Who Is a Murderer?

Jesus strips us stark naked of our self-righteousness and says, if you're angry with a brother or if you hate somebody, you're a murderer. Jesus is saying, even if you don't do the killing, if your heart is full of anger and hate, you're a murderer. Hate brings you nearer to murder than any other emotion. And hate is merely the extension of what?

Anger. If someone accused you of telling a lie or hurting someone with an unkind word, you'd have to say, yes, guilty as charged. But something as serious as murder, that's way beyond anything you've ever done, right?

Or is it? Answering that question starts by understanding what Jesus Himself said about sin. Not just sinful behavior, but the sinful attitudes that no one can see. Today on Grace to You, John MacArthur moves beyond a shallow view of sin to expose the heart attitudes where sin takes root, as he continues his study titled The Sinfulness of Sin, with a message he calls, Who is a Murderer?

Here's John. Matthew chapter 5 and verse 21, I've titled this passage, Who is a Murderer? Because I really think that's what our Lord is talking about. Now notice what our Lord says in verse 21, Ye have heard it said by them of old, Thou shalt not kill.

Where did that come from? Well if you know anything about the revelation of God, you know it came basically from Exodus chapter 20 when God gave the Decalogue and said, Thou shalt not kill. But Scripture has a lot more to say about murder than just that. In fact, if we go back even in the book of Genesis we find in the ninth chapter in the sixth verse this statement, Whoso shedeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. Genesis 9, 6 instituted capital punishment as a penalty for murder. And the reason is given in the same verse.

For in the image of God made He man. To take the life of a human being is to assault the image of God created in man and that brings about serious penalty. And so Genesis 9 authorizes capital punishment for those who shed blood because man is made in the image of God. Now if you were to study Exodus 20, you would find that the word thou shalt not kill means murder. It means murder. It does not refer to capital punishment.

That is taking a life under divine allowance. It does not refer to a just war. There were times in God's economy of Israel, there are times in God's plan for history when there are conflicts on a national level carrying out certain exercises of the will of God in judgment upon some nations where there might be an allowance for killing and it would not be considered murder. I do not believe that the text of Exodus 20 has anything to do with self-defense.

I think that we have the right to protect the image of God in our lives and the lives of our families and those about us when they are assaulted and attacked by those who would kill us. But what the Bible is talking about is murder...murder...planned, plotted to some degree, murder. In Exodus 21 and verse 14 we read this, "'But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbor to slay him with guile or deceit, thou shalt take him from mine altar that he may die.'" Again, God reiterates the punishment of capital punishment or death for the one who presumptuously comes in a premeditative way to take the life of his neighbor.

In Numbers chapter 35 we have some further word from God about this. It says, "'If he smite him with an instrument of iron so that he die, he is a murderer, the murderer shall surely be put to death.'" In other words, if a man takes an instrument of iron and crushes the skull of another, he's a murderer, he is to die. "'And if he smite him with throwing a stone wherewith he may die and he die, he is a murderer, the murderer shall surely be put to death. Or if he smite him with a hand weapon of wood wherewith he may die and he die, he is a murderer, the murderer shall surely be put to death. The avenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer.'"

In other words, the society was to protect itself by taking the life of the one who indiscriminately, premeditatively took the life of another. And it goes on in Deuteronomy chapter 35 to discuss other such situations where murder occurs. Now if you know anything about the Bible, you know that this was the very first human crime. In Genesis chapter 4 it says this, "'And Cain talked with Abel his brother, came to pass when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and murdered him.' And of course God said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood cries unto me from the ground.

And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand?" And so it is that from the first human crime, murder, on through the revelation of God, murder is a biblical issue. Now if we study the Scripture, we know how God feels about it.

It is forbidden. It is punishable by death. We learn other things about murder in the Bible. For example, we learn that murder is a crime authored by the devil himself. John 8 44 says the devil is a murderer. And murder is basically authored by Satan. We find something else about murder. In Matthew chapter 15, for example, in verse 19 we find that murder is a manifestation of an evil human heart. Matthew 15 19 says, "'For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.'"

Now listen to me. Murders, thefts and all that other stuff do not happen because of social deprivation. They happen because of a degenerated human heart. Murder does not happen because of stressful situations. It happens because it's authored by Satan himself. In Romans chapter 1 and verse 29 it says that man has been given over to a reprobate mind and as a result of a reprobate mind he is filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, etc. Man is a murderer because he has a reprobate mind that has been given over to evil because he rejects God. So that murder is a crime authored by the devil, it is a crime that comes out of the evil human heart. In Galatians 5 21 Paul tells us that murder is an act of the flesh.

It is a deed done by unregenerated human nature. We learn also in the Bible that murder is an abomination to God. In Proverbs 6 verses 16 and 17 the Bible says there are six things that the Lord hates, yea, seven are an abomination unto Him and it lists this, hands that shed innocent blood. Murder is abominable to God. Murder is an act of an unregenerated human flesh. Murder is a manifestation of an evil heart. Murder is authored by the devil himself. Murder is punishable by death because it is an intrusion into life which is created in the image of God. To show you how seriously God views murder, it says in Revelation 22 and verse 14, "'Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have right to the tree of life and enter in through the gates into the city.

For outside are dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers.'" The kingdom of God and the eternal state is not a place for murderers. The list of biblical murderers is long and we could spend all night and all through the night talking about them. The Old Testament lists a lot of murderers.

I'll suggest a few for your memory. Cain, Lamech, Pharaoh, Abimelech, Joab, the Amalekites, David, Absalom, Zimri, Jezebel, Jehu, Athaliah, Joash, Manasseh. The New Testament lists some others, Herod, Judas, the high priests, Barabbas, Herodias, her daughter.

That's a partial list. The biblical history and modern history are literally filled with murderers. From Cain to today, right now, we've had murderers in human society. You know, when you think about a person who is a murderer, when you think about the kind of a man who can assault thirty-three little boys, stuff them in plastic bags and bury them in the ground, you shudder because it is almost an inhuman thing. We can't hardly relate to that. We may relate a little easier to somebody who in a heated argument takes a gun and shoots somebody.

We may relate a little more to a fight where somebody gives someone a blow that takes their life, but it's all the same to God. We shudder, frankly, at the thought of murder. We're afraid of it. We don't like to walk the dark streets of certain towns or of our own city in certain places. We worry about getting double locks on our doors for fear somebody might come and kill us.

I know what it's like to have the experience of having your life threatened and I know what it's like to have people say they're going to take your life and perhaps you've lived through some anticipation or fantasy like that or even a reality like that. Now if we are sort of sick inside to think about such a crime as murder, we identify well with the scribes and Pharisees that Jesus is speaking to. For in Matthew 5 through 7, our Lord is addressing the scribes and Pharisees on a hillside in Galilee along with the rest of the multitude. But here in particular, He refers to their approach to life. Look again at verse 21, "'Ye have heard that it was said by them of old, Thou shalt not murder, and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of judgment.'"

Stop right there. Now Jesus is saying, you know, you believe that it's wrong to murder because if you do, you'll be in danger of judgment. And at that point, the scribes and the Pharisees would have said, Amen. We're against murder. We have been taught by them of old by the rabbinical tradition that murder is an evil thing. In fact, the thought that they did not murder...now listen to this, this is the key.

The thought that they did not commit murder was one way in which they convinced themselves they were righteous. We would not murder. We would never murder anyone. And consequently, we must be righteous. We have kept the law of God, Thou shalt not kill.

We wouldn't murder anyone. And so their not murdering was one of their favorite ways to justify themselves. Jesus said, Your righteousness has to exceed that. They had convinced themselves because they didn't kill anybody they were holy. They were righteous. Jesus blows that concept to bits. The first point, Jesus' words to them affects their own self-righteousness.

They thought they were righteous because they didn't kill. Now it was rabbinic law that they adhered to. Notice again in verse 21, you have heard that it was said by them of old. Now Jesus here is reminding them of rabbinic tradition. He's not referring to the law of Moses. He's not referring necessarily to the Word of God. Them of old were the rabbis.

This is a common formula referring to their past rabbinical teaching. Your religious system is what He's saying. Your system of Judaism, your traditional system, your teaching says you are not to kill because if you do, you're in danger of judgment. You've been taught that. That is a tradition that's passed down to you. And you remember that I told you last time that the Jewish people at the time of Jesus were totally dependent upon this tradition because the Old Testament was written in Hebrew.

Remember I told you that? The Old Testament was written in Hebrew. They did not any longer speak Hebrew.

Since the Babylonian captivity and following, they spoke Aramaic. And so the Hebrew Scriptures were lost to them in a sense. And so they couldn't really read and understand the Hebrew for themselves. And so the rabbis, the scribes and the Pharisees and the others would tell them what it meant.

And this gave them a tremendous power over the people because the people couldn't verify whether it was true or not. You're going to remember that when they came back from captivity, you remember they picked up the Scripture in Ezra and Nehemiah's time and they read the Scripture. It says that they read the Scripture to the people and gave the sense of it. It says in Nehemiah chapter 8 they had to give the sense of it because the people couldn't understand it. And it continued even until Jesus' day so that the people were not people of the book. They themselves did not read the Word of God, the Old Testament.

They listened to what the traditional rabbis taught and they twisted and perverted it to their own ends. But every now and then the things they taught did have a biblical scriptural base, such as this. You look at verse 21 again and it says, Thou shalt not kill. Now you know that is biblical. That is biblical. They were right on at that point. Further, you'll notice it says, Whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of judgment. That's true also.

I read you Numbers 35, 30 and 31. It says right in there that when someone commits murder, they're to die. So this rabbinic tradition was true. They were right on at this point.

That was all right. It was basically scriptural. But the point that Jesus is making here is it doesn't go far enough.

That much is true, but there's so much more. You have taken part of God's law, you have interpreted it only partially and then satisfied yourself with keeping your partial interpretation and therefore justifying yourself. And you'll notice, interestingly enough, it says, whoever does this shall be in danger of judgment.

And by the way, the term judgment here refers to the local court, the local court. I want you to think about this. What He is saying is this. Your teaching says you must not murder, now watch, because if you murder, you will be in danger of being punished by the civil court. You get that? Now what's wrong with that?

It doesn't go far enough, does it? Their full interpretation of the sixth commandment of the Decalogue was this, don't kill because if you do, you'll get in trouble with the law. Well what about God? Well what about God's holy character?

Well that didn't even enter into the discussion. They had made this so mundane, they didn't even mention God. They didn't even mention divine judgment. They said nothing about inner attitudes. They said nothing about the heart. All they said was, don't murder, you'll get in a lot of trouble.

Very superficial. Their interpretation stopped short. And because they didn't murder and didn't get in trouble, they decided they were self-righteous, self-justified, perfectly happy about themselves, justified before God, we don't kill. But listen, they forgot to read the rest of the Old Testament because the rest of the Old Testament says that God...watch this...desires truth in the inward parts, Psalm 51, 6. The rest of the Old Testament says that thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, strength, thy neighbor as thyself. The rest of the Old Testament says that God who knows the hearts and tries the hearts of men will judge. In other words, the part of God's law they left out was the internal part.

It wasn't enough for you not to kill. God was concerned about what was going on inside. They had restricted the scope of God's commandments to an earthly court.

They had restricted the scope of God's commandment to an act of murder. And that's why Jesus goes on in verse 22 and says this, what I say unto you. Let me tell you what God really meant by that word in Exodus.

Let me give you the right interpretation. Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause...and by the way, in the King James it says without a cause, it's not in the best manuscripts, let's leave it at. Whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother Rocca shall be in danger of the council.

And whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hell fire. Jesus simply says it isn't the issue of murder alone, it's the issue of anger and hatred in your heart. You cannot justify yourself because you don't kill. Because if there's hatred in your heart, you are the same as a murderer. And so I say the first point in this statement is that Jesus' words affected their own self-righteousness.

It affected how they viewed themselves, how we view ourselves. We do this all the time. And we say, oh, you know, that category of people that murder, I would never do that. And yet sometimes we get so angry on the inside with someone. We mock people. We may curse people. We may feel bitterness toward people. We may nurse grudges toward people.

We have unreconciled feelings toward people. And our Lord Jesus is saying that is the same as murder because God looks at the heart. And so when He says, I say unto you, He swept aside all the rabbinical rubbish and He put the emphasis where the emphasis belonged.

He stripped them of their self-righteousness. He said, in effect, who is a murderer? I'll tell you who is a murderer. Anybody who is angry with his brother.

Anybody. You're a murderer. That's pretty straightforward, isn't it?

Pretty devastating. It strips the Pharisees bare. And it doesn't do a bad job on us either, frankly. Anger is murder's root. And our Lord says anger and murder merit equal punishment. In verse 22 He's saying you're in danger of the judgment. You're in danger of the counsel.

You're in danger of hellfire. And so, frankly, who is a murderer? The answer is all of us. All of us. Listen to 1 John 3.15, whosoever hates his brother is a murderer.

Did you hear that? Whoever hates his brother is a murderer. And brother here is used in a broad and generic sense in terms of social relationships, people in your life, not your spiritual brother because nobody listening to Jesus at that point would have understood the brotherhood of believers. You have hatred, you're a murderer. You have anger, you're a murderer. And in God's eyes it's no different than a man who goes out and does the crime. You know, it's amazing to me how we justify ourselves. Everybody does that. Even the worst of men justify themselves.

You know that? Even the worst of men justify themselves. In May of 1931, the city of New York witnessed the capture of one of the most dangerous criminals that that city had known until that time. He was known as Two-Gun Crowley.

Two-Gun Crowley, they said, would kill at the drop of a hat. He brutally murdered many people, even finally brutally murdering policemen. What did he think of himself? We know what he thinks of himself or what he thought of himself because finally he was captured in his girlfriend's apartment after a long and arduous gun battle involving at least a hundred policemen. And when they finally got him, there was a blood-stained note there because he was severely wounded.

This is what the note said. "'Under my coat is a weary heart but a kind one, one that would do nobody any harm.'" You say, that's absurd. Yeah, but you see, that's the depth to which a human heart will go to justify itself. Here is someone who would do nobody any harm?

Who's he kidding? He was later executed in the electric chair. You see, even the worst of men exonerate themselves.

To say nothing of the best of men who would think, oh, I would never put myself in that category. And Jesus strips us stark naked of our self-righteousness and says, if you're angry with a brother or if you hate somebody, you're a murderer. Pretty serious. Jesus is saying, even if you don't do the killing, if your heart is full of anger and hate, you're a murderer. Hate brings you nearer to murder than any other emotion. And hate is merely the extension of what? Anger. Anger, hatred leads to murder.

It is the common source of killing. And by the way, hatred and anger can even kill you because it can eat you alive on the inside. And so Jesus strikes hard to show us, beloved, listen to this, what he's trying to show is that even the best of men, if the truth were known, are the worst of men. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur.

Thanks for being with us. John is the pastor of Grace Community Church and chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary, and his current study here is titled, The Sinfulness of Sin. Now John, I have to say, this is a powerful and convicting message, and I imagine that we have a lot of listeners who are just now realizing, wow, my sin is worse than I ever thought, and there isn't any way I can ever measure up to God's standard.

What would be the next step you would want a person who's thinking like that to take? That that is the very point at which you, in your desperation, or in the words of Jesus, who are burdened and heavy-laden with your sin, will find grace. You know, Paul is the model of that, isn't he? I was a murderer, I was a blasphemer, but the Lord saved me. And not only did he save me, he says in 1 Timothy, but he made me an apostle. He elevated me.

He lifted me up. This is a man who was a blasphemer and a murderer, and he wasn't just murdering anybody. He was essentially bent on murdering people who believed in Jesus Christ, Christians. And the Lord made him the apostle who wrote 13 books of the New Testament. What more do you need to know about grace than that story? And it wasn't that Paul came to his senses on his own and said, hey, I've got to change my life.

I've got to get out of this blasphemy bit and come to the Lord. No, he was going to Damascus to arrest more Christians and persecute and maybe murder them when the Lord appeared on the road to Damascus, struck him blind, and converted him right in a heavenly miraculous act that wasn't planned by Paul at all. It wasn't some course correction or some decision on his part. It was an interruption from heaven. You might think that, wow, the Lord could have picked some more prepared people, maybe some rabbis, some Old Testament scholars who didn't have lives like that.

Why him? Because he's a trophy of grace. It's like the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1, where you have harlots in the genealogy of Jesus, which is a message that, get ready, because the Messiah has come through grace, extended to even the worst of human beings.

So I think the message in all of the sinfulness of sin is that no sin puts you beyond salvation except the sin of unbelief. We're here each day teaching that good news, explaining biblical truth, helping you to know what it means to follow Christ. If that kind of ministry resonates with you, consider partnering with us when you contact us today. You can reach us here at Grace To You, Box 91412, or call toll-free anytime, 800-55-GRACE. You can also donate online at gty.org. Through your support, you help bring verse-by-verse Bible teaching to people in your community and around the world.

Pastors, new believers, students, young parents, empty nesters, people from all walks of life. Again, to express your support, call 800-55-GRACE, or write to Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412, or go to gty.org. Now keep in mind that you can download all six lessons from John's current series, The Sinfulness of Sin, free of charge at gty.org. And for a deeper study of the Gospel of Matthew, that's the basis of John's current radio series, John has written a four-volume commentary on the entire book of Matthew. To order one of those commentaries or all four, call 800-55-GRACE, or go to gty.org. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson. Keep in mind you can watch Grace To You television this Sunday, check your local listings for Channel and Times, and be here tomorrow for another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace To You.