we're going to consider the sixth commandment. And why don't we just begin by quoting the sixth commandment. This comes out of question 73 in our catechisms. And the catechist asks, what is the sixth commandment? And we answer, the sixth commandment is you shall not murder. Now, from our previous study, we've learned, as Paul says in Romans 2, verses 14 and 15, that when the Gentiles, those who never received the law from Mount Sinai, those who never heard a word from Yahweh, a word of special revelation, when they do not have the law by nature, Paul says, By nature, they do what the law requires. They are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. And then he says in verse 15, they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them. So we've seen that the work of the law of God is written on our hearts. This comes out in conscience. It comes out in people having a sense of guilt for having either neglected something on the one hand, or having broken a command of God on the other hand. So this means that apart from any external written law that was given to the people of God, mankind already had an internal moral compass. And I would submit to you that the only thing that the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, gave to the world that the world didn't already have is A, that they were inscripturated, they were chiseled on stone, and B, The God that people knew in their breast by nature was given a name, and it was Yahweh. Those are the only new things. Everything else man already knew. Now, I'm not saying that they knew it perfectly. After all, man after the fall had the image of God marred within him, and so there is a muffled sound, if you will, of the law of God in their hearts, but it's still there. It may be muffled, but it has not been silenced. But what is interesting is that as you look down through history, you will find that in every culture, many sinful leaders have convinced cultures to not follow some of the Ten Commandments, but in every single culture, I can't think of one exception, every single culture recognizes that it's still wrong to murder. Isn't that interesting? Isn't that interesting that every culture recognizes that murder is wrong? When you talk to somebody who is completely lawless, and you ask, well not completely, but if you talk to somebody who's not big on law, we'll just put it that way, and you just ask them, are there any absolute truths or any concrete laws that all of mankind should follow, they were generally come up with, well, Don't murder and don't steal. And that's about all they can come up with. But yet, they come up with it. Because murder is, I think in the eyes of all mankind, one of the most heinous things that a person can do. And the reason why is because life is precious. Everybody recognizes this. Even if they are inconsistent in the application of it, they recognize inherently that life is precious. And now from a Christian perspective, We believe that the Sixth Commandment prohibits murder for many different reasons, but the biggest reason is because I don't care if it is a Christian, or a Buddhist, or an atheist, agnostic, or a Muslim, that person bears the image of God. And I just want to remind you of something. The image of God in mankind is not simply spiritual. It is also physical. And perhaps you've not given much thought to that. I can't say that I've given a great deal of thought to it, but we must remember that when God stamped that image on mankind, it wasn't just the soul, but it was the whole package. in some sense that I don't understand, our humanness, our physicality images God. Now, I think we get a little bit of a hint in the beginning of Genesis, and what it is is our action of having dominion over the earth. We do that physically. We do it spiritually, too. But as we have dominion over the earth, we are acting out in a microcosm kind of way what God does at the universal level. He has dominion over all things. So I want to say this evening that life is precious, and it's not the case that some lives matter, it's the case that all lives matter. But if that is the case, we're going to need to answer some problems that such a view raises, and so we're going to consider them denied. And here's the first objection, you might say. Well, the first question. Are murder and killing the same thing? Are murder and killing the same thing? If we say that it is wrong to murder, but yet we're going to go on to qualify that, right? Because we're going to go on to qualify cases in which the taking of a life is justified. Even if it's not preferred, it's still justified. Well, murder and killing are not the same thing. Even in English, there is a shade of difference between the concept of murder and the concept of killing. But more importantly, for our purposes, in the Hebrew even, there are separate words that are used when talking about murder and talking about killing. Murder is, in the Bible, always used for an unjustified taking of a life. an unjustified taking of a life. Sometimes it is premeditated, so the people had a plan, they were lying in wait to take the life of another. And sometimes it is accidental. So people get into a scuffle and they end up fighting and then one accidentally takes the life of the other. It is nonetheless an unjustified killing. You might say an unsanctioned killing. But on the other hand, there's another word in the Hebrew that's used for what's called a justified killing or to kill judiciously. And to kill judiciously is not the prerogative given to every single human, it is the prerogative given to a particular institution that we're going to look at in just a moment, and that institution is the state. So if you look in Genesis chapter 9, in Genesis chapter 9, we see, and this is going to be very important for our purposes this evening, the institution by God of what we would essentially call today the state. God institutes the state. in Genesis chapter 9 verse 6, okay? This is what he says. He says, whoever sheds the blood of man by man, his blood shall be shed for God made man in his own image. And what we see here is God is setting up an institution of what we would call today government. And it is a system of retribution for justice. So if you injustly or unjustly take a person's life, then the state God is sanctioning to take your life. And I want to underline that this is a divinely sanctioned institution. I repeat. It is a divinely sanctioned institution. Now, that does not mean that everything or anything that the government does is justified. Of course that's not the case. Just in the same way that everything that the church does in the name of Christ is not sanctioned by virtue of them simply being the church. But nonetheless, God did institute government and it is important to understand its source. Its source is God. Now, where this becomes especially important for us is that when you move into the New Testament, What is absent is a repealing of this prerogative of government to take the life of those who have broken the command. In other words, if we might call what God set up in Genesis 9-6 the death penalty at the state level, what you find in the New Testament is it is never repealed. There is no revelation in the New Testament that says, well, that was the case then, but we're not doing that any longer. Now, we can say, whereas in the Old Covenant, what was roughly known as the church, Israel, was a theocracy, state and church combined, and they did take the life, Okay, of people, so if somebody broke the Sabbath, gathering sticks on the Sabbath, they were stoned. Children who were disobedient, they were stoned. And now the rough New Testament equivalent of Israel in the New Covenant is the church. The church is not sanctioned to take life. But at the same time, the state, as it is distinct from the church, is still expected to take life. Now, Let me just qualify that now. So I would say, very simply, from a biblical perspective, the death penalty is a justified category at the level of the state. That does not mean that every instance of, or every manifestation of the death penalty, whether it be in this country or another country, is necessarily just. So you've all heard, you've seen these episodes where A person is convicted of a crime and they go to the electric chair, lethal injection or whatever, only to find out a week later, a month later, whatever the case may be, that they have evidence for their innocence. It happens. It happens. We live in a fallen world. I'm not necessarily surprised to hear that that happens. So just because the death penalty is legitimate doesn't mean that it doesn't at times need reform. And certainly there are times, and certainly this even may be a time, where the death penalty needs to be thought through in a little more detailed manner. Of course, that's not the obligation or task of the church. but of the state. But the underlying point here is that the concept of a death penalty at the state level is justified. Now, why am I belaboring this? Well, because there are some people that say that the New Testament, based on the teachings of Jesus, overturns the death penalty, but you'll find no such instruction. What you find upon further scrutiny is individual commandments or individual teachings that Jesus gives about how to deal with force and violence and so on and so forth is given to the church. It isn't necessarily given to the state to instruct them about what to do with criminals. And I'll unpack that a little bit more in just a moment. So we want to make a distinction between murder and killing. Murder is unjustified. Killing or taking the life of a criminal is justified at the level of the state, the corporate state. So then let's ask another question that is somewhat tangentially related. Should a Christian be a pacifist? Because certainly if the sixth commandment is taken in a totality perspective, that means in all areas of life, which would mean that a Christian could not be a police officer because at times they're required to take somebody's life or they could not be in the military, any branch of the military. So is it biblical for somebody to be a pacifist? Well, Just in case you're unfamiliar with what the pacifist position is, the pacifist position is one of nonviolence in every single circumstance. Now, before we go any further, what we should appreciate about the pacifist position is that they are trying to be consistent as they submit to the sixth commandment. We should commend anybody who's trying to be consistent in trying to keep any command. We should commend anybody, even if at the end we disagree with them in their conclusions, about trying to keep their conscience pure before the Lord. This is a very noble thing. But let me just outline what I see to be a few problems with the pacifist position. The first problem is this. And I've actually talked to pacifists, like self-conscious pacifists who have thought through this and have tried to or attempted to give a biblical justification for their pacifist position. The first problem they run into is that they don't have a cohesive view of the moral law of God, whether it is in the Old Testament or the New Testament. They have a very radical distinction between the old covenant ethics and the new covenant ethics. And so they would pit Moses against Jesus. and wherever there is a contradiction, they're always gonna go with Jesus, okay? Now, there's many instances in which we would agree with that, right? But here's the thing. It gets a little more tricky when you have two New Testament authors being pit against one another. And we'll get to this in a moment, but what if it's the case that Jesus seems to give the idea that you should not exert violence in any way, and yet Paul, on the other hand, is commending the government for exerting violence. Well, in a conversation I had with a pacifist, he straight up told me without wincing, without flinching, well, I'm going to go with Jesus. And Paul was wrong about that. And I'm like, wow, well, that creates a whole nother set of problems, right? Because now you're dealing with whether or not there are errors in the Bible or not, at least try to harmonize them, but don't pit them against one another. But the second problem with this is that if you do have a more holistic view of the ethic for the people of God, whether it's Old Testament or New Testament, you can look to places in the Old Testament and you will see that there are justifications for protecting your family. For example, if a thief breaks in and begins to attack you, there are places in Exodus, Lee chapter 22, where it is justified for the head of that household to defend his family. And if it happens that the thief dies in that scuffle, the head of the household is not held accountable because it was a justified protection of life. But then thirdly, as we come into the New Testament, things begin to come into a little more sharper focus. Isn't it interesting that as John the Baptist is out in the wilderness preaching that the kingdom of God is at hand, all kinds of people are coming to him, right? And one category of people that comes to him is a Roman soldier. And a Roman soldier asks him, what shall we do? Implied to be saved. Now, I admit, John gives an interesting answer, but let's examine it. He says, do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation and be content with your wages. Stop. That's all he says. He doesn't say anything about, hey, you murder people and that's wrong. No, he assumes that they are in some sense, which I'm gonna explain in just a moment, a minister of God for justice. And I think that's very interesting, especially when we get to Paul, that Paul recognizes Roman soldiers who were incredibly brutal. If there was Facebook back then and they had videos and they took videos of all the times that Roman soldiers would beat people to a bloody pulp, what kind of riots would go on then? It was much worse then, and yet Paul calls them a minister of God for justice. John the Baptist recognized that. Not only that, but Jesus Jesus' teaching on turning the other cheek, this is often one of the biggest objections to a non-pacifist position, you must understand that Jesus' teaching on turning the other cheek were specifically, I would say were narrowly focused on personal attack and taking vengeance, okay? It didn't include protecting someone else, and it didn't include defending oneself, okay? So if you look at Matthew 38, verse 42, you're familiar. Let me just turn there very quickly so we know what we're dealing with. Matthew 5, Verse 38 to 42. You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. Now I just want to say one thing before I go in and try to clarify some things. If you hear that and you're like, wow, that's really tough and it's challenging and it stretches me good because that's what Jesus wanted to do. Jesus wants to stretch us in the Sermon on the Mount. He says a lot of things that are very, perhaps that would make us very uncomfortable. He wants to challenge us. He wants to stretch us. He wants us to think in terms of what we heard this morning, that we are to be servants, not serving ourselves, but serving others. But all of that being said, it is important to step back and look at the broader context and understand that Jesus is not talking about what life is like at the state level. He's principally talking about the ethic of the people of God, okay? And he's principally talking about relationships within the church. It doesn't necessarily exclude relationships outside the church, but what he's not talking about is how nations are to deal with other nations and how the state in particular is to deal with those who violate the law. He's talking about a general Christian ethic. So these are not situations necessarily of physical attacks. I remember watching Highway to Heaven. You guys ever watch Highway to Heaven? Okay. Michael Landon, remember? He's the angel who's trying to get his wings. It's kind of corny, but he's trying to get his wings. And so he goes to Earth as an angel, and he appears as a human. And he's trying to help people out. Well, there's this one scene where he was trying to help this guy out. He was in a bar. He was getting drunk. And this guy that got drunk challenged this guy to a fight. And so him, the drunk, and Michael Landon all go outside. Michael Landon's trying to help him. And the guy, one guy beats up the drunk, and then he starts hitting Michael Landon. Well, he hits Michael Landon, and Michael Landon goes like this, and then the guy hits him again. And then Michael Landon says, the Lord said to turn the cheek only once, and then he knocked him out, okay? And I've heard that time and time again. But here's the thing, here's the thing. The Pharisees had applied this idea of the law of lex talionis, that's individual, listen very carefully, vengeance. to take out on the personal level an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, okay? And Jesus is basically prohibiting vengeance at a personal level in this situation. In other words, he's saying, leave vengeance to the Lord and understand that in his time and in his institutionalized way through the government, he will deal with that. It is not your job to be a vigilante, is what he's getting at, see? So this is a gospel response. It is seeking to extend forgiveness where you can and leaving the results to God. Now Jesus did say, whoever lives by the sword dies by the sword, but in Luke chapter 22 verse 35 and 36, he also told the disciples to go buy a sword. He said to them, when I sent you out with no money bag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything? They said nothing. He said to them, but now let the one who has a money bag take it and likewise a knapsack and let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one. Hardly the words of a pacifist. And next, consider that Peter doesn't tell Cornelius in the book of Acts to stop being a soldier. And then just remember, and this is I think where I could bring this all to a head, Jesus had rendered a Caesar what is Caesar's. And that brings us back once again to the place of government in the plan of God. So let me ask you to turn to Romans 13, because this is very instructive for us regarding the question of whether or not we should be pacifists. Romans 13 verses 1 through 5. Paul says, let every person be subject to the governing authorities. Now watch this. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Here we go, the language that we saw back in Genesis 9, God instituting the state. Verse 2, therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed. And those who resist will incur judgment, for rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval. For he is God's servant, you could also read minister, for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. So if the soldier who came to John and was genuinely interested in repenting from his sins and believing in Jesus Christ carried out violence that led to death, and John didn't tell him to repent from that and to cease from doing that, then it seems to me to follow that a Christian could be a police officer. A Christian could be a soldier. A Christian could be in the armed forces. And I do not say that it would be easy for their consciences. Certainly they have to work through that, but it is permissible. But then let me just say finally this. I had a professor who was actually a pacifist. He wasn't an Anabaptist or anything like that, but he was a pacifist. And he told us one time in front of class, And I'll just try to be euphemistic here. He said if somebody broke into his house at night and was violating his wife, he would not lift a finger to protect her because he would not want to harm anyone. Now I want you to think about that for a second because as we've thought about all these commands, we've seen that there is a broad way to perceive them and understand them and also a narrow way. And certainly taking somebody's life is the clear and literal understanding of the prohibition, but what is the prohibition do not murder also assuming that you should do? To preserve life. To preserve life. If it is in your power to do so and you don't do it, and life is being taken away because of your negligence, then you are still breaking the sixth commandment, you see. If it is in your power to protect your wife, to protect your children, and you don't, you're breaking the sixth commandment, all because you're trying to protect the one who is taking the life of your loved ones. That seems to me to be a dereliction of the duty of the husband and anyone who has the opportunity to preserve life but doesn't do it. So the sixth commandment now needs to be understood a little more thoroughly through the person and work of Christ. And I just want to read at this point Matthew chapter five verses 21 through 26. Matthew chapter five verses 21 through 26. Jesus says, you have heard that it was said, To those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council, and whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court. Lest your accuser hand you over to the judge and the judge to the guard and you be put in prison. Truly I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. So Jesus here seems to be drawing out that the primary importance of reconciliation, or the primary importance of guarding the Sixth Commandment is reconciliation with one another as much as is possible. I think Paul says something similar, as much as is possible be at peace with all men. So the primacy is reconciliation and it's placed as a priority, interestingly, even above worship. I think this is something that's very instructive for us. There is a sense in which I should feel like a hypocrite if I enter into public worship on Sunday morning and yet I have not reconciled with a brother or made an attempt to do so. Now it's different if you are at odds with a brother or sister, you've attempted to make reconciliation and they've rebuffed your attempts. That's different. But if you have not made any effort to reconcile with your brother or sister, and yet we come and we offer a sacrifice of worship, there is an incongruency there. So. It is important for us to seek reconciliation. And why is that important? It's important because murder, whether you define it narrowly as physically taking the life of somebody or broadly as unrighteous anger towards someone, all begins in the heart with thoughts that lead to actions. And I think of James 1 here, verses 13-15. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one, but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. Oftentimes we have a tendency to want to deal with things when everything's about to blow up. But what James teaches us, what Jesus teaches us is you can cut it off at the root by thinking about and considering your thoughts. Words that are destructive begin with your thoughts, and thoughts can give birth to words, and words can give birth to hate, and hate can give birth to actions that when fully and finally carried out can end up in murder. And the best way to keep yourself from falling into that is to kill your thoughts in the first place. And so let me just finally now consider how we can prevent murdering ourselves and murdering others, okay? So let's consider the sixth commandment, and we're just gonna read very quickly the last two catechism questions here. Question 74 and 75. So question number 74, what is required in the Sixth Commandment? And we answer, the Sixth Commandment requires all lawful endeavors to preserve our own life and the life of others. And then question 75, what is forbidden in the Sixth Commandment? The Sixth Commandment absolutely forbids the taking away of our own life or the life of our neighbor unjustly or whatever tends to this. So, the first thing we need to consider in the sixth commandment as we seek to apply it is we need to not murder ourselves. Now, what do I mean by that? What are some obvious things that come to mind? Obviously, suicide. Is suicide a sin? Yes, of course it is. We see in Acts 16.28, remember when there was that earthquake and the prisoners were starting to get away and the Philippian jailer was about to take his own life, and Paul tells him not to kill himself, okay? But what about those who are in intense pain? What about those who are suffering? What about those who, even as we heard the beginning of this evening in Psalm chapter six, are languishing, not just spiritually, but physically? We do have to think about that. Is suicide in those instances justified? I remember hearing the story of an old Anglican minister who was precisely in this situation. He was in immense pain. He was on his deathbed, but he refused to curse the Lord. He refused to take his own life, but rather this Anglican minister saw his pain as affliction over which The Lord had control and continually would writhe in pain as he yelled out this psalm, Psalm 34. I will bless the Lord at all times, again, as he's writhing in pain. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord that the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name forever. Don't you love that the Lord gives you words to put to your emotions even when you feel like you have no words? The Lord gives you words in your grief. The Lord gives you words in your joy. He gives you words when you are under severe affliction. He gives you words to give back to Him. And He can even give you words when you are suffering under much pain. But that being said, suicide, as heinous as it is, is not the unpardonable sin. I've often heard Christians say sometimes, if you commit suicide, you're going to hell. I don't know where they get that. I don't know where it says in the Bible that the one sin that Jesus didn't die for is suicide. In fact, I know of a minister who took his own life because he was precisely in this situation. He was under immense pain. And even with all the pain medication that he took, it was too much for him. He fell into immense depression and took his own life. He's with the Lord. Should he have done that? Absolutely not. But he's with the Lord. He's with the Lord. So we. Is it OK to disagree and say that if you commit suicide, you're going to hell? Well, of course it's okay to disagree. Yeah. I guess perhaps we can. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Here's what I'll say, brother. Yes, he does. But I will tell you that. Yeah. Yeah. No, I respect that. I would say this. I'm going to die. Having not repented of every single sin that I've committed. Yes, I do understand that. But there's a possibility of repentance for those sins that you've committed because you're still alive. Right, right. And also, I'm not trying to interject to be, you know. No, I understand. For example, in 1 John it says, and we know that no murderer has eternal life dwelling within him. So I'm just wondering, how do you reconcile those two views? It just seems to be a huge contradiction for me when Christ says, I have come to give you life. The Doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints, as I understand it in the Bible, refers to the perseverance of one's faith. Some people's faith are very strong, and there are others who are very weak. The salvation that we have in Christ is fully and finally based on the work of Christ. So one of the things that the reformed divines have always said, and I agree 100 percent, the Lutherans were in agreement with us, the reform were in agreement with us, the Anglicans in some sense with 39 articles were in agreement with us, is that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone and not by, and this is where I'm going to touch what you're saying, even spirit wrought works. Repentance is a spirit-wrought work. It is very important, okay? But I am not saved by spirit-wrought works. I am saved by the works of Christ, and my connection to the work of Christ is faith. So I'll come back and say, there are sins that you and I and everyone in this room are going to die without repenting from, and I understand your distinction between the possibility of. But what I personally would need to see in Scripture to be convinced by that, and we can agree to disagree, is something like Jesus saying the unpardonable sin is suicide. And I see him saying the unpardonable sin is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, so if there were a way to connect suicide with blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, I'm on board. I don't see any exegetical rationale for that. but we can we can talk after this let me let me finish and that's and I appreciate that right you know yeah Right, right, right. Yeah, I think of Paul's words what can separate us from the love of Christ And one of the things that he says cannot is death and I believe even if even if worst-case scenario, I'm the Hand that brought about my death That is not something that is outside the cross work of Christ, but we can we can discuss a little bit more. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Let me just try to sum up here. So I When you're thinking about the Sixth Commandment with yourself, it's not out of the realm of helpful instruction to think about how you treat your bodies. Now, I'm not gonna give you a health lesson here, okay? But Proverbs 23, 20 and 21, be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat. For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty and slumber will clothe them with rags. Remember that we are not just spirit, but we are also body. And as we think about the preservation of our lives, it is important to think about how we treat our bodies. It is important to think about trying to preserve our bodies in the best possible way. So I'm not going to enter into all the details of what that looks like. I just want to raise awareness. that our bodies are to be cared for. We are to give our bodies sleep. We are to give our bodies exercise. We are to give our bodies a balanced meal, et cetera, et cetera. If there are things that we are putting in our bodies that are poisonous, we should think twice about that. Okay? You can go overboard with that, all right? And that's why I'm gonna step away from that now, all right? But we must have moderation. Our body is a temple of God, and that is body and soul. So we need to preserve ourselves, and you know, this also includes, you know, any sports that you're participating in, any activities that you're participating in. My professor was a rock climber, and before he got into that profession, he had to seriously wrestle with the sixth commandment and ask himself, By participating in this sport, am I breaking the sixth commandment by putting myself at too great of a risk? Those are things that you have to work through. Those are things that, now, there's some things that we can't avoid, right? I mean, I could get in a car accident at any point, but I also need to get to work every day. And so, there are some things that are necessary. But now, how do we stop murdering others? Very simply, words, actions, and thoughts. I've already mentioned some of these things, but we need to keep in mind that our words are incredibly destructive, and they can tear people down, and a lot of times, A lot of times we forget about that. A lot of times we forget that what James says is true, that the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a force is set ablaze by such a small fire. And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. Be careful with our words. Be careful with our actions and be careful even with our thoughts. Our thoughts are the seedbed, the seminary, if you will, the seedbed of all of our actions. And if we could cut them off there, we could cut it off at the past. So remember the thief on the cross? He mocked the Lord. People murdered Jesus. But Jesus was without murder, without unrighteous hate. And if we trust in him, he will say to us, as he said to the thief on the cross, today you will be with me in paradise. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for your word. We pray that you would help us to preserve our lives and the lives of others, and we pray that you would give us grace to do so. We ask these things in your son's name. Amen. You are dismissed. If you want to stick around and spar, we can.