Well, we're going to be back in Genesis again. It's been a few weeks. We've dealt with the matter of love for a couple of weeks, and we had a missionary last week. But I want to get back to our series in the first 11 chapters of Genesis. Genesis 9 is where we're going to be at this morning. In an earlier message from Genesis 1, you'll recall that we saw how that mankind was God's special creation. God saved the creation of mankind for last. Scripture says that God made them male and female in His own image and after His own likeness. Then in Genesis 3, prior to Adam and Eve having any children, we saw sin entered into the world as they disobeyed God. Adam's sin brought forth death into the world, just as God had warned him it would, in Genesis 2.17. And from that point, mankind's hearts were corrupted by sin. Romans 5.12, Paul put it this way, Wherefore, as by one man, speaking of Adam, by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Now remember how we saw in Genesis 4 the very first murderer. When we talk about murder, we're talking about the taking of a human life by another human. That happened when Adam's firstborn son Cain, in anger against his brother, murdered his brother Abel. That was the first of many, many murders that were yet to come in the history of mankind. The Lord Jesus would make this statement about murder and other sins. He said it proceeded out of the heart. Matthew 15, 19. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. Now when Cain killed Abel, we know that God placed a further curse on him personally and made it such that the earth would not yield her fullness to him. And that was not good for him as he was a farmer. He had to change his profession. And the Lord had said that he would become both a fugitive and a vagabond. In other words, he would be living in exile as a wanderer. He would not really settle down anywhere. God also saw that anyone who slew Cain, He saw to it that anybody that slew Cain, vengeance would be taken on him sevenfold. And so God set a protective mark on Cain so that folks would know who he was and they wouldn't kill him. We saw that in Genesis 4.15. In Genesis 5 we saw the death chapter where the descendants of Seth are given down to the time of Noah. And though they all had great longevity compared to today, they all eventually died except Enoch and of course Noah at this time. Enoch had the testimony that he pleased God and so he was translated. Genesis 6, we saw that the wickedness of mankind was very great in the earth, which had become corrupt before God, and it was filled with violence. Now, when it was filled with violence, understand there was no respect for human life. Murder, right? Murder. And so God determined to wipe out the corruption along with sinful mankind and every living thing on the earth with the great worldwide flood of waters. And that's except for Noah, because Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. and Noah's wife, Noah's three sons and their wives, and a male and a female of every kind of living thing the Lord had made on the earth were allowed to go into the ark. Now in Genesis 7 and 8, our most recent chapters that we were in, We saw the period of time when Noah and his family obeyed God's command to come into the ark. God told them to come in. Seven days. God shut the door. And it was 377 days from the time they loaded on the ark to the time that God commanded them to exit the ark. And we were looking last time at how this was a new beginning for Noah and his family. Understand that the earth had been altered drastically by this worldwide flood. The climate had been changed as well. original climate change. God's the one that affected that climate change. If they want to say there's a climate change today, God's the one that affects it. It doesn't have anything to do with mankind and the fossil fuels and all of that kind of stuff. It doesn't have anything to do with that. It has everything to do with God. He controls the weather. We saw that three things in Genesis 8. I'll just remind you. In Genesis 8, verses 20 through 22, we saw that Noah waited on God because God's timing is best. He waited on God to tell him to come out of the ark before he actually came. And Noah's first act as he came out was to worship God. He offered sacrifice to God. And then we saw the heart of God was affected by Noah's sacrifice. God said He would never more take and destroy the earth as He had done with the flood. So today we move to Genesis 9 and we see some more things about this new beginning of Noah and his family. Let's read the Scripture here. Genesis 9 verse number 1. It says, And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, And upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea, into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meet for you, even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh, with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof shall ye not eat. And surely, notice this, and surely your blood of your lives will I require, at the hand of every beast will I require it, at the hand of man, at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man. And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply, bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein. Several things I want us to note this morning. First of all, we see an old command with a new urgency. There in verses 1 and verse number 7, we read a repeat of God's first command that He gave to man. God's first command back in Genesis 1.28 God commanded this to Adam and Eve. He told them in there, and God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth. Now, that command is repeated here to Noah and his family, not once, but twice. Verse number 1, and then in verse number 7, with more emphasis given in verse number 7. Now understand that there was now another reason for the command. The first time it was given was presumably before mankind's original sin. before death entered, right? However, here, the population and what it was before the flood, we do not know. That's debatable. God's not given us the number of people that died in the flood. It was a very great number. You understand the long lives these people lived and the number of children that could be birthed during the time. It had to be well on up there. But understand that here it had been severely reduced back down to just eight souls. Remember how much it was? It's down to eight. And that's it. Also, understand that life spans would become shorter and shorter because of the change in the climate that was affected by God. How were they able to have such longevity of the lives that we see in Genesis chapter 5? Well, it had to do with the way that the earth, when God originally created things, it had a water canopy around it. And things on the earth were watered from the dew. There was no such thing as rain until the flood. And so, you know, it was more conducive to long lifespans. And of course, the longer that mankind lived, the more sin had an effect on their lives. and it has shortened man's lifespan. So we see an old command with a new urgency. Second of all, we see man's new relationship with animal life there in verses 2-4. We see that God gave an update. Initially, He had told mankind that He was to subdue the earth and have dominion over all the animals. You'll find that in chapter 1 in verse number 28. But here in chapter 9, verse 2, God tells Noah and his family that the fear of you and the dread of you, he said, would be upon all the animals. Now, the late Dr. John R. Rice, a great evangelist, suggested that it may have been that before the flood, animals were not afraid of men. Men ate fruits and vegetables, not meat. But we see in chapter 9 verse 3 and 4 here, mankind was now given permission to eat meat. Now if you want to see that men did eat fruits and vegetables, you just need to go back to chapter 1 verse 29 and 30. That's what they ate. They ate that. But now God has given them permission to eat meat. Now it seems that some folks want to move away from meat to going back to being meatless. I ain't one of those. I love my meat. And even though I'm not going to get any of that tomorrow. With the prep and all, they won't have any of that. But whatever the nefarious reasons for going from meat to meatless, as long as I can, I want you to know I'm going to continue to eat meat because the Lord doesn't have a problem with it. He gave a free course to do that here. Paul gave Timothy instruction in 1 Timothy 4 and verse 3 through 5. He was telling him about some folks living in the latter times, which that's where we live, in the latter times, who would be this way. And we'll quote from 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 3 through 5. It says, they'll be commanding to abstain from meats. which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God in prayer." Another reason why you need to ask the Lord to bless the food that you, to thank Him for the food you're about to eat and bless the food is because you're commanded right there. And I thank God for A little good ham, a little good bacon, steak every now and then. Meat's getting more expensive. It really is. But I still love meat, alright? Now, even the ceremonial restrictions that God gave to the Jews are not binding on New Testament believers in Christ. I know that the Jews had some dietary restrictions, but Paul told the Colossians 2.16, he says, let no man therefore judge you in any meat or drink. You know, God has given everything. As long as we thank God for it, ask God to bless it, it's okay. And so there was a ceremonial meaning in the ceremonial law, but that was not a moral command for Christians. Now, here's what I'm going to plant today. Number three, we see the value of human life by God's establishment of the death penalty for murderers. So, old brother Jerry, I don't agree with the death penalty. Well, you're at odds with God then. You're at odds with God if you don't believe in the death penalty. And this is where we're going to dwell, verse 5 and 6 here. And before the flood, there appears not to have been any sort of organized human government established. In fact, most scholars put the establishment of human government right here in this chapter. It's where it was established. And nowhere do we see God calling for punishment of murderers to be put in the hands of men to execute the death penalty until here. Before, even Cain. Cain killed Abel in cold blood, we know that. But he was allowed to go with a mark upon him so no one would kill him for his slaying of Abel. But here we see the Lord addresses this issue of taking a human life and the punishment by death penalty to be carried out by mankind and that's when a human life has been taken. Now, when the Lord gave Moses the law, this rule was carried over into the ceremonial law, and it was expanded. I'm not going to take time to turn to those passages. They're in your handout there. Exodus 21 and Leviticus 20. But they were enlarged to include adultery, sodomy, and other such perversions. And then in Romans chapter 13 in the New Testament, we see this teaching remains and those governmental authorities who carry out these laws are even called ministers of God. Let me just read one verse to you. Romans 13 and verse number 4. Talking about the governmental officials that do these things. For He is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid. For he beareth not the sword in vain. For he is a minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." Very clear from the Lord that He is not only okay with the death penalty for murderers, but He calls for it to be carried out. Now, the Bible says that one of the things that God hates are hands that shed innocent blood. Hands that shed innocent blood. Proverbs 6, 17. I'm not going to turn there, but it calls it, the hands that shed innocent blood, one of the abominations. It's an abomination along with six other things that are listed there. We see in Scripture where a curse came upon the land of Judah, where innocent blood was shed and not avenged. In fact, I do want you to turn to this one. Look, it's 2 Kings 24. 2 Kings 24. We dealt at length in several of our studies about the children of Israel being carried away into the Babylonian captivity by Nebuchadnezzar. And so there's a lot of reasons why that took place. But one of the reasons why it took place we find here in 2 Kings Look at verse number 3. Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of His sight for the sins of Manasseh. That was one of the kings. According to all that he did. He was a very wicked king. Verse 4, And also for the innocent blood that he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the Lord would not pardon. And so we see that a curse came upon the land. the land of Judah where innocent blood was shed and it was not avenged. Now God told Cain that the voice of Abel's blood actually cried out to him from the ground. Folks who have been murdered, their blood cries out to God. Psalm 9 verse 12 says, When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them. He forgetteth not the cry of the humble. Now, I want you to think about the taking of innocent life. In fact, let's think about the victim in an abortion, which no doubt is the most innocent of victims ever to be killed because a child in the womb is defenseless. They are. The pro-abortion crowd, they yell and scream about their freedom of choice. They'll say, it's my body. Which is not true. You know, they want you to follow the science. Well, if you follow the science, that child has its own DNA. That child is not the body of the woman. It is the body of the child. What about the baby's body? What about the baby's choice? Don't think that God doesn't care because He cares very much so. I know that we have the impression, a lot of folks in our country have the impression, well, abortion's over now that we got Roe versus Wade overturned by the Supreme Court. Uh-uh, not even. You know that year after year in our land, multitudes of babies are still being murdered in the womb for simply being an inconvenience. Since 1973, just since Roe v. Wade, 66 million. I want you to think about that for just a minute. 66 million. Back out of the paper here somewhere. I want to share with you. 66 million. Think about the top cities in the United States. Let's just think about New York. 66 million is eight times the population of that one city, the most populous city in Ireland. If you take the population of the top 50 cities, just under 50 million, 49 million, 483, 242 is what I added it up to be. I've got the figures right here. You're welcome to have it if you want to. Top 50 cities. Doesn't even reach that. Top 50. We're talking about New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Philadelphia. Should I go on? 50. 50 of the top. Top reason for abortion? Not ready for a child. Inconvenience is what it is. In 2023, There were a million plus abortions. In 2024, there are still 930,160 abortions. We're talking about legally induced abortions. Just because it's legal doesn't make it right. 20.6% of pregnancies, think about that, over one in five, every pregnancy, ended in death by abortion. This is the sad part right here. And this is why the judgment of God is on our land. 61% believe that abortion should be legal most, if not all the time, most all the time. 61%. We barely, in Florida, we barely won that abortion vote. It's only because it had to be a super majority and not a 50%, 51%. It had to be 60-something, and they didn't meet the amount that it had to have. There are still, right now, in this, as I speak, 1,687 healthcare facilities, that's what they call them, that are doing abortions? What am I saying? Some want to talk about babies in the womb as if they're just a clump of cells. But these are babies with souls since the moment of conception. They may be treated as being non-persons and referred to as fetuses, but God calls them a child. Listen to Ecclesiastes 11 verse 5. And thou knowest not what is the way of the Spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child. Not with fetus, with child. Even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all. Babies in the womb begin developing physically at conception. Early in their development, they have beating hearts, they have digesting stomachs, they have open eyes and hearing ears, and by the way, they react to painful stimuli. If a doctor determines a person is completely dead by the absence of brain waves, shouldn't the presence of brain waves prove like? Same thing with a heartbeat. Now, here's the paradox. This is where the government contradicts itself. If you take a woman who's pregnant, if somebody intentionally or unintentionally kills that child in the womb, they could be charged with murder. Oh, it is a child. But the doctor that does the abortion is not charged with murder. Go figure. When babies in the womb are murdered, I want you to understand they are not treated in a very good way. They're treated in some of the most inhumane ways imaginable. They're not given anesthetics while a very torturous death is inflicted upon them. They're injected with toxins, ripped apart by forceps, and their skull is pierced and the brain sucked out while they're in the birth canal. and Brother Jerry being too graphic today, I just want you to understand the serious nature of this. It's one of the very reasons why we support, as a church, we support First Coast Women's Services, which offer women alternatives to abortion. But I believe abortions, past and present, that have happened under the watch of our governmental authorities, who are supposed to be saying that's murder and doing away with the murderer. And we're not doing it. They're not doing it. Our government's not doing it. It's happened under the watch of our governmental authorities. It's the number one reason that our nation is under the judgment of God. And that judgment continues to increase. You say, well, Brother Jerry, President Trump got voted in the office. Don't you think that the judgment is going to cease? Don't think for one minute. I thank God that he allowed President Trump to go into office. But what he's doing, he's stirring up those folks that believe in murder. They're gonna come back with a vengeance, I guarantee you. Somewhere down the road, they're gonna come back with a vengeance. Let me ask you a question, and I'm gonna answer for you, okay? Could violence be being so increasingly prevalent in our country? be part of that judgment. I mean, we live in a violent society. It reminds me of the time of Noah's days. And the Lord Jesus said, as it was in the days of Noah, it's going to be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. So, I think God is saying, oh, you want a culture of death? I'll give you a culture of death. You want to kill little babies? Well, how would you like to be killed? He is giving us a culture of death. And it's going to get worse. In God's eyes, life is sacred and it's precious. Life is precious because God created it. Genesis 127. And because God created it, only He has a right to say when it's terminated. And He has called for the death penalty to be imposed by government on those that have exercised God's right for themselves. You take a life saying, I've got the right to take this life. God says, I've got the right to take your life. Because the right to life and death belongs with the Lord. Psalm 139. Look at Psalm 139. Life is precious because God created it. Second of all, life is valued by God. And we see that value that God places upon life here in Psalm 139. And we're going to begin reading verse number 13. And the psalmist says, talking to the Lord, For Thou hast possessed my reins, that Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous! are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect, and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I wake, I am still with Thee. What we see there, life is valued by God. In fact, life is so valued by God that He sent His only begotten Son to save life. Amen? To save us. from eternal destruction. I want you to understand that life is precious no matter what its condition. We all know that life is a challenge in this sin-cursed world. It's a challenge for you, it's a challenge for me. We all got different ailments that we're dealing with, or we have loved ones that are dealing with certain things. And you know, some of those are pretty bad things that folks are dealing with. But listen, Life has become a challenge because of sin. We know that life is a challenge in this sin-cursed world. This world is no longer paradise that God originally created. That's not God's fault. It would be wonderful if it was, but it was still paradise. But unfortunately, sin came into our world and with it came pain, imperfection, injustice, and death. God warned us of these challenges and enables those who trust Him to be victorious through Him. God doesn't want us to end our life. He doesn't want us to end life, period. It's His to call for. John 16, 33. Jesus said, These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Jesus is the overcomer and when we take and we have Him in our lives, we can overcome in this world. 1 Peter 5, 7 says we are to cast all of our care upon Him for He cares for us. Now we must not overlook those who have challenges in this life. I think of many of the precious Down Syndrome babies that I've seen and known and met and still have acquaintance with some of them. Jesus showed special concern for folks that had challenges for the lame, the blind, and the woman who had the issue of blood and lepers. And listen, He cares for the Down syndrome. You don't kill a Down syndrome baby. It has worth. They have worth. Our Lord places great value even on those whom society likes to shuffle aside. While he was on his knees, the leper in Mark 1 begged Christ to make him clean. It says in Mark 1.41, And Jesus moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will be thou clean. Jesus touched him. That was unthinkable in that society. You didn't touch a leper. I mean, the thinking was that you might get that. But Jesus was not afraid to touch His life and give Him healing. Now, our Lord can gain great glory from those who have been born with great challenges. I'll have you turn to this one. Lord willing, this is the last place I'm going to have you turn. Look at John chapter 9. John 9, we find an instance of the Lord passing by a man who had been born blind. John 9, verses 1-3 here. John 9, verse 1. And as Jesus passed by, He saw a man which was blind from his birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, Master, who did sin? This man or his parents that he was born blind? That was the thinking of the day. Well, boys, if you've got a challenging situation in the birth, somebody must have sinned really bad. Look at what Jesus says in verse 3. Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. It wasn't any particular sin that the man sinned or his parents sinned that he was made this way, but that the works of God through the Lord Jesus Christ would be made manifest. And He healed the man from his blindness. You know, one of these days, the Lord is going to show His kindness in each of our lives that know Him. You think about what you're struggling with today. Realize when we're out of here, when we go home to be with the Lord, that's all over. It is. And that is because of what Jesus did for us. Our Lord can gain great glory from those who have been born with great challenges. And those with great challenges can become vessels displaying God's grace. And that's exactly what we will be in all of eternity. We will be vessels that one time were broken vessels and had all kinds of maladies, but we will be vessels that will display God's grace throughout all eternity. Life is also precious because of its eternal nature. To God, our life existed before we were born. The verses that we read there in Psalm 139, verses 15-16 pointed that out. The psalmist said, my substance was not hid from Thee. when I was made in secret, curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect in that book, all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none. In Jeremiah 1, verse 5, the Lord told Jeremiah, before you were born I knew you, and I called you for a specific purpose. God knew Jeremiah when he was in the womb. What I'm saying is, to God, our life existed before we were born. God has provided a way for life improvement. I thank God for the salvation that's in Christ Jesus. John 3.16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. And John 10.10, Jesus said, I am come that they might have life and might have it more abundantly. You can have a more abundant life with Jesus in your life. No matter what you've got going on in your life. With Jesus, your life will be more abundant. I can assure you of that by Jesus' Word. No matter what challenges this life may bring, the Lord can give you both an abundant life and eternal life. In that abundant life, God gives His grace for living. Even the Apostle Paul had an issue in his life. He called it a thorn in the flesh that troubled him. But yet God gave him the grace to live with that. And not just live with it, but also glorify God for the grace that the Lord gave him as he dealt with that. Now in that eternal life that the Lord gives, there will come a time when we leave this world behind and we're going to leave all of its challenges behind. Praise God. So that's God's view of human life. In closing here, if you're against the death penalty for murderers, I want you to understand you're against what the Lord has decreed and what we've seen in the Word of God today. If you are pro-abortion, You are on the side of murderers and against the Lord, what the Lord has decreed regarding life and the womb. But let me say this also. We may have in our midst, I do not know and I don't want to know, but if you previously had an abortion, understand that there is forgiveness available from the Lord, even for that sin. He can give you forgiveness. The question every person needs to answer is this, do you have Christ's life as your life? So you don't begin to really live until you have Christ in your life. have life. 1 John 5 verse 11-13 This is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. Praise God. Hallelujah. Amen. Also John 3.18, He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. I'm not condemned anymore. I'm a believer. I have life now. I have Jesus in my life. If you don't have Christ's life as your life, you don't have life. You can have it today though. Come, let us show you how. eternal life and abundant life. Let's bow in prayer. Father, we thank You for the words of Scripture. And Lord, help us to frame our stances on Your Word, not on the ways of this world. The ways of this world change. And they don't change for better, they normally change for worse. And we know that human life used to be valued more than it is today. It's a terrible thing in our own nation that's taking place. And we're going to be, in this nation, we're going to be recipients of your hand of judgment because of that. But I thank you that even in the midst of judgment, those that know you have your peace. We can have your peace and we can have deliverance from whatever comes our way. If death should come our way because of the violence in our land, then we know that we would have a presence. Now with you, to be absent from the body, to be present with the Lord. And Lord, for that we give You thanks. Thank You for that eternal life and thank You for the abundant life that You give. But Lord, there may be somebody here today that doesn't have eternal life. They might not know anything about that abundant life they can have. Help them to come and receive Jesus into their life, believing on what He did on their behalf. When He died on the cross, He died for their sins just like He died for mine. He died. He was buried. He rose again the third day. He lives. He's not a dead Savior. He's a living Savior. And because He has eternal life, He can give eternal life. And He gives to those who have believed and trusted Him. Thank you for that truth. Have your way in this invitation, we pray. In Jesus name, amen.