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Amen. All right. Well, it's been a little bit since we've been in the Book of Exodus. And the last sermon I preached was about basically servitude. And I just want to say about that sermon that I didn't completely cover every single aspect of what people would call slavery or what people would call being or indentured servitude. It is a pretty vast topic and there's a lot of different scriptures that you can go to. And so I just want to say that I didn't completely cover every single aspect when I preached that sermon. Because there was a little bit of criticism over that from some online atheist trolls. So, but really who cares what they think? I just know this, that God, when he freed the children of Israel from the Egyptians, that one of the things that they were doing was making them endure or serve with rigor. They were mistreating them. And, you know, whatever it is that you believe about that subject, they're not, you know, I don't believe that God is okay with that. So, but as far as like, there are verses that indicate that if someone was in war, you know, obviously the children of Israel were supposed to go and conquer the land of Canaan. And they were supposed to kill everybody really, but some people they didn't. And you remember the Gibeonites came and they dressed up in rags and pretended to be like they were from some faraway nation. And so what did Joshua, what was the punishment? When Joshua found out that there were just some of the people that were supposed to destroy, then Joshua, you know, he felt stupid for not like really checking into everything. But what did he make them into? Hewers of wood and drawers of water. So instead of being put to the sword, they were being put to serve the children of Israel. So who would choose death over serving? I mean, I would choose serving and still live. And obviously, and then you see how when, you know, they made a promise not to hurt them or destroy them. And when Saul started doing that, Saul's relatives were actually hung and killed because they were mistreating the Gibeonites. So, I mean, there's a lot more to it, but I just kind of want to say that before I get into this sermon. And basically, so look back over in Exodus chapter 20. No, I'm not preaching another Ten Commandments sermon. But I wanted to just draw you to this scripture here really quickly. It says, so the children of Israel, after they got the Ten Commandments, that was in front of everybody. They heard the voice of God thundering down to them the Ten Commandments. But it says, you know, the children of Israel didn't want God to speak to them anymore because they were afraid they were going to die. And it says in verse 20, Moses and Moses said unto the people, Fear not, for God has come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces that you said not. And the people stood far off, and Moses drew near into the thick darkness where God was. So in chapter 21, you have Moses is getting commandments from God, and God is giving those to him so that he can relay those things to the people. So I just want to kind of set the stage here so you understand. This isn't God speaking to all the children of Israel. This is God speaking to Moses in the thick darkness. Chapter 21 covers a lot of what I was just talking about. And a lot of that was about how you would treat your employees or servants. And then, of course, we have Exodus chapter 22 here. And a lot of things that are being discussed in this chapter are restitution for wrongs that you do unto people, restitution for things that people would steal or things that would go missing under someone else's care. And there's also a section about fornication, the punishment for fornication. And then also at the end, it talks about the death penalty or capital crimes. So it kind of has three different sections in this chapter, and we're going to just well, there's actually more than that, but that's what we're going to cover tonight. There's a lot in here. So and I really love these chapters. I think it's good for us to know how God feels about things. And even though we live in a country that by some people's standards would be great, a lot of these things have fallen down and, you know, we're not living in a just country when it comes to laws and rules. And we have a lot of corrupt judges. If they're liberal, they always side with liberals, you know, and then there's just there's not a lot of justice being done. And God's law is always right. God's law is always perfect. And we're not to reply against God and say his laws are wrong. He made us. We didn't make him. A lot of people think that we made God up or something, but that's not the truth. The truth is, God made us in six days and rested on the seventh and we are under his rules and his laws as Christians. We should support whatever God says. So some of the things I'm going to be talking about tonight are normally also I talked about a lot of gnarly things this morning in my sermon. But, you know, it's just the subject matter. This is where we're at. I didn't just choose this in a you know, just because I felt like preaching something hard. And I'm preaching the Bible and where we're at in Exodus chapter 22. So the first thing, the first point tonight is that the penalties and restitution for theft and purloining. And theft is obviously stealing. Purloining is a form of stealing where you just, you know, maybe someone gives you their pen to use and then you kind of just that works its way into your pocket somehow. Whether it's intentional or unintentional, that's kind of what purloining is. You kind of maybe borrowed something and forgot to give it back or, you know, something along those lines. So look at verse number one. The Bible reads, If a man shall steal an ox or a sheep and kill it or sell it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep. So this is if someone is like a cattle rustler. Now, what do they do in Texas to cattle rustlers? They used to kill them, didn't they? So you see automatically, I mean, just right off the get go, God does not say you give someone the death penalty for stealing horses or oxen or anything like that. They killed cattle rustlers in the Old West. But that's not what the Bible says to do. There's, you know, they're supposed to pay it back. And if they can't pay it back, guess what happens? They get sold and they have to make restitution. Look what it says. And they have to pay back more than what they stole. So if they stole and they sell it to someone, then they don't have, you know, they might not have the money still or whatever. But it doesn't matter if they're caught doing it and they're judged according to their crimes, they're supposed to pay back five ox for the one ox that they stole and four sheep for stealing four sheep. So isn't that what the Bible says? Yes, it does. So look at verse two. It says, if a thief be found breaking up and be smitten that he died, there shall no blood be shed for him. So if someone comes to your house in the middle of the night and they're breaking up, then, well, that's not what it's saying in the middle of the night. But it does kind of give a differential in the next verse. But just if a thief be found breaking up. So what is what is breaking up? Well, don't have you seen like where someone would break into someone's house and they're dumping out all the drawers and breaking things and trying to dig into the walls to get the safe or whatever it is they're breaking up. They're destroying the house, trying to look and ransacking through all their stuff. Have you ever had your house robbed before? This is what they what thieves do a lot of the times. And and so it says and he be smitten that he died. There shall no blood be shed for him because there's there's specific rules about killing people. But it's not right to kill someone in certain situations when it's theft. It's not the death penalty. But if someone is robbing you, they have a gun or a knife. I mean, and at night, if they're so brazen that at night they're going to come and try to break into your house, you shoot first and ask questions later. And you're like, well, that doesn't sound very Christian. Well, do you think that they're coming to break into your house to do something good to you? If they know that people are in the house, what do you think that they're going to do? They're going to kill you or they're going to tie you up and hurt you. Maybe, you know, do some very wicked sexual sins against your family or whatever. You don't know what they're going to be doing. But if someone doesn't belong in your house, you know, and it's like sometimes, you know, people that are mentally ill or something, they break into people's houses. Like importantness has happened a lot lately where, you know, somebody will wake up and it's not Goldilocks in the bed. It's some homeless person. You know what I mean? So and I mean, obviously, I wouldn't say kill that person for, you know, obviously, you know, there's there's different judgment calls for different things. But we're talking about someone that's breaking. And I'll show you why I'm saying it's breaking at night. But breaking at night, you should shoot that person because you don't know what they're going to do. And back then, it's not like they had lights and electricity. So you don't know what they have in their hand. You don't know what they're going to do. And, you know, in a lot of cases, they probably would just kill the person not caring because it's at night where nobody else can see what they're doing. You live in a country road or whatever. So you should have something to protect yourself in your home. And, you know, the United States is trying to get to where we can't protect ourselves in our own homes. And there's all these stipulations for buying guns and having guns and owning guns. But most of the time it's criminals that are killing people with guns. It's not law abiding citizens. And so the criminal, you're supposed to have something to protect yourself from the criminals. But now they're giving all the power to the criminals. And if you hurt one of them, you're in trouble. But if they hurt you, they get like probation or something. You know, it's just like we live in a really insane world right now where people are allowed to just get away with all these types of things. But if you're a law abiding citizen, then they throw the book at you. So look what it says in verse 3. It says, if the sun be risen upon him, there shall be bloodshed for him, for he should make full restitution. If he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. So see right there, it says sold for his theft. You're like, well, that's slavery. Well, I mean, you can call it whatever you want. It's called restitution. It's like you work for me until you're done paying me back and then you can go do whatever you want. But if you're going to be a thief, there's going to be some punishment for it. But people will just freak out about that. People just grab all kinds of stuff off the shelves. I'm sure you've seen these videos and nobody can do anything to stop them. I mean, they're stealing thousands of dollars of Louis Vuitton, you know, stuff and just the most expensive things they can. And people just have to sit there and do nothing. So it's like, why even have security? Well, I mean, the loss prevention department should just shut down then, if that's what you're going to do. But they're going to get more bold and brazen. And, you know, I think that you should be able to stop them, obviously not kill them necessarily. But I guarantee you, if a couple of them got some beat downs, you know, they might stop doing that. But, you know, when I'm at Costco shopping, sometimes I'll be someone just standing by the exit like this. And this is not like in some ghetto area or something. It's just a regular Costco in a decent neighborhood or whatever. But people are targeting these other places where they know that nobody's going to do anything. So now they just have, you know, people, their employees just standing at the doors to make sure that nobody can just run out. Because I think the rule is if it's under a thousand dollars, then you're supposed to just let them go, which I think is absolutely ridiculous. And so people are going to do what you let them get away with. So when it comes to this rule about shedding blood, you should shed blood in the daytime. Well, why? Well, it says, for he should make full restitution. So if you kill a thief and there's no weapon in their hand, you can see them, it's broad daylight, they're not like committing some kind of violent act. That's a situation where you wouldn't kill the person. You would maybe subdue them and make them pay back what they stole. Or fix or pay for what they've broken up in the house. But to kill somebody, you know, first of all, they might not necessarily deserve to be killed for being a thief. They're supposed to pay back. So you're messing. So like, say you're a police officer and you are the one that shoots somebody in the daytime just for stealing. Well, then that person doesn't get their restitution. So it's kind of protecting the person that got stolen from. And also the person that might just be stealing to be to survive or something, right? So obviously all theft is wrong. All stealing is wrong. But there is a difference between someone at night and someone during the day. However, in the day, if someone has a weapon or if someone is trying to harm you, then I would shoot them in the daytime, too. I mean, it's just someone's in your house. That's pretty bold, isn't it? And we live in the United States where that's not so much a thing, but it is becoming a thing. It's becoming a thing where people are doing these daytime heists. Have you ever seen the videos where people just throw a whole bunch of people at the door? And then they'll ring the doorbell and then they just come in and attack the people there and hurt them or kill them and take all their stuff. So there is instances where I would shoot someone during the day just as much as I would shoot someone at night. I think I saw this video where there was like four or five guys and they all had guns. And the homeowner, or somebody was explaining what they would do in this situation. Because you kind of have an advantage where you can see them through your camera or whatever. And he just said, well, this is what I would do. And obviously if there's four or five guys at your door with guns and you have guns, then you might want to handle business because they're there to hurt you. They're there to kill you. And it was during the day. So I don't think that this is an all-inclusive rule. I just think that you can see during the day what someone's doing versus you can't see what they're doing at night. So don't kill a thief necessarily. You know, and it's saying that blood shouldn't be shed in the situation where it's at night. But during the day, it says blood should be shed for them. So, you know, there's instances where, you know, say someone's breaking in to steal a pencil from you. I know, which is a really ridiculous thing. Maybe they just really needed a pencil. And then like, you know, you see them, they walk in, they take the pencil and they start to run. And you're just like, this is my chance. And you just like shoot that person for stealing a pencil. Don't you think that'd be ridiculous? So that's what I'm saying is like, you know, you probably need to make good judgments that way. It's like, officer, he was trying to steal my pencil and he was getting away. It's like, you know, but it's the pendulum swung too far in the other way right now to where now you can just kind of do whatever you want, not get in trouble for it. You can steal one hundred fifty thousand dollars from a church and not go to jail for it. I mean, that's pretty crazy, right? But it happens. It has happened. So anyway, let's move on to verse number four. It says, if the theft be found, certainly found, excuse me, if the yeah, if the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox or ass or sheep, he shall restore double. So if they find it, they're able to recover it. Then you pay back double for whatever you stole. All right. And it says, if any man or excuse me, if a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten and shall put in his beast and shall feed in another man's field of the best of his own field and of the best of his own vineyard, shall he make restitution. So you don't get to just give them, you know, the worst of your crop, the worst of your things. You have to make restitution. You have to pay it back with the best things that you have. Because why? Why would someone do that so that they don't have to pay for their own supply to feed those animals? And obviously, a lot of this stuff is talking about animals and farming. This is stuff that really doesn't necessarily translate, but it does in a way because it can be applied to anything in our lives. So, and yeah, I mean people still do keep animals and things like that. So it does apply in that way. So we're not supposed to take something that belongs to somebody else and expect to not have some kind of a restitution. And I would say this, even grazing off of other people's things. You know, hooking up to people's electricity, hooking up to people's water. I mean that kind of stuff happens all the time where people are just trying to get over on somebody else and just kind of sponge off of them. I think that you should have to pay them back. And if you eat a grape at the supermarket, you are stealing. I mean, I'm sure you've done it. I've done it. When I was a kid, I would do it. But, you know, it's not right. It's not right because, you know, if everybody just took a grape every time, which a lot of people probably do, you know, how many pounds a year do you think that they're getting ripped off from that one grape? You're like, well, I bought the rest of it. Okay, well, I mean, as long as you buy the whole thing. But you're still, it's less the weight of that one grape that you stole, isn't it? So, I mean, you want to talk about getting technical, but it is true, isn't it? It is theft. So, and stealing other people's food is wrong. You know, you work at a workplace and everybody has like a community refrigerator or something. And then all of a sudden your lunch is gone. It's like, well, I'm sorry your wife makes terrible meals or whatever, but someone, yeah, I mean, you steal somebody else's lunch out of the refrigerator. That's just the lowdown, dirty scoundrel type stuff, isn't it? Someone's catching hands. Yeah. Yeah, he said someone's catching hands. I mean, in some places, you know, people get pretty hungry. I mean, you work a hard day. So, I mean, it doesn't, does it really matter what the value of the item is? I mean, that's what a lot of people think, well, it's not even worth anything. Well, maybe it was worth something to them. Maybe it was a family heirloom that, yeah, it meant nothing to you, but maybe it meant something to them. So, we should be cognitive of the things that we do as Christians and not just go around purloining things and, oh, you know, I'm sorry, I borrowed that and never gave it back to you. You know, it happens. But, you know, if someone has done that to you, don't just be bitter and mad about it. Maybe they generally did forget. And then you could just go to them and say, hey, do you remember that, like, wrench that I let you borrow a long time ago? Like, do you still have that? And then, you know, obviously, if you're going to let somebody borrow something, just expect that it may never return to you. And if you have that attitude about lending your stuff, then you won't be so disappointed because people will steal your stuff a lot. So, and obviously, Christians should not be doing that. But I talked about this is kind of, a lot of this is just restitution for people being done wrong. And it's mainly talking about things that someone would steal from somebody else. And so restitution is the restoration of something, lost or stolen, to its proper owner, recompense or injury or loss. So, if you hurt somebody, remember in the last chapter, if you hurt somebody and they miss work, you have to pay for their work and lost wages. That's a thing today. Now, obviously, you know, you've got the ambulance chasers that kind of go a little crazy with it. But it is something that is legit. You know, if you hurt somebody by negligence or on purpose, and they can't work, you should have to pay for them to be healed and for them to, for their work. So, look at verse 6, it says, He that kindle the fire shall surely make restitution. So, again, it's focusing on restitution over things lost. Now, people do dumb things when it comes to lighting fires. And, you know, a lot of people, a lot of farmers and ranchers, they do what's called controlled burns. And, you know, sometimes that's necessary to happen. But, say that controlled burn becomes uncontrollable, and then it burns up all your food for the year. I mean, you've done something, you didn't do it on purpose. Maybe the wind started blowing. Or maybe you just don't know how to do a controlled fire very well. Well, you're liable to make it right. So, you have, if you kindle the fire, you shall surely make restitution. And some of those things can be pretty big restitutions. When there was a, it's been several years now, but maybe it's been like six years ago, I think. Where there was a kid from Vancouver, he lit a firework in the cascade somewhere. And it was like filmed, like he was busted doing it. And it caused a huge fire and burnt down a lot of things and probably killed a lot of animals. I'm not sure about... No, it was in like the Columbia River Gorge somewhere. But, anyway, that kid has to pay restitution of millions of dollars. And so he's never going to be done paying for that. I mean, but he, you know, you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes sometimes, right? So, you got to be responsible. You got to think, well, hey, it hasn't rained all year. What are the ramifications of me firing a bottle rocket into the sky in a forested area? The, you know, what are the ramifications? Well, maybe it'll burn the whole forest down. It could kill people. And I remember driving, we were going soul-winding somewhere, and we drove on the 14 side. And on the Oregon side, it was all on fire. It was kind of freaky. Like, it was scary. I mean, it's just right there, you know. I think, where were we going? Does anybody remember where we were at? It was, I know we went up past Yakima to some college town. What was the name of it? Allensburg. Yeah. So, we were on our way to Allensburg, and like, the whole side of the Oregon side was on fire. So, I mean, you can be really, just, it can be an accident. But you know what? The Bible says that if you kindle the fire, you're surely going to pay the restitution. Look at verse 7. If a man deliver, shall deliver unto his neighbor money or stuff to keep, and it be stolen out of the man's house, if the thief be found, let him pay double. If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges to see whether he have put his hand unto his neighbor's goods. So, you know, pretty simple stuff. You're letting someone, it's kind of like banks do this, right? Banks hold onto other people's money, and sometimes other people's valuables. And, you know, they guarantee that FDIC, your money's protected, and all that kind of stuff. But, you know, there's a safety deposit box where people put their, like, really, you know, their possessions in there, and they're expecting it not to be stolen. But sometimes thieves come in and steal and rob banks and do things like that. And the bank is supposed to make it right. And if the thieves be found, they're supposed to pay for it. But what do they usually do? Throw them in prison. And look, I understand you want to throw them in prison, whatever. But shouldn't they have to work off the crime that they, and pay back all that money? Why should the federal government have to do that? And correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that something that they can write off? I don't know. Maybe the, do taxpayers have to end up paying that back in some instances? I'm not sure about that. But I think that that might be the case. But either way, they're insured. And so somehow it's going to trickle back to the working man, to the people that put their money in these banks, because you think that they're going to eat the money, the banks. They find ways to not eat the money, trust me. We'll talk about that in the next sermon about usury. But anyway, so it says that they're going to be brought to the judges. Say you, they want to make sure it's not an inside job. God wants to make sure it's not an inside job. And so if you put this money or you give it to somebody, maybe they have like a stronghold. Maybe they have some sort of a castle they live in and that person's like, hey, I know nobody's going to be able to break in and steal this stuff. And it does happen. And you're like, well, how did that really happen? Was this an inside job? Did somebody, did they steal it and say someone stole it? I mean, there's a lot of scenarios that can happen in this. And so then there becomes an investigation and interrogation by the judges. And that takes place to make sure it's not a sham or some kind of heist or something that the house is in on. So verse number nine, for all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing. So that pretty much says everything, right? Which another challengeth to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges and whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbor. So basically, it's going to come down to who the judges find has proved their point of who it actually belongs to. This is why it's so important to have righteous judges and just judges in places, because if they're in on it, then the fix is in and there is no justice. So if a judge can be bought and paid for or a gift be given to them so that they will make a decision based upon some kind of frame up, then there's just no justice. And you know what? God just despises that. He's a God of judgment, and so he wants to make sure that judgment is passed in a right way. And so one thing that God, he's going to come down on leaders, he's going to come down on people that are in positions of power that unjustly use that power to do something that's wicked like this. And a judge should be counted on to just look at the evidence and this is what's right, this is what's wrong, and make a decision on it. But that's not what you see today, but this is what God expects. And so God is going to come down on unjust judges in a harsher way than he would other people. So because, I mean, you're talking about people's livelihoods here. You're talking about people's goods and things that they worked hard for. They should make a right decision, not because they like this guy better than the other guy, or maybe you just don't like this guy, period. It doesn't matter whether you like them or not. The point is, is who's right, who's wrong? Who's got the evidence on their side and who doesn't? And that's what an impartial judge does is that they judge based upon what's right and wrong and what evidence there is to provide. Look at Exodus 22 10. It says, if a man deliver unto his neighbor an ass or ox or a sheep or any beast to keep and it die or be hurt, driven away, no man seen it. So in this situation, maybe they have the property and the ability to store your animals or something. Or maybe it's a garage where you store your car or whatever it is. But in this situation, we're talking about cattle. It just all of a sudden, one of your cows die or it's hurt somehow or driven away, and now it's just gone. Well, it says, then shall an oath of the Lord be between them both, that he hath not put his hand unto his neighbor's goods. And the owner of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good. So in the instance where there's no witnesses, the animal just dies. You don't know why it died. It's hurt. You don't know how it got hurt. In these instances, you don't have to make it good. That's what the Bible says. It's kind of, you know, sometimes things happen. Animals die, and it could die in your yard or it could die in their yard. But how's that person's fault? So that makes sense. That's a good judgment there. And it says, and if it be stolen from him, he shall make restitution unto the owner thereof. So why would that be? Well, if you're storing other people's things for them, you should have a measure of security about that. You know, there should be some kind of security expected from the people that are holding on to these things. So, I mean, that's the only way I could figure it that that makes sense to me. That if it's stolen from them, they didn't have adequate security. They didn't have dogs. They didn't have, you know, a moat with alligators in it or whatever. Whatever it was, you don't have security cameras. You don't have an alarm on your building. Those types of things. And things get stolen, you make the restitution. That's why the bank has to pay back money when thieves steal like that. So it says, if it be torn in pieces, then let him bring it for witness. And he shall not make good that which was torn. So if a wild animal, you know, digs under the fence and kills it, that's kind of, you know, out of the realm of what that person would have to pay back. So predators are predators. And you can't really stop them from being predators, I guess. But it says that if a man borrow ought of his neighbor, and it be hurt or die, the owner thereof being not with it, he shall surely make it good. So again, this is borrowing something. You borrow an animal, hey, can I borrow your ox to plow my field? And something happens to it, then you need to take care of that and pay it back and make it good. You borrow a steam cleaner, and it breaks in the middle of you steam cleaning the floor, then you're going to have to, you know, I mean, that's what happens when you borrow stuff, you know, you're kind of responsible to take care of it and give it back to them. So look at verse 15, but if the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good. If it be in higher thing, it came for his hire. So that's kind of the rules for restitution when it comes to loss and things stolen, possible possible plots, things torn by beast, a lot of different things here, but you can apply these things to any situation in life, any kind of item in life. It's not just farming equipment. It's not just power equipment. It's not cars. It's not just oxen. This is talking about, remember in verse nine, it says any manner of lost thing. So this is the rules for restitution. Now, number two tonight, I want to look at the punishment and restitution for fornication. You're like, I didn't know there was a punishment and restitution for fornication. Well, there is. Look at verse number 16 in our text here. It says if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, so that means what? They're not engaged. And engagement in this case is not just talking about saying, well, here's your engagement ring and maybe someday we're going to get married. No, this is like an agreement that's going to happen. It's basically like being married already, except for you just haven't consummated the marriage. So if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife. So when a man commits fornication with a maid, someone in this maid, obviously a maid is usually talking about a virgin. But any any woman, I think this is talking about fornication. OK, they shall surely endow her to be his wife. So it doesn't sound like there's a choice there, does it? And endow, what does that mean? It means give a dowry. That means you give a gift or money or property or something of value to who? The father of that woman. So and we don't understand this concept because this is not how our marriages work in this country. But maybe it should be like that. Maybe this world will be a better place if we just did and did the things the way the Bible says to do them. So, you know, and what is the rule? What happened? What's expected when two people are about to get married in this country? Who pays for the wedding? Anybody know? Who? The bride's parents. You know, that's exactly the opposite of what the Bible says. That's exactly the opposite of what the Bible says. The father of the bride is supposed to be getting paid. Amen. See, amen, amen, amen. Right? So but that's so like should we do that just because that's well this is the custom in our country. Well, why don't we just break the customs of this stupid country sometimes and just do what the Bible says? And I think that things would work out better. But if you're already starting off everything wrong, you know, this is a relationship that's starting out wrong. You're getting the cow without buying the milk, so to speak. All right, that's kind of a if you understand it, then you understand it. If you don't, then you're too young to understand it. So it doesn't matter. But anyway, so endow means to give a gift. So two people fornicate. They're supposed to get married. That's what it says, right? That's what the Bible is teaching here. And so the endowment is, you know, the dowry, what you're supposed to give. So you're supposed to do that when you marry them anyway. And this is a situation with what? Where they're not endowed. So you still have to pay the endowment even though you weren't endowed. Does that make sense? So is there a restitution for fornication? Yes, there is. It's a monetary value. And you're like, well, that's just crazy. I don't know. That's just that's how God works things. See, a daughter is supposed to live with their father until they get married, and then they get married and leave the home. And the daughter passes from under the covering of the dad to the covering of her husband. That's how it works. That's what the Bible teaches. But obviously, this world's topsy-turvy. It's nothing like what it should be like. But I say we put the Christian values back into marriages. I say we put, you know, and even in this sad situation where fornication happens, hey, you can still make that right by doing the right thing and getting married. What does it say there again? Let's look at it again. And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, so she's not betrothed to be married, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife. That's it. That's what the Bible says. So if you fornicate, you're supposed to marry that person. So if that's not who you want to marry, then don't do it. But this is what God teaches. And if you liked it, then you have to put a ring on it. It's not the way the Beyonce song goes. It's if you like it, then you have to put a ring on it. You have to get married. And so this is kind of where the term shotgun marriage, shotgun wedding comes into play. You know, you want to sneak off with my daughter, well, guess what? Now you're going to pay me, and you're going to get married to her. You're going to do what's right. You know, this might seem like a radical thing. To us in modern day 2023, but this is what the Bible teaches. And this is what, kids, you should understand in your mind, that it's a serious thing. You can't just go around being some kind of a whoremonger, guys, and then expect to just get off scot-free. That's not how it works. Now, I'm sure that maybe that would make you more choosy on maybe breaking these laws. You know, if you had to marry the person that you fornicated with, and it was just like a one-night kind of fling or whatever, then it would probably make you think more. See, God's laws are not just there for no reason. They're there for us to gain wisdom and knowledge from, and to make us do the right thing. The right thing, when you commit fornication, is to get married. That's what the Bible says, right? Look at verse, so betrothed means to enter into a formal agreement to marry. So betrothed just doesn't mean, I'm going to get married sometime in the next five years. That's not a betrothal. It's kind of our modern day thing. Well, I'm engaged to be married to somebody. Well, what does that mean exactly? Like, is it like a legit engagement, like everything's already said and done in the Bible, and what this is talking about is a formal agreement to marry. Mary was betrothed to Joseph, Mary the mother of Jesus, was betrothed to Joseph. And so when he thought that she was with child from another man, there was a divorce that had to take place. He would have had to put her away with a writing of divorcement. So this is not just some random engagement. When you're betrothed to someone, you're promised, basically, already to them to be their spouse. So now look at verse number 17. It says, if a father, and I just wanted to give you that because I'm going to go to some other verses here in a minute, but in Exodus 22 verse 17, it says, if her father utterly refused to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins. So this is the case where the dad's just like, this guy's a moron, this guy's an idiot, this guy's not worthy of being married to my daughter, or whatever. He's the boss of the home, he's the authority over this woman, and he has the right to refuse that person. So this is veto power being given to the dad to say, this guy's a bozo, this guy's a loser, he doesn't even have a job, no, I'm not going to let you get married to him. And that's his right according to the word of God. And it says, he shall pay money anyway, right? He shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins. Well, what does that mean? Well, I believe that that's 50 shekels of silver. Could somebody pull out a smartphone right now and tell me what the modern day equivalent to 50 shekels of silver would be today? And the first one gets a prize. See how fast you guys are. Technology. You would have had to go to the library for this earlier. No, anyway, so I'm going to have you turn to Deuteronomy 22 verse 28 while we're finding the smartphone. Brother Bill, you already have it, don't you? What is it? He didn't do it. Oh, well, let's do both shekels. Here we go. Bill, we need you to preach a sermon about this really soon. He's building the shekels today, too. So what is it now? So anybody got a ballpark? $13 shekel in Israel right now. $13. OK, so how much would it be total then in dollars? Like $600 or so. For 20 shekels? That's it? For 50 shekels, yeah. Wow. The one I found is $12,000 to $15,000. OK, that sounds better. The modern shekels are obviously inflation has happened enough. Reverse inflation, I don't know. Anyway, so yeah, $13 per shekel. OK, well, that seems a little low. It seems like a little bit of a lowball thing. I don't know where that would come from. I think that's the modern shekel. All the modern shekel, yeah, OK. But I think it would probably be a substantial sum, though, because it's not going to be pocket change or half of a paycheck or something. So even if it was, $600, not everybody just has that hanging out their back pocket. But I would tend to probably go with the higher number. But the point is that even if, so this guy's got to pay either way. So you commit for an occasion, and then you're supposed to marry them. And if the father refuses, then you still have to pay the money, right? Now, just because this is the limitation, like the least amount you would have to pay, some people paid a way higher price for their dowry than other people. Some people have traded a few yaks, and they're good, right? But some people, like Joseph, or no, Jacob, served for seven years twice. So 14 years, and that's however much wages are for a year for him, which he was kind of lowballed by his uncle Laban there. But he paid a high price because he wanted Rachel, and he got tricked and got Leah, and then he served another seven years for Rachel. So the point is, though, is that you should have to pay for this, for breaking this commandment. And the commandment, when someone fornicates, the commandment isn't to kill that person, but God has killed people for the fornication. It is a very serious sin. It's a sin that would get you kicked out of church for doing it. If you refuse to repent and make things right, you will be kicked out of this church for doing that. And so let's look at Deuteronomy chapter 22 verse 28. The Bible says, If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, so again this is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found, then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father, what's it say there? 50 shekels of silver, and he shall be his wife, because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days. So in Israel, if you just couldn't handle it until the wedding day, then you still had a penalty to pay. The penalty is you're still going to pay the father 50 shekels and you're still going to marry the girl, and maybe she's not the woman of your dreams. Well maybe you should have thought about that before you decided to commit fornication. And obviously the daughters don't get away scot-free with this either because maybe they were lusting or whatever, and it's not the prince charming of their dreams or whatever. And then you're stuck with some loser that you know you let sweet talk you in the field or whatever. So this is not an ideal situation is it? But see God has laws for everything that every situation to make it right. Now go back up to verse 13 in the same chapter here it says, if any man take a wife and go in unto her and hate her, so this is a person that's taken the wife and go in unto her and hate her and give occasions of speech against her and bring up an evil name upon her and say I took this woman when I came to her I found her not a maid. So he's lying about this. Well he hates her because he doesn't think she was a virgin like she was supposed to be like she was purported to be. Then shall the father of the damsel and her mother take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate. So if you know what this is talking about then you know what this is talking about and I don't want to go into detail about what it is. So if you're old enough to know then you'll know. It says and the damsel's father shall say unto the elders I gave my daughter unto this man to wife and he hateth her and lo he hath given occasions of speech against her saying I found not thy daughter a maid and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. So it's proven to be true that she was a virgin and they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city and the elders of the city shall take that man and chastise him. So I don't know what that if that's 39 or 40, 40 lashes save one whatever the judges determine I'm sure is what it was. You know because he's lying about someone and besmeeching her name and just ruining her name to people and you know the thing about rumors and the thing about accusations is sometimes no matter whether it's true or not people are going to just believe the first scuttlebutt that they hear about it. And so you can damage someone's reputation really badly by lying about them and some people may never believe you. And in this case it's talking that it's talking about is that he lied about her. He's saying something not true and he's to be chastised for it and then get what his what else has to happen to him. They shall immerse him means punish with a fine. They shall immerse him in 130 shekels of silver. Excuse me did I say 130? I said 100. I meant 100 shekels of silver. Good night. Sorry about that. So what is that? That's double the amount of the dowry of a virgin which is how much? 50 shekels. And give them unto the father of the damsel because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel and she shall be his wife he may not put her away all his days. Now of course the modern bible versions or perversions will say that this is a man raping a woman and that they say she's forced to be his wife. That's is that what this is saying? You need to get a King James right because these other modern these other modern bible perversions will say something that's totally not true. No man is supposed to is or no woman is forced to marry her rapist. That is not in the bible. This is two consenting adults or two consenting people you know doing an act that they're not supposed to be doing and this is the punishment for it. And so if two people commit fornication the bible says that they're to what? What are they supposed to do? They get married right? Not just if there's a baby on the way which is what kind of our modern so you know well you know I knew she was pregnant so I decided to marry her. No you should have married her before honestly but if you marry out it's not just because there's a baby it's because that's the right thing to do. So what does this teach you? Well if our modern society held to these positions and rules then things would be a lot better in our society. People wouldn't just be you know committing fornication without any anything going against them. So it's not just a guilt-free society like we live in today where everything is just on its head topsy-turvy. So if two people commit fornication they're supposed to get married not not just if there's a baby on the way. Number three tonight we'll look at the death penalties for capital crimes. The death penalties for capital crimes so it's not going to get any less uncomfortable here but that's kind of an uncomfortable topic the one that we were just talking about before but it's what you know is the Bible is the Bible like wrong? Is the Bible bad for bringing up these subjects? We need to know everything that God calls for and judgments in every situation. So now again he's not going to put every single scenario of every single fornication or every single scenario of you know he's just saying he's giving us examples he's telling us what the statute what the law is for breaking those specific types of commandments. So number three tonight and this is the final point that the you know the death penalty for capital crimes look at Exodus 22 verse 8 back or verse 18 back in our text here. Exodus 22 18. The Bible says thou shall not suffer a witch to live. What do you think that means in the Greek? I mean people are just so weird with some of the things that they come up with it's like what do you think I mean what does that mean? Suffer means allow. Thou shall not allow a witch to live. So what is it saying? It's the death penalty to be a witch. You're like well that's so Old Testament Pastor Thompson. Is it? What capital crime tell me what capital crimes changed in the New Testament? Did murder in the first degree change in the New Testament or should we put people to death for murder? What about rapists? You know I know that nobody gets justice like they're supposed to today but a rapist should surely be put to death. So you know and that and the Bible is specific about that I'm not going to go to the to the verse I'm just saying that whatever is a capital crime in the Old Testament should be a capital crime in the New Testament. Now obviously if there's something specific that God changes in the New Testament then we go by what that says like the Sabbath. You don't have to you're not put to death for not keeping the Sabbath in the New Testament but somebody picked up sticks in the Old Testament and got stoned to death for it right? But now Jesus has fulfilled the Sabbath and we don't have to go we don't have to keep the Sabbath anymore so it's not the death penalty right? So only when things are changed specifically in the New Testament do we disregard the Old Testament scripture. So thou shall not suffer which to live we're about to get into the Halloween season here and I'm sure every single store you walk into where you take your kids has all this garbage all over scaring them and you know the kids are you know this is this is the time of the year that I hated taking my kids in the store because they're really scared of stuff like this and I'm sure that your kids might be too but you know some kids think it's funny or whatever but a lot of kids are afraid of spooky things and I get that but witches are one of the things that you'll see out and about for the next couple months but you know the Bible says in Leviticus 20 27 it says a man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit or that is a wizard shall surely be put to death they shall stone them with stones their blood shall be upon them. So in the Old Testament in Leviticus it's talking about a wizard it's like a male witch basically or a sorcerer shall surely be put to death and how you're supposed to do it stone them with stones. So now what in the New Testament obviously I'm not saying that Christians should go out and we're you know on Halloween we're going to go on a witch killing spree and just kill a bunch of witches I'm not saying that because that's not what you know we're not we don't have that power in the New Testament we're supposed to live under the rules of our government. Now even though those rules are wicked and they allow witchcraft to happen in this country and you know they act like if anybody ever persecuted witches in the past that it was just some evil you know that they bring up the Salem witch trials and things like that and it's like you know just because some people got you know overboard about something doesn't mean that the rule and law should not exist today because what are they they're servants of the devil really and you know when it talks about worshiping bail witchcraft and wizardry and sorcery and necromancy and all these other things are mentioned in the same sentence with it so it's it's it's directly connected to satanism you know have you ever heard of the black magic well that's the or the dark arts of the occult where people are like doing human sacrifices and animal sacrifices and they're doing it for satan this is something that is actual actually real and does exist in this world today and what does that place Forks Washington where they filmed all the uh twilight movies you know the the gay vampires or whatever they were the twinkling I don't know I've never seen it before but the twinkle the they sparkle or something is that what it is they sparkle and they can anyway yeah twilight the vampires or something yeah but uh but in Forks Washington that's like a place known for witchcraft like legit there's like all kinds of witchcraft places and you know there are real witches and they've multiplied because they're allowed to live it's just like anything in society that's going to destroy society if you just give them a pass and say this is okay now then they're going to multiply and there's a reason why God said to put them to death because they're really wicked and evil and they shouldn't be in society the same thing with the sodomites the same thing with you know serial killers and mass murderers God says death penalty and so this first one here is thou shall not suffer which live I've how do what do you think that means it means you're not supposed to let them live that's what it means now King James who who allowed this great book to be translated into the modern you know and people say that's old English no it's not old English it's modern English but King James actually wrote a book about it called demonology and you know he was a real ruler a real king that put witches to death and I'm going to read you a little excerpt from his book his book or just things about that he wrote in his book so it says the initial and subsequent publications of demonology include a previously published news pamphlet detailing the accounts of the North Berwick witch trials that involved King James himself as he acted as judge over the proceedings the deputy bailiff to the kingdom of Scotland David Seton had a servant named guileless I think that's how you July or something Duncan who within a short period of time was found to have miraculously helped any who were troubled or grieved with sickness or infirmity David Seton examined her as a witch and obtained a confession that caused the apprehension of several other slater declared to be notorious witches agnes thompson confessed before King James to have attempted his assassination using witchcraft on more than one occasion the pamphlet details how she attempted these she also participated in a sabbat during all hallow hallow's eve which is halloween as her and others sacrificed a cat and sent it into the sea as they chanted in hopes of summoning a tempest to sink a fleet of ships accompanying James as he was arriving in the port of life from a trip to Norway one ship was sunk from the storm containing gifts meant for the queen of Scotland but the others including the ships transporting James were unharmed Dr. Fion was deemed a notable sorcerer and was among many of the others that were put on trial the pamphlet details their reasons for conducting sorcery the methods used how each of the witches were apprehended and the torture methods used in their punishments and death the case of Dr. Fion show follows his compact with Satan a conflict he had with another witch who sabotaged an enchantment meant for her daughter his examinations during the trial the torture he endured his escape and subsequent execution so King James was not playing around you know was he wrong for taking the scripture and making it happen if someone I mean and people say well he just made them say that you don't know that he doesn't strike me as the kind of man that's just gonna just force some kind of confession out of somebody that's not true when Guy Fawkes tried to murder him and all of parliament by blowing them up he actually hesitantly allowed Guy Fawkes to be tortured and it was like the most mild that it could possibly be is like the way that it was put to me when I read up on it and I was actually at the Tower of London where he was killed I've been there a couple times but the point is is that you know people have turned the witch you know King James is not very popular in the world of Great Britain he's not a very popular king there's not much you can find over there about him and maybe you can go to some libraries and dig up some stuff but like even in Hampton Court Palace there was just like one dark painting of him in there that I saw I haven't finished the whole tour but you know basically King James is not popular he was called the the wisest fool in all christiandom he wasn't popular why wasn't he popular well he wasn't some whoremonger like Henry VIII that chopped his wife's heads off he wasn't some battle you know some battler for the for the the crusades there was a catholic crusade to go and kill people over a patch of dirt that means nothing to God anymore you know he wasn't Richard the Lionheart or he wasn't you know he wasn't one of these famous whoremonger kings he was a person that was his his motto was was blessed are the peacemakers that was his motto so he ruled as a new testament king but it doesn't mean he was weak he he wrote a letter to his son and said you know don't let sodomites off that you have to deal with them you know he he was trying to rule by what the bible said and you know modern day people think that that's so bad but I think it's great I think he was a good king I think he was the best king England ever had and ever will have and you know maybe he wasn't some mighty you know slayer of giants or some battle-tested warrior but he was a sharp mind and a smart man and you know he was smart to put witches to death like the bible said you know in the Salem witch trials you know yeah people maybe people did get overboard maybe people took it to a weird level but that's not the bible's fault that's not God's fault that everybody turned into a witch or something all of a sudden you know and maybe that was just some ploy to try to get it to where now people witches aren't put to death but either way witchcraft goes on the world all the time and nothing is done about it it's promoted in schools in in like public schools Harry Potter you know was a big deal when I was like in my late teens and and early 20s and Harry Potter's still a big deal today it's still pushed hard for kids to read the you know you can't read the bible in school but you can read a book about witchcraft wizards and and things like that and that's just okay so you know and and here's the thing that you know these sorcerers and witches still deserve to be put to death today according to the bible they should be round up and and tried and put to death just like King James put them to death in the 1600s now look at verse 19 verse 19 back in our text verse 19 says whosoever lies with a beast shall surely be put to death again you know if you know what that's talking about you know what it's talking about the bible is going to give euphemisms it's not going to give details and gruesome details but what is that talking about you know people lying with animals and it says that you shall surely be put to death for that in Washington state there was a a man a case where a man died doing this and he committed this kind of an act with a horse this was in 2005 and there was no laws on the books about it and the only way that the only thing they could punish you know the person that filmed this stuff was with trespassing so they were like sneaking into people's farms and just doing these people were really extremely weird but they were also sodomites so they weren't just beastophiles or zoophiles or whatever they call them they were sodomites too big surprise right that's why we say that's why the bible calls them beasts because they lie down to beasts and they do the things that are just disgusting and and should not be named you know in in public because it's just so vile but you know if they if someone commits this act it says in verse 20 he that um well actually it says in another place that that if you do this you and the beast will surely be put to death they're like well how you know what's wrong with the animal well it just did something that's confusion and god doesn't take care for horses i guess and you know they're supposed to be put to death so this the act isn't carried out with somebody else so i know this is a really uncomfortable topic but it's in the bible folks it needs to be talked it needs to be talked about because it's wicked as hell and it should you know anybody that does this you know they get these people got slaps on the wrist but you know god made sure one of them died didn't he and so you know he went to hell after you know lying down to a beast so you know and then the bible says in verse 20 he the sacrifice unto any god save unto the lord only he shall utterly be utterly destroyed so what does that talk about killed so you know this freedom of religion thing that we live under you know in reality the way god sees it you know and obviously we're lit we live in the new testament we live under the laws of the united states but is god for all these different gods being worshipped and sacrificed too in old testament israel they were utterly destroyed they were not allowed to be part of the nation of israel but yet it happened didn't it and here's the problem you know is that people won't keep you know laws can be put forth but it doesn't mean that people are going to obey them you know the bible says if if one of your relatives tries to get you to serve a different god that your hand is supposed to be first upon them and you know why that never happened because people love their parents and their children and their brothers and sisters and their aunts and uncles more than they love god and that's why the nation always went on a bobsled to hell and god always had to send some kind of savior to them so that they could rise up with the remnant and destroy the enemies they had to cry unto the lord because the lord would blast them and cut off the rain supply and cut off their food sources and send armies against them because they just kept going back and serving bale and serving the groves and worshiping other gods and god is not okay with it he's not okay with it in america i don't care what the constitution says the that's not what god intend to happen he doesn't want just you know he's he doesn't want this to be some you know multicultural well multicultural is fine but multi-gods is not fine and you know in the in the old testament when people joined under the nation of israel they had to get circumcised they had to agree to the laws of the land they weren't just allowed to come in and corrupt society with their false gods and their false idols and their false statues you know i'm not i don't kick people's buddha statues over but i sure would like to i'd like to just carry a sledgehammer with me everywhere i go and every time i see a false idol i'd like to just destroy it with all my might but we don't do that we're not sent to do that this is not a physical battle we're fighting it's a spiritual battle and so obviously i believe that in the new testament that we shouldn't be doing that but in a perfect world god is not going to just allow someone to come and worship some other god and serve serve and sacrifice and allow them to proselytize god's people or proselytize the next generation it's not going to happen but what do we see when we go out sowing it all the time fat buddha skinny buddha you know and all these different angels and and and these shrines and and all this weird stuff and you know what god wants it to happen to that stuff he wants it to be destroyed and grounded to powder and cast into the brook or make them drink it or something like moses does later on but you know the laws are made to help us the laws are made to help society to help us and so you're like well you just all this stuff seems really harsh pastor thompson it's not harsh it's reality and if you allow the laws to just be broken and nothing matters and god's law doesn't matter and witches could just do whatever they want then guess what you get just close your eyes for a second and wake up we're in the world right now this is the world that we're living in where everything's okay all you know lying down with beasts is fine nobody gets in trouble for that which is just allowed trannies are just allowed to read kids kids books in school in libraries and public places and that's just fine and if you say something about it you're just a hateful person well yeah i am a hateful person i hate that kind of stuff i hate what god hates and god hates sin god hates wishes and sorcerers now obviously i believe witches could be saved okay i'm not saying they can't be but god still puts the i think murderers can get saved but i still believe in the death penalty because god said it anyway that's all i got for tonight let's pray lord we thank you so much for the scriptures and lord for the laws that you put forth lord i just pray that there would be just a great movement in christian believers to to to get back to the things of the scriptures lord to get back to what the bible says and lord we live in a just a weird world and in a strange world where where everything's on its head and you know light is called darkness and darkness called light sweet's called bitter and bitter called sweet lord pray that you'd help us as christians to follow the laws that are still in place lord and obviously not to be saved lord but that we would we would take the principles in scripture and the statutes you've given forth the things that you still hold to and the things that we're still supposed to hold to lord i pray you'd help us as a nation i pray you'd help us as a christian as christian people to just proclaim forth your word and your laws lord in jesus name we pray amen