Please open your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 5 and verse 17, where we will consider this commandment, you shall not murder. These four words will be the subject of our time here this morning. And it breathes of the sovereignty of God and the sanctity of life. And it's in this commandment that we face the enormity of the tender-hearted nature of God toward His children. That He would supply laws to protect His children. His heart of mercy is enormous. And it's expressed in this law. That He would protect you. That He would establish a principle that all your life long there would be people in the world who would obey His commandments and apply them to you. That you would have a dear wife who would apply them to you. That you would have a father and a mother. That you would have a boss in this world who would apply this commandment of kindness and mercy toward his people. I love this commandment because it so breathes of the mercy of God and His desires. You can always find the character of God in His commandments. And this one particularly shines out His love for mankind. The Bible says, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. And of course, His Son sums up this commandment. And as a result, we find in this commandment a vision of Almighty God and His enormous love. So, I so highly love this commandment and I commend it to us this morning. I pray that something would snap this morning in us. That we would connect more deeply with the love of God in Jesus Christ through this commandment. We also will find that this commandment will thrust us in the midst of the crossfire of the world in rebellion against His laws. that we will find in this commandment the dozens of ways that the world hates this commandment. This aborting, euthanizing, assisted suicidal, this envious, slanderous world that so justifies its ways, which are so contrary to God. So, in this commandment, we also find ourselves in the crossfire. We're being shot at by those who hate this commandment. This commandment will divide you from the world. This commandment, by keeping it, will make you a holy nation. It will establish you as God's people in the world. But it will cause the firestorm of enfilade fire against you, because it will come from all directions. No one keeps this commandment without becoming separate from the world. And so, this commandment, even though it holds such tenderness in it, it also holds suffering in it as well. So, we need to understand that. In your outline, you will see the way I have this organized to try to explain it. First of all, I'd like for us to consider five issues that help us understand the nature of the command. And the first is a focus on the fundamental principles of this commandment. What is the nature of this commandment? I so resonated to the way that Martin Luther spoke of this commandment. He says that we can never kill with hand or heart or mouth or signs, or gestures, or help, or counsel. Killing with any of these in any way, shape, or form is forbidden. And he says that there's a reason for this commandment. He says the reason for the command is because there is such a need for it in the world. Because God knows that the world is evil. And that there is so much opportunity for unhappiness. in the world for the violation of this commandment. And therefore, He's placed this commandment in the world between good and evil, between the thoughts and the meditations of our hearts, which would rise up in envy, murderous thoughts that end up in words that are like poison, and that perhaps might even end up in a physical act of murder. And he says, so God has placed this. He's sort of thrown this command in the midst of the crossfires of evil so that it would protect us. He says that there is a particular way to think about it in terms of. relationships. And he says, as when your neighbor sees that you have a better house and home, a larger family, more fertile fields, greater possessions and fortune from God than he, he is sulky. He envies you. He speaks no good of you. Thus, by the devil's indictment, you will get many enemies who cannot bear to see you have any good, either bodily or spiritual. When we see such people, our hearts in turn would rage and bleed and take vengeance. Then there arise cursing and blows from which follow finally misery and murder. Here now, God is like a kind father. He steps in ahead of us. He interposes and wishes to have the quarrel settled so that no misfortune would come of it, nor destroy one another. And briefly, He would hereby protect, set free, and keep peace everyone against the crime and violence of everyone else. And would have this commandment placed as a wall, a fortress, a refuge about our neighbor that we do Him no harm in His body. The nature of this commandment is that it exalts the love and the tenderness of God It throws a barrier in the way of evil. It stops it. It's like He is erecting a wall to stop harm toward you and your children and your children after them. And so, if you would keep this commandment, you would be throwing up a wall of protection so that there would be no harm in this world. This is God's design for His people. And so, we have to see in this fundamental principle is the exaltation of the tenderness of God. That's the first point under the nature of the commandment. I would like to speak of the definitions of this. We have to understand what this means. The King James says, Thou shalt not kill. And that term sounds so broad, and yet the authors intended it to be narrow. Do not murder. The Hebrew language has eight different words for killing. And this word is never used for hunting or killing animals. A different word is used for execution that takes place in the death sentence. It's never used for legal or military killing. Ecclesiastes 3.8 says that there's a time of war and a time of peace. That's one kind of killing. That's not the kind that's being spoken of here. in this text. David killed Goliath, but that's not this kind of killing that's spoken of in this text. Romans 13 speaks of the sword that's borne by the civil government. That's not this kind of killing that Moses is speaking of here. That sword The sword of Romans 13 has been denied to the church. The sword is in the hands of the state alone. Jesus actually, in the Garden of Gethsemane, physically takes away the sword of His disciples. They have it for self-defense, but not for this kind of killing that we find in this text. This is used for unlawful, hating, murderous, vengeful killing. It assumes that life is holy and that man is made in the image of God. So, the command is, thou shalt not kill out of vengeance. But there is a killing of self-defense. There is a killing in just war that is lawful. There is a killing for capital punishment that is just. that that's not what Moses is talking about here. It's a different kind. So we have to get our definitions right. Killing is not so broad. Here it's focused. We could speak of examples of those who have killed. Cain was the first murderer. And the Lord comes to him and says, What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out of the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth. We find Cain. We find Simeon and Levi and the slaughter of Shechem and their great punishment. We find Jezebel's murder of the prophets. We find also in times like these where God's people will protect those who are being killed, like Elijah who took 50 of the prophets and hid them in a cave and then 50 more and hid them in another cave so that Jezebel couldn't find them and kill them. We find Absalom murdering his brother. We find Joash's murderous grandmother, Athaliah, and her murderous, bloodthirsty inclinations that worked out in physical murder. In Psalm 55, 23, we find that there are great judgments against the bloodthirsty. But you, O God, shall bring them down to the pit of destruction. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days." How's that? If one would murder, one would find a halting of many blessings in life somehow. Here, there's a cutting off of days. In Revelation 21, we read that the cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable murderers, they will experience fire and brimstone in the second death. We know that some of God's chosen servants fell into the physical act of murder. Moses, David, and the Apostle Paul was a murderer. And so, we find that there are many examples of this in the Bible. 1 John 3.15 gives us a very powerful and convicting definition of murder. He says, whoever hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. This is spoken in 1 John 3.15. And here, John so carefully and densely summarizes what is murder when he says, whoever hates his brother is a murderer. There are punishments for murder. In Genesis chapter 9, verses 6 and 7, we learn of the principle of capital punishment. Genesis 9, 6 reads, whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed. For in the image of God, He made man. And as for you, be fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly in the earth. The argument for the punishment is that man is made in the image of God. Capital punishment is an important category that the people of God must continue to advocate. In our nation today, 36 states have the death penalty and 14 have abolished this biblical law. We have been made in the image of God and therefore, because we have, greater worth, we have this nature that God would exact a very severe punishment to anyone who would seek to extinguish it in an unlawful manner. How many have suffered the wrath of capital punishment in our nation? Not very many. How many would you guess last year were taken to be executed for their murderous activity? Only 37. in 2008 experienced capital punishment. How many murders do you think there are in America? Far, far more than 37 who were executed for it. We have so despised this command, we care nothing for life. We care nothing for life in the womb. We care nothing for life on the deathbed. And we care nothing for life that walks on the face of the earth because we have so despised God's commandments to protect it. And so there are punishments for murder. The punishment for Cain was that the ground would not yield strength for him and he would be a fugitive and a vagabond all the days of his life. The judgments are found in many places. In our own book of Deuteronomy that we're studying now, we'll read in chapter 27, verse 24, Cursed is the man who kills his neighbor secretly. Then all the people shall say, Amen. We've stopped saying that in America. Our misguided compassion, twisted around and refigured to be so contrary to what God has said. Deuteronomy 27, 25, Cursed is the man who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person. And then all the people shall say, Amen. We find that there's judgment even for animals who kill people. In Exodus chapter 1, we read that if an ox gores a man or a woman to death, then the ox shall surely be stoned. And if the owner of that ox knew of the dangerous nature of that animal, then there would also be punishment for the owner of that animal. Quite a severe punishment. So, there are punishments for murder. And then, let's consider the limits of this command. Now, here we find, I think, what is the heart of the ministry of Jesus regarding this commandment. But, what are the limits of this command? Let me just say that this is a far-reaching command. These four words find their application in every part of your life. They touch every single relationship. They even take you to your wallet where you find your driver's license and a little card that will allow a hospital to make money on your organs. your living organs to take them whenever they desire so that they might sell them on the open market. It takes us to every area of life. So, it's a broad commandment. They reach into the hospital room where someone is in pain, starving to death. They reach into your home. They reach into your marriage where you find anger rising up. A wife toward a husband. A husband who will not listen to his wife. and finds anger in his heart toward her because she communicates differently and she's not listened to. And her opinions are not valued. And her husband despises her words in anger. It reaches into the heart of every child who despises and dishonors his father or mother. This commandment has to do with every area of life. The Heidelberg Catechism, We read from last week on the 5th commandment, has this careful language to describe just how broad this commandment reaches. Question 105 in the Heidelberg Catechism asks, what does God require of the 6th commandment answer? That neither thoughts nor words nor gestures, much less in deeds, I dishonor, wound, or kill my neighbor by myself or by another, but that I lay aside all my desire for revenge, also that I not hurt myself nor willfully expose myself to any danger Wherefore, also the magistrate is armed with the sword to prevent murder." Question 106 in the Heidelberg Catechism. The next in the sequence reads, But this commandment seems only to speak of murder. Answer, In forbidding murder, God teaches us that He abhors the causes thereof, such as envy, hatred, anger, and desire of revenge, and that He accounts all these as murder?" Question 107. Next in the sequence of questions. But is it enough that we do not kill any man in the manner mentioned above? Answer. No. God forbids envy, hatred, anger. He commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves, to show patience, peace, meekness, mercy, and all kindness towards Him, and prevent His hurt as much as in us lies, and that we do good even to our enemies. And so, this commandment is far-reaching. What are the limits of it? I don't know what the limits are. They go to every thought and meditation of my heart. They take my whole being on. It's not just about what I might do with a gun in my hand. It's far greater than that. It goes into every synapse of the thinking of my brain, which is being driven by my heart. And so, this is a very broad commandment. that touches every part of life. This appeals to the soccer dad who's losing it at the coach on the field. This appeals to the alcohol deranged driver who kills a family in his drunkenness. This appeals to all of us who have to face our greatest problem, and that is our hypocrisy in trying to clean the outside of the bowl. but the inside is full of robbery and extortion. It helps us to make sure we understand the difference between the external and the internal. You know, many of us are raising children, and there is a tragedy that can befall your family and mine. And that is to think that the heart means nothing. That all you have to have are children who say, yes ma'am, no ma'am, who have memorized the commandments in several languages. It means nothing. It means nothing. without the heart. How easy it is to raise little Pharisees. How easy it is to raise our children and they have no knowledge that they must love the Lord their God with their hearts in the midst of knowledge which must be so important to us. How tragic it would be for us if there would be no heart in them. But they were just the nicest children. But their hearts did not burn in holy love for God. They did not love His commandments. They just kept them on the outside. So this touches every area of our lives. It challenges us in all of our thoughts and plans for our families to train them and to help them. To fill them with wisdom and knowledge. It cuts us off and helps us to see the heart of the matter. Because God desires the inward heart. And so, we see that the breath is so, so far reaching. We can see that it's possible that every child in this room could be breaking this commandment now. Every husband can be breaking this commandment now. Every one of us sitting in this nice place can idolatrously forget that God has called for our hearts. I can't think of any more challenging command here, because it speaks of every relationship. Every person I look at, every person I think about, everything I do somehow comes back to the heart of this commandment. You know, we in our church this year have, among our elders, have had a conviction That we ought to spend time considering our marriages. And this commandment has so much to do with marriage. Because what is it that destroys marriages? Hardness of heart. Hardness of heart is akin, it's a relative of anger. Making it a relative of murder. How easy it is to have a murderous marriage one year after another. So it's our desire to relieve any murder at work in these marriages. That we would learn how to love our wives better than we have. As elders, we're convicted of this matter. That our ears maybe haven't been tuned like they ought to because they've been hardened by our hearts. That our nourishment and cherishing of our wives hasn't been what it ought to be. There's a conviction there that we have for all of our marriages, that we would not find ourselves hating our spouses. And so, this commandment is very, very broad. It includes safety, ensuring the safety of those around us. We'll come to one of these commandments as we move on in the book of Deuteronomy. But we understand that God has it for us to protect life and to preserve it. So, it's very broad. Now, there are misinterpretations of this commandment. There are a couple I would just like to mention. Perhaps the most obvious misinterpretation of this commandment is the one that we perhaps are most trending toward at all times. It's the misinterpretation of the Pharisees. who interpreted this commandment to mean, just don't kill anybody. Get through your life without killing anyone. And that was not what the commandment was intended for. Exclusively, it was intended for that. But Jesus backs this up far, far, far earlier than the actual act of murder. So we can misinterpret it by becoming little Pharisees about it and being worried about only one thing, getting thrown in the slammer for killing someone. after being caught. That's not what this commandment is primarily about. Or, there are whole denominations and sects who have misinterpreted this text. You could call them the non-violent denominations. The Anabaptists, the Quakers, they reject all killing. Even in self-defense, even in just war. Some, in their accepting the pagan, idolatrous philosophies of the world, even would say, like Peter Singer and some of the great popular professors that rage in this world, would say that there's no difference in you than there is in another animal. That you're just another version of a primate. And it doesn't really matter. And in fact, some plants are just as valuable as you are. So the range of misinterpretation, misconstruing this commandment is also fairly broad. Well, what are the sins of the Sixth Commandment? We've actually spoken of many of them already, but I would like to enumerate them. as you have them in your outline. I've named nine, and of course, this list could be significantly adjusted and expanded and clarified, but I'll give you the ones that I had to present. First of all, murder. We're just talking about killing someone or participating in the killing of someone, like David did, who wrote a note to place someone in danger to kill him, to kill Uriah. There are ways that we are complicit in murder. And this is the physical act of murder. Secondly, there is suicide. The Bible records seven suicides. And of course, many of the greatest saints and heroes in the Bible have faced overwhelming depression. And sometimes they wrote that they wished they had never even been born, as King David did in Psalm 13, as the prophet Jeremiah did in Jeremiah 20.14, as Job did in Job 7.15 and 16. These dear saints, brothers, heroes of the faith reached very low points where they wished that they would die. Of course, we need to be very clear and make sure that we use the right language to describe this. We call it suicide. And what it really is, is self-murder. It's self-murder. Let's put a nice term on it that everyone can somehow accept, but it's self-murder. It's a wicked affront against the image of God in man for one to commit suicide. And of course, all hearts break at suicide. And it's such a tragic thing that comes into a family. We were just reading this week that in one of the awakenings in New England, in the 1730s. People were being saved. Homes were being transformed. And something shut that revival down. It was a suicide craze. Jonathan Edwards' uncle slit his throat. And then there was a craze of suicide in the community. And the revival stopped. And the heartbreak grew. This is what happens with suicide. There are many things that stop. the awakening when suicide begins to take root. And there's so much despair in it. There's so much collapse in it for all those around. But it is a wicked sin. Suicide is a selfish, sinful behavior. If you have thoughts of suicide, you just need to know that it is the devil. It is the devil himself who would say these things in your heart to help you believe that you should not have a life. It is Satan. It is wicked. Reject him. Throw him off if you have any thoughts of suicide. I'm not going to pretend that perhaps there might be no one in this room that has contemplated or is contemplating suicide right now. If you're contemplating suicide, you need to know that it is the devil himself who would destroy the glory of God that has been placed upon your life. You have been graced by the image of God. You are of inestimable value. God has made laws around you to protect you so that you would not be killed and so that you would not kill yourself. Don't kill yourself. Don't wipe out the image of God. This is a precious thing. There is hope. There is always hope when there is God. And so, suicide is one of the sins of the sixth commandment. Suicide is rejecting the promises of God. Suicide is rejecting the fact that He will take care of you all the days of your life. The Lord Jesus said, look at the birds of the air. nor reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them." It's rejecting the tender-hearted appeal of the Lord Jesus who says, I will never leave you or forsake you. I will never leave you or forsake you. And so, suicide is a selfish rejection of so many glorious things. Jesus wants us to have life, but He says that the thief comes in only to steal and kill and destroy. But I have come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly." Now, that's perhaps one of the greatest arguments against suicide. That there is Almighty God who promises to never leave you or forsake you and to grant you life. So, this sin of the sixth commandment, suicide, leads us to the next. And the next is hatred in the heart and justifying external obedience. Self-justifying external obedience. Now, we have to go to Matthew chapter 5 to find the heart of the matter here, to find the sin of the sixth commandment that the Lord Jesus exposes. If you could turn to Matthew chapter 5, verse 20, First of all, the Lord Jesus, in speaking of the sixth commandment, He introduces it by speaking of the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees and how bankrupt it is. How external obedience doesn't even come close to true obedience, heartfelt obedience. And so He says in verse 20, For I say to you, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, that you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. The scribes and the Pharisees were minimalists. They interpreted the Sixth Commandment as, don't get thrown in the clink for killing someone. That's how they interpreted it. Keep yourself out of trouble, out of getting messed with the law. But the Lord Jesus says, no, no, no, it's more than that. And so, the perspective of the Jews was that murder was just some outward act. And so, Jesus says in verse 21, You have heard that it was said of those of old, you shall not murder. And whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment." So, Jesus is repeating their view. That all they really care about is the judgment. All they care about is that they might get caught killing someone. This is like the child who just, in order to keep the peace, says, yes, Father. But he really cares more for just staying out of hot water. There's no heart in it at all. This is the child who just wants to escape the problem. And that's what the Pharisees were doing. They just wanted to escape the real issue. But Jesus then teaches them the truth about murder in verse 22. He says, But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And then he goes on in verse 22 to give an illustration of how murder works out. And he begins with what you say. Because what you say is a reflection of what's in your heart. He says, and whoever says to his brother, and he's giving an illustration of murder, whoever says to his brother, Raka, shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, you fool, shall be in danger of the hell fire. And so Jesus here is showing how to become free of anger and how to identify it. And so in verse 23, he says, therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go your way. First, be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly. while you were on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there until you have paid the last penny." So, Jesus is painting this picture of murder in the church. where there's someone sitting in the church and there's a broken relationship. The Lord Jesus doesn't want you sitting among His people offering your offering when someone has something against you. There's a murderous force at work in the church. And so, so far as it depends on you, you must be reconciled to your brother. I realize how convicting this is and how confusing it can often be. Because we can't always control the dispositions of those toward us. But we have to have an openness and a pursuit of it somehow. So here, there's murder, there's anger among the people who are offering sacrifices. But it comes down to the things they say and the relationships that they have in the community. That implicates every one of us for this sin of murder. So the Lord Jesus is taking this matter and connecting it to our hearts and also our speech and also our relationships with those who are not here with us today. That's what He's doing. It matters. It matters what our relationship is with those who are not with us today. And so, the Lord Jesus is wrapping all these things up and He's saying He wants you to take action. He doesn't want you to delay. He wants you to do it quickly. You know, James himself ties the sixth commandment to speech just as well. He says, Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. Now, what does he mean by the law? Well, at minimum, it means the whole law, which is summed up in, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart. and then the second you shall love your neighbor as yourself." It's at least a violation of anything in the law that has to do with love, which is everything. So, it at least, at minimum, appeals to every word, every jot and tittle of the law. But I believe it specifically focuses on this commandment. Because Jesus connects what you say with murder and the sixth commandment. James does the same thing. If you speak evil of your brother, you speak evil of the law and judge the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. So, what James is saying is that if you speak evil of your brother, if you dishonor your brother, then you're standing above the law and you're saying, I'm smarter, I'm wiser. I have something to say too. I'm going to throw off the law. I'm going to be a law unto myself. I am now a new law. And we become a new law. We become a rebellious, law-breaking murderer when we speak evil of our brother. That's why in Proverbs 11.9 we read, With the mouth the godless destroys his neighbor. That's why in Proverbs 12.18 we read, Reckless words pierce like a sword. In Proverbs 17 we read of the malicious tongue. In Proverbs 11.9 we read about the mouth that destroys his neighbor. But Romans 13.10 says, Love does no harm to his neighbor. Therefore, Love is the fulfillment of the law. So, this sin of the Sixth Commandment has to do with the heart and the corresponding use of the tongue. And then, the fourth sin of the Sixth Commandment that I would like to bring up is the sin of racial genocide, the sin of tribalism, the sin of rejecting The principle that all are made in the image of God and that we are all of one blood, that one race should be exterminated, that one race has lower value. This is a sin of the Sixth Commandment. Racial genocide is perhaps the greatest public expression of this sin. We've seen many of them recently. Rwanda, Cambodia, Kosovo. The racial genocides are legendary in our day. But God has told us to love one another and to recognize that we are all one, as one human family. And so the hatred of races is implied in this commandment. Then number five, the next sin I would like to speak of, is the sin of abortion. We use this term abortion. The pro-abortion crowd uses this term with pride. And they like to call it pro-choice. And with this sin, as with all sins, we like to put different names on it. And we make up new words to despise the sixth commandment. The term pro-choice is one of those terms that has been made up to soften something that is despicable in the eyes of God. We use the term pro-choice to speak of the murder of a baby by chopping it up and scalding it and poisoning it. We call that abortion. And instead of rejoicing in the image of God, rejoicing in chastity, rejoicing in life, we make up words that would allow us to do it. And so, the sin of abortion is on the table in the sixth commandment. To take the life of one made in the image of God. When does life begin? at conception, period. Any forceful destruction of life after conception is murder. Now, we know that so many of us have been deceived. So many of us have committed many sins because we didn't know what we were doing, or maybe we did know what we were doing. And so this great sin that is upon our land, the blood that's been shed in our land, is absolutely, astoundingly enormous. the 50 million children that we've aborted, an entire generation, do you realize, do you recognize that in a nation of 300 million, how many 50 million is? That's an entire generation we have wiped out. The blood is upon our hands in this nation. We have sinned against God. We've used words. We've tolerated things that should not have been tolerated. And here we find ourselves in this crossfire. Let's speak of the next sin of the Sixth Commandment. We've spoken of suicide, and that would be number six. There are different variations of suicide. There's a term that many of us have become aware of in the last 20 years, physician-assisted suicide. You're familiar with Jack Kevorkian, Dr. Depp, who popularized this practice of helping people die by injecting them with increasingly lethal doses until finally the dose rises to such a level that they die. We call this active euthanasia. We call this mercy killing. Now, this sin is upon our land in increasing, increasing numbers. And it will continue to increase as the older generation will double in size over the next several years, you will find so many on their deathbeds, and those who had assisted their suicide, ready and waiting to put them out. To give them an injection, and then another injection until they're insensible, and then kill them with the final injection. To put them out of their misery. Somehow, in this world, we have made the ultimate sin to be in pain. And so, in order to put someone out of their pain, we murder them. We've taken one hardship and we've exalted it and then rejected the commandment of God and killed someone because they're in pain. We so hate pain that we would actually murder a father or a mother because they're in pain. Have we forgotten the sovereignty of God in pain? It is Almighty God who superintends pain in the human race. And the pain, the suffering, we hate to see our loved ones go through it. We wish we could take it away. We are like the disciples who did not want to see Jesus suffer. And He said, no, I must suffer. I must suffer for the sins of the world. How is it that we would take our own personal pain and then trade it for murder. And that's exactly what we've done. Let me just suggest this. Two thoughts. First of all, I don't know, I don't really know anyone who would not desire to lower the pain of a loved one. We would all desire, and we should work to reduce the pains of our loved ones. We should do that. This is a good thing, as much as we can. But let me just suggest this, that when we are dying, it is a form of suffering that mirrors the suffering of Christ and the death of Christ. The pain and suffering from death, from cancer, or any other thing, is something that God has laid upon mankind. God has appointed man once to die. And yet, because of our misguided compassion, we would take away sovereignly delivered pain. and then murder our loved ones. There are many idols of our day. One of those idols is the idol of escaping all pain. Why do people drink too much alcohol? Why do people take drugs that they should not? Why do we do that? Why do we rush, rush to relieve our pain? On the one hand, there's something that is right about that. But it can become an idol. And it becomes an idol when you're willing to defy a clear command of God to take away the life of a loved one. Because you so value something that God has pressed upon you. And that is an escape from peaceful physical existence. Now, God has made it so that His people would suffer pain. Some of us will die a painful death. Some of us will not die a painful death. Who is in charge of this? Almighty God. It's not for man to decide when man dies. It is only for God to decide when man will die. And God forbid it that any one of us ever would take the lives into our own hands. And yes, it is right for us to allow people to die. But it is not right for us to take action in their death. We will die. We cannot be kept alive forever. But we can never take the life of another human being under any circumstances. And even if your father or mother says, kill me, you cannot kill them. They may in their pain say, please kill me. You cannot kill them. You cannot defy the ordinance of God out of some form of compassion. God has appointed suffering. We will suffer until we die. Let's just make that very clear. I perhaps will suffer greatly. My family will look upon me. and they will wish that it would end, but they cannot kill me without suffering the judgment of Almighty God from defying the commandment that man should not take the life of man." This is physician-assisted suicide that assumes that pain is the greatest evil and the greatest good is to end pain. And it's an even greater good to relieve the burden on the hospital. And then there's passive euthanasia. This is murder by refusal to provide care. Terry Schiavo, a couple of years ago, is an excellent example of passive euthanasia where the doctors just quit feeding her and quit giving her water and she died. It took her 14 days or something like that to die of starvation and dehydration. If you read the euthanasia literature, they say it doesn't cause them extra pain to be dehydrated. It doesn't cause them extra pain to starve them. Don't worry about it. It's compassionate. Setting up a situation for someone to die is murder. In the same way that David wrote the letter to deploy Uriah to the front lines, it's the same thing as writing a letter to end someone else's life passively. Let me read you from the American Humanist website. Passive euthanasia is the withdrawal of extraordinary life-prolonging techniques, such as intravenous feeding and resuscitation, or not initiating such treatment when the situation is hopeless. Given the tremendous advances in medical science, it is now possible to keep terminal patients alive far beyond the time they might ordinarily die. Active euthanasia is administration of increasing doses of drugs, such as morphine, to relieve suffering until the dosage of necessity reaches the lethal stage. Involuntary euthanasia refers to a third party taking a patient's life without the informed consent of the patient. This is commonly practiced in veterinary medicine when animals are put down or put to sleep. In modern medicine, it could be conceivably applied to the act of taking a terminally ill, suffering patient's life who has lost all mental capacity to make his or her own decisions. And so we're covering these two categories of physician-assisted murder and passive euthanasia. This is the sin of refusing to defend life, refusing to keep life going until God takes it Himself. In Matthew 25-37 we read, And then the righteous will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? And the king will answer and say to them, Surely, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it unto me. We have a responsibility. We're under divine commands to keep people alive, to give them food, to give them water, to give them clothing, until God takes them. Proverbs 31 says, Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. Deuteronomy 5.17 says, Do not murder. And then, the last sin that I would like to deal with, and you can see how it's related to everything that we've already said. is the sin of the denial of the sovereignty of God. The sin of the denial of the sovereignty of God. I've titled this, The Sovereignty of God and the Sanctity of Life, because at the heart of this is the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. That it is only God who can take life. It's only God who gives life. And it is only God who can remove it from this earth. And so we have to consider the sovereignty of God. What is a life worth living? What about the quality of life? Is it for us to determine what is the quality of life? What about a baby that is born with no legs? What about an elderly person who has no apparent ability to think straight? What about quality of life? Is God sovereign? Is God sovereign over dementia? Is He sovereign over Alzheimer's disease? Is He sovereign over one who doesn't even know who they're talking to, as far as we can tell? Yes, God is sovereign over these things. These are gifts given to mankind for particular reasons. And yet, what we want to do is just eliminate all problems so that we can have our own comforts instead of grappling with them and receiving the lessons that God is delivering to us. When a Down syndrome child is born to us or one who has some external or internal problem that seems to cause so much difficulty, these are gifts from heaven. When man begins to decide quality of life, man becomes God. And he rejects the sovereignty of God. This brings up many, many contemporary challenges. For example, two and a half years ago, I went to the hospital to have back surgery. And the forcefulness that the doctors exerted to get me to sign a living will so that they could take my organs that were still living was enormous. They wanted me to put my life in their hands. They wanted me to say, someone else will decide when I die. A living will describes who it is that will have authority to grant that life prolonging procedures will be given. And you indicate which treatments you do or do not want to be applied. And you place the authority in man. decide your time of death. And they will decide your time of death quite likely. But they will try to decide that time of death carefully enough so that thousands of dollars can be made on your living organs. Because you are, in many ways, still alive. Salively alive. But these living wills are mavens of the pro-death culture. This is Peter Singer, and you are a primate applied. Holland was the first country to legalize physician assisted suicides. And now, I believe a couple of years ago, I read that it's now legal in Holland to euthanize a 12 year old and above for any physician or parent driven reason. When you do not value life in the womb, you cannot value it on the deathbed. And then you will not value it, anything in between. And that's the reality that's upon us today. And we're sitting in the crossfire of this now. It makes us a separate people to believe you shall not murder. It will separate you from the world. It will cause you to speak against murder. It will cause you to have certain challenges in your family. But it will also cause the Bible to be explained, hopefully, that the glory of God would be shown, and that the sanctity of life would be known in this world. The Bible says to honor the gray head, and this is what we ought to do. It's a prideful thing for us to say that we can define the time of death. This is a very difficult definition to make. Physicians struggle with the definition of death. And so we need to understand that only God is sovereign to give and take life. How might the sixth commandment, though, be stated positively? Perhaps you shall love one another from the heart. Perhaps that's the way to state it in its opposite form. So let's just take a step back now. Let's see this commandment and we'll wrap it up. This commandment, this commandment exalts the love and the tenderness of God. This commandment makes it so clear that his compassions fail not. In it, He chastises those who would use their tongues like knives. In it, He expresses His desire to keep you alive through heroic acts of persistence to defend your life. He expresses His will that there would be someone in this world who would keep this commandment who is nearby you, or your church, or your town, that there would be someone in this world who would nurse you on your deathbed, who would love you when you are born without arms, who would take you even though you can't think right anymore. Someone who would love you from the heart. It's a commandment that would extract the poison of envy and anger out of a marriage and out of a child. It would fill a church with love. It would cause a wall to stop evil everywhere in the world where it's obeyed. Even right here. Here in this commandment is such an opportunity to promote love in a church so that the wall of anger, the wall against anger would be so strong that love would be the primary expression in a church. So, with one sweep, with four words, are cut down disregard for life in the womb. It lifts up love for the elderly. It exalts the unborn. It makes the angry brothers reconciled. It makes a marriage a happy institution. It takes an unproductive worker obsessed with politics and offenses and makes him a blessing to his employer. This commandment is the conduit of the mercies of God. And how grateful We all can be that Christ kept His commandment. He never broke the sixth commandment, as you and I have so many times. And He has paid the price for our breaking it so many times. And so this commandment also leads us to the cross, because it leads us to the only one who is ever able to keep it without fail. And He fulfilled it in all of His deeds, in all of His words. And so this commandment is so wonderful. This is why we find in Romans 12, the Apostle Paul in the great chapter that speaks about how love works in the church. He says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Why? Why do this? Because of His multiplied mercy. This commandment is the window to all mercy. And I pray that God would give it to us all the days of our lives. That we would seek to obey it. And that even if it would cause us to be found contrary to this world, we would know that it is right forever. Would you pray with me? Lord, we thank You for this commandment of mercy. This window of love for us all. This expression of how kind you are to your people. To give them laws that would protect them from unrighteous harm. That it would neutralize the poison. That it would put out the fire of anger. O Lord, may it be so among us. Amen.