Questions & Answers on the Ten Commandments

[0:00] All right. Okay, so this morning it's a little bit different. We've been going through the Ten Commandments and looking at the law of Moses in general.

[0:14] ! But because of the circumstances this morning, we're just going to be taking questions and talking about some of the things that we've been discussing, answering any questions that have come up along the way.

[0:25] Okay, I've got my Bible and I've got my computer here to help me out in case I need anything. You know, some people have a special gift of memory where they can remember exactly where every verse in the Bible is.

[0:39] I am not one of those people. My memory is okay, but sometimes I need to look things up. And so I love modern technology that allows me to do that.

[0:50] So I'm just going to jump right in here. We've gotten actually quite a few here. And so, but I've got, so let's see, who will be my mic person?

[1:07] I need a volunteer to run the mic in case we want to do that. All right, Nathan, the mic is right up front here on this front seat. And so if you want to go ahead and grab that and you can just take it back to your seat and be at the ready.

[1:20] All right, the first one here, we're just going to start with the hardest question in the world. So here's what it says. Wow, that's a difficult question.

[1:54] And really, it's one, it's not new. It's something that's been a challenge for Christians, for believers, you know, since the beginning. Because we see somewhat of a contradiction, right?

[2:08] And, you know, this relates to our message a couple of weeks ago in which we're talking about God's commandment, you shall not murder. You know, the King James says you shall not kill, but really it's you shall not murder, which has to do with killing the innocent.

[2:21] And it is true, right, that, you know, when God told the Israelites to take out the people of Canaan, you know, those people were quite wicked.

[2:35] The things that they practiced as far as idolatry and sexual morality and also, by the way, child sacrifice was a part of what they practiced, which God considered to be an abomination and was very much opposed to that.

[2:53] But one of the things that the Bible does speak to is that children, young children, are innocent. And so, actually, you know, there's a few places that kind of point to that idea.

[3:07] But the one that I think of off the top of my head is the story of Jonah. When Jonah went and he preached to Nineveh, telling them to repent.

[3:18] And he kind of, after he preached, you know, there was going to be 40 days, and then he was waiting to see the fireworks. God's judgment come upon that people. But they ended up repenting. And God actually reprimanded Jonah for, because he was kind of upset when he didn't see the fireworks of God's judgment on those people.

[3:38] Actually, if you want to turn to Jonah, I'll go ahead and turn there. This is in the, kind of the minor prophets. After the Psalms and Proverbs, you get into the major prophets, which major just means they're the bigger books.

[3:53] And then the minor prophets just means, not that they're less significant, but just that they wrote smaller accounts or prophecies.

[4:07] But at the very end there, as God is speaking and reprimanding Jonah, this is actually the very last verse. There's a, there's this plant that kind of grew up to, to shade Jonah.

[4:26] Well, let me see here. Let me, let's see where to start. Well, let's just start with the beginning of verse, or chapter four. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.

[4:38] It displeased him that God didn't judge the nation because of their repentance. So he prayed to the Lord and said, And that is a description of our God.

[4:59] He is great in mercy. He does judge the wicked, but he's willing to turn from that judgment when people turn from their sin. We'll skip down.

[5:09] It says verse six, And the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come over Jonah that it might shade him for his head and deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. But as morning dawned the next day, God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered.

[5:23] And it happened when the sun arose that God prepared a vehement east wind, and the sun beat on Jonah's head so that he grew faint, that he wished death for himself and said, It is better for me to die than to live.

[5:35] Then God said to Jonah, Is it right for you to be angry about the plant? And so he kind of gave this lesson to Jonah. And he said, Is it right for me to be angry even to the death?

[5:48] But the Lord said, You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night.

[5:59] So you had pity on this plant because, well, it was beneficial to you. And the last verse here says, And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than 120,000 persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left, and even much livestock.

[6:21] You know, people have pointed out this, it's kind of a metaphor, but those who cannot discern their right hand from their left is talking about children.

[6:32] At least that's the most common interpretation of that metaphor. But there are other places and indications in the Bible. I think about Ezekiel 18, in which God says, Hey, you know, I'm going to hold people responsible for their own sin.

[6:48] And I'm not going to take a man's sin and punish his children because of his father's sin. So that's a theme that we see throughout the Bible.

[7:00] But getting back to this question, And God commanded the Israelites that they go into Canaan and destroy everyone, both the men, the women, and the children.

[7:13] And that's difficult and it seems contradictory. So what's going on there? And again, this is not a simple, straightforward, you just check off a box type of answer. But in trying to explain it, you know, there are lots of times in the Bible where God took people's lives himself.

[7:30] In fact, we were just talking about that this morning with the judgment on Pharaoh's household and really all of Egypt in which God took the lives of the firstborn of every family.

[7:42] We see that in the flood, right? God destroyed the whole world except for the eight in that boat. And we can somewhat understand that, even though it's difficult because, you know, God's the giver of life.

[7:55] He can take life away. That's within his prerogative. But in general, right, God does not give or authorize human people to take the lives of the innocent.

[8:06] He commands taking the life of the guilty, murderers, right, but not the innocent. But in this special circumstance, God authorized that. Actually, there's a passage that speaks directly to this in Deuteronomy chapter 20.

[8:22] If you turn there, Deuteronomy chapter 20. It's after Numbers.

[8:40] Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy 20. And starting in verse 10, this is actually some instruction to Israel about how they should wage war.

[8:59] Because war is somewhat of a necessity in the world. You know, not every war that is started is good and is done for the right reasons.

[9:09] But sometimes you have to fight back. You have to go to war against your enemies to preserve your own nation, your own people. Verse 10. When you go near a city to fight against it, then proclaim an offer of peace to it.

[9:24] And it shall be that they accept your offer of peace and open to you. Then all the people who are found in it shall be placed under tribute to you and serve you. Now, if the city will not make peace with you but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it.

[9:38] So if they basically raise the white flag, you go in and you take over the city. But if they resist, then you can go ahead and besiege the city.

[9:48] Verse 13. And when the Lord your God delivers it into your hands, you shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword. So go ahead and you've got combatants, enemy combatants, which are the men.

[9:59] You can take their lives as needed. Verse 14. But the women, the little ones, the livestock, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall plunder for yourselves, and you shall eat the enemy's plunder which the Lord your God gives you.

[10:14] Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations. So he's talking about outside of Canaan. And so when it comes to this, in general circumstances, hey, you have the men who are combatants and you can take their lives, but not the lives of the women and children.

[10:34] But then he says this in verse 16. But of the cities of the peoples which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, but you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you, lest they teach you to do according to all their abominations, which they have done for their gods, and you sin against the Lord your God.

[11:02] It continues on, but the general idea there is that, hey, God has given you this land and there's a wicked people in there. And if you allow people to survive in that land, what's going to happen is that you will be led astray into their abominations and their wickedness.

[11:26] And so God wanted them to destroy the entire population to prevent that. Now, we know that Israel actually didn't do that. They didn't destroy all the people in the land.

[11:38] And ultimately what happened? They were led astray many times over the generations into following the idolatry and even the abominations of child sacrifice that they found among those people in the land.

[11:52] But it's still a challenging thing. God, in this specific case, authorized something that in general was in no way authorized by God because God commanded, right, even to Noah that, hey, if somebody puts an innocent person to death, if they kill an innocent person, then that person, their life should be taken because in God's image man was created.

[12:21] So God is the one who commands us to respect the lives of the innocent. In certain situations here, we find this really just one situation in which God commands the nation to actually, in some cases, take the life of the innocent.

[12:36] And it's hard for us to understand. You know, there was a question in here about foreknowledge. Did God know that they would all become wicked? I don't know.

[12:48] It doesn't really, you know, tell us at all. But we do know this, that when it comes to death, right, death is just a separation. It's a change in location, right?

[13:00] And God does not authorize men to prematurely change somebody's location, right, from the material life into eternity. But God does have.

[13:12] He is authorized. He's the one that gave us our lives. And so he does have the authority. Even for somebody who didn't do anything necessarily wrong, to take someone's life early, to change their location, and we know that God, when it comes to innocent people, the innocent, and children are the most innocent.

[13:31] And again, I'm talking about young children who don't know their right hand from their left. They don't understand right and wrong. God will take care of them from an eternal perspective.

[13:43] So a difficult question and a challenging one, and one that I don't know that has an answer that is completely fulfilling, but hopefully that helps.

[13:59] Any questions from the audience before I go on to the next one? Okay.

[14:12] Let's see. Let's look at the next one. Hopefully they get easier from here. What does visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children in Deuteronomy 5.9 mean?

[14:28] That's actually in Exodus 20 as well. In light of Ezekiel 18, 1 through 3 in verse 20. Okay. Ezekiel 18. I actually just mentioned this.

[14:40] Go ahead and turn to Ezekiel 18. Ezekiel 18. Ezekiel 18 is an important chapter in the Bible because it shows God's, how God deals with sin.

[15:01] It starts off this way, and this actually references the first three verses, so that's what we'll read. But it says this, Ezekiel 18. This is the prophet Ezekiel in the time of Israel.

[15:13] It says, There was this saying, I guess, among the land, this saying, and it might sound funny to us.

[15:32] Well, what does that mean? And as we read further, we kind of can start to understand what people meant when they said this. But the idea was, hey, the parents did something, and it caused something in the children.

[15:48] It caused, because the father was wicked or evil, it caused the children to be evil. And we certainly know that that can be the case, right? Parents can have a tremendous influence on their children.

[16:01] But it doesn't necessarily have to be the case, right? And in this case, it seems like it was more than just an influence thing, but it was something in which the saying meant that when a parent sins, it actually somehow imputes guilt to the children.

[16:19] And God here is saying in verse 3, As I live, says the Lord God, you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel. Don't say this.

[16:30] It's wrong. And then he continues on in verse 4, Behold, all souls are mine. The soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine. The soul who sins shall die.

[16:43] So it's the person who sins, who commits the sin. And they're the one that is guilty of that sin and are under the penalty of death. You know, we think about spiritual death, but sometimes, you know, it might be the death penalty from a civil perspective.

[17:03] But if a man is just and does what is lawful and right, if he has not eaten, and it continues on with this list of sins that are avoided and good things that are done, that God will basically hold each person accountable for their own sins, not for the sins of their parent, or even vice versa.

[17:24] It says vice versa, that God won't hold the parents accountable for the sins of the children. And so the question here is, what does visiting the iniquities of the father upon the children in Deuteronomy 5.9 mean in light of this passage?

[17:41] And so we read that in the Ten Commandments. In fact, let's go there. Deuteronomy 5.9, which also is in Exodus 20.

[17:59] Deuteronomy is just a repeat of the Ten Commandments. This is related to the second commandment, or the second commandment about idols.

[18:16] Verse 8, And so it seems that there's this indication that God is saying, hey, when somebody sins, when they bow down to idols, I am going to judge those people, not just the first generation that does that, but even the second and third generation.

[18:54] And that seems to contradict what God is saying in Ezekiel chapter 18 there. And so what's going on? Is there really a contradiction?

[19:05] You know, it's not totally clear in this Ten Commandments when it's speaking of God visiting the iniquity, right, that that's visiting the iniquity on the innocent.

[19:20] There's a few ways to kind of look at it. One, when God brings judgment on one generation, can that judgment, even if it ends, continue to affect the second and third generation?

[19:34] Yeah, it can. A judgment against a people, when God brings, for example, enemies in to judge Israel, which is something specifically that we've seen in biblical history, that has an impact.

[19:50] When Israel was dispersed from their land and taken captive and taken to Babylon or part of the Persian Empire, that impacted them for generations, not just the first generation, but the following generations.

[20:07] And we actually see, for example, with, I believe it was either Ezra or Nehemiah praying to the Lord and saying, God, you know, the reason we're here is because of the sins of our people.

[20:21] But we just talked about Jonah, right? And God was going to bring judgment on these people because, in Nineveh, because of their wickedness.

[20:35] But how quickly God was willing to turn from that judgment because they turned from their sins.

[20:45] They repented of their sins. And so God is so willing to turn from his judgment when people turn from their sins. And so, again, God visiting the iniquity upon the, you know, the second and third generation.

[21:04] When God judges a nation, it kind of can last for multiple generations. And sometimes the sin, right, persists through multiple generations.

[21:15] So that's another way, kind of, that you could read that. But God is a God of mercy. And what we actually see, right, throughout the narrative of the Bible is that when people turn towards the Lord, God doesn't say, well, I've got to wait another two or three generations before I will forgive you or show you mercy.

[21:38] That's not what we see. We see that when people turn to him, his mercy and forgiveness is immediate. So hopefully that helps out there.

[21:52] All right. All right, here's my next one. Why follow some commandments but not others?

[22:03] Why follow some commandments but not others? And, you know, we see this. There are certain commandments in the Bible that we think are worthy of keeping.

[22:14] You shall not murder. That's something that basically everybody agrees to. But as we talked about, when it comes to keeping the Sabbath, that's something that certain Christians will, some Christians will follow and they'll try to keep and others say, hey, that's not actually something for Christians to keep.

[22:30] But there's always something somewhere in the Old Testament law that Christians will not follow. Probably the biggest one is the animal sacrifices, right?

[22:41] We don't do those animal sacrifices. They were commanded, they were required as part of the law to do those animal sacrifices on an annual basis. But as Christians, we don't do that.

[22:53] Well, why is that? Well, it comes down to what is the purpose behind the commandment? We talked about this when we first started this series. Some commandments are moral in nature.

[23:06] They describe fundamental morality, right and wrong. And others are more ceremonial in nature. They don't describe something that has to do with right or wrong, but just a ritual that God commanded for that specific people, the Israelites at that time, that they needed to keep and perform as part of their covenant with God.

[23:28] And so, now it's not always cut and dry what is moral and what is ceremonial. Most of the time, I think it is, when it comes to the food laws and the sacrifices and a lot of the things that just appear ritualistic, it's a little bit easier for us to determine.

[23:47] But sometimes, there's occasions where, well, it's not clear. I think the Sabbath is probably the biggest one. But I think about it in terms of, hey, if this is something, a command in the Bible that someone's conscience would bug them about, something where somebody would point at somebody else and say, hey, that's not right, then that is typically something that's moral, right?

[24:12] Because God says that he put the law in our hearts. We read that in Romans. And so, everybody has the law of God in their hearts, but is it the whole law of Moses that's in our hearts?

[24:25] I don't think that's true, right? There isn't something in our conscience that says, hey, if I take the day off on Friday instead of Saturday, you know, I'm doing something wrong.

[24:37] You know, if you go to some tribe out in the middle of nowhere that's never opened up a Bible in their life, they don't even know what the seven days of the weeks are, right?

[24:48] That's a foreign concept to them. That's not going to be something that's going to bother their conscience. Yet, if somebody steals from them or takes away the life of one of their family members, that's something where the law in their hearts is going to rise up inside them, and they're going to say, hey, you did me wrong.

[25:06] And so, that's a way that we can determine between commandments that are moral and those that are more ceremonial or ritual in nature. And so, Paul specifically tells us that there are certain parts of the law that Christians can basically, not ignore, I don't want to say ignore, right?

[25:29] Because the law can teach us, but that we do not have to follow. So, let me see if I can find it here in my notes.

[25:51] Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. In Hebrews 10, verse 1, it says, It speaks of the things, some things in the law being shadows of things to come.

[26:33] Let me see. There's, what's the other passage where Paul talks about, yeah, Colossians 2.16.

[26:45] Colossians 2.16. Paul says this to believers today. Again, we are believers not under the law, but under grace. He says, Colossians 2.16, So let no one judge you in food or in drink or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.

[27:11] And so, he lists off a few things that you find in the law of Moses that have to do with festivals, days that you observe food and drink.

[27:23] And he's saying, Hey, don't let anybody judge you about those things. You are free in regard to those things. Israel was not free. They were required to keep those things.

[27:35] They were required to observe those special days. They were required to restrict their diet. As Christians under grace, we are no longer required to do those things. When it comes to morality, Now, there is, we are no longer under the laws of morality either, but that doesn't mean that we should ignore them, that we should just, you know, steal and murder and bear false witness.

[28:00] But we're no longer under the condemnation of the law even when we break those moral commandments. But at the same time, we should, they are instructions in righteousness.

[28:13] That's what Paul calls them in Romans. All right. And then there's another question. Why are there such different views on how many commandments there are? I'm not familiar, I guess, with the different views.

[28:28] So I'm not sure how to answer this question. I've always heard the number of laws in the law of Moses is 613. Am I getting that right? That's the number in my head.

[28:39] 613. And I've never heard anybody really dispute that. And maybe people have. I've never taken the time to like do a spreadsheet and count them all up. Maybe some of you have. And so if you have an idea on what a different number is.

[28:52] And I'm sure it can be difficult, right? Sometimes you can, you're not sure, is this one law or is this two? And so I don't know how the counting happens. Yes, Isabella. I meant just the Ten Commandments.

[29:04] Okay, and maybe you're talking about how they're counted. Because everybody, I think, believes that there's Ten Commandments. But when they're counted, sometimes people count them a little bit differently.

[29:15] And so there's a different view among, I forget, so the Jews kind of have one view in general. And then like the Catholics and Lutherans have a certain view. And then the Protestants in general have another view on how they count them.

[29:27] And so I'm trying to remember all the details, but I think it's the First Commandment, what we would consider as the First Commandment, generally, again, you shall have no other gods before me.

[29:45] The Jews kind of think of as just a preamble. It's not actually one of the commandments. And then I think the Catholics and the Lutherans would combine that with idolatry. So have no other gods before me and don't bow down to them, by the way.

[29:57] That's all one. And you could kind of see how that could be the case. But in generally, in the Protestant world, it's typically seen as you shall have no other gods before me is the first one. And then the second one is do not bow down to idols.

[30:13] And so I think it's a fair debate. I would never like criticize someone too harshly for having a different view on that. But we know the Bible very explicitly says, hey, there's ten of these commandments.

[30:25] In a very literal sense, it says ten words on those tablets of stone. Okay, here's the next question. Oh, we're...

[30:37] We actually might not get through all these. Talk a little more about mercy and forgiveness in light of consequences and vengeance. This is a good one. You know, the law accounts for mercy.

[30:51] But wow, when you read the law of Moses, there is a lot of condemnation and guilt and judgment and consequences of the law and vengeance. We talked about that, especially when it comes to you shall not murder.

[31:04] You know, there is vengeance when it comes to you shall not murder. And by the way, just to... I didn't really speak to this and so we can talk about this since vengeance came up.

[31:16] Another question that came up in my household was, well, you know, some people... And this is presented in movies a lot of times, right? You got some horrible thing happened. You know, somebody's wife or children were kidnapped or something like that and the hero comes in and he takes the law into his own hands and gets the bad guy.

[31:36] And a lot of times we'll cheer and celebrate that the bad guy got what was coming to him. But is it appropriate, is it okay for individuals, Christian or not, to take vengeance into their own hands?

[31:51] And when you read in Genesis, God said, if a man sheds an innocent man's blood, then by man his blood shall be shed. And there's not really any indication of, well, which man or who?

[32:03] Just anybody? But the more we read in the Bible, we actually find, no, God actually has in mind that this is something that is somebody with the proper authority has to have in order to execute that kind of judgment.

[32:22] And so, I actually wrote a few of these down. In Proverbs 20, verse 22, it says, Do not say, I will recompense evil. Wait for the Lord.

[32:33] He will save you. Proverbs 24, 29, Do not say, I will do to him just as he has done to me. I will render to the man according to his work.

[32:45] God did not give us, as individuals, the authority to execute judgment, whether it's the capital punishment or any other kind of punishment, when it comes to criminal-type offenses.

[32:56] And then in the New Testament, Paul speaks to this very clearly to Christians. Turn to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12.

[33:17] You know, as Christians, we need to know how to live in civil society, and Paul gives some instructions here. And as Christians, we might have people commit crimes against us.

[33:28] Sometimes it's crimes related to us being Christians. Sometimes it's crimes just that anybody else would be exposed to. Starting in verse, let's see, verse 14, yeah, Romans 12, 14, Bless those who persecute you.

[33:47] Do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. And then verse 17, he says this, Repay no one evil for evil. So if somebody does something evil to you, do not repay them by doing more evil.

[34:05] Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as it depends on you, which, by the way, sometimes it is not, but if it is possible, live peaceably with all men.

[34:17] And then in verse 19, it says this, it's very clear, Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath. For it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.

[34:29] And by the way, he's quoting what? He's quoting the law of Moses. In the law itself, it says, Do not take personal vengeance yourself. If somebody commits a crime against you, you are not authorized to take this vengeance yourself.

[34:43] And then he transitions here into chapter 13, in which he says this, let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. And he continues on and on and says, hey, the governing authorities, they're the ones that God has given the power of the sword, not to individuals, but to those who govern nations.

[35:05] And so, what does it mean to allow God to have his vengeance when it comes to criminals? Well, it's not necessarily saying that, well, when they finally get to judgment day, that's when God's going to exercise vengeance on them.

[35:21] That may be true, right? And that may be the only vengeance they see. But no, it's not just that. God has also authorized individuals, rulers, magistrates, to exercise God's vengeance because they're the ones that he gave the authority to do that, to punish evildoers.

[35:42] To be a terror to evil works. And so, as Christians, or really for anybody, vengeance is not ours to take. But this, back to this question, talk a little bit more about mercy and forgiveness in light of consequences and vengeance.

[35:58] Yeah, so when it comes to breaking the moral law, we see that there are consequences. If it's a criminal matter, then a judge, the right thing to do is to bring the proper punishment.

[36:11] Whether it's restitution or sometimes, if it's something severe enough, capital punishment. And so, that's all right and it's good.

[36:22] But, God is a God of mercy. The passage that I think of regarding this is 1 Corinthians 6. So, turn there. 1 Corinthians 6. 1 Corinthians 6.

[36:45] He's actually criticizing these believers. These are Christian people who love the Lord, who are saved by the grace of God. And he's criticizing them for sinning, for doing wrong things to their neighbor.

[37:00] And this is what he says, starting in verse 8. Know you, you yourselves, you do wrong and you cheat and you do these things to your brethren. This is verse 9.

[37:12] Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

[37:28] And you know, some people read that as well. It means if I'm a Christian and I do these things, then I won't get to heaven. And I don't think that's what he's saying. In fact, I think it's very clear that's not what he's saying. But he's saying, hey, God's going to bring judgment in the world and there is this thing coming called the kingdom.

[37:45] And you know, part of the, one of the things that's going to keep people out of the kingdom is the way that they lived. And so, why would you as a Christian do these things that God is going to judge people for in the future?

[38:00] Why would you do those things? These are not good things that you are doing. But here's how he ends it. Verse 11. And such were some of you.

[38:14] This is how you lived your lives. This is what you gloried in in the past. But, he says, but you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God.

[38:28] You were washed away. Your sins that you had committed were washed from you. You were sanctified. That word sanctified means you were made holy. You were set apart as something special that God preserved, preserves for himself.

[38:45] Something special unto God. And then it says this, and you were justified. What does that mean? Justified. You were made righteous. Declared righteous. What's this list again?

[38:56] Such were some of you. Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, covetous, drunks, revilers, extortioners.

[39:08] And how many of us, right, does that describe to some degree or another that God is so merciful and kind and willing to forgive at the drop of a hat anyone who turns to him.

[39:26] And by the way, not just forgive our past, right, but continue to forgive and wash away our sins even if we struggle with sin in our Christian lives.

[39:41] And so, yes, there is consequences to sin. There is vengeance in civil matters. but God, when it comes to our relationship with him, he is willing to have mercy and forgive anyone who turns to him.

[40:04] Wow. I've got a few more I didn't get to. But I don't want to... Well, I'll do one more.

[40:15] Thou shalt not kill, murder. Is it the same word in Ecclesiastes 3.3? I think I know what that is.

[40:26] Ecclesiastes 3.3. Is it a time for everything under heaven? Yeah, so I won't take the time to turn there, but I think that's the passage about there's a time for everything under heaven.

[40:40] A time to be born, a time to die, a time for to heal, and a time to kill. A time to kill.

[40:50] And I don't know if it's the same word or not, but regardless, sometimes there is a time to kill, right?

[41:07] Now, I don't... I would imagine... Well, here. I'm going to actually look it up. You know that you can use Bible software and you can actually look up... And Strong's Concordance.

[41:18] How many of you use Strong's? You can look up Bible words. What is it? What's the... Oh, Ecclesiastes 3.3. Okay, the word is harag, which is not the same because I remember when I looked that up when we were doing the sixth commandment.

[41:40] But it does mean to destroy, to kill, to slay. I think slay, it looks like, is the most common word, especially in the King James.

[41:54] And so, I think with most of the words when it comes to killing don't necessarily relate to whether the person was guilty or innocent. In fact, I think the one that is used in the Ten Commandments is more specifically about killing the innocent.

[42:14] But this word is not. And so, you know, this is really talking about times of conflict and war and we talked about some of the times where it is appropriate to take the lives of others.

[42:27] Through capital punishment was one. Another one is sometimes in self-defense when people are threatening our lives we have the right to defend ourselves. And then the third is really as a nation we have the right to defend our nation from others.

[42:41] And so, sometimes that means we need to go to war and we have soldiers that battle and have to take the lives of people in order to defend our nation.

[42:53] And so, there is appropriate times for that. And so, I think that's what Solomon, right, that wrote Ecclesiastes was talking about.

[43:05] It's a challenging book by the way, Ecclesiastes, there's something in there, some things in there that don't seem like they're proper wisdom from the Lord and other things that are.

[43:21] Because we're out of time, I'm going to end there. I think we got through most of them anyway. But, you guys don't ask easy questions.

[43:32] How come, you don't give me the easy ones. But that's okay. There's a lot of people here that are just interested in, you know, what the Bible says and got a lot of experience in studying the Bible for themselves.

[43:47] Sometimes we get past all the easy questions and all we've got left are the hard ones. So, let's go ahead and finish there. We'll end in a word of prayer. Father, we love your word and as we study the Ten Commandments and the Law of Moses and the Bible in general, sometimes things are confusing, some things don't make sense.

[44:10] But we find that this book is just incredible in its internal consistency and just the truths that it gives to us. It just has the earmarks of being the word of God.

[44:21] But with those things that, you know, throw us for a loop, that confuse us, we ask that you would continue to give us a clarity and insight. Help us to understand your words so that we might live lives that are honoring to you and that we might know you more, that we might rejoice in your love for us and your mercy, but also understand just how seriously you take our lives and life here on earth.

[44:49] The things that we find through judgment and the consequences and vengeance that we would know all about you and how you operate in the world and how you expect things to work in the world.

[45:04] Thank you for giving us more clarity and insight each and every day. In Jesus' name, amen. All right. Thank you, everybody. Don't forget, there's those, if you're interested in the Bible conference, there's...