Tonight, I invite you to turn in the Bible to the second book of the Bible, Exodus, the second book, Exodus, chapter 21, chapter 21. I said this morning that I had never preached the Syrophoenician woman and I was so excited about that. I'm sure tonight you all said we want to come back because we've never heard a sermon on ox-goring and we want to hear a sermon on ox-goring. I have to say and confess it's not the same excitement. But that doesn't mean that the wonderful truths and nuggets of the gospel and what we learn about mercy and justice are not shown to us in ways that are surprising and just as precious as anywhere else in Scripture. And I think we're learning that right now as we're working through these laws. What a great time to go through these laws in a time in our country where there is lawlessness and law is not valued and to learn a lot about our Lord and to learn about His character, His attributes, and His desire that we love one another. So we're going to look tonight at this section on ox goring. I didn't want to give you too much tonight. So we will begin at verse 28 and read to the end of the chapter. When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall not be liable. But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death. A ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him. If it gores a man's son or daughter, he shall be dealt with according to this same rule. If the ox gores a slave, male or female, the owner shall give to their master 30 shekels of silver and the ox shall be stoned. When a man opens a pit or when a man digs a pit and does not cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into it, the owner of the pit shall make restoration he shall give money to its owner and the dead beast shall be his when one man's ox butts another so that it dies then they shall sell the live ox and share its price and the dead beast also they shall share or if it is known that the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past and its owner has not kept it in he shall repay ox for ox and the dead beast shall be his we'll stop there tonight may the lord bless the hearing of his word i never thought there would come a time in my ministry when i would have to say that jesus christ came to lay down his life for humanity and people made in the image of god and that he didn't come to lay down his life for animals you were waiting to see if i'd address this gorilla incident last week weren't you we're living in a time when romans one has become the worst sort of reality that we have exchanged the glory of the immortal god for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things and we're now worshiping and serving the creature rather than the creator who is forever blessed amen you saw it this last week as this uh if you paid attention to the news at all, this little boy fell into a pen of a silverback gorilla. And the zoo doing the right thing of shooting and killing the silverback gorilla, I really couldn't process. I couldn't believe the public outcry and discussion after this. Even so many people saying that what the zoo did was murder. Murder of the gorilla. And so there were shrines put up in worship of the gorilla and i thought about how much insanity has prevailed in our culture that we would even discuss something like this that this would even be on the table that a gorilla would have the same kind of value as the life of a human being made in the image of god think about it that's what happened this week that's what was put on display this week that's what that's what so many cried out about this week but we're living in a world that could kill in the womb the fetus somebody made in the image of God and yet care more about the gorilla that's our day that that's that's what we're living in right now well hopefully that helps us to appreciate tonight why it's so important to consider the civil laws of God's government when Israel was directly under his civil government in the theocracy, when the church and the state were one. And before us tonight, we have a section that teaches us the value of human life. That's really what this is. It's a section that teaches us the value of human life, of those distinctively made in the image of God, and something so powerful, as I stood back from this, reading this, and reflecting on this week, I realized that this section is helping us wrestle with the question, what is the value of human life? What price can you put on the value of a human life? Is there a price you can put on it? That really is the bigger question here. And tonight I hope to have you think about the price that God puts on the life of humanity think about this tonight with me how much he paid to redeem his image as i was working through this i found um a really good outline and it's not something that's uh so original i thought you could really take uh the outline of the heidelberg catechism here and you could ask these sort of questions as you come to this text tonight you could ask the question can any creature any at all pay for life can we pay for life ourselves who then should we look for to pay this price see so original but so important and i hope you see tonight you'll find right out of the text stay with me and i trust you'll see this for studying this as of recent this has been some of the most refreshing things to study in our time i said of lawlessness and disregard of law and disregard of the dignity of human life. Such an important thing to reflect upon. Disregard for the dignity of human life. We see the wisdom of God here. The wisdom of God that when he ordered things and when he designed this for Israel to live in the messiness of their sin and their struggle, what he did here, we see so many principles and so many things to take and learn about mercy, about justice, about truth, about equity. And it's important because I think we tend to view the law of God only punitively. But what we're finding is that this is this expression of the perfect will of God. It's good that he teaches us here how to love our neighbor. There's positive dimensions to that. And then we see a provision tonight for mercy that is just shocking in the midst of all of this. This has been the Lord's concern, of course, as we've studied these civil laws and these civil codes in these case studies selectively that He gave us to discern these principles. It has been His concern because the Lord had brought them out of the house of bondage, out of the house of slavery. They saw every kind of injustice in the way that they were treated. They saw every kind of corruption and injustice made known to man in Egypt. And they came to learn of their god as a good god a kind god and and the law of course exposing the evil of their hearts and their own problem as sinners never to miss that the new testament is telling us that's the overarching purpose in the whole law of god to teach people the sinfulness of sin i would not have known sin unless the law had said but it has also been here we've seen god teaching them that now as He has set them free, they are to love one another. And we saw last time how they were to love those who were closest to them and their parents. We saw last time how they were to love the least among them, slaves, and even considering those in the womb. It was really a powerful section of Scripture to really impress us with the value of human life, the importance of human life, how much God values life. We're learning that here. And God wanted Israel to think about this in how they relate to their neighbor. And you see how important that he teaches them immediately after providing laws that were intended, capital offenses that were intended ultimately to preserve life. He commanded the death penalty, positively then calling to love their neighbors. In the next breath, tonight, he has a series of laws that have them discern and think about the value of human life. So important. And that's where we're beginning tonight in verse 28. You'll notice in verse 28, when an ox scores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall not be liable. That seems like a very straightforward section of the case law here that doesn't require a lot of fine explanation. I mean, these are a series of laws that are dealing tonight with negligence. The particular cases that the Lord chose in this particular section are interesting for they had to do with negligence regarding animals. And God's justice for those who lost the precious life of one of their loved ones due to the negligence of people in dealing with their animals we have to understand that in their times the average farmer to provide for their household the ox was like the Cadillac driving around your ox was everything this was how you made your living it was the Cadillac of all animals I'm sure the farmers got together and all discussed how strong their oxes were can you imagine that oh you had a good ox where'd you get that ox i mean this is this is down at the farmer shop in iowa at a cafe or something where they're all talking about oxes you couldn't just replace a strong ox if you lost your ox it would be like the farmer losing his best tractor it's gone those are expensive things and i'm sure as they they discussed oxes they realize the value of an ox, these were not easy to replace. So here the Lord was giving basic laws to protect owners with oxes. But if an ox went out one day and gored somebody, the ox had to be destroyed by stoning, says the law of God. And none of it could be used for eating. It had to be stoned. And a little curious phrase, something that doesn't seem so shocking initially, the owner shall be acquitted said i think it's easy to read over that there we see the um we see a sort of principle of eye for eye tooth for tooth uh human to human but now it's animal to human notice the the shift here last time it was human human now it's animal to human and think of the scenario Your best means of making a living goes out and kills a man or a woman. Now remember, we're being trained here in the image of God. We're being trained to understand the value of human life. God says, I want the ox killed, but the owner shall be acquitted. But there's a glaring omission. What is it? Stay with me. For those who lost a husband or a wife, imagine that. For those who lost a husband or a wife because an ox went out and gored a husband or a wife or a child to death. The ox is taken out, but did that bring any amount of satisfaction to the pain of losing a human life? Think about it. What were they given? That's a glaring omission. What could replace a human life? Answer, they didn't have anything that could. Could there be a resurrection of that life? I'm teasing you a little bit for the future here in the sermon, near future. Could there be? And you see, the question that could be asked is, what is the value of a human life that is lost? I couldn't get away from that question as I studied this this week, especially in light of all the stuff that's going on in our culture and the praise and worship of animals. Could the creature pay for a life, a human life that was lost? Was it life for life? Well, that was the principle of the Lex Talionis, life for life, but that's a problem because no payment was made to those who lost a loved one. Those who lost a loved one who was gored by the ox. It's a really interesting moment here. Now, you can appreciate this. We see this pain all the time. Accidents happen, and it was in no way the fault of certain people. I mean, just take a general case of this. I pulled out a few news articles, and you can just do this at random. They're everywhere. A two-year-old boy has died after being attacked by his family's pit bull. Neighbors who tried to help the boy's mother in the moments after the attack describe the scene inside the home. It was like a horror movie. It was like something I've never seen before, said one woman who asked me to remain anonymous. We're traumatized. The dog is taken and the dog is put down. Even though the family may not have known that the pit bull was vicious, we could have questions about pit bulls. But the family may not have known. Maybe the pit bull had been a good pit bull the whole time. But is there not now, because of this scenario, the greatest void in the family? Is there not the greatest pain in the family of the feeling of loss that you can't get back. And now people have to go forward with these kind of scenarios all the time. They have to go forward and think about it. The pain that people live with when these scenarios happen and there's no way that payment could be made. There's no way they get a sense of justice. It just doesn't happen. Because what could be done to pay for that? That's the scenario. You can't bring back the loved one. Does the death of the pit bull pay for it? Of course not. Now, think of the question of our Heidelberg, can any creature, any at all, pay the debt? And the answer, of course, is no. Who's paying for life? Who's paying for life? But in this case, think of how awful this is, the loss of life. It can't be brought back. The life is gone. Now, the scenario begins to develop a little bit. God heaps a new sort of nuance in the case study. If you look down at verse 29, but if the ox tended to thrust with its horn in times past, and it's been made known to his owner, and he's not kept it confined so that it has killed a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and the owner also shall be put to death. So he couldn't control the animal. But it's far different now. It's a far different scenario now. If the owner knew the ox had a history, and again, you really don't want to get rid of your ox. That's a huge cost to you. So you know it's been unruly. It's a really hard thing to go take out your ox, your means of living. But it's got a history of goring. It's got a history of going after people. You don't do anything about it. In other words, if the owner knew it was like this and it happened that the ox then went out and the ox gored somebody, the Lord commanded that the owner and the ox had to be put to death. There was a man on the news the other day, furious, because his neighbors were complaining. Again, I use the pit bull scenario just because I just use it. We're complaining about his violent pit bull and he says, look, my children are running out in the street all the time and this pit bull is known to be violent. this pit bull is known to attack and he's got a history and the guy says ah my pit bull won't do anything if that pit bull went and killed one of those children in that scenario in the theocracy god says that owner's liable and guess what life for life now that's far different because my irresponsibility and negligence and failing what to do what i should have done in my sin of omission i have now caused the loss of a life through my animal and and you see the basic principle here that god is holding people responsible for even the sins of negligence isn't he you see that in verses 33 through 36 that god's hold people accountable not only for what happens but also for negligence and failing to do what they should have done um if a man digs a pit and doesn't cover it and an ox falls into it he's got to make it good or if one guy's ox hurts another guy's ox they have to sell the ox and divide the money and whatever is left of the dead ox divide it and again if he was negligent and he did not open did not stop his violent ox he has to give ox for ox if it hurts you'll notice here all the the principles here at the end of this or if it's known that the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past and its owners not kept it in he shall we pay ox for ox and the dead beast shall be his now why is that important in our context and stay with me i believe this will hopefully come together for you if an animal killed a human at the fault of the human human life was required if a human killed an animal at the fault of the human. Human life did not pay for that, but money could make up that loss. So are you seeing the distinction here? We're having to get to the issue of the value of human life in the midst of all these crimes of negligence. And that distinction was important because God was having them think a lot about the value of human life and the responsibility to love their neighbor. Again, we come back to love don't we how often are courts full of people who cry out all the time i didn't mean for that to happen i mean this is how our court system goes the lord was making it clear that if you could have reasonably prevented something like this from happening and knowingly didn't do what you were supposed to do you were to suffer the consequences in the full now let's go back to the scenario second scenario if your pit bull if your ox went out and killed somebody and you knew that it had the propensity. You knew it had the tendency to be violent and you did nothing. You've been completely negligent with your odds. And that resulted in the sin, I mean in the death of somebody else, life for life. That's remarkable. What are the consequences? You're responsible for that life. You have to pay for that life with your own life did that really pay for the human life this got me this week that question think about that did your life really pay for somebody else's life I ask that because people view God as a bloodthirsty God in the old testament and this is what God desired blood it left wide open the question on what basis could there ever be mercy? Could there be mercy? If God required strict justice and man who has sinned had to pay for his sin, I want you to look very carefully at verse 30 tonight. Verse 30 is very moving. Here is an owner who knew his ox had a history, he did nothing, absolutely negligent dairyman, farmer. It happened that one of his bulls, a ruthless bull with a history, runs into your field and kills one of your family members. Look at what it says. If there is imposed on him a sum of money, then he shall pay to redeem his life whatever is imposed on him. You know what could happen? Let's say a father or mother had their son killed. Let's say this was your son. who was killed by a negligent ox owner. And they went to him and said, your ox has almost killed my son. You need to do something about it. He does nothing. And one day that ox goes out and just tramples him. Let me bring this home a little further. Let me bring this home to our context. You've got a drunk driver living on your street. Your kids are out playing in the street, riding on the bike. You've told this guy numerous times, listen, I've got kids out here. I'm calling the police on you. I've done that. Police have come. Nothing happens. You've got to stop drinking and driving down our street. Next week, he comes barreling down the street, hits one of your kids, and they die. This is a scenario. The law said you could demand strict justice. You could demand the death penalty. What would you do? What would you do? That's a lot harder of a question than you realize. I would be so furious. Death penalty is what's deserved, isn't it? Oh, I'd be so furious. How would you get control of yourself after that? You feeling this? What if the man asked for mercy? I told you ten times to stop driving your car drunk down my street. Be merciful to me. mercy mercy sounding familiar well if you were here this morning you'll know that would be a real test for you wouldn't it that would be a big test for you i saw a court case recently where the father of a girl um who had been murdered in the courtroom lunged at the killer because the killer was jeering and mocking all of the prosecutors and everyone, and this father just lost it. And you should have seen the whole courtroom go crazy. But what if that man had said mercy? The parents, the loved ones, could relinquish the whole thing to the elders. And what the elders would do would be to man a ransom payment. He could, in a sense, pay for his own life. But notice the text gives no price on that. It's struggling to give a price on that right now. You're not getting a price on human life. And really, did your life pay for that life if they demanded strict justice? And the answer is, of course not. And if we get into theology a little thicker, you know because no sinner can pay for another sinner. What amount of money could atone for that kind of negligence? Think about it. This is a really powerful case. If some guy had in the neighborhood a pit bull and it was known for being violent and it took down one of my kids, I would be an absolute mess. No amount of money could satisfy for my child's life. And would I feel good if he went to the death chamber after that? Would I really feel satisfied? Billions couldn't pay for my kid's life. I'd never take it. Now, here's what's amazing. The law gave a provision for mercy. What would you do? I want to make sure we understand this. We're not talking about property. We're talking about negligence and death. If a drunk driver had a history of doing this, went out and ran over your child, under the theocratic rule, the driver would die. But if you as a parent, if you could, if you desired in your compassions, you could show mercy by requesting a ransom payment. It really didn't pay for much. It was only a recognition that what was lost for you, to you, was of immense value. And the elders had to determine it. You didn't determine it. Motives were then kept right. Now, on what basis could the law offer that? Where's justice? Does mercy dissolve justice? Is justice lost? And now you understand a little bit in Matthew. When Jesus is dealing with the scribes and the Pharisees and they're enacting the lex talionis and they're saying eye for eye, tooth for tooth. And Jesus is saying you've heard that it was said. They were abusing the law of God. What was Jesus talking about when all of a sudden in the midst of all this he's saying no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You misunderstand the law. Did you know that the law actually had a provision for mercy? you have heard that it was said that's your tradition tradition of men eye for eye tooth for tooth he's expounding on their tradition at that point even though that was a biblical truth what they had done to it but i tell you not to resist an evil person but whoever slaps you on your right cheek turn the other tim also and christ goes on everyone had come to the point of demanding strict retribution if you've harmed me you got to pay up if you've done this to me you got to suffer and jesus was saying in the law itself there was a provision for mercy so apply it in this case when the owner of the ox was negligent and he knew his ox was bad and the ox went out and killed someone the strict penalty was death but jesus was saying the one who lost the loved one didn't always have to exact strict justice did they no because even in the law notice this god gave the person who had been offended an opportunity to show mercy how could you show mercy you're all struggling in these kind of situations how could i show mercy in that kind of situation well you would have had to have experienced mercy yourself right the mere fact that there was a provision of mercy in the law of god meant that it was always intended and there was intended a provision that would satisfy him and that would make the redemption of life possible. Something was there. Something was intended, and that's why God cut a covenant with Abraham. And that's why the Heidelberg comes along and says, what kind of mediator and deliverer do you look for then? Don't forget the story here tonight. I was afraid I didn't do quite justice to it last time, but I want everyone to look back just for a moment at verse 18 and chapter 21. When men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist and the man does not die but takes to his bed, then if the man rises again and walks outdoors with his staff, he who struck him shall be clear. So you get that. Two men fight, one strikes the other and he does not die, the man gets up, he's clear. What would have happened if two men quarrel, one man strikes the other with a stone or with his fist and the man dies? It would have been over. Unless, verse 19, he rises again. And that's what this text says. Unless he gets up, he'll be clear. What would have happened? Well, to make clear, the only way you would have been able to show mercy is to understand mercy. And what did the entire Old Testament look forward to? That God would give His own Son. Think about this for a moment. We struck a man and he died. So that verse 32 shows us something that the New Testament picks up to teach us about Jesus. Look carefully at verse 32 tonight. If an ox gores a male or female slave, he shall give to their master 30 shekels of silver and the ox shall be stoned. What strikes you about that? A slave's life was worth less than a free man. If the slave was gored, the owner who owned the slave since he lost the slave was to be paid 30 shekels of silver. And God was saying, there's even justice for the life of a slave. But now we've got a price put on it. Now we've got a price put on it. When a master bought a slave, that's what he paid. Why does this matter? Here's the shock. That's the value we put on the life of Jesus. Why do I say that tonight? Because that's the price Judas paid to sell Him. 30 shekels of silver. That's what we put on His life. Jesus became the slave. And it wasn't an ox that gored Him. We did it. And Judas paid for his life before it was even taken, sold him as a slave. And the New Testament scriptures are telling us when we read that he sold him for 30 shekels of silver, they're saying, read Exodus 21. That was the value of a slave's life. But what a marvel. Why do I say that? Because it was the Father's gift, that life, to redeem your life. And what was the value on the life of the Son of God? For us, it was nothing. 30 cycles of silver. But it was the Father's best gift He could ever give and what was the value really on that life. The death of the Son of God at our hands became the payment for our lives as murderers. And that life actually paid for our life. So that today we have received mercy. And we provide no payment in return. Notice that. No payment is given in return. Now doesn't that mean a little bit from this morning? Jesus, son of David, mercy. Have mercy on me. Jesus had just said, out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts and murder. Mercy. Mercy. She understood that the kind of mediator and deliverer we should look for then is one who is truly human and truly righteous, yet more powerful than all creatures. That is, He must also be truly God. Mercy, and why could He give it? Why was there a provision for mercy? Think about it. Because He paid for your life and paid for your sins with His own life when it should have been us. But we could never do it. And the provision of mercy was met by Him offering Himself for our offense. So if I were to ask the question tonight, How much does God value your life? Well, it's of infinite value, isn't it? Because it was paid for and bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ who became a slave for you. And look at how you valued Him. Well, that's why we as believers don't view now the loss of life in this life as the end of the story. Go back to the first scenario. If something tragic happens to a believer, if we lose a child of one of God's promises, if something tragic happens and it's no one's fault, or it is somebody's fault, it is negligence, I can get up again. Why? Because it's not the end of the story. They're going to get up again. Because you see, the precious blood of Jesus has made that possible. you understand now there is no glaring omission. That if I lose a life that's precious, it's just over and I don't know how to go on. No, no, no. Christians don't think that way anymore. Christians don't think that way anymore. Life has been paid for so that we could say that whoever believes in Him, even though He dies in this sad world, He'll live. Jesus' words. Instead of meeting out upon us, wrath for the reckless death that we caused because of our sin instead jesus died and covered us with the ransom of his life so that you being a murderer might live tonight ransom was paid that's the gospel and that's the good news that he announces to all of his children and that was at the root of what jesus was teaching when he said in every situation of wrong with our neighbor you need to go and do whatever you can to make it right make it right love them show mercy it's an opportunity for mercy because it proves that you have received mercy it proves that you understand mercy it proves that you know mercy in your life and now you're eager to show it because there's a bigger story to all of this go the extra mile you've been purchased you've been bought show mercy and love since you've been forgiven let's pray heavenly father thank you again for instructing us tonight in your word in a section in Ox scoring that teaches us about the value of human life. We would appreciate tonight whose blood purchased us. It was a righteous judgment had we had to suffer in hell forever. But ultimately Lord we could not make right with you what our sins have done. ultimately displayed in our hatred for Your beloved Son. And yet You gave Him in the mystery of Your perfect will and the fullness of time when He said it's finished, He bought us back. So that today we don't have to make a payment. We're redeemed. And we live as free men, being able now to demonstrate the same mercy as we've known in our life. May we go show it this week to our neighbor for that's what You've taught us in Your Gospel, In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.