Exodus 21 - Slavery & Other Controversial Topics

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All right, let's open up to Exodus chapter 21 Exodus 21
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I'll pray and Then we'll listen along Heavenly Father. We thank you so much for your goodness
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We thank you for all the truth and the music that we just heard God honoring music that focuses on Christ and his glory and you father and the glory that you had with Christ before the world began
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So it's just such a an encouragement to our Spirits, so I pray that you would teach us through your word this evening.
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I pray it in Jesus name. Amen Exodus 21
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He shall go out free If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself
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If he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him If his master has given him a wife and she has born him sons or daughters
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The wife and her children shall be her masters and he shall go out by himself
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But if the servant plainly says I love my master my wife and my children
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I Will not go out free Then his master shall bring him to the judges
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He shall also bring him to the door or to the door post and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl
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And he shall serve him forever And if a man sells his daughter to be a female slave
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She shall not go out as the men slaves do If she does not please her master who has betrothed her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed
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He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people since he has dealt deceitfully with her
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And if he has betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her according to the custom of daughters
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If he takes another wife Diminish her food her clothing and her marriage rights
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And if he does not do these three for her, then she shall go out free without paying money
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He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death However, if he did not lie in wait, but God delivered him into his hand
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Then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee But if a man acts with premeditation
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Against his neighbor to kill him by treachery You shall take him from my altar that he may die
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And he who strikes his father or his mother Shall surely be put to death
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He who kidnaps a man and sells him or if he is found in his hand shall surely be put to death
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And he who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death
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If men contend with each other and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist and he does not die
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But is confined to his bed If he rises again and walks about outside with his staff, then he who struck him shall be acquitted
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He should only pay for the loss of his time and shall provide for him to be thoroughly healed
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And if a man beats his male or female servant with a rod so that he dies under his hand
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He shall surely be punished Notwithstanding if he remains alive a day or two, he shall not be punished for he is his property
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If men fight and hurt a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely Yet no harm follows
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He shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman's husband imposes on him and he shall pay as the judges determine
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But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life eye for eye tooth for tooth hand for hand foot for foot burn for burn wound for wound stripe for stripe
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If a man strikes the eye of his male or female servant and Destroys it.
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He shall let him go free for the sake of his eye And if he knocks out the tooth of his male or female servant, he shall let him go free for the sake of his tooth
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If an ox gores a man or a woman to death Then the ox shall surely be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten
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But the owner of the ox shall be acquitted But if the ox tended to trust with its horn in times past and it has been made known to his owner
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And he has not kept it confined so that it has killed a man or woman
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The ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death
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If there is imposed on him a sum of money, then he shall pay to redeem his life
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Whatever is imposed on him Whether it is called a son or daughter according to this judgment, it shall be done to him
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If the ox gores a male or female servant, he shall give to their master 30 shekels of silver and the ox shall be stoned
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And if a man opens a pit or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it
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And an ox or a donkey falls in it. The owner of the pit shall make it good
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He shall give money to their owner But the dead animal shall be his
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If one man's ox hurts another's so that it dies Then they shall sell the live ox and divide the money from it and the dead ox.
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They shall also divide Or if it was known that the ox tended to thrust in time past and its owner has not kept it confined he shall surely pay ox for ox and The dead shall be his own
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Okay, we do not live in a perfect world if we did these things would not be necessary but Since it is a fallen world
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Those things are necessary and obviously hear things about what if your ox does this?
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How does this apply to us? You can take principles and apply them to what if your dog does this to your neighbor so there's always things that you can glean from this passage, but the
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The thing that we're going to focus on well, let me start out by making some preliminary statements.
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Okay Does the Bible? condone slavery
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Does the Bible? Condemn slavery outright as a sin across the board
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No, no, no, it doesn't Does the Bible contain? principles that promote liberty to the eventual abolishment of slavery
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Yes So this is going to be maybe one of the more challenging Chapters that we've seen some churches.
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I'm sure would just skip over this Chapter and pretend it doesn't even exist
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Marcus I've heard it said that as human beings we are going to be the slave of either
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Good or or evil So why not be a slave to the one who gives you the most freedom now, of course is the
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Lord. Amen Amen better than to be a slave to the Lord than a slave to sin
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Yeah, you're going to be a slave to somebody or something So we would rather be the
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Lord's servant or the Lord's slave. Amen Alright, so yeah, so some would just want to skip over this
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Let's just go to the next chapter and maybe look at the next chapter. Well, maybe the one after that but And some of the more liberally minded churches might actually just speak against the
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Word of God here Some of the things said would be an embarrassment to some people who who claim the name of Christ But you know here at Morris Corner Church if we profess faith in God and his word and if we believe that all scripture is given by Inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine reproof correction and instruction and righteousness, which we do believe that And if we're not ashamed of the
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Lord and his word Then we have to address what's here in Exodus 21.
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So all of that to say this Slavery is the big issue in this chapter at least in the day and age we live in if you're going to teach out of this chapter
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You have to talk about it. You have to address it. So if you search Exodus 21 online
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It's gonna bring up videos and articles with titles such as does the
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Bible condone Slavery and obviously if somebody comes out and says, yes, it does then people are just gonna freak out, right?
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The atheists and the critics of the faith they love this chapter They salivate over this chapter not only because of the statements about slavery
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But the statements about disobedient children being put to death
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They love to kind of latch on to this stuff to attack Christianity and if someone is looking to attack the
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Bible or to hate on the Christian faith Nothing. I realize nothing I say or do tonight can change that I get it so if there's somebody watching online after the fact just click thumbs down and move along because You're not going to be satisfied and that's the way it goes but we're gonna try to persuade people
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That's so we're gonna come at this with a more apologetic Approach So we're not looking to throw mud.
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Some people would want to throw mud at us. I'm not looking to throw mud back or anathematize anyone who reacts negatively to this chapter because if you are brought up in 20th century 21st century
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America and you don't really know much about history or the Christian faith or read the
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Bible Yeah, this is kind of a shock to your system when you read some of these Statements so just understand and I think we do it was a different culture.
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It was a very different time But with all of that said let's try to take a reasonable look at what's what's written here
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So we're going to break this chapter down into three sections. The first deals with the subject of slavery
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Next we'll look at God's standard of justice and how the punishment should fit the crime an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth
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That's what it's all about. The punishment should fit the crime and then finally there are some
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Animal control laws at least that's the way the New King James Version Titles verses 28 through 36, but first the elephant in the room
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Slavery I think it needs to be pointed out that when people today hear the word slavery.
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What do they think of? Yeah, they're thinking of American slavery in the 1800s
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But that has nothing to do with what we're reading about in Exodus chapter 21
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So that's the first thing Did people use back in the 1800s did people use the
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Bible to defend what they were doing? Of course they did but people use the Bible to defend all sorts of crazy things.
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It doesn't make it true It doesn't make it right. So that's that's irrelevant. Well, if somebody did this a long time ago
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Yeah, we understand and they were wrong to do it then So, let me just put it out there that American slavery
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Obviously was sinful why because they would steal they would basically kidnap people from Africa Sell them into slavery bring them here and enslave them and their children look at verse 16
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What does the scripture say about this? Oh the Bible defends slavery in America No Doesn't look at verse 16 he who kidnaps a man and sells him or if he is found in his hand what?
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Shall surely be put to death So for those people who want to attack the
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Bible over this issue if anything Moses would have the slave traders executed
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That's the first thing the second thing slavery That's the slavery that's talked about in Exodus 21 has nothing to do with race has nothing to do with skin color
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The Bible is very clear that there is only one Race, that's the human race at 17 26 through 28.
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You can make a note of this at 17 26 through 28 Says that God has made from one blood
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Every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth and has determined their pre -appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings
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So that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for him and find him though He is not far from each one of us for in him
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We live and move and have our being as also some of your own poets have said for we are his
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Offspring so number one according to God's law kidnapping people and selling them into slavery is punishable by death and Number two what we're reading about has nothing at all to do with skin color
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Bible says teaches there's one race and then the third thing I'd point out you can make a note of this
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Galatians 328 What does the Bible say about different people groups? There is neither
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Jew nor Greek there is neither free nor slave There is neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus so That hopefully should satisfy the critics probably won't though any questions or comments so far
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Jim well You have to consider other parts of the world
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They didn't have those same rules and there wasn't an abundance of slavery
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You have to kind of unless you really delve into Studying history, especially ancient history like that.
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You won't really know how those slaves were treated I tend to think that if you look at the examples that we see in Act in the early parts of Exodus where you know
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The Jews were in Egypt and they were treated cruelly and you know,
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God heard them That is an indication that they were a slave
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They were slave labor. Yeah, okay, so and they were treated very fairly
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So there's a difference between what God is saying and what the other parts of the world were saying at that time
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Right, okay anyone else. All right
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I Think it's important to at least bring this up because evangelicals right now are
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En masse being accused of being racist some of us evangelicals have been accused of being racist primarily because We have not been supporters of the black lives matter organization
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And by the way, no evangelical pastor not a single one supports the black lives matter
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Organization Back last year when this stuff was happening Obviously, it should go without saying
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We believe the lives of black people matter obviously We used to sing the song red yellow black or white they are precious in his sight, right
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So obviously their lives matter the lives of all people matter
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If I ever experienced somebody Mistreating another human being just solely based on the color of their skin.
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I would be against that 100 % but no and I'll just say it.
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I'm sure there's some people that rather well, you shouldn't even talk about this Well, if we never take because what are we looking at in Exodus 21?
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We're looking at the law of God applied if you don't ever apply the Word of God It's it doesn't become real to some people you have to apply it to what we're actually going through so no evangelicals
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Cannot support the black lives matter Organization why?
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several reasons number one the founders of black lives matter Identify themselves as Marxists I didn't say that they said it and you can go online and they admit that themselves
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Number two the BLM website called for the disruption
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Some people said the destruction but I from what I found it was the disruption of the nuclear family
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So mother father children, they want to disrupt all that for those two reasons alone we could not possibly as Bible believing
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Christians support such an organization and then that's not even to get into their advocacy of LGBT gay marriage transgenderism
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Etc. So no, I don't support that organization and Here's the here's the thing at this moment in history
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Tensions, as you know are so high People will hear a rumor
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They'll get all upset. They'll assume the worst and You know, they're quick to throw around accusations if we would just kind of calm down and Talk with one another eye to eye
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Because it's really easy to throw around things on the internet or to spread rumors behind someone's back if you would actually sit down and Listen to someone and talk to them eye to eye you figure out.
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Hey, you got it all wrong Some people don't want to figure it out That's obviously what's happening
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Marcus I heard it said and believe that it's true that These types of groups
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Communists socialists Marxists and trying to infiltrate or overturn
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Other types of groups. Yeah, we'll come up with a slogan a
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Good slogan. It's not that different than wonder bread or ivory soap or anybody else
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But they'll come up with a good slogan and black lives matter is a good slogan.
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Yeah, I Been to Haiti. I love lots of black folk When I was asked as a police officer to ensure that I wasn't prejudiced.
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I had difficulty coming up with all the Friends that I had that were black because it didn't even think of them as black
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So it doesn't matter but a good slogan is the way they start black lives matter is a good slogan and the ignorant can be easily
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Right, it's about it's right. It's like pro -choice. Well, you can't be against choices.
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Can you who's against choices? So that's always the case. They took take a euphemism or some.
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Yeah, nice -sounding statement Yeah, and we're not against people we're against these ideas
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We're not looking for the fight. We're not the ones out there tearing things apart What does the scripture say
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Romans 12 18 if it is possible as much as depends on you live peaceably with all men so I'm just going to Read a few things about this section in Exodus 21
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While admitting I don't have the answer to every question someone might have about Exodus 21
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I'm sure there's Christian apologists out there who can answer all these questions So if you want to dig more into it, you can do that But last week we looked at Exodus 20 and the giving of the
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Ten Commandments Now God is giving more information This is kind of where the rubber meets the road
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So it's like here are the Ten Commandments Chapter 20 now here starting at 21.
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Here's how they apply to things that might happen in day -to -day life Matthew Henry writes this about Exodus 21 1 through 11 the laws in this chapter relate to the fifth and sixth commandment and Though they differ from our times and customs
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Nor are they binding on us yet? They explain the moral law and the rules of natural justice the servant in the state of servitude
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Was an emblem of that state of bondage to sin Satan and the law which man is brought into by robbing
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God of his glory by the transgression of his precepts Likewise and being made free
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He was an emblem of that Liberty where with Christ the Son of God makes free from bondage his people who are free indeed and made so freely without money and without price of free
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Grace, so he's trying to show the the spiritual meaning or the spiritual application might have to go through that a few times to really let it kind of sink in but any more questions or comments,
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I Mean if you want to flush some of this stuff out, I mean, this is a good time
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This is a good time to do it Dennis Is it 633
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Amazing 613 laws. Yeah, it gets worse. You ever seen the library in a lawyer's office
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You can have no line you could have anarchy yeah, I mean somebody doesn't like what's going on here
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Oh, it could be it could be a lot worse Jim did you have your And he gives the history and you and I Give the history of the critical race theory where it actually began and also talks about the
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Black Lives Matter where it began. It didn't start here It started several hundred years a number of years ago
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Through Saturday 1930s, right, but he does an excellent job
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It's kind of a you have to really be wanting to hear what he has to say because it's long
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But it'll give you a complete explanation What is happening? Okay, vody bakum.
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This is side on YouTube. Maybe okay. Yes Okay Okay, anyone else, okay
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All right. So now let's move on to the Next section actually before we do there's also the idea here of indentured servitude
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So that refers to a contract between two individuals in which one person worked not for money, but to repay
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Alone, so this was not that was not slavery because it was two people entering into a contract of their own
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Free will also back then food shelter clothing. This was no guarantee in the ancient world
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Becoming someone's servant was actually a very good option better than having no provision in life.
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So There's a lot of things we could discuss but let's move on to the next section starting in verse 12, these are the
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The punishments for violence it says he who strikes a man so that he dies
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Shall surely be put to death However, if he did not lie and wait, but God delivered him into his hand
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Then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee But if a man acts with premeditation against his neighbor to kill him by treachery
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You shall take him from my altar that he may die John MacArthur writes this about verses 12 through 14
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Says the laws relating to personal injury From man or animal were preceded by the most serious of injuries and homicide
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The death penalty was prescribed for intentional homicide only whereas for Unintentional homicide or we would call manslaughter.
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The penalty was banishment to an appointed place which later God revealed were the cities of refuge so if you committed first -degree murder
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Get put to death If it was an accident, then you would flee to one of these cities of refuge and if you think of the city of refuge sort of like a
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Wasn't a prison but in a sense you were Separated from everybody in your hometown.
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It's very it's very reasonable even compared to modern standards
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So and of course even if somebody says well, I don't find some of the things in this chapter reasonable well that that's true
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There's gonna be people who say that there's gonna be people who find a lot of the things in Especially the
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Old Testament. They're gonna find them unreasonable if not outrageous But are they really?
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Think about some of the things that go on today Are some of those things? outrageous
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Here's the thing if there is a God God gets to define the terms
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God gets to set the standards if you're an atheist or an agnostic Everything is just based on whatever's
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Popular opinion at the time that's like shifting sand. It's always changing verse 15
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Here's the other Part that the critics of the faith will latch upon He who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death
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And then verse 17 mentions whoever curses their father or mother shall surely be put to death
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I don't think we realize how serious it is to Say terrible things or strike your parents obviously a different time.
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That was completely Unacceptable completely unthinkable However, here's the problem.
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Here's what? Atheists like to do this this kind of thing is being spread on the internet
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So teenagers will go and they'll they'll hear things online and this totally warped idea
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About what the Bible that what they think the Bible is teaching. Here's what it's not saying Some people have tried to twist it like this that if your
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Son or daughter won't eat their broccoli or they throw a tantrum that they're to be put to death
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Because that's what Moses that that is not what the scripture is saying at all So when would this happen and I can't even think of an example where this was carried out
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I mean, maybe maybe there is but I can't think of one This would be an extreme case where let's say a young man
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Was such a threat to his family doing terrible things to his brother or sister
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Was a threat to his own parents just a menace to society just an absolute reprobate
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There was no there was no option Just every day. You're wondering what?
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Horrific thing is this kid gonna do today at some point? The solution here is he needs to be removed from society permanently
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They exist What do you do what's our solution today you take them and you put them in a cage and then the taxpayer
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Pays for their you know For the rest of their life. What kind of solution is that?
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When when bad things are happening, there really is no good solution I mean, this is sin and what are you going to do?
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so you just have to kind of look at it and not not buy into the
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The arguments that are spread around by by the atheists anything anything else
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Okay, I think pro -life advocates would certainly appeal to verses 22 through 24 which treats the unborn baby as a
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Human person it says if men fight and hurt a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely yet no harm follows
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He shall surely be punished according Accordingly as the woman's husband imposes on him and he shall pay as the judge judges determine
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But if any harm follows So if the baby dies or if the mother dies
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What happens you shall give life for life? I? for I Tooth for tooth hand for hand foot for foot burn for burn wound for wound
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Stripe for stripe. So if one of them dies and the person who caused it
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They should die because this was a this was a fight. Okay, of course Jesus addresses this
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Statement I for an eye a tooth for a tooth and the Gospels remember Why did
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Jesus address this in the Sermon on the Mount? Because the Jews had taken this statement I for an eye a tooth for a tooth and they had
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Used it to justify revenge. So if you hit me, I'm gonna hit you back or if you hit me
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I'm gonna hit you back seven times harder Well, the reason this was stated is that the punishment fits the crime
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So Jesus says in Matthew 5 38 and 39 you have heard that it was said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth
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But I tell you not to resist an evil person But whoever slaps you on your right cheek turn the other to him
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Also, so an eye for an eye has nothing to do with you know, you did this to me now. I have the right to Get you back
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That's not why that's not what Moses is talking about All right anything else? No.
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Yes Israel and Iran and Aspala and Hamas and and the
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This concept and Israel is beginning to get back just a little harder than they're getting hit because You know people
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Didn't seem to stop it Yeah Well, you wouldn't want to take this you wouldn't want to take the
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Sermon on the Mount and apply it to foreign policy or to How your nation reacts, you know acts of self -defense
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I mean, this is more of a personal matter, right if somebody slaps you on the cheek, they're not trying to kill you
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Yeah, they're trying you know, it's an offense Yes, absolutely
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All right, the ox now we finally come to the animal control laws Remember how
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I said last time the Ten Commandments were broad So they're kind of like the headline all sorts of things fall underneath them so I guess this would fall under the commandment against murder because what happens if somebody is killed by your your animal and obviously that happened then and kind of thing still happens so the owner is responsible depending on the details verse 28 if an ox gores a man or a woman to death then the ox
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Shall surely be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten But the owner of the ox shall be acquitted but if the ox tended to thrust with its horn in time past so if you know, this thing is a
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Danger to people and it has been made known to its owner and he has not kept it confined
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So that has killed a man or a woman the ox shall be stoned and its owner shall be put to death
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So if you own I don't want to pick on one dog. I'm sure some breeds of dogs are coming to mind but obviously if you have a dog and it's harmed people before and you know that and you're letting it
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Out on the loose, whatever it does. Hey, you're responsible. So Now what does this chapter have to do with anything today it has a lot to do with the things today
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I hopefully we have seen that so in conclusion again if we lived in a perfect world
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These laws wouldn't be necessary Why was the law given remember
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Galatians 319 it was added because of transgressions so These things are necessary.
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And again, I don't have every answer to every question But I do believe what the prophet