Murder in the Moutains

Have you noticed murder has become a central source of entertainment in our society? According to Philip Ryken, “By the time the average child finishes elementary school, he or she has watched 8,000 televised murders and 100,000 acts of on-screen violence.” Video games are so life-like that those playing them get the sensation they are actually killing someone.

Since God has purposes for every person, all life must be prized and protected.

The Principles behind this Commandment

1. The act of murder is an assault on God Himself.

Genesis 1:26-27 “26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

To murder another human being is to murder what is most like God in creation.

When you attack a human being,

you are attacking the One in whose image they are made

Humans are unique, they alone are made in the image of God.

Perhaps you’ve heard the Latin phrase Imago Dei, which means “Image of God.”

This means every human being has inherent value independent of their utility or function, from conception until natural death.

Human life is sacred to our Sovereign God because He is the giver and sustainer of life.

Human beings belong to God,

and we are accountable to Him if we take someone’s life.

The creation of the first man stands out from everything else God created.

When He created all other things,

it was sufficient for God to simply say, “Let there be…” and it was!

But for His final creative act, God did not say, “Let there be a man.”

Instead, we see how personally involved He was in Genesis 2:7 “7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”

When God created Eve, He didn’t form her from the dust as if she was a separate act of creation.

Instead, according to Genesis 2:21-22 “21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.”

Eve shared the same dignity given to Adam, for she was made from man.

This means all their descendants are also made in the image of God.

we have a common parentage,

we are our brother’s keeper.

In a real sense, there’s just one race – the human race.

When a human being murders another human,

he is doing what Cain did, slaying the image of God in the one who is his brother

Genesis 4:9 “9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?””

Every person you meet is an image-bearer of God.

Even those who we say are the worse of the worse still reflect some of God’s image.

It doesn’t matter what the person does or doesn’t do, he or she is designed with dignity.

J.D. Greear says, “When you think of men and women as anything less than the image of God, you devalue life.”

2. Murder is directly identified with Satan.

1 John 3:12 “12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.”

Be reminded what Jesus said about Satan in John 8:44: “44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

3. Because murder cannot be undone.

If you steal, you can make restitution.

But if you take a human life, it is impossible to get life back again

Since God has purposes for every person, all life must be prized and protected.

What does the sixth Commandment permit?

Not all Killing is Murder.

Exodus 20:13 (KJV 1900)

13 Thou shalt not kill.

Exodus 20:13 “13 “You shall not murder.”

The word murder is a good translation of the original Hebrew word, ratsach, which is used in the commandment. I

It’s more accurate than the translation “to kill.”

It also helps us see that while all life is precious to God, He does differentiate between different types of killing.

Not all killing is necessarily evil and sinful.

Some killing is accidental and is sinful and sometimes it isn’t.

Some killing is purposeful but not sinful.

Some killing is

So biblically what types of Killing does God allow.

Killing as a result of Self Defense

As we see in the Old Testament, the sixth commandment does not prohibit self-defense:

Exodus 22:2 -3 “2 If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him, 3 but if the sun has risen on him, there shall be bloodguilt for him. He shall surely pay. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.” “

In other words, if someone had no other choice but to kill as a way to defend himself from an intruder, he was not guilty.

Ex. 22:3 3 but if the sun has risen on him, there shall be bloodguilt for him. He shall surely pay. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.”

which means that if observers could see what was happening and could discern that killing wasn’t necessary,

the one who killed was guilty.

Self-defense or even the defense of others then, is not a violation of the sixth commandment.

Self defense is protecting life, it is protecting your own life.

Killing as a result of War

Neither was war, in certain circumstances.

Peace is always the goal, of course, but war is sometimes necessary to defend peace.

The Old Testament clearly did not prohibit warfare, since God sent Israel into battle and claimed to be a warrior God who fought for them.

Again, we see in Romans 13 that the duly appointed state is to be the agent of God’s wrath and to protect the innocent.

In Acts, Cornelius (the head of a regiment) was called a God-fearer.

When some soldiers asked John the Baptist what they needed to do to repent, John did not say: “Resign from the evil Roman army.

You can’t be a soldier and be part of the people of God.”

Instead he said,

Luke 3:14 “14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.””

Be an honest, honorable soldier,” even in an army that often did repugnant things, as the Roman army did.

Killing as a result of Capital Punishment

We see in Genesis 9 that capital punishment was also not considered a violation of the sixth commandment:

Turn to Genesis 9 (page 8 in Pew Bible)

Genesis 9:1-13 “1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered.

Here in the Noahic covenant we see the prominence of man over animals.

Man is the ruler over all lower forms of life.

He is truly the king of the earth.

He is to subdue nature,

so as to use it,

to shape it in the direction that will reflect the usefulness,

the order, the beauty and the purpose of its creator.

Into your hand they are delivered.

The entire animal kingdom is for the use of man.

Unlike what we see today in the environmental movement man is more important than animals.

They see man as an enemy of the earth, not a friend, but a foe.

If we could reduce the population of man or get rid of it all together it would be better for the earth and its animal and plants.

God designed life for us to procreate and for us to be prominent in the creation.

And everything in this creation is given into our hands.

All the fish, all the birds, and all the animals. Everything.

3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.

Now we see that thee is provision form God. God gives man His blessing to go and hunt and kill animals to eat.

There is no dietary restriction on us as there wasn’t on Noah and his family in the new world.

I give it all to you. I give it all to you.

You’re not a vegetarian because it’s a biblical issue.

Meat eating, in fact, then becomes a very important part of living in the new world.

What a blessing. Let me – let me put it together for you.

The whole animal world is for you.

It is for our use for work and for food, and even companionship.

John MacArthur says it This way...

“So put on your wool sweater made from the hide of sheep, put on your leather shoes made from the hide of a cow, put on your silk shirt made by a worm, and pick up your crocodile purse, and put a feathered hat on your head. And take your husband and children and ride on a horse-drawn buggy to a restaurant, and order a mixed grill of chicken, fish and filet minion, just so you can have one evening when you fully participate in Noahic blessing. You’re entitled to all of it. And not only that, have a salad. Because the end of verse 3 says have a salad. Do you see it there? gave you the green plants, I give you everything.”:

You get the salad from Adamic blessing, you get the meat from Noahic blessing.

4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. 6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.

Who poses the greatest threat to the life of man?

Well, the bacteria pose some kind of a threat and viruses, parasites, microorganisms.

But the greatest threat to the life of man comes from beasts and from men.

And so God designed a law designed to protect people from being killed by others.

And look, murder – murder is a problem in the world already, right?

Baltimore Murder - 2022-333 homicides

Chicago Murder - 2022 - 695 homicides

Pittsburg area - 122 homicides 2023

What is the first sin that we find in the Old Testament?

Cain what? Killed his brother.

Fratricide, one brother killing another.

And God gives an effective protection for this by essentially saying if somebody kills somebody, they are to be killed.

If someone Murders another person

God just says I want to protect you, and here’s how.

I’m going to require your life blood.

That’s really a synonym for your death.

I’m going to require your life blood.

Require is a judicial term in Hebrew meaning compensation, recompense, satisfaction, literally to avenge.

So the punishment for murder is to give your life as well.

It is a deterrent, because a dead murder cannot murder again.

If you shed man’s blood, that means you murder somebody.

By man, at the hands of man, your blood shall be shed.

This is not personal vengeance; this is simply the responsibility of humanity.

By man in the humanity sense. If you kill someone, your life will be taken by man.

The agency then is man under divine mandate,

He is the instrument of God’s vengeance in human society on murderers.

All through the Scripture there’s the forbidding of personal vengeance.

But societal vengeance is prescribed under God’s law for man’s protection.

7 And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.” 8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”

This is the covenant with Noah after the Flood.

it was signified with a rainbow, and this covenant is still in effect today unlike the Mosaic Covenant.

The Noahic Covenant is still in full affect.

How many of you feel we must give preference to animals over human life.

How many of you are willing to give up hunting and becoming vegetarians or vegans?

Well if we say no on these others then how can we say no to capital punishment.

Genesis 9:6 “6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.”

Capital punishment for murder was not considered an assault on the image of God,

but a defense of his image.

Human life is so precious that the taking of it was to be punished severely.

This is the same principle reiterated in

Romans 13:4 “4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.”

The governing authorities are God’s servant for good, an avenger to carry out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer (v. 4).

Capital punishment was not considered a violation of the sixth commandment.

Capital Punishment is merciful and it is a Godly and Biblical form of criminal justice.

Has it been abused in the past, yes.

Have there been innocent people put to death for crimes they have not commited. Yes

But biblically speaking if one has been prosecuted of murder beyond a shadow of a doubt, then by God’s command that person is to face death as his punishment, not life in prison, not 25 years and then get out.

Murder requires a certain final punishment because it is a heinous crime that has taken something which there is no repayment or restitution that can be given to the victim.

Almost all other crime victims can receive some sort of restitution, but murdered ones cannot.

So the sixth commandment did not prohibit that sort of killing—self-defense, capital punishment, and just wars.

Since God has purposes for every person, all life must be prized and protected.

What does the sixth Commandment Prohibit?

MURDER—TAKING THE LIFE OF YOUR NEIGHBOR

The first application of the sixth commandment is that God forbids acts of murder.

This would involve taking the life of your neighbor whom God calls you to love.

Somewhere in your life you may come to a situation where murder would not seem beyond you.

An injury can be so great and the desire for vengeance so strong that a person feels he has the right to exercise his own justice by taking another life.

But God reserves the right to bring justice for Himself. “‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord”

Romans 12:19 “19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.””

ABORTION—TAKING THE LIFE OF AN UNBORN NEIGHBOR

I just recieved an email from The BCMD Christian Life and Public Affairs which shared that with the new Governor the the assembly’s top priority to pass a constitutional amendment that would enshrine the right to abortion into the states Constitution.

The sixth commandment also speaks to the issue of abortion, which is taking the life of an unborn child.

Abortion is wrong because the unborn child is created in the image of God.

A child in the womb is your unborn neighbor,

and God calls you to love your unborn neighbor as much as you love yourself.

God has an active relationship with the developing life of a child in the womb.

Perhaps the most beautiful expression of this is in Psalm 139, where David described God’s perfect knowledge of every person

Psalm 139:15-16 “15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

God’s hand is on the life of the unborn child, and that is why the unborn child should be of great value to us.

This is not a potential life, but it is a life, with all kinds of potential.

God’s care for a human life from the moment of conception is a wonderful comfort for parents who have gone through the pain of a miscarriage, and may have

The little life that was lost to you is known to God and is safe in His hands.

The Christian Life and Public Affairs Committee also shared that Maryland that a Delegate has pre-filed a bill to legalize Assisted Suicide into law. The past 6 times it has been defeated but more and more we see a state or a country that has devalued life at every level.

EUTHANASIA—TAKING THE LIFE OF AN ELDERLY OR INFIRMED NEIGHBOR

Euthanasia involves making a decision that a person’s life is no longer worth living and that some action should be taken to end it.

There is a great difference between ending life and ending treatment.

You may find yourself in a situation in which it becomes obvious that a life is ending,

and the body of someone you love is being sustained beyond that it should be

by a treatment that holds no hope of recovery.

Ending treatment may be a way of turning that person’s life over to God.

There is a huge difference between sustaining a life that has been taken by God and taking a life that is being sustained by God.

Discerning that line can be horrendously difficult.

Knowing that there is a line is crucial.

Where God is sustaining a life,

nobody is in a position to say that life is not worth living.[2]

Assisted-suicide laws have consequences most people don’t think about on the front end.

Take for example MAID (Medical Assistance In Dying) in Canada.

Where there is sate provided assisted suicide treatment for those who feel that they cannot bear a disability or disease any longer. Or there is no treatment that you consider acceptable.

In Canada someone can be in chronic pain and must wait for medical treatment for 18 months unitl a doctor appointment comes available, pr they can have a two hour counseling session right away and choose to end thier life through MAIOD.

Every human life is precious.

Unborn life is precious.

Children with special needs are precious.

Aging parents are precious—even when they don’t remember because they’re suffering dementia, they’re still made in the image of God.

Nonverbal children or parents,

those in a wheelchair, and those who are completely dependent upon others or doctors are precious.

All of life matters to God.

You see it in imago Dei.

You see it in capital punishment command of the Noahic Covenant

You see it in the incarnation, when God entered the world as a helpless babe.

Defend, honor, and give thanks for life—yours, your children’s, your parents’, and your grandparents, The sixth commandment means to protect it.

How much Murder happens in the mountains through our tongue

James 3:5–6 “5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.”

Now let’s suppose that you go through your entire life without

committing murder,

having an abortion,

practicing euthanasia,

Would that mean that you had kept the sixth commandment?

Answer: No.

You and I can be 100 percent murder free but still face the wrath of God if our life is marked by anger, bitterness, invective, insult, and rage.

When Conflict = Murder.

(Turn to Page 963) Matthew 5:21-26 “21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. 26 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.”

STATIONS ON THE LINE OF CONFLICT

Jesus made it clear that the scope of this commandment goes far beyond acts of murder to the thoughts and desires of our hearts.

Picture a train moving along a track on which there are many stations.

Murder is the station at the far end of a line called conflict.

Many of us will never go near that station, but all of us have traveled somewhere on this track.

Let’s visit three of the stations on the line.

Station 1: Verbal Abuse

Jesus taught that abusive speech is a direct violation of the sixth commandment.

He explained its significance in these words:

Matthew 5:21–22 “21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.”

Jesus was describing a situation where someone becomes angry with another person and begins to speak abusively.

Insults name calling

We might call this rudeness,

but Jesus makes it clear that rude, insulting, abusive, or demeaning language is a violation of the sixth commandment.

Abusive speech is an offense for which a person is accountable to God and,

according to Jesus, the problem it created was not just that a person might be reported to the Sanhedrin (Council)

but that their verbal violation of the sixth commandment would put them in danger of the fires of hell.

That would have gotten the attention of the crowd!

If angry words that insult or diminish another person are a violation of the sixth commandment, then all of us are guilty.

The Ten Commandments are an explanation of the meaning of love, and love is not rude (1 Corinthians 13:5).

If I speak about another person with contempt,

I am not loving my neighbor as myself,

and I am breaking the sixth commandment.

Once again, we’re discovering that the Ten Commandments address the great struggles of our lives, and one of them is this whole area of conflict.

We aim to live a life of love,

but some people are downright difficult.

They do unreasonable things that make us angry, and sometimes, when we are provoked,

we give them a piece of our mind.

But if we speak or act in a way that is threatening, insulting, abusive, or belittling, we are breaking the sixth commandment.

The Heidelberg Catechism

Q. What is God’s will for you in the sixth commandment?

A. I am not to belittle, insult, hate or kill my neighbor—not by my thoughts, my words, my look or my gesture.

We sometimes use the phrase,

“if looks could kill,” and the Catechism rightly reminds us that

there are ways of looking at another person that break the sixth commandment.

The command not to murder, which many Christians assume they have kept,

turns out, when properly understood,

to be the commandment that we have all most clearly broken!

And since Jesus makes it quite clear that breaking this command or any other puts a person in danger of the fires of hell,

doing it does not send you to hell

But when we see a person who has a continued and habitual problem with verbal abuse

It reveals the heart. it reveals a heart that has not been affected by the grace and mercy of the cross.

Station 2: Hatred

The apostle John tells us that hatred is a violation of the sixth commandment.

1 John 3:15 “15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”

One writer has pointed out that racial hatred is easily the world leader in violating the sixth commandment.

Hatred leads to threats, intimidation, bullying, and violence, and God calls us to turn away from all these things in the sixth commandment.

There is no place for hatred toward another person in the life of a follower of Jesus.

I believe that this is true especially for the family of God, but it is also true for those that are not believers. We must understand that even those who are our enemies we are called to love. (Not Hate)

Does not mean we have to agree with them

Does not mean we have to support them

Does not mean we have to fellowship with them.

But we arre not to hate them.

loving them means seeing them as person who is made in the image of God and showing and sharing the truth about the situation and the hope of turning form their sin toward Christ.

Station 3: Recklessness

God calls you to love your neighbor as yourself, and that means that He wants you to take good care of your own life.

The Heidelberg Catechism includes this as part of our responsibility under the sixth commandment:

Q. What is God’s will for you in the sixth commandment?

A. I am not to harm or recklessly endanger myself.

You are a steward of the life that God has given you.

It is of unique and irreplaceable value, so handle your own life with care.

You can break the sixth commandment by

neglecting a proper pattern of sleep,

by addiction to work,

by an improper use of food, drink, or drugs,

or by a lack of proper exercise.

It would be easy to feel complacent about the sixth commandment because you have never killed anybody else,

while through your choices of lifestyle you are slowly killing yourself!

A culture that values life begins with a community of people who see the value of their own lives as a precious gift from God and then place the same value on every other life.

Jesus fulfills the Sixth Commandment so we are able to seek and purse peace

God’s commandments are like warning signs on the road, telling us what to avoid.

But they are also direction signs, showing us what to pursue.

The sixth commandment points us in two very obvious directions:

first, that we embrace life, and second, that we pursue peace.

Embrace Life

Your life is a precious gift from God,

and keeping the sixth commandment means embracing to the full the life God gives you.

Ask God to give you a vision of what your life can be.

Seize every opportunity to develop yourself.

Look for ways in which you can be a good steward of all the gifts God has given to you. Invest your life wisely.

Make the big choices of your life carefully. Turn away from the attitude that shrugs and says, “Who cares?” God cares and so should you.

There is no greater way to embrace life than to follow Jesus. He said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

Enrich the lives of others.

Then look for ways in which you can enrich the lives of others.

Seek to bring God’s blessing wherever you can.

Live the life God has given you to the full for His glory.

When Christ explained the meaning of the sixth commandment, we should see that we should pursue peace.

He applied it by saying that we should settle our disputes as quickly as possible (Matthew 5:25).

This theme runs throughout the New Testament. Paul urges us,

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18).

Peter takes up the same theme: “Whoever would love life and see good days … must seek peace and pursue it”

1 Peter 3:10–11 “10 For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; 11 let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.”

The principle is clear: If there is a way to settle a dispute with integrity, take it. That’s what God wants you to do.

Jesus ultimately fulfilled the sixth commandment.

He lived a life free from physical murder

He lived a life free of emotional and verbal murder,.

He did what we could not do, and through his obedience and death gives us the ability to keep this commandment.

Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He is able to bring peace into the deepest wounds of your life.