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people that have been brought closer to you, people that have learned how to be a soul winner. Dear God, you've done so much this great year. And Father, I pray that today would be a great day, that this would be an important service. And Father, I pray that you would use it in the lives of everyone that's here. Help us to know the Bible. Help us to be drawn closer to you and to love you more. And God, I pray that you would help us to reach our soul winning goal this afternoon. And please just continue to bless our church. And we love you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Now in Genesis chapter 9, of course, we have Noah has stepped off the ark. God gives Noah a special blessing after he and his family get out of the ark. And they offer the sacrifice to God and so forth. But I want to draw special attention to the verse in, actually the verse number 6. The Bible reads in Genesis 9, 6, Whoso shedeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. For in the image of God made he man. Now what we see here in verse number 6 is God's institution of what we know as the death penalty. Now I'm going to preach to you a sermon this morning on the death penalty. And I'm going to show you what the Bible teaches on this important subject of the death penalty throughout the Bible. But first if you would, look back a few chapters to Genesis chapter 4. Genesis chapter number 4, verse number 10. Just two chapters back in your Bible. Now of course in Genesis 9, 6 we see the first mention of the death penalty in the Bible other than of course God's warning to Adam and Eve saying in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shall surely die. But when I say the death penalty I'm talking about a man taking the life of another man at the request of God for his crimes that he's committed. That's what we mean by the death penalty. We're not talking about God carrying out the death penalty, we're talking about man carrying out the death penalty, if that makes sense. So look at Genesis chapter 4, verse 10, and I'm going to read this for you. This is of course the story of Cain and Abel. Cain slew his brother Abel, he's just murdered his brother Abel. Why? Because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous. That's what the Bible says. He hated his brother because his brother was better than he was. Now look at verse number 10, and he said, this is God speaking, what hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground, and now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. And now tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto the Lord, my punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold thou hast driven me out the state from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I be hid. And I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth, and it shall come to pass that everyone that findeth me shall slay me. And the Lord said unto him, therefore, whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. So what we have here is the first murder in the Bible, where Cain murdered his brother Abel. Now, what punishment did God give Cain for murdering Abel? Was it the death penalty? No. You see this? He gave him the punishment of being a fugitive and a vagabond. He said, from now on, when you till the ground, you're going to be a failure at it. And so you're going to have to leave, and you're going to be a vagabond, you're going to be a wanderer, is what he means by that. You're going to be like homeless. You're never going to find a place where you could settle down. And he basically kicked him out of the land of Eden, which is where Adam and Eve were. Now Adam and Eve had already been kicked out of the garden of Eden, but they were still in the land of Eden. Well, now Cain has been kicked out of the land of Eden. Now look if you would down in the same chapter at verse number, let's see, let's start reading in verse number 19. This is a descendant of Cain. Actually, look if you would at verse number 17 quickly. The Bible says, And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bare Enoch. So Cain had a son named Enoch. So now we're, this is the grandson of Adam, basically. And he builded a city and called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. And unto Enoch was born to Irad, and Irad begat Mahujel, and Mahujel begat Methusel, and Methusel begat Lamech. So we've gone down several generations. And the Bible reads in verse 19, And Lamech took unto him two wives. This is the first instance of polygamy in the Bible. Now is it the descendants of God's people, or is it the descendants of Cain, the evil one, and all his wicked descendants who were unsaved, according to the Bible? The Bible says, And Lamech took unto him two wives. The name of the one was Ada, and the name of the other Zilla. And Onanada talks about the children that they had together. In verse number 23, the Bible says, And Lamech said unto his wives, Hear my voice, ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech. For I have slain a man, second murder in the Bible. For I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech, seventy and sevenfold. Now do you see what's going on here? First we have a murder take place. Cain kills Abel. Several generations go by. Was he punished with the death penalty? No. He's kicked out of the land, he's exiled. You go down several generations, you have a man named Lamech who murders a man, and he felt like he was justified in doing so. And so he says to his wives, he says, well if Cain's going to be avenged sevenfold, because remember that's what God said to Cain, then surely Lamech's going to be avenged seventy and sevenfold. Now look if you would at verse number 5 of chapter 6. Go forward a little bit. I'm just showing you a progression. Bear with me. This is the foundation of this sermon. Look at Genesis chapter 6, verse number 5. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, and it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth. Look if you would at verse number 11. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. Do you see that? This is before the flood. What was the problem? Well, not only were the imaginations of man's heart only evil continually, but the Bible says that the earth was filled with violence. Look at verse 13. And God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. So why did God destroy the first world? Why? Because he said it's filled with violence. He said they've corrupted themselves, and by the way, corruption and sin always leads to violence. Always. You say, why is there more violence in the United States right now than there's ever been? Why is there more violent video games on sale at the store? Why is it that there are more robberies and murders and rapes in Tempe, Arizona than it seems like there's ever been? Why? Because whenever you have a sinful, wicked society that kicks out God, that doesn't want church, that doesn't want the Bible, that doesn't want God's rules, it no longer is a safe place to live. It becomes a place of violence. And that's what happened here. But notice the progression. At the beginning of chapter 4, we have one murder. It's not punished with the death penalty. It's punished with exile. So then down the road, another guy kills somebody and says, I don't need to be punished at all. Right? And then you go down two more chapters, and you have a whole world that's filled with violence. You see, it's no coincidence that in Genesis chapter 9, when Noah steps off the ark is when God institutes the death penalty, because he looked at a world filled with violence because there was no punishment for the crime of murder. And so when he steps off the ark, he says, you know what, I'm going to bless you, Noah. I'm glad that you're righteous. I'm glad that you brought your family with you. But there's something that needs to change. We need to make a new rule. We need to institute the death penalty. So the death penalty is a very scriptural thing. You say, well, that's Old Testament law. Look, Genesis chapter 9 is way before the law of Moses. OK, you understand that? This is a law that God gave to all mankind, the Bible says. In Genesis chapter 9, he said this is a law for all mankind. And read it carefully. Genesis 9, 6. Let this saying sink down into your ears as Jesus said, who so shed it man's blood? By man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man. Now whose job is it to carry out the death penalty? It is man's job to carry out the death penalty. Is it God's job? No. It's man's job. God says I've instituted human government, and I'm not saying that we should carry out the death penalty personally, although that's not what I'm saying at all. What I'm saying here is that God has ordained human government, the powers that be ordained of God, the Bible says, and God has instituted the death penalty as a deterrent against violence. As a deterrent against murder and so forth. Now let me read this for you, you don't have to turn there, Ecclesiastes 8.11, the Bible says because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Now do you remember how every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart before the flood was only evil continually? Why? Well we have the answer in Ecclesiastes 8.11. The Bible says because sentence, which is punishment, because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. He says when you don't quickly execute justice on a murderer, execute justice on evildoers, and evil means hurting someone else, he says if you don't execute judgment on violence, then the hearts of the sons of men will be fully set in them to do evil. You're going to have a situation just like you had before the flood, maybe that's why Jesus Christ said that in the days of the coming of the son of man, he said as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the coming of the son of man. He says when Jesus Christ comes back the second time, it's going to be very similar to the way it was before Noah, God on the ark, and it's going to be very similar, the Bible says, to the way it was in the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. That's what the Bible says, it was in the days of Sodom, so shall it be also in the days of the coming of the son of man. And so when Jesus Christ comes back, it's going to be like the days before Noah, why? Because of a soft attitude toward sin, because of a soft attitude toward crime. When the government has a soft attitude toward crime, and when churches have a soft attitude toward sin, the result is evil in the hearts of man widespread across the board, and we see that today. Let me give you a few major points, and then I'm going to show you several verses, okay? Here are some major points that God gives the death penalty on, and I can't list all of them because you should have seen, when I was studying for this sermon, I literally was just page after page, literally hundreds of mentions of God giving the death penalty. Not one mention, not two mentions, I mean hundreds of times God is listing crimes for which the death penalty, but I put them into some major categories, okay, of what God gives the death penalty. Number one, of course, murder. That's what we saw. God gives the death penalty for murder. Number two, cursing or beating your parents. God says that if a child, you know, hits his parent in the face, God says that's the death penalty. You say, what? I can't believe that. Well, you know what? Maybe you should read the Bible a little bit, because God says, children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right, honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee, that thou mayest live long on the earth. And so frequently throughout the Bible, we're going to see some of these, God says, if you smite your parents, if you hit your dad in the face, he says, that's the death penalty of the son. If you curse out your parents, he says that's the death penalty. That's what the Bible says. And then he says also that if there's a child that just rebels against their parents to the extreme, that was also the death penalty and would not subject themselves to their parents' authority. So number one, murder. Number two, cursing or smiting your parents. Number three, rape. God puts the death penalty on the rapist, believe it or not. Read the Bible, on and on, we'll see it in a minute. Number four, adultery. Yes, adultery. God puts the death penalty on adultery. Number five, perversion is what all encompass homosexuality, God gives the death penalty, and other filthy perversions that are similar to that, God puts the death penalty on homosexuality. Number six, kidnapping. And this was the law in the United States until, I believe, about what, 25 years ago? 20, 25 years ago they did away with this. It used to be, I think even in the early 80s, that a person who kidnapped a child, doesn't matter what they did with them. Death penalty. I mean, if somebody came and took my child, grabbed him, stuffed him in a car, got in the car and drove off, that's the death penalty. And so on and on we see that throughout the Bible. And then point number seven, and these are just seven basic categories, there's so many different things involved. The seventh category, and this one's interesting, because the first six, do they all make sense to you? I mean, they make sense to me. Sounds like a great deterrent. But number seven is one that kind of doesn't make a lot of sense to me. But I studied the Bible and I understood why this is here. Number seven, the seventh thing that God gives the death penalty for is breaking the Sabbath Day in the Old Testament. They got the death penalty for that. Now that only applied in the nation of Israel, okay? If you lived in the nation of Israel, if you were in the nation of Israel, you were a Jew, if you broke the Sabbath Day, that's the death penalty, is what the Bible says. Now why is that? Well let me explain that to you quickly. Turn to Hebrews chapter four and I'll show you why. Hebrews chapter four, I'll show you why God instituted the death penalty. Now good night, there are so many crimes in the Old Testament that God does not give the death penalty for. And it seems to me that breaking the Sabbath Day would be much more minor than some of the things that God does not give the death penalty for. Do you understand what I mean by that? I mean if you rob somebody, if you commit fornication, there's no death penalty in the Bible on fornication. If you commit fornication, if you rob somebody, if you steal, if you curse, you know, some of these things you did not give the death penalty for, breaking the Sabbath Day, working on Saturday, good night. Why did God give the death penalty? I'll show you why. Look at verse number four of Hebrews chapter four. The Bible says, for he spake in a certain place of the seventh day, we're talking about the Sabbath Day in the Old Testament, for he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, and God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, if they shall enter into my rest, seeing therefore it remaineth, we're in Hebrews 4-6, that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief. Notice that word, it's an important word, entered not in because of unbelief. Again, he limited the certain day saying, and David, today after so long a time, as it is said, today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God, and here's the key verse, verse 10. For he that has entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works as God did from his. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. And then flip over, if you would, just to Hebrews chapter 6. And the Bible says in verse number 1, therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. Now what does all that mean? Well, God is explaining in Hebrews chapter 4, he's using the Sabbath day as a metaphor for salvation. He says in Genesis 1, 1, God began to create the heavens and the earth, Genesis 1, throughout that chapter, six days God created the heavens and the earth. Then on the seventh day, he rested from his works. Hebrews chapter 4, verse number 10 says, for he that has entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works as God did from his. See, the picture of the Sabbath in the Old Testament is mankind resting from his own works and trusting Jesus Christ alone for salvation. You see, Jesus Christ did all the work for salvation. He died on the cross for our sins, he was buried, he rose again, he did the whole thing, he said, it is finished. He paid the whole price for our salvation. He said, whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely. He paid the whole thing. As we saw in Matthew chapter 20, we're going through the book of Matthew, he says, all things are now ready. Come to the marriage. Remember the marriage supper of the Lamb, which is a picture of salvation? He says, it's all ready. It's done. I paid the whole thing. All you have to do is just come and receive my gift of eternal life. But see, in order to do that, you must repent from dead works. What's dead works? That's where you think you're working your way to heaven. That's this, you know, this crossing yourself and oh, you know, bow down to your idols and so forth. He said, you must repent from your dead works, which can never get you to heaven. The Jews had to repent of their dead works in their religion before they could receive Christ as Savior because in order to be saved, you must believe on Jesus Christ alone. So you can't believe on your works to save you. And so God is saying here that he that has entered into his rest, and the rest is a picture of salvation. It's a picture of being born again, being in the family, and God says if you've entered into his rest, you've ceased from your own works as God did from his on that seventh day. And so that's a picture of you relying 100% on God. You're not doing your own works to get you to heaven. You've ceased from your own works, and you've said it's the faith of Jesus Christ that saved me. Now think about this, in the Old Testament, in the book of Numbers, and this perplexed me as a child. I remember the first time I read the book of Numbers as a child. I read through the book of Numbers and I got to a part where a man was picking up sticks on the Sabbath day. And I couldn't believe this. He's out picking up sticks and gathering sticks out in the woods on the Sabbath day. And they bring this guy, and this is the person in the Bible who they tried this out on. They brought him to Moses and they said, this guy is picking up sticks on the Sabbath day, you know, what are we supposed to do? And he says, well, let me ask God. But they had already gotten the law, but it was death penalty, but it seemed a little bit extreme. And God said, kill him, you know, execute him. He willfully broke the Sabbath, and so he must be executed. He was thumbing his nose at the Sabbath. Why? Because he's blaspheming salvation. Because for him to go pick up sticks on the Sabbath day, for him to go do work on the Sabbath day is basically defiling the picture that God had of rest on the Sabbath day, which rest represents salvation. When I preached on Hebrews chapter 4, I don't know who was here, but that's what I taught the whole lesson from the Bible about what God says about rest. How salvation is a rest, where you put off the burden of feeling like you have to earn your own way to heaven, and you enter into the rest of just total faith in Jesus Christ to get you to heaven. That's salvation. And so God put the death penalty on an odd thing there of the Sabbath day because it was a picture of salvation in the Old Testament. Now the Sabbath day was something that was only ever a covenant. And I'm not a dispensationalist. You probably don't even know what that means, thank God. But I'm not a dispensationalist. I believe that all the laws of the Old Testament and all the promises made to Abraham and so forth apply to me today, and I preached a little sermon on that a few weeks ago. All the promises made to Abraham and to the people in the Old Testament apply to me today. The blessing given to Noah, to Abraham, it's all for us today. But at the same time, God specifically said that the Sabbath was a covenant between him and Israel, and that Sabbath day was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And so, no, I do not believe in observing the Sabbath today at all. I believe it's unscriptural to observe the Sabbath. And that's a whole sermon in and of itself. I could prove that very easily from the Bible. But the Sabbath day is not something, the Sunday is not the new Sabbath, okay? Because the Sabbath day, Sabbath means seventh. That's what Sabbath means. Anybody speak Spanish? Sabado is Saturday, which is basically Spanish for Sabbath. Sabado, Sabbath. And so the Sabbath was always the seventh day. It was done away with when Jesus Christ died on the cross. I've preached a couple of sermons on that. I could prove it to you from the Bible very simply. We don't keep the Sabbath today at all. Do I believe it's wrong to work on Sunday? No I don't. I do not believe it's wrong to work on Sunday. I do believe it's wrong to miss church, Sunday morning, Sunday night, or Wednesday night. God says to be in church and to be with the General Assembly, and he eats three times a week, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. But God never says in the Bible that it's wrong to work on Sunday. And so I don't have a problem with working on Sunday as long as you don't miss church. The problem is 99% of the time you're going to miss church if you work on Sunday. And so that's kind of a rabbit trail. But I just wanted to explain that to you, why God puts the death penalty on the Sabbath. Now you say, why did God put the death penalty on murder, cursing, smiting your parents, rape, adultery, perversion, and kidnapping? I'll tell you why. The death penalty is a deterrent. You know what a deterrent means? It means that it's something to stop you from doing something before you do it. Now God did not give Cain the death penalty, but he saw a need for the death penalty when he looked down at how man corrupted themselves. He said, it repents me that I've even made man. He says, I wish I hadn't even created man. And he said, I must do something to stop the violence, to stop the crime, to stop the evil, to protect people, so I'm going to institute the death penalty. Now you say, wait a minute, Pastor Anderson. If I've cursed my parents in the past, do you think I should be put to death today? Absolutely not. You say, if I've committed adultery in the past, do you think I should be put to death? No. See, if you say, if I've committed kidnapping, of course, I don't know if anybody in here has done kidnapping, but should you be put to death? Absolutely not. Because, of course, these are civil laws that God has. Now if I were king, and I'll tell you this right now, if Steven Anderson were king in the United States, every single law of the Old Testament would be the law of the land. I mean, everything that God says is a sin would be a sin, and it would be punished exactly the way that God says it's punished. There would be the death penalty on murder, there'd be the death penalty on cursing or smiting your parents, there'd be the death penalty on rape, there'd be a death penalty on adultery, there'd be a death penalty on being a pervert, there'd be a death penalty on kidnapping. Why? Because the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. You think I'd come up with my own law, separate from what God says should be the law? I'm not that presumptuous, my friend, this is the perfect law. Well no law is perfect, this is the perfect law, the death penalty on the items that I just listed. But see, if I did that, I would not make it retroactive, and here's why. Because it's not fair to somebody who didn't know the law, you know, they didn't receive the warning, and then all of a sudden we're going to go back and kill, you know, half the United States population because they committed adultery, curse or smote their parents, and so forth. Now, we're not going to do that, but see, here's the thing. Let me ask you this, if you've done anything on that list, would you do it again if you knew that the death penalty was going to be the result? No. Do you think that the murders that go on every day in Tempe and all the rapes and all the molestations that occur in this city, in this small little city of Tempe, get a newspaper, read about it, every week, every day practically. Do you think that that would be going on if they would take those people and execute them speedily as the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 8-11? No, absolutely not. You see, when punishments are executed for crimes, you say, you're just not compassionate Pastor Anderson, why don't you have a little bit of compassion on these people? Look, I have compassion on the victim. I have compassion on the children of the couple where the parents commit adultery and the children's lives could be ruined as a result. I have compassion on the spouse who stays faithful when their spouse commits adultery. I have compassion on the kid who gets kidnapped because the guy went to jail the last time he did it and then he gets out and does it again. Like happened to me when I lived in Indiana, there was a guy in our neighborhood who had molested and killed a few children. They put him in jail for, you know, 15 years or something. They let him out while I lived there. He was in my neighborhood. I mean, how far was he, honey? A quarter mile away from our house? Something like that. He was close. And he did it again while we lived there. They let him out of jail. Within a year, he had kids murdered and in his basement. And what did they do? They put him back in jail. Hey, cut that sucker's head off, like the Bible says, kill that sucker. You say, that's not compassion. You're not compassion of my kid that lives in that neighborhood. Compassion is when you execute judgment on an evil doer speedily. That's what the Bible teaches. God is a God of love. That's why God wants to protect you and your children. That's why God instituted the death penalty. And so you have to understand that when you're looking at the death penalty, the purpose of the death penalty is not necessarily a punishment for the crime. Because God's punishment for sin is hell, is what he teaches throughout the Bible. That's where he punishes sin. That's where he balances the scale. Of course, if you're born again through faith in Jesus Christ, Jesus has paid it for you, thank God. And you'll never be punished for your crimes at all. And that's a blessing. You've received a pardon. But God has commanded us to execute the death penalty as a deterrent to stop this kind of violence, to put an end to the madness. Just this week, if you remember several months ago, and I've used different illustrations like this, I gave an illustration about a guy in this area, in Tempe, who was working for the school district, who had molested several boys. He'd been accused of it as far back as ten years ago, but nobody did anything about it. All they did was fire him from his job and move him to a different position with the park district. A man who just knowingly had committed misconduct with boys, they swept it under the rug, as they often do. And just recently, he did it again. He molested some young boys. They threw him into jail for five years. Can you believe that? He's probably going to get out in two and a half on good behavior because the jails are too full. You know why the jails are full, my friend? You're right. I agree with you. The jails are too full. Because half those suckers should be dead. That's why. And actually, people wouldn't even be in there if the deterrent was in place. If they knew they were going to get the death penalty, they would have thought twice they wouldn't even be there. So you'd have less crime, less people in jail, and you'd be rid of the evil from our society. Do you feel safe walking down the street in Tempe, Arizona or in Phoenix, Arizona at night or letting your kids just ride their bike and run wild? If you do, you need to think twice about that before letting your kids just ride their bike after dark and run around and do whatever. When there's these perverts and filthy animals everywhere, why? Because people don't care what the Bible says. Did you know that there are a lot of Christians who don't even believe in the death penalty? Because Christians didn't even get to Genesis 9 on their Bible reading chart. They got their chart on January 1st where they were going to read through the Bible in a year. They stopped in Genesis 8. And they never got to chapter 9 where God said, who so? Who so? Did you know that's the same who soever? And who soever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. It means everybody. Who so shedeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. That's what the Bible says. Why? Because man is made in the image of God. Man is not an animal. Human beings are not animals. When they are killed, God says their life must be avenged. It must be brought to justice. Let me read for you. Actually turn. There's only a few passages. So turn if you would with me to these. Exodus chapter 21 and we'll see what the Bible says. This was a lot of my building up to it and I used some scriptures. But let's just read a little bit of Bible and we'll blow through some of these just to give you a feel for what the Bible teaches about this important subject. Look if you would at Exodus chapter 21 and verse number 12. The Bible says, he that smiteth the man. This is the Mosaic law. He that smiteth the man so that he die shall be surely put to death. There we have it for murder again. Look at verse 15. And he that smiteth his father or his mother. Remember we talked about this? Shall be surely put to death. And he that stealeth the man and selleth him. There's a kidnapping. And then he explains another scenario. Or if he be found in his hand. Or if you just kidnap somebody and don't sell them. He shall surely be put to death. And he that curseth his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. And then look at this. This is interesting. It says, and if men strive together and one smite another with a stone. Or I'm sorry, that's the wrong verse. Look down if you would at verse 22. Verse 22. If men strive and hurt a woman with child. This is a pregnant woman. Men are horsing around fighting each other and they accidentally hurt a woman with child. The Bible says, so that her fruit depart from her. So she's caused to have a miscarriage based on this brawl. It says, so that her fruit depart from her and yet no mischief follow. Like it was an accident basically is what he's saying. He shall be surely punished. According as the woman's husband will lay upon him. And he shall pay as the judge is determined. So he's not going to get the death penalty accidentally. This is what's called manslaughter. When you're doing something wrong. And the Bible has a lot to say about manslaughter. That's a whole nother sermon. But if people are wrestling and fighting around a pregnant woman. They shouldn't be doing that. And they cause the child to die. That's manslaughter. Because that's a human being by the way inside of her womb. And so they're severely punished the Bible says. But look at this. And if any mischief follow. Then thou shall give life for life. So if it was in any way intentional. He says life for life. Death penalty. Why? Because it's a human being. If you willfully kill the baby inside of a woman. What does God say that you get for that in the Bible? I don't care what you think. I don't care what the Republican party says. I don't care what the Democrat party says. What does the Bible say? It says the death penalty for the abortion doctor. Yes it does. Death penalty for the abortion nurses. Yes it does. If I was in charge I'd make it to law tomorrow. And if one more abortion was carried out in this country. Take that sucker out and hang him. Like they hung Saddam Hussein. Because it's just as bad as Saddam Hussein. Just as much of a pervert if not more. And so the Bible says in verse 23. And if any mischief follow. Then thou shall give life for life. Here's some famous verses from the Bible. Eye for eye. Tooth for tooth. Hand for hand. Foot for foot. Burning for burning. Wound for wound. Stripe for stripe. What does that mean? God says God's teaching us. How do we know what right and wrong is? How does the government know what right and wrong is? If not from the word of God. And God says let me define for you right and wrong. It's like a scale. Have you ever seen the scales of justice? It's what this is based on. It's like a scale. Justice is when you balance the scale. And so he says eye for an eye. Balance. Life for a life. Death penalty. It balances the scale. Tooth for tooth. Hand for hand. Burning for burning. Stripe for stripe. He says this is my idea of justice. You say why did Jesus Christ have to be beaten and die on the cross? Why did he have to descend into the lower parts of the earth and burn in hell for our sins? Why? Because he had to balance the scale of justice. And God said that that's what we deserve as sinners. For our sins. And so Jesus Christ paid exactly what we deserve to pay. The scale's been balanced. Hallelujah. I'm never going to have to answer to God for my sins. Glory to God. Because they've been paid for. Have you ever heard of double jeopardy? And no I'm not talking about your favorite game show. Have you ever heard of double jeopardy is a law in the United States which says that if you've been tried for a crime and whether you've been acquitted or convicted of that crime you can never be tried for the same crime twice. Did you know that? So like O.J. Simpson if he came out tomorrow and just said you know what? I'm guilty. He could not. They couldn't do anything to him. Couldn't put him in jail. Couldn't do a thing to him. Because he's already been acquitted. Or if somebody's been convicted of something some child molester you know he goes to his little two and a half year sentence and he gets out of that thing they can't come back and say you know what? We finally started reading the Bible. We got to Genesis 9. We got to Exodus 21. And we just figured out that you need to die. In the United States you can't go back and take him to court and try to punish him more like he ought to be punished because it's called double jeopardy. You cannot pay for the same crime twice. Now look do you think that when I get to heaven when I breathe my last breath and I stand in the presence of Jesus Christ do you think that he's going to bring up my sins to me which have already been paid for? No. The Bible says his sins shall not be mentioned unto him. The Bible says as far as the east is from the west God has separated us from our sins. And people try to pervert the judgment seat of Christ which is basically a judgment of how well you did to see what kind of rewards you're going to get and they try to pervert it like you know you hear preachers like you're going to give an account to God for that someday for what you've done, Christian. Wrong. I'm not giving an account for anything I did because Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. And when I stand before Jesus Christ I'm going to be faultless and blameless and perfect in his sight through the blood of Jesus Christ I'm going to be a brand new creature. Glory to God. Isn't that great? To me that's the greatest part about salvation is just the finality of it all. It's done. It's paid for. The load is lifted. That's why it's called rest. Because the burden of all your sinful past is gone. Your sinful present. Maybe even your sinful future, God forbid. It's rest because it's gone. It's paid for. It's done. And so that's what we see about the death penalty in Exodus 21. Let's go ahead and turn to Leviticus chapter 20. Leviticus 20 verse number 10. So I'm skipping a lot of verses. I don't want to show you every verse on the death penalty because it would just belabor the point. But I'm just showing you some key verses on the death penalty. That part in Exodus chapter 1 was a lot about violence. It was a lot about murder, smiting your parents, cursing your parents, hurting a woman with child. A little later on there's talking about somebody using an animal to kill someone and so forth. And the death penalty is repeated many times. But look at Leviticus 20. We'll see another aspect. Leviticus 20 verse number 10, the Bible reads, And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulterous shall surely be put to death. And then look at verse 9. For every one that cursteth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death. He hath cursed his father or his mother, his blood shall be upon him. And then in verse number 10 we saw that the adulterer should be put to death. Now adultery is a very grievous sin, my friend. If you've already done it, hey, you should just be excited about what I just said, how it's all been paid for. But you know what? If you haven't done it yet, don't ever do it, because it's a wicked sin, and you don't want to do it. And then look at verse 11. And the man that litheeth his father's wife, talking about his stepmother, hath uncovered his father's nakedness, both of them shall surely be put to death. And he goes on and on in the next several verses and just repeats different types of adultery, just making it very specific. This is, yes, this is the death penalty for this kind of adultery. Yes, they both need to die. He goes down the whole list. And boy, adultery is a horrible thing. Boy, if I think about my wife committing adultery or some man committing adultery with my wife, do you think I'd want that sucker dead? Absolutely. Of course I would. And so that's why God teaches this. It's so important that marriages be preserved. Marriages would be a lot better off in this country if there was a death penalty on adultery, because there'd be so much less adultery. And people would be faithful to their spouse. And wouldn't that be a nice thing? Wouldn't it be nice if kids could know who their parents are and have a mom and a dad at home who don't cheat on each other and don't go to filthy places? Hey, that'd be a blessing. That'd be great. See, God's a very loving God. Do you know how God expresses his love by instituting the death penalty? Does that make sense to you? If that doesn't make sense to you, you're missing something about the Bible. You're missing some key information. If you don't understand that God's giving of the death penalty goes right hand in hand with his blessing of Noah, because he says, let me institute something, Noah, that's going to protect you so that this new world that you're creating with your sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, of whom the whole world's going to be overspread, let me put some laws in place that are going to protect you so you don't have to live in the hellhole that you lived in before you built this ark, Noah. Do you want to live in a place that's like where you came from on the other side of the ark? No. Let me protect you, Noah. Let me bless you. Be fruitful. Multiply. Replenish the earth. And by the way, whoso sheteth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed. I hope that helps, Noah. See, this is an expression of God's love. On and on. I don't even like to read some of these verses because they talk about filthy things and children are here, but it talks about basically bestiality, homosexuality, and all kinds of filthy things. You can read that yourself in Leviticus chapter 20. I'm not saying it'd be wrong to read it. The Bible says every word of God is pure, but I just don't even like to dwell on it sometimes. But the Bible says in verse number 27, a man also or a woman, so we went through all the perverts and killed all them in verses number 9 through 16, all the bestiality, the homos, and everything like that. Verse number 27, the Bible says, a man also or a woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard. These are talking about Satan worshipers, wizards, witches, witchcraft. It says, shall surely be put to death. They shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall be upon them. And then flip over. You're right in Leviticus 20. Look at chapter 24 quickly. I'm trying to hurry up and finish here. Look at Leviticus 24, 17. And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death. And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it. Pay it back, that is. And he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death. Now flip over to Numbers chapter 35. Just a little bit forward in your Bible. You're in Leviticus. The next book is Numbers. Numbers 35. Numbers 35, the Bible reads in Numbers 35, 16. And if he smite him with an instrument of iron so that he die, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death. Verse 17, and if he smite him with throwing a stone that he may die. And he die, he's a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death. Why is God so repetitive? So that you get it in your head that the death penalty is ordained by God. That's why. Or in enmity, this is verse 21. Or in enmity, smite him with his hand that he die. You punch him in the face and he dies. He that smote himself surely be put to death, for he's a murderer. The revenger of blood shall slay the murderer when he meeteth him. Verse 30, who so killeth any person the murderer shall be put to... Okay, God, I get the idea. Who shall kill 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. He says, I don't want him to be executed wrongfully, but if you have enough witnesses and so forth, put him to death. And then look at this. This is important. Chapter 35, verse 31. I'm going to define a word for you that's an old word. It says, moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of debt, but he shall surely be put to death. The word satisfaction there is an old word. It means basically like bail, where you pay to get out of jail type of thing. A satisfaction is a price that you could pay, like let's say, well, you're guilty of debt. We're going to put you to death or charge you a fine of $300,000 type of thing. He says no. No satisfaction for the life of a murderer. It says he shall surely be put to death. And on and on. I'm skipping all the rest of these because I don't have time. And so on and on. I had a big list of verses in Deuteronomy and everything to show you some different aspects of the debt penalty. But let me show you. I'm going to close with this. This is important for you to see this. Let me show you the one passage in the Bible. There's one passage in the Bible that the anti-death penalty crowd, which is filled with just basically ignorant Christians who don't know the Bible. And believe it or not, there are a lot of so-called Christians who do not believe in the debt penalty, despite the hundreds and hundreds of verses in the Old Testament saying, debt penalty, debt penalty, debt penalty, debt penalty. Look if you would at John chapter 8, we're going to see the one passage that people pervert and misuse to do away with the debt penalty. Look if you would at John chapter 8, verse 1. While you're turning there, let me tell you this. President George Bush was in a press conference with some liberal press, whatever you call them, what are they called? Reporter, right? Some liberal reporter, some left-wing reporter, said to President George W. Bush that if Jesus were on this earth today, he would be against the debt penalty. Now that's ridiculous, because the Bible says Jesus is the Word, right? In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Who wrote this book? Who wrote it a hundred times? Remember how repetitive it was in Numbers 35? You're like, okay, God, I get the idea. He's just like, anybody who kills him, if he hits him with his hand and kills him with his hand, if he kills him with an instrument of iron, if he throws a stone at him and kills him, if he kills him in any way at the mouth of witnesses, he'll be put to death. It's murder, it's violence, it's wrong. But if Jesus were alive on this earth today, he'd be against the debt penalty. Stupid liberal commie moron. But anyway, he says this to George W. Bush, and you know what George W. Bush said to him when he said that? He said if Jesus were on this earth, he'd be against the debt penalty. And George W. Bush said, I agree with that statement. That's what he said. So basically George W. Bush is saying, because he's for the death penalty. Believe it or not, he's for something that's right. I know that's shocking, but George W. Bush is actually for something that's right. I guess he's for the death penalty. But he said he agreed that Jesus would be against it. Now what kind of a stupid statement is that? So you're saying that Jesus would be against it, but you're not? I guess you're smarter than Jesus. That doesn't even make sense. But number two, Jesus would not be against it, and anyone who believes that has not studied the Bible. They do not know the Bible. It's either by ignorance or just a willful ignorance of not wanting to know what the Bible teaches. But let's read the story that's their one proof passage. And by the way, you're always on dangerous ground when you put one passage against a hundred. You have hundreds of verses that say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Everyone that believeth to the Jew first, also the Greek. Believe, believe, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Whosoever believeth in him. On and on and on. And then you find some verse that just kind of vaguely asks a question or says something. And you're going to say, well, this one said, it kind of almost sounds like you have to do something to be saved. Look, you never want to put in any of your doctrine, never put the one verse that you don't understand up against the 100 clear verses. Go with the clear verses. You're probably misunderstanding that other verse. Go with the majority of what the Bible is teaching throughout the Bible, cover to cover. Don't just isolate one verse and take it out of the Bible. Isolate one story and take it out of the Bible and build your whole doctrine. But look at this story. It's very simple. John 8, 1, Book of John, New Testament. Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives. And early in the morning he came again into the temple and all the people came unto him. And he sat down and taught them. So Jesus is preaching to many people and he's teaching them the Bible. In verse 3 the Bible says, And the scribes and the Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, so they interrupt his teaching of the Bible and set this woman in front of him that has committed adultery. They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us. Now is that who really commanded him? No, it was the Lord Jesus Christ that commanded him. Moses did not write the law. It says, Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned. But what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down with his finger and rode on the ground as though he heard them not. He's just basically ignoring them. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, He that is without sin among you let him cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down and rode on the ground and they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last, and Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those nine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more. Now I found out there was a verse that I was going to read that just popped into my mind as I was reading that, and I'm trying to find it. Let me see if I can find it. Here we go. Look at John 19. This just popped into my mind as I was reading this. This wasn't part of the sermon, but look at John chapter 19 and look at verse number 4. John 19, 4. Pilot therefore went forth again and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that you may know that I find no fault in him. This is Jesus standing before Pilot at the trial. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilot saith unto them, Behold the man. Look at them. This is what he's saying. Man, good night. Because he'd been beaten so bad, unbelievably. When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, with hatred in their hearts, they're seeing this man beaten beyond recognition. They cried out, saying, Crucify him. Pilot saith unto them, Take ye him and crucify him. This is key to the story. Take ye him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God. Now, I forget which passage it's in, and I wanted to show you this because it just popped into my mind. But in one of the four Gospels, the Bible makes it clear that the Jews were not allowed to execute people. Very clear. Because they were part of the Roman Empire. And so they had to come to Pilot and say, We have a law, and by our law he needs to die. They had to ask his permission to execute him. Because the Bible says that the Jews were not allowed to put any man to death in the Roman Empire. And so here's the thing. Whenever the Pharisees are coming to Jesus, they're always trying to put him between a rock and a hard place. If you were here on the book of Matthew, you saw the continual face-off between Jesus and the Pharisees, just back and forth. John chapter 8 is part of that face-off. Read the rest of the chapter. He goes back and forth with them throughout the chapter of John chapter 8. He's going back and forth with them in John chapters 6 and 7. Chapters 9 and 10. I mean, that's what the book of John is about, is the first half of it is just him going back and forth with the Pharisees. Now, here's the thing. When Jesus is asked, This woman, here she is, she committed adultery, she was taken in the act, the Bible says she should be put to death, what do you say? Now, if he says, and this is the position they're always trying to put him in, if he says, I say that she should not be put to death, well, then now he's basically going against the Bible, okay, which would be wrong. And so, if he says, well, yes, she needs to be put to death, well, then he's basically going against the law of the land. It'd be like if I said, well, you know what, these homos, let's kill them. Well, look, I can't really do that because I'm not in charge. You know, the Romans are in charge. The United States government's in charge. I don't have the right to carry out execution on somebody. I don't have the right to give these Jews permission to kill this woman when it's against the law. See, Jesus said to them, well, take her out and kill her like the Bible says. Would Jesus be following the laws of the Roman Empire that he was living in? No. And so, either way, it's kind of a catch-22, and that's what they're trying to do. So, basically, here's what Jesus says. He says, okay, well, he that is without sin among you And then look what he says. Here's the key verse. Look at John 8-11. Are you still in John, foot back a few pages? John 8-11, he gives the key right here. He says in John 8-11, she said, no man, Lord, and Jesus said unto her, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Now, think about this. John 3-16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, whoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world. Notice the similar word. God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. So what's the opposite of condemnation? Salvation. He says God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned. You see that? He that believeth not is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Now, is God, Jesus Christ, repealing the death penalty in John 8? Is he saying that the death penalty is wrong because this adulterous woman should not be put to death? That adulterous woman should have been put to death, and Jesus never said that she shouldn't be put to death. He said she should be put to death. He that's without sin and money, you cast the first stone. Go ahead and do it. And see, he's basically just pushing their argument back on them because they're trying to put him in a position where he's violating one or the other because they didn't understand the Bible about being subject to the higher powers and so forth and that we have to obey civil authority when it doesn't conflict with the Bible. And it's not our job to execute justice. That's human government's job, to execute the death penalty. And you see, the condemnation that's come into the world is a condemnation on those who do not believe in Jesus Christ. The reason that Jesus was able to say to her, neither do I condemn thee, is because Jesus Christ was going to go to the cross later on in the same book and die on the cross for our sins and bring salvation to the whole world. And so, can God pardon sin? Yes. God pardoned this woman's sin. Why can God pardon sin? Because Jesus Christ has paid for our sins. Now, this lady right here who committed adultery, was the scale balanced? Absolutely, because Jesus died on the cross for that adulterous act that she did. When Jesus was on the cross, he paid for her adultery. Now, look, if they were living in a godly society which was not run by the Roman Empire but was run by people who obeyed the Bible, that woman would have received the death penalty. They wouldn't have been bringing her to Jesus. She would have been given the death penalty administered by the government. But, she's brought to Jesus and Jesus says, you know what? He uses an illustration of saying, you know what? I can forgive sin. I can pardon sin. Even a presidential pardon. A lot in the news this week about Gerald Ford passing away. And they talked about the fact that he gave Richard Nixon a full, free, and absolute pardon for his deeds in Watergate. Did you know that the president can pardon anybody that they want? Any convicted murderer, the president has the power to pardon. I don't know if you know that. The governor has the power to do that also. I was trying to think of an example. Bill Clinton pardoned like six or seven just horrible criminals. I don't know if they were his buddies back from Arkansas or something. In fact, I remember there was a big thing in the news when he left office, like the day before he left office, because he didn't want to take the flack for it, but he issued all these presidential pardons to all these criminals that obviously were his buddies or back in the trailer park, him and Bubba and them in Arkansas. So he led these guys off the hook. And the president has the power to do that. Why does the president have the power to do that? Because the United States justice system was based on the Bible, where basically it's a picture, the pardoning of a sin by the king is a picture of salvation, where Jesus Christ pardons our sin. Yes, Jesus Christ pardoned the sin of an adulterous woman in his mercy. Was it just for him to do that? Yes, because he died on the cross for her sins. He said that he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. But does he believe that human government should establish and carry out the death penalty without exception? Yes, he does. And I wish that I had the time to read every single verse that was in my notes about the death penalty just to hammer that into your mind. Just so that you understand that Jesus Christ did not come to destroy the law of the prophets. He came to fulfill. And he did not destroy the moral laws and punishments of the Old Testament. Now, obviously we don't do the animal sacrifices because Jesus fulfilled the sacrifice. It would be blasphemous for me to offer an animal sacrifice. The sacrifice has been done. It would be blasphemous for me to teach that you must keep the Sabbath on Saturday because that's already been covered by Jesus Christ and I've taught a whole sermon on that. And so on and so forth. The death penalty on sin ordained by God. Now, there's a much worse death penalty that God has on sin, which is what he calls the second death. And when you die the first time, if you're unsaved, the Bible says you face the second death, which is burning in hell. But I'm going to close with these two verses. I'll just read this for you. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? God says that if you're a born-again child of God, you will never die. If you're saved, you say, Pastor Anderson, are you ever going to die? I am never going to die, according to the Bible. You know, people are going to say one day, Steven Anderson is dead. It won't be true because I will never die because I believe on Jesus Christ because when I breathe my last breath out of his body, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And so there's no death, no condemnation to the Christian, to the child of God. Salvation, that's the great story of the beauty of the story in John 8 that's been perverted to try to change God's laws. Let's just look at the story for what it is. It's a beautiful picture of salvation and pardon and cleansing by a man who had the right to say, I don't condemn thee because I have the power on earth to forgive sins. As it said in Matthew chapter 9. Does Steven Anderson have the power on earth to forgive sins? No. Who can forgive sins but God only? You see that? The only way anybody's going to be pardoned is by Jesus Christ, by God the Father. And God the Father will pardon anyone who believes on him. He'll pardon them of every sin they've ever done. He'll give them a presidential pardon from heaven. But I'm going to tell you something. People on this earth who commit murder, who commit adultery, who commit rape, who commit perversion, who kidnap children, and on down the list, deserve and should get the death penalty. Let's bow our heads and pray. Father, thank you so much for the Bible and the clarity that you give, the moral clarity. I don't have to wonder what should I believe about certain subjects, dear God, but you make things so clear in the Bible, dear God, and I thank you so much for loving us and giving us the law of the Bible as a way to safeguard us and protect us from evil, dear God. And Father, we're living in very dangerous times. I just pray that you would protect every single person that's in this room, dear God, from acts of violence. I pray that you would protect every child in this room, that none of these perverts would get their filthy hands on them, dear God, and that parents would give parents wisdom, dear God, to keep their children safe and to be careful and safeguard that precious commodity that God has given them and blessed them with, help them to keep them safe, dear God, and to protect them. And God, I pray that the United States would institute the death penalty across the board for these sins, dear God. I know that they execute it selectively, but very, very, very selectively. But God, I just pray that you would bring righteousness to the laws of our nation. And please, Father, just bless everyone who's here. If there's anybody here who's not, for sure that they're saved, dear God, help them to make sure that they're trusting Jesus Christ alone and ask Him for salvation. And we love you, dear God, and thank you, dear God.