Capital Punishment and the Word of God
When a man shot and killed several people on a NYC subway,
Gov. Mario Cuomo was asked what we should do.
He said, “I know one thing we should not do . . ."
And from that point he went on and spoke out against capital punishment.
When Timothy McVeigh blew up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City government building on April 19, 1995.
168 people were killed; 19 were children.
He was executed in June 11, 2001.
There were people who protested his execution.
In June 2002, a murderer was put to death in MS.
The protesters at that execution accused society of murder.
We could go on for some time with this sort of thing.
But my point is actually a simple one.
More and more capital punishment is in the news.
I want to share with you what God says about capital punishment.
So, I want you to have an open Bible in our hand.
Now, I want to say further as we think about the death penalty, that many Christians –
sincere Christians –
people who love the Lord with all their hearts –
and are Bible-believing Christians –
have nontheless allowed the liberal element to cloud their
understanding of God's Word in this particular area.
Now as we decide about capital punishment, we're not going to be able to decide by gallup poll.
And we're not going to be able to decide by sentiment, but by the Word of God.
The problem is not with the Word of God; the problem is with society.
Mankind has gotten to the point where they think everyone's opinion on a matter is just as valid as someone else's.
And while everyone has a right to their own opinion, they think that theirs is just as valid as God's.
But contrary to popular opinion, God does not just give His opinion; God simply tells how it is.
Again, God does not just give His opinion; God simply tells us how it is.
And from that point, the case is closed.
In Romans 12, we have the Christian's three-fold relationship.
First of all, there is
1. The Christian's Relationship to God.
Rom. 12:1 says,
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."
That's our relationship to God.
We're to give ourselves to God totally, completely, without reservation.
And of course, in light of Calvary, the mercies of God, it is absolutely reasonable that we should do this.
But not only do we have a relationship to God, but we also have
2. Our Relationship to Other Christians.
Our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Here, Paul speaks of that relationship beginning vv. 9-16.
In these verses, the Bible says that we are to love one another and be devoted to one another.
Now, beginning in verse 17 and following, he talks about
3. Our Relationship to Those Who Are Lost.
Listen to what God says in vv. 17-21. READ.
"17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."
Now, this is the relationship that we're going to be dealing with now.
What is the Christian's point of view toward evil people – people who would harm the Christian…
People who would do him bodily harm or any other kind of harm.
First, there is
A. A Divine Prohibition.
God gives us a very severe prohibition.
God says that we're not to take vengeance on those who would harm us.
Notice v. 19 –
"Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord."
We as Christians are absolutely forbidden to take revenge.
It is not up to us to seek personal revenge.
As a matter of fact, we're to give place to wrath.
That means that we are to step back.
As much as is in us, we're to live peaceably with all men.
Jesus said that we are to turn the other cheek.
We are not to try to get even.
Now, for us, therefore, to take revenge, is to steal from God.
Just as some steal from God by holding on to God's tithes, so to take revenge is taking something that rightfully belongs to God.
And when you take it, you have taken something that does not belong to you.
It belongs to God.
So, there is a prohibition in v. 19.
But that prohibition also comes with a promise.
And the promise is this:
"19 I will repay, saith the Lord."
You don't have to worry about it.
God is going to repay.
Now, when the Bible says, "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves," what happens to us?
We say,
"Hold it right there. You mean I'm supposed to take all of this?
Do you mean that I'm to let that two-legged rascal get by with that?
No. It's not a matter of him getting by with it.
He's not going to get by with it.
Because with the Divine Prohibition, there is a Divine Promise with
B. A Divine Prerogative. God takes vengeance.
God says, "I will repay."
And God will do a better job than you can do.
God knows exactly what punishment he needs.
God knows exactly when he needs it.
So, there is a divine promise.
God says, "I will repay."
It may be in this life;
It may be in the life to come;
Or it may be both in this life AND in the life to come.
So there is a divine promise with
A divine prerogative.
But there is also
C. The Divine Procedure.
How does God repay?
Well, contrary to popular thinking, God repays through human justice and through human law.
Listen to Romans 13:1-4
1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: 4 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 the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
Now, notice that last phrase in v. 4:
"He is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil."
What does God say?
"Vengeance is mine; I will repay saith the Lord."
Who does God use to take His revenge?
Verses 3-4 tell us the rulers are the ministers and are the revengers to execute wrath upon those who do evil.
Now what God is saying here is that human government is ordained of God to act on His behalf.
Vv. 1-2 tell us that there is no authority but of God.
The powers that be are ordained of God.
And that includes governments that we would consider evil governments.
It's been wisely said before that evil rulers are God's reward for evil people.
Even Pilate, for example, who was the one who signed the death warrant of Jesus Christ Himself.
Pilate has gone down in infamy, but Jesus told Pilate in John 19:11, "You would have no power but that which is given to you of God."
That's what Jesus said to Pilate.
And when Jesus was here, He did not lead an insurrection against His government – and friend, He could have.
And when you think of the oppressive Roman government that Jesus lived under…
But Jesus said,
"Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's."
But what I'm trying to say is this: that God has provided for people like us…fallen and frail and sinful human beings…God has ordained human authority
And God has ordained government.
And the Bible is clear that we as individuals should not take vengeance, but God will do that – God will repay.
And God repays through human government. Human government is the minister of God to execute wrath upon those who do evil.
Listen to v. 4 again:
"4 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 the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil."
He is to bear the sword.
And the sword is a symbol of destruction and death.
When God is speaking about the sword, He is not speaking about jail cell.
God is not talking about a cat of nine tails.
God is talking about a sword.
And friends, the sword was designed for one purpose – to shed blood – to take a life.
Capital punishment is taught in the Word of God.
God has given to human government he right,
The necessity,
And the incumbency to take a life by means of capital punishment when it is necessary and when it is right.
In Genesis 9:6, you will find that right at the dawn of civilization God is beginning to deal with a sinful people.
And God gives some laws to men.
And in Genesis 9:6 God says,
"Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man."
And I would remind you that the same God who existed in the time of Genesis is the same God that exists here today.
He is the same God.
God does not change.
Now, there are people today who would have us believe God as cruel in the OT and loving and merciful in the NT.
Friend, God was merciful in the OT;
God is merciful in the NT.
But God is a God of righteousness, and God is a God of justice.
And God says, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord."
Now, many times, those who do not understand the Bible want to argue against the death penalty by mentioning the 10 Commandments.
And of those, Exodus 20:13 says, "Thou shalt not kill."
I heard a talk show host (John DeClue of Memphis) say,
"Capital punishment is nothing more than premeditated murder. And that makes us as guilty as the murderer on trial. You know, "Thou shalt not kill."
You know what that verse means in Ex. 20:13?
That verse literally says, "Thou shalt do no murder."
Listen to the next chapter in Ex. 21:12.
"He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death."
Now that's just black print on white paper.
"He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death."
And the next time you see someone parading around against capital punishment, and holding up one of those signs, "Thou shalt not kill," just remember that he has not even gone to the next chapter.
He's trying to make God's Word contradict itself.
As a matter of fact, there are two different Hebrew words used in those two verses for "kill."
In Ex. 20:13 the word is תִּֿרְצָֽ֖ח (tirssach) which specifically refers to murder.[1]
And in Ex 21:12, the Bible says that someone who in a premeditated way takes someone else's life, God says that he shall surely be put to death.
And the word for "put to death" is יוּמָֽת (yumoth) and it means, "to be executed.[2]
So, capital punishment is in the plan of God.
And the same God who wrote about the magistrate bearing the sword not in vain in Romans 13 is the same God who wrote Genesis 9:6 and Exodus 21:12.
Now, why the death penalty?
I want to give you some reasons now for the death penalty.
1. Because God Is Love.
This may sound strange, but because God is a God of love He hates certain things.
Now, don't get the idea that if we're Christians that we are not to hate at all.
To the contrary, if we love, we must hate certain things.
Look at what real love is. Listen to Rom. 12:9.
Rom. 12:9 says,
"Let love be without dissimulation (hypocrisy). Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
That word "abhor" means to hate with a deep hatred.
We are absolutely to hate evil.
You see, dear friend, you cannot love righteousness without hating evil.
You see, God's love is without hypocrisy.
God's love is a true love.
And because God is a God of love, and because God's love is not a hypocritical love, God loves without dissimulation.
God Himself abhors evil and loves that which is good.
Therefore, God abhors that evil wherever it is found.
You see, softness to the criminal is cruelty to the community.
Softness in a matter of major crimes is not an act of love.
If you are a shepherd, you love your sheep, but you are going to hate the wolves.
If you love people, then you're going to hate sin and you're going to hate crime.
And if you love a community, you're not going to want to see murderers loose on the streets.
You see, sometimes people have the idea that because God is a God of love that God is not going to punish sin.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is God's love that compels God to punish sin.
It is not that God is too good to punish sin, it is that God is too good NOT to punish sin.
"Let love be without dissimulation. HATE THAT WHICH IS EVIL and cleave to that which is good."
And one of the reasons for the death penalty is that God loves your community.
God loves your children;
God so loves you that God wants you to be able to live in peace and safety and tranquility.
God wants you to be able to go out of the doors at night without being in stark terror.
And so, God's love is without hypocrisy.
When you love that which is good and you love that which is righteous and just, then you are going to hate that which is evil.
Now, this brings us very close to the second reason.
God has the death penalty, first of all because God is a God of love.
But God has the death penalty also
2. Because God has the welfare of society on His heart.
Look again at Rom. 13:3 –
"3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou not then be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
"4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good."
The reason for the death penalty is for the good of society.
Now folks, society is sick.
And that sickness is violence and crime.
If you had a cancer in your body, you would not think much of a doctor who tried to treat that cancer with a sun-tan lotion.
And when society chooses the course of non-surgery to a certain class of criminal element, it is near suicidal.
It is refusing to deal with a serious, serious problem.
And there are those who will tell you that capital punishment is not a deterrent to crime.
My friend, that is absolutely foolish;
It is ridiculous.
If it were not so serious, it would be laughable.
Of course it is a deterrent!
If a man kills someone and that man is put to death, it deters him from killing someone else.
And I'm not trying to be smart or sarcastic about it.
In an Associated Press article dated Match 8, 2008,
Jessie Dotson was arrested and charged in the mass murder on Lester Street here in Memphis.
That man who killed six people around the first of March of this year.
Two of those six people murdered were children.
The paper said that he had a long history of crime.
In fact, he was guilty of murder once before, but was allowed to plea-bargain down to 2nd-degree murder.
He went to prison and had been released just the January before the murder.
Now listen. If he had been executed for that first murder, then he would have been deterred from those other six murders a few months ago.
It is foolish to say that capital punishment is not a deterrent to murder.
These people kill one person and then another person, and then another person, and then another person.
I can tell you how to nip that in the bud real quick.
Execute him after the first murder, and you'll never have to worry about him killing all those other persons.
You'll save all those other lives.
How would you like to be a prison guard guarding people who have already killed so many people they already have the maximum sentence.
They know that the state cannot do anything else to them, so that gives them a license to kill as many as they want.
You want to be a prison guard in a place like that?
I didn't think so.
Now, you might say,
"But Bro. David, we're supposed to have compassion."
Yes, we are. Compassion for the right things.
How about a little compassion for the community for a change?
We are to have compassion from God's point of view.
And again, God is a God of love.
And God loves good and hates evil.
And God loves your family and God loves your community, and God loves your home, and God hates murder.
And the death penalty is God's way of helping insure that our streets are safe and that our homes are safe, and that your children and my children are safe.
And the love of God is going to seek the welfare of the community and not the contrary.
You see, today, there is no element of terror among criminals.
They terrorize people rather than be terrified.
My friends, I think the criminal himself ought to be the one who has terror.
You and I are not the ones who should have to live behind bars.
These businesses down these streets should not have to put bars over their windows to keep out the thugs.
Romans 13:3 says that "rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil."
You see, people who commit crimes are the ones who ought to be afraid.
But today, when a man commits a crime, he figures really that the chances he would die for it is about the same as getting hit with a meteor.
Truly, the chances of him getting struck by lightening are greater than being executed for first degree murder.
In the Commercial Appeal on Jan. 2, 2008 I saw where someone got 20-30 years in prison, but will be eligible for parole after 1/3 of his sentence is served.
Friend, that is a 66 2/3 % discount.
That's better than a grand opening sale at Wal-Mart.
A guy figures it's worth the risk.
No wonder he's not terrified.
I'll tell you who is terrified – it's the average citizen.
And today, the only people who feel that they have the freedom to go out at night are the criminals.
Somehow we've got the monkeys running the zoo.
But the Bible says that rulers are to be a terror to those who do evil.
Friend, we're not smarter than God.
And it does not matter one whit that they took a poll of criminals in prison who said that the death penalty would not deter them from committing a crime.
Since when can we believe them?
If they said it would deter them, they'd be the ones facing execution.
They are not about to say that capital punishment helps deter crime.
Listen, when you put a lighthouse out here on some rocky shore,
And that lighthouse sends its beam back and forth;
Nobody will ever know how many ships were NOT wrecked because that lighthouse was there.
He only ones you hear about are those that get wrecked.
And no one will ever know how many people would have thought twice if they had known that they would have faced a swift and sure execution.
There is no way of telling the number of lives that would be saved if the death penalty were properly carried out.
But I just mentioned six that we know would not have been murdered if that murderer had been executed properly years before.
But I know two things:
1. Since our justice system has gone sot on crime and capital punishment, crime has not gone down has it?
2. I know that with capital punishment that fellow will never kill anyone else.
But one reason for the death penalty is because of the love that God wants us to display for good and the hatred that we are to have for evil
And another reason is for the welfare of the community.
But there is a third reason for the death penalty:
3. For the Welfare of the Criminal Himself.
Now this may sound strange, but it's not.
If you love the criminal or the potential criminal you would still want the death penalty for his sake.
First, it would keep him from his crime.
If you love him, you don't want him to b taking other lives.
And you want to do everything necessary that you can to keep him from committing that crime.
But there is something else it would do:
It would shock him into repentance if he's ever going to repent.
Remember the dying thief on the cross? That's what happened to him.
I mean, if he knows that on a certain day he's going to die…listen, if that does not get him right with God, nothing is going to get him right with God.
I mean, if you knew that tomorrow morning you were going to die, wouldn't you do some repenting and praying tonight?
Amen? Do it anyway…
Listen, I mean you'd be making a list and checking it twice. Amen?
Friend a man who won't get right with God then…I don't think he's going to get right.
And in a strange way, if you love the criminal element, you would want capital punishment.
n to keep him from his crime
n And to cause him to face the fact that he must die and he had better get right with God.
But there is yet a fourth reason for capital punishment that is usually overlooked.
4. The death penalty is there because of the justice of God.
Now, today, people argue this way.
They say,
"Well, what good would it do to put a man to death. If he continues to live, at least you can rehabilitate him.
Now, the idea of rehabilitation goes back to the idea that somehow the criminal is sick.
He's not evil, he's ill;
He's not sinful, he's sick.
In Kansas City, Missouri, Lisa Montgomery was sentenced to death for killing a woman in Skidmore, MO, and cutting her unborn baby from the womb.[3]
She took the baby home to raise it.
Listen to the article quoting Montgomery's defense lawyer:
Montgomery's lawyer, Frederick Duchardt, said he soon would begin the long appeals process. He said jurors in Kansas City never saw either a complete picture of Montgomery's mental condition or a full appreciation of her human qualities.
"The thing I am saddest about as her defense team is that we didn't portray her as the kind and gentle individual that she is," Duchardt said.
Kind and gentle? Excuse me? But that is precisely how society thinks today.
He's not wicked, he's weak.
He's like a computer that has been programmed wrongly.
And the idea is that if we can reprogram the computer, we can rehabilitate the murderer.
But folks, let me tell you something.
There is something in the Word of God known as justice, and rehabilitation has nothing to do with it.
They pay.
There is simply a payment.
Something has been done that is horribly wrong.
God's law has been transgressed.
And because of the transgression of God's law, there must be restitution and there must be punishment.
Let me tell you something about hell:
Hell is not remedial.
Hell is not for rehabilitation.
God does not put people in hell until they get better and then bring them out.
No. That is God's divine justice.
It is God's retribution.
I've said this before, but I say it again:
I believe that if the Supreme Court could vote on it, they would outlaw hell as cruel and unusual punishment.
And you know that is true.
You remember when Paul appeared before the magistrates of his day in Acts 25:11?
Paul said this:
"For if I be an offender, or have committed anything worthy of death, I refuse not to die."
In other words, Paul said,
"If I have committed a capital offense, then I insist on being put to death.
The Apostle Paul believed in capital punishment.
Now, you say,
"Wait a minute, Bro. David, that was Paul.
Well, Paul was a man of God and knew God.
And Paul didn't say, "This thing of capital punishment is wrong."
In fact, God Himself has practiced capital punishment down through the ages.
In Noah's day, God destroyed an entire population because of their sin.
Remember that Jesus Himself told the Pharisees about all their sins.
Jesus told the woman at the well about all her sins.
But Jesus never disputed the system of capital punishment.
God the Father sent Jesus to the cross through the criminal justice system of that day to pay for our sins.
The death penalty is taught in the Word of God.
It is not a lack of love on your part.
You are to love the criminal;
You are never to take vengeance;
You are to do good to those who persecute you.
Taking vengeance is not your business.
But it is also not your business to circumvent God's plan when God says "vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.
But someone will say,
"But what if an innocent person is put to death?"
If there is a slim chance that an innocent person would be arrested and convicted of a capital crime, that would be a tragedy.
But I want you to put the shoe on the other foot and see the real danger.
The greater danger today is in the other direction.
How many innocent people are we condemning to death because we refuse to do it God's way?
I mean what about those six people who were murdered not long ago?
How many innocent people are going to be killed, beaten, murdered, who are absolutely innocent…
Gunned down,
Stabbed,
Raped,
Mutilated
Dismembered…
Because we refuse to do it God's way.
My friends, we are not smarter than God.
Nothing that has human beings involved in it is absolutely perfect.
But we'll always do better by doing it God's way.
We will never be more "loving" than God is.
Let's bow for prayer.
Now let me say one last thing.
All of us deserve the death penalty.
The wages of sin is death.
Not just physical death, but eternal death.
And Jesus Christ was executed on the cross by His Own Father.
God the Father pulled the switch on God the Son.
Is 53 says,
"It hath pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief.
And Jesus took the sin of the world upon himself
He took the sin of every rapist,
Every sodomite,
Every murderer,
Every thief,
Every liar.
Sin is a capital offense to God.
And God has never gone soft on sin.
That God would sacrifice His only begotten Son for our sins ought to make us see the love of God and cause us to love Him and repent of our sins.
And I am so glad that my death sentence has been commuted because Jesus died on the cross for my sins.
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[1]Brown-Driver, and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon, s.v., רָצַח.
[2]Brown-Driver, and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon, s.v. מוּת.
[3]The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN. April 5, 2008, A-4.