Our sermon this evening comes to us from the Old Testament, from a familiar passage, from the Ten Words of the Covenant, better known as the Ten Commandments. We'll be looking at the Sixth Commandment tonight. Exodus 20, verse 13, just as we preached on one verse this morning, so we will preach on one verse this evening. Exodus 20 verse 13. You shall not murder. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. We're all sinners. You knew that already. That's what the Bible teaches, and sin is sin, right? At least in the eyes of God it is. What about in the eyes of men? Well, there are differences, because we rank sins based on how those sins affect us. We know that lying on your tax return is wrong, right? But in the eyes of the world, what's worse, lying to the government, or lying to your boss or your teacher or your spouse. We know that plagiarism is wrong. But what's worse, stealing somebody's words or stealing somebody's money? That's criminal, right, when we steal people's money? Actually, we're doing both when we plagiarize. But there are worse things than stealing somebody's money. Like kidnapping, because instead of stealing money, you're stealing people. What's worse than kidnapping? How about physically assaulting somebody who's been kidnapped? Or even worse, sexually assaulting the one who's been kidnapped. That's horrible. What could be worse than that? How about killing the one who's been kidnapped? Throughout the world, there's nothing worse that we can think of than murder. Societies tolerate a lot of things, but they don't tolerate murderers. Why not? Because there's nothing more final than killing a person. Lying to a person, stealing from a person, kidnapping a person, assaulting a person, those are bad. But none of these sins are as bad from an earthly standpoint as killing a person because there's still a person. But killing is different because it removes that person from the human race. There's a famous movie that won an Academy Award back in the early 90s, the movie Unforgiven. It was a Clint Eastwood movie. He starred as the anti-hero, Will Money, who was a reformed murderer and who's about, throughout the movie, to become a relapsed murderer. He said these powerful words to another murderer. He said, it's a hell of a thing killing a man. You take away all he's got and all he's ever going to have. Will money was describing life and death, the subject of the sixth commandment, a commandment that's presented in the negative. You shall not murder, but the opposite could also describe it. You shall preserve life because life is precious. This morning we'll look at the sixth, I should say this evening, we'll look at the sixth commandment. First, as we discover what the commandment isn't forbidding due to the reason for the commandment. Second, as we learn what the commandment is actually forbidding, various forms of unlawful murder, including one we're all guilty of. And finally, we'll consider how Christ kept this commandment. so we could live forever. The sixth commandment seems so straightforward when you hear it. It's so short and sweet, right? Verse 13 is very specific. It says, you shall not murder. Seems like the easiest commandment on earth to keep, right? Until we get behind the translation. And we discover something about that word. It certainly can mean to murder, but it's broader than that. The word in the Hebrew means to kill. You shall not kill. That changes things, doesn't it? Because now it sounds like pacifism. That all violence and killing must be avoided at all costs. But that's not the case. For God is never the subject of this word. This word is never used to describe a government dealing out justice. even the death penalty. This word is never used in the context of war. This word describes humans killing other humans in sinful situations. Unlawful killing. That's what we're talking about here. You shall not kill unlawfully. And that implies there are forms of lawful killing. The Bible mentions three of them, self-defense, capital punishment, and just war. There's a reason why these forms of killing are lawful, because they're all done in the spirit of the commandment. They're all done in order to preserve life. Killing in self-defense is taking the life of another in order to save. a life. It's never good, but sometimes it's necessary. Exodus 22 imagines a thief breaking into your house and you strike him down so he dies. You're not guilty if you do that. But there's one important condition. You're not sure if he's a threat to take your life and you do that, but if the sun has risen up on him, if you can see what he's doing, And if you can see that he isn't dangerous and you kill him, then you will be guilty because life is precious. Even the life of somebody who breaks into your house, that person's life is precious too. And if it's lawful to kill a person who might take your life, what about a nation that might take the lives of your fellow citizens? then it's lawful to kill soldiers of that nation. It's lawful to wage war, just war, because you're preserving the life of your fellow soldiers and the citizens of your country from an evil enemy. But this is a little trickier, because war is rarely just. War is rarely waged against civil evil governments who are killing millions of people. They exist, but it's not quite as black and white. Sometimes war is raised for other reasons, like the Crusades. The Crusades were fought to free the Holy Land from the control of Islam. Which on the surface, that sounds like a just war, doesn't it? But here's the problem. God didn't command Christian Europe to do this. The only nation he commanded to do something like this was the nation of Israel in the Old Testament. But that was a different time in biblical history. And it's important that we're able to tell biblical time. Since Christ came into the world, God does not want His people extending His kingdom through earthly warfare. That is not His plan. Sometimes war is waged for geographical or economic reasons. In the 1860s, we fought a civil war. Americans killing Americans. It was a horrible war. Some would say, though, it was just because of the sin of slavery. But the Civil War wasn't fought primarily about slavery. It was fought over preserving the Union. So even though the North won and the slaves were freed, more Americans were killed in that war than any other war we've ever fought. These days it's hard to find a just war. But Christian soldiers aren't called to define what is just and what isn't. Christian soldiers are called to fight in the wars in which they are sent. To kill the enemy who is trying to kill them. Which makes it a lot simpler and a lot messier. Because in the midst of all the killing, Christian soldiers are also called to keep the Sixth Commandment. They're also called to preserve life when they can, by distinguishing between enemy soldiers and innocent civilians, by showing mercy even to the enemy when the opportunity presents itself. It's a little messier. And besides self-defense and just war, there's one other form of lawful killing, and that is capital punishment. killing somebody to prevent that someone from killing another person. These days there's a debate about capital punishment. Some are against the death penalty because it's expensive and they question whether it's really a deterrent to criminals. Others are in favor of capital punishment and would like to apply it to a range of crimes. But the Bible is clear about this one. right after the flood, which was God's capital punishment against sinful humanity. God made a covenant with all of creation and part of that covenant included justice. Whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed. Genesis 9. There's only one crime that warrants the death penalty according to Genesis 9, 6, and that is killing another person unlawfully. Because verse 6 says, God made man in his image. You are taking the life of an image bearer when you kill somebody unlawfully. The image of God is so precious. God takes human life so seriously that unlawful killing demands justice because an attack on God's image bearer is nothing less than attack on God himself. In the movie Unforgiven, a prostitute had her face cut up because she made fun of a cowboy. So what did she do, or what did her fellow prostitutes do? They hired men to kill the cowboys. Her fellow prostitutes thought they were doing justice. They wanted vengeance. But they weren't, because the cowboy didn't deserve to die for what he did. One of the hired killers was a young man named the Scofield Kid. He was really a kid, and he had a Schofield pistol. So his nickname was ironic. Who, despite his claims, had never killed anyone. So when he killed the cowboy, he experienced the horror of human life. He experienced the horror of destroying a fellow image-bearer. So he says to his partner, Will Money, I shot him three times, and he was using the bathroom. I shot that effer three times, using the bathroom, went for his pistol and I blazed away. It don't seem real. How he ain't gonna ever breathe again. Ever. How he's dead. And Will Money said, it's a hell of a thing, killing a man. You take away all he's got. and all he's ever going to have. Lawful killing still leaves its mark on our souls because it's unnatural to kill another person. Life is precious and killing is the product of a fall. But the sixth commandment isn't concerned about lawful killing, it's concerned about unlawful killing. You shall not murder. Will Money and the Scofield Kid, they were murderers, and they got away with it. But God doesn't want murderers to get away with it. Murder is the most extreme way of breaking this commandment. And it goes all the way back to the beginning, to Genesis chapter 4. where we're introduced to the first children on earth, Cain and Abel. And Cain was jealous of his brother because God accepted his brother's righteous sacrifice. He didn't accept Cain's ordinary sacrifice, uninspired sacrifice. So Cain did something about it. He let his brother out into the field without suspecting anything. and he murdered his brother in cold blood. That's the worst form of killing. But there are other forms, hot-blooded manslaughter, killing someone in the heat of anger. That's what King Saul did to the priests of Nob, when he discovered that those priests were harboring King David. Other forms include reckless homicide, which you can do with an automobile. That's why we take driver's ed. Or even accidental homicide, for which the law required cities of refuge, where the killer could flee and save his life, but he'd be exiled. Because that's how seriously God takes the issue of life. There are other ways to break this commandment. In our day and age, abortion and euthanasia are common ways. Unlawful killing at the beginning of life and unlawful killing at the end of life are subjects of public debate in this country. But the Bible is clear on these things. God formed us in our mother's womb according to Psalm 139. John the Baptist was doing cartwheels in Elizabeth's womb when he heard about Jesus being conceived. So that even unborn children are image bearers of God and they deserve our protection. And if we're worthy to be protected at the beginning of life, then we're also worthy to be protected at the end of life. Euthanasia literally means good death. But it isn't really a good death because life is a precious gift from God. Some of you might be breathing a sigh of relief. You're thinking, I've never killed anyone in cold blood or hot blood. I've never gotten in an automobile accident and taken a life. I've never aborted a child or assisted in euthanasia. So I'm good, right? I'm a commandment keeper, at least this one. And the answer is, well, no one is good. Not even one. Because there's an internal way of breaking this commandment. Jesus says, you have heard that it was said of old, you shall not murder and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. That's Matthew 5. It's not talking about angers and emotion here. We all get mad. There's righteous anger. Jesus got angry. No, we're talking about unrighteous anger. We're talking about anger that lashes out against a person. Anger that leads to bitterness and hatred. 1 John 3.5 says that everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. How do we express this hatred? We do it through our bitter words. and our hateful attitudes and our sinful thoughts. Have you ever had a sinful thought about your brother or sister? Well, technically speaking, you're a murderer. We're murderers on the inside because bitterness and hatred are the root of murder. We're all guilty. When's the last time you spoke harshly to a loved one? When's the last time you stared at a person hatefully? Or entertain violent thoughts? And the answer is probably in recent memory. Yeah. The Schofield kid said, I guess they had it coming. He was trying to justify his actions. But his partner didn't let him off the hook. Well, money said, we all have it coming, kid. We all have it coming. Will Money's answer is truer than he ever imagined. We all have it coming because we're all murderers on some level. And if we're all murderers, then we're all in big trouble. First John 3 says, no murderer has eternal life in him. Probably the worst news you've heard all day. Because we've all broken this commandment. But the good news is that God doesn't judge us based on our commandment keeping. He bases it on someone else's commandment keeping and sacrifice. While dying on the cross, that person, Jesus Christ, who never killed anyone with his hands, with his words, or with his thoughts, he uttered these words. while dying on the cross. He said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. He actually forgave the ones who were killing him. It's a hell of a thing, killing a man. You take away all he's got and all he's ever going to have. But there's one thing that killing a man can't take away, and that's everlasting life. Because everlasting life is a gift. It's not something that we earn. It's a gift that Jesus has earned for us, even for murderers. So let's respond by loving each other and the world around us. Let's respond by preserving life, both physically and spiritually, by loving people with our words, our attitudes, and our thoughts, by loving those who are hard to love, even our enemies. God helping us. Amen. Let us pray.