Well, if you have your Bible, and I hope that you do, I'd love to invite you to join me in Exodus chapter number 20. We are continuing a series that we have been in here at Union Grove entitled Written in Stone, a series through the Ten Commandments. And we've been slowly working through the commandments one by one and just really examining each one of them and dissecting them to look at how relevant they still are here today. And so, if you're a guest with us today, you can always go back and listen to previous weeks of the series. I'd also encourage you, week number one was a pivotal week in this series because we were able to look a little bit deeper at the influence of the Ten Commandments throughout history and not just church history, but also like specifically American history and how these work.
Words from Exodus chapter number 20 have helped frame society in a lot of ways. And so, as our society tries to take scripture out. of the world and out of schools, out of different things like that, and we see that in our society today, I want you to know that the words that we find here in Exodus chapter number 20 are still relevant to us today. They still matter, and they are for us. And you might say, hey, we're not under the Old Testament law anymore.
That is right, okay? And fundamentally, yes, that is true. We are not under the law. We are under grace, under the new covenant with Jesus through his blood. But what you have to understand is all the laws in the Old Testament, there are over 600 of those.
And in the New Testament, Paul says that we have been freed from. The ceremonial laws, the dietary laws, he talks about that. We're not under those things. Praise God for that. But God's moral law, which is what we find here in Exodus chapter number 20, the moral law of God still exists today.
In fact, Christ, when he came in the New Testament, he would raise the bar a little bit on his moral law. He would raise the standard a little bit on his moral law. And we are going to see that here today. And so, Exodus chapter number 20. And we'll read verses 1.
We're doing this every week as we work through them together, just as a review. And then we'll get to the one that we are going to look at today. Exodus 20, verse 1 says, And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt. out of the house of bondage.
Now, if you forgot, they were in, the nation of Israel was in captivity in Egypt for over 400 years. God raised up Moses to lead them out. And as they get led out through that final plague and they escape out of Egypt, they are heading into the land of Canaan. And God, this is only a few months removed from their deliverance out of Egypt.
So a few months after they escaped captivity, God calls Moses up to Mount Sinai and he gives him the law, specifically these commandments. And it starts in verse 3. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing, that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.
For I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. Verse 7: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work. Thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor any nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. Verse 11, for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth.
The sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day, wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. And then where we will be today is verse 13. And I'd love to say this one since it's short. We will say this one together.
And if you don't have your Bible, you can look up on the screen. Verse 13, let's read it together. Thou shalt not kill. Let's have a word of prayer, and then we'll dive right into it. Father, Lord, we love you.
And God, it's just such a privilege to be able to come into your house with your saints. And Father, it's such a privilege to be able to hold in our hands the very inspired word of God. The Bible, your words to us, these specific ten words that you have given the nation of Israel that we still see as relevant in our life here today. And God, anytime we open up your word, Father, there demands a response, there demands an examination, a time for us to look into our heart at how we can apply your word so that we can be better conformed into your Son's image. Father, I pray, God, that you would fill me with your spirit as I communicate your word, but also that you would fill every person in this place with your spirit as they hear and receive what you would have for them.
Open up our hearts today. And, God, we want to see you. We want to hear from you. And we're going to give you the glory and honor for all things here today. For it's in your name we pray.
And everybody said. Amen and amen.
Well, as we come to this verse, I said last week when we were talking that verse number 12, when it talks about honoring your parents, that a lot of kids look at that and be like, well, where is the verse to parents? And I think it's found in verse 13, thou shalt not kill. And as we come to this difficult commandment, I think, first of all, I want you to know this one was probably the hardest one to prepare for. But it's also the one that you probably, as we approach this, think. I'm doing pretty good.
I'm nailing this commandment, and I have not killed anybody, so I must be doing really well. This is a commandment or a sermon that really should be directed to people that are in prison today. But for us as the church, I'm doing really. Really well.
Well, I tell you, this commandment, you're going to find that all of us to some degree have kind of violated to some degree this, and I'll explain why as we go throughout the course here. But just by way of introduction, the sixth commandment. is more than just not Murdering It is about valuing the lives of others. When God was telling Moses and the nation of Israel, thou shalt not kill. He was talking more.
Now, of course, he is talking about: hey, don't go out and murder somebody. But he's really at the heartbeat of what he's trying to tell the nation of Israel. He's trying to explain to them that life is valuable, and we, as we follow God, must value the lives of of others. In fact, in Genesis chapter number nine, we find why we are to value the lives of others. Why are we to really esteem mankind, one another, in such high regard?
He says this in Genesis 9, 5, and 6. In verse 5, he says, And surely your blood of your lives will I require, at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man, at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. And then look at what he says in verse 6. He says this, Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. For in the image of God.
Made he man. The reason why we as Christians As followers of Christ, must take this commandment seriously. And the reason why we must value life. is because all mankind is made in the image and likeness of God. You are made in the image and likeness of God.
Every person that is created is made in the image and likeness. of God.
So we should value human life. Because every human being is made in the image and likeness of God. And so, those people that you don't like, or the people that you disagree with, or the people that look differently than you, or the people that act differently than you, let me say that fundamentally, you should value their life. Because they just like you, are made in the image and likeness of God. And so as we come to this commandment, thou shalt not kill, it is a commandment about the protection and sanctity of human life.
At every stage of development. From conception to death, we as Christians, followers of Christ, must take life seriously because every person is made in the image of God. of God.
Every person was created in his In his likeness. And so, as we look at this, I wanted to kind of give you just a few things because I want to answer possibly if you have questions about this. Because I think when you dive deep into this, you start to uncover and unpack questions that we have in society. And so, when we see, thou shalt not kill. Does that mean all murder?
is is violating this commandment. Have you ever thought about questions like, what about the military? If you're in the military and you get called to the front lines of battle and you have to take somebody's life, is that a violation of this? Or think of our police officers. If they have to take somebody's life because they are a threat to somebody else's life, is that a violation of this?
Or have you ever thought, like, if somebody broke into your home and you had an intruder come into your house, is that a violence? If you had to take their life because they were a threat to your family, is that a violation of the sixth commandment? These are real questions that I think we, as followers of Christ, you know, sometimes we kind of wrestle with.
So before we get into the application, I wanted to address some of those things because as I was studying this, I was like, I was curious about some of those things as we get into this text. And so here's what I'll tell you: I don't have the answers to everything. Every question that you have about what falls under this sixth commandment. But I do want to look at scripture and what scripture says about some of those questions that we just raised about the sixth commandment. And are there moments where some death doesn't fall under the sixth commandment?
And here's what the scripture says. I think the scripture gives really three things that are basic that don't violate this. And here's the first one that I thought was really interesting: accidental homicide. In fact, in Numbers, and you can read this in your own time, in Numbers chapter 35. In Numbers chapter 35, God.
Tells Moses And you can read this in verses 9 through 12 of Numbers 35. God tells Moses that when he gets to Canaan. The promised land. When he gets into the promised land, he must appoint cities of refuge. Cities of refuge.
He can appoint those throughout the land of Canaan, the promised land. And he needs to appoint these cities so that it would protect people.
So, for example, if you continue reading in Numbers 35, he uses an illustration God telling to Moses, and he says this: I thought this was really fascinating. God tells Moses that if somebody. Drops a stone on somebody accidentally. And it takes their life.
Now, first of all, I do have to ask, that must have been a pretty big stone, right? And so if he drops it on somebody, right? Or how did he not know that person was there? I don't know. I have questions about it.
But he drops a stone on it and it says he accidentally takes somebody's life. The reason these cities of refuge exist is because if it was an accident, that these people could go and flee to the city of refuge and that they would receive protection from that until a just trial could take place. And so I do think that there are things like, you know, that we look at that, you know, if you're driving or something and something accidentally happened, I don't think that it means you're in automatic violation of this commandment. And so I think that there's that. There's also another verse that I found in Exodus 22, verse 2, that would take us to the second thing that I don't think falls under verse 13 of Exodus chapter 20.
It's justifiable. Homicide. And here's what I will tell you. In Exodus 22. God is once again talking to Moses, and he says that if a thief breaks into your home and you strike him because he was an intruder.
the defender would not be guilty of the bloodshed. In fact, in the New Testament, in Romans chapter 13. You can also read that government And you could fall under, that would be the military, that would be law enforcement. And things like that, you can kind of see that there is a when things like that, these institutions that God has really appointed. Over society in general, that sometimes in those positions of God-appointed authority and leadership, they have to use force in order to prevent somebody, a bad person or a bad nation or something like that, who is trying to take innocent life.
And if you have somebody trying to take innocent life, Then, what I think God is saying here is that sometimes there is justifiable. Homicide. I mean, he talks about in Romans 13, he talks about just wars. That if you have people killing innocent people, you might have to go and fight or kill the person that is killing innocent people. And I think that's what he's trying to say.
And I want to say up front: I don't have all the answers to this. I'm just trying to share some of these things that you find in Scripture that I think when we look at this thou shalt not kill, I don't think that these are necessarily violations of this. The third one would be this, which is very relevant to society today because a lot of people fall on different things on this, but capital punishment. You see that in Scripture in Genesis chapter 9, we just read verse 6. You also see in Numbers 35, 16 to 21, and then also in Matthew 26, verse 52, Jesus himself said: if you draw the sword, you're going to in the same way die by the sword.
And so I think like things like this, after, you know, in Genesis 9, specifically, culturally and contextually, what was happening was this was right after the flood. And so God was telling Noah. And he was trying to tell them, he was saying, listen, that if someone takes the life of someone, his life will also be. be taken.
So, as we look to this, I thought that was fascinating, but as we look to this, I want you to understand that this verse of Exodus 20, verse 13. is actually about valuing The live. Of other people, valuing the lives of the innocent and of other people. By the way, other than the three things that I just mentioned, all other forms of murder. I believe would violate the sixth commandment.
And let me just say, because I think this is something that is very relevant to society today, this would include abortion. It would include abortion. Here's why, because I know that this is a hot-button issue in our society and things like that. But the reason why abortion would fall under the violation of the sixth commandment is because abortion is taking the life of an innocent human being. It is taking the life of an innocent human being.
And I know that our society argues and things like that: that when does a person actually become a human being? And there's all these different people that will say different things to you. But let me tell you this: that the baby. becomes a human at conception. And here's why that just makes sense to me.
I'm not a scientist. But here's why that just makes sense to me. It's because If the baby doesn't become a human being at conception, When do they become a human being? They're either a human being or they are not. You don't become more human as time goes on in the womb.
You are a human being at the moment of conception. And so what you have to understand is that abortion would fall under this because what that is, is that is taking the life of a human being. And we must as society protect Those that can't protect themselves.
Now, if you're in here today, and by the way, that those who have had an abortion and things like that, and I don't know every story in here, perhaps that's part of your story. I'm grateful that God grants us grace and mercy and forgiveness every time. And so you can be given the same grace and mercy and forgiveness just like anybody else that has violated any of the other commandments. And you have to understand that, and that's the grace of our good God. But if you're in here and you're feeling pretty good about yourself, you're like, okay, I am absolutely nailing the Sixth Commandment, and I have not murdered anybody.
I'm doing really well. I'm in here today, and I might struggle with some other commandments, but the Sixth Commandment, I'm doing really, really. Good.
Well, Jesus in the New Testament... He raises the bar. Of this one commandment. He does of several commandments, but this one particular commandment, he raises the bar. In fact, in Matthew chapter number five.
In verses 21 and 22, you'll see the verse up on the screen. Here's what Jesus says. He says to the crowd of people listening to him, he says, ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not kill. That's the law, that's what we've just looked at. And here's what I will tell you.
If you were in his audience in that day, You would have said Oh, certainly. Remember that the Jewish community, every single one of them, would be responsible to memorize the entire Torah, that's the first five books of the Old Testament, as children. And so for them, they knew this. Every single Jew understood this. They knew the law, and it just makes sense.
You shouldn't kill.
So when Jesus says, hey, don't you know, haven't you heard that it was said in the Old Testament law, you should not kill, every single person would have said, oh, yeah, amen, we get that. And they would have felt just like you guys today: like, oh, yeah, like, we get that. That's easy. We're good. I haven't murdered anybody.
We're fine. And he says, going on in verse 22. He says, but I say unto you, listen to this. That whosoever is angry with his brother. Without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment.
And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raka shall be in danger of of the council. And here's what I'll tell you. The term Raqqa It is a term that was derogatory in that day. If you look up its definition, here's what the term Rocco legitimately means. It means empty-headed.
Means empty. Mean senseless. In other words, It would be our modern day, it would be like us calling somebody a stupid idiot. 'Kay. That's kind of the term that they would use back then.
If you were to look at somebody and say, Raqqa, you're telling them that they're empty-headed, that they're senseless, they're stupid, they're an idiot. And what he's saying is: if you call somebody by this and you have anger and bitterness in your heart towards somebody, anyone, and you get to the point where you're calling them Raqqa. You're in danger of the council. You're in danger of the counsel. And he goes on at the end of verse 22 and he says: if you call somebody a fool, You're in danger of hellfire judgment.
And in other words, what he's saying is this. We all feel really good if we haven't gone out and murdered somebody physically, right? We feel really good about ourselves. We're thinking, man, I'm nailing the Sixth Commandment. I have no issues.
I can kind of just go and just chill. I can get me a good nap this Sunday morning because I don't need anything the preacher has to say about the Sixth Commandment. But here's what Jesus is saying. He's saying this, that if you have any hate. Or bitterness.
Or anger in your heart towards anybody else. You violated the sixth commandment. What he's doing is he's raising the bar. In other words, if you're in here today and you have bitterness towards somebody else, something maybe that happened years ago or something that happened, you know, whenever in your life, and you still are harboring, in other words, when somebody walks in the room, that's the first thought you have. Or you think, I won't go to whatever it is because that person's going to be there.
You have anger, you have bitterness, you have resentment in your heart towards somebody. And you might have even been perfectly right or whatever and justifiable in your anger at the time. But here's the point: what he's saying is: if you have that in your heart and you are harboring that type of bitterness and unforgiveness to where you can't think of anything else when that person walks in, here's what I'm telling you: you're guilty of the sixth commandment. You're guilty. Because here's what I'm telling you.
We may not have murdered someone physically. We might be doing really well there and we've not murdered somebody physically. But what Jesus is trying to get us to understand, we kill people with our heart and tongues all the time. What he's getting at in the New Testament is this: that we kill other people, and we, through our bitterness, through our unforgiveness, through our hate. We look at other people, and a lot of times, if you look at them with hate in your heart, you're killing them with your heart.
And your tongues. All The time.
So when we look at this idea of valuing life. And we look at this idea of thou shalt not kill. How do we apply this? What's the application? What's the practical response?
If you would, for us as followers of Christ. And like I said, this one's by far the hardest to apply. In our life from time to time.
So, here's what I'll tell you: how we apply this and how we will practically look at this. is I think we must have God's view on life itself. We must, as Christians, followers of Christ, if we're going to apply this commandment, thou shalt not kill. I think the way that we apply it. is we must have the same view on life as God does.
And here's how God views life. And this is how we should view. Number one, if you're taking notes. God is the author of life. God is the author of life.
So when we look at having God's view on life itself and valuing life because life is precious, we must look at life the same way that God looks at life. And here's what I'll tell you: God is the author of life. of life. And if God is the author of life, it is God's right to end a human being's life. Not ours.
It's God's right. To end a human being's life, not ours. Murder is usurping his authority. Because he's the one that has given life. He is the author of life.
In fact, Psalm chapter 139, verse 16, you'll see it up on the screen. It says this: Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect, and in thy book all my members We're written. Which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them. Here's what God is saying. Or here's what the psalmist is saying.
He's saying about God. That that that God knows our beginning. and he knows our ending. Before you were even born. He already knew when you would begin, and he would knew when you would end.
He knew everything about your life. Why is that? It's because God is the author of your life. God is the creator of your life. And so for us, if we want God's view on life itself and valuing human life, we must look at every single person as somebody that was created by God in his image and in his likeness.
And we must look at people that are different than us that way. We must look at people that we don't care for in the same way. Think about it. How would it change your reactions to people? How would it change in how you view people if you looked at every single person as somebody that God has created in His image and in His likeness, just like you?
It would change how you view people in general. But not only is God the author of life, God values. Wife. God values. Wife.
Listen. You see this throughout scripture from the youngest to the oldest. From the weakest to the strongest, from the womb to the grave. God values life. And so should we.
In Psalm chapter 8. Verses three and four. Here's what it says. Verse 3 says, The psalmist says, When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, and the stars which thou hast ordained. Verse 4.
What is man? that thou art mindful of him. And the Son of Man that thou visitest him. Here's what the psalmist is saying: when you look about creation. You see the amazing works of the hands of God through his spoken word in the Old Testament when he created the world.
And when you see that, you're looking at how majestic and marvelous creation is. And then the psalmist starts to reflect. Who are we? That the God who created the mountains and the seas and the animals and mankind in general, who are we? That he would be mindful of Of us.
Here's what David is saying: is that we. are so valuable and precious in the sight of God. That when God created mankind, He created us, and we are His valuable, precious. Treasure. And when we think about having God's view on life, we need to look at people the way that God looks at people.
God values them. He looks at people as precious and valuable, and so should we. I'll say it again, from the youngest to the oldest, you're valuable. From the weakest to the strongest, you are precious. From the womb to the grave you matter.
Yeah. and they should matter to us. In fact, I'll say this, that Um We, as society, as we try to apply this commandment, I think we should be. protective to Those who can't defend themselves. If you think of a direct application to this, I think we, if we are going to value life because God values life and because He is the author of life, I think there's an application that we should be more protective in our society to those who can't defend themselves.
I mentioned earlier about the pre-born. We should protect them and we should fight to value them because they are human beings and they can't defend or speak for themselves. And so they must have Christians who are willing to stand up and speak on behalf of them. That's what we are supposed to do. That's what we're called to do.
If we're going to have God's view on life, then we're going to defend them. But not only the pre-born, it's children in general. I'm so thankful for those who God has called to adopt. As much as we must fight for the pre-born, there's a bunch of children and things like that who can't defend themselves and a lot of systems and programs pretty much just kick them to the curb. And here's what I'm going to tell you: as Christians, as followers of Christ, we must stand up.
And if we're going to defend and value life the way that God does, then we're going to be willing to stand in the gap for those who can't defend themselves. How about the sick? And the elderly. Those who need help. As a society, we must, as a society, defend and help those who cannot help and protect themselves.
That's what he's saying, because every life matters to God.
So every life should matter to us. And that's what we have to understand. God is the author of life, God values life. And then God, number three. Gives life.
As a gift. God gives life. As a as a gift. In in Job thirty-three, verse four. It says, The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.
Listen, the reason why you're living here today is because the breath of the Almighty has given you life. He's the author of your life. Your life matters to him, and he is the giver of life. Life is a gift. And because life is a gift, you should cherish it.
Because life is a gift. We must value it. Because life is a gift, we must protect it. Because life is a gift, we must defend it. And that's what I think when we see this commandment, thou shalt not kill, given way back at the beginning of time on Mount Sinai, what God was saying was: of course, don't take somebody's life because there's no other way to devalue a human than that.
Right? And he says, but it's beyond that. It's about valuing life. It is about cherishing life. It is about looking at people the way that God looks at people.
And so the challenge for us is this, human life. It's precious. In the sight of God. And it should be precious in our sight as well. That's the challenge.
That's what, as we leave here today and we take this away, here's what we have to understand: that human life is precious in the sight of God. And it's got to be precious in our sight as well. We have to look at people and value them. Here's why: Genesis 9:6, because they're made in the image and likeness of God. They're made in the image of likeness of God, and so therefore, we, as Christians, followers of Christ, we should value them.
We should protect them. And by the way, we're all image bearers. You're made in the image and likeness of God. You say, What does that mean? You know, it means that we are mirrors, if you would, of God.
We are mirrors of Him, not in just the way you look, but in different things about our life and the different ways that we are made as human beings. We mirror Him. The handiwork of God. We mirror the character of God. There are things in a human being's life that are there to mirror Him.
We are image-bearers. Of him. And so I have to ask you, are you valuing life? Are you reflecting? The God that you say that you serve.
In your life? Are you bearing his image in how you live? How about this? Do you have anger? and hate in your heart.
Do you have something inside of you that just boils up when somebody comes into the room or when somebody says something to you or whatever? Do you have something in your heart? Towards somebody else, because they're made in the image of God, and so therefore, human life is precious in God's sight, and so it should be precious in our sight. It's like, do you believe the best in people? Do you see the good in people?
Are you caring for people? Are you fighting for life? Because life is precious.
So, as we see that, I want you to understand that as you look at this commandment, I don't want you to think like, man, I'm doing really good. You know, I don't have to worry about it. I've never physically harmed anybody or physically killed anybody. Let's just be real. We've all thought about it, haven't we?
Am I the only one?
Okay.
Okay, if you knew what went up here, you would not want me as your pastor, okay? I mean, if you've had a sibling growing up, let's just be real, okay? But you might be thinking, like, man, I'm doing really good. I've never physically harmed anybody. But let me tell you this: the sixth commandment is way more than just about physically murdering somebody, it's about valuing the life of somebody else.
And for us as followers of Christ, no people on this planet should understand how valuable life is. Christians. And here's why. It's because God Sent his only begotten Son. And you know what Jesus did for you?
Jesus gave his life. For you. Jesus came to this earth, and you know what he did? He lived a perfect life, something that you and I could never, ever do. The only life worthy of a relationship of a perfect, holy, righteous God, Jesus lived on your behalf.
And He lived it for you. You want to know why? Because you're precious. You're valuable. in the sight of God.
And like the song says, He didn't want heaven without you. He wanted a relationship with you, and the only way to do that was to give of his one and only begotten son. Hung up on a cross, and he gave his life for you so that you could be granted eternal life. Listen, nobody should understand how valuable life is more than a Christian. More than a Christ follower, because we have seen how valuable we are to God.
And so, therefore, if we're going to apply this commandment, we have to look at every single person. Those who are different than us. We got to look at them. They're an image-bearer of Almighty God. God gave them life as a gift, just like He gave me life as a gift.
And if I'm going to apply this commandment, I'm not going to have hate. I'm not going to have anger. I'm not going to have resentment in my heart towards them. No, I'm going to love them because they are made in the image and likeness of Almighty God. Just like Okay.
