Sermon Tone Analysis

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.

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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.”

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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,