Sunday Schoo - Murder

Ex 20:13 ““You shall not murder.”

we need to take this command seriously and know what it means?

why? - because bloodshed “cries out to the Lord”

Gen 4:10 “And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.”

Murder can be committed various ways

hand - 2 Sam 20:10 “But Amasa did not observe the sword that was in Joab’s hand. So Joab struck him with it in the stomach and spilled his entrails to the ground without striking a second blow, and he died. Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri.”

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

tongue - John 18:30 “They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.””

pen - 2 Sam 11:15 “In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.””

plot - 1 Kings 21:9-10 “And she wrote in the letters, “Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth at the head of the people. And set two worthless men opposite him, and let them bring a charge against him, saying, ‘You have cursed God and the king.’ Then take him out and stone him to death.””

witchcraft - Deut 18:10 “There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer”

intention - Matt 2:8 “And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.””

consent - Acts 22:20 “And when the blood of Stephen your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him.’”

cowardice - John 18:38 “Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him.”

hard heart - Deut 24:6 ““No one shall take a mill or an upper millstone in pledge, for that would be taking a life in pledge.”

murder is bad - murder is evil - we’ve got that.

but are we just saying platitudes? empty words?

our understanding of this commandment (and others) should be measured by our response when it is broken.

in other words - do we expect or demand a lawful response when it is committed?

Gen 9:5 “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.”

Ex 21:28 ““When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall not be liable.”

this is just murder by animal. how much more murder by human?

if we reflect back on the most recent Christian school shooting, and take note of our cultural response - our society at large regarded the murderer as a victim.

their feelings were hurt as a child… etc.

we don’t hold to God’s law, we hold to our own personal laws. we apply the law willy-nilly - when it is convenient and aligns with our personal agenda.

FOR EXAMPLE:

It has been implied by some that Donald Trump should be executed for Treason.

just a coincidence though, that they are democrats and they hate him.

a bill in Louisiana was attempted to be passed that would prosecute women who have had abortions for murder

the Louisiana Right to Life, the Southern Baptist Convention, and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission all fought against it.

why? because it went against their agenda.

Everyone in church is pro-life until you say “the birth control pill murders babies”

but it does, the fertilized egg is expelled from the body AFTER conception. That’s murder.

You see? Our belief in this law, and others, is measured by how we respond when it, and others, is broken.

“murder is evil” is a platitude.

if we believe the law, we should articulate it fully.

And we must also remember that GOd works covenentally, not individually.

Deut 21:1-4 ““If in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess someone is found slain, lying in the open country, and it is not known who killed him, then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure the distance to the surrounding cities. And the elders of the city that is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer that has never been worked and that has not pulled in a yoke. And the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley.”

Deut 21:5-9 “Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to him and to bless in the name of the Lord, and by their word every dispute and every assault shall be settled. And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, and they shall testify, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it shed. Accept atonement, O Lord, for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and do not set the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, so that their blood guilt be atoned for.’ So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.”

An unsolved murder defiles the LAND

and the guilt of it is upon the PEOPLE until they REPENT and proclaim their innocence in the matter.

but if they aren’t innocent....

Prov 24:11-12 “Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?”

Instead - we pray like Daniel.

he was in the midst of an ungodly people in exile - and he prayed WITH them. AMONG them. FOR them.

Dan 9:5 “we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.”

We are guilty of murder

wholesale abortion - infanticide - euthanasia - genetic research - bogus wars - governmental tyranny - oppression - riots in our streets - murder glorified in intertainment - magistrates/elected officials who refuse to prosecute to the fullest - envy and hatred, and the INSTRUCTION of such in our schools

and through our hatred of what the Bible teaches and refusing the articulate it well - the murder of souls.