Trinity Baptist Church

God’s Perfect Ten

The Sixth Commandment

Exodus 20:13

 

I think there is a tendency on the part of a lot of people after the first commandments to offer a sign of relief and breathe a little easier because the last five don’t really affect them.

 

After all, we’re good church-going people who have no trouble with the big ugly sins that are listed here.  That may especially be true of the sixth commandment which deals with the prohibition of murder. You may think of all of the commandments, this one does not apply to you or at least it's one that you may not have much relevance to you, but I think you'll change your mind if you'll listen to the message.

 

Exodus 20:13

 

Now, by way of introduction, let me just mention what is not forbidden by this particular command.  In a bygone day, we didn’t have to take the time to do this, but with the far-out liberal messages that are being shouted today, nothing goes without saying.

 

Obviously the killing of animals is not what he’s talking about.  Right here in the same chapter in verse 24 God gave instruction for the sacrificing of animals.

 

SO just so we are clear, that’s not what the sixth commandment is addressing.

 

And contrary to popular opinion the Bible does not prohibit capital punishment.  In the next chapter, chapter 21:12, God makes His opinion on the subject pretty clear.

 

It seems to me that any government that shrinks from punishing it's criminals is like a lamb defending the wolf’s right to eat it.

 

Neither is this command about the killing of another person in order to protect ones loved ones or in self-defense.

 

Exodus 22:2-3

 

If in the middle of the night you wake up and there's someone breaking in your door and you don’t know  who it is or what they’re up to, you have every right to protect yourself and if in the protection of yourself someone is killed, God says you are not held accountable.

 

And I think it appropriate to expand that thought to the protection of our homeland by means of war. I know there are some pacifists around who believe it wrong to go to war under any circumstances, but that is not a correct interpretation of the Bible.

 

War is terrible; it is a last resort and my heart is sympathetic for any president who has to make the decision to send our young men and women into harm’s way.  But there comes a time when it is unavoidable.

 

So all of that to say, sometimes this little verse is misunderstood and misapplied.

 

So what does it mean?  What is God addressing in this verse?  The Hebrew translates most literally as “You shall not murder” and I believe that to be what God is talking about.

 

He's not talking about the slaying of animals for food, he's not talking about self defense, he is not talking about capital punishment, but God says you shall not murder.

 

Having said what it doesn't mean I want to share with you for a little while about what this commandment does mean - what it does forbid.

 

 

There is the outward act of murder that is forbidden by this commandment and there are a couple of different ways to think about that.

 

First there are some intentional, direct ways of taking human life. Obviously the command addresses

 

 

Whether it is the senseless murder of a jogger in Duncan, Oklahoma or the mass murder of innocents in Syria or anything in between, God says, You shall not commit murder and He is warning against the horrible sin of homicide.

 

And I think it deserves to be said that a man may escape the justice of man but he will not escape the justice of God. God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.

 

In 2011, there were 470,000 homicides in America.

 Oklahoma was 17% below the national average, but saw a 6% increase between 2010 and 2011.

 

That means every hour in America 1,288 people are

killed.  Fifty-three people die every hour in America; almost one every minute. We are living indeed in a violent society. God says thou shalt not kill. It is a crime against society. It is a crime against an individual. It is a crime against their family. It is a crime against the Holy God who gave life to take away life. So, there is the killing of homicide.

 

But beyond homicide, he is also addressing

 

- suicide

 

Not only is it wrong to take someone else's life, it's wrong to take your own life.  No one has the right to take his own life because in the truest sense of the word your life is not your own life, it belongs to God.

 

Most recent statistics report 38,364 deaths by suicide in America. It is the tenth leading cause of death in our country. And there is no excuse, no reason for anyone to ever take his own life. Even with the most incurable disease, even with the most constant, unbearable pain, even in the time of severest trouble and heartache and persecution, one should never take his own life, for that takes out of the hands of God matters that should only be left in God's hands. God alone is wise enough, God alone is strong enough, God alone is good enough to handle these problems rightly and we should never contemplate suicide.

 

 

Somebody asked the question could a Christian commit suicide? Some may but it is never God's will, it is never God's plan.

God says there hath no trial, no temptation, no testing taking you but such as is common to man and God will with the temptation make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it.

 

No matter how severe the testing, no matter how horrible the trial, there is a way out of trouble but it must be God's way and not man’s.  God will give grace according to your need.

 

Someone may say, “I’m just going to end it all”, but the problem is suicide doesn’t end it all. There's a family left in the wake of all that and for them it just begins it all.  And there is an eternity that awaits you and really the end of your life just begins it all for you as well.

 

So here is left a family to deal with all the grief and regrets and should-have-done’s and you are going to have to face God and try to explain why you couldn’t and didn’t trust Him and decided you were smarter than Him and knew better than Him about what you were going through.  It is a tragedy when a person takes his own life, and the sixth commandment forbids it.

 

Then there is

 

 

God forbids the taking of the lives of little babies in the womb.  We now have a national epidemic that is affecting the very well-being of our country.

 

Aside from the moral blight we have because of abortion, we have now, after forty years of legalized murder, killed off our tax base, our military strength and our work force.

 

There's something that is not only un-American, but ungodly going on in America.  Not only are we in violation of the intent of our founding fathers who guaranteed us the right to life, on a much more serious note we are continually, carelessly and casually violating the very commandment of God.

 

It’s odd to me we can protect snail darters and fish eggs and spotted owls and baby whales, but the most dangerous place in America to live is in the mother’s womb. What's happening to us?

 

And not just that we would allow it to happen, we but continue to elect politicians who support it and appoint Supreme Court justices who uphold it.  What is happening to America?  Maybe we should abort the court!

 

I know there are some who have perhaps not been instructed and they shouldn’t be held to the same guilt of  a person whose eyes have been open, and I certainly don’t want to heap guilt upon anyone because the blood of Jesus Christ forgive and cleanses.

 

But it time that somebody stood up and spoke out for things that are right and against things that are wrong. - We ought to hang our heads in shame.  God said, “You shall not commit murder”.

 

 

 

So he is warning against crimes of intentional, direct, outward murder like homicide, suicide and infanticide.

 

But there is also what I would call indirect killing, and I think it is addressed by this command as well.

 

For instance, you can kill by hiring a hit-man as the mother did in Texas a few years ago who wanted her girl to be elected to cheerleader.  So she had the girl killed who she considered to be her daughter’s competition.

 

Biblically speaking, King David was guilty of indirect murder. He saw to it that someone else killed Uriah so could cover his sin.

 

You can be guilty of murder by drunken driving. Over half of all of the traffic deaths by accident in this country are a result of drunken driving. Every 53 minutes someone will die in America as the result of an alcohol-impaired-driving fatality.

 

The sale of alcoholic beverages is indirect killing. You can rationalize it anyway you want to rationalize it, you can excuse it anyway you want to excuse it - but alcohol has many defenders but no defense. You can't get around it. 50-80% of all murders, alcohol is involved. 30% of all suicides - alcohol is involved. The Bible has pronounced a curse upon all of those who have anything to do with the legalization or with the sale or with the use or with the buying of alcoholic beverages.

 

Habakkuk 2:12 - the Bible says "woe to him that builds a town with blood and establishes a city by iniquity."

Verse 15: "woe unto him that gives his neighbor drink.

 

Ever beer joint, liquor store, bar and lounge in Ardmore should be required to poast the sixth commandment over the door. It is a form of indirect killing.

 

You can kill people by other ways too. You can kill a reputation by whispering criticisms.  You can kill a reputation by your gossip and criticism.  You can kill the testimony of some Christian brother. I know some boys and girls and teenagers and grown children who are killing their parents in slow motion.

 

How many mates kill one another by slow degrees of unlove. How many families are killed by insulting remarks and by unkind things that are said. How many children are killed by the abuse of an adult?  God says "You shall not kill."

 

Now, so far you can say, “I'm alright. I'm not guilty of violating this commandment.”

 

But there's a way of viewing this command and that is by talking about, not the outwardness of murder, but

 

 

It is possible to violate this commandment right here and never get arrested or serve a day in jail.  In fact, it’s possible to violate it and no one else ever even know. 

 

 

 

One of the things the Lord did was take a couple of the Ten Commandments and show His hearers the inwardness of them.

 

Turn to Matthew 15.  The Lord Jesus is talking about the inwardness of sin. He is trying to show us that all sin originates not in the outward act, but in the inward attitude.

 

Matthew 15:19

 

Jesus tracks the monster of murder back to its cage. Jesus says it all starts in the human heart. It is something that goes on down in the inside of the heart. Your heart and my heart, apart from the grace of God, are capable of every sin that anybody has ever committed on this earth. The seeds of killing are there in every human heart. The possibility of murder is in the heart of every one of us in this building, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Listen to what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount.  It’s recorded in

 

Matthew 5:21-22

 

Jesus said that the crime of killing starts, first of all, with thinking. It starts off with anger in the heart. You have anger in your heart toward someone? There is a legitimate anger. The Bible says be angry and sin not. But there is an illegitimate anger. The Bible says let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Anger nourished in the heart, anger gloated over in the heart easily turns to hate. It is the prelude to murder out in the outward act. Better be careful about that anger. Better be careful how you handle that anger. It starts with thinking.

It moves to talking. He says here that the things people say expresses their anger and the next step is the deed.

 

What is the Lord saying? The Lord says if your heart burns with anger toward other people, if you look down upon any human being made in the image of God and have contempt and hatred toward them, the world may never know, but God records it as murder.

 

Watch people out in traffic and at the intersections.  They snarl and the blood rushes to their face and they honk the horn and get so angry that you know that if It were not against the law they would take a life.  The only thing that keeps them from getting out of the car and killing someone is it’s murder.

 

I want you to look if you will for just a moment at 1 John 3. Now remember, we’re talking about inward murder. You'll never be convicted in a human court for this, but look at

 

1 John 3:15

 

Did you hear that? If your heart is headquarters for hate, then you my friend, are a murderer and you need to be saved because no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

 

I'm amazed at the hate that we see in America today, racial hate, religious hate, revengeful hate, hate mongers, if your heart is filled with hate you'd better get saved. God wrote down murder and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

 

It's time that we had in America and in America’s churches, a good old-fashioned revival of love.

 

The problems in our cities are not going to be settled by city hall, they're going to be settled when we start loving one another and the only way that can happen is to happen in God’s people because they are the only ones who house God’s love.  The only way we can love is for Jesus Christ to love through us and when the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

 

I heard about a woman who went to the doctor with rabies and you’ve waited too long to seek treatment.  I suggest you get a piece of paper and write down the names of everyone you need to make things right with.

 

She got a piece of paper and began to write.  She wrote and wrote.  Her husband said, “You need to settle things with that many people?  She said,. These are just the ones I’m going to bite!

 

I believe I met her sister on one occasion. You shall not murder whether it is outward and direct or inward and hidden, God forbids it.

 

Now I suppose somebody could be here tonight and you might say, “I'm doing OK.  I've never violated this commandment. I've never killed anybody directly or indirectly. Before you get too cocky, I have a sad word for you.

 

Even if you’ve never outwardly killed anyone, and even if you’ve lived your life without inward murder, you are still guilty of the greatest murder ever committed on this earth.

In Acts 2 the apostle Peter is preaching shortly after the crucifixion of Jesus.  Listen to what he says beginning in

 

Verse 22-23

 

Chapter 3:14-15

 

He says, “You aren’t just guilty of homicide. You are guilty of “deicide”. You are guilty of the murder of God's dear Son the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

A man was talking to Dr. Robert G. Lee and he was wanting to get right with God and he was going through an litany of confession. He said to Dr. Lee, “I suppose I've broken all of the commandments except one.”

 

Dr. Lee said which one is that? He said, “Thou shalt not kill.”

 

Dr. Lee said, “You broke that one too.”

 

He said, “When?”

 

He said, “Two thousand years ago when you helped to crucify Jesus”

 

We all stand guilty before the Lord. Ours were the hands that slapped him.  Ours was the spit that defiled his face.  Our sins were the nails that held him to the cross and our hard hearts were the hammers that drove those nails.  We are guilty of the greatest killing that ever took place -- the killing of the Son of God, Jesus Himself.

 

 

But I have good news for you.  And before we close, I want to be sure I share about

 

 

God condemns this violation in His word and the Bible makes it very clear in the book of Revelation that the murderer shall not inherit eternal life. But the murder shall have his place in the lake of fire.

 

So since we are all guilty of it, is vitally important that we know if forgiveness for murder is available, and if so, that we’ve received it.

 

There may be a precious girl who has had the experience of an abortion. You feel so bad about it. You are grieving about it.

 

Or there may be someone who is at odds with a family member.  You haven’t spoken in years, and truth be told, you have no love at all toward them.

 

There maybe someone guilty of killing with words or deeds, and tonight God has convicted you of that as the murder that it is.

 

I have good news for you. God hates your sin and calls it what it is, but God loves you. God will forgive you. The very cross that reveals our guilt also reveals our salvation. Jesus died on the cross for that sin. Jesus shed His blood for that sin and God can forgive, even murder.

 

Three of the greatest men in the Bible are Moses, David and Paul and every one of them was guilty of violating this commandment.

 

Moses was guilty of the killing of an Egyptian. David was guilty of a killing of Uriah. Paul was guilty of the killing of Christians. Yet look at your Bible. The first five books of your bible were written by Moses. Most of your Psalms, the longest book in the Bible, were composed by David, and half of your New Testament was written by Paul, murderers, yes, but murderers who had been saved by the grace of God.  And even though you are guilty of murder, you too can be saved and you can be forgiven.

 

Murder is never the answer.  You can ask Tony Toto.  Do you remember Tony and Frances Toto?  They made the news back in 1991, and there story eventually wound up as a book and movie.  They lived in Allentown, PA. He operated a pizza parlor there. Tony Toto survived at least 5 attempts on his life, all arranged for or carried out by his dear wife, Frances and her lover.

Twice she arranged for assailants to beat him over the head with baseball bats. On one occasion she put a tripwire across the basement stairs in their house, hoping that he would trip over it and plummet to his death.

Twice she arranged for him to be shot. The last time he was shot in the head and chest.  While recovering at home, laced his chicken soup with barbiturates and tried to poison him.

 

Even more miraculous than Tony’s survival was his attitude toward his wife once he found out she was responsible for all of this. Tony, a self-confessed lady’s man himself, said that he held his wife blameless.

When she was found guilty and sent to prison for arranging for his murder, he sold his pizza business so he could spend more time with the kids and took them to visit their mother every week. Then when she was released from prison, she went back to their red brick home to resume her married life with Tony.

With his arm around her, Tony said, "We’re more in love now than ever before. I don’t understand why people break up over silly little things.”

 

God knew what He was doing when He said the greatest power of all is the power of love.  May God help us, instead of being murderers to be lovers.

 

Let’s pray