Matthew 22, 34-40. But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him and saying, Master, which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Then turn with me, if you would, back to Exodus chapter 20. And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them. For I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy maidservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal or commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's." Thus ends the reading of God's holy and inspired word. Now, this Lord's Day morning, we return again to a series of lectures on the Ten Commandments, and we're considering this morning the Sixth Commandment. But as we begin, let us remember the first table, the first four commandments deal with the object, the matter, the manner, and the time of worship. And then here in the second table, we have in the Sixth Commandment through the Ninth, the sanctity of authority, the sanctity of life, the sanctity of marriage, than of property, than of good name or reputation in the ninth commandment, and then the heart of the issue, or kind of the inner issue of the heart and covetousness which leads to all the other sins. But as we begin this morning to consider the sin of murder, I thought it would be appropriate for us to consider Matthew 5, 14 and 16. There, Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, speaks to his people and says, "...Ye are the light of the world. The city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all them that are in the house. Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Here Jesus says that the church is the light of the world, and yet He says a light can't be hid, so don't hide your light. You are the light, and yet He says we have a responsibility to make sure our light's shining, and He says that's done by doing good works. Well, how do we do good works? Where are they described? They're described in the Word of God, and uniquely they're described summarily in the Ten Commandments. That our behavior, our ethics is to be molded by these commandments. And the fact of the matter is, is that our culture, in our culture, in our world today, ethical standards are on the decline. But the reality is they're also on the decline in the visible church. And the church is not being light and salt in a wicked and perverse generation like it ought to be. And I think part of that is, is the church doesn't appreciate the beauty of the Ten Commandments and really fails oftentimes to teach them and their proper place in the Christian's life. So I think it's appropriate for us to be focused upon as we consider the commandments. These give us in very detailed form what our duties are so that we know the good works that we're to display in this wicked and perverse generation to God's glory. Secondly, I want to say that murder is extremely common. It is on the rise, it is very prevalent, and yet sometimes we fail to realize just how common and prevalent it is. One thing, most of it's hid from our eyes, and also we've become very desensitized to it because a lot of it does come before our eyes. And yet I think we've often failed to realize that our generation is a generation where probably more bloodshed has been shed than ever. the Holocaust, of all the little babies that have been killed in the womb, and then consider all the ethnic cleansings and the like that have taken place in our day. And you recognize that in our generation, murder is very common. It cannot be proved that the world is becoming more civilized, can it? We're not evolving into a higher state of ethical behavior as a human race. And so we need to deal with this sin of murder today, or killing. Here, in Exodus 20, we read the commandment, Thou shalt not kill. And I think it would be appropriate for us to consider when we see this word kill, to put the word murder in its place. This word in the Hebrew is translated kill four times, but it's translated murder or murderer or murderers seventeen times. Though literally it means to dash in pieces, the word itself is never used of what I'm calling lawfully putting to death. The word in the Hebrew is never used of a righteous putting someone to death. And so clearly it's referring to killing unlawfully or murdering. So what it does not refer to, is it does not refer to or does not prohibit capital punishment. In Genesis 9, verses 5 and 6, God makes it clear to Noah that those that put to death unlawfully are to have their life taken from them. Just one example of a crime that is a capital offense and should be honored. And the reason is given there, the rationale is given by God is that because man is created in God's image. That's the rationale for why it's appropriate to put to death a premeditated murderer. Secondly, this word does not prohibit or this command does not prohibit a just war or a lawful In Deuteronomy 20, we have commands laid down as to how a lawful war is to be carried out. It assumes that all war is not sinful. In Judges 11-21, we have a description from God of the rationale as to why He caused His people to put to death those in Canaan. In Ezekiel 14, 17, we read this, I bring a sword upon the land and say, sword, go through the land so that I cut off man and beast from it. God sometimes judges nations by sending other nations against them. Sometimes He does it through so-called natural disasters. Sometimes He sends a tempest. Sometimes He sends a storm and fury of invading military power to judge a nation or even to chasten His people. Secondly, this commandment does not mean that we're not to defend ourselves or others. In Exodus 22, we read this, "...if a thief be found breaking up and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him." You see, in the Mosaic law, if you were to kill someone that had entered into your home to rob you, you were not guilty of killing unlawfully. If you had to do what you had to do, You wouldn't have your blood shed because you weren't guilty of unlawful killing or of murder. So this is what the commandment doesn't mean. But let's now, before we consider what it does mean, and particularly today, what it means in terms of those things that are forbidden, I think it's appropriate, before we go into the commandment, to step back behind the commandment and ask the question, why is it wrong to murder? Or why should we not commit murder? I think there are at least four predominant reasons why we ought not to commit murder. First, because it contradicts God's being and purpose. God is life. He is the eternal one. He's the source of all life. Our enemy, the devil, is anti-life. In John 8, verse 44, Jesus says, "...ye are of your father the devil." He goes on to say, "...he was a murderer from the beginning." So when we murder someone, we're raising our fist primarily at God. But secondly, we're not to murder because of the value of whom it is directed. When we murder someone, we're directing our sin against God primarily, but secondarily, that sin, that violence is being directed towards someone that's created in God's image. Again, think of Genesis 9, 5 and 6 that I've just spoken of, God's word to Noah, which is just a reference back to Genesis 1, 27 and 28 regarding how God made man in His image, male and female. Moses says He created them in His image. James 3, 9, we read that James says you speak glowing words towards God and then you curse those who are made in God's image. He's saying you're being inconsistent. You pretend like you really love God and you treat Him with certain language and then you speak in another way towards those created in His image. James argues from that that's inconsistent. Thirdly, we ought not to murder because it breaks the second great command. As we just looked at in Matthew 22. The first great commandment is to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. But the second one is to love your neighbor as yourself. It's evident, isn't it? that killing someone is not loving them. And fourthly, I think there's at least another primary reason why we ought not to murder. And that is because of the judgments threatened upon those that violate this commandment. In Genesis 4, 10 and 11, we learn that God uniquely marked Cain and cursed Cain for his murder of his brother. In Deuteronomy 27-24 we read, "...cursed is he that smiteth his neighbor secretly." You might do it secretly so as to get away with it. There may be no witnesses and you apparently have gotten away with it among men, but no one gets away with it. God sees all things. "...And cursed," He says, "...is everyone that smiteth his neighbor Also, in Revelation 21.8, we have this extensive list of those that will be cast into the fire. The lake of fire. It includes murderers. "...shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." Eternal destruction comes to those that would destroy those made in God's image. So, first, we've seen why we ought not to commit this sin. Secondly, let us consider the sins forbidden in this commandment. Now, it's very interesting, James Durham mentions kind of an aside that this is referring to the killing of those created in God's image. This commandment is referring to killing man. It's not referring to killing of animals. And yet, the Scripture isn't unconcerned with God's creation and its abuse. And so, he mentions Numbers 22-29 where Balaam desired to kill his donkey because his donkey reproved him. Consider also Proverbs 12-10, a righteous man regardeth the life of his beast He's not saying that we don't have a right to stamp out the cockroach on the floor, but we don't abuse our dog or our cat or some other animal unnecessarily. It doesn't mean we don't kill them for food, for clothing, for what have you. God has given them for that purpose, but we don't abuse them. We don't abuse the things that God's given us. But let's consider the sins forbidden in this commandment in relation to those that are created in God's image. The first one I want to mention is abortion. Abortion. The killing of little ones in a place that would appear to be a place of unique protection. And yet, man in his sin has found a way in that unique place of protection to yet commit murder. and to do so behind closed doors, and to do so so significantly that the blood of those little ones is crying out to our God for vengeance. And we as a nation are not bringing the sword to bear as we ought against those perpetrators of this heinous crime. Abortion. Also infanticide. which is children just killing children outside the womb. Well, they're born and they're just not going to be so-called normal. So, parents are given a choice to put their little ones to death with the doctor's help. In Ezekiel 16, 20 and 21, God condemns His people for allowing or actually causing their children to be sacrificed to the false god, Molech. God's people have committed infanticide. Also, euthanasia, or the killing of individuals that are aged. And again, for pragmatic reasons, the person's too old, their way of life The quality of life is not what we think it ought to be, so we will systematically snuff them out. Three heinous crimes that are being committed throughout the world. And yet, Proverbs 31 says, Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. There are many appointed to destruction in our days that can't cry out for themselves. And we as a church don't need to stop crying out for them. Though it doesn't appear that anyone's hearing or that anything's being done, it doesn't mean that we as a church ought to give up calling out and opening our mouths for those that are appointed to destruction. So, we consider abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, Fourthly, I want to consider spiritual killing. Spiritual killing. God says to Ezekiel in Ezekiel 3.18 and 33.6, as a watchman on the wall, that he must warn those that are committing sins that will lead to destruction. This is, if you don't do it, their blood's going to be upon your head. It doesn't mean they're not going to be responsible for their sin, but it means you, Ezekiel, are also going to bear some culpability or some responsibility for their condition. And we can do so. as civil magistrates, as church leaders, as individuals, by advising other people into sin, by tempting them to sin, by consenting with them in their sin, by not reproving them in their sin, and by failing to restrain them like Eli. Eli made some attempt, but it wasn't sufficient. It was a feeble attempt. to restrain his children. And to be party, to be an accomplice to spiritual death is a serious crime. Fifthly, we can kill with our hands out of revenge, out of anger, out of malice, out of envy. We can strike someone. And we can do so even to their death. I won't spend any time talking about duels, but in a lot of the literature of our forefathers, there was time devoted to the discussion of duels because people had concluded, even many people that appeared godly in so many ways had come to conclude that it was lawful that if they had been offended in a serious way that they could then choose to fight to the death with someone with pistols or swords? Clearly, we're not to take vengeance ourselves. We're to wait patiently for the civil magistrate to do so and to acquiesce to God's will when the civil magistrate fails to do what he ought to do. But we can do it with our hands and consider some of the ways that it's done Today, think of all the gang murderers that go on every day throughout the world and in our nation and how many of them go on in this very city. How about terrorism? Another form of murder. Killing innocent people. Killing them unlawfully for ungodly purposes. Consider all the ethnic cleansings throughout the world that we have heard of and continue to go on. I remember as a child, those of Idi Amin in Uganda. There have been continual ones going on in Balklands, Sudan, etc. that we read about in our newspapers, that we hear on Fox News. There's many ways, but ultimately it's still taking someone's life unlawfully. Taking it without cause. Without biblical rationale or purpose. We also can do so with words. In Matthew 5.22, Jesus said, Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, kills. He says, Whoever says, Raca, or says, Thou fool, to your brother. Whoever in anger speaks rashly is killing and is violating this commandment. Yes, it's not as heinous as actually taking your hands on that person's neck and strangling them. But it's still a violation of the same commandment. How many of us are angry with our brothers? Without a cause. That's an important phrase there. It means you can be angry with the cause. I think most of us know, though, that when we get angry, rarely is it without sin. And we are very adept at rationalizing our anger and make it appear to be with cause. And quite often, at least in my own experience, there might be some anger that begins with cause but it goes over bounds and then it's not completely righteous. There might be a righteous object in view to start. It doesn't end up with purity. So, whoever is angry with his brother without a cause, without just reason, and then spews that anger in words, increasing the heinousness of the crime, is committing a violation of the sixth commandment and is killing. We can also do so with gesture. Have you ever thought that you can look in such a way as to be killing with your expression? I'll just give you two examples in Scripture. In Genesis 4-5 we read this of Cain, "...but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect." God did not look favorably upon Cain's offering. We don't have the explicit reason for it, but we understand, don't we, from further revelation that Cain here is choosing to decide how to worship God the way he wants to. And since he's growing grain and the like, he'll offer to God with that instead of making an exchange with his brother and offering a sacrifice of blood. He says, well, I'll do what I can do. I'll do it the way I want to do it. I'll do it the way consistent with my vocation and my temperament and who I am. He gets innovative. God's not pleased with it. And it goes on to say, and Cain was very raw and his countenance fell. Before he killed his brother, he was very angry. He was very angry at God and his confidence was different. It was noticeable. Something was different about that man's heart before he killed his brother. It also says of those who killed Stephen in Acts 7.54, they gnashed on him with their teeth. While they were throwing the boulders, the rocks at him, and prior to that, murder was on their face. How often has murder been on your face? I know it's been on my face. Yes, Mr. Cookson? Yes, another example. It certainly wasn't just with words. Crucify Him. Crucify Him. It wasn't unemotional. Crucify Him. Crucify Him. I think we can understand that there was vehemence, there was the heart, and clearly it would have been in the expressions as well. I'll give you a couple more sins that are subsumed under this sin of murdering. That is failure. to go to war when a nation should go to war. Jeremiah 48.10, we read, "...cursed is he that keepeth back his sword from blood." There's actually a time when the sword's to be taken out. When your nation, when your wife and your children are to be defended, Yes, and to keep the sword in the sheath when it ought to be drawn is sin. You don't hear that too much in the media today, do you? If you do, let me know where. I'd like to start listening or reading. Eleventh, failure to punish the murderer is also a violation of this crime. Let me turn to Numbers 35. Numbers 35. Verse 31 and 33. Moreover, ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer which is guilty of death, but he shall be surely put to death. It doesn't matter how much money he has. It doesn't matter what he can do for the state. There's no deals. He's to be put to death. He's been found guilty of it. He's not only done it, but he's been found guilty of it in a lawful court. There's one end for that man. He's to be put to death. Then in verse 33, "...so ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are, For blood, it defileth the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it." There's been a lot of blood spilt in our land. And it can only be taken care of by putting to death those that have shed the blood unlawfully. That's how it's to be taken care of. And when it's not, a nation violates this commandment. I want to give us one last violation of this commandment, and that is suicide. Suicide. We're not free to take our own lives any more than we're free to take another's life. There are those that become convinced by the father of lies, the murderer from the beginning, he puts thoughts in people's minds that they would be better off and it would be better off for their loved ones if they were out of this life. But in fact, the sin of suicide is one of the most selfish sins that can be committed. Your loved ones will not be better off They will spend the rest of their earthly life wondering what could they have done? What didn't they see? How didn't they love you enough? It's a very selfish sin. It does affect others. Yes, it is violence against yourself who's created in God's image, but it is very violent towards many, many others. We can commit suicide aggressively by slicing our wrists, by taking pills, what have you. We can also do so by placing ourselves in danger unnecessarily. In Leviticus 13, we have examples of laws regarding leprosy against diseases that We ought to protect ourselves from ordinarily. This is not saying that it's not appropriate for a doctor to have extra risk or it's not appropriate for a minister to be prepared to go and administer to those that are dying and adding to the risk. That's a necessary risk. But there are times when we take unnecessary risks. Also, if we neglect the means of preserving our lives, obviously if we forsake the means of preserving the lives of others, we're sinning, but if we do that for ourselves as well. In Isaiah 38-21, Isaiah says to Hezekiah, Let them take a lump of figs and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover. He says, God's going to heal you. But you've got to get some plaster and put it on the boy. We live in a day and age where there are those that think they're super spiritual and think that God only heals apart from medicine. That's not biblical. Can God? Does God? Yes. But does He always? Does He never heal through medicine? Is medicine always sinful? Yes, it is a discipline that's fraught with sin and a vocation that is just as a vocation of a lawyer or what have you, but we're not to neglect appropriate means to preserve our lives. Also, intemperance is a form of suicide. The Puritan Thomas Watson said, the cup kills more than the cannon. The cup kills more than the can and excessive drinking causes untimely death. And that could be true as well for the sin of gluttony. Excessively drinking alcohol, excessively eating will lead to a short life ordinarily. Puffing on too many cigarettes will shorten your life. This is an intemperance that we need to consider and it does fall under the sin of suicide and under the sin of killing if we're in moderate in the use of our recreations, of food, of drink. Let me just read question 136 and the answer in the larger catechism and you'll see that we've covered most of these sins. What are the sins forbidden in the sixth commandment? The sins forbidden in the sixth commandment are all taking away the life of ourselves or of others, except in case of public justice, lawful war, or necessary defense. The neglecting or withdrawing the lawful and necessary means of preservation of life, sinful anger, hatred, envy, desire of revenge, all excessive passions, distracting cares, Immoderate use of meat, drink, labor, and recreations." In other words, he actually labored, spent too much time working. Provoking words. Proof text there are Proverbs 12, 18, and 15, 1. Oppression, quarreling, striking, wounding. They go on to say, "...and whatsoever else tends to the destruction of the life of any." There are all kinds of things that lead to this sin. We need to guard ourselves against those things as well. Next week we'll spend some time considering what I would call sins that are violations of this commandment, but sins that are also the seeds or the root of this commandment. And that would be sins like anger and hatred and envy and revenge. Sins of the heart that often don't just stay in the heart. They come out in the voice. They come out in the gesture. They sometimes come out with the fist, sometimes even with the knife or the bullet. But briefly, I want to speak just briefly this morning about the duties required in this commandment. What are the duties required in this commandment, the larger catechism asks. And the answer is, The duties required in the sixth commandment are all careful studies and lawful endeavors to preserve the life of ourselves and others by resisting all thoughts and purposes, subduing all passions, and avoiding all occasions, temptations, and practices which tend to the unjust taking away the life of any." Yes, they talk about the unjust taking away of life in contrast to the just taking away of life. By just defense thereof against violence, patient bearing of the hand of God, see that in Cain, quietness of mind, cheerfulness of spirit, a sober use of meat, drink, physic, sleep, labor, and recreation. You might ask, what's physic? It's not the study of physics. It means medicine. By charitable thoughts, love, compassion, meekness, gentleness, kindness, Peaceable, mild, and courteous speeches and behavior. Forbearance, readiness to be reconciled, patient bearing and forgiving of injuries, and requiting good for evil. And they go on, comforting and succoring the distressed, and protecting and defending the innocent. I just want to speak about these three. Comforting and succoring the distressed. In Job 29, 13 and 16, Job speaks about how he was concerned for the needy in his day. He looked out. He made examination to identify the needy. He just didn't say, if the needy come before me and it's real obvious, I'll do something. He says, I'm going to actually make a study to see who's oppressed. I'm going to be interested to find out who's not getting taken care of. And he was honored by God for that. In Psalm 112.9 we read of the man that fears God. He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor. Sometimes the poor only want money for the bottle. Sometimes they only want it because they've just made their payment on their BMW that they live in. But sometimes they need it for their food. Sometimes they need it for their medicine. It's a relief of the distress. It also speaks of protecting. I suspect there's not many of you that appreciate the federal government's, probably, I guess it's not a cabinet position yet, but that of OSHA, Occupational Safety and Health Association. We all know there are many things that are ridiculous about laws that are made and enforced in our land and yet, In all our critique of something like that, do we recognize that there's still a principle that underlies it? That is that we are, to be careful, we do have a responsibility as owners and managers in the workplace to try to protect our people as best we can. Yes, certain jobs are more dangerous than others. That has to be recognized. But the safety measures that can be applied ought to be applied, and when they're negligently not applied, someone can be culpable for that. In Deuteronomy 22.8, we read this, When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from fence. In those days, people used their roofs as their porch. If they didn't put a battlement or a parapet or a fence around it, someone could fall off. If you build a pool today, there are local ordinances that will require you to put a fence around it so the four-year-old or three-year-old in your neighborhood doesn't walk right into your pool and drown. So we ought to be careful, we ought to be safe ourselves and we ought to be concerned about the safety of others where we have a place. And lastly, we need to defend the innocent. We need to defend the innocent that's not guilty of some crime that's being imposed upon them. We also need to defend ourselves against the innocent that cannot speak for themselves. The aged that are being systematically put to death because of their age. The young that have come from the womb and are being systematically put to death because of their physical condition. Those that are in the womb that are being put to death because mom and dad don't know where the other one's at or they can't afford the child or what have you. We need to cry out. We need to open our mouths for the innocent. We need to defend the innocent in our proper place. We need to pray that God would raise up godly men of God in this nation, in this state, that would defend them in the place of the civil magistrate. Let us pray. Great God and Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for Thy holy Word and we thank Thee for the length and the breadth of Thy commandments. They are, as David said, exceedingly deep. Help us to see their implications and help us particularly this day to see those implications that speak to us and convict us of our own sin. Be pleased, O Lord, to write Thy law in our heart by Thy Spirit. We ask in Christ's name. Amen.