Command 6: Thou Shalt Not Kill

[0:00] I won't just say Jesus' death and the blood he shed is enough to satisfy the wrath of God against all of the wicked things I've said and done and thought and am.

[0:14] His blood's enough. So that's good stuff there. That's a great song. Amen. Alright, let's go to Exodus this morning. Find chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20. And here we are working our way through the Ten Commandments.

[0:35] And we covered the fifth one last Sunday, so we're halfway finished with this study here and this portion. And last week was Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother from verse number 12.

[0:49] And through that study, we covered it in three ways. First, an explanation of the command where we defined what the actual word honor means. And so it doesn't mean obey.

[1:01] And we also saw that this was a command that was given to adults, not just to little kids to be good and behave. But this is for adults, the same people that are told not to commit adultery.

[1:11] It's the same audience. And so Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother is for life. Gave you that as an explanation. Then secondly, there was an illustration, a few illustrations of that in the Scripture, where some for good and some for evil, where some people honored their father and mother.

[1:26] In one case, in Jeremiah 35, a family honored the word of their father and obeyed his word after he was long gone. And after a lot of things had taken place in their land, they still stuck by what their father had taught them and lived accordingly.

[1:40] And God liked that so much, he used them as an illustration to his people to say, I want you to be obeying my word, just like they're honoring their father's word. For evil, we saw that Esau had some problems honoring his father and mother.

[1:55] And it showed up in several ways. And I won't rehash that. But there are biblical illustrations, for good or bad, of how that looks in your life. And then finally was the application.

[2:07] And that is, first of all, in your relationship to mom and dad, seeing how that depends on your age, what that actually looks like, honoring thy father and mother. If you're young, it's simply just obeying their word and following through with what they tell you to do in the Lord.

[2:22] For this is right, and it's well-pleasing to the Lord. But as you age and as they age, then the thing turns a little bit to where you're not under their authority, but you still are under the command to honor them.

[2:34] And there was a case in the Gospels where the Jews developed a tradition that they could get around or make the commandment of God of none effect. And the command was, honor thy father and mother.

[2:46] He plainly states it in the text. I think it's Mark 7, if I recall. And so the application of the command in your life varies as you age, perhaps.

[2:57] And I also pointed out to close the application of your relationship with God, how if you can't honor your father and mother that you can see, you will not honor God who you can't.

[3:07] And we saw that in John chapter 5 that God gave the Son some power and authority so that men would honor Him. And He did the same for your parents.

[3:19] And so honoring Him is honoring Him that sent Him and so on and on. So it really ties together well. But let's move on to the sixth command this morning. And this is verse number 13. Verse 13, I'm not going to ask anybody to read it.

[3:32] I don't want you to get all twisted up and tongue-tied here. But it's pretty simple, isn't it? Four words, thou shalt not kill. And I can't help, since we're here, we're going to hit these thou shalt nots three in a row.

[3:47] I can't help but, oh, four, five in a row. I can't help but just relate to you how the King James Bible is just, it is the Bible.

[3:59] It's the words of God. Beyond the manuscript evidence and studying this out and seeing the perversions of the other versions and where they take words out and take commands out and how much they mess the book up.

[4:12] I just, the way it sounds is the way it ought to sound. Thou shalt not kill. It sounds like God is commanding man. And it doesn't say you shouldn't or you shouldn't, you know.

[4:23] It doesn't soften it at all. It's just the right, clean and clear sound. Now, let's study this because what seems to be a clear and a straightforward command, believe it or not, it's been grounds for much debate amongst Bible skeptics and even Bible believers alike will debate what does this mean.

[4:45] And I'm going to cover this because some people suppose there's a contradiction here because in one place God condemns killing in the Ten Commandments. Here we are. But then in another place he condones it or even he commands it to kill and to slaughter.

[4:59] And so some will suppose, oh, this is a contradiction. And if you read your Bible, it is no secret that this book is filled. It is just replete with murders or with slaughter, with killings of human beings, even where God commands his people to execute heathen kings and their peoples or subjects, or even where he commands to put to death unruly, insubordinate Hebrews that refuse to obey and that rebel against his word.

[5:30] And so what about it? Is this a contradiction or not? And as we've seen in the previous commands, man has a way of distorting and has a way of perverting the truth or the intention.

[5:43] And once again, we'll have to get an explanation on the command. Now, I find this most necessary as we've covered in the first five. Each one kind of has something to it that people mess up.

[5:56] So again, today we'll start with an explanation of thou shalt not kill. And then I'll show you some exceptions to this command, which are many and they're obvious.

[6:07] And then finally, some expectations of this command, something I think that you can take with you. So let's have a word of prayer together. Then we'll begin with the explanation. First, Father, we want to thank you for this morning again.

[6:19] We want to thank you for allowing us to meet. Thank you for health in our bodies. Realize that not everybody is feeling well, that some are not here with us. We are thankful for them. Pray that you'll be with them and be near.

[6:30] Let them know they're missed and restore them to health. We also pray that for us that are here, that you'll minister your words to us and that you'll help us to understand this clearly and to put it in perspective and put it into play what the spirit of this thought is for us in our relationships one with another.

[6:48] And may Jesus Christ be lifted up. May your words help us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. All right. Thou shalt not kill. Kill what? Kill anything?

[7:02] Kill a bird? Kill a snake? Kill a spider? Thou shalt not kill, folks. That's what it says. So we do need some explanation here, right? A little interpretation or we could just kind of start applying this on it.

[7:16] We could just stamp this on everything, couldn't we? And say, well, that's a living creature and God made it. Or that plant. So are we allowed to put an animal out of its misery when it's injured beyond repair to where it's going to go on for the next several days just dying a slow pain?

[7:32] Are we allowed to put it out of its misery or is that a violation? So what is this really saying? Well, let's say a few things.

[7:43] How about this? Are you allowed to kill a bacteria? Are you allowed to kill a virus, if possible, before it kills you? Or no? We have to stay at... No. So let's be careful here and let's just examine this and explain what God's intention here is.

[7:58] This is not a reference to animals, okay? Just because vegetarians find their proof text in Genesis way back in the beginning in the Garden of Eden, you are not living in the Garden of Eden.

[8:11] So don't pretend that you are. You're living on an accursed earth. And furthermore, when Noah came off the ark, God gave him permission to kill and to eat animals.

[8:21] And so that's not a reference to killing animals. And somebody might try to apply it that way. One more verse on that. In 1 Timothy 4, Paul said that every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received...

[8:36] Or if it's sanctified by the Word of God in prayer. Received with thanksgiving for it is sanctified by the Word of God in prayer. So it's not a reference to animals. The best way to interpret the Bible is with the Bible.

[8:49] If God makes a command, then God has the ability in His Word to expound upon and declare exactly what He means. So He'll expound upon it elsewhere and He'll also limit it.

[9:00] And I just think there's one place you need to see to get this. Would you flip to Matthew chapter 19? There's a lot of passages about this. And we're going to cover a bunch of them.

[9:10] But for this beginning of an explanation, there's just one passage or one verse that you need to be familiar with that I think really limits the interpretation of thou shalt not kill.

[9:23] And in Matthew 19, the Lord Jesus Christ has a man come to Him and ask Him a question about inheriting eternal life. And Christ responds to him by saying, Keep the commandments at the end of verse 17.

[9:39] And so we pick it up in verse 18. He saith unto him, Which? And now Jesus tells him which commandments to keep. Jesus said, verse 18, Thou shalt do no murder.

[9:50] And there's your definition for thou shalt not kill. It's murder. It has nothing to do with pests or insects or animals or bacteria.

[10:04] It has nothing to do with the justice system, but has everything to do with the word murder. And so defined by Jesus Christ, this command is murder.

[10:16] Not simply taking a life in its generic sense, but murder is a much different word. Murder is different than, as I mentioned earlier, taking the life of a wounded animal.

[10:30] It's different than defending an innocent person against a violent aggressor. It's far different than that. And the scripture will make all these exceptions we'll see in a moment.

[10:40] Murder in the Bible is marked by several things. One of them is guile. Another of them is hatred. Another is enmity. And another is lying in wait.

[10:53] Or what we would call premeditated. And so you're familiar with the term premeditated murder. Something that's purposed and planned. These are words associated with murder.

[11:04] So in the explanation of these simple four words, thou shalt not kill, we need to understand it's a reference to murder, which is marked by certain things.

[11:15] It's a command that applies to a people that are living within a society. In this society, remember this is God giving commands to His people, His newly formed nation that He is God over, and they are entering a covenant to agree and to join themselves with Him and to follow His way and His words and His laws and His regulations.

[11:41] And in this society, thou shalt do no murder, or thou shalt not kill. There is to be no violence, and there is to be no bloodshed among this holy people.

[11:53] Set up within these future chapters is a system where all disputes and all heated matters are to be handled by judges.

[12:04] And any punishment or penalties that are handed out are administered by unbiased judges. So that no one has the right to take a matter into their own hands.

[12:15] That has been taken off the table, and God says, you're going to take it before them. In the case of a murder, which is pretty extreme compared to somebody maybe, you know, stealing a few grains of rice, when you're talking about something as extreme as murder, if we get to it later, we'll see there's a passage where they're to be brought before the congregation, where their individual, wherever it would happen, they're to be brought out to the gate of the city, before the elders of the city, which would be the place of judgment, where the judges sit, and the congregation is there, and they're to be dealt with.

[12:53] But it's not one man dealing with it on his own. And so bloodshed and violence is not at the hands of a person. Rather, it is to be administered by unbiased authorities.

[13:04] And if anybody, I hope you understand this, and it should be pretty easy for you to get this, that you and I, I don't want to believe we have the ability within ourselves to just reciprocate an action perfectly.

[13:22] If someone does us wrong, we don't just get them back in like fashion, in like manner, period. Because we have to do something a little bit more aggressive to say, number one, you never had the right to do that to me in the first place, much less what you did to me.

[13:39] So I have to do it back to you, plus let you know that you don't mess with me. And the example I give is like, if somebody gives you an elbow, when you're walking beside them, and they knock you off course, you don't come beside them, and just give them the same elbow back.

[13:52] You shove them with both hands across the sidewalk, and say, don't poke me, or don't mess with me. It's just your reaction is always above. And then their reaction to that, is a bull rush, to take you across the other side, and then you're rolling around on the ground.

[14:08] So, it never just is equal. Man doesn't have it within them to just be equal. And now we're even. Because you'll do something bigger and stronger, and say, don't ever do that again to me.

[14:18] Now we're even. They'll say, no we're not, because I only elbowed you. You punched me in the mouth. And it just escalates. That's what's in man. So the Bible tells them, you don't handle these matters.

[14:30] And now let's get back to the thought here, thou shalt not kill. It's not an all-encompassing rule, that governs the globe without exception. And I want to show you number two now, the exceptions to this command.

[14:44] I think there are very many, and here's a case very close. Flip over to chapter 21. There's many exceptions, and they're rather obvious. For instance, let's rewind just a little bit.

[14:55] Did not God go through the land of Egypt, and slay the firstborn? There was death all over the land of Egypt, and God did that. Was he wrong? Is he a hypocrite?

[15:06] Was he violating his own word? But if we understand this as murder, then these really, what we look at, these really aren't exceptions at all.

[15:17] They're rather valid reasons, for taking the life of another, that it wouldn't even be classified as murder, as the command says, thou shalt not kill, or do no murder.

[15:28] But we'll call this the exceptions, because the command says kill. And so there are legitimate reasons to kill another human being. And I know that sounds gruesome, but it's the reality of the fallen world that we live in.

[15:40] Just, it's going to be that way. And so let's look at here, Exodus chapter 20, 21. And I'll put these into four categories.

[15:51] One is there's killing by capital punishment. Meaning there's a crime that someone's committed that is worthy of death, therefore that individual is to be put to death.

[16:03] And there are many reasons for this in the scriptures, many cases of this, and I'll just show you a few here. Exodus 21, begin in verse 12. He that smiteth a man so that he die shall be surely put to death.

[16:19] If a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand, then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee. But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbor to slay him with guile, thou shalt take him from mine altar that he may die.

[16:35] And he that smiteth his father or his mother, shall surely be put to death. You don't lay hands on your father or your mother. You honor them.

[16:46] But if you do that, you take it upon yourself to put your hands on your father or mother. God says, kill that person. Kill him. You remove that out of this land.

[16:58] Verse number 16, He that stealeth a man, we'd call that kidnapping, and selleth him, or if he'd be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. He that curseth his father or his mother, shall surely be put to death.

[17:13] And there's a case of this in Deuteronomy 21. I think we'll see it later. So there's just a few quick examples of reasons for capital punishment. Flip over to Numbers 35.

[17:24] A little bit to your right. Two books to your right. Numbers 35. In just a few days or months later, from Exodus here, Moses comes down the mountain, and the people are worshiping, having a full-on worship ceremony for a golden calf that they're declaring to be their gods that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt.

[17:52] You know the outcome or what transpires following that? As Moses says, whoever's on the Lord's side, come unto me, and gird on your swords, and go in and out, and slay every man his brother.

[18:02] And 3,000 men are slain, cut off their heads, or however they did it, because of this idolatrous worship service that Moses happened upon coming down the mountain.

[18:17] So there's capital punishment, and God saw fit to kill him. Numbers 35. And let's start in verse 16. If he smite him with an instrument of iron so that he die, he is a murderer.

[18:34] There's our word. Now back in Exodus 21, he that smiteth a man so that he die shall surely be put to death. Here's a few instances of the smiting. If he smite him with an instrument of iron so that he die, he's a murderer, the murderer shall surely be put to death.

[18:47] 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. If he smite him with a hand weapon of wood wherewith he may die, and he dies, he's a murderer, and the murderer shall surely be put to death.

[19:02] The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer. When he meeteth him, he shall slay him. But if he thrust him of hatred or hurl at him by laying in wait that he die, or in enmity smite him with his hand that he die, he that smote him shall surely be put to death.

[19:18] For he is a murderer. So there's several cases and just explanations upon the smiting of somebody. And you saw those words brought in that there was, it was presumptuously in the one case, in this case it was enmity, and it also mentioned, I missed it there, lying in wait.

[19:39] So these are premeditated actions, and there's emotional attachment to this, and somebody's purposely doing this to someone else. It's a murder. And in this case, the murderer is to be put to death.

[19:53] Let's go to that Deuteronomy one now, to the right a little more. Deuteronomy 21. Keep your place in numbers, please. You're going to come back there. Deuteronomy 21. Here's another case of capital punishment.

[20:05] Somebody committing a crime worthy of death according to God's law. Deuteronomy 21. And let's begin this in verse 18.

[20:18] Deuteronomy 21, 18. If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and that when they have chastened him, so they are doing their job, will not hearken unto them.

[20:33] This is obviously some continual, consistent behavior. It's not just they talked back or they didn't do their chores completely. So this is some pretty bad stuff.

[20:43] Verse 19. Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him and bring him out into the elders of the city and under the gate of his place. And they shall say unto the elders of the city, this our son is stubborn and rebellious.

[20:56] He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones that he die.

[21:06] So shalt thou put evil away from among you. And notice this. All Israel shall hear and fear. That'll control the temperature of a society and how a youth or a child will respect or honor their parents.

[21:23] Verse 22. And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, thou shalt hang him on a tree. And you do that for a certain time.

[21:34] And so there's the accursed death that Jesus Christ died for us, taking our sins upon himself. Now, the capital punishment, that one's pretty clear, expressed in several different ways.

[21:47] But there's a few more. And I mentioned Numbers 35. Flip back to there. I stopped reading at a specific place. There's also killing by accident to where an individual ends up hurting and harming another individual and they lose their life because of their negligence or just their ignorance.

[22:09] And they are not held liable in this case. But nevertheless, they shed blood. And it's their fault. Numbers 35. And I wanted to start here in verse 22.

[22:22] But if he thrust him suddenly without enmity or have cast upon him anything without lying of weight or with any stone or with a man may die, seeing him not, it's a complete accident, and cast it upon him that he die and was not his enemy, neither sought his harm, then there's a provision for this one to escape the family that would come after his life, the revenger of blood.

[22:56] And there's cities of refuge. And we won't go into all of that. But nevertheless, you see the case is this individual here is not worthy to be put to death because it was by accident. But there is the case of somebody killing.

[23:08] They killed somebody by accident. Back in verse 15, at the end of the verse, it says that everyone that killeth any person unawares. So the exceptions to the command is capital punishment, is accident, is another case we'd call self-defense.

[23:27] And in Exodus 22, at the beginning of the chapter, it mentions somebody, a thief breaking in, or he's breaking, what's that word, breaking up is the word.

[23:38] And it seems like he's breaking in at night because it describes the sun not being risen on him in the next verse. But it says, if you break in and you kill him, you're not liable. It's his fault.

[23:49] He came in, he shouldn't have been doing that. And you don't know what he's doing and what his intentions are. And so that's the case of self-defense. And the killer is not held liable for shedding their blood. Another case, and this is the final one, is killing in battle.

[24:04] And for instance, already happened when Amalek came and ambushed Israel from the hind part, the hindmost parts. They came and ambushed him from the rear.

[24:16] And Moses told Joshua to choose out men and go out and fight Amalek. And Joshua did and he discomfited them with the edge of the sword. So you can better believe there was death and bloodshed.

[24:28] And it was commanded of Moses to go defend the nation. And so later on, matter of fact, with that thing with Amalek, Moses instructs the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 25.

[24:40] He says that down the road, I want you to utterly wipe out the remembrance of Amalek. That's bloodshed, folks. That's exterminating a race of people because of what they did.

[24:54] And they're doing this in battle. And of course, the references to battle are just all over the place. David even gives God credit for instructing him in being a man of war or teaching his fingers or his hands to war, I believe is the name of the verse.

[25:13] So while we're talking about this, I do want to touch on something and I'll move off it quickly. But we're looking at exceptions to the command where there's legitimate exceptions to thou shalt not kill because there are certain cases where there's death and it's not to be held liable or accountable for shedding someone's blood.

[25:31] But when I mention this thing about killing in battle, I want to touch on something because there's a movement that's been going around for a while. I don't know how far back it goes, probably a long way, but I've heard of it several times more recently among Christians that denounce war and denounce battles and denounce joining the military even because in their view, that's the kingdom of heaven and we are children of a heavenly kingdom, the kingdom of God, and we are not of this world and so we're not to fight or kill or potentially send somebody to hell that we don't give the gospel to.

[26:04] And so they take this stance that we're just supposed to divorce ourselves from all military activity but still be citizens in this land but we're not from this land.

[26:16] And so this is bad news because if you fast forward to the end of that, then you'd end up joining this group, what do they call themselves? Sovereign citizens, I think.

[26:29] Maybe you've heard of some of that. If you haven't, no big deal. But there's people in this land that pretend that they're not American citizens and they pretend that they can put a license plate on their cars and they don't pay taxes and they claim to be citizens of the kingdom of heaven.

[26:46] And they're just deluded. They don't know the Bible. They don't know how to interpret the scriptures. But they've got themselves a little group and they've got lawyers to argue for them in court and it's just, it's messed up. But let me get back to this.

[26:57] They believe the USA is wicked, of course, and you could say that about any country and they're spiritually of a heavenly country and so they don't have to, they should not participate in such a thing.

[27:09] And I get some of their ideas. I do. But I fear, as I said, going down that road till its end and having that tunnel vision, you end up getting stuck and what you're going to end up having to do is just roll over and let somebody just slaughter you and your family if the push comes to shove because you don't have the right to defend yourself then.

[27:29] You've eliminated that right. By saying that you don't do this. And you end up parking on Jesus Christ saying, turn the other cheek, which is a doctrine that's aimed at somebody living in the kingdom of heaven where God the Son is reigning from a throne on this planet.

[27:45] And it's a kingdom of righteousness and peace. And if somebody violates his word then, you don't take it upon yourself. But he'll administer the justice because it's upon him, the righteous judge, to do so.

[28:00] And now, you're left with taking that to yourself today if that's what you want to believe. I think there's a catch to this ideology is that the New Testament allows self-defense and while some would limit that to an individual and saying, well, okay, you're allowed to just defend yourself from somebody harming you individually and try to say that it doesn't apply nationally, just can't join them, but if somebody tries to hurt me, I can defend myself.

[28:24] It goes beyond that and reason takes it beyond that because what about your children that can't defend themselves? What about the sick? What about those that are just mentally incapable of defending themselves against an aggressor?

[28:38] What about the weak? What about the widows? So is it just individuals can defend themselves or do you not have responsibility to your loved ones? And I say, with all reason, I have a responsibility as a husband and father to defend my children and my wife and if it was the case of my mother or sisters or whatever it goes on to be.

[28:59] And so self-defense goes on beyond self. And I would not, if I don't limit it to myself or my family, why would I limit it to just my city or my country or limit it in that way only and not let it apply elsewhere to where there are widows in this town, where there are people that are defenseless in this town and need someone to defend them and that's where it just ultimately goes all the way to defending your nation.

[29:24] And so I have no problem annulling a nation to defend itself and furthermore, if you live in that nation and you pay taxes to that nation and you work in that nation and you enjoy the fruits of the protections and the rights and the economy and all of that which the nation has set up and given to you bountifully, then I feel you definitely have a responsibility as much as a right if you want to call it that to defend it and to be part of it.

[29:54] Yes, I can see a Christian participating in the defense of his homeland while we are citizens of a heavenly country and children of God, we're not there yet and we still live with our feet on this dirt.

[30:07] And if you want to just say that we don't have the right to do any of that, then help yourself with what you end up going to. You have to take it all the way to its end and you're just left to roll over.

[30:18] And you can say, well, I'm to preach the gospel. If somebody comes at me with an assault weapon of war or a sword, this sword of the spirit is not God's weapon.

[30:33] This is a sword of the spirit for fighting spiritual warfare, not physical. And I'm not going to hand them a track while they take a swing at my face. That's just, that's two different battles there.

[30:43] A spiritual versus a physical. And you have to deal with the physical if it comes. And you have to know how to do that. So anyway, I'm just getting off on this little tangent here about killing during battle.

[30:54] While some Christians pretend they're so pious and they take this spiritual avenue that we can't participate in that, they're the ones that haven't had it in their doorstep. I guarantee you that.

[31:06] And if that takes place, they'll either change their tune or they'll be dead. So, all right, moving on. Finally and thirdly, the expectations. of this command. This is, thou shalt not kill.

[31:18] What are the expectations? I believe it goes beyond forbidding vengeance and committing murder. It begins there, obviously. It's very clear, but the aim goes deeper.

[31:31] And I think there's a few passages I want to look at with you. We're going to come back to the Old Testament, but for the most part, look at Matthew chapter 5. I think there's a premier passage we can start with.

[31:45] And let's look at three spots in the book of Matthew that are words of Jesus Christ that I think can shed some light on this. The expectations of the command.

[32:00] Remembering that the command is given to a people, to a society, to a nation. And it's about them dealing and governing and living amongst each other.

[32:12] And when things arise and problems come up, what they're not to do. But let's get a little deeper here into the expectation of the command.

[32:22] Now, Matthew 5, and look at verses 21 and 2. And the Lord brings up Moses' command in Exodus.

[32:33] Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.

[32:51] And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raka, which is a degrading and extremely disrespectful term, shall be in danger of the council. But whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hellfire.

[33:07] Now, I know the doctrine here. I know Matthew 5 and the kingdom of heaven. And I don't have time to really cover this in its entirety, obviously. But don't assume because the word fool comes out of your mouth you're going to go to hell.

[33:19] Don't tell anybody that. You're misinterpreting something. But we should look at something. We should be able to extract something here. Now, Jesus Christ, when he speaks to these people, he's not addressing at all something that you do with your hands.

[33:34] Violence, bloodshed. That's what the command said, thou shalt not kill. But when he puts it on these people, he doesn't talk about the violence of it. He talks about something that's on the inside of anger.

[33:47] And something that comes out of the heart, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. And he talks about what you're saying to your brother in verse 22. And whosoever shall say two times what comes out of your mouth.

[34:03] Anger in your heart and words coming out of your mouth. And I'm going to talk today about the expectations of the command, thou shalt not kill.

[34:14] Christ isn't dealing with what you do with your hands, but he's exposing rage and anger and hatred that exists inside a heart. And then it's displayed when it comes out of the mouth. Before it's ever acted upon with the hands, it comes out of the mouth or it already dwells within the heart.

[34:32] And this is something Jesus Christ is exposing and causing them to see and to acknowledge and to hear. A tongue can tell the truth by the ugly things that it says.

[34:47] It tells what's inside the heart toward a person. Now think about this. It's easy to do this. It's easy to be nasty with somebody when they do you wrong or you just get annoyed.

[35:00] It's easy to say nasty things. It's easy to be ugly with people. And you need to think for a moment when that comes forth out of you because it does, where is it coming from?

[35:13] Now the Bible shows you it's coming out of your flesh. If you're born again, it's coming out of that old man, that old nature who is not born again. And it's coming from some seed of filth and wickedness inside of your heart.

[35:26] And if you talk to folks and have a relationship with people and all you are is nasty or snide or just your comments are ugly to them all the time, you might want to consider adjusting your attitude toward that person because it's revealing that inside of you is a hatred toward them, is an enmity toward them.

[35:47] And those are the words that are the catalysts to murder in the Bible. And Christ says, you heard him say thou shalt not kill. That's like taking it to the tenth degree.

[35:58] But I'm telling you where it starts and where it comes from and how it's manifested that it's inside of you before it ever takes place as a violation of the command.

[36:10] If you find that that's true of some of your relationships, consider the cause. And if you do care, people say this, well, I just talk to them that way, but deep down I care about them. Deep down I love them.

[36:22] Like, if you really care about them, maybe you should consider how you talk to them and the venom that comes out of your mouth at times toward them. It doesn't display love and it doesn't show care.

[36:33] So now move on to Matthew 15. There's another passage. We're going to look at three of them here in Matthew. Matthew 15. What comes out of your mouth is perceived, in a sense, as a spirit.

[36:51] It's perceived by the person as this is what they think of me. This is what they're saying to me. And if it comes out as hatred, that's how you're perceived. You're a child of God, but you're spitting out hatred or poison to others.

[37:05] Look at Matthew 15 and verse number 19. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, and he lists a few things that would be applicable back to Exodus chapter 20.

[37:24] And where do these come from? From the heart. This is something that Christ had to teach these Jews that have been growing up around the commands. Oh, don't do that. Don't check that box. And if you don't check the box, you're good.

[37:36] He's trying to show you, no, no, no. There's an expectation with this command and it's not simply that your hands don't shed the blood, but that where that comes from is understood and cleaned up inside here.

[37:52] And so David, after all of his guilt with adultery and murder, violating some serious commands, had to pray and say, God, wash me throughly.

[38:03] Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me. Because that was the problem and there was the cause the whole time inside the heart.

[38:17] That's what needs to be addressed. Murder, I've already said earlier, is marked by guile, by hatred, by enmity.

[38:27] And if we could get the hatred and the deception, the guile, the enmity out of our hearts, we'd have no problem with what this command is expecting of us.

[38:41] And if we could get the angry words and the poison out of our mouths, we would display a spirit that in no way makes one think of anything close to violating the command of God.

[38:53] Would you realize that the word of God likens your words to harmful things like fire, poison, sharp razors, and then weapons that pierce like arrows and swords.

[39:09] These are murderous. These are killing instruments. And that's what your words are likened to in this book. And they come out of your heart. And in a sense, spiritually speaking, you could be slaying and murdering people and your brothers and your sisters and your friends and your loved ones all day long with your wickedness in your heart coming out of your mouth.

[39:35] Now one more place, look at Matthew 22. You think I'm being a little too overboard with this? You think I'm being a little like trying to dig something out that's not there?

[39:47] It just says, thou shalt not kill. That's all it says. Well, where does the murder come from? The Bible shows you where it comes from. All right, Matthew 22.

[39:59] Last place here in Matthew. And then we're going to go back to Leviticus in a moment. And let's look at verses 35 through 40. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

[40:16] Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.

[40:30] Question answered. But he's not done talking. And the second is like unto it. Wait a minute. I didn't ask you about the second. And I don't want to know about the second. I want to know which one's the first.

[40:41] Just tell me the first. But Christ isn't just going to tell you the first. There's something more. The second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

[40:52] On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. I like this. That Christ was asked about the commandment that was the greatest. He answered it accurately to love God as he did in verse 37.

[41:05] But then he added something that wasn't asked. No one's looking for this information but he's going to give it to them because it obviously found it quite important. To pair it with the first.

[41:19] Don't pretend oh I love God I read my Bible I go to church I'm so faithful but don't treat your neighbor or your family or your children right. Because those two go together.

[41:31] Loving God first with all your heart soul and mind. And so is the way you treat your brother or your co-worker or the people in your life. Christ didn't let them separate the two but he put them right on top of each other.

[41:46] Now let me show you this how important this is. This is the last place I'll come back to Leviticus 19 because this is what he's quoting from. We'll tie this back into the command itself.

[42:00] Leviticus 19 there's expectations of this command. And the expectation is not just not to shed blood but it's to love thy neighbor as thyself.

[42:17] So 19 look at verses 16 through verse 18 Leviticus 19 16 Thou shalt not go up and down as the tail bearer among thy people neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor I am the Lord.

[42:33] Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor and not suffer sin upon him thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people but here's what he quoted but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself I am the Lord.

[42:56] The command is to love your neighbor. It's to love them and not merely don't kill them but to love them don't have hatred in your heart toward them don't avenge don't lay your hands on them but love them don't speak ugly words to them but love them.

[43:19] This is the New Testament command. This is where the bitterness and wrath and evil speaking and clamor and all of that is to be put away from us and we're to be kind one to another tender hearted hearted hearted forgiving one another.

[43:39] Love is a reflection of humility a reflection of selflessness of compassion of gentleness of friendliness of mercy of sacrifice but murder reflects pride and ego hatred enmity violence fierceness wrath selfishness stubbornness you know what the Bible says in John chapter 8 verse 44 ye are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father ye will do he was a murderer from the beginning so the command thou shalt not kill there's some expectations to not just keep your hands from shedding blood not just you can strangle them all the way up until the point too but don't kill them it's dealing with the heart and as it applies to you and me this morning it's our hearts that need to be cleansed it's the hatred and the guile and the deceit and the filth that's in our hearts the pride in us that needs to be exposed and gotten rid of repented of and washed clean we need clean hearts for us to live amongst ourselves even amongst your families you need a clean heart you need Jesus Christ to do a work inside of you to get that filth out of you so that you can operate and love one another because you're not going to do it without him changing you from the inside one last thought we're finished here but I need to throw this out there is the command said thou shalt not kill and people get this idea because they've never violated like literally with their hands violated this command but they're pretty good people

[45:48] I mean have you not been exposed to this in some way that do you think you're a good person well I never killed anybody it's like that's the one there's ten commands well I never killed anybody so therefore as a result yeah I'm a good person like why is that the one isn't it the one so people get this distorted view because I haven't committed this one therefore I'm going to be accepted of God God is going to pass on all of my sin and allow me into heaven because I never killed anybody I mean what folly what distorted reasoning murdering somebody is a big deal but please don't let that be your standard of goodness whether you have or haven't done it you're not a good person the Bible never gives you that license that you're good inherently you're not it tells you you're not that your heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked that's what your heart is and there's a lot of wickedness in that heart and so you might want to consider what am I actually guilty of before God before God's holiness what am I guilty of what sin have I committed that causes me to fall short of the glory of God it's not the killing one probably but there's plenty of others little sins make you a sinner just like the big sins and what that means is you need a savior and if you found one in Jesus Christ then you're forgiven of your sins but then let that savior cleanse you and change you from within to get that sin and that filth out of the old man put him off so there's the command thou shalt not kill there's an explanation

[47:53] I hope you get that clearly the Bible allows some things or exceptions it's dealing with murder and then the final thought there was the expectations of it where it really shows where it comes from and we as children of God let that not be once named among us the stuff that comes out of our mouth should come out of a pure heart out of a new man one that God created in righteousness and true holiness a new man that thinks no evil against his neighbor but loves and this is a challenge for you this morning because somewhere along the road maybe today maybe this week you're going to find something coming out of your mouth or something stirring up inside of your gut towards somebody else and it's evil and you need to put it down not tell them to get it right you need to put it down inside of you and submit yourself to Jesus Christ Father thank you for the command and for the opportunity to study it out this morning and pray that it would be something we understand clearly and receive and be able to apply

[48:59] Lord I love you I love your word I'm grateful for the truth for how you expose sin in our hearts and uncleanness and so God I pray that this will help somebody here help all of us in reality to put down that enmity within us to put down and put off the hatred and the works of our flesh and to allow your spirit complete access and to change how we think and to change how we respond and to change how we speak and help us God then to love to love the way you loved us help us to be tender hearted toward others when they do us wrong and the apostle Paul tells us to suffer ourselves to be defrauded Peter told us that we should take it patiently when we suffer wrongfully Lord may that mind be in us which was also in Christ Jesus I pray you'd expose this when it's in us and help us to get it out and create in us a clean heart and change us and make us the children of God pleasing in your sight we pray this in Christ's name

[50:06] Amen