The scripture reading comes from Deuteronomy chapter 5.
Please follow along in your bulletin.
Verse 1,
And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them,
Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today,
and you shall learn them and be careful to do them.
Then in verse 6,
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of slavery.
You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself a carved image
or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above
or that is on the earth beneath
or that is in the water under the earth.
You shall not bow down to them or serve them,
for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children
to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,
but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me
and keep my commandments.
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain,
for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy,
as the Lord your God commanded you.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.
On it you shall not do any work,
you or your son or your daughter or your male servant
or your female servant or your ox or your donkey
or any of your livestock or the sojourner who is within your gates,
that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.
You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt,
and the Lord your God brought you out from there
with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.
Therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
Honor your father and your mother as the Lord your God commanded you,
that your days may be long
and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
You shall not murder, and you shall not commit adultery,
and you shall not steal,
and you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor,
and you shall not covet your neighbor's wife,
and you shall not desire your neighbor's house,
his field, or his male servant, or his female servant,
his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.
This is the word of God.
Thank you, Karen.
Let's just pray briefly.
Father, as we come before your word,
these ten words for abundant life,
God, we want to hear from you.
Father, we are so aware that so many of these things
touch on real points of pain in our life.
I just think of last week as we spoke about relating to our parents,
as we think this week about what does it mean to honor life,
and the weeks to come, God, as we deal with these real areas of life
that so many of us have experienced pain and hardship.
God, we pray for your grace to wash over us.
God, we pray that you will speak to us.
We pray that we will see the good news of Jesus in these words,
these ten commandments.
God, I pray for this morning.
God, I want you to soften our hearts, Lord.
We want to meet with you and encounter you and your word.
And so, God, won't you open our hearts,
won't you impress upon us your greatness and your glory,
your majesty, but also your mercy and your grace.
God, I pray.
Come help us, we pray, in your wonderful and powerful name.
Amen.
Okay, so once again, welcome.
If you are in the overflow room, welcome to you.
If you're at the community center or at home or somewhere else in the world,
welcome to those of us at Ebenezer.
A very warm welcome to you as well.
We are, as a church, working through this very famous body of teaching
called the Ten Commandments.
And these ten words that God gives to his people
for their abundance and their flourishing,
for their well-being.
And these ten commandments are broken up into two groups.
The first four have to do with our relationship with God.
And in them, God says, unequivocally,
I want you to honor me and worship me alone.
I want to be first in your heart.
Make sure that I'm supreme and preeminent in your heart.
Have no other gods beside me.
He says that we are to honor him and glorify his name.
And he actually commands us to set aside a set period of time each week
where we rest but also reorientate our hearts to him,
where we worship him.
And then the next six commandments all have to do with the way we relate to other people.
And so last week we looked at how we relate to our parents,
and that was a challenging one.
And today we look at this sixth commandment,
and in the Hebrew language it's just two words.
It says, not murder.
Do not murder.
And so I think that's probably all I want to say today.
Please, let's not murder anybody this week,
and let's take communion, okay?
No, the sixth commandment is a little bit more complicated than that.
And so let's dive in and see what God has to say in this passage.
The ten commandments have fallen on hard times recently.
Not too many people think that the ten commandments are that applicable to our life.
But this one, the sixth commandment,
is one that most people still think we should try and obey.
I heard recently there was a poll,
and 78% of people said that the sixth commandment is still a good law.
It should still be obeyed and honored in society.
I'm a little nervous about the other 22% that weren't so sure about that.
Let's hope they don't live in Hong Kong, right?
But this seems like a pretty straightforward one.
Do not murder.
Let's dive in and see what is God's heart behind it.
And so this morning there are four things I want us to see.
I want us to see God's heart behind the commandment,
God's scope.
In other words, what is the extent or the limit of the command?
What is God actually saying?
Thirdly, our hearts.
And fourthly, our hope.
Okay, so God's heart, God's scope, our hearts, and our hope.
Okay, let's dive in.
So firstly, God's heart.
Now, as we said, for most people, this command is pretty straightforward.
It's not a good idea to go around killing people, murdering people.
That's not a good society to live in.
It's not the kind of society we want to raise our children in.
But in the Bible, the reason why God gives this command is actually far more profound than just utilitarian ethics.
It's far more than just pragmatism.
Actually, the reason for this command is deeply theological.
It has something to do with God's heart.
And the reason why God is against murder is because human beings are not just a matter of flesh and blood.
Human beings are not just carbon atoms or DNA strands that come together.
Each human being has been knitted together by God, created by God, by his will, and brought into existence by his will and for his pleasure.
Each human being is God's handiwork, his artistry, his craftsmanship that displays something of his nature and his character.
So think about this.
Imagine you go to a world-class art museum.
You go to the Tate Modern in London or the Louvre in Paris.
And you see a piece of art and you think, that art doesn't speak to me at all.
I mean, what is this rubbish, right?
And you decide to pull out your cutting knife and you shred this piece of artwork.
What's going to happen to you?
Sirens, alarm, the police are going to jump on you.
You're going to soon find out what it looks like to destroy somebody else's famous, beautiful artwork.
Friends, God says that each human life, each human being, irrespective of how we feel or think about them, is his artwork, his craftsmanship, his artistry that he has brought into existence by his own will.
But even more importantly than this, the Bible says that each human being, each human life is one of supreme value and worth because every human being is made in the image of God and carries something of the image of God on them.
And what that means is that every human being, admittedly in our fallen, broken, sinful way, every human being carries something of the nature and there's an image of who God is and carries his unique fingerprint, his signature.
Every human being houses God's glory to some degree.
No matter what your ethnicity, no matter what your background or the color of your skin, no matter your socioeconomic status, whether you're a billionaire or you sweep the streets for a living,
no matter what your personality is, whether you're very kind and gracious or you're obnoxious and rude,
every human being has indescribable value and worth and dignity because every human being is created as an image bearer, a representative of who God is, of the unrivaled supreme God almighty,
the majestic God who is seated on the throne.
Every one of us carries something of a representation of him in our being.
I'm sure you've seen this on the news.
We haven't seen this in Hong Kong recently and I think that's a good thing.
But in some countries, when there are big protests, especially political protests, you'll see that some countries, the people will build an effigy.
An effigy is like a paper statue of, let's say, either their leader or maybe an opposing leader, the leader of a country that they don't like.
They'll build this paper statue, an image, a figure of a world leader, and then they'll march it through the streets singing and chanting,
and what will they do at the end?
They'll burn it, right?
That's right.
They'll burn it.
Now, why do people do that?
Because it's the ultimate insult.
It's the ultimate insult to take an image of somebody and to destroy it.
I don't know if you remember when Saddam Hussein was toppled.
One of the things, the street scenes afterwards, there was a big statue of him in the center of Iraq.
And people climbed up on the statue and grabbed their sandal off their feet and would beat the face of the statue.
To destroy or to insult the image of somebody is the ultimate offense.
Friends, God says that every human being, from those that are still in their mother's womb to those who are on their deathbeds,
all people, all persons carry something of the image of God in them and are therefore supremely valuable, have dignity and worth and respect.
All human life is precious.
And when we directly oppose somebody or slander somebody, when we deride them or we call them names like somebody's useless or they're a piece of rubbish,
we're not just deriding a person that we disagree with.
We're taking something of the nature and the image of God, that which that person represents,
and are slandering or shredding the character and the assassinating the character of God.
All people carry the image of God in them.
All people are persons for whom ultimately Jesus died on the cross.
Okay, so that's the heart of God behind this command.
What is the scope of this command, secondly?
So this command, as we said, is two words.
Lo ratzach, not murder.
But what does that actually mean?
What does that involve?
In the Old Testament, in the Hebrew Bible, there are seven or eight words for killing or ending someone's life or murder.
And the word in this command is a very specific word.
It's the word ratzach.
And it doesn't just refer to ending life in general, per se.
It refers to taking the unjustly taking an innocent life.
Okay?
The unjust taking of an innocent life.
So in the Old Testament, in the Bible, God actually makes provision.
There are times when it is not contrary to his will to take another life.
At times in the Bible, when you're defending yourself, you're not responsible if another person loses their life.
And the obvious example of this is self-defense.
So in Exodus 22, it says if somebody breaks into your house in the middle of the night and wants to steal something and you get into a confrontation and that person ends up dying,
you are not culpable for that person's life under the sixth commandment.
It's self-defense.
Now interestingly, it actually says in Exodus 22, if this happens in broad daylight and you kill the person, well then things change.
And the motivation for that is in broad daylight, you might be able to call for help.
There are other witnesses that can come and help you.
But in the middle of the night, you're caught off God, you're defending yourself and someone dies.
God's word says actually you're not culpable under the sixth commandment.
Because we are required to defend our family and those that we are responsible for.
Now that's true on an individual level, but it's also true on a national level.
And so actually in the Old Testament, the word ratzach, our Hebrew word here, is never used when dealing with legal matters.
And what that means is that in the Old Testament, capital punishment doesn't fall under the sixth commandment.
Now I'm not making a case for capital punishment.
There are other problems with capital punishment.
And the most obvious of those is that ethnic minorities, those that are without power, are often subject to most injustice.
And so there's other reasons why we might want to be careful about capital punishment.
But in God's word, capital punishment was considered a defense of the image of God.
To murder somebody was so serious that it required the most severe deterrent and punishment for it.
And of course this also didn't apply to military campaigns.
So somebody comes and attacks your nation, you shouldn't just roll over and say, no problem.
We have the right to defend what is ours, and that may mean attacking other enemy soldiers.
So does that make sense?
Okay, maybe I should go over that again.
So Phil Riken, a theologian, says this.
This is what the sixth commandment is about.
On the one hand, it is forbidding all deliberate premeditated murder.
Okay, that's pretty obvious.
It's also forbidding manslaughter committed in fits of rage.
So you lose your temper with someone, and you hit them, you beat them, you are culpable and responsible for that.
But it also holds responsible those who cause someone's death through reckless or careless living.
So drunk driving, somebody gets killed, you are culpable and responsible for that person's life.
A mother or a father leaves and abandons their children, and their children pass away, you are culpable, you are responsible for that person's life.
Now this all may seem pretty straightforward.
I'm not sure how many of us have recently weighed up the pros or cons of committing manslaughter.
Maybe you don't get on with a colleague or a boss.
I hope nobody is contemplating taking a gun to work this week.
This all seems pretty straightforward.
But as thinking Christians in the 21st century, I want to urge us to really think about the sixth commandment very carefully.
And to weigh up what God's word says around the unjust taking of innocent life.
And the reason why this is so important for us to weigh up and consider is because we live in an age, increasingly,
in which is becoming not only tolerant, but fostering deliberate taking of innocent lives.
And where this is seen is socially acceptable.
Some writers have described our age as the age of death.
Friends, we live in a time in the world when taking with the sanctity of human life,
the sacredness of human life is being made subservient to personal preference or personal convenience.
Friends, let us be clear here that we're living in an age where legalized and state-sanctioned killing is often seen,
is now framed within the narrative as a basic human rift.
Where things like aborting of pregnancy, where things like euthanasia or doctor-assisted suicide,
where even personal suicide are no longer seen as moral issues,
no longer seen as something that God speaks to,
but are seen as a matter of personal preference, as personal convenience, as a human right.
Friends, all human life, from the zygote that is formed at the moment of conception
to the person that is maybe suffering dementia or end of life at 110 years old,
all human life, irrespective of the color of your skin,
irrespective of your nationality or where you come from,
irrespective of your mental capacity or your social status or what part of the world you come from,
all human life is deeply, deeply sacred
because all human life carries within it the image of God.
God's handiwork that God created, God brings about,
it grieves God's heart and it robs Him of His glory when we insult Him,
when we decide who is worthy of life and who is not.
See, this is challenging, right?
It's easy to think, okay, let's not murder.
But in our day and age, we need to think about these things really carefully.
I know we've used this analogy, but imagine somebody comes to you and says,
look, I'm going away, I've got a hundred million dollar painting,
I want to entrust into your care, will you take care of it for me?
You say, sure, take care of it, you put it on your wall.
But after a little while, you think, this is not very convenient for me.
I mean, it doesn't really fit.
And you take it down, you store it away,
and then eventually it's getting in the way and you decide,
listen, I'm just going to trash it, right?
It doesn't really fit with my heart.
It doesn't fit with my style.
It's not very convenient for me.
What's that person going to say?
Friends, God comes to us and He entrusts into our hands human life.
Sometimes the very young, sometimes the very old.
And we live in an age in which we feel like
the stewardship of those human lives
are a matter of personal preference,
of personal freedom.
Friends, God gives us this incredible responsibility
to care for His people, His creation,
His image bearers.
And the point here is that
if we allow our moral compass
to be determined by the culture of our day,
we need to be very careful
because the cultural times are shifting
so quickly, so rapidly,
that as Malcolm Muggeridge said,
what one generation considers a war crime,
the next generation considers an act of compassion.
And so if we take our moral and ethical cues
from the cultural tides in which we live in,
friends, we're going to be deeply confused.
But over and against this,
against the shifting sands of our culture,
God speaks a word.
And it's a word of clarity,
it's a word of truth,
and God's truth is always a word of freedom.
God says that He is God and that we are not.
He is the one who gives life and takes it away.
And that each and every human life,
from the one that is fertilized one day old
to the person that is a few days or weeks
from their deathbed,
all human life is sacred and is in His hands.
And human lives are not,
the value of a human life is not determined
by their utility to society,
but the fact that we are image bearers
of the one true majestic God.
Earlier this week,
I was reading Revelation 4,
this amazing passage that,
where God is on the throne,
glorious, majestic,
angels are falling down and worshiping Him.
And all human beings,
who are in heaven,
fall down on their knees.
And this is what they say,
worthy are you,
our God and King,
to receive glory and honor
and praise and adoration.
This majestic God,
friends,
has chosen that we should bear His image,
should house something of His glory.
Friends,
human beings' value and worth
is not found in our utility to society,
but the fact that we are made
in the image of that God,
that majestic,
glorious God.
Okay,
so that's the scope.
God's heart,
God's scope.
Thirdly,
our hearts.
Our hearts.
Sorry,
this got a little more heavy
than I intended.
Okay,
well,
let's keep going.
Scripture actually has more to say
about the subject than that.
It starts off talking about murder,
and when we apply it to our own lives,
we realize we need to think about these things.
But actually,
there's another level,
and that is that all of us
need to grapple with our own hearts.
In Matthew chapter 15,
Jesus is having a debate
with some religious leaders,
and the reason he's having a debate,
is because he's eating food,
and he hasn't washed his hands.
And for the religious leaders in his day,
this is a serious offense,
because he's eating food
that is defiled,
or ceremonially unclean.
And so they say to him,
you are defiling yourself.
You are going to be ceremonially unclean,
because you haven't washed your hands.
And so the issue here isn't hygiene.
The issue is religious
and ceremonial acceptance before God.
And so Jesus says,
don't you realize,
it's not what goes into your mouth
that makes you defiled or unclean,
it's what comes out of your mouth.
And the disciples are a little bit confused.
They say,
what are you talking about?
And so a little later,
Jesus explains to him,
and he says this,
what you put into your mouth,
the food that you eat,
just goes into your stomach
and is expelled.
But what comes out of your mouth,
the words that you say,
the anger that you say,
the slander and the backbiting,
the anger and the vitriol that you say,
those words don't just come from your stomach,
they don't just come from your mind,
actually they come from your heart.
And that's the problem,
says Jesus.
Jesus says this,
out of the overflow of the heart,
the mouth speaks.
For out of your heart comes evil thoughts,
murder, adultery, sexual immorality,
et cetera, et cetera.
These are the things that defile the person.
Okay, so you see what Jesus is saying there.
He's saying,
actually maybe you've never gone and killed somebody,
but when we slander somebody,
when we talk about someone behind their back
and we shred their character,
actually the same root is in our heart.
John says this in 1 John chapter 3.
He says,
anybody who hates his brother is a murderer.
And that sounds pretty intense, right?
You think,
hey,
I've never killed anybody.
But actually when we foster bitterness and anger
and hatred in our heart,
actually the same root is common to both of those.
So John is saying this.
He says,
it would be insane if somebody came here to church on Sunday
and we sang this amazing song we sang earlier,
good and gracious God.
Holy,
holy,
Lord God almighty,
you're good and gracious God.
God,
I love you.
You are first and preeminent in my heart.
And then Monday to Friday,
they are a serial murderer,
right?
That wouldn't make sense.
Those two things are incompatible.
Well,
John's saying actually the same thing.
When we come to church and worship,
God,
you are first in my heart.
I love you supremely.
Jesus,
have your way in my life.
But then we actually are fostering or harboring
or growing hatred and anger and bitterness in our hearts.
There's something incompatible about that.
A couple of years ago,
people used to read the newspaper
and they'd read about some,
let's say,
violent crime that took place
and say,
you know,
the education levels these days,
what are they teaching children at school?
Or maybe,
people would read something in the newspaper,
violent crime that takes place
and they'd say,
you know,
black people
or Asians
or Hispanics
or those Guaylos,
right?
You just can't trust them these days,
right?
In South Africa,
the country I come from,
in the 1970s and 80s,
if you were Caucasian like me,
you were taught
that people with dark skin
were lesser humans than you.
It was part of the system
that you were taught.
And so people thought
that violence and murder
and rage and these things
were a matter of either your ethnicity
or your education
or your intellect levels
or your upbringing.
But friends,
don't we know
that there are some very smart people
that have got very advanced educations
that have become murderers
and killers of others?
Friends,
what Jesus is saying here
is that the roots of these things
isn't our education
or the color of our skin
or what nationality
or ethnicity we come from,
the root of these things
is our heart.
It's our heart.
And so Matthew chapter 5,
Jesus is famously
on the Sermon on the Mount.
He says this.
He says,
We've all heard it said,
Do not murder
and whoever murders
will be held liable.
Well, that makes sense, right?
But then he says,
But don't you realize
anyone who is angry
with hatred towards his brother
is also liable,
is going to be held liable.
Anyone who insults his brother
is liable to the council.
Anyone who says
to his brother or sister,
You fool,
you imbecile,
is going to be liable
to the fire of hell.
Friends,
Jesus comes here
and he says that actually
the root of those things
is true.
And so maybe we've never
gone and killed somebody,
but actually in our hearts
there's bitter
and there's resentment
that is growing
and we're fostering.
Jesus says,
We've got a problem.
Friends,
can I ask us,
anybody here
not been angry
with somebody
in the last six months
or twelve months?
Friends,
anybody here
never read the newspapers
and just said
some outrageous things
about political leaders?
Friends,
anyone here
says we've never
looked at anybody
and thought,
You imbecile.
Can't believe
you are like that.
Friends,
I know I have.
And what Jesus
is saying here
is that the ten commands,
Jesus doesn't say,
Oh, the ten commands
are a bit old,
let's give it a modern upgrade.
What he's doing,
he's going right
to the heart
of the ten commands.
He's opening it up
and he's showing
what is God's heart
behind it.
And what's God's heart
behind is that
though we may be innocent
before a court of law,
we may be very
socially acceptable,
for many of us
our hearts are bitter
and twisted,
angry,
even hateful,
murderous.
And Jesus is showing
us here
that murder
doesn't come out
of nowhere,
that it starts off
with this root cause
and that maybe
it never grows
into full-blamed murder
but actually there's
a root that if
left unchecked,
the toxicity
and the anger
in our hearts
is going to destroy us.
Friends,
maybe I can ask us here,
do you find yourself
easily getting angry
when things don't
go your way,
when you feel
disrespected
or dishonored?
Maybe you're towards
your wife
or your husband?
Friends,
what about when
our children
don't do things
the way we want
them to?
Can I just
publicly confess here,
last weekend
was not a good weekend
in the Murphy household.
On Friday,
Clenna
had a disagreement
and it took
most of the day
to thaw out
that disagreement
and I thought
things Saturday
were pretty good.
On Sunday night,
I don't know
what was wrong
with me
but our kids,
they weren't even
that bad
but they weren't
listening,
had to speak
a couple of times
and I just
got so frustrated
so we spoke
about it,
we dealt with it,
half an hour later
they're still not
doing what I want,
they're still not
listening and I
absolutely,
I just got
really,
really cross.
Friends,
I tell you that
because I've got
a problem.
My heart is
broken and wicked.
Friends,
and I guess
I'm probably
not the only one
here.
Friends,
do we have
a string
of broken
relationships?
Every time
something goes
wrong,
someone disappoints
you,
you explode
at them.
Friends,
do you find
yourself reading
the news
and calling
political leaders
offensive names,
derogatory terms?
Do we find
ourselves calling
people cockroaches,
dogs,
taking somebody
made in the image
of God,
the beautiful
person that Jesus
died on the cross
for and reducing
them to derogatory
names?
Friends,
do people
at the office
know that
when the
pressure's on,
they better
not interrupt
us because
they never
know what's
going to
explode,
what's going
to come
out of our
mouths when
we explode?
Do we speak
of people as
valued representatives,
sons and
daughters of the
great king?
Friends,
lastly,
maybe bitterness
and resentment
has fostered in
our hearts and
it's been there
so long we
don't even
realize.
It's just
become normal.
We are numb
to the bitterness
and the resentments
in our hearts.
Friends,
do we find
ourselves being
passively aggressive?
We are jabbing
and hurting
people but doing
it in a socially
acceptable way.
Friends,
in a world
which is
absolutely
charged with
hatred and
bankrupt of
any sort of
grace and
mercy,
where are we
going to find
hope?
Where are
sinners like
me going to
find hope?
Where is our
world going to
find hope?
And so lastly,
our hope.
Fourth thing is
this.
In the gospel
of Jesus,
Jesus gives us
the resources
to deal with
our hearts.
And the gospel
not only gives
us the grace
we need for
forgiveness,
the gospel also
gives us the
grace we need
to change.
And so let's
look at those
two things.
Firstly,
the grace for
forgiveness.
Friends,
I know that
all of us
here have to
live with the
choices that
we've made.
For some
of us,
there's been
so many years
of broken
relationships and
hurt and
harm that
some
relationships
are destroyed.
Maybe it's
destroyed your
marriage.
Maybe it's
destroyed your
relationship with
your parents or
your relationship
with your children
or the family
member.
And friends,
the reality is we
might need to
live with those
things.
You can't just
click your
fingers,
say abracadabra,
and Jesus puts
everything automatically
right.
We have to live
with the decisions
we've made.
Friends,
maybe for some
of us,
we've even
terminated an
unplanned
pregnancy.
Maybe for some
of us,
men here,
we've pressurized
our wives or
our girlfriends
or mistresses
into having
an abortion.
Friends,
those are the
decisions we
have to live
with.
But Jesus
tells us that
it doesn't help
us to gloss
over it or to
excuse it.
Jesus tells us
that the way to
be free from our
past is to
acknowledge it,
to own up to
it,
and to repent.
And Jesus
starts off his
ministry,
when he comes
and he's
ministering,
he starts off
his ministry
with these
incredible words
of freedom.
He says,
repent,
for the kingdom
of heaven is
here,
follow me.
When we hear
those words
repent,
we often don't
think of those
as good news
words.
We think of
those as
words of
condemnation,
words of
guilt and
shame.
But Jesus
actually brings
these words,
he says,
repent,
turn from
that,
turn to me,
because these
are words of
life.
These are words
of freedom.
These are words
of hope.
The only way
to be free
from our past
and from the
shame and the
guilt is to
come to
Jesus.
And so
Jesus issues
this invitation
to be free
from our past
and he says,
come to me.
Jesus starts
off his ministry
with these
incredible words
of freedom
and hope.
He says,
repent and
follow me.
But then
Jesus ends
off his
ministry,
how?
On a
rugged cross.
And in
between those
times,
the gospel
tells us
that Jesus
set his
face for
Jerusalem.
Jesus wasn't
avoiding
Jerusalem.
At one point
his disciples
and his
family members
say,
hey,
let's not
go to
Jerusalem.
They want
to kill
you.
And Jesus
sets his
face for
Jerusalem.
Why?
Because he
sets his
face for
the cross.
Friends,
Jesus ends
up his
ministry
on a
cross on
Calvary.
And the
reason he
goes there
is to
take my
sin and
my shame
and your
sin and
your shame
and the
sin and
the shame
of all
the world,
those who
would hope
and trust
in him
and he
would bear
the wrath
and the
judgment
and the
punishment
of God
in our
place so
that we
don't have
to.
Friends,
Jesus Christ
had the wrath
and the
judgment of
God poured
out on him
so that those
who hope
and trust
in him
won't
experience it
themselves.
And so
now,
friends,
because Jesus
dies on the
cross,
not as an
example of
humility,
not just as a
picture of
non-violent
politics,
but as an
actual atoning
sacrifice for
us,
now we get
to hear the
words of
love and
acceptance rather
than the
words of
condemnation.
Friends,
do you know
that if you
are in
Jesus,
despite your
sin and my
sin,
despite your
shame and
my shame,
that God
the Father
loves you
with the
same love
that he has
for Christ
the Son
because you
are in
Christ the
Son.
Friends,
in the
gospel,
the same
grace that
forgives us
is also the
grace that
changes us.
There's this
incredible line
in the book
of Proverbs,
Proverbs
chapter 15,
I think it
is,
it says
this,
a gentle
answer
turns away
wrath.
A gentle
answer turns
away wrath.
Have you ever
experienced that?
There's somebody
whose heart
is so hard
and bitter
towards you,
so angry,
that no matter
what you say,
they're just
going to
respond with
anger.
You try
and have
a conversation
and they
just want
to kill
you,
right?
Maybe not
literally,
but you try
and talk
things through
with them
and they're
just bitter
and hard
and there's
nothing you
can say
to soften
their heart
until they
experience a
moment of
love.
Have you ever
experienced
that?
I experienced
that in our
house,
I remember
about a year
ago,
one of my
daughters,
I can't
remember which
one,
there's only
two,
right?
One of my
daughters was
absolutely losing
it,
absolutely losing
it,
something was
going wrong
and I was
just saying
that's unacceptable,
it's not how
we behave,
you go to
the bathroom.
So she goes
to the bathroom
and she is
furious,
she has smokes
coming out of
her ears,
absolutely steaming
and if I try
and say that's
not how we
behave,
you stop that
right now,
that's not going
to help anything.
So I go to
the bathroom
and I sit
down there
and I say,
Sierra,
Shiloh,
whoever it
is,
I say,
I think it
is Shiloh,
I said,
Shiloh,
I've got two
things to say
to you.
The first
thing is this,
I love you
and I'll
never stop
loving you
and there's
nothing that
you can do
in all the
world that
will stop
me loving
you.
I love
you when
you're angry
and I love
you when
you're not
angry.
I will
never ever
stop loving
you.
And then
we had a
conversation
about our
anger.
And two
minutes later,
we walk
out of the
bathroom
holding hands
and we're
best friends.
The Bible
says that a
gentle word
turns away
wrath.
Friends,
in the
gospel,
Jesus doesn't
come with a
word of
condemnation.
He doesn't
come and say,
you dirty,
rotten scoundrel,
you murderous
heart,
I cannot believe
you're like
that.
Didn't I
tell you to
love people?
What does
Jesus do?
He comes
and he says,
my son,
my daughter,
those of us
that maybe
have ended
a life,
those of us
maybe who
literally are
murderers,
those of us
who've got
such bitter
and resentment
and anger
in our heart,
he comes
and he says,
my son,
my daughter,
I love
you.
Jesus comes
with a
better word.
He comes
with a
gracious word,
a gentle
word.
God the
Father comes
to us and
says,
if you are
in Christ,
it is
paid in
full.
It is
totally
forgiven.
And that
word of
love,
friends,
will melt
our hard
and angry
hearts and
will change
us to become
the kind of
people that
he's called
us to be.
Lastly,
finally,
this.
Jesus gives
us a grace
to forgive
us, but he
gives a grace
to change
us.
In
Titus
chapter 3,
it says
this.
The
apostle Paul's
writing,
and he
says,
previously,
we were
foolish,
disobedient,
deceived,
enslaved by
our passions.
We lived
in anger
and envy.
We were
hated by
others and
we hated
them back.
Sounds like
our world,
right?
But when
the kindness
and the
love of
God our
Savior
appeared,
he saved
us.
Not because
of righteous
things that
we had
done,
but because
of his
mercy.
That's
exactly what
we've been
saying,
right?
His
incredible
mercy.
And then
he goes
on to
say,
God
saved
us
through
the
washing
of
rebirth,
through
being
born
again,
by renewal
of the
Holy Spirit
that he
pours out
on us
generously
through
Jesus
Christ
the Savior.
Friends,
this is
what Paul
is saying.
He's
saying,
God's
grace
saves
us,
but it
doesn't
just wipe
away the
past and
say,
okay,
best of
luck,
you go
and live
your life
now.
God's
grace
saves
us,
but it
also
changes
us.
He
causes
us to
be born
again.
He
gives
us
a new
heart,
a new
operating
system,
a new
motherboard,
a new
DNA
inside of
our heart
that is
aligned
with his
heart.
And then
in addition
to that,
he gives
us the
Holy Spirit.
He
starts to
form us
and change
us,
and we
start to
become
the people
that he
wants us
to become.
No longer
angry,
foolish,
disobedient,
self-justifying,
self-righteous,
gracious.
He now
makes us
tender,
forgiving,
loving those
that revile us.
Friends,
in the
gospel,
God the
Father,
Jesus Christ
the Son,
pours his
love into
our hearts.
He says,
my son,
my daughter,
I love you.
And so
look what Paul
says here.
He says,
once we
lived like
this,
angry,
bitter,
hating,
and being
hated,
but when
the kindness
and the
love of
God came
to us
through
our
Savior,
he saved
us,
not because
of our
righteousness,
but because
of his
mercy and
his grace.
In 1
Corinthians
chapter 6,
the apostle
Paul writes,
he says,
don't you
realize the
unrighteous will
not inherit the
kingdom of
God?
Murderers,
adulterers,
greedy,
swindlers,
and then he
says,
but such
were some
of you,
such was
I,
but we've
been washed,
we've been
cleansed,
we've been
justified,
we've been
set free.
Jesus comes
and changes
us.
Friends,
Jesus died
to not only
destroy the
penalty of
sin,
but to
also destroy
the power
of sin,
to change
us,
to make
us new.
In these
words are
words of
life.
God commands
us not to
murder,
not to
unjust,
take innocent
life.
That may
seem obvious,
but God
calls us to
think carefully
about that,
how that
works in
our 21st
century world.
But more
than that,
Jesus calls
us to
examine our
own hearts,
to bring
our hearts
before him,
to be
gracious and
loving,
gentle,
and compassionate.
Let's pray
together.
Heavenly
Father,
we come
before you
this morning
because we
so need
you.
God,
your word
convicts
us.
Father,
chances are
that though
all of us
are different
by way of
personality,
background,
culture,
ethnicity,
God,
there's something
that unifies
us,
and that is
that apart
from me,
our hearts
are broken
and deeply
sinful,
but in
you,
God,
you're doing
an amazing
miracle of
grace.
You're changing
us.
Jesus,
I pray for
my brothers
and sisters
this morning.
I pray that
you do
come and
change us.
God,
may our
hearts
reflect your
hearts.
God,
may we
honor and
love every
person we
encounter,
even those
that we have
radically
different ideas
and opinions
to,
those that
are on the
opposite side
of the
political
spectrum,
may we
love them
and serve
them,
knowing,
God,
that they
are your
image
bearers,
created
by you,
fashioned
by you.
God,
we pray,
come and
work in
our hearts.
Make us
gracious and
gentle,
we pray.
In your
wonderful and
your powerful
name,
Amen.