Please turn with me tonight to Genesis chapter 9, focusing on the first seven verses in connection with the Lord's Day 40. Once you have found Genesis chapter 9, then please turn to page 53 in the back of the Psalter hymnal. We're actually going to read Genesis 8, beginning at verse 20 through 9, 17. A portion of Scripture we know that in history that takes place right after the flood, after Noah and his sons, his family, exited the ark. But first of all, looking at Lord's Day 40, which deals with the sixth commandment, you shall not murder, as we give expression to what we believe with these answers. Question 105 asks, what is God's will for us in the Sixth Commandment? I am not to belittle, insult, hate, or kill my neighbor, not by my thoughts, my words, my look, or gesture, and certainly not by actual deeds. And I am not to be party to this in others. Rather, I am to put away all desire for revenge. I am not to harm or recklessly endanger myself either. Prevention of murder is also why the government is armed with a sword. Does this commandment refer only to killing? By forbidding murder, God teaches us that he hates the root of murder, envy, hatred, anger, vindictiveness. In God's sight, all such are murder. Is it enough, then, that we do not kill our neighbor in any way? No. By condemning envy, hatred, and anger, God tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves, to be patient, peace-loving, gentle, merciful, and friendly to him, to protect him from harm as much as we can, and to do good even to our enemies. Give our attention to the reading of the Word of God beginning at verse 20 of chapter 8 through verse 17 of chapter 9. Hear now the Word of God. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart, never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood, and never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done. As long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will never cease. Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air upon every creature that moves along the ground and upon all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. And for your lifeblood, I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal and from each man too. I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed. For in the image of God has God made man. As for you, be fruitful and increase in number. Multiply on the earth and increase upon it. Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you, and with every living creature that was with you, the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you, every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you. Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood. Never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, this is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come. I have set my rainbow in the clouds. And it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth. So God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth. There ends the reading of God's holy word. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, what an awesome promise from the mouth of God Himself as we read again in chapter 8, verse 21, And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done. Never again, God says, will I destroy the earth with a flood. Eight people came out of the ark on the mountaintop. They were the only ones left in the whole earth. Noah's neighbors were gone. Those who had taunted him, made fun of him as he was building the ark all those years were gone. Everyone was destroyed. Their lives were taken by God Himself. You see, the flood may have left the impression that life was not worth much to God, the One who had created life Himself. Yet, it is in the context of this flood which destroyed all life except that which was in the ark. It's in the context of this flood, beloved, that God demonstrates that life, all of life, but especially human life, is precious to God. For as he says in the image of God, has God made man. God made man unique from the rest of the earth, from plants and animals. God made man with a soul to know God, to love God, to live in fellowship with God for eternity. As the Westminster Catechism says, the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. He made man different than the animals. He made him with the capacity to think and to reason, to govern the animals. Yet through sin, man rejected God and man forfeited that precious life. And the flood, the flood was a demonstration of God's just judgment against sin. A cleansing of the earth, as it were. But a demonstration of God's just judgment against sin as we read in chapter 6, verse 11, Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. The flood pointed to the ultimate destiny of the world under sin. It pointed to the final judgment. Yet, God knew. God knew that the sin problem of this earth could never be cured by judgment and by curse being poured out upon mankind. The flood did not save from sin. Noah himself, we know, was a sinful man. Yes, he found grace in the sight of God. He was righteous by the grace of God, but he was a sinful man. The flood did not save from sin. The flood did not eliminate sin. Yet, God had already earlier in history in the garden, or when Adam and Eve were driven from the garden, He had already promised the seed of the woman. The redemption, the salvation of man was already in view. So now after the flood, God makes a covenant gracious in the sense that God made it not dependent on man, not dependent on creatures. God made this promise Himself of what He would do. He makes a covenant with Noah, with his descendants, with every living creature. Some have called it a covenant of preservation in which God was promising to preserve the world, to preserve mankind, indeed in its current condition at that time, in its sinful state, But to preserve it, we might say, for the coming of the seed of the woman in the fullness of time to accomplish His work. And also for His second coming to judge the living and the dead. And this preservation that God promised includes preserving mankind and especially preserving Him from destroying itself. You see, even though the image of God in man was terribly marred, terribly corrupted by sin, human life is still precious to God. And sin is not to take that life. And therefore, we might say that what God says here, He codifies in His moral law on Mount Sinai, He codifies in the Ten Commandments that law for the preservation of human life in the Sixth Commandment, you shall not murder. Human life is precious to God. And therefore, the Sixth Commandment points to the protection of man's life. And it points to the promotion of man's life. First of all, the protection of man's life. Now, Noah's preservation, along with his family, Noah's preservation by God's grace, indeed, it was a gracious preservation because he didn't deserve it either. Indeed, he found grace in the sight of the Lord, we are told. But he was not perfectly righteous, boys and girls. Neither was his family. His preservation by grace and his family's preservation was a demonstration of the truth of how precious human life is to God, made in God's image. God did not wipe out absolutely all of life. He preserved Son. And we see the demonstration of this preciousness also in the fact that Noah and his sons, like Adam, were commanded to be fruitful, to increase in number, to multiply on the earth, to repopulate. And that command came with the implication that God would bless it. And we also see the demonstration of this preciousness in that God then provides for man that He might be able to live and to repopulate. He provides food, again, green plants as He did for Adam, but this time now meat. Only not with the blood in it. Yet the divine mandate, beloved, to multiply called for the protection of man's life, to protect it by not taking it. And we are to understand with this commandment by not taking it unjustly. Not that you and I are allowed to determine what is the just taking of life in and of ourselves, but by not taking it unjustly. You see, the word for kill or to murder in the Sixth Commandment is not referring to all killing, to all stopping of a beating heart. It's not used, for example, when God is said to have put someone to death or when animals were put to death for sacrifices. But the word that is used for the Sixth Commandment is always used of violent, of willful, malicious assault upon the life of another. It's always pointing to the willful, the intentional, the unjust and unlawful taking of the life of another. There is the accidental taking of human life, that which is unintentional, accidental, and God provided for that with regard to the cities of refuge that we read about later on. There are just wars where mankind is at war with each other to preserve or to restore peace or to combat injustice. And in those just wars, life is taken. There is capital punishment. And it's interesting here when we read about the protection of man's life in Genesis 1, which includes not taking it, notice the deterrent that God puts in place. Beginning at verse 5, And for your life, blood, I will surely demand an accounting. We know that God said later on, life is in the blood. It represents life. And the blood of animals was used in the sacrificial system to atone for the sins of mankind, pointing to the blood of Jesus. And for your life, blood, I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal and from each man too. I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed. For in the image of God has God made man. When that image of God in man is attacked, in a sense, God is attacked. Now notice the sixth commandment is just a few words, You shall not murder. And with those few words, the commandment does not specify the consequences for murder. But Moses, in his application of the law as he explains it throughout the Pentateuch, especially in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, he draws, I believe, from Genesis chapter 9 with the death penalty for a willful, intentional, and premeditated murder. But even then, remember, there was a safeguard put around an individual who was considered to be guilty for murder. They could not be put to death except based on the testimony of two witnesses. But yet, Moses draws from, I believe, Genesis 9 in a variety of places. But for example, in Leviticus 24, verse 17 says, If anyone takes the life of a human being, he must be put to death. And that's talking about murder as we're talking about it. In verse 21, whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a man must be put to death. The deterrent that God puts in place with only a few people on earth is that if you take a life unjustly, then you give up your all. Now, I believe we may see here, as many do, the origin of law and order in society. It's not fully clear. It becomes more clear. More fleshed out, as it were, throughout history. especially, again, as Moses describes it later on, as it's practiced in Israel, and even later than that with Paul in Romans 13. As he talks about the governing authorities which God has set in place, and the Catechism draws from that when it says in answer 105, prevention of murder is also why government is armed with the sword. A deterrent. Beloved, the motive for murder stems from its root, as answer 106 reminds us. By permitting murder, God teaches us that He hates the root of murder, envy, hatred, anger, vindictiveness. In God's sight, all such are murder. The root of a tree is part of the tree. The root of murder is murder. And that root, that envy, that anger, that hatred, it results in the devaluing of human life. Of not seeing it as God sees it. And that devaluing of human life is seen as someone has said, putting it this way, killing someone is seen by the sinful mind as the best solution to problems. Or I think we could put it another way, to get another out of my way. When Cain killed Abel, Abel was the object of Cain's envy and hatred and very possibly that's what he was thinking. To kill Abel was the best solution to his problems. Get him out of the way. When it comes to the teaching of Islam, we know that there's a call to destroy the infidels. It's the best solution to problems. We see on the news and hear on the news and we read in the newspapers every day about senseless killings. The news can be rather depressing. In this past week, I looked every day for this purpose, I looked at the crimes section in the newspaper, and every day there were a number of deaths, some accidental, but every day, if I remember right, there was a murder. And as you read about these, and as you hear about them on the news with regard to the details that the public has given, they are senseless killings. And the bottom line is that the one who was murdered was in the way of the murderer. For example, the store clerk got in the way of the one who wanted to rob the store. And so the best solution to the problem is to get rid of him. Put him to death. But you see, beloved, yet even more than or alongside of these hideous acts of murder that most people, I believe, would condemn, there is the devaluing of human life that is seen in other forms of the unjust taking of human life. For example, it's seen subtly with environmental issues. Again, here with Noah, as with Adam, man was called to rule, to govern the earth. He was given dominion over the plants and the animals as a representative of our Creator God. Not to misuse or abuse plants and animals. to use them according to his need, but not to misuse and abuse them. For example, in Deuteronomy, Israel is told that when you go to war, you are not to cut down trees because those trees would provide food, fruit, for your nourishment, for your strength in battle. And Proverbs 12, verse 10 says, a righteous man cares for the needs of his animal, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel. Not to misuse and abuse plants and animals. Not to use them and destroy them without a purposeful need. We think most recently of the football player Michael Vick who just finished completing his debt to society and is playing football again. But he had to pay that debt, as we know, boys and girls, because he was running a dogfighting operation which resulted in the mutilation of many, many dogs. And there are other things like that that go on. And there's other misuse of the environment. We get sick and tired sometimes of environmentalists, don't we? But believers, on the one hand, ought to be model environmentalists using creation as God intended. Yet, because of the false teaching of evolution, man is considered to be just another animal species. And Disney has turned animals, whether it's through animation or even taking real animals, has given them personalities, has made them able to speak and to feel and to love. Disney has elevated animals, as it were, to the same status, to be just like human beings. They're people too. Man is considered to be just another animal species and plants and animals and insects are considered at times to be more important than man and more important than providing for his basic needs. which at times, environmental issues put humankind at danger. I think out here of the desalination discussion. We need rain. We have an ocean full of water. But there are those who are fighting it because some of the sea creatures might be harmed. But we need that water for the life of man here in this place. But even worse than these forms of devaluing human life, there is the devaluing of human life clearly visible with euthanasia and abortion. A discussion especially which is becoming more important to us, isn't it? Boys and girls, euthanasia, putting to death or letting die old people. Which means someone besides them is making that decision that they should be allowed to die. And abortion, putting to death, the unborn child. And sadly, that devaluing of human life through euthanasia and abortion is camouflaged today under the deceitfulness of mercy killings. Those who are promoting these things are trying to tell you and me that it's really merciful. It's for the best of those who would be allowed to be put to death. But the truth is, once again, for those who are promoting it, It is simply the best solution to problems that they see. Yet, beloved, euthanasia and abortion are nothing less than murder. They are condemned by God. And we are called to fight it in order to protect man's life. God commands the protection of man's life by not taking it, by not ending it. That is God's right alone. He has all of our days numbered. David in Psalm 31 says, My times are in your hands. But also to protect it, not only by not taking it, by not ending it, but also by not attacking it. Which we are prone to do. You see, beloved, we may wonder when it comes to the sixth commandment in comparison with all the other commandments, the closest probably being the next one on adultery, But yet, when it comes to the sixth commandment, we may wonder, is this commandment really for me? Does it really have anything to say to you and me? Boys and girls, does it for you? I mean, after all, we are all, I trust, we are all appalled by vicious murders and by euthanasia and by abortion. Who among us would ever consider doing those things? None of us. Does this commandment really have anything to say to you and me? Oh, maybe I must confess that in my anger a time or two or maybe countless times I have said to someone, I hate you. Or maybe I have said, I wish you were dead. Or maybe in my anger I have hit someone else. Or maybe call them a bad name that really hurt them in some way. Maybe in my anger, a time or two or countless times, I thought, well, I wish so-and-so didn't exist. Boys and girls, do these things describe any of you? I'm sad to say that they describe me. Ah, this commandment has a lot to say to us, doesn't it? And we are to be reminded of, again, what the Catechism says in Questions and Answers 105 and 106. Listen again. What is God's will for us in the Sixth Commandment? I am not to belittle, insult, hate, or kill my neighbor, not by my thoughts, my words, my look, or gesture, and certainly not by actual deeds. And I am not to be party to this and others. Rather, I am to put away all desire for revenge. I am not to harm or recklessly endanger myself either. And then 106, does this commandment refer only to killing. By forbidding murder, God teaches us that He hates the root of murder, envy, hatred, anger, vindictiveness. In God's sight, all such are murder. Now you see, these things that we just read, they were not made up by the primary author of the catechism, Zacharias Ursinus, but Ursinus got it straight from the Word of God. He got it from Jesus Himself who in Matthew 5, verse 22 says, anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. And he goes on to say, anyone who calls another you fool will be subject to the fires of hell. And our sign has got it from the Apostle John in 1 John 3, verse 15. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer. He equates the two. He doesn't say might be or might become. But whoever hates his brother is a murderer. And you know, John says, that no murderer has eternal life in him. Beloved, there is the saying that says if looks could kill, well, newsflash, God says they can. He says they do. Murder is any action that in some way attacks the life of another. It may not be a visible attack against the outward body of someone, but it damages the image of God in another in some way through that one's feelings or thoughts or confidence. It seeks to harm one in any way. The truth is that we must confess that the ways that we violate this command are so many and there are so many ways out in the world today. We live in a day of rampant child abuse and sex abuse and assault and spouse and elderly abuse and so many other atrocities which are murder in some way. We're reminded of this again too with that young woman who was returned after 18 years. She was kidnapped against her will. She was violated against her will. She was murdered in a multitude of ways. And true again, who of us would do those terrible things? But you see, murder not only includes what might be done against someone, it includes the neglect of others. It includes failing to stand up for the weak and the helpless. Remember that in school, boys and girls. It includes failing to provide for the hungry and the lonely and the needy when we have a clear opportunity to do so. But this commandment can also be violated by us against ourselves. Putting ourselves in needless danger. As answer 105 also says, I am not to harm or recklessly endanger myself either. I am not to treat my own life carelessly, to have little regard for my own safety, which means that I am not to participate in activities that risk my very life. And you and I know that there are all kinds of activities out there that do that very thing. We're not talking about getting on an airplane or by getting in your car and driving down the freeway. We're not talking about those kinds of things. We trust God for our daily life and living this life with the means He has given. We're talking about putting our life in that extraordinary danger that produces a very, very clear risk. A simple one, and I say it for my own boys, is riding a skateboard without a helmet or a bicycle without a helmet. Wear the helmet, boys and girls. Because to not to, put your life at a risk in a moment. And there are so many things like that. Dear people of God, human life is precious to God. We see that here in Genesis 9. God still says, He says, Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. Life is precious to God. We know that because for sinful man, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself. But from an earthly perspective, He was murdered. So that in the providence of God, the ultimate crime became, in God's mercy and grace, it became the supreme sacrifice to pay for all of the sin of His people, including our sins of murder, which we commit in so many ways. We deserve what God says here. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed. though we haven't shed literal blood, we have shed it figuratively, we deserve to have our life taken from us and our eternal life taken from us. But instead of us being put to death as we have deserved, Jesus Christ took that death with its punishment that we might have life and live with Him forever. And therefore, believers are to also demonstrate the preciousness of human life through, in the second place, And very briefly, the promotion of man's life. Question and answer 107. Is it enough then that we do not kill our neighbor in any such way? No. By condemning envy, hatred, and anger, God tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves, to be patient, peace-loving, gentle, merciful, and friendly to him, to protect him from harm as much as we can, and to do good even to our neighbors. To do all that we can for our neighbor's good. To help them. In whatever way we have opportunity. To love our neighbor as ourself. The truth is, not one of us, I believe, not one of us would ever do anything to intentionally harm ourselves. Instead, we do everything we can for our own good, for our own comfort, for our own safety, and we are called to do no less for our neighbor. And that's part of the righteousness for which we are called to hunger and thirst. To actively seek the opposite of that which leads to murder in thought, word, and deed. Which again, remember, is envy and hatred and anger and vindictiveness. Instead, to actively seek love. To be patient with. Peace-loving, gentle, merciful, friendly. To desire and to demonstrate The fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control. And of course, this promotion of man's life begins at home, doesn't it? With our closest neighbors. It begins by promoting the lives of our husbands and wives. Or between parents and children. Among brothers and sisters. Sometimes where the fighting is the worst. That others might see how precious human life is to us as they witness love in our families with the ultimate goal then to promote our neighbor's eternal life. You see, beloved, the law of love by which Christians demonstrate gratitude to God is to point to the eternal life giver who secured and gives us our very life, who rescued mankind from our murderous selves. Without God's preserving hand, Mankind would destroy itself. But God's ultimate promotion of man's life in keeping mankind alive throughout history, His ultimate promotion of man's life was demonstrated through the death of Jesus Christ by which those who believe are rescued from the death we deserve. He gives new life empowered by the Holy Spirit renewing us into the image of God. Beloved, God preserved human life in order to save it. In order to bring many to Himself through the life of Jesus Christ given. And this new life is to be so precious to you and me that we can't wait to demonstrate it to those with whom God gives us contact, treating their lives with love and respect in the hope that through us God would be pleased to bring many to Himself. But dear people of God, thanks be to God that my life is not in my hands. Because that's nothing but a recipe for self-destruction. But praise be to God that my life is safe and secure in His hands. My life is precious to Him because I am made in His image. Precious to Him so much so that He has protected it from His own judgment by giving the life of His Son. And because Jesus Christ took His life up again, conquering sin and death and hell for me too. Therefore, together with all who believe by the grace of God, we can sing of our Redeemer and His heavenly love to us. He from death to life has brought me, Son of God, with Him to be. Beloved, may we love life. May we cherish it, our own and the life of others. And may we use this life to the glory and the praise of God pointing others to Him. May we use it with the confidence of Jesus who said, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies. And whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Just as God promised to never again destroy the earth with a flood, Jesus has said, whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. Now, beloved, protected from eternal death, preserved for eternal life. Amen. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, once again, so clearly and so vividly, we are reminded of our sin and shame. Of the murder that we have committed so often and still fall into at times. We come before You humbled yet grateful that You have not held the penalty against us. But that Jesus Christ took our punishment upon Himself. We thank You, Lord, that You have demonstrated so clearly throughout the history of Your people and the history of mankind. And through the coming of Your dear Son and His work, You have displayed so clearly that indeed that life which You have made in Your image is indeed precious to You. And You delight in bringing many to Yourself in glory. And we thank You, O Lord, for that precious gift of faith. And we pray too that You would equip us more and more, strengthen us, empower us, lead us by your Holy Spirit to indeed show your love for life by loving life, the life of those with whom we have contact and showing them life in Jesus Christ. Father, hear our prayer. For Jesus' sake, amen.