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Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. If everyone could please find their seats and grab a song book. Let's turn our song books to song 245, The Old Account Was Settled. Song 245, The Old Account Was Settled. Song 245, The Old Account Was Settled. There was a time on earth when in the book of heaven An old account was standing for sins yet unforgiven My name was at the top and many things below I went out to the keeper and settled long ago, long ago, long ago Yes, the old account was settled long ago And the record's clear today for he washed my sins away When the old account was settled long ago The old account was large and growing every day For I was always sinning and never tried to pay But when I looked ahead and saw such pain and woe I said that I would settle, I settled long ago, long ago, long ago Yes, the old account was settled long ago And the record's clear today for he washed my sins away When the old account was settled long ago When in that happy home, my Savior's home above I'll sing redemption's story and praise him for his love I'll not forget that book with pages wide as snow Because I came and settled, and settled long ago, long ago, long ago Yes, the old account was settled long ago And the record's clear today for he washed my sins away When the old account was settled long ago O sinner, trust the Lord, be cleansed of all your sin For thus he hath provided for you to enter in And then if you should live a hundred years below Up there you'll not regret it You settled long ago, long ago, long ago Yes, the old account was settled long ago And the record's clear today for he washed my sins away When the old account was settled long ago Amen, let's open up with a word of prayer Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this day And for the opportunity to be gathered together in your house To sing praises to you, to hear your word preached Pray that we would just sing out to you from our hearts Worship you in truth and in spirit And thank you so much for all the mothers that are with us And for all that they do for us in our lives In Jesus' name we pray, amen All right, let's go to song 147, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms What a fellowship, what a joy divine Leaning on the everlasting arms What a blessedness, what a peace is mine Leaning on the everlasting arms Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms Oh how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way Leaning on the everlasting arms Oh how bright the path grows from day to day Leaning on the everlasting arms Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms What have I to dread, what have I to fear Leaning on the everlasting arms I have blessed peace with my Lord so near Leaning on the everlasting arms Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms Good morning, happy Mother's Day, thank you so much for joining us If you don't have a bulletin, lift every hand nice and high real quick And one of our ushers, hey can you go ahead and pass out some bulletins real quick Some of these down here Lift your hand nice and high and one of our ushers come by Get you a bulletin on the front we have our Bible memory passage On the inside we have our service and soul winning times As well as our church stats And then we have our list of expecting ladies or prayer lists Continue to pray for them Also because it is Mother's Day We have a gift that we wanted to give all the mothers So I'm going to have a couple of our ushers come and help Hey brother Tony do you mind helping real quick And we're going to pass out a gift to all the mothers If for some reason you're here today and your wife or your mom is not with us You can still take one and give it to her So don't be ashamed to take one if for some reason she didn't make it this morning Make sure to grab one so that way we can get it to her And just a little thank you to all of the mothers in here And hopefully by next week or so we're going to get our church directories They've already been ordered and I'm really excited about this And hopefully every family should be able to get one And so I'm really excited about how they turned out Thanks to everybody that participated and helped A couple people that did not take the family picture We got them in another picture in like a group picture We'll put them in there okay so there you are So even if you didn't think you made it in you might have made it in alright So that's the risk you take when you don't take the picture okay And that's pretty much all I have for announcements We'll go ahead and go to our third song for this morning We'll go to song 22 Are You Washed in the Blood Song 22 Again that's song number 22 Are You Washed in the Blood Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power Are you washed in the blood of the lamb Are you fully trusting in his grace this hour Are you washed in the blood of the lamb Are you washed in the blood In the soul cleansing blood of the lamb Are your garments spotless are they white as snow Are you washed in the blood of the lamb Are you walking daily by the savior's side Are you washed in the blood of the lamb Do you rest each moment in the crucified Are you washed in the blood of the lamb Are you washed in the blood In the soul cleansing blood of the lamb Are your garments spotless are they white as snow Are you washed in the blood of the lamb When the bridegroom cometh will your robes be white Are you washed in the blood of the lamb Will your soul be ready for the mansions bright And be washed in the blood of the lamb Are you washed in the blood In the soul cleansing blood of the lamb Are your garments spotless are they white as snow Are you washed in the blood of the lamb Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin And be washed in the blood of the lamb There's a fountain flowing for the soul unclean Oh be washed in the blood of the lamb Are you washed in the blood In the soul cleansing blood of the lamb Are your garments spotless are they white as snow Are you washed in the blood of the lamb And follow along silently starting in verse 1 we'll read the whole chapter before the sermon Exodus chapter 21 the Bible reads Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them If thou by an Hebrew servant six years he shall serve And in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing If he came in by himself he shall go out by himself If he were married then his wife shall go out with him If his master have given him a wife and she have borne him sons or daughters The wife and her children shall be her masters and he shall go out by himself And if the servant shall plainly say I love my master My wife and my children I will not go out free That his master shall bring him unto the judges He shall also bring him to the door or unto the doorpost And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl And he shall serve him forever And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant She shall not go out as the men servants do If she please not her master who hath betrothed her to himself Then shall he let her be redeemed To sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power Seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her And if he have betrothed her unto his son He shall deal with her after the manner of daughters If he take him another wife Her food her raiment and her duty of marriage Shall he not diminish And if he do not these three unto her Then shall she go out free without money He that smiteth a man so that he die Shall be surely put to death And if a man lie not in wait But God deliver him into his hand Then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour To slay him with guile Thou shalt take him from mine altar that he may die And he that smiteth his father or his mother Shall be surely put to death And he that stealeth a man and selleth him Or if he be found in his hand He shall surely be put to death And he that curseth his father or his mother Shall surely be put to death And if men strive together And one smite another with a stone Or with his fist and he die not But keepeth his bed If he rise again and walk abroad upon his staff Then shall he that smote him be quit Only he shall pay for the loss of his time And shall cause him to be thoroughly healed And if a man smite his servant Or is made with a rod and he die under his hand He shall be surely punished Notwithstanding if he continue a day or two He shall not be punished For he is his money If men strive and hurt a woman with child So that her fruit depart from her And yet no mischief follow He shall be surely punished According as the woman's husband will lay upon him And he shall pay as the judges determine And if any mischief follow Then thou shalt give life for life Eye for eye Tooth for tooth Hand for hand Foot for foot Burning for burning Wound for wound Stripe for stripe And if a man smite the eye of his servant Or the eye of his maid That it perish He shall let him go free for his eyes sake And if he smite out his manservant's tooth Or his maidservant's tooth He shall let him go free for his tooth's sake If an ox gore a man or a woman that they die Then the ox shall be surely stoned And his flesh shall not be eaten But the owner of the ox shall be quit But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past And it hath been testified to his owner And he hath not kept them in But that he hath killed a man or a woman The ox shall be stoned And his owner also shall be put to death If there be laid on him a sum of money Then he shall give for the ransom of his life Whatsoever is laid upon him Whether he hath gored a son or hath gored a daughter According to this judgment shall it be done unto him If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant He shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver And the ox shall be stoned And if a man shall open a pit Or if a man shall dig a pit And not cover it And an ox or an ass fall therein The owner of the pit shall make it good And give money unto the owner of them And the dead beast shall be his And if one man's ox hurt another's That he die Then they shall sell the live ox And divide the money of it And the dead ox also they shall divide Or if it be known that the ox hath used to push in times past And his owner hath not kept them in He shall surely pay ox for ox And the dead shall be his own Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer Father we thank you for this Mother's Day And for our church We pray that you will fill passage really with your spirit In the name of Jesus Christ, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen. The part of the chapter that I want to focus on is verse 22 where the Bible read If men strive and hurt a woman with child So that her fruit depart from her And yet no mischief follow He shall be surely punished According as the woman's husband will lay upon him And he shall pay as the judges determine And if any mischief follow Then thou shalt give life for life Eye for eye, tooth for tooth Hand for hand, foot for foot Burning for burning, wound for wound Stripe for strife Now in the book of Exodus God is giving Moses the law And he's giving them the statutes and judgments So they would know how to govern themselves As a nation, as a civilization, as a group of people And so what you have to understand is that The law of Moses is what is right It's what is just, it's what is equal This is how civil society should be formed These are the laws that God gives For a nation to govern itself And while many people would scoff at the Old Testament laws Or would scoff at these rules of civility I will submit to you that these are the proper rules Of every civilization for all times Some people would categorize the Old Testament law As the moral law, kind of the civil law Or the criminal law And kind of have these distinctions And say oh there's also like spiritual Or like cleanliness aspects of the law And I think that's a pretty valid way to look at it But any law in the Bible that's essentially given To govern a society Jesus didn't die on the cross so that civilizations could have anarchy Jesus Christ died on the cross To save us from a spiritual punishment called hell And you know Jesus Christ even when dying on the cross Did not spare you from a physical punishment due to your sins If you lie, steal, cheat, commit adultery, commit murder Jesus Christ's death on the cross Is not some kind of exoneration from the punishment or penalty of that crime I mean what kind of foolishness would it be to walk into the courtroom today And say I know honor that I killed this person But did you know that Jesus died on the cross Therefore I shouldn't have any punishment I shouldn't have any kind of recompense That's Old Testament No one believes that America has never believed that That is a foolish way to interpret the Bible And so if we're going to learn how to govern ourselves If we're going to learn the rules of civility We must go to the Bible We must go to where God has clearly laid out a plan for a nation And implement those laws the best of our ability in our situation And this is what the initial settlers in America did This is what the first colonies did This is what many states have done And in fact America's history is one of taking the Old Testament laws And making them the laws of the land And it's only in modern recent day times Where they've deteriorated to a weird extreme And they're no longer in application But let me tell you something There's nothing wrong with us going back to that In fact we should go back to that And so the title of my sermon this morning is this Make Abortion Murder Again Make Abortion Murder Again Hashtag Mama You know it's Mother's Day And we should celebrate mothers Celebrate those who have become pregnant And this is how I classify if you're a mother or not Have you ever been pregnant? That's why men will never be a mother Because they cannot get pregnant But if you've ever gotten pregnant you are a mother Because birth is not when a baby's life starts Conception is when a baby's life starts And so any woman that's ever conceived is a mother And the Bible makes us abundantly clear in this passage Now I want to clean something up Because I've taught on this passage before And having studied this more in depth I actually have changed my mind a little bit On what this passage actually is saying However it doesn't change any of the applications that I've ever preached before So all the applications and my doctrine is the same It's just what this passage is saying I've kind of said something a little bit different in the past And I want to kind of just make sure what it's actually saying today What I believe it's clearly articulating But notice in verse 22 the Bible says If men strive Meaning these are two guys fighting each other Now the intent is not necessarily clearly defined As far as why they're fighting But what's important is that we understand men are fighting Men are struggling, they're fighting We don't know exactly all the details But in some happenstance A pregnant woman is in the vicinity of these men fighting Striving, there's some kind of conflict And a woman that's pregnant ends up becoming a consequence To this fighting, to this striving She gets hurt Now we don't know how intentional or accidental this is For the sake of this verse I don't believe that it necessarily matters yet We'll talk about what it means yet But I believe what it's clearly saying is it's not intentional Because men are striving It's not saying that a man's attacking a pregnant woman That's just weird, okay It's basically saying a man is attacking another man And there's collateral damage in the sense that a woman Who happens to be pregnant Ends up getting injured as a result of this conflict It says in the next verse or part So that her fruit depart from her So not only did this woman get injured It causes her to have a premature birth Essentially meaning that this child's no longer in the womb It's basically forcing the baby out And then it says, and yet no mischief follow Now the word mischief, and I'm going to prove a lot of this even further down in my sermon So don't get too caught up yet I'm just kind of telling you what I believe this is saying And then we're going to prove everything from the Bible But mischief simply means harm or evil, okay So let's say a woman's about to give birth She gets struck or hurt or pushed into a wall Something happens And she immediately starts laboring And then the baby comes out The Bible's saying if no mischief follow Meaning that even though it's a premature birth The child's still perfectly healthy Perfectly fine No evil, no harm happened to the child It says he shall be surely punished And according as the woman's husband will lay upon him And he shall pay as the judge determined So even if no harm happens to this baby Even if the baby's still perfectly fine What the Bible says is that the person who happened to cause this conflict Is supposed to still pay a penalty to this husband For the injury to his wife And just whatever medical expenses may have been incurred From them having to go to the hospital Or to get an ambulance Or to pay an extra doctor that's, you know, over time Just basically any of the consequences Related to this event occurring when it shouldn't have occurred It didn't happen naturally, basically And look, as a woman who's pregnant You can go into labor unnaturally Meaning that something happens to you If you get hurt, if you get damaged If something happens near the end of your pregnancy It can cause you to go into pregnancy It can cause you to go into labor and basically birth that child That's why it's so important that a pregnant woman Is not being hazardous with herself Near the end of her pregnancy Because something could trigger that Something could cause that And we don't want any harm to her We don't want any harm to the baby And so a woman that's pregnant We should guard and protect And not allow them to be in a dangerous situation And if men are gonna fight Here's a really bad place near a pregnant woman I mean, that's a really foolish idea In fact, throughout history And if you watch movies What do guys typically say when they wanna fight? Do you wanna step outside? Why? Why are they saying that out of respect For the other people at least? You know, it used to be that it would be a respectful thing You don't wanna just start fighting and brawling In the midst of other women and children Or other innocent people that could possibly get hurt As a result of your conflict You know, a really dangerous place For a pregnant woman to stand Would be near Johnny Depp and Amber Heard When they were married I mean, there's bottles flying And all kinds of crazy stuff happening, right? And basically this is just saying When you start fighting with someone You are responsible for any consequence That happens as a result of your fighting And if you end up hitting a woman And she goes into early labor You have to pay a financial fine Now what happens if something bad happens to the child? It says in verse 23 And if any mischief follow So this is meaning any harm Any injury Then thou shall give what? Life for life, eye for eye Tooth for tooth, hand for hand Foot for foot, burning for burning Wound for wound, stripe for stripe So he's saying if any injury happens to the child Then they get the exact same injury to them But notice what the Bible describes A child in the womb A life It says that thou shalt give life For life And so God does not distinguish Between a person that's outside of the womb And inside the womb If you kill a person Inside the womb In God's eyes it's the exact same As killing somebody outside the womb He gives the exact same value To a life in the womb As a life outside of the womb And I'm going to prove this even further Go to Isaiah chapter number 7 now Go to Isaiah chapter number 7 We're going to come back to Exodus And we're going to basically Really dive into this passage And make sure we understand it But the Bible is making it very clear That if you Cause A baby in the womb to die That that is A life It's not a clump of cells It's not Just a fetus as it were We can't just hide it and conceal it In scientific terms To try and turn it into something that it's not It's still a life If I say someone's a toddler That doesn't stop them from being a life If I say they're a child That doesn't stop them from being a life If I say they're an elderly person That doesn't stop them from being a life And if I say they're a fetus That doesn't stop them from being a life And it still has the same value As a toddler As a child As a man As a woman As an elderly person And God takes the killing Of any person For any reason Extremely severe And I'm going to show you in the Bible How God actually feels about someone dying And I think it might shock you a little bit We don't feel the same way that God feels And our laws do not reflect What the Bible actually teaches But the Bible is very clear and consistent That God is very angry with Anyone who takes Anyone's life There is only one caveat And that is self-defense That is the only caveat And I'm going to explain that further But in Isaiah chapter 7 The Bible is giving a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ And it says in verse 14 It will give you a sign Behold a virgin shall conceive And bear a son And shall call his name Emmanuel Notice the Bible says A virgin shall conceive And bear a son Now it's not that he's a son When he's born He was a son before he was born He was a son at conception And he was a child At conception Now go to Matthew chapter number 1 In the state of Texas We have a legislation That was passed called the heartbeat bill And it essentially Says that you cannot Abort or kill A child after Six weeks of it being Ingestation And that's based on the fact that you can hear the heartbeat That's why it's called The heartbeat bill Because essentially at six weeks or further You could have someone take a tool Put it up to the belly of the mother And detect the heartbeat through Inventions modern science But here's the thing Inventions of modern science do not determine When someone is alive or a child And While hey I'm glad That some abortions have ceased It's not like I'm mad about that But that is not what God said God didn't say six weeks God actually determines that a person Is a child at conception Because notice how it's quoted In Matthew chapter 1 verse 23 Behold a virgin shall be What? With child So the Bible is a Self-defining dictionary saying Conception is with child It didn't say with fetus It didn't say with a clump of cells It said it's with a child And let me tell you something That's also why us as a fundamental Baptist church We're against birth control as well Because birth control Is killing whatever Was conceived in the womb And let me tell you something What was conceived in the womb was a child And I don't care if it's one day old Nine months old Or a hundred years old You should never end its life Period That is murder That is slaying of a child Now go back to Exodus 21 We've proven a few things What have we proven? God considers conception When that life begins Now let's consider What God's punishment is then For someone That would commit this crime And let me tell you something Abortion is a crime Whether America says it's a crime or not It's a crime against God And abortion Is not even men striving and accidentally Causing a woman to lose her child They're intentionally doing it What does the Bible say when you intentionally Cause someone to die? Look at Exodus 21 verse 12 He that smiteth a man so that he die Shall be surely put to death Notice God saying If you intentionally kill someone Your punishment is death every single time Now what you have to understand about God And God's laws is God is very efficient God does not Feel the need To explain the exact Same scenario over and over Again in the law In fact once he's done Explaining a particular situation He then elaborates On different situations Or expounds it in different ways So that you have a full understanding But God is not going to necessarily Belabor the point In every single law So we should already understand All intentional killing has already been dealt with It's murder And not only is it murder It's death penalty Now that is where abortion actually lives Cause they are intentionally Smiting a newborn Baby and killing it And they're not doing it on accident They're scheduling it They're planning it They're plotting it They have tools and instruments that they're going to use on it And it's sick It's satanic It's demonic It's evil It's contemplating Even just the idea of this is wicked Not just doing it Just having the thought of it is wicked You know they want to say Oh these women that commit abortions You know they're having to make a tough decision No just even thinking about committing abortion You're wicked That's where you started with the wickedness It wasn't going to the clinic It wasn't getting the abortion It was thinking about it Then going to the clinic Getting the abortion even more wicked And it's such murder You're deserving of death Is what the Bible says And I know that's not popular But I don't care what's popular Did you come last Sunday morning? I mean I'm not going to get up here and tell you What's popular today I'm going to tell you what the Bible said But you know it's sad because in America A lot of these laws used to be popular They used to be the common belief And you know we should make that comment again And we should preach what the Bible says Now he says in verse 13 And if a man lie not in wait But God deliver in his hand Then I will appoint thee a place where he shall flee So if you kill someone Not intentionally Essentially saying this would be kind of your idea Of a passion crime Perhaps you see someone Do something you don't like Or they're causing injury to you or someone else But they're not worthy of death And you just kill them because you're mad at them That would be essentially A crime of passion in essence And it's saying that You could flee to a City of refuge But notice it didn't say That the death penalty doesn't apply to you It basically just gives you a caveat Of saying you have a place where you could Run and flee and not die Says in verse 14 But if a man come presumptuously upon his Neighbor to slay him with guile Thou shalt take him from mine altar that he may die This is Joab Joab grabbed the horns of the altar And Benaiah came unto him to kill him from the The Cree of Solomon And Joab's like, kill me here And then Benaiah's like, I don't know what to do And then Solomon's like, kill him there Because If you are worthy of death It doesn't matter what you try to grab onto For mercy, you are worthy of death Okay, I don't care how saved you are Saved people that commit crimes Worthy of death should be put to death Now it says in verse 15 And if he smite his father his mother he shall surely be put to death Notice that the Bible even says, hey I don't care if you killed your parents If you just hit your parents, death penalty Notice what God's Law is actually saying here It's saying, you kill someone On purpose, death You just strike your parents, death If you kill someone Not trying to kill them necessarily Or perhaps you did try to kill them Purposely, but you hadn't thought about it You're mad at them, they lie to you Or rip you off And you just kill them You didn't really premeditate or anything You didn't hate them before You still are worthy of death But you can run away to a city of refuge Now Flip the page and look at chapter 22 And I'm gonna kind of explain all Of the examples of murder in the Bible And what the penalty is Look at Exodus 22 verse 2 If a thief be found breaking up And be smitten that he die There shall no blood be shed for him So here's another thing If you're just putting someone's life At risk You are worthy of death In the sense that if someone Breaks into your house at night And you feel the threat that they could harm You or hurt you or kill you or something Your life's being put in jeopardy You can kill that person Lawfully, according to God's word And there should be no punishment Now praise God In the state of Texas, we have castle doctrine And that's also applicable In the real world If someone's breaking through your house at night You can use all Levels of defense To basically stop the threat Now you shouldn't just try to hurt them And harm them But if your life is in danger In the state of Texas, in your house You basically have the right to defend yourself And defend your property Some people say, oh it's just property Well in the state of Texas, you can defend your property And think about this Isn't this the law literally saying That you can defend your property at night? It's making a distinction Though, because if we read the next verse It says, if the sun be risen upon him There shall be blood shed for him For he shall make full restitution If he have nothing Then he shall be sold for his theft So you can't just defend property Carte blanche If someone can steal from you And if they do it in broad daylight According to God's word You're not allowed to kill them for that In fact, if you kill them For stealing from you You're to be put to death That's what it says It says, shall be blood shed for him This happened in America A really famous trial A young man was killed Named Ahmaud Arbery Who knows what I'm talking about Because it was a black young man And a white guy Now, here's the thing A lot of white people want to come to the fence Of this Travis Michael And Greg Michael These men that ended up Slaying Ahmaud Arbery And I don't know all the facts Of the case So you can look it up yourself But basically, it was kind of a more Affluent, white neighborhood Off the beaten path And there was a house being built New construction And somebody was coming around and stealing stuff From that new construction project And having burglary Around the houses On a regular basis Well, it happened during broad daylight again Where this young man This black young man Was basically seen fleeing from this new construction house And so Travis and Greg Michael Basically followed him Trying to basically Stop him Now they grabbed guns And they basically kind of trap him at the end of their neighborhood And there's even video of this And pretty much the video just shows Them kind of trapping this young man Then the guy kind of like Starts attacking them There's a back and forth And then eventually Ahmaud Arbery gets shot So there's a lot of elements here Some people would argue That maybe it was self-defense But here's the thing What did the Bible say? Did the Bible say If someone's found stealing in broad daylight You're allowed to go and hunt them down and kill them? The answer's no Now obviously if someone's attacking you That could kind of turn into a self-defense argument But really they kind of trapped him And put him in a corner And here's the thing Even a criminal If trapped and put in a position Where his life is on the line He found himself So you have to be very careful And because of this Obviously there was a lot of politicization of this case But here's the thing They found them guilty and they went They're going to like federal prison For having slain this Ahmaud Arbery But here's the thing What does the Bible actually say? The Bible actually says If someone stole from you in broad daylight And you tracked them down and shot them and killed them You shouldn't go to federal prison You should be put to death So think about it As weird as our society is They still didn't even give that harsh of a punishment According to what the Bible actually says Meaning if you catch someone Ripping you off Or taking money out of the cash register Or whatever during the day You can't just go and kill that person Because if you killed that person You actually would be worthy of death You should be put to death For that slaying Notice how God is literally Allowing criminals To not be killed Think about that How much value does God have on life? That's a pretty high value on life That God's not even willing for thieves And robbers to be put to death So God takes People's lives very seriously And He does not want Bloodshed whatsoever We should be very careful That no one is being killed Go if you want to Deuteronomy chapter 19 Deuteronomy chapter 19 So I kind of have it broken into a few categories If you commit premeditated intentional homicide You receive the death penalty If you Try to hurt your parents Death penalty And in fact think about this This is kind of even attempted homicide So you just strike them Death penalty If you kill someone out of passion Or circumstance You still are worthy Of death But you have the chance to flee Unto a city of refuge As the Bible basically describes But you basically Have to kill someone Without trying Because if you try to kill them As we just evidenced in Exodus 22 So intent always comes into play When it comes to the slaying of any individual Why did you do that? But if you kill someone as a pure defense You're only trying to defend yourself Or someone else In the right circumstance The Bible says that there's no penalty There's no punishment whatsoever Now let's get a little bit more understanding About this city of refuge Deuteronomy 19 verse 1 says When the Lord thy God hath cut off the nations Whose land the Lord thy God giveth thee And dwells in their cities and their houses Thou shalt separate three cities for thee In the midst of thy land Which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it Thou shalt prepare thee away And divide the coasts of thy land Which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit Into three parts That every slayer May flee thither And this is the case of the slayer which shall flee thither That he may live Who so killeth his neighbor ignorantly Whom he hated not in time past Now notice the only way to get this caveat Is you kill someone not trying to kill them And you have no hatred towards them He says in verse 5 As when a man goeth into the wood With his neighbor to hew wood And his hand fetcheth the stroke With the axe to cut down the tree And the head slippeth from the health And lighteth upon his neighbor that he die He shall flee unto one of those cities And live Lest the avenger of the blood Pursue the slayer And shake him Because the way is long and slay him Whereas he was not worthy of death Inasmuch as he hated him not in time past So according to God You're not really technically worthy of death Per se But God still allows the revenger of blood to kill you If he can catch you in time So you better not kill someone that's faster than you Or his brother's faster than you or whatever Because he would chase you down, hunt you down And you would basically It's fair game as it were If you are worthy If you've killed someone And notice this is a complete accident This is saying you didn't try to kill someone You had no goal You may have loved this person But for whatever reason Pure accident You kill someone You have to flee to a city of refuge Otherwise you are liable To be killed by the revenger The revenger has all manner of authority From God to kill you Verse 7 Wherefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt separate three cities for thee And if the Lord thy God enlarges thy coasts As he hath sworn unto thy fathers And give thee all the land which he promised To give unto thy fathers If thou shalt keep all these commandments through them Which I command thee this day To love the Lord thy God and walk ever in his ways Then shalt thou add three cities more for thee Beside these three That innocent blood be not shed on thy land Which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance And so blood be upon thee But if any man hate his neighbor And lie in wait for him And rise up against him And smite immortally that he die And fleeth into one of these cities Then the elders of this city Shall send and fetch him thence And deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood That he may die Thine eye shall not pity him But thou shalt put away the guilt Of innocent blood from Israel That it may go well with thee So notice If you flee to the city of refuge But it's not legitimate There's stills to drag you out of that city And you're still supposed to be put to death So the only way If you kill someone The only way To have no punishment Is it's pure self-defense The second option Is if you kill them and it's a pure accident No malicious intent No evil You still have to go to a city of refuge And you have to stay there Until the death of the high priest And at any point you leave that sanctioned area That sanctuary city You can still be put to death That is what the Bible is saying Let me prove this even further Look at verse 16 If a false witness rise up against any man To testify against him That which is wrong Then both the men Between whom the controversy is Shall stand before the Lord Before the priests and the judges Which shall be in those days And the judges shall make diligent inquisition And behold if the witness be a false witness And have testified falsely against his brother Then shall ye do unto him As he had thought to have done unto his brother So shall thou put the evil away from among you And those which remain Shall hear and fear And shall henceforth commit no more Any such evil among you And that I shall not pity But life shall go for life Eye for eye Tooth for tooth Hand for hand Foot for foot So he's saying not only Can you be put to death For killing somebody Trying to kill someone Think about what he's doing They're lying on purpose They're falsely witnessing To try and get someone put to death Through the legal channel If you're lying about that You're supposed to be put to death So just even planning the murder of someone You get the death penalty I'm not writing the Bible I'm just telling you what the Bible literally is saying If you are trying to kill someone And you have the plan And you're lying about it And you're testifying under oath Against your brother or sister or whoever You found lying You're put to death You get the exact same punishment Go to Joshua chapter 20 Go to Joshua chapter 20 And I want to continue with this thought Of this refuge city For just another moment And we're basically looking at all the places The Bible are bringing up this This situation of murder Attempted murder Intentional homicide Accidental homicide All of these different scenarios But notice that the Bible has a really consistent theme God is angry at all of these scenarios Essentially self-defense is your only exoneration And you have to understand That I believe in studying the Bible War is kind of put in the self-defense category And we kind of think of this Because we've been reading 2 Samuel We've been studying 2 Samuel That Joab's brother Abishai Is hunting down Abner And Abner doesn't want to kill him But he basically kills him in what? Self-defense Well here's the thing God gets mad at Joab killing Abner If Abner had not killed him in self-defense It had been some kind of premeditated Intentional homicide or something like that Well then It would have been justified for him to kill him There would have been no problem Okay So what you have to understand is that in war God considers all of that basically just self-defense I mean you're on the battlefield Someone's trying to kill you I mean it's basically considered self-defense at that point That's not the same Now obviously God's still mad at all the blood being shed God doesn't like war And people that are picking fights and wars with people God's not just saying like Oh you guys are innocent You know you can't like invade a country And then claim self-defense all of a sudden Okay But we understand in a time of war A lot of the killing could be just purely self-defense You're not necessarily wanting to kill those individuals But you have to to survive So obviously war is an evil thing We're kind of not talking about that We're talking about every other scenario here Joshua chapter 20 look at verse 2 Speak to the children of Israel saying Appoint out for you cities of refuge Whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses That the slayer that killed any person Unawares and unwittingly may flee thither And they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood Says and when he that doth flee unto one of those cities shall stand at the entering of the gate of the city And shall declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city They shall take him into the city unto them And give him a place that he may dwell among them And if the avenger of blood pursue after him Then they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hand Because he smote his neighbor unwittingly And hated him not before time And he shall dwell in that city Until he stand before the congregation for judgment And until the death of the high priest That shall be in those days Then shall the slayer return and come unto his own city And unto his own house unto the city from whence he fled So notice again the Bible is bringing up a refuge city A person can flee to, they can live there Until the death of the high priest At the point of the death of the high priest they can basically return Now I'm not saying that our system is perfect or right But it's similar to prison If you think about it Now obviously this prison sounds better than our prison However, in essence, if you commit manslaughter in America Meaning, let's say involuntary manslaughter You accidentally kill someone You would still go to jail in many cases You could still go and serve time in prison and jail And it's basically once you served your time though You're let loose and it's not supposed to be technically held against you You're not worthy of death at that point because you served your time That's kind of what's in essence, you know, from a civil perspective happening here Where you have to go to a very specific area You're sanctioned You have to live in that area until a certain set time And then you can leave that particular area What happens if you leave that area prematurely? We'll go to Numbers 35 and we'll describe this even more Numbers chapter 35 And the Bible, when you take all of these judgments and you put them together You basically figure out every scenario Every scenario can be explained within the judgments of God You intentionally kill someone Death penalty You accidentally kill someone Not even trying No guy on your heart You can flee to this sanctuary city Now here's a question What if you hurt someone And you're trying to hurt them But you're not trying to kill them That's kind of where we're in the middle We kind of have the extreme of I want to kill you I didn't want to kill you What about I just want to hurt you But I didn't really want to kill you That's kind of where we have the grave As it were as far as circumstance But let's see how God describes these events Verse 15 These six cities shall be refuge both for the children of Israel And for the stranger and for the sojourner among them That every one that killeth any person unawares May flee thither 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 And if he smite him with throwing a stone Wherewith he may die, and he die He is a murderer, the murderer Shall surely be put to death Or if he smite him with a hand weapon of wood Wherewith he may die, and he die He is a murderer The murderer shall surely be put to death You know we can take application here forceps, and ye murder a child in the womb, you're a murderer. Verse 19, the revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer when he meeteth him. He shall slay him. But if he thrust him of hatred, or hurl at him by lying of weight, that he die, or an enmity smite him with his hand, that he die, he that smote him shall surely who put to death, for he is a murderer. The revenger of blood shall slay the murderer when he meeteth him. So here's what you have to understand. The Bible is basically saying, if you catch someone killing someone, in that moment of time, you basically have a window to revenge the blood. But if you kind of let it pass, and you wait a really, really long time, and then you kill them, you're actually a murderer. Now, this happens in the Bible. This is like Absalom with his brother Amnon. Amnon takes advantage and forces his sister Tamar. And really, that punishment is worthy of death, according to the Bible. But no one does anything about it. And then we wait two years later, and then Absalom kills him. That's murder. And that was actually not right. He should have not killed him, basically, in that essence, is what it's saying. It's saying, when he meeteth him, he shall slay him. So it doesn't mean that it necessarily has to happen that day. But it's basically like, you find out about it, you have the opportunity, and you decided not to do it, then you kind of forfeit your opportunity. It's similar to the Bible talks about a woman making a vow. It says in the day that her husband hear of it, he can nullify her vow completely. But if the day passes and he doesn't nullify it, then it's basically permanent. So if I come into contact with this person that's worthy of death, I'm the revenger of blood, and I give him a free pass that day, then I'm not allowed to basically come back and do it again later. But if I meet him for the first time, fair game. That's what the Bible is saying. Y'all understanding? So you meet your abortion doctor the day that he killed your baby, according to God's law, you'd be willing to kill him. Now, in America, you can't do that. We don't take the law into our hands, and we never will. We never have. We believe that we should obey the law of the land in this regard. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't still preach what the Bible says and believe what the Bible says. It says in verse number 22, but if he thrust him suddenly without enmity, or have cast upon him anything without lying of weight, or with any stone, wherewith a man may die, seeing him not, and cast it upon him, that he die, and was not his enemy, neither sought his harm, then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood, according to these judgments. So when it says, but if he, it's not really talking about the avenger, just talking about any person. Meaning, if you kill somebody, for any reason, your only option is to run to the city of refuge. But they're gonna basically have a trial, and in this trial, if you're found to have done it intentionally, notice that it said in verse 23, neither sought his harm. With any harm, any ill intent, then basically, they're gonna take you out of the city and kill you. So the only way to escape the death penalty for killing someone is a 100% accident, but you have to live in the city of refuge or complete self-defense. In which case, you don't have to go to the city of refuge. It says in verse 25, and the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to the city of his refuge, where he was fled, and he shall abide in it under the death of the high priest, which was anointed with the holy oil. But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of his refuge, where he was fled, and the avenger of blood find him, without the borders of the city of his refuge, and the avenger of blood kill the slayer, he shall not be guilty of blood. So essentially, let's give the scenario. You're working as a tree cutter. You go out in the wood, and you work for a company. You chop down trees for a living. You're a lumberjack, and your brother's a lumberjack, and your friend's a lumberjack, and your friend is just chopping wood like crazy. For some reason, the ax gets knocked a little loose on the tree, and he rips it back. The head comes off of the health, and it hits your brother and kills him. But for whatever reason, your friend's faster than you, okay? He runs track. He starts just sprinting to the refuge city, and you're like, I'm gonna kill you for killing my brother. You sprint after him. If he makes it in time to the city of refuge, you can't kill him, and that city's supposed to defend him against you and not allow you to kill him. But at any point, he says, you know what? I'm gonna sneak out at night, and I'm gonna leave the city. And you catch him, you can kill him. But it has to be the first time you caught him. Does that basically make sense? But notice how God feels about killing, of slaying. I mean, a person that did a complete accident, not trying whatsoever, can still be killed by the revenger of blood in that one moment. But notice he's not technically worthy of death to any other person. Any other person that wants to kill him out of revenge or spite or with guile, they are to be put to death. That is how the Bible explains the murder and killing. He says, let's keep reading in his passages a little bit more. It says, and the revenger of blood shall find him without the borders of the city of his refuge, and the revenger of blood kill the slayer, he shall not be guilty of blood, because he should have remained in the city of his refuge and to the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the slayer shall return in the land of confession. Now here's what's cool about the Bible though, even understanding all these carnal truths, because these are all very carnal truths. I believe all of them. They have spiritual significance. What is the spiritual significance? When we sin, we're worthy of death. And our only escape is to run to the city of refuge, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. And only through the death of the high priest can we be exonerated. And notice if we're found outside of his sanctuary, as it were, we're gonna be put to death. Meaning that if you don't have the blood of Jesus Christ applied to you, you are worthy of death. The Bible says, for the wages of sin is death. And just like this murderer is worthy of a punishment, this slayer, as it were, we too are guilty and we deserve a punishment. And the only way to be exonerated from that punishment is through the mercy and forgiveness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And also notice that this person doesn't do any good works. It wasn't like he did good time in the city or he's a good person in the city. I mean, he could have laid in the street and done nothing his entire life, but the death of the high priest would have exonerated him. Why? Because salvation's not of works. Even in this guy's situation, it's not of works. All he had to do was flee. All he had to do was look, basically, look and live. We just flee to the cross of Jesus Christ. We just rest on his mercy and on his grace. But here's the thing. If you're going to church but you're not saved, that won't rescue you because you'll be cast out and the revenger of blood will find you and you'll die and you'll go to hell. It's not being in church. It's not just, you know, claiming that you're a Christian. It's actually putting your faith on the Lord Jesus Christ to save you, okay? And we put our faith in Jesus Christ and he saves us. But not from physical punishment. It's a spiritual punishment that we avoid. It's that second death in the lake of fire, okay? And really hell too, which is the first death. But it's just death in general from a spiritual sense. But you can't say that that is an exoneration from physical death because physical death is often a punishment for even God's people, for even the saved. Now he says in verse 29, so these things shall be for a statute of judgment unto you throughout your generation and all your dwellings. Whose will killeth any person? The murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses, but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die. Moreover, he shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer which is guilty of death, but he shall be surely put to death. And you shall take no satisfaction for him that has fled to the city of his refuge that he should come again to dwell in the land until the death of the priest. Notice, you're not even supposed to feel sorry for the guy that accidentally killed someone. Let him do his time. Let him go and serve that punishment of being in this city of refuge until the death of the high priest. It says in verse 33, so ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are, for blood it defileth the land. And the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it. Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit wherein I dwell, for I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel. Now think about what God just said. He said that God is still imputing the blood of slayers on a nation until we shed the blood of the slayers. You know, America has a lot of abortion doctors walking around right now, causing God to not be able to bless America until we shed their blood. Now, I do not believe that we should take that into our own hands. I won't touch one of them. I won't hurt or harm one of them. Only in self-defense. But you know what? We should pass legislation and our government should find these people guilty of murder through due process, through the legal processes of multiple witnesses, of hard evidence, and then they should legally and lawfully sanctionally kill them. And anybody that does in the future. Now if I was, you know, quote unquote, king of the nation, I probably would give everyone a free pass for past sins, but just starting like immediately effective, any future abortion at this point, we would slay them. We would kill them. Because I don't want God to be mad at me and my nation and my country. You know what? God is mad at America today. God is angry at a nation that's slaughtering child after child after child, life after life after life. And we need men to get up and say that it's a life today and say that it's murder. It is murder. Go back to Exodus 21. Now, when I'm explaining Exodus 21, you have to understand, Exodus 21 is not even as extreme as abortion. This is way less extreme of a scenario. Because in Exodus 21, these guys are not trying to destroy a life. They're just simply trying to destroy each other. They're just mad at each other. But here's the thing. If you get in a fight with someone, if you're throwing punches, if you're causing harm, you are liable for all the consequences of your actions, including up to you could lose your life, whether you're trying to kill someone or not. You know, it's no different. If I'm fighting with someone and accidentally hit just another random person and they die, I would have to go through this checklist. Okay, well, did I hate them in time past? Was I doing it intentionally? And if I wasn't doing it intentionally and didn't hate them in time past, my only caveat would be staying in the city of refuge. But I could still be put to death by the revenger of blood. Look what it says in Exodus 21, verse 20. And if a man smite a servant or is made with a rod and he die under his hand, he shall be surely punished. Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished for he has his money. So the Bible's saying another scenario. And you have to understand that if I just punch someone trying to hurt them or harm them and they die, I deserve the death penalty. If I strike them or hit them, not trying to kill them or whatever, I don't know what the circumstances exactly with the scenario but I'm not trying to hurt them or kill them or whatever, but they still die. I have to flee to the refuge city. Now there's times when you might strike somebody and it's justified because that is a punishment in the Bible. You would beat someone with the rod. You would give them basically some kind of finish, a punishment, a corporal punishment. This could be done unto a child. This could be done unto your servant. Now obviously when you're punishing your child, you should never punish your child in any way that could possibly cause permanent damage, harm or kill them. And the same would apply with a servant, that if you had a slave or a servant, you shouldn't be hurting them or harming them in a way that could kill them. But what if someone did, right? What if someone is trying to punish their servant, hit them and for whatever reason it caused them to die? Well, they should be punished. If they didn't die, then they are not punished. What we have to understand is they were punished, it's just not on top of punishment. Because if you struck someone and you hurt them, previously in this chapter as we read earlier, it explained that I would have to pay all their medical bills and their loss of time. So if I hurt someone but they don't die, then whatever medical bills, whatever injury they occurred, any wages that they lost at their job, I have to pay for and make up for. This though is kind of like workers comp. Workers comp is basically you're on the job and your job's putting you in risk or harm in some way, you get injured, they have to pay your wages still, they can't just fire you or not pay you because you can't do your job when you got hurt on the job. So basically you get hurt on the job through whatever means then you would have to pay their wages. And what is the loss that the employer suffers? They didn't have that labor for that particular time. You basically lose a servant, you lose labor, you lose that productivity for that period of time so there's no on top of punishment. But if I smite my servant and he dies, then it's gotta go down this checklist that we've already read and we've already notified. Did I strike my servant wanting to kill him? Well then I'm put to death. If I struck my servant not trying to kill him, not trying to harm him, I would have to run to the city of refuge until the death of thy priest. Now there's even other scenarios that are mentioned in this chapter where you basically have kind of an ox situation. Look what it says in verse number 28. And if an ox gore a man or a woman that they die, then the ox shall be surely stoned and his flesh shall not be eaten but the owner of the ox shall be quit. Now for an animal intent is never decided. For animals they're always put to death. If an animal kills a person for any reason it should always be killed, immediately. Says in verse number 29, but if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time pass and had been testified to his owner and he had not kept him in but that he hath killed a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and his owner also shall be put to death. Notice if someone dies due to your purposeful negligence, you are also put to death. So meaning you didn't try to kill, you don't wanna kill anybody, you have no desire to hurt anybody, you have no desire to harm anybody, but you basically just make a dangerous situation for others and then they die as a result of that. Notice that God is saying you are put to death. Think about how God's law is actually taught. It is not just like, well, I wanted to kill them, then I'm put to death. Look, for so many different reasons, if someone dies, you are worthy of death. How can we not say that abortion is murder worthy of death then? I mean, this is way beyond the scope of this, is it not? Their only argument is to say it's not a life, but we already proved it's a life. I don't care what your reasoning is. Ending that life is murder and it's worthy of death. Now, I wanna explain the passage we talked about just a little bit more. Verse 22, if men strive and hurt a woman with child so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow, he shall be surely punished. Now, in times past, I kinda thought when it said that her fruit depart from her, it was saying that the baby died. And if that's what that truly means, then this wouldn't be the right interpretation, I don't think it means that it definitely died. I believe it just simply means it's being born and it's being prematurely born, that's the context. I'm not a Hebrew scholar, so I'm not gonna go back to the Hebrew, okay, and try to mystify you with the Hebrew word. But here's the thing, every lexicon does agree with that, and even every modern Bible pretty much agrees with what I'm saying right now. So it's not like this is a strange view or anything. In fact, the underlying Hebrew word is often used in the King James Bible as being someone just giving birth, in a positive sense, not in a negative sense. So I believe it's just simply saying that the child's departing, meaning it's being born. But then the question is, did it get injured as a result of that, and if it got injured, then you basically get the same punishment that the baby did, okay? You hit the woman, she gives birth, and the child's deformed or has some kind of issue with her hand, eye, foot, or whatever, you get that punishment. You kill it, you get that punishment. God does not look at an unborn child as a clump of cells, but as a life. And I've used to thought that it was based on the intent, but I don't think it's on the intent. And based on this, this shows that God has the same respect to unborn children as any person, as any person, because the same would apply to any person outside the womb that we've already seen, isn't it? If I were to strike someone, then I'm worthy of death. Again, my only caveat is fleeing to the city of refuge. So I would say this, if in this story, you have two men fighting, they're only intending to hurt each other, and by accident, they get pushed into a woman with child, the woman ends up going into early labor, and the child dies. Because that individual didn't mean to kill them, he should be able to flee to the city of refuge, and he would not be drug out because intent was not to hurt that baby or that woman, so he wouldn't have to die. But if, for whatever reason, he's attacking, let's say, a man and his wife, he hates both of them, and is throwing fists, and he ends up causing that baby to die, he should be put to death. He should be drug out of the city, and he should be put to death. That is what the Bible's saying. Now let's, abortion doctors, they don't follow any of these scenarios. Because they were purposely, they're like, at the previous part of this chapter, where it's just saying, hey, you smite someone, verse 12. He that smites a man so that he die, he shall be surely put to death. There's your abortion verse. They're trying to kill it on purpose, so they deserve the death penalty, and you know what, in America, we should make abortion murder again. Now, I'll prove one more thing. Go to Genesis 42. What does the word mischief mean? And I'm just trying to make sure I don't leave any stones unturned. I'll read for you in Psalms 21, the Bible says, for they intended evil against thee. They imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform. So it uses the word evil synonymously with mischievous, meaning you're trying to cause evil or harm. Genesis 42, verse four, but Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob, sent not with his brethren, for he said, less peradventure, mischief befallen. Now, that mischief is clear that the context of him dying. Kind of, it doesn't make any sense to say the baby died, and then if mischief followed, if that means death, because if it died, it died. There's no question of whether it died or not. So it'd be saying, if there's any, and think about this, any mischief. So meaning it can't, it's not just death, it's just saying any harm, any evil. And then it brings up a whole list of life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, burning for burning, because it could be any harm, any evil. I want you to go to Proverbs chapter 12, go to Proverbs chapter number 12. So mischief can include death, but it's not always necessarily death, it's just evil, harm, any kind of bad thing that happens. In Psalms 38, the Bible says, they also that seek after my life lay snares for me, and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things and imagine the seeds all the day long. So it's saying someone seeking my hurt is a mischievous thing. It doesn't say necessarily death, just any harm, any hurt. Proverbs 12, look at verse 21. There shall no evil happen to the just, but the wicked shall be filled with what? Mischief. So notice it's kind of saying synonymously, evil, mischief. There's no evil to the just, and then all kinds are filled with mischief or the wicked. Look at chapter 13, verse 17. Chapter 13, verse 17. A wicked messenger falleth into mischief, but a faithful ambassador is what? Health. Notice that the antonym of mischief is health. So if a baby's born and there's no mischief, what would you say? It's in perfect health, right? If it's not in perfect health, you would say what? There's mischief, okay? And go to Proverbs 24 and look at verse number eight, Proverbs chapter 24, and look at verse number eight. One more verse. It says, he that deviseth to do evil shall be called a mischievous person. So again, you wanna cause harm, you wanna cause evil in the Bible, that would be mischief. Now, really, I only want you to go one more place. Go to Proverbs 14, but I'm gonna read a little bit before we finish. Because what's interesting is in America, abortion used to be a crime in many places. In fact, I was trying to do research on this, and one of the first places that laws against abortion was in the state of Illinois, as Chicago's there. And if you remember what I've taught you from previous sermons, where are the laws passed on really bad sins in the worst places first, okay? The places that are not really wicked, they don't need these laws. So you know, some people get mad at rules or laws, but it's because the people have bad behavior. You gotta think about it. The place with the least amount of laws is probably the best people. The place with the most kind of laws are like the worst people, typically, okay? So in Illinois, in 1826, I think, or 1827, basically in that timeline, I don't know when it was drafted versus passed, but in this timeline, there was a law in Illinois. It said in Section 43, if any person shall hereafter willfully and maliciously or by agreement fight a duel or single combat with any engine, instrument, or weapon, the probable consequence of which might be the death of either party, and in so doing shall kill his antagonist and or any other person or persons, or shall inflict such wound as that the party injured shall die thereof within one year thereafter, every such offender his second, as well as the second of the person killed and all other aiders, abettors, and counselors, being thereof duly convicted, shall be considered to have committed the crime of murder and shall be punished in the same manner. He said, hey, you're fighting with someone and you cause them or any other person to get hurt and they die, it's murder, and you're supposed to be killed in the same way. I wonder where they came up with that law. That doesn't sound familiar, does it? Oh wait, that sounds exactly what the Bible just taught, didn't it? Now, of course, they should have been real specific and said including pregnant women and their unborn children, right? But that's where this law's coming from. They also say in Section 46, every person who shall willfully and maliciously administer or cause to be administered to or taken by poisoning any person, any poisoner or other noxious or destructive substance or liquid with an intention to cause the death of such person or to procure the miscarriage of any woman, then being with child and shall there be duly convicted, shall be imprisoned for a term not exceeding three punishment years and be fined in a sum not exceeding $1,000. Now, we have to understand about this law is this law is not saying that you killed a child. It's saying you tried to kill a child, saying you did some kind of task, you took some kind of potion, some kind of drink, some kind of after morning pill, some kind of birth control, and you tried to kill it, you would go to jail for three years. That's what they said in Illinois. Then later, 1867, this is from the Chicago Tribune. This is from the Chicago Tribune. They upped the law. This is basically in the Chicago newspaper. They're telling you about the laws that was passed in 1867. It says there was a bill to punish the crime of abortion. Among the bills which passed the House this morning was to punish the crime of abortion or to attempt to produce abortion with not less than two years or more than 10, incarceration in the state penitentiary. When death occurs, the crime shall be considered murder. Abortions produced as a medical necessity to be exempted from the operations of this law. Now, that's stupid. They said, hey, we're gonna criminalize abortion, but if it was necessary, then it's not. I was like, when is it necessary to kill a child? Let me tell you, never. But they at least said, hey, when it wasn't medically necessary, it was murder. Now, of course, I don't know what the law was in Chicago for the punishment of a murderer. Should have been the death penalty. But notice, in Chicago, in America, they used to say abortion is murder. And let me say what America should do. America should make abortion murder again. Make abortion murder again. Like even Chicago had the common sense to believe. Like Illinois used to believe. Now, certain areas like Texas or other states may not have these kind of laws because Texas is kind of still forming in the 1800s. Texas is not a state of the United States in the early 1800s, okay? There's a reason why you have six flags over Texas, right? Because you had multiple nations, you have all these things happening. And most of these people are not these ravening, child-murdering Satanists so they don't even have to think about this law. They don't have to worry about this nonsense. Where is it happening? Chicago, okay? A more developed area, a city that's had a lot more reprobates being churned out, a lot more time to develop these evil satanic practices, bunch of devil worshipers, you know? And of course, we know where it's really coming from, the synagogue of Satan. You wanna trace abortion? You know it'd be an interesting chart. Someone should do this research project. Figure out when Jews moved into a certain area and then abortion started skyrocketing. The synagogue of Satan. And think about it. Where's the main abortions coming from? New York, then Chicago, then what? California. I wonder if a bunch of Jews moved to California at some time in our history. It's called Hollywood. You know? And if we look at the most liberal hell holes, the most satanic evil places, I wonder where the Jews live. I mean, where is rampant sodomy and bestiality and all this stuff? Israel, New York, LA. I wonder if there's a correlation to these things. And you know what? We should make abortion murder again. We should really look at the source of where this is coming from. In America, there was the Unborn Victims of Violence Act passed in 2004. So in the United States, there is a law on the books that says in the United States law, it recognizes an embryo or fetus and utero as a legal victim. If they are injured or killed during the commission of any of over 60 listed federal crimes of violence, the law defines child and utero as a member of the species Homo sapiens at any stage of development who is carried in the womb. So there was a law passed in America in 2004 that said if an unborn child is killed based on all kinds of different crimes like murder or whatever, then it's considered homicide. So you could kill a woman that's pregnant, double homicide. But in this law, it said abortions don't apply. What kind of sick provision is that? What kind of weird provision is that? Someone could drive down the road and be a little reckless in their driving, accidentally wrecking a woman, kill her and her unborn child, and be charged for double homicide. But a woman can walk into a clinic and a doctor can purposely kill that child and it's not homicide. Think about the logic of our country today. Only Satan can come up with such foolishness. Only Satan can come up with such evil. And only his ministers can believe and champion such filth. You know, it makes me mad when I see these crisis pregnancy centers and all these areas that help women that say we're not gonna judge you if you get an abortion. We don't wanna tell you that that's a bad decision. We just wanna help you make an informed decision. We wanna help you be brave. Look, it's not brave to not murder a child. I'm not gonna give you a badge and celebrate you for not killing a child. In fact, even thinking about it, you should be called wicked. Not celebrated as, oh, I'm so glad you didn't murder it. Oh, I'm so glad these crisis pregnancy centers are helping babies not be killed. Okay, but how many more would not be killed if they'd get up and say it's murder? Instead of allowing women to come and say, we won't even judge you, we'll still service you, we'll still help you even if you get the abortion. It's not a hard decision. It's not something you need to be brave about. In fact, you're a psychopath if you wanna murder a baby. You've been given over. Now, I understand that some women are just really stupid, really silly, especially young women, and they haven't been taught anything. They just watch TikTok videos all day and they end up getting taken advantage of by their boyfriend and then they don't even know what's going on and their parents force them to do something wicked. Hey, I'm not here to say that I hate you or anything like that, but it was still murder. And if you've ever had an abortion, I don't personally hate you. Let me tell you something, God's mad about that. And you should ask him for forgiveness. Now, if you ask him for forgiveness and you have the blood of Jesus Christ, you know what? You move on with your life. But you know what, you should be a champion and say that abortion's murder still. You shouldn't cower and say like, well, because I've had an abortion, I don't wanna call it murder because it'll make me feel bad. No, you should say it so that other women won't do it. I mean, it is this self-loathing culture that we have and we can't make anybody feel bad for their sin, which actually helps sin abound by not calling it what it is. It used to be, the phrase was, that I was more nervous than a whore in church. What to God, we could make the person committing abortion a little uncomfortable in church. I mean, we can't even make whores feel bad in church? You better believe that a whore should feel embarrassed in church, let alone people murdering their own children. Oh, church should be the place where women run to. Okay, not if they look like a whore. No, in fact, if you commit fornication, you're not even welcome in church, let alone a murderer, let alone you're destroying that baby. And look, there's so many sick satanic women out there that are going around championing their abortion, saying they're so excited about it. Or I saw these ugly leftists saying, well, you know what, if that passes, then we're not gonna commit any more fornication as a punishment. And I'm thinking like, please stop anyways. Please punish me with that. And most of them are so hideous, I'm thinking like, you weren't even gonna do that on purpose. You're just saying that as a cover for the fact that no one will date you. Everyone thinks you're so ugly. And here's the thing, unfortunately, you only have a window where you can get pregnant as a woman, it's not forever. So these women that are just killing their unborn children on purpose, they're not getting married, they're full of birth control, they're gonna eventually get to a point in their life where they're ugly, old, and barren. And they have nothing to live for. Now, you know what, the women that can't have a children, there's nothing wrong with you. But you know, at least if you're married, you have a husband, you get plugged in church. I mean, there's women that are greatly praised in the Bible, even though they were barren. But you know what, they were plugged in at church. They were serving God. And they still had something to look forward. You know, they had a bunch of spiritual children to minister to and to love on, and to have to appreciate and to love. And they had brothers and sisters in Christ. But these leftists that don't go to church, these God haters, they're gonna get old, and you know what's gonna happen? They're gonna be put in some nursing home and no one's gonna care about them. No one's gonna like them. And they're gonna be filled with all kinds of syphilis, and gonorrhea, and AIDS, and every other horrible disease. And they're just gonna die a slow, miserable death. Because let me tell you something, no guy is contemplating being with Nancy Pelosi. And you know what, these leftists are destroying women by trying to convince them not to settle down and get married to a man, and raise a family, and have children. Look what the Bible says in Proverbs 14, verse one. Every wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands. You know what, you are a fool if you decide to destroy your own children on purpose. You should have all the children that God wants to bless you with. Because you know what, you're gonna get old one day, and you're gonna be like, I'm so glad I had every child that I could. I've never in my life met an old person that didn't tell me that they wish they had more children. And I'm sure it's out there. I'm not saying that it's not. But I'm telling you, saved, unsaved, red, yellow, black, and white, tall, short. In fact, the ladies that are the most adamant about it are the ones that had like eight. They're like, I wish I had eight more. You know what, there's nothing wrong with having lots of children. It's a blessing from God. The Bible always says children are a blessing. And this culture that is teaching that children are a burden that they're causing women's lives to be ruined by having them are of Satan. And they're lies of Satan. They're not, oh, I can't have a career. Michelle Williams or something, some Hollywood actress saying that she had to murder a child in order to get some Oscar or something. Guess what, that Oscar's never gonna talk back to you. It's never gonna lie to you. It's never gonna say I love you. It's never gonna poop on you. It's never gonna throw up on you. It's never gonna cry all night. It's never gonna do anything. It's never gonna maybe fall down at night and its head fall off like Dagon, the wicked false god that it is. And you know what, these mothers, while they hate it, they think back to times when their children threw up and vomited and got lost and all these horrible things, and they cherish those moments. Because every moment with your child is precious. Every moment with children is precious. The good, the bad, the ugly, it's all wonderful. And you know what, we need to teach our generation, we need to teach the people in this world that abortion is murder, and we need to help them preserve the lives of their children. And raise up a generation of people that love God's word no matter what this world says. And you know what, once you're no longer young and clean, being a whore loses its luster. Guys are not interested in old, dirty whores. Like Nancy Pelosi, like Kamala Harris. You know, it might have worked for Kamala Harris, a sleeper way up to the top, but now it wouldn't work on anybody. Especially since most of our politicians are fags anyways. Certainly not gonna work. Nobody wants that, nobody's interested in AOC. You know, not deciding to have children. She just gets uglier by the second. She is just so wicked, and she's gonna die lonely, and then she's gonna burn in hell lonely. You know what, we need to raise our children, and I hope, I pray that God will have mercy on our nation, and allow abortions in some parts of this country to get overturned, and not to happen. And we can have more of those children. And we need to ride that wave. You know, we should tell people what the Bible says and not cower. You're so brave for not murdering your child. I'm not gonna say that. You're wicked for thinking it. You're wicked for wanting to do it. Every person that thinks abortion is even an idea, is wicked, is evil. And I'll tell you, when you're allowed to kill your child, never. What about rape? No, kill the rapist. What about if it's medically necessary? I don't believe that argument. And I never will. You could never convince me that the baby in my mother's, in my wife's womb, needs to die so that she can live. Now obviously if you had to pick between which one you're gonna save, that's a different conversation. You know, if you have two people drowning in a river, and you can only swim towards one, you're gonna swim towards one over the other, right? My wife's more precious to me than all my children. I'm gonna always swim towards my wife. She already knows that. But let me tell you what, I'm not gonna shoot the person on the other side of the river just because I can't get there in time. What kind of nonsense is that? I don't think I can make it to you in time. So I'm just gonna blow you away just in case. Like that's stupid. Just so I'm not tempted or distracted while I'm swimming over there or something. You know, that's the logic of these liberals. And you know what? They never thought that. They never wished that. They just wanted to make abortion legal in a little bit of a way so they could make it in all the way later. And we should stand firm on the Bible and say it's always murder, it's always wrong, we'll never stand for it, and you're wicked if you wanna do it. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Heavenly Father, so much for the word of God. Thank you for giving us righteous laws. I pray that we wouldn't let American laws warp our mind, we wouldn't let our culture warp our mind, but rather, we would look to the laws of God for our understanding, we would renew our mind. We would realize that your laws are always right. We realize that this nation has so much blood shed in it. And it obviously grieves your heart, it should grieve our hearts. The cries of the unborn children in this nation. I pray that you would stir up a spirit of love in women's hearts today, that they wouldn't abandon their children, they wouldn't hate their children, they would actually love their children, they would have natural affection today, that the cries of the unborn would come into the ears of the people in charge of this nation, and that they would realize that it's wicked, and they would outlaw it. And I pray that all the women in this room would realize they have one of the greatest jobs in the world being a mother. That motherhood is not a curse, it's a blessing. That it's a great honor and it's a great privilege, and we celebrate all of the mothers that we've had that brought us into this world. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. All right, for our final song this morning, turn to 274, Come Unto Me. 274, Come Unto Me. Song 274, Come Unto Me. ["Come Unto Me"] Hear the blessed Savior calling the oppressed, O ye heavy laden, come to me and rest. Come no longer, tarry, I your load will bear. Bring me every burden, bring me every care. Come unto me, I will give you rest. Take my oak upon you, hear me and be blessed. I am meek and lowly, come and trust my mind. Come, my oak is easy and my burden's light. Are you disappointed, wondering here and there, dragging chains of doubt and loading down with care? Do unholy feelings struggle in your rest? Bring your case to Jesus, he will give you rest. Come unto me, I will give you rest. Take my oak upon you, hear me and be blessed. I am meek and lowly, come and trust my mind. Come, my oak is easy and my burden's light. Stumbling on the mountains, dark with sin and shame, stumbling toward the pit of hell's consuming claim. By the powers of sin, deluded and oppressed, hear the tender shepherd come to me and rest. Come unto me, I will give you rest. Take my oak upon you, hear me and be blessed. I am meek and lowly, come and trust my mind. Come, my oak is easy and my burden's light. Have you by temptation often conquered men, has a sense of weakness brought distress within? Christ will sanctify you if you'll claim his best. In the Holy Spirit, he will give you rest. Come unto me, I will give you rest. Take my oak upon you, hear me and be blessed. I am meek and lowly, come and trust my mind. Come, my oak is easy and my burden's light. Great singing. God bless. You are dismissed. You are dismissed.