Genesis 9 - Part B

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That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. And with the blood, you will make atonement, atonement for your souls. So there is not just a health regulation, but some spiritual connotation attached.

That just as the blood is used for atonement and speaks of life, and one day your Savior will shed His blood, blood, the source of life, is to be considered sacred. I'm amazed at what people will eat. I've traveled different parts of the world and I don't get eating worms. I just, I've done it. I didn't know I was doing it. I ate a little burger. I thought, cool, hamburger.

It was in the Philippines. I ate it. Tasted really bad. I got sick.

Next day I found out why. Worm meat. So a Mac worm burger. Could never do that again.

Knowingly. People eat spiders, bugs. I was in China and they served sparrow, duck feet, shark fin soup, turtle. I remember sitting at a table and there was this huge turtle shell. And I just looked at it. And then our host pulled it off and revealed these little chunks of meat. And everything that came to the table, I said, what is this? And they say, this is sparrow. I go, oh, what's this?

This is turtle. Finally, and I was with Chuck Smith at the time, Chuck turned to me and goes, stop asking what it is. Just eat it. Eat what's in front of you.

Don't ask any questions. Now, over in Scotland and England, they have a delicacy called blood pudding. They take blood of an animal and they boil it with a filler until it congeals. And with that gelatin, they make a sausage called blood pudding. I could never ever I know I eat just about anything. I've never eaten that because even looking at it, even if it ever tempted me to look delicious.

Here it is. Don't eat blood. Now we get to the New Testament and Jesus will tell us in Mark seven, it's not what goes into a man that defiles him. It's what comes out from his heart that defiles him. It is interesting, though, in Acts, the 15th chapter. We'll go back Acts Chapter 10. Remember, Peter's up on the rooftop at Joppa and he gets that vision. And in the vision, he sees all of these unkosher animals.

Let down in a huge linen sheet from heaven. And God speaks, Peter, get up, kill and eat. And Peter, being the submissive one that he is, said, not so, Lord, I've never eaten anything unclean. When we get to the 15th chapter of Acts, the only stipulation from the law of Moses passed on to the church is this. No blood. Remember the letter that was written to the Gentiles abstained from immorality, from things offered to idols, from those things that are strangled and from blood.

You don't want to offend your Jewish brethren if you do these things, you do well. So of all the laws of Moses, it wasn't keeping the Saturday Sabbath. It was no blood. God says the life is in the blood.

Don't eat that. Verse five, for or surely your for your life blood, I will demand a reckoning. Now, here's the third instruction. Life should be protected, not just perpetuated, not just prolonged by eating animals. But life should be protected for surely your life blood. I will demand a reckoning from the hand of every beast.

I will require it. And from the hand of man, from the hand of every man's brother, I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood by man, his blood will be shed. For in the image of God, he made man. Well, up to this point, man did not have a good track record in caring for one another.

Just go back and review some of the history we've already covered. Cain murders his brother Abel. Lamech murdered a young man for injuring him. Chapter six, violence covered the whole earth. So up to this point, man did not have a good history or track record in maintaining caring, loving relationships because they became so violent that God had to destroy the whole earth. Here he says, whoever sheds man's blood by man, his blood will be shed.

What is God doing? Well, just as God put the fear of man into animals, God is now putting the fear of God into man. If you murder, you will be killed. Now, according to two great scholars, Kyle and Delich, this command, especially the way it's stated in Hebrew, this command is the basis for human government. Human government, according to most scholars, and the right, the authority from God to exercise capital punishment, go hand in hand. In fact, it's James Montgomery Boice, great commentator in his little book, says the test of human government is the test of capital punishment, part and parcel, one and the same. God establishes human government, that is the right, the mandate, the authority from heaven, given to man to oversee the culture and the society with power and with authority. Governments have power.

Laws are upheld by power. If you go, well, I don't know if I agree with that or I don't know if I like that, well, try breaking the law when you go home tonight. Don't go the speed limit.

Now, some of you, that's not a problem. You'll do it. You might get a ticket and you might say, well, I don't believe in human government. I'm not going to pay the ticket. All right.

No problem today. But wait a while. They'll catch up or refuse to pay your income tax. I don't believe in paying taxes.

They use some of the taxes to build nuclear weapons. OK, so don't pay. But just wait.

You won't have any problems today. But wait a while. The IRS, as it says in Romans, attends continually to getting your tax dollars. And they will use the authority and even the force by putting you in jail if need be as punishment. This, then, is the basis and the test of human government. This week we saw that test. We saw this carried out. John Allen Mohammed, the D.C., Washington, D.C., Virginia sniper killed 10 innocent people, was put to death just the other evening. Lethal injection. Because he took innocent life.

And our society passed the test. His life should be taken. Now, some people will will resist. In fact, there were protesters out on the little grassy area across from where he was executed. And they protested this and they said they did it for religious reasons that, you know, we're sorry for the victims and we're sorry for the families, but, you know, we shouldn't take another life. And what people will say when it comes to capital punishment, though I think you know where I come from, I disagree on biblical reasons. They will protest saying, well, capital punishment never will deter people from committing the crime.

Well, I ask you this. Does any punishment deter people from committing a crime? Does getting a traffic ticket deter you from going over the speed limit?

No, it doesn't. People will still break it knowing that they may be fined. Or there may be punishment.

But they still do it. But the point is, is that you honor the law and you honor the society that brings that law. And ultimately, you honor God who gave that law.

And here is why. God said you can eat any animal. You can kill any animal. That's now permissible. But if any animal kills you. Or if a man kills you because you're in the image of God, not the animals.

Different rules. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we return to Skip's teaching, if you want to understand something, it's important to examine its foundations. That's why studying the book of Genesis is so vital to understanding the rest of the Bible. In Skip Heitzig's book, You Can Understand the Book of Genesis, he takes you on a fascinating journey to where it all began. From Adam and Eve and the fall of man to the birth of the nation of Israel. So you can understand the amazing story of God's love and our redemption in Christ. We'll send you a copy if you can understand the book of Genesis as thanks for your gift of $50 or more to reach more people with God's love through Connect with Skip Heitzig.

Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give. Now, let's get back to Skip for more of today's teaching. For that reason alone, you are in the image of God. I am in the image of God. Animals are not in the image of God.

In fact, we're going to get to an interesting text, Exodus chapter 21, and part of that chapter goes like this. If you own an ox, how many of you own an ox? Okay.

Dave, you raised your hand? You actually own an ox? Okay, you're just kidding. Now, if you owned an ox and your ox gored your neighbor, you take the ox and you kill the ox and you pay the people that it gored, but you as an owner are acquitted because you can't be in charge of the wild nature of an animal. An animal might feel encroached upon like that rhino and would attack. But if your ox had a reputation for goring your neighbors and you knew about it in advance and you didn't do anything to curtail it, then if your ox gores your neighbor and your neighbor dies, you as the owner will be killed because it's your responsibility. And the ox will be killed as well, stoned to death. So God says animals can be killed for food, but people cannot be killed. And if they're killed by humans or animals, their blood must be exacted from them. Now, this whole concept is something not only in the Old Testament, but I believe it's in the New Testament, because I know some of you are thinking, oh, that's just old covenant.

No, it's not. Paul the apostle, when he stood before the Roman government and there was all of those different trials with Felix Festus Agrippa, he finally said, look, if I have committed any crime worthy of death, then execute me. Now, here's a Christian apostle willing to die himself if they could prove any kind of charge worthy of the death penalty.

He said, kill me if you can prove that I've done something worthy of death, take my life. Also, there's Romans 13, where Paul says the government bears the sword of execution to enforce the law. I think it's probably good to turn to Romans 13 just to look at the delicate balance between love and forgiveness and capital punishment, because those, again, that will espouse capital punishment will say, well, shouldn't we love and shouldn't we forgive? Yes, you should personally love and you should personally forgive and you should never personally exact vengeance for somebody who's done something. But what about a culture? What about a society? Go back to Chapter 12 of Romans and look at verse 17. Paul says, repay no one evil for evil, have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.

Boy, am I glad that's there. I'm so glad it says if it's possible, because you know what? Sometimes it's not possible. You want to make peace. They don't. You try. They don't want to talk. You go out of your way. They want nothing to do with it. They stew in it. But as much as you can live at peace with all men, beloved, do not avenge your selves.

This is personal. But rather give place to wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. The question is, how will the Lord repay? The answer is found, as we read on in Romans 13, by the sword of authority given to human government. That's how. Did you know that when Roman governors were sworn in, they were each given a sword as the authority to bring all of Roman law to bear on the citizenry, even capital punishment?

Every new governor was given a brand new sword. So he says, continuing in verse 20, therefore, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap coals of fire on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Now here it is. Let every soul be subject to higher powers, King James says, or governing authorities. For there's no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. OK, now when Paul wrote that, who was in charge? Rome. Who was in charge in Rome?

Caesar Nero. Horrible dictator. And yet here is Paul saying, God established human government and every authority that exists, exists from God.

It's part of his sovereign plan. Therefore, whoever resists the authority, resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, that is, usually, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority?

Do it as good, and you will have praise of the same. For he is God's minister. Isn't that interesting? Have you ever thought of government officials as being in the ministry?

Well, they are. They're God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid. Notice, for he does not bear the sword in vain. That was that sword of authority which meant capital punishment, execution, the sword in vain. For he is God's minister and avenger.

Hmm, an avenger. Now remember what we read in chapter 12? Vengeance is mine.

I will repay. How will God do it? By his minister. An avenger who will take vengeance to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore, you must be subject not only because of wrath, but also for conscience sake.

For because of this, you also pay taxes. For they are God's ministers. I have a hard time with that one. But it's there. I don't like to think of the IRS as God's ministers. But they're there. It's there. And it says they attend continually to this very thing.

And boy do they. So you render to those to whom it is due. So that is the New Testament's take on human government established in the Old Testament.

Part and parcel of capital punishment being the test of using the authority that God gave. Verse 7. And as for you, be fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply in it.

I find something to be sad and very, very interesting at the same time. It seems that those people that protest against capital punishment are the very same people who support abortion. Now here God says, as for you, be fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly in the earth. Abortion would be the very thing that goes against being fruitful and multiplying and filling the earth. So it's interesting. No capital punishment.

They'll be out there with banners. It's wrong. It's evil. But at the same time, they have no conscience at all in killing babies in a womb.

I want you to think of this. For the last 200 years, ever since the Revolutionary War in our country, 1.2 million military personnel have been killed. We honored a few of them tonight who weren't killed but who fought in our midst and they deserve that honor. 1.2 million military personnel, men and women, since the Revolutionary War for the last 200 years have been killed. Every year in America, 1.6 million babies are aborted. Every year.

I'm not talking 200 years. Every single year. God says children are a blessing. Be fruitful. Multiply. Fill the earth. Fill the earth.

Multiply in it. Now here's the fourth instruction given in this chapter to Noah. Instructions that are to be perpetual and a permanent ordinance for all and that is that life ought to be a partnership.

Life ought to be a partnership. God calls it a covenant. I'm going to establish a covenant between me and between you.

Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him saying, and as for me, behold, I establish my covenant. You see that little word behold? Don't write that off as some little holy sounding Bible word.

Oh, it sounds so holy. Behold. Behold is a word when translated is meant to be an attention getter. As if to say everything I'm about to tell you is really important. Behold, God says, or hey, check this out.

You could translate it. I will establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, every beast of the earth that is with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. A covenant.

A basis by which holy God and sinful man can have some sort of agreement and relationship. Now, the concept of a covenant is all important. Later on, God will establish another covenant with Abraham. And he'll say, the land of Canaan I've given to you and to your descendants forever after you.

It's yours. That's my covenant with you. Still later on, God will make another covenant with the people of Moses and the people of Israel, covenant of the law.

Keep this law and I'll bless you this way. All of those are agreements, covenants. Now, a covenant is the basis of a relationship.

You see, here's the problem. How is it possible for holy God and sinful man to ever get together? Infinite God, finite man. What basis could there ever be for them to hang out and have fellowship?

Only on the basis of a covenant, an agreement, a stipulated agreement where God makes promises. We're glad you joined us today. Before you go, remember that when you give $50 or more to help reach more people with the gospel through Connect with Skip Heitzig, we'll send you Pastor Skip's insightful book, You Can Understand the Book of Genesis, to help you better understand the story of God's great love and his amazing plan for our redemption. To request your copy of You Can Understand the Book of Genesis, call 800-922-1888.

That's 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. For more from Skip, be sure to check out the many resources available at connectwithskip.com slash store. Come back next time for more verse by verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast your burdens on his word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.