Well, this morning we are continuing to consider the sixth commandment. If you need to turn there, it's Exodus 20, verse 13, which is our text and has been our text for the last few weeks. And it simply says this, you shall not murder. You shall not murder. So we have seen that the sixth commandment is based on the fact that human life is sacred. since human beings are made in the image of God. So the commandment, the sixth commandment, you shall not murder, affirms something. It affirms the sanctity of human life. And therefore it is sin to harm, injure, or destroy human life. However, we have seen that not all taking of human life is sin. And so to use the words of the Westminster Larger Catechism, the sixth commandment forbids the taking of the life of ourselves or of others, except in cases of public justice, lawful war, and necessary defense. So capital punishment, just war, and necessary self-defense are not prohibited in scripture. It is not prohibited by this commandment. Those three things are not murder. Those are biblically lawful killings, the lawful taking of human life. However, last week we saw that abortion is murder. Abortion is the unlawful killing of an innocent human being. And no matter how the argument for abortion is framed in order to evade, avoid, or deflect from the real issue, abortion takes the life of an innocent human being made in the image of God. And so it's very clear abortion is murder. And rather than murdering innocent human beings in the womb, babies in the womb should be valued, preserved and protected. Now, as we continue to consider the sixth commandment this morning, I want to address two things. First, I want to give you another category of what is not murder. I've already addressed some of the occasions of which killing is not forbidden by the Sixth Commandment, but I want to throw in, so to speak, something else that is not murder. Think of it like making a meal, or more specifically a dish. And after tasting it, you decide to throw in another ingredient. And so I'll briefly give you another category that's not murder. And then we'll come back to what is murder and consider one more type of physical murder before we go on to other categories prohibited by this particular commandment, specifically soul murder, heart murder, and word murder. So we're gonna talk about another category that is not murder. as prohibited in this commandment. And then we'll go back to another sin that is murder under the category of physical murder. So first, here is another category of what is not murder. The sixth commandment does not forbid the killing of animals. The sixth commandment does not forbid the killing of animals. This commandment is not referring to the killing of animals. It is referring to the killing of human beings. So when it says you shall not murder, it's understood another human being. A person can kill an animal from sinister or evil motives, which would be sin. So that is possible to kill an animal and it be sin, but that's not what the sixth commandment is referring to. Now, when I was a teenager, there was a fellow teenager in my neighborhood and in my school who talked about how he and his older brothers would harm animals and in particular cats. And he used to talk about how on those occasions when he would harm them and would even kill them and he received some sort of sinister pleasure from doing particularly cruel things to these animals. Now, of course, this is sinful. This is wrong. Demonstrating the sinfulness of the human heart. Proverbs 12 verse 10 says, a righteous man has regard for the life of his animal. Deuteronomy 25 verse four says, you shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing. So that's the idea that we're compassionate on the ox. When he's threshing, he's doing his labor, his work, you don't muzzle him so he cannot eat. But no, you're kind to that animal. You allow him to eat. And there were indeed civil laws in Israel regulating unlawful killing of an animal. For example, Leviticus 24 verse 21 says, thus the one who kills an animal shall make it good. That is make restitution. And it says the same thing in Leviticus 24 verse 18. However, these civil laws were pertaining to restitution for the good of the person, the human being who owned the animal. And we're not really about the animal itself. So the sixth commandment, however, does not refer to the killing of animals. So while scripture refers to being kind to an animal, a righteous man doing so, having regard for the life of his animal or animals. The sixth commandment is not referring to that. It is speaking to the killing of human beings who are made in the image of God and whose lives are therefore sacred for that very reason. Now, some people believe it is wrong to kill an animal. And there are those who would say the sixth commandment refers to that. And yet God himself took the life of an animal to cover Adam and Eve's sin of nakedness after they sinned in the garden. In Genesis 3, verse 21, it says, the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. So here was the first death after sin. It was the death of an animal. And God himself did that in order to clothe their nakedness. God commanded that animals be sacrificed in the tabernacle and in the temple in the old covenant in order to teach Israel concerning sin and atonement for sin and to point to the coming of the Lord Jesus and his once for all time sacrifice for sin. And additionally, it is lawful to kill animals for food. It is lawful to eat meat. God said to Noah in Genesis 9 verse three, every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you. I give all to you as I gave the green plant. Now God gave a list in the old covenant of animals they could kill for food and animals they could not. that were considered unclean under the old covenant. But in the new covenant, all foods are considered clean and are permissible to eat. In Mark 7 verse 19, it tells us that Jesus, quote, declared all foods clean. And you remember in Acts chapter 10, that was reiterated to the apostle Peter in a dream, when he saw the sky open up and And he saw this sheep coming down from the four corners of the heavens. And there were all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures and birds of the air. And a voice came to him and said, Get up, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean. And again, a voice came to him a second time, What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy. And it says this happened three times. and immediately the object was taken up into the sky. This was a declaration that all foods are clean. Now there was another purpose. It was an illustration to Peter of the fact that the gospel was spreading, not just to the Jews, but to the Gentiles who were considered unclean because of their idolatry. Peter explained the significance of that in Acts chapter 11. But we see there, Jesus in Mark 7, 19, we see it in Acts chapter 10, that all foods are considered clean. And Jesus himself ate fish in Luke 24, verses 42 and 43. So it should be obvious that we cannot say that it is a sin to kill an animal or to eat an animal for food. So again, that's not even the subject of the Sixth Commandment. And therefore we do not take the Sixth Commandment in any way to equate the life of all creatures made by God, the life of an animal, and the life of a human being are not to be treated equally. It's not done so in the Bible. One is made in the image of God, human beings, animals are not. I remember a time some years ago when I was driving. It was actually in the middle of the day, not even at night, and suddenly a deer came darting across the road. And it was hit by a vehicle and was catapulted in the air and fell over to the side of the road. And the deer was lying there, jerking and in convulsions. It wasn't a pleasant thing to see. So the man who hit the deer drove over to the side of the road, jumped out, and looked at his car. He wanted to see what the damage was to his vehicle. Now I drove on by, so I don't know what happened after that. However, the man probably never checked on the deer. I doubt anyone called 911 for an ambulance. Someone might have called the appropriate agency to remove the roadkill. Now while it wasn't pleasant to see a deer get hit and lying on the side of the road in convulsions, If it had been a person who had gotten hit, the reaction would have been completely different. Everyone would have responded differently. The person surely would not have pulled over and looked at their car, and I wouldn't have just driven by and gone on to the next thing. There's a difference between the life of an animal and the life of a human being created in the image of God. And the sixth commandment makes a distinction between the two. Now, misunderstanding this can have serious consequences. For example, in the Hindu religion, cows are considered sacred. It's my understanding that Hinduism teaches that all animals have a soul. But the cow is particularly sacred. In Hinduism, cows are a symbol of what they call Mother Earth and are revered for their nurturing characteristics. It's even considered good luck to give a cow a snack or food. So cows are protected by laws in countries such as India. And it's my understanding that a person can be jailed for killing and injuring a cow. In India, a politician might campaign based on his view of cows. And yet poverty and hunger pervades India. why cows are protected and cannot be killed for food. So in this case, a wrong understanding of the sanctity of human life and the difference between human beings and cows actually lead to the harm of those who are made in the image of God. And so it's very important to make this distinction, to just make sure we get it right. Cows can be killed and eaten. Now a person may choose to be a vegetarian or a vegan for a number of reasons, but certainly it should not be because it's sin to kill animals and eat them. It's not. Romans 14 verse 14 says, nothing is unclean in itself. In 1 Timothy 4, verses 1 to 5, speaks of those false teachers who prohibit eating. They forbid eating certain foods. They advocate abstaining from certain foods. But there the scripture says, everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude. For it is sanctified by means of the word of God in prayer. So, if you choose not to eat meat for your own personal health reasons, that's okay. As long as you don't make it a moral issue. It's not immoral to kill animals for food. The sixth commandment has nothing to do with killing animals. And the rest of the Bible doesn't prohibit killing animals for food either. And by the way, just on this subject, I'm throwing in some ingredients here and there. It's also permissible to kill animals, not just for food, but for the well-being of human life, for natural resources, for clothing, and so on. Overpopulation of certain animals might not be good for human beings. Overpopulation of certain animals could cause disease to spread. So for example, if rats overpopulate an area, that's bad for public health. Or sometimes hunting of certain animals might be encouraged in order to control the population of animals for the sake of the overall environment and well-being of people. At the same time, we might not allow the killing of certain animals due to their small number or due to the effect on the environment. Or we may just not want them to be extinct. Those are decisions that have to be made and it is a part of the role given by God to human beings to rule over the fish of the sea, the birds and the rest of creation. But we don't make those decisions because we elevate animals as equal in value to human beings who are made in the image of God. And so I address this just in case anyone tries to use the sixth commandment as an argument for not killing animals. The sixth commandment is about human life, the sanctity of human life, and the unlawful killing of human life. Now, let's go back to what the sixth commandment does forbid. Now, I want to remind you again, I think it's important to repeat this as we walk through this. We've been taking this slowly as we've been looking at the Sixth Commandment. I want to remind you of Thomas Watson's pithy explanation of the Sixth Commandment. He said this, two things are understood here by the Sixth Commandment, not injuring another and not harming ourselves. So very simple, not injuring another and not harming ourselves. And falling under this commandment is more than just physical murder, although it includes that. And so I've said it this way, we must not injure or harm someone by our hands, not just referring to our hands or other ways, but just speaking of physically, in our hearts, in our thoughts, or with our words. And we must not harm not only their bodies, but their souls. And we'll talk about all this. So I remind you again of the four categories consisting of ways we can injure and harm others, which would fall under this commandment, you shall not murder. There's physical murder, soul murder, heart murder, word murder. All of these are categorically forbidden by the sixth commandment. Now we've been considering physical murder, and this morning we'll consider another form of physical murder, And then, God willing, next time, we'll consider soul murder. Another form of physical murder is what you might call self-murder, the murder of oneself. The sixth commandment not only prohibits doing harm, injury to others or murdering others, but also doing harm, injury or murdering ourselves. To do so would be what we would call self-murder. Now, self-murder can happen directly or indirectly. That is with intention to harm or kill oneself or without intention to harm or kill oneself. So by directly, I mean intentional harm inflicted upon yourself through a means that you know can and will bring about injury or death. This is what we call suicide. Now, the word suicide is not found in the Bible. However, it is addressed in the sixth commandment because killing oneself is murder, self-murder. This is against nature and this is against God's law. You remember in Ephesians chapter 5, where the Apostle Paul is speaking of marriage and the mystery of marriage and really Christ and his relationship to the church. But in instructing husbands, he says in Ephesians 5, beginning in verse 28, so husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself. And he says that because Genesis 2.24, the two become one flesh. But then he makes this statement, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it. So the Apostle Paul's argument is that no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it. Now just consider that phrase as we're considering self-murder. This is what people naturally do. When people are thinking rightly and clearly, they don't hate their bodies, that is their own flesh, as the Apostle Paul said it. When people are thinking rightly and clearly, under normal circumstances, they don't seek to intentionally harm themselves. They don't typically hate themselves and do harm to themselves. When the weather gets cold enough, that's why you dress warmly. You're nourishing your body. You're taking care of your body. You put on shoes to protect your feet when you're walking on surfaces that could be harmful or painful. You feed yourself. You nourish and cherish your body. It is normal to take care of yourself. It is abnormal not to take care of yourself. It is normal to seek to preserve one's life. It is abnormal to harm oneself or take one's own life. And so just what may be stating the obvious, but it's important to understand in light of the sixth commandment, it is contrary to the will of God not to take care of oneself. And how much more is it wrong to kill oneself, to murder oneself? And so just stating it clearly, suicide is self-murder. and aiding someone in suicide is murder. So direct, intentional harm of oneself or killing oneself is prohibited by the sixth commandment. It is self-murder. Now we might ask the question, why would someone consider harming or killing himself? Now there are a number of answers to that question. Why would someone consider harming or killing himself? But let me focus on one particular answer. Why would someone consider harming or killing himself? Sometimes it is because of excessive sorrow. Excessive sorrow. A person can be so overwhelmed with sorrow from some circumstance of life that he considers taking his own life. And therefore, Thomas Watson, who on this commandment in particular, I really enjoyed reading, he says this, a person can be guilty of self-murder by excessive grief. And then he gives this example, when God takes away a dear relative and anyone is swallowed up with sorrow, he endangers his life. How many weep themselves into their graves? Now Thomas Watson is not saying that we should not sorrow when someone we love dies. Sorrow over the death of a loved one is normal. It should be expected. However, he is speaking of excessive sorrow that does not have the promises of God in the Word of God as that which soothes his soul in such times of grief. You see, the believer has a very real help and aid for our souls during such times of sorrow. This help and aid guards us from the kind of excessive sorrow that can lead to despair, which in turn can lead to self-murder. And the help and aid that we have is what we know to be true about God. Believers know the character of our sovereign and good God. And we know that we can trust His wise providence. And so this is why in reference to the Sixth Commandment, the Westminster Larger Catechism says that the Sixth Commandment requires, listen, patiently bearing the hand of God with quietness of mind and cheerfulness of spirit. Now, if I were to just read to you outside of this context, that phrase, and say, Christians should patiently bear the hand of God with quietness of mind and cheerfulness of spirit. You wouldn't necessarily connect that to you shall not murder. You should just say, of course, I should patiently bear up under the providence of God with a gentle, quiet spirit and a cheerfulness of spirit. So how is that related to you shall not murder? What does that have to do with the sixth commandment? Well, here's what it has to do with the sixth commandment. If we do not bear patiently up under the sovereign hand of God, believing what God has revealed about himself, his good and gracious intentions for his people, then we can go down the path of depression and despair. And that can lead us to despairing of our own lives. Have you known someone who is so overwhelmed by various sorrows and trials in life that he despaired for his own life? Maybe you've been in that place. You say, how do I help someone in that situation? You remind them. One way is to remind them that Excessive sorrow and not trusting the promises of God. If you're not careful now, you're violating the sixth commandment. You're doing injury and harm to yourself. It could lead to despair and depression to the point that you could even be tempted to take your own life. Again, maybe you yourself have been in such a place. When we read the book of Job, we see that Job struggled with this at times in his great trial and afflictions. In Job chapter 3, verses 20 to 22, Job said this, Why is light given to him who suffers, and life to the bitter of soul, who long for death, but there is none? And dig for it, that is, dig for death, more than for hidden treasures, who greatly rejoice and exult when they find their grave. And he is questioning, why is a light given to them? Why do they see the daylight? Why is life given to the bitter soul? And he's speaking here of longing for death. He's so excessively sorrowed that he's even thinking, it might be better if I die. I would rather die. And so in that moment, he's not bearing patiently under the sovereign hand of God. He's forgotten something in that moment about God's character. In 1 Kings chapter 19, when Jezebel persecuted the prophet Elijah, in his fear and lack of trust in the Lord, he despaired for his life. You see, believers can be so despairing that they wish they were dead. And some can even be tempted to take their own lives in the face of severe trials. But this is not the will of God. For the sixth commandment is clear, you shall not murder. A remedy, a help, an aid for such temptation is for the believer to trust in his sovereign and good God, who is always working things together for the believer's good. There is a phrase found in the hymn, God Moves in a Mysterious Way, which says, behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face. What's the basis for that? They would talk of, in those days, of the frowning provenance of God. There are frowning provenances, difficult situations, trials and tribulations. But he says behind a frowning provenance, he hides a smiling face. Biblically, how does a hymn writer know that? He knows it from Romans 8.28. We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose. They're identifying Christians as those who love Him, those who are called according to His purpose. We are lovers of God, we've been made lovers of God, we've been called according to His purpose, and God is working all things together for our good. And so the believer should understand this verse thoroughly and cling to it in times of trial. It will guard his soul from being so overcome with sorrow that he despairs even of life itself. It will guard his soul from the temptation to self-murder. And on the other hand, it will enable the believer not to lose heart, even in times of intense trials and sorrows. Instead, it will give the believer the ability to rejoice in times of sorrow. And this is why the believer can do what is commanded in Philippians 4, verse 4. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. We're commanded in James 1 2-4, Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing, because you know something to be true, that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. In other words, God is at work in our trials to conform us to the image of Christ, God is at work and therefore we can, in the midst of difficult trials, even alongside of sorrow in those trials, rejoice and consider it all joy. Therefore, take heart. Be encouraged. Trust in your sovereign and good God. Be like the psalmist who said this in Psalm 42, verse 11, why are you in despair of my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him, the help of my countenance and my God." You see, this will guard you from anxiety, worry, excessive sorrow that can lead to temptations of self-harm and ultimately even self-murder. And so patiently bearing the hand of God with quietness of mind and cheerfulness of spirit is a remedy to the temptation to anger, or excuse me, anxiety, worry, excessive sorrow, depression, all of which could lead to the temptation to harm oneself, even the temptation to murder oneself. So the sixth commandment, you shall not murder, prohibits self-murder, directly harming oneself, murdering oneself, which we call suicide. So we can harm and murder ourselves directly. But self-murder can also happen indirectly. We may harm, injure, or kill ourselves indirectly. Now what do I mean by indirectly? By indirectly, I mean harming, injuring, or taking your life by not taking some reasonable means to care for yourself or doing things that you know will harm you or could even kill you. So again, direct self-murder is suicide where the intention is to do so. But here is unintentional, it's indirect. And it's done by not taking reasonable means to care for yourself or by doing things you know will harm you or could even kill you. Indirect self-murder can happen through just recklessness. Recklessness. Now, reckless means marked by a lack of proper caution, doing something dangerous without concern about the risks. And some people can live recklessly, do things that are reckless, and many have unintentionally yet foolishly taken their own lives through recklessness. So now, parents, you can add this to your repertoire of instruction and things you tell your children as they're doing something rather careless that could harm them. You say, it's actually, this is a violation of the sixth commandment. You're being so reckless, you could injure and maybe even kill yourself. It's not your intention, but it falls under this category. And how many have killed themselves indirectly? Let's say because of reckless driving. I was sharing with my family last night, my children in particular, how we used to try to play chicken. Does anybody know what chicken is in the vehicles? As a teenager, where you go to the other side of the road You're heading right towards someone and see who chickens out first. So you're playing chicken. And, of course, always chickened out. That was reckless behavior. How many people have been harmed because of reckless behavior? Again, it's not really their intention. It's not suicide, but it violates the commandment. They're not valuing their lives and taking care of themselves. Or consider reckless stunts. Now, here's a name for some of you. You probably haven't heard in a while. Evil Knievel. So just a few. He was an American stuntman, and I remember growing up watching his stunts on television. He began by jumping multiple vehicles on his motorcycle, and then multiple buses, and it got bigger and bigger. And in one near-fatal stunt, he suffered a crushed pelvis and femur, fractures to his hip, his wrist, and both his ankles and a concussion. In 1974, Evel Knievel created a rocket-powered cycle in an attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon in Idaho. And the cycle actually made it across the canyon, but the winds caused it to drip back into the canyon, plummeting down to the bottom. And somehow he survived with just minor injuries. The Sixth Commandment speaks to recklessness. which unintentionally leads to harm, injury, or even death. Now, I don't believe there are any daredevils or stuntmen here this morning, but let me get a little closer to home. We can indirectly harm, injure, or kill ourselves through other more common means. And again, we may not think about this, but this is where the Westminster Larger Confession is helpful. It says the sixth commandment forbids the immoderate use of food, drink, labor, just to name a few. The immoderate use or excessive use or intemperate use without self-control of food, drink, and labor. Let's just consider those, food. Consider the excessive and immoderate use of food. This is what the Bible calls gluttony. So when you think of gluttony, where does that fit under the summation of the moral law of God in the Ten Commandments? It fits under murder. And here it's self-murder, indirect self-murder. A lack of self-control in regard to food can slowly lead to one's death. Now among other reasons for not eating excessively, one reason is that we may indirectly unintentionally kill ourselves. So have you ever made the connection between gluttony and the sixth commandment? Again, Thomas Watson is helpful. He says this, a person can be guilty of self-murder by a lack of self-control or excess in diet. Gluttony shortens life. Many dig their grave with their teeth. Yeah, what a phrase. It's convicting, isn't it? You see, the Sixth Commandment requires, in the words of the Westminster Larger Catechism, the sober use of food. That is, the moderate, self-controlled use of food. Now, let me just immediately give some words of caution. Someone might say, well, at the lunch today for the disciples, if you eat that dessert, you're killing yourself. Or someone might look at a person who is overweight and think and assume, well, they're gluttonous. That might not be the case. In fact, I have known some very thin, skinny people who are more gluttonous than an overweight person. There are all kinds of issues that affect weight. Hereditary, various health issues, hormones, thyroid disease, an injury that limits activity, age, which I'm experiencing, And so we have to exercise caution on the one hand. And we don't want the standard of health and what looks healthy and assumes someone's healthy because they look like people from Hollywood and in the movies. And we don't want the world standard of that. But we want to be good stewards of our bodies. good stewards of our bodies. On the other extreme, someone can deprive themselves of food, not be gluttonous, but deprive themselves of food and do great harm to themselves and even kill themselves, starve themselves. Whole category of things that we call anorexia and other things. So it's important to understand, oh, this commandment is requiring us to a sober use of food. but it also would forbid us from it in moderate use of drink. Again, Thomas Watson wrote, more people perish by alcohol than by the sword. The cup kills more than the cannon. Excessive drinking causes untimely death. So some kill themselves by the excessive use of alcohol, known in the Bible as the sin of drunkenness. Now drunkenness is a sin because it is a lack of self-control. It's also a sin because it takes away a sound mind which is necessary in following Christ. Drunkenness is a sin because it takes away the sound judgment we need to carefully follow Christ and flee temptation and sin. But it's also sin because we may indirectly, unintentionally murder ourselves. And so the Westminster Catechism says this is a part of the Sixth Commandment. It forbids us the immoderate use of drink. But not only that, think of another one, labor. It says the immoderate use of labor, excessive labor, can harm you and even cause an untimely death. Working too much. You see, God has called us to many things. Many vocations. We don't use this term in this way. We only think of a vocation as your job. This is what you do. This is my work. This is my vocation. But back in the day of the Puritans, let's say, they spoke of vocations of your callings. And work was just one of them. But you also had a vocation if you were a father, as a father or husband. or as a member of society in various ways. You had various callings, vocations in life. And God has called us to many things, not just our jobs, not just our work, not just our labor. Now, labor is good and holy. We'll see that in the commandment, you shall not steal. Actually affirms the sanctity of labor. We should labor to fulfill our needs. and meet our needs, not still. God commands labor, and he did so in the garden before the fall. But he commands us to balance that labor with other God-given responsibilities and with the blessing of rest from labor. Don't be lazy. However, don't harm yourself. or indirectly be killing yourself by means of excessive labor. If you do the research, you can find it. It's my understanding, this is off the cuff, OK? It's not in my notes, so you'll have to do the research. But it's my understanding that there was a time, and women are in the workforce, in the workplace, more than they used to be. But there was a time that they would say the reason why at least one aspect or why men lived shorter lives was because of labor and working. I don't know how much of that is true but labor, an excessive labor can put undue stress upon the body to such a degree that it can harm you. So there needs to be a moderate use of labor, a sober use of labor, not excessive labor. You see, when we understand how we may indirectly and unintentionally harm or kill ourselves and see it as a violation of the sixth commandment, you shall not murder, then it puts many harmful actions in perspective. The use of harmful drugs or what are commonly called recreational drugs in our society. It puts it in perspective. What's wrong with that? You say, well, this drug's not mentioned in the Bible. No, but you shall not murder. And this drug will harm you, injure you, and even kill you. It helps us understand what's wrong with smoking. I remember as a brand new believer going to a particular church that then my parents started going to. My mother smoked, and so the pastor came over, and the subject of smoking came up. Again, I'm just a 17-year-old teenager. I'm sitting there listening, and the pastor said this. He said, well, smoking won't send you to hell. He said, but it'll make you smell like you've been there. Yeah, that's what he said. Would have been much more helpful to me, I wasn't a smoker, but would have been much more helpful to me and instructive and to my mother if he had said this, there's indirect self murder under the sixth commandment. and you're harming yourself, you know smoking causes lung cancer. And if you continue to do so, this is, you're harming and injuring yourself. And put it in context of the moral law of God so it would weigh upon the conscience of my mother. Now eventually she did stop smoking after 40 years of smoking, but the damage was done. COPD and other things affected her health. But see, we understand it. Now, you put it in the perspective of moral law of God. See how exceedingly broad the law of God is. See how it helps us understand these things. So, smoking harms your body. It's a leading cause of lung cancer, if not the leading cause of lung cancer. Someone has put smoking in perspective in this way. Think about smoking, by the way. Here's what you do. You roll up a bunch of leaves. You stick it in your mouth. You catch it on fire. You breathe in the smoke and the chemicals. You blow it out, and then you repeat. I thought that was an interesting way to put it. That kind of says, oh, OK. Why would I want to do that? Like, who's the first person that rolled up a bunch of leaves? Got a torch and said, hey, let's smoke this and breathe it in. Okay, just an aside. That wasn't off the cuff, that's in my notes, okay? But you see, it puts it in perspective. It helps us understand all these things. The sixth commandment, you shall not murder, self-murder, direct self-murder. We say, yes, suicide is sin, but indirect self-murder. But then, the Westminster larger catechism. said the sixth commandment forbids neglecting or withdrawing the lawful and necessary means of the preservation of life, and that it requires the sober use of food, drink, but also medicine. Once again, Thomas Watson is helpful. He says, a person can be guilty of his own death in some sense by neglecting the use of means for preserving life. If someone is sick and uses no remedy, and if he has received a wound and will not apply a cure, he hastens his own death. So because we value human life and we desire to preserve human life, then there is the sober use of medicine. It is good and holy to avail ourselves to medicine, surgery, and other means to prevent disease and death. So all this is in the Sixth Commandment. But let me close by briefly mentioning another way we harm ourselves physically, but ultimately spiritually, which will be our subject next time, namely soul murder. We should see sin, especially unrepentant sin, as harmful and even deadly, killing the body and the soul. Many have done great harm to themselves for the love of sin. Sin will kill you. And many have brought about their own death by clinging to their sins. Because of the fruit of Judas's sin, he killed himself. When King David wrote about his unrepentant sin of adultery in Psalm 32, he said this, when I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away. through my groaning all day long, for day and night your hand was heavy upon me. My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer." And he speaks there of the effects of sin even on the body. How many have hastened their death through their pursuit of sin? So as we consider physical murder, And then transition next time to soul murder, we should consider the dangers of sin. I think of Proverbs 1.10-19, which addresses a father saying not to have ungodly company, and he speaks of those who lie in wait for blood, they're murderers themselves, but then he says they lie in wait for their own blood. That ultimately their sin will find them out, that their sin will ultimately come around to them. I think of what God said to Cain, that sin is crouching at the door and it's desires for you. It's a cruel master which will kill you. I think of James, who wrote these words. Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. And when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And when sin is accomplished, it brings forth what? Death. Death. Death in so many ways. Sometimes physical death. Sometimes the death of relationships. So many things. Sin brings forth death. So, under this commandment, we need to consider how sin will destroy our bodies and our souls. And we need to be quick to repent of it. Now, we'll see, and you might say, I've never heard of soul murder. What is soul murder? How does that happen? And what are the ways in which that's committed? We'll consider that next time. And you'll see that, yeah, in fact, there is a type of soul murder. And we can be guilty of it. For ourselves or for others. But as we close and transition from physical murder to soul murder, sin will harm you in every way, shape, and form. Its desire is for you. And its desire is to kill you. Therefore, you must kill it. The wages of sin is death. Death in what way? In every way. Sin brought forth physical death. Eternal death? The death of the soul? And so now as a believer, understanding how heinous sin is, how destructive it is, we should desire to put it aside, to repent of it, to kill it, to mortify sin, lest it kill us. There's some of you here today, and again, we're transitioning. We'll talk about this more next time. that you are still enslaved to sin, and it's killing you. It's killing your body. Your pursuit of sin is taking its toll upon you physically, mentally, but I want you to consider the spiritual consequences of your sin, that the wages of sin is death, that ultimately eternal death, eternal condemnation. That the wages that sin pays, what you earn by your sin is eternal condemnation in hell. The wages of sin is death. But listen, the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. If you will repent of your sin and look to Christ as your only hope of salvation, if you will turn to Him and look to Him in faith, not trusting in your ability or your supposed goodness, your ability to be good enough to be reconciled to God, but will trust in Christ and what He has done in the place of sinners, and by faith lay hold of Christ, then that consequence of death will be removed and you can have eternal life. I would plead with you for the sake of your body and your soul to turn to Christ and be saved from the wrath to come. Let's bow our heads together in prayer. Our Father in heaven, we thank you again for your word. We thank you that you have given us your moral law Yes, it's written on the heart generally, but thank you for the specificity of the moral law, first as summarized in the Ten Commandments and then as expounded upon in the whole of the Word of God. Thank you for your moral law. We need that clarity. And for us as believers, I pray that, Father, we would be those who desire to obey your law as justified believers, that we would love your law, delight in your law. I pray that it would help us as we consider our lives, our hearts, our minds, our affections, as we consider how we are to live, that it would continue to direct the whole of our lives And Lord, thank you for this reminder of how we can do harm to ourselves or even be tempted to kill ourselves directly through suicide if we do not handle the trials and sorrows of life in light of who you are. And Father, thank you for the reminder of how even food and drink and labor, all these things are to be for your glory and that we are not to have the excessive use or intemperate use of any of these things. So help us as we consider these things, Lord, not to just look at others and consider what they ought to do, but Lord, our own hearts to please you in all respects, for all things have been created for your glory. May we glorify you. And Father, I pray for those today who, by virtue of their sin, even believers who maybe are in unrepentant sin, and it's killing them. God, I pray there would be repentance. And for unbelievers, I pray today, may they turn to Christ and be saved. and know the joy of their sins forgiven. We pray all these things for your glory and for your namesake through Christ. Amen.