Deuteronomy 5:17 - You Shall Not Murder
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
I was introduced to murder at a young age.
I would spend the night with my grandfather, Papa, and we would do two things late at night—water the garden and watch Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
If you don’t know Alfred Hitchcock Presents was a television show about weird happenings that usually involved murder.
We would watch Alfred Hitchcock and then Papa would turn out the lights, say goodnight, and leave me on living room couch with all my nightmares.
But at least the murders on Alfred Hitchcock were fictional.
Murder became non-fiction when my Mom told me that we were going to visit my uncle in prison.
Before or after one of those visits, I asked why my uncle—my Mom’s brother—was in prison. My Mom told me it was because he had murdered my aunt.
Suddenly murder wasn’t just something that happened on Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
Murder was something that happened in real life.
Today our television shows and movies are filled with fictional murders and with tales of real life murders.
Sometimes the murder is a crime of passionate anger.
Sometimes it is the cool evil of a sociopath.
Sometimes one person is murder.
Other times its murder on a mass scale like the Jewish holocaust during World War II or like abortion in our own day.
To every person in every time in every place, the Word of God remains unchanged. It says, “You shall not murder.”
This is the sixth commandment in God’s Ten Commandments.
Joshua was about to lead God’s people into the Promised Land, but before entering in, God renewed the Covenant of Law with His people.
We’ve talked about all the laws or commands up to this point—You shall have no other gods before Me; You shall not make for yourself any graven images; You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; You shall observe the sabbath day to keep it holy—those are the ‘Love the Lord your God’ commandments.
But with the fifth commandment, we get into the ‘Love your neighbor’ commands in Deuteronomy 5:16-21…
16 ‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you on the land which the Lord your God gives you. 17 ‘You shall not murder. 18 ‘You shall not commit adultery. 19 ‘You shall not steal. 20 ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 21 ‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field or his male servant or his female servant, his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’
Obeying the first four commandments would mean peace with God.
Obeying the last six would mean peace with one another.
Obviously the community filled with murder forfeits that peace.
Tonight I want us to think about some questions related to murder. I’ll give them to you now and then we’ll try to answer each one.
#1: What is murder?
#2: Why is murder wrong?
#3: Where does murder begin?
#4: Have I committed murder?
#5: What do I do if I have committed murder?
[TS] Let’s that about that first question…
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
#1: What is murder?
#1: What is murder?
Murder is not just the intentional killing of another human being.
Human beings are killed in war and so long as the war is just and lawful in God’s sight, then the killing is just and lawful in God’s sight.
It is not murder.
Human being are killed as they are put to death for crimes they’ve committed. So long as that punishment is just, that killing is just in God’s sight.
It is not murder.
Human beings are killed as they attack someone and that someone defends themselves by killing their attacker. So long as the one defending himself is truly just defending himself, the killing is just in God’s sight.
It is not murder.
Murder is the unjust and unlawful killing of another human being.
[ILLUS] Our yard has four Crepe Myrtle trees in it. When we first moved in years ago, I was trying to learn how to take care of them. That’s when I learned about Crepe Murder.
Crepe Murder is what some people call cutting Crepe Myrtles back year after year instead of letting them grow. Cutting them back like that takes years off the life of the tree and thus, if you do that, you are Crepe Murdering the Crepe Myrtle.
Now, obviously such language is ridiculous. While flowers and trees can be killed, they can’t be murdered. Animals likewise can be killed, but they can’t be murdered.
Only human beings can be murdered, but as I’ve said not every killing of a human being is murder.
In Numbers 35, God distinguished between an unintentional killing and murder. If the killing was premeditated, born of hate, or involved a weapon, it was murder—and the murderer forfeited his life.
He was put to death because He committed the crime of murder.
6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.
7 “You shall put pure frankincense on each row that it may be a memorial portion for the bread, even an offering by fire to the Lord.
31 ‘Moreover, you shall not take ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death.
If, however, it was just carelessness that lead to another’s death, there was still a price to pay, but that price wouldn’t be death.
Instead, according to Numbers 35, it would be a type of confinement to one of the cities of refuge.
So, again, every taking of human life is serious, but not every taking of human life is murder.
Murder is the unjust and unlawful killing of another human being.
[TS] …
#2: Why is murder wrong?
#2: Why is murder wrong?
Murder is wrong for at least three reasons.
One reason murder is wrong is because it disrespects and violates the image of God.
27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Another reason murder is wrong is because it ends the life that God gave.
7 Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
A third reason murder is wrong is because the murderer usurps the authority of God.
In John 8 Jesus told some unbelieving religious leaders…
40 “But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do. 41 “You are doing the deeds of your father.” They said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father: God.”
And then He said…
44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Question: When did Satan murder?
Answer: When he supplanted the authority of God in Genesis 3:4 saying to Eve…
4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!
God had said that violation of His command concerning the tree of knowledge would lead to death.
By lying about the price for violating that command—saying, “You surely will not die!—, Satan in effect murdered Adam, Eve, and the entire human race born from them.
This is why the first sin after the original sin in the Garden of Eden was murder.
8 Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
Why is this first sin after the garden?
Because man is made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27) and given life by the breath of God (Gen. 2:7), and Satan couldn’t wait until one of those image-bearers supplanted the authority of God by killing another image-bearer, stealing the life that God gave.
God alone has the right to give life and cause death.
The murderer takes what rightfully belongs to God.
[TS] …
#3: Where does murder begin?
#3: Where does murder begin?
21 “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ 22 “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.
Murder grows from the seed of sinful anger. It pokes through the soil in the form of an insult—“You good-for-nothing.” It produces a bud in the form of contempt—“You fool!” And then it blooms in murder.
How do we avoid this?
Well, we need new hearts that are made happy in Jesus. Our old hearts were angry because of sin and unbelief, but if we have trusted Jesus, we have new hearts that have been made happy in Him.
That means that our default heart attitude is not anger but happiness or joy.
And if we have trusted Jesus and find that we are often angry, then we know that either we are not walking with Him closely enough or perhaps we haven’t really trusted Him.
Now, to be sure there is a righteous anger that is called for from time to time. It’s the type of anger that God exercises toward Satan, sin, death, and unbelief.
But it is very seldom that we are able to practice a truly righteous anger. Our anger tends toward sinful insults and contempt.
Sinful anger leads to all sorts of transgressions.
22 An angry man stirs up strife, And a hot-tempered man abounds in transgression.
Sinful anger is a work of the flesh and not a work of the Spirit.
19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,
Sinful anger is hate, and everyone who hates is a murderer.
15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
We live in an outrage culture. Everyone seems outraged about everything. I fear that the outrage expressed about certain ideas or beliefs is quickly turning to hatred for the individuals expressing those ideas or beliefs.
That must never be the case for the follower of Jesus.
While we should have a righteous anger toward untruths and sinful practices, but we should never hate those expressing those untruths or practicing those sins.
If we hate our fellow man made in the image of God, aren’t we guilty of murder in the heart?
Jesus says we are.
Instead of participating in the outrage and hate culture that surrounds us, do what James 1:19-20 says…
19 This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.
#4: What do I do if I have committed murder?
#4: What do I do if I have committed murder?
This may sound like a strange question for us tonight. Surely not one of us has committed murder unless we are talking about hatred for someone in our hearts. But you never know.
[ILLUS] Years ago at another church, I mentioned abortion in a sermon. I told the truth. Abortion is the murder of the unborn, but there is forgiveness in Jesus if you will repent and call on Him for salvation.
I assumed there wasn’t anyone who had actually had an abortion, but afterward the secretary of that church came up to me.
“I had an abortion when I was young. I know I killed my baby. I’ve asked God to forgive me, and He has in Jesus. If you know someone who needs to talk, let me know and I’ll be glad to help.”
I was surprised to say the least.
But if we have committed murder—even murder of the heart in the form sinful anger or hate—we do what that lady did.
We call on Jesus who was murdered on the cross as the sacrifice for our all our sins.
There is forgiveness in Jesus even for the murderer.
Conclusion
Conclusion
[PRAYER]