapter 35.
Numbers chapter 35, as we always do. We'll read the entire chapter, beginning in verse number 1.
Numbers chapter 35, follow along silently with brother Corbin Brock as he reads.
Numbers chapter 35.
And the Lord spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying,
Command the children of Israel that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in,
and ye shall give also unto the Levites suburbs for the cities round about them.
And the cities shall they have to dwell in, and the suburbs of them shall be for their cattle
and for their goods and for all their beasts.
And the suburbs of the cities, which ye shall give unto the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the city,
and outward, a thousand cubits round about.
And ye shall measure from without the city on the east side 2,000 cubits, and on the south side 2,000 cubits,
and on the west side 2,000 cubits, and on the north side 2,000 cubits,
and the cities shall be in the midst, this shall be to them the suburbs of the cities.
And among the cities which you shall give unto the Levites there shall be six cities for refuge
Which you shall appoint for the manslayer that he may flee thither and to them ye shall add forty and two cities
So all the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be forty and eight cities
them shall you give with their suburbs and
The cities which you shall give shall be of the possession of the children of Israel from them that have many you shall give many
But from them that have few you shall give few
everyone shall give of his cities under the Levites according to his inheritance which he inheriteth and
the Lord spake unto Moses saying
Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them when you become over Jordan into the land of Canaan
Then you shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you that the Slayer may flee thither
which killeth any person at unawares and
They shall be unto you cities for refuge from the avenger that the manslayer die not
Until he stand before the congregation in judgment and of these cities which he shall give six cities shall you have for refuge?
You shall give three cities on this side Jordan and three cities shall you give in the land of Canaan which shall be cities of
Refuge these six cities shall be a refuge both for the children of Israel and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them
that everyone that killeth any person unawares may flee thither and
If he smite him with an instrument of iron so that he died he is a murderer
the murderer shall surely be put to death and
If he smite him with throwing a stone wherewith he may die and he died
He is a murderer the murderer shall surely be put to death
Or if he smite him with an hand weapon of wood
Wherewith he may die and he die he is a murderer the murderer shall be put to death
death. The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer when he meeteth
him, he shall slay him. But if he thrust him of hatred or hurl at him by laying
of weight that he die, or in enmity smite him with his hand that he die, he that
smote him shall surely be put to death. For he is a murderer, the revenger of
blood shall slay the murderer when he meeteth him. But if he thrust him
suddenly without enmity, or have cast upon him anything without laying of
weight, or with any stone wherewith a man may die, seeing him not, and cast it
upon him that he die, and was not his enemy, neither sought his harm, then the
congregation shall judge between the slayer and the revenger of blood
according to these judgments. And the congregation shall deliver the slayer
out of the hand of the revenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him
to the city of his refuge, whither he was fled. And he shall abide in it until the
death of the high priest, which is anointed with the holy oil. But if the
slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of his refuge,
whither he was fled, and the revenger of blood find him without the borders of
the city of his refuge, and the revenger of blood kill the slayer, he shall not be
guilty of blood, because he should have remained in the city of his refuge until
the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the slayer
shall return into the land of his possession. So these things shall be for
a statute of judgment unto you throughout your generations in all your
dwellings. Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the
mouth of witnesses. But one witness shall not testify against any person to cause
him to die. Moreover, he shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer,
which is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. And he shall take
no satisfaction for him that is fled to the city of refuge, that he should come
again to dwell in the land until the death of the priest. So you shall not
pollute the land wherein you are, for blood it defileth the land, and the land
cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him
that shed it. Defile not therefore the land which you shall inhabit, wherein I
dwell, for I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel.
Father in heaven, we thank you for this beautiful day you've given us. We thank
you that the Word of God is true and that it endureth forever. We ask now
that you would bless Pastor Anderson and give him wisdom and boldness to preach
the Word of God unto us. And Lord, may we have ready ears to hear these things and
may they sink deeply down into our ears. We ask for your blessing now on all
these things. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Man, this morning I'm preaching on the
subject of murderers, and I'm continuing my series that I started last Sunday on
Revelation 21 8. Of course Revelation 21 8 is one of my favorite verses to use
out soul winning, and of course it says, but the fearful and the unbelieving, the
abominable, murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall
have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which
is the second death. And the reason that I use this verse out soul winning is
because a lot of people think that you'll only go to hell if you've done
something really bad like murder or sorcery, but then if we look at some of
the other things on that list, they are things that pretty much everybody has
been guilty of at one time or another, right? The fearful, being a coward,
unbelieving. We've all acted in a way that showed that we lacked faith at one
time or another, and of course all liars is pretty much the catch-all that just
gets everybody. And so it's a verse that I use a lot out soul winning. I've been
going soul winning a lot lately, and I had this verse just kind of drilled into
my head from using it so much, and so I decided to just do a series breaking
down each item on the list and talking about them, because obviously those of us
who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, we are going to
heaven because we've been forgiven of all these things, right? So all our sins
are forgiven and forgotten. As far as the East is from the West, so far has God
separated us from our sins. We're born again. We have eternal life. Nothing can
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. But that
being said, we still want to live in such a way that we would be pleasing to God,
and if these are a list of things that brings God's wrath upon the unsaved to
the point that he would prepare a place for them in hell, then obviously we don't
want to do these things that are so repugnant in the eyes of God. We don't
want to be fearful. We don't want to be unbelieving. We don't want to be
abominable, and we certainly don't want to be murderers, okay? So last Sunday
morning I preached on the fearful. Sunday night I preached on the unbelieving, and
then Friday night I preached at Anchor Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, and I
took the series on the road, and I preached on the abominable, because in
the age of the internet it's pretty easy to get caught up if you're that worried
about missing that abominable sermon. Well, you know, it wasn't an
abominable sermon, but it was a sermon about the abominable. Then you
could go back and listen to that online. By the way, we had a great service in
Oklahoma City. We had 132 people in attendance, and so it's exciting to be
in that kind of service, and, you know, I believe that Pastor Dylan Awes is going to
do great things in Oklahoma, and so I'm looking forward to that. But this morning
we're going to talk about murderers, right? And this is one that you might
just think, oh, I already know everything about this. You know, don't kill people.
But, you know, there's a little more to it than that in the Bible, and I think that
Numbers chapter 35 is really the best chapter to really delve into the
specifics of what constitutes murder, because out of 43 times that the word
murder or murderer is used in the Bible, 11 of them are in this one chapter. This
is the first mentioned in a King James Bible of the word murder. Obviously we
know that Cain murdered Abel, but as far as using the word murder, Numbers 35 is
kind of the murder chapter, right? And the first thing that you need to
understand is that what the Bible considers murder is what we would call
in 2025 America first-degree murder, right? So when the Bible talks about
murder, it's talking about what we would specifically call first-degree murder,
and what does that mean? It means that it's something that is premeditated,
purposeful killing of another person. Now if you would, look at verse 16, and we're
going to look at the specifics of what constitutes murder according to the
Bible. It says in verse number 16, if he smite him with an instrument of iron so
that he die, he is a murderer, the murderer shall be put to death, shall
surely be put to death. Verse 17, if he smite him with a throwing stone, right?
And obviously the analogy for this today would be shooting a gun, right? You're
just throwing the stone a little bit faster. Wherewith he may
die and he die, he's a murderer, the murderer shall surely be put to death. Or
if he smite him with a hand weapon of wood, wherewith he may die and he die, he
is a murderer, the murderer shall surely be put to death. Now this may seem a
little bit redundant to you, right? Three verses in a row that are all
specifically focusing on the implement that is used, and I think that the idea
here that the Word of God is trying to get across is that if someone kills
someone with their bare hands, there's a pretty good chance that it wasn't
premeditated or that it was an accident, right? You hear about situations where
someone just punches someone or just shoves someone and accidentally kills
that person. Well, it's very likely that it was an accident, but what the Bible is
saying is if you come at someone with a crowbar or a baseball bat or a knife or
something like that and you kill them and then, oh whoops, didn't mean to kill
them, you know what, that's unlikely because you're assaulting them with what?
A deadly weapon. And a lot of these ideas that we have in our modern jurisprudence
come from the Bible. They come from Scripture. Unfortunately, we don't follow
Scripture as well as we should in our justice system, but there are a lot of
things that have still made their way into our justice system, and so assault
with a deadly weapon is what we're talking about here. If you're using a
baseball bat, if you're using a crowbar, if you're beating someone with something
or hurling a projectile at them, then you should understand that that is assault
with a deadly weapon, and if you kill someone doing that, then that is murder,
okay? Look at verse number 19. It says, the revenger of blood shall himself slay
the murderer when he meeteth him. He shall slay him. Now, the idea here is that
the murderer, according to Scripture, the person who's guilty of first-degree
murder, automatically gets the death penalty. There is no other punishment
that is allowed. There's no decision where we go and we have a sentencing
hearing and we decide what the punishment is. Only one punishment is
acceptable for the murderer, and that punishment is death, which is why there's
no hearing needed. The murderer, as soon as the revenger of blood finds him, he
just kills him. He just kills him and speedily brings justice to the revenger
of blood. Look at verse number 20, by the revenger of blood, I should say. Verse 20,
it says, but if he thrust him of hatred or hurled at him by lying of weight, that
he die, or an enmity smite him with his hand, that he die, he that smote him shall
surely be put to death, for he is a murderer. The revenger of blood shall
slay the murderer when he meet him. Now, this particular Scripture is emphasizing
the premeditation aspect of murder in the Bible, and notice that he is smiting
him because of enmity. He's doing it in enmity, right? In verse 20, it says he
thrust him of hatred. So what are we seeing with the hatred and the enmity? A
motive to kill, right? And then it says that he lies in wait for him. That's the
premeditation. And so we can see these elements are there. Premeditation, a
motive, and killing that person. It could be considered murder even if it's done
with the bare hands, but if it's done with a weapon, that even speaks more to
the fact that it was premeditated and intent to kill was there. And so that's
what the Bible is saying. So murder, first three murder, requires premeditation and
or a motive, according to the Bible. Look at verse 22. It says, but if he thrust him
suddenly without enmity. So this is what we would call second-degree murder, right?
Because first-degree murder is premeditated. You have a motive going in.
You plan it. Whereas second-degree murder is what we would call a crime of passion
where someone just kind of loses it in the moment and just kills someone on the
spur of the moment because they lost their temper. And so that's what it means
when it says he thrust him suddenly, meaning, you know, spur of the moment, not
lying in wait, didn't hate him in the past, suddenly without enmity, or have
cast upon him anything without laying of weight, or with any stone wherewith a man
may die, seeing him not and cast it upon him. Now we're talking about accidentally
killing someone, right? You know, you throw a rock and, oh, I didn't see that you were
standing where I was about to throw that rock, and cast it upon him that he die
and was not his enemy. No motive, right? Neither sought his harm. Then the
congregation shall judge between the slayer and the revenger of blood
according to these judgments. So what the Bible is saying is that there could be
crimes of passion, second-degree murder. Those things need to be dealt with in a
court of law, and you have to adjudicate those things and figure out, okay, what's
going on here, was this on purpose, was this an accident, what's going to be the
punishment, and so forth. Whereas first-degree murder is a foregone
conclusion, death penalty. No trial needed. Anybody who is guilty of this is just
put to death immediately, okay? Whereas second-degree murder or the accidental
killing of someone through negligence, we would call that manslaughter, right? So
what are some examples of manslaughter in our modern world? For example, let's
say you get in the car and you're driving a hundred miles an hour down the
freeway. You're not supposed to be driving a hundred miles an hour down the
freeway. You're breaking the law, you're being irresponsible, you're being
reckless, you're being negligent, and then let's say you just accidentally kill
someone. That's not murder because you didn't go out and set out to kill
someone. It's not even second-degree murder because you didn't just in the
moment say, I'm going to kill somebody right now, but rather you were doing
something wrong and you killed someone accidentally, but you're guilty because
you were doing something wrong. You were going a hundred miles an hour, okay? Now
let's say you're driving down the road and you're following the speed limit,
you're doing everything right, and somebody jumps in front of your car.
That's not manslaughter because you weren't doing anything wrong. You're just
going about your business, you're driving, and then that person died. That's just
called an accident, you know, and if you're doing everything right, people can
still accidentally get killed. These things happen, you're not guilty. What are
some other examples? Well, let's say, you know, you're just being reckless. Let's
say you you drink alcohol or something and then you go operate machinery while
you're drunk and then you have some industrial accident and kill someone,
right? Again, that's manslaughter because you're operating the machine drunk.
Whereas if you were following the rules, operating the machine, doing what you're
supposed to do, somebody gets killed, that's just an accident. Does everybody see
the difference? But the idea here is that you have human beings, you have judges
that are supposed to think about these things, figure things out according to
all these judgments. So they've read the Bible, they know what the Word of God
says about right and wrong, and then they can sit down and think about these
things and decide what's going on in a given situation, okay? But when it comes
to first-degree murder, we're not supposed to sit around and think about,
you know, how to handle it. It's just, you just kill the guy. That's just what the
Bible says. Does everybody understand the difference? Whereas there are other
things that are gray areas. And this is why it's important that our justice
system does have a human being sitting as a judge, human beings in the jury to
be able to, you know, figure out these kind of gray areas and decide what's
right and wrong in a given situation according to biblical principles.
Because let's face it, the Bible does not spell out every exact situation that
you're ever going to run into in your life. And so the idea is that you take
the biblical principles that you learn from the examples that are given, and
then you apply those to the things that are not mentioned, okay? And this goes
for all areas of Bible study. Let's say you want to know what God thinks about
marijuana or cocaine or heroin. You know, you're doing a Bible search and you're
typing in heroin. Zero hits, you know. Cocaine is zero hits. I guess God just
has no opinion. Christian liberty. No, the idea here is that you look at what God
says about alcohol and then you extrapolate that out and say, well, this
is what God is saying about alcohol. Other mind-altering chemicals and
substances are going to be in that same category. And so whatever he's saying
about alcohol should also be applied to the use of other drugs, okay? And we can
always extrapolate those things out because God can't sit there and spell
out every situation you're going to encounter in your life. And so we're
constantly in our lives making decisions, and so we need to make those decisions
based upon biblical principles. And the best way to do this is to just eat,
breathe, and sleep this book, you know, and just really know the Bible. And if
you're just living in the Bible and just meditating in God's Word day and night,
then when you get hit with situations, you can kind of think about them the way
God approaches things and the way God thinks about things because that has
become your worldview. And so that's the idea here with second-degree murder and
or manslaughter. Okay, so let's go to verse 25. Let's keep moving through this
passage. It says, And the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand
of the revenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to the
city of refuge whither he was fled, and he shall abide in it until the death of
the high priest which was anointed with the holy oil. Now, there's a lot going on
in this verse, but the idea here is that the revenger of blood is some kind of a
friend, family member, or just somebody who's interested in putting the murderer
to death. Now, if he has committed first-degree murder, then go right ahead
and kill him and make things right. But in a situation where it's second-degree
murder or manslaughter, well then we need to deliver this guy out of the hand of
the revenger of blood because we don't want the revenger of blood to be guilty
of murder. If the revenger of blood kills an innocent person, now he's a murderer.
Whereas if the revenger of blood kills someone who is guilty, then he is doing
the work of God. He is actually doing right. Okay, and so the person who has
committed second-degree murder or manslaughter has to go to a place called
the city of refuge. So God ordained that there would be these six different cities
of refuge in the land of Israel. There would be three on the west side of the
Jordan River and three on the east side of the Jordan River. And the idea behind
having six of them is that they're easy to get to because if it's too far to get
there, you know, this bounty hunter is going to get you before you even get
there and get safe and have a chance to state your case. And so the city of
refuge is like a neutral ground where, you know, you cannot be punished for
murder. Okay, and so if it's found that you did commit first-degree murder, then
you're pulled out of the city of refuge and put to death. But if you are in fact
only guilty of second-degree or manslaughter, then you end up going to
the city of refuge and you have to stay in the city of refuge until the death of
the high priest. Okay, so how long is that? That could be a month or a year or ten
years or thirty years. It just depends on how long that sucker stays alive, you
know, and you don't know how long that's going to be. Okay, but you have to go
there and obviously you say, what? I don't get it. Why? Obviously a lot of these
things, in addition to being practical, they also have a spiritual significance,
a symbolic significance, and so forth. But they're also very practical and they
also make a lot of sense. You know, when the high priest dies, it's just a way of
society pushing a reset button every however many years. And obviously it's
not random or chance because God is in control. God can keep the high priest
alive or God can allow the high priest to die whenever he wants. So whenever God
wants to push that reset button, it's going to happen. And the idea here is
that, you know, we're not just stacking, you know, just just putting all these
people away for life or something. And the other thing is that the city of
refuge is much more humane than going to prison because the city of refuge is the
closest thing to prison in the Bible. There's no prison in the Bible. And when
I say no prison, I mean God in his law, which is very detailed and gives lots of
crimes and lots of punishments. God never prescribes anyone to go to prison
for any reason. Obviously there are stories in the Bible where he then will
put people in prison. Joseph's in prison, Daniel's in prison, whatever. That's not
the point. The point is that God never prescribed those things, okay. It's not
part of his system. God prescribed that people would be punished either by
paying a fine, receiving a beating, or in extreme cases being put to death, okay,
for serious crimes. And so this is kind of the closest thing to prison in God's
economy, but it's much more humane than prison because it's almost similar to
being on house arrest or something, right, where you got the ankle bracelet and
can't leave your house. Except it's even better because you're not even confined
to your house because you have the run of the whole city. It'd be like if I,
let's say, you know, let's just pick a random city and let's just say that the
city of, you know, Flagstaff is a city of refuge or something, right. And so, you
know, I'm in Phoenix and, you know, I, you know, I get mad and kill somebody or
whatever and I, you know, flee to Flagstaff to the city of refuge. It's just
like, hey, you can't leave the city limits of Flagstaff until the death of, you know,
Donald Trump or something, right. You know, I'm just trying to kind of help you wrap
your mind around this. He's not the high priest, folks. Don't take it too literally,
all right. People are going to think it's like a Trump cult or something, you know.
There is kind of a Trump cult going on, but it's not really here. And so the
thing about that is that, you know, you could still function. You could get a job,
you get a place to live, you know. It's not necessarily convenient to upend your
life and move to this other town. And here's the other thing about the city of
refuge. It's not only fugitives that are living there. There are a lot of normal
people living there, too. So there's normal people living there and fugitives and you
can have a life there. It's inconvenient, but at least you're there. People know
where you are. They're kind of keeping an eye on you and whatever and you can live
that down and so forth. You know, it's not prison at all. It's, it's a, it's, it's a
better system, okay. And you say, well, you know, the Bible's barbaric, beating
people's barbaric, but I can turn around and just say that locking someone in a
cage is barbaric. And I guarantee you that if we went to the prison and did a
questionnaire, who wants to receive a beating and get out of jail? Virtually
everyone would take the caning or the whipping or the beating and be released
from prison rather than be locked up. I mean, if I had a choice right now to get a
severe beating, like, you know, and not something that obviously is breaking
your bones and stuff. The whole point of it was to be flogged or to be caned and
yeah, it's gonna be bloody, it's gonna be bruises, it's gonna be excruciating, it's
gonna, you know, hurt for days and weeks afterward, but then it's over. At least
you don't have to lose years of your life and, and be around a bunch of skeevy
people in prison and so forth. And so the law of the Lord is perfect, you know,
whether it's a beating, paying a fine, exile to the city of refuge temporarily,
whatever, this is a superior system to our system. Now look at verse 26. It says,
but if the slayer, and this is the person who has committed either second-degree
murder or manslaughter, if the slayer at any time come without the border of the
city of his refuge, whither he was fled, and the revenger of blood find him
without the borders of the city of his refuge, and the revenger of blood kill
the slayer, he should not be guilty of blood, because he should have remained in
the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death
of the high priest, the slayer shall return into the land of his possession.
So these things shall be for a statute of judgment unto you throughout your
generations in all your dwellings. Now in verse 30, we have just one brief verse
about the standard of evidence for murder, right? It says in verse 30, who so
killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses,
right? So there has to be evidence. There has to be witnesses. One witness shall
not testify against any person to cause him to die. So you have to have two or
three witnesses. One witness is not enough. And I do think that in today's
world, besides just witnesses, you could also count other things as witnesses,
like you could count something like DNA or, you know, surveillance footage or
whatever. And, you know, if you have multiple pieces of those evidence and,
and, and, uh, they're guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, then obviously they
would be put to death in the ancient world. It's mainly going to be eyewitness
testimony because they didn't have the forensic laboratories that we have right
now. Obviously times change. And so you have to take the principles of the Bible
and sort of adapt them to our modern society. Then it says in verse number 31,
it says, moreover, you shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer,
which is guilty of death, but he's just surely be put to death. Now what does
satisfaction mean in this context? What we're talking about with satisfaction is
that you could pay money to get yourself off the hook, right? So like,
let's say that I murdered someone and I'm supposed to be put to death, but I
say, you know what? Instead, I'm just going to give a quarter million dollars
to the family. And then like, I'm going to give you guys a quarter million
dollars. You're not going to press charges and we can just sort of forget
about the whole thing, you know? Right. The Bible is saying, no, you can't do
this in other situations. Sometimes paying someone can make things right.
You know, if you've, if you've done some kind of damage to them, if you've,
uh, you know, done things like, uh, you know, fornication, you know,
possibly even adultery or something, you know, and, and, and you might think
like, okay, you know, but then what does the Bible say about adultery and
proverbs? Like he doesn't, he doesn't want your money. He's just mad and
wants you dead. Right. Uh, that's a paraphrase, but that's from, uh, I
think what Proverbs chapter five or so forth, somewhere around that
neighborhood of proverbs, right? That, you know, yeah, nobody's going to want
to take a satisfaction for that either. But the point is, you know, you, you
break someone's stuff, you hurt someone, you cause them to lose a limb or
something. You might pay them a payout, right? People, it's like all these
billboards you see everywhere. Oh, you got in an accident and you get this
$300,000 because you hurt your leg or hurt your arm or whatever, right? In a
lot of situations, you know, money can make you feel better about a lot of bad
things that have happened to you. But what the Bible is prohibiting here is
taking satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death. So
there's no paying of a fine or paying a settlement and saying, look, I got lots
of money, so here's a million dollars. Shut up and don't worry about it. That's
not going to work. The Bible says, no, the murderer must be put to death. That's
why it finishes with the statement. He shall surely be put to death. Don't take
a satisfaction for the life of a murderer who's guilty of death. Don't
take that satisfaction. What does satisfaction mean? You know, like, oh,
well this'll satisfy the requirements of the law. God's saying only the blood of
the murderer will satisfy justice and nothing else will satisfy justice. And
then he also says this in verse 32, you shall take no satisfaction for him that
has fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the
land until the death of the high priest. So he's saying you also cannot pay to
get out of the city of refuge early. You know, even if you did second degree
murder or manslaughter, you have to stay in that city of refuge until the death
of the high priest and you cannot pay money to get out. There's, it's, there's
no get out of jail free card when it comes to killing someone. Now the next
thing I want you to see in these next few verses are that, you know, allowing
murder to go unpunished pollutes an entire nation. It pollutes an entire area.
It pollutes the land. And it isn't kind or merciful for you to just allow murder
to happen unpunished in the land. It will ultimately cause the entire land to be
cursed. And so this is not you being kind or good or benevolent to be soft on
crime and to let crime run rampant. And today a lot of times liberals will have
this view of being soft on crime and just sort of turning a blind eye to
crime. And then you, and then you'll have this, these little cute statements that
come along from, uh, people that are burning in hell like Mahatma Gandhi and
Martin Luther King Jr. Okay. Who will say things like this, oh, eye for an eye
leaves the whole world blind. You know, first of all, that's an attack on God's
word. It's a mockery of God's word because eye for an eye is a direct quote
from God. It's direct quote from the Bible. So eye for an eye leaves the whole world
blind. This is the logic. And if you've ever talked to people who are against the
death penalty, this is the stupid logic that they'll use. They'll, this is what
they'll say. They'll say, well, and I've had many conversations throughout my
life with people who are against the death penalty. And you'll talk to them
and you'll say, well, look, you know, somebody commits murder, they have to be
put to death. Here's what the Bible says. And here's what they'll say. They'll say,
well, yeah, but here's the problem with that is that now the executioner has to
kill them. Now he just committed murder. And then we have to kill the executioner
and then whoever killed him has to kill him. And it's just this never ending
cycle that everybody dies. It's just, this is foolish because the Bible is
crystal clear that the executioner is not a murderer. The executioner, the
Bible says, is a minister of God. It literally says in Romans chapter 13, he
is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
The person who puts to death the guilty criminal, the guilty person who has
committed a crime worthy of death is doing the Lord's work. That's what the
Bible says. So no, it is not a, you know, eye for an eye leaving the whole world
blind. No, no. Basically you knock out someone's eye, we put out your eye and
that's it. It stops there. Nobody else has to have their eye put out and no, the
whole world isn't blind because the whole stupid thing about, oh, for an eye
leaves the whole world blind. The thing that's stupid about that is who here can
say, and actually I don't want to have you raise your hand if you have put out
someone's eye, just raise your eye, raise your hand. If you've never damaged
anyone else's eye to where they had to lose their eye, put up your hand. If
you've never knocked out anyone's okay. There's a lot of hands aren't going up.
So, okay, wow. You got some rough people here. Just kidding. But the point is, the
point is that the vast majority of us have never punched someone in the eye to
the point where they lost their eye. So how's the whole world gonna be blind,
Marty? You know, it just isn't gonna happen, okay? And so these little cute
little statements, uh, they're blasphemous at the end of the day because it's like
you're not basing that on the Word of God. You're criticizing the Word of God.
And Jesus Christ did not come to destroy the law of the prophets. He came to fulfill.
And when he quoted in Matthew 5, eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, he's not
saying that those are wrong statements because he started out his sermon by
affirming everything in the law of God. All he's saying is that you don't always
have to fight back. You can turn the other cheek. You can suffer wrong. You can
allow people to defraud you. You can forgive. You can pass over a
transgression. This is talking about in your personal life you deciding to
forgive people that hurt you. We, when we're the victim, we can always decide to
forgive people that hurt us, can't we? Now this never works with first-degree
murder, second-degree murder, or manslaughter because you're dead. So you
can't be like, I forgive you. You're dead. But the point is that in general if you just start doing the
forgiving for everybody else and just saying, oh we're just gonna forgive all
these murderers, rapists, and whatever, you're just turning society into just a
hellhole. And there are some hellhole countries in this world. There are some
failed states. And when we talk about a failed state or, you know, what Donald
Trump affectionately referred to as a crap hole country. I'm censoring that
just a little bit. When we're talking about those places, those are places
where the rule of law is not being enforced, right? I mean think about the
the failed states of this world. What do we mean by that? We mean people steal and
get away with it, people kill and get away with it, people rape and get away.
That's what we mean when we say a failed state, okay? Those are scary places where
you would not want to live. I don't know about you, but I love the fact that I can
go to bed at night and sleep tight and not worry about anything because I know
that we live in a safe country where things are under control and where there
aren't just roving bands of marauders and gangs and people just, you know, we
know that we're pretty safe. And the chances of something happening are
pretty slim, right? And we can walk down the street in the daytime sometimes and
some places we can even walk down the street at night and not even think about
anything, not worry about anything. Praise God for that kind of safety, but you know
you're never going to have that kind of safety without the rule of law, without
laws being in place and being enforced. And so this liberal, bleeding-heart
mentality of going soft on crime, soft on criminals, you know what it is? It's hard
on victims, is what it is. And so you're not being kind, gracious, or merciful,
you're being unkind and unmerciful to the victims of these evil perpetrators.
And you know these sort of, you know, face-cattooed gang members from MS-13 or
whatever, who knows what I'm talking about, MS-13, right? You know, just these
evil, murderous gang members, you know, they should all be put to death, you know?
And these countries that have these organized cabals and cartels of these
kind of people, you know, they should just go to war with them and fix the problem.
And here's the thing, I'm all for liberty and the Constitution and everything, but
here's the thing, when the crime gets bad enough, nobody cares about that anymore.
When the crime gets bad enough, they're just like, kill the bad guys and we don't
care how you do it, just fix it. Then when things are safe, then we start talking
about, okay, now let's talk about the rule of law and due process and everything
like that. But when you're living in a failed state, you got to just kill these
suckers and then get things, you know, back to normal and then we can start
having a nice civilized system with courtrooms and everything like that.
And thank God that's where we're at in America and that's why I'm for the rule
of law, you know, I'm for giving people due process and so forth, but that's
because I'm not scared to walk down the street and neither are you because we
don't live in a failed state. So, but we shouldn't let people turn this into a
failed state. And we're already seeing legislation across the country where
they'll have things like, oh, you know, you can't prosecute shoplifting. And
obviously that's not a big deal compared to murder, but that's where it starts.
This thing of, oh, if cars run, if cars run from the police, the police can't
chase them. That was a law from, I think, Washington state a few years back.
Police aren't allowed to chase anybody. And so then it's just like, I guess now
all the normal people are going to pull over and then all the weird criminals
are just going to run every time because the police aren't allowed to chase them.
And then it's just like, oh, you know, we don't prosecute shoplifters, we don't
prosecute theft, we don't prosecute graffiti, we don't prosecute, and it just
keeps escalating. Pretty soon you got yourself a violent failed state. And so,
you know, we need to have the rule of law, we need to have criminals being
punished. And money is not a punishment. Prison is not a punishment for first
degree murder. There's only one acceptable punishment, according to God,
and it's death. It is death. What verse did we leave off on? Does anybody know?
Uh, verse 33, it says, so ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are. For
blood it defileth the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is
shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it. Defile not therefore the
land which he inhabit wherein I dwell, for I the Lord dwell among the children
of Israel. Look, if you want God to dwell among you as a people, you cannot be a
land that is shedding innocent blood and letting people get away with it. You have
to put the murderers to death. You have to execute the murderers in order to
have that. And so, yeah, there are, you could point to rare circumstances in the
Bible where an individual could be pardoned for murder, but in general,
murder must be punished by the death penalty in order for society to function
properly. And that is what God has ordained. Okay. And so when you have
America today, for example, and we think about the issue with abortion, you know,
what is the big issue about abortion? You know, why are Christians so upset about
abortion? Why are we so fired up about it? You know, you say, well, it's just, it's
just a tiny little baby. It's just a tiny little clump of tissue or whatever they
say. But here's the, the problem is that when you have an abortion or when
abortions take place in your city, innocent blood is being shed. Human
beings are being killed. Human lives are being snuffed out. And the problem with
that is that it incurs the wrath of God on the whole land. And, and when society
condones it, society becomes complicit in that act of murder. Well, now there's a
curse upon our land and it's repugnant in the eyes of God. And that's why we're
fired up about abortion because we want to live in a land that's blessed by God.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. And we want God to be among us and
blessing us. We don't want to live in a nation where murder goes unpunished and
then God's wrath is evident. We don't want that. So now I'm going to get into
the more practical part of the sermon. And if you would flip over to 2 Kings
chapter 6. So the, the purpose of going through Numbers 35 is just, it's the most
detailed passage on murder in general, giving all the nuts and bolts of what it
is, what the punishment is, what's the standard of proof, and so on and so
forth. But now I want to get into the more practical part, which is reasons why
people commit murder. Okay? So I identified three primary reasons why
people commit murder. Right? Because one of the best ways to not get involved in
sin is to remove yourself a few steps from getting involved in sin. Because the
Bible says, when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. Sin, when it is
finished, bringeth forth death. There's a process that leads up to sinning, right?
You don't just go out one day and kill someone. There's a process that leads up
to that, isn't there? And there are reasons why people commit murder. And if
you can identify these reasons and make sure you don't go down any of these
three paths, then you're never going to commit murder. Because you're not going
down these three paths. So the first reason why people commit murder, number
one, is because of greed. Because of greed, right? The covetous person commits
murder because they want to take something that belongs to someone else.
Now, there are plenty of examples of this in the Bible. I'm going to read for you
some verses while you're getting to 2nd Kings 6. James 4 says,
From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence even of
your lusts that war in your members? Watch this. You lust and have not. You
kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight and war, yet you have
not because you ask not. So the Bible talks about people going to war and
killing other people because they are greedy of those things that those
people possess. They want to take more land, more resources. They want to
steal their stuff. You know, Proverbs chapter 1 verse 19. So are the ways of
everyone that is greedy of gain, which taketh away the life of the owners
thereof. Right? So people that are greedy of gain will take away the life of the
owners thereof. And I remember when I was a kid, there would be things on the
news about people being killed for their shoes in Sacramento, California.
The Air Jordans or whatever expensive shoes. Also the starter jackets. I
remember when I was a kid, you know, everybody wanted the starter jacket for
the Oakland Raiders. I don't even think that's even a thing anymore.
Didn't the Raiders go somewhere else? Las Vegas. What the man? I've been out of
the loop for a while apparently. Actually I was never really in the loop.
But you know, it's like the Oakland Raiders and you know, you could kind of
get by with the San Francisco 49ers. Nobody's going to kill you for that.
But if you had the Oakland Raiders, you know, and I remember my parents even
seeing this stuff on the news and kind of warning me like, hey, you're not
allowed to wear any of this stuff. We don't want you getting jumped and
killed for this stuff. So we don't want you wearing these brands because on the
TV they're saying it's these shoes, it's these jackets, it's these hats. If you
wear these down the street, you know, these gang members will jump you and
kill you. What is the motive? Greed. I want those shoes. I want that jacket. I
want that hat. And so this is a real life thing. Now look at 2 Kings chapter 6.
This is actually the next time murder is mentioned by name in the Bible. Use the
word murder in Numbers 35. But then the next time murder pops up, called by that
name. Obviously there's a lot of murder in the Bible. But using the word murder
is 2 Kings 6 32. It says, but Elisha sat in his house and the elders sat with
him and the king sent a man from before him. But Eir, Eir means before, Eir the
messenger came to him. He said to the elders, see ye how this son of a
murderer had sent to take away my head. Now, who is he talking about when he
says this son of a murderer is coming to take away my head? He's talking about the
son of Ahab. Ahab and Jezebel, right? And what did Ahab and Jezebel do? They
murdered Naboth. And here's the thing that's interesting about that. Number
one, they're doing it because of greed. Ahab really wanted that vineyard. And so
they killed Naboth to get the vineyard. So what's the motive? Greed. Okay. Motive
number one, greed. But not only that, it shows that you can be called a murderer
by the word of God, even if you kill someone indirectly. So Ahab and Jezebel
weren't actually killing people themselves, but what did they do? They
had people bear false witness against Naboth and he was actually put to death
through a, you know, he, he received a trial and so it was all legal. Naboth's
execution was legal, but they, they're murderers because they lied about him
and got him executed and he was not guilty. So bearing false witness leading
to violence is an act of violence itself. So if you would turn to Deuteronomy
chapter four. Motive number one for murder is greed, right? That's the reason
why people commit murder. Greed. Number two motive is hatred, right? Hatred. This
is something that the Bible emphasizes about murder. Uh, did I have you turn to
Deuteronomy 4? Look at verse 42. It says that the slayer might flee thither. What
are we talking about there? Flee where? To the city of refuge, right? Uh, which
should kill his neighbor unawares, watch this, and hated him not in time past and
that fleeing under one of these cities he might live. And the idea here is that
hating him in time past is first degree premeditated murder. Not hating him in
time past is second degree or manslaughter. Go to the city of refuge. Go
if you would to chapter 19. Chapter 19. Motive number one for murder is greed.
Motive number two, hatred. Look at verse number four of chapter 19. And this is
the case of the slayer which shall flee thither. Again, we're talking about
fleeing to city of refuge that he may live who so killeth his neighbor
ignorantly whom he hated not in time past. Verse six, lest the avenger of the
blood pursue the slayer while his heart is hot and overtake him because the way
is long and slay him whereas he was not worthy of death in as much as he hated
him not in time past. The idea here is that hatred in the past is the key to
premeditated murder in these situations, right? Because of the fact that there's
a motive of I hate you ergo I'm going to kill you, okay? And of course this is
alluded to in the New Testament too, you know, when it says whosoever hateth his
brother is a murderer, okay? Because hatred in the heart is carried out in
murder ultimately. So motive number one is greed. Motive number two is hatred.
Now here's the thing, hatred could also cover things like jealousy and revenge,
right? Because if you think about it let's say someone has been inappropriate
with your wife or maybe you know you wrongfully think that someone was
inappropriate with your wife or you just are afraid that someone you know and you
just get some idea in your head maybe you're just being paranoid or whatever
but if you go out and kill that guy it's because you're mad at that guy you know
you hate that guy you want him dead you want that particular person dead whereas
stealing the shoes the jacket the hat it's not that you hate that person and
want them dead it's really just that you want the stuff it's greed. Ahab didn't
just really want Naboth dead he just really wanted that vineyard. You see that?
So there's a difference between greed as a motive and hatred as a motive. Hatred
could also cover things like revenge, right? Somebody burns you, someone hurts
you, slanders you, does evil to you in some way and then you go out and take
revenge by murdering that person well then that is under the hatred category
isn't it? Because hate in your heart is the desire to go murder someone right so
if you want to understand what that is you know that's what we're talking about
with this motive of hatred like just oh man I want this guy dead then you go out
and kill that person that's the premeditated murder and that is hatred
as a motive it could be subcategories of like jealousy revenge you know whatever
reason why you hate that innocent person that would cause you to do that
but number three and if you would go to second Samuel chapter 12 and again I'm
not saying that I'm getting all the motives I just I feel like these are the
three biggest motives and you could probably think of another really good
motive that I'm missing I just kind of thought of the three biggest ones that
we see in real life and that we see in the Bible and the three big ones in my
opinion are greed hatred and covering up a crime is another big one right
covering up a crime and in fact I'm going to show you how covering up a
crime is probably the biggest in fact in America today in 2025 I predict that
most murders will be committed to cover up a crime okay so what have we got here
second Samuel 12 9 it says wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the
Lord to do evil in his sight thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword
and has taken his wife to be thy wife and has slain him with the sword of the
children of Ammon now of course this is the story of David and Bathsheba I don't
have time to go into it but the idea here is that David committed adultery
with Bathsheba and he kills Uriah to cover up the crime to cover up the crime
you know there's no indication necessarily that David is just dying to
have Bathsheba as his wife you know he committed he wanted to commit that sin
with her he did commit that sin with her but what's the purpose of murder is it
greed not necessarily is it hatred for Uriah Uriah is actually a great guy that
he likes Uriah he doesn't want to kill Uriah why does he kill it he kills Uriah
because he's trying to cover up a crime he wants to get away with committing
adultery so by killing Uriah and marrying Bathsheba he can cover up the
crime and no one will know that he committed adultery with her because look
he was gonna get busted because she was pregnant but by killing Uriah he can
cover this up so murder is committed to cover up a crime and here's why I say
that most murders are committed to cover up a crime because abortion falls under
this category nobody's going down to the abortion clinic and saying oh man I
just really hate this baby the baby hasn't even done them dirty yet the baby
hasn't done anything and abortion could really fall under two categories right
of our three big motives greed hatred and covering up a crime it could either
be the greed category because here's how abortion would be committed as an act of
greed is well because you know I'm not done living my life yet I want to spend
my money on having fun I want to have more money more resources and guess what
we all know having children is expensive it takes our resources it takes our time
it takes our money and so people say oh I'm gonna go have an abortion because
I'm greedy of those resources and I'm not willing to share them with my child
I want to keep all the money and the time and everything for me being
selfish that is the greed motive for murder but then also abortion is often
to cover up a crime because why do women get abortions often because of the fact
that they've committed fornication and they don't want to get busted that they
committed fornication so they go out and have an abortion to cover up the crime
now look fornication is wicked and evil and you know what if you go out and
fornicate and get pregnant out of wedlock you ought to be ashamed of
yourself it is a shameful thing and you know what you ought to be chastised for
that and you ought to be shamed for that we're not going to congratulate you on
your bastard but at the same time you if you've done that you must face those
consequences and don't commit murder to cover that up oh I don't want to face
the shame and consequences of you know getting pregnant out of wedlock so I'm
just gonna go have an abortion you are adding a huge crime fornication is
already bad now you're adding murder you think God's gonna bless that and if you
do that you know what you're showing is that you have more fear of being
embarrassed or shamed or humiliated than you have of God in heaven you ought to
be much more scared of God and the consequences of being a murderer and
just oh I don't want people to think ill of me ergo I'm gonna go out and kill
someone first of all what happens when people find out that you killed your
baby that's gonna be shameful too you should be sure your sin will find you
out but even if you never get caught God knows that you killed your baby and God's
gonna punch you know look if you've already had an abortion in the past
sorry you committed murder in the past now look I'm not here to beat up on you
or hate on you because you know what hopefully after you did that hopefully
you repented of that you're sorry you've made your peace with God you're never
gonna do it again obviously all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven
unto men and you know obviously we can be forgiven of our sins and I'm not
trying to hang something over your head from five years ago ten years ago fifteen
years ago but you know what if you're saying well I did it and it was fine
then I don't forgive you and neither you know what I mean and if if you're just
saying oh well well I had an abortion and it was the right thing to do well
then you're wicked and God's gonna punish you severely for that on this
earth but look if you're if you did that if you had an abortion and you're
sorry and you've repented and you're not gonna do it again then you know what hey
I forgive you and so does every other you know godly Christian forgive you and
you can move on and live a good godly Christian life okay but I'm telling you
do not go out and commit the heinous sin of murder to cover your crime of
fornication and obviously here's another big one is that people will have an
abortion because they're trying to cover up an even worse crime which is a
adultery you know woman goes out commits adultery gets pregnant with some other
dude's baby oh I don't want to ruin my family oh I don't you know it's like
look you already screwed up you should have thought about that before playing
the whore and going out and committing adultery you should have thought about
that now you're gonna have to face the consequences of having this baby because
it is never right for you to murder your baby it just isn't okay and you know
what committing murder to cover up a crime we could also take it beyond
abortion and think about all kinds of situations where you know someone is
maybe in the process of stealing or robbing somebody walks in on them and
then BAM you know they have to shoot someone basically to get away from
stealing or whatever they're doing right so if you got caught you know and
flagrante delicto or something you know you get in trouble for doing something
and then you kill the witnesses or something right so that's another time
that this could come into play where people are committing murder to cover up
a crime or you know somebody knows too much you know this is sort of like when
the Clintons are suiciding people you know what's the motive they don't
necessarily hate those people they're not greedy of what those people have but
rather those people are suicided because they know too much and they're being
killed to cover up a crime you know Epstein didn't kill himself or whatever
and so it's funny there's this guy there was this meme that was going around or
not I don't think meme is the right word there's like a graphic that was going
around many years ago and it was talking about this guy named Victor Thorne who
had died suspiciously and this graphic was going around saying hey these are
people who like expose the Clintons who died suspiciously you know the
supposedly committed suicide but they were probably like suicided and one of
them was this guy named Victor Thorne and for some reason whoever made this
graphic they put my face as Victor Thorne and the reason why and the reason
why this happened was because I guess there just weren't a lot of pictures of
Victor Thorne online and what happened I had I had brought up or talked about a
book by Victor Thorne and I was talking about Victor Thorne so somebody just
went on Google Images typed in Victor Thorne and then my face popped up just
because I had talked about Victor and they just saw and they're just like this
must be Victor Thorne and so and I mean I'm talking this graphic was viewed by
like millions of people like this was a really popular graphic that was being
shared it was like a viral graphic and so I have like just tons of people for
months mentioning me like hey I hear you died and like you know I saw I saw that
you died recently I'm sorry you committed suicide ha ha you know
because there's just this graphic and so this day I think that graphic still
floating around you know I I'm not living a double life as Victor Thorne
okay Victor Thorne is a totally different guy and you know yeah I don't
know if he killed himself or if he was murdered but if he was murdered then the
motive was what covering up a crime that was the motive and so those are the
three big ones that I came up with and so here's the conclusion of the sermon
I mean the moral of the sermon is pretty simple don't murder anyone kids okay
don't murder anyone and it might seem a little bit simple but guess what people
do it people commit murder you know and it's funny I learned one thing as a
pastor I'm in my 20th year of pastoring now here's what I've learned preach
against every sin because people do everything and sometimes you think like
oh surely I don't have to preach against drugs nobody's on drugs surely I don't
have to preach against pornography nobody's watching pornography you know
surely I don't have to I mean you name it it's happening okay and so you know
this is one of those things where sometimes you kind of feel like man why
am I preaching this or something I preach a sermon one time called suicide
and while I was preaching the sermon I was thinking like why am I preaching on
this and then I had a guy walk up to me after the service and say he was a
first-time visitor and say thank you so much I really needed that sermon I just
attempted suicide like a month and a half ago and I really needed to hear the
sermon then I had people email me and say thank you for that sermon on
suicide that helped me then I heard about you know someone committing
suicide that I kind of vaguely knew and I was like what in the world I guess I
did need to preach that sermon and so if it's in the Bible we need to preach it
and so the moral of the sermon is simple don't commit murder but I'm gonna take
it a step further and say that you know ultimately murder proceeds from the
heart and what did Jesus say from within out of the heart of man proceed evil
thoughts adulteries fornications and murders these things come from within
the heart and so my advice to you today is that the best way not to commit
murder is not to have a reason to commit murder so don't go down either of these
three roads in your mind right do not go down these paths of number one greed
don't be greedy be content with what you have you're not gonna be killing people
to steal their stuff if you're content with what you have now you're a couple
steps removed from murdering someone right whereas if you're already super
greedy and just lusting after money now you're just one step away from well you
know what I can just you know smother grandma for the inheritance or something
you know what I mean because you know because you're already right there
because you're already just obsessed with money and you know she's got all
that you know and yeah but if you're not greedy you're not even gonna be
close to doing something like that right sorry for the crude illustration but
number two hatred hatred do not avenge yourself right because again most of the
hatred category is some kind of a vindictive vengeful I'm gonna get back
at that person who's done what does the Bible say love your enemies dearly
beloved of veins not yourselves but rather give place under wrath right put
off wrath put off anger for it is written vengeance is mine I will repay
sayeth the Lord and the number three covering a crime don't commit the crime
you're not gonna need to cover up fornication if you didn't commit
fornication you're not gonna need to cover up adultery if you don't commit
adultery and obviously fornication adultery often lead to death in one
form or another and so don't commit the crime you don't have to cover the crime
don't be greedy and you're not gonna be killing people because of greed do not
avenge yourself and be vindictive and hateful toward those who've wronged you
let it go pray to the Lord let the Lord deal with it then you're not gonna be
just on the verge of just you know you're not just gonna be sitting there
loading the gun and thinking about it and everything you know cuz like I said
these things don't just happen immediately typically you know you hate
them in time past and then that culminates in murder so children do not
commit murder amen let's fire it's another word of prayer father we thank
you so much for your word and Lord God please help us to live lives that would
honor and glorify you thank you so much that the sins that we have committed are
forgiven and forgotten thank you so much for salvation through Christ but
Lord those of us who are saved help us to live a life that is honoring and
glorifying to you help us never to commit murder and Lord help us not to
even have these things in our heart that would even lead us down that road and in
Jesus name we pray amen amen all right ladies gentlemen take your hymnals
please go to him 303 will be dismissed and singing 303 my faith looks up to the
hymn number three hundred and three
three hundred and three lift it up on that first now my faith
Oh
all my guilt away
they
To my fainting heart, my zeal inspire,
As thou hast died for me, home in my love to be,
Pure, warm, and changed, I see a living light.
When life's dark fates I tread,
And dreams around me spread,
Be thou my guide.
In darkness turned to day,
While sorrow steers away,
Nor let me ever stray from thee aside.
When death's night spreads in dream,
When death's cold solids stream,
Shall we roam?
Blessed Savior then in love,
Fear and distrust renew,
Oh, bear me safe above,
The presence of soul.
Thank you for watching!