Genesis chapter 8, it began in
verse 20. And Noah built it in an altar
unto the Lord, and took of every clean beast and of every clean
fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled
a sweet savor, and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again
curse the ground any more for man's sake, for the imagination
of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I again smite
any more every living thing as I have done. While the earth
remaineth, see time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter,
day and night shall not cease. And God blessed Noah and his
sons and said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the
earth And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon
every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon
all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the
sea. And to your hand are they delivered.
Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you, even as
the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the
life thereof which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat? And
surely your blood of your lives will I require, at the hand of
every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man, at the
hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso
sheddeth man's blood, thy man shall his blood be shed, for
in the image of God made he man. Let's entitle our study this
morning, A New Beginning. A New Beginning. And maybe we
could even title it like this, A New and Simple Beginning. Because that's what we see here
in this passage. In Genesis chapter 3, God had
revealed the gospel to Adam and Eve. And they taught it to their
children. The ancient church maintained
this gospel. They embraced it and maintained
it until sometime before the flood. And seemingly they lost
it. They lost the precious gospel.
And then the earth was filled with violence and corruption.
The flood came and Noah and his family were saved. Saved through
this awful flood. And you and I saw, as we studied
that, how easily God can destroy His creatures. It's no trouble
for God to destroy a man or a nation or the world. He can just as
easily put a bread crumb into a person's throat and his lungs,
or He can just as easily bring a flood and destroy a world of
humanity. We're God's creatures, and He's
our Creator. But here in chapter 9 and verse
1, Notice how graciously God can bless people. He can destroy
or He can bless. When He destroys, He can destroy
easily. He can destroy utterly. But when
He blesses, it's such a gracious thing for Him to do so. And He
gave these eight people, Noah and his wife, and their sons
and their wives, a new beginning. And not only for them, but all
their descendants. He makes it plain here that this
new beginning is not just for Noah and his family, but is for
all their posterity, all their descendants in the ages to come.
He says here to them in verse 1, Be fruitful and multiply and
replenish the earth. But look what he says here in
verse 9, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with
your seed after you. And look in verse 19. These are
the three sons of Noah, and of them was the whole earth overspread. And look in the 10th chapter
in verse 32. These are the families of the
sons of Noah after their generations in their nations, and by these
were the nations divided in the earth after the flood. So this new beginning, was not
just for Noah and his sons and their wives, but it was for humanity
in the generations to come. All the nations of the world,
all the nations of the world can trace their origin back to
this one man, back to Noah and his three sons. After the flood,
there were just eight people. And you and I can trace our heritage
back to this one man and his wife. All the nations of the
earth, the Scripture tells us, were populated from this one
family. Noah and his wife, and their
sons, and their wives. Now if you and I want to, I know,
and the Scripture gives us permission to go back before the flood,
we can trace our heritage all the way back to Adam and Eve,
the first man. But where did they come from?
God created them. And then we come on this side
of the flood, and Noah could say, I can trace my lineage back
to Adam, and you and I can trace our lineage back to Noah and
his wife and their sons. So whether you're here this morning
having a nationality different than mine, having a color different
from mine, a culture different from mine, all of us are brothers
in this sense. All of us have the same blood
running in our veins. There's not a hair's breadth
difference in any of us. God hath made of one blood all
nations of men to dwell upon the face of the whole earth.
And you and I need no other proof than Genesis chapter 9 gives
us that tells us there was a time in history when there was only
eight human beings that occupied this entire world. And everybody
came from there. Terrence, you can trace your
heritage right back to Noah. And I can, and all the nations
of the world is populated at this present time from this one
man. And God blessed this family with
a new beginning. Now listen to this. I want to
emphasize this because that's what I want to deal with this
morning. A new beginning. A new beginning. God blessed
this family with a new beginning. Number one, He gave them a fresher
and deeper revelation of the person and work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now we looked at that last Sunday
and I want to comment on that again today. That's one of the
things he did. He gave them a fresher and deeper
revelation of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God. He gave them these precious promises
that the earth would be preserved from destruction and would support
humanity as long as this world stood. We saw that there in verse
22. And thirdly, they were given protection from something that
they never had before the flood. And they were given liberties
that they never had before the flood. And fourthly, they had
a new law that was instituted That man was to enforce that
they never had before. Now, that's just some things
I wanted to give you, and let's look at some of these things
as we go. First of all, let's look at this. What's the first
thing Noah and his family did when they came out of this ark?
Now, the first thing that I guess I would have thought of, and
you would have thought of, was building us a house, or building
a cage or a pen for our animals. But did you notice the first
thing Noah and his family did when they came out of this ark?
They worshipped. They worshipped the Lord. And
don't that show us something? Don't that show us that God had
made something real to them? God had revealed something to
them that they just could not wait until they got out of that
ark to express the faith of it. And that was this altar that
they built and offered these burnt offerings upon it." And
you and I saw what that meant last week, didn't we? This is
the God-man. This is the person and the work
of the Son of God. God who became flesh and suffered
for our sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us
to God. They believed there was coming
a day in which God Himself would be made flesh, and in that flesh
He would atone for sins through great, great suffering. That
was the ground of their worship. There is how they approached
unto God and worshiped Him. Noah and his family had the gospel
of their salvation, and it was so vital to them, the first thing
they did when they left this ark was to exercise their faith. in that sacrifice, that gospel
that they believed. Here were eight people in all
the world. It was a new beginning for the whole human race. And
the first thing we are told that they did, they blessed God and
worshipped Him through this gospel. This gospel that is a sweet savor
to God, this gospel that meets the needs of a poor At the same
time it brings glory to God, and He smells it as a sweet savor,
it meets the needs of the poor sinner. That's the gospel they
had. They possessed this gospel. Eight
people upon this earth, and those eight people had the gospel.
Ain't that amazing? Now you may have to say Ham was
excluded, and maybe he was. Noah's son, Ham. But if he was
excluded, he was excluded by himself. Nobody else excluded
him. If he was excluded, he had to
be excluded by his own wicked unbelief. But if they had this
gospel of the grace of God, Christ would suffer for sins, the just
for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. Now let me elaborate
on this just a minute. And one thing I want you to see
about this gospel is this, what a gracious gospel it is. What
a powerful gospel that they had. They had the same gospel that
you and I have. They had it in type. But their
faith laid hold upon this altar and these sacrifices. When they
stood there and looked at Noah building that altar, and they
saw those sacrifices consumed by that fire, they saw Christ
in them. They saw atonement. They saw
salvation in them. And it's a powerful, gracious
gospel that they possess. It's a gospel for sinners. Here
in verse 21, look at this. In verse 21, right in the middle,
the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. What man was the Lord talking
about? The Lord was talking about men.
The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. Which
men was He talking about? You say, well, He was talking
about those men. back there before the flood that were corrupt and
wicked. Or maybe He was talking about
the men that was to come. But what about these four men
standing right there before Him? Huh? All men. Noah? Talking about Noah and his three
sons and Noah's wife and his three daughter-in-laws. The Gospel
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified has the power and the grace and
the merit to come to a miserable sinner and save him right where
he finds him and in the condition he finds him in. When the Lord
saves a man, He washes him, He gives him a new heart, a new
spirit, a new birth. But I tell you what, He doesn't
take everything away. He doesn't save everything about
that man. He has an old nature that He
never touches. There's an old man within him
that is not washed. There's that old heart, and though
it's taken out as far as being able to reign, I tell you, it's
still there already. When the Lord first saved me,
I knew that He had saved a great sinner. But that's about all
I knew. But it wasn't long until I realized
something. The same gospel that saved me
in the beginning, initially, was going to have to continue
to save me, because I was still a sinner. I was still a sinner. If you think Noah wasn't a sinner,
then just go over and read all of chapter 9. And look at this
dear man of God who had so fallen, he was laying drunk in his tent
without any clothes on. Could a child of God so fall?
We all have this potential within us. We're born sinners. We live
sinners. And I tell you what, sometimes,
sometimes, by our falling, we can sure reveal what great sinners
we still are, can't we? Brother Scott Mitcherson used
to make the statement concerning Noah and David and Solomon and
Peter and some of the other dear saints of God who have miserably
fallen. And Scott used to say this. If
the fall of these imminent saints teach us nothing else, it teaches
us this, that men are saved by grace. Men are saved by grace. Here the judgment of God had
come upon this world and destroyed the ungodly, but here we are
on this side of the flood and that judgment did not change
Noah's old nature. He had it still. What did God
do? He gave him a gospel to save
him in spite of that nature, in spite of his sins. God have mercy on those who are
trying to bring good fruit out of an evil tree. It cannot be
done. are trying to build a righteousness from the slime of a wicked heart. There is but one thing that can
reconcile us to God, and save us, and reveal to us the smiling
face of the Heavenly Father, and to give us hope in a world
to come. And that's the gospel that was
revealed to this family. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Nothing else will do us any good
because we're sinners still. I don't care what half a believer,
a true child of God may attain of spirituality in this world.
After it's all said and done, we're sinners still. And we need
a gospel to save us in spite of us. And God's got a gospel.
And they had it right here. They had it. And note this. There was a time, let me emphasize
this, here was a time when the world had the gospel, the pure
gospel. They had it. There was only eight
of them, but they had it. And from these eight people,
all the world was finally, to this day, populated. What happened? What happened? What happened
to the gospel? If we had it at one time, what
happened to it? The world lost it. The world
had the gospel and the world lost the gospel. Somewhere either
in Noah's grandchildren or his great-grandchildren, somewhere
along the way, the world lost the knowledge of this glorious
gospel of the grace of God. They lost it. And my text over
in Romans chapter 1 tells us why they did it. I read it to
you, didn't I? Even as they did not like
to retain God in their knowledge. How did they lose it? They didn't
like it. They willingly gave it up. If
old humanity had not wickedly lost this gospel, it would have
never been engulfed in the spiritual darkness that it was later engulfed
in. It would have never been led
away into the worship of devils and dumb idols. But it could
have lived in hope of the coming of the Messiah, and in spite
of their miserable depravity, it could have, it could have
been saved. Now let me say that again. If
this world had retained this gospel, which once it had, it
would have not been led away into spiritual darkness, into
the worship of devils and dumb idols. It could have lived in
hope of the coming of the Messiah, and in spite of its depravity,
whatever it is, it could have lived in hope of being saved. But when it gave up this gospel,
whenever that was, it gave up light, it gave up hope, it gave
up the knowledge of God. What did it do? Romans 1 says,
when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, but became vain
in their imagination. And their foolish hearts were
darkened, professing themselves to be wise. They became fools. And a man is a fool if he gives
up the gospel. And that's what the old world
did. And look what a mess it got him in. That's why Paul said,
every man is without excuse. God gave our first parents the
gospel when He sent them out of the garden. They lost it.
Then He gives it to humanity again. And what happened? They lost it again. I preached
a message to you not long ago in Galatians 1, how easy it is
to lose the gospel. Here in verse 22, now, here's
the second thing. That's the first thing we see.
They had the gospel, but humanity somewhere lost it. In verse 22, here's something
else that they had. God gives them this gracious
promises, and how much this must have relieved their anxiety. I know it's relieved mine, and
I imagine it's relieved yours too. He gave them this promise
concerning the future of their earth, that it would remain fruitful
and it would remain supportive of humanity. It would never be
destroyed again until the end of time. He would be fruitful
and support humanity. That's what he assures them there
in verse 22. If there is anything in creation,
I want you to turn over here with me in Acts chapter 14, the
old Genesis chapter 8, and turn over here with me in the book
of Acts chapter 14. I think if there is anything
in creation, that proves to us the goodness of God, it's got to be the promise that
He gave them there in Genesis chapter 8 verse 22. That all
of these decades since this time, since they came out of that ark,
all the millenniums and all the autumns and the winters and the
springs and the summer, Year after year, century after century,
all of this rises up and bears witness to the faithfulness and
the goodness of God. Every time the sun rises, what
is that? That's a testimony of God's goodness.
The rain coming down upon this earth and watering it, watering
the gardens and the farmer's fields, giving this earth fruit,
To support us? What is that? That's the goodness
of God. In all of these ages, since Noah
up to now, we have this testimony, that God is faithful to His Word,
and He's good, and He's good. And look here how Paul says this.
Here in chapter 14 of the book of Acts, Paul and Barnabas had gone preaching
the gospel, And these men were going to worship him. Paul had
healed a man, and they were going to worship Paul and Barnabas. And Paul stopped them here in
verse 15. Look in verse 15 of Acts 14. And here is the appeal he made
to them. And Paul said unto them, Why do ye these things? We also
are men with like passions, of like passion with you, and preaching
to you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living
God, which made heaven and earth and the sea and all things that
are therein, who in time past suffered all nations to walk
in their own way." Look at this. Nevertheless, He left not Himself
without witness, in that He did good and gave us rain from heaven
and fruitful seasons fill in our hearts with food and gladness. All of those centuries and millenniums
from the flood to this very day, Paul said, God has kept His Word.
He's did good. He gives us autumns and winters
and springtimes and summers, sunshine and rain from heaven,
and fruitful season. I imagine there's farmers that
are very evil men. Very immoral. But when they bring
their crops in, sometimes their crops is better than anybody
else's. And why is that? Because God is good. God is good. Some people live in climates
that is wonderful year-round. They don't have to suffer with
the snow and the ice and the cold as you and I do, and yet
they're wicked people. And yet they enjoy God's creation
as much or more than anybody else. Why is that? Because God
is good. He sends His rain, and He raises
His sun, and He gives us fruitful season, and He supports our earth,
and He supports us. We go to the grocery store and
fill our carts, we bring it home and fill our pantries up, and
we eat to our hearts' content. Why is that? Because God is good. God is faithful. And that's what humanity, the
promise that was given to humanity, that the earth was not going
to cease to support humanity in every way. God could have
destroyed the earth. He could destroy man if he's
so pleased. But he's not pleased to do so.
And he will not do so. until his purposes are fulfilled. That's a blessing, isn't it?
Chapter 9 and verse 1. Now look back over there. Chapter
9 and verse 1. Here's something else. A new
beginning. They had the gospel. They had
the promise that the earth would never cease to support them and
be fruitful. And here in chapter 9 and verse
1, God blessed Noah and his sons and said unto them, Be fruitful
and multiply and replenish the earth. Now you and I have seen
this before. It was over in Genesis chapter
1 and verse 28. God spoke to Adam and Eve and
said the very same thing to them. Be fruitful and multiply and
replenish the earth. Now let me say some things concerning
what this verse of Scripture here teaches. Both times that
God spake this, He spake it to married couples. You find it
twice, one over in the first chapter in verse 28, and here
in chapter 9 verse 1, and both times God spoke this to married
people. Adam and Eve, and now to Noah
and his wife and his sons and their wives. What do we see from
this? First of all is this, that God
blessed marriage. God has blessed marriage from
the very beginning. He that findeth a wife, findeth
a good thing, and obtaineth favor of the Lord. And the woman that
finds a husband, finds a good thing, and obtaineth favor of
the Lord. I encourage Everybody, young
people that has a desire to get married, unsaved people, men
or women, I encourage anyone who wants to be married to seek
the Lord for a mate. Call upon Him because He has
blessed the institution of marriage. And I believe, brothers and sisters,
that anybody that would seek His face for a mate that would
suit you, I believe God's faithful to answer that prayer. That's
how much He's blessed marriages. Number two is this. Marriage
is the only lawful means by which a man or a woman can live together
in an intimate relationship and that relationship be blessed
and not cursed. Blessed and not cursed. Marriage is honorable in all,
and the bed is undefiled. It's a pleasure. God has made
it so between the man and his wife. The devil has always tried
to discredit marriage. He's done it from the beginning.
He's doing it today. Roman Catholicism says it's a
sin for some to be married. We used to have the old shakers
here in Indiana. There's not many of them left
because they didn't believe in procreation. If you don't believe
in procreation, your congregation is going to get pretty thin after
a while. But they went one step further than the Roman Catholics.
Catholicism said their priests weren't allowed to marry. It
would be sin in them to take a wife. And the shakers went
so far as to say the marriage bed is sinful. So the devil seeks
to discredit and attack marriage in any way that he can. But the
same God who blessed marriage has also blessed the marriage
bed before the fall and after the fall. The same God who blessed
the one has also blessed the other. Thirdly, marriage is the
only lawful means of procreation. That ain't the only means of
procreation. You can have children outside of marriage. But I said
it's the only lawful means, ordained of God. The Lord joined Adam
and Eve together, and here's what He said. Now, be fruitful
and multiply. He spoke to Noah and his wife
and his sons and their wives, and said, you, procreate, you
multiply. Children are an inheritance of
the Lord, And blessed is the man who has his quiver full of
them. But you know when the blessing
is? When it comes between the man and his wife. Why is that? The husband and the wife, God
has ordained for procreation. In spite of the trials of raising
children, in general, And sometimes, in particular, children are a
great blessing and enjoyment by their parents. Ain't that
so? It's a burden sometimes to raise children. I'm not saying
that. But if I had it to do over, I'll tell you what I'd do. I'd
make my mom and my dad's life a lot more enjoyable than I did
when I actually went through my teenage years. I'd be a joy
to them and not such a burden. And the only lawful means of
procreation, a means which God has blessed to procreate children,
is the marriage bed. And outside the marriage, it's
sin. It's sin. And this sin has negative
consequences upon society. Now, when I was young, growing
up, If you saw a child born out of
wedlock, and this is horrible, I don't care when it happens,
if it happened that day, it happens in our day, to intimidate a child
born out of wedlock. It's not the child's fault. It's
not the child's responsibility. It's the mom and dad's responsibility. But it has negative and sometimes
disastrous consequences in society. There's a reason, brothers and
sisters, that God hath ordained marriage. There's a reason for
it. I remember a few years ago, and
some of you may remember this. Remember the show Murphy Brown?
Remember the debate Dan Quayle, our vice president at that time,
had with Murphy Brown? Remember in her show, she was
a character that had this baby out of wedlock? And I remember
the vice president at that time making something, he made a comment
to this effect that if this was a trend that was going to begin
in our country, then it was going to have some devastating consequences
in the future. And I remember even my relatives
laughed him to scorn. Talked about what an ignorant
man he was. But boy, we've had a few years now, haven't we,
to look at the statistics. You look at the little note we
put back on the track table. And read your newspapers and
now all these stats are coming out. The negative consequences
of all these children born out of wedlock. It's had a devastating
effect on our economy, on our health system, on our crime system. It has devastating consequences.
When a society takes the ordinance of God and tramples it under
their feet, then they'll have to suffer the fruit. of that
sin. Now, it will happen. Here was
eight people, and God spoke to them and said, here's the lawful
way of procreation. You've got your wives. You've
got your husbands. Enjoy this procreation, and bear
children, and populate the world. And when we go outside that marriage
to do that, it's sin. And it not only has a spiritual
consequence, It affects all society. It affects all society. Here we have these three things.
It was a new beginning for humanity. What if the world... Listen to
this now. Let's just think down deep in
your heart and think about this. What if the world had guarded
that gospel which was given it? What if they had lived by faith
in that gospel out of a pure conscience? What if it had continued
to look to God and be thankful for His preserving providence
over all nature? And what if it had been careful
to guard and honor the institution of marriage? These three things
alone would have gone a long way. in securing the happiness
of humanity. Would it not? But they've left
that. We've left that. And as we leave
these things, down, down, down we go. Whether it's a family
or whether it's an entire society. Now quickly, quickly. In chapter
9, in verses 2 through verse 6, We see these three things
that changed. Now notice this. This is very
interesting. Three things changed here after the flood. Number
two, we're told this. The first thing, the attitude
of the animals towards man changed. Before the fall, it wasn't like
this. Adam ruled. He had dominion over
the creatures. And one thing you and I can be
sure of, it was a dominion of love and consideration because
they were God's creatures. And it was an attitude on the
animal's part of a willful submission to Adam as their head. But after
the fall, and I imagine especially when the earth was filled with
violence, everything changed. And verse 2 seems to imply something
to us. That when the Bible says in the
sixth chapter that the earth was full of violence, it probably
pertained to the animals too. Not only had man become violent,
but even the animals had become violent towards man. And before
this, they didn't have the dread of man at all. They weren't afraid
of man. Can you imagine? Anybody that
knows anything about dealing with animals, can you imagine
dealing with animals that do not regard you, that don't fear
you, that's not afraid of you. I was raised on a farm, and I
was around cows, bulls, horses. I broke several horses, trained
several horses. And when somebody tells you about a bull, don't
you be in that pasture. For I've got a bull in there
that's not afraid of you. And buddy, you knew, stay away
from that bull, because he'll hurt you. When somebody said
there's a horse, and you better watch him when you ride him,
because he's not afraid of you. He'll bite you, he'll kick you,
he'll get you down and paw you, he's not afraid of you. You take
an animal that's not afraid of somebody, that animal is dangerous. Can you imagine living in the
world today that even our domestic animals weren't afraid of us?
Not only in Africa, Where they have those brute beasts, lions
and hippos and elephants. Can you imagine living there?
Where those animals weren't afraid of humanity? I can't imagine
living here. No more animals than we have. Living where spiders, poisonous
spiders weren't afraid of you? Poisonous snakes didn't try to
get out of your way when you were walking through the grass?
Instead of your dog bowing down when you spoke a word of rebuke
to him, he'd rise up in anger? I can't imagine that, can you?
What a blessing it was for the Lord to change the attitude of
animals towards humanity. And He said, from now on, they're
delivered into your hands. They're going to be afraid of
you. And out of that fear, they're going to obey you. They're going
to submit to you. And those that will not submit
will be so full of terror, they're going to flee from you. What
a blessing then this was. In verses 3 and verse 4, look
at this. This is something that changed.
Before the flood, all they ate were vegetables and greens and
fruits and things like that. But now he comes here and says,
every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you, even as
the green herb I have given you all things. The only restriction
is found in verse 4, that they were to drain the blood out of
the body. They weren't to drink blood. I know there was exception for
this later on when the Lord gave the children of Israel the law.
There was a lot of meats they weren't allowed to eat, but that
pertained to the children of Israel only. That had nothing
to do with the Gentile world. And it was only for a time when
the Lord Jesus Christ came and fulfilled that law, that covenant.
Then Paul said, all meats are good. Receive it with thanksgiving. Well, turn over there and let
me read. You need to read this. Look over here in 1 Timothy chapter
4. 1 Timothy chapter 4. Here's what he says now. 1 Timothy
chapter 4. And look here in verse 3. Here's what Paul said would come
in the last time. People speaking lies and hypocrisy.
1 Timothy 4.2. Having their conscience served
with a hot iron. Forbidding to marry. and commanding to abstain
from meats." Now, we've dealt with both of them, haven't we?
Right from the very beginning, he set his terms. He set it in
stone. Noah was married, and his sons
were married, and all the world was populated from them. And
therefore, he put his blessings upon marriage, as he also always
does. And some said, no, you can't
marry to sin. Forbidden? to eat certain meats,"
look at this, "...which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving
of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature
of God is good, and nothing to be refused if it be received
with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God
and prayer." If you put the brethren in mind of these things, you'll
be a good minister. Put you in mind these things.
Nothing matters if we're sitting down eating a big steak. Nothing matters if we're going
out and killing a deer and fixing it and the family is sitting
around eating it. Nothing wrong with that. There's
but one thing I would say for these last two points that I
mentioned to you. And it's this. With our dominion comes responsibility. And with
our liberty Of using God's creatures for nourishment comes a responsibility,
a regard for these animals because they are indeed God's creatures,
God's creatures. Lastly, turn back over to our
text. In verses 5 and verse 6. Genesis chapter 9, verses 5 through
verse 6. There is something else that
the Lord instituted here that had never been before, and that
is capital punishment. Chapter 9, verse 5 and 6. If
a beast killed a man, then man was to kill that beast. If a
man murdered another man, then by man that murderer was to be
put to death. Now before the flood, There was
no laws that I can read given to man. If there was, I can't
find them in those first eight chapters. Even Adam said nothing, as far
as we know, to Cain when he killed Abel. He didn't enact any kind
of punishment upon him. I don't know if there was a punishment
against stealing. It seemed like, before the flood,
that the punishment was administered by God Himself upon the conscience
of a man. And we have some who believe,
and it may be rightly so, that they call this the time of conscience.
There was no physical affliction for crime. God afflicted the
conscience. But here, it all changes. And God gives man the authority,
and not only the authority, but He gives him the strict obligation.
He puts him under an obligation to take the life of a willful
murderer. Now that's what He says there
in verse 6. Whosoever sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his
blood be shed. That's what we call capital punishment. And we've got a big debate going
on about that today, haven't we? If you go over in Romans
chapter 13, you can read a parallel passage to this that tells us
that it's God that's instituted governance and the authority
and the power. And He's put the sword in the
government's hand in the authority's hands, and that sword is there
to punish the evil doers. God has did that. It had never
happened before. Right here is where we find it. Now let me give you these four
things here in closing. Just comment on these four things.
What this law does. First of all, it does this. It
deters would-be murderers. Capital punishment is a deterrent
to murder. If you don't treat it in a way
of justice, it may not be. If a man murders another man
and you let him linger in prison for thirty years under appeals,
that's not a deterrent. But find him guilty if he is
so, and God have mercy upon those lawyers, and upon those district
attorneys who are railroading men and accusing them of crimes
that they're not guilty of. God have mercy upon that man.
If you're a DA or a judge and you accuse a man of something
and set him up or railroad him, God have mercy on you. God have
mercy on you for something like that. But when a man's guilt
has been proven, be on the shadow of a doubt or a reasonable doubt
or whatever it says, and that man is found guilty, God says,
man must put him to death. And in doing that, what does
that do? That's a deterrent for crime. If some murderer will
not be deterred by natural affection, then he'll be deterred from the
thought of immediate punishment for his crime. Now, it does deter
crime, and that's why God gives it. Secondly, this law that God
gives society relieves society in general from that permanent
fear of its fellow man, which fear has all sorts of negative
consequences. We've seen our inner cities.
We hear people all the time on our newscast talking about how
they're afraid to come out of their homes and afraid to walk
down the street. Why? Because of murder in our
inner cities. And until we go back to the Bible,
which this generation is trying its best, trying its best, the
knowledge of God. If it's in the Bible, it can't
be right. Well, just go on and think of
that then and see where it leads our society. I don't want a preacher
for a president. But God have mercy upon our leaders
if they just take the Bible and throw it away and won't look
in it and rightly divide some of these truths and say, this
is a good law that God's given us. It protects society, relieves
society of these tormenting fears of going outdoors. Thirdly, it
not only protects the law abiding, But it avenges those who have
suffered wrongly. One of the reasons that you and
I should not rise up and avenge ourselves is because God has
put that in the hands of the authority. If a man kills my
wife, I don't have the right to rise up and avenge myself.
That's why God put the authority in their place. The authorities
that be, the powers that be are supposed to rise up and prove
that man guilty that murdered my wife and then take vengeance
and revenge me of the wrong that's been done to me as well as her.
And lastly is this. This law here proves in the conscience
of men the worth of a human life. The worth of a human life. When
we kill our unborn babies, what's that saying? What is that saying? To kill an unborn baby? To kill
an innocent child? What's that saying? We don't
care about life. It means nothing to us. For a
man to willfully murder another man is saying that life means
nothing. I can take it at will. But life means something. And
God says if a man murders another man, you put him to death. For
this reason, life means something. I created that man. I made him. He's in my image. Ain't that
what it said there in verse 6? We're in the image of God. And
I know that image is defaced. Sin has defaced it, I realize
that. But fallen man is still in the
image of God. And God said, I will not have
him murdered. I will not. It teaches us the
value of human life. I have a friend of mine that
killed his wife. Most of you know him. And still
to this very day, you know what he says? I don't deserve to live. I don't deserve to live. the
cause of what I've done. What have you done? I've taken
a human life. I've killed a person in God's
image. God bless His Word.