We turn to God's Word this morning to 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3, we'll read the entire chapter and then afterwards reading Lords Day 40 of the Heidelberg Catechism. 1 John chapter 3, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God? Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. In this, the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. For this is the message that ye have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one and slew his brother, and wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us. and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us by the spirit which he hath given us. Thus far we read God's holy and inspired word. It's on the basis of this text and others like it. And we have the instruction in the Heidelberg Catechism in Lord's Day 40. Lord's Day 40 of the Heidelberg Catechism found on page 22 in the back of the Psalter. Lord's Day 40, we're in that section of the catechism, how we express our thankfulness to God for deliverance. And one of those ways is through the law of God. And now the catechism expounding the Ten Commandments. We are now at the Sixth Commandment. Lord's Day 40. What doth God require in the Sixth Commandment? The Sixth Commandment, thou shalt not kill. That neither in thoughts, nor words, nor gestures, much less in deeds, I dishonor, hate, wound, or kill my neighbor by myself or by another, but that I lay aside all desire of revenge. Also, that I hurt not myself, nor willfully expose myself to any danger. Wherefore also the magistrate is armed with the sword to prevent murder. But this commandment seems only to speak of murder. In forbidding murder, God teaches us that he abhors the causes thereof, such as envy, hatred, anger, and desire of revenge, and that he accounts all these as murder. But is it enough that we do not kill any man in the manner mentioned above? No, for when God forbids envy, hatred, and anger, he commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves, to show patience, peace, meekness, mercy, and all kindness towards him. and prevent his hurt as much as in us lies and that we do good even to our enemies. Beloved congregation in our Lord Jesus Christ, has it ever been the case that you, when I say you, I also mean me, has it ever been the case that you've ever been angry with someone? Has it ever been the case that you have been very impatient with someone else? That you've been unkind? Has it ever been the case that you, or me, that you have ever been mean or hurtful to the neighbor in any way, shape, or form? And if you've answered yes to one of those questions, And I trust that we have answered yes to all of those questions, but even just to one of those questions. If you've answered yes, then the testimony of God's Word is that you have committed murder and that you have a murderer right inside of you called that old man of sin. Now, when we get to the sixth commandment of God's law, the temptation for us is to take this commandment and to apply this commandment to the culture and the society in which we live. Thou shalt not kill. And we say, absolutely, of course you may not kill. And look out there in the world at all of those murderers, at all of those Things we read of in the news and hear of, of shootings and all kinds of violence taking place all over the world. Of course the sixth commandment applies, thou shalt not kill. And yes, that's true. But then let's remember that though the 10 Commandments apply to the world, yet they particularly apply to God's people. God is the one who gave the Israelites the 10 Commandments at Mount Sinai. And therefore we stand before the question, what about us? What about us in relation to the sixth commandment? Thou shalt not kill. And this is what the Bible has to say. We didn't read this passage but Matthew chapter 5 Verses 21 and following, familiar words that Jesus says about killing, about murder, and about when that takes place. Ye have heard that it was said of 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. So that being angry, one puts himself in the judgment of God and violating the sixth commandment. And then the passage that we read from 1 John 3 in verse 15, whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. And we would say if God's word did not put it that plainly and that clearly, we would not believe it. But we do believe it because God's word says it. 1 John 3, 15, whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. And ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. So that it may be the case that you or I have not taken another person's life by shooting them, by stabbing them, but have we taken another person's life by, using the words now of the catechism, by dishonoring them? By envying them? By hating them? And well, the sixth commandment gets right to the meaning of the second table of the law. The second table of the law, commandments five through 10 have to deal with our relationship with the neighbor. And the second table of the law says, and love your neighbor as yourself. And that's the positive requirement of the sixth commandment. Love, to love yourself, to love your neighbor, to love your family members, to love your church family, even those whom you say are very difficult for me to love, but then know first the love of God that He has for you. Undeserving sinners and murderers, and rebels that we are by nature, the love that God had for us in sending Jesus Christ into this world to endure the wrath of God for our sins. And now with that love of God shed abroad in our hearts, let us not only love God, but let us love the neighbor as well so that we do not kill, but that we love. And so we come to the Sixth Commandment this morning, reading 1 John 3, the explanation of that in the Lord's Day 40, we take as our theme, thou shalt not kill. Let's note first, the murder that is forbidden. Secondly, the love that is commanded. And finally, the life that is promised. Thou shalt not kill. This is a commandment that applies to our relationship with other people. This is not a commandment that applies to our relationship to animals. The sixth commandment does not forbid the taking of the life of an animal. And you run across people nowadays who say that we ought not kill animals. And all right, that's fine in and of itself. But sometimes those people will even appeal to the sixth commandment and say, thou shalt not kill. And they take that to mean thou shalt not kill anything, even animals. Now, of course, we don't go about abusing and killing the creatures of God's good creation just for the fun of it, just for the sport of it. We don't do that. That's wrong. And yet we do recognize that God set man as king over all of creation so that man may use God's good creation in service to God, even if that means he must kill an animal and use that animal for food. or for clothing or for any other purposes. So the sixth commandment doesn't apply to our relationship to animals. It replies to our relationship to the neighbor, to another person. Thou shalt not kill thy neighbor. Thou shalt not abuse him or her in any way, shape or form. And the reason why we may not take the life of a neighbor is that the life of the neighbor doesn't belong to me. The life of the neighbor belongs to God. And that's one of the principles behind the sixth commandment, that God is sovereign. God is the one who is Lord over all things and as the sovereign, as the creator, as Lord, God owns all things and God has the authority and the right to do whatever is pleasing to Him. If it pleases God to bring a life into this world, then God may do that and He brings a life into this world if it pleases God to take a life out of this world. God is sovereign and He may do that. And that means that man is not sovereign. You and I are creatures Though the highest of creatures, yes, but a creature nonetheless, but man does not have all authority and therefore man does not have the right at his pleasure to take life or even to give life. So that even when a husband and a wife come together, and bring forth children, then that's not according to the will of the husband and the wife to bring forth children, that was according to the will and according to the power of God to bring forth that life. But all authority belongs to God and God alone. He is the giver and He is the taker of life alone. Now there are instances in which God gives authority to man to take another person's life in death. We're familiar with that other chapter of the Bible, Romans chapter 13. God gives the government sword power so that the government has the right from God to take another person's life. For instance, if there is a hardened criminal and a hardened murderer who goes out and kills other people, the government has the right from God to put that man to death. And that would not be a violation of the sixth commandment. In fact, Romans 13 mandates that the government use the power of the sword and to put those hardened criminals and murderers and evildoers to death. We recognize, of course, that the government needs wisdom in how they exercise the power of the sword, because there are all different types of of things that happen, of killings that take place, of transgressions that happen, whether there are intentional killings or accidental killings or things that happen in ignorance. And so the government needs to take all of those different circumstances into account and needs wisdom in order to how to deal with all of those issues. But the government has the sword to put the evildoers to death. The government is authorized to take life during wartime. And this is an aspect of bearing the sword, and the soldiers may fight and kill the enemy, and that would not be a violation of the sixth commandment. And so in all these cases, the government is authorized by God himself. The government does not have that authority naturally, but it's an authority that comes from God, remembering that God is sovereign, But God gives that authority to the government to execute the power of the sword. But now what about the Sixth Commandment as it applies to us? And here we remember what the Sixth Commandment addresses. It addresses all unauthorized taking of another person's life. And the Heidelberg Catechism goes on to list all of the different forms of killing. Answer 105 says that neither in thoughts, nor words, nor gestures, much less in deeds. And there's a lot to unpack there. Let's do that quickly, but let's start where it says by our deeds and by our action. Because by our deeds and actions, yes, it is possible to kill the neighbor. This is speaking of the outward act of of actually taking another person's life with a gun, with a knife, or what have you. That's forbidden. And that's easy enough for us to understand. Implication of that means that we also don't take any joy or pleasure in seeing this violence as it's portrayed in TV shows, in movies, in those video games. God hates these violations of the sixth commandment and we ought to hate it too. And never to let these occasions of violence and murder become something by which we are entertained with. And then further, we can kill the neighbor, the catechism uses that word with our gestures, so that maybe the neighbor says something that is annoying to us. And we swing our head, and we roll our eyes, and we kill the neighbor. Or we shoot daggers at the neighbor with the looks that we give them. And we kill the neighbor. The catechism goes on and says we kill the neighbor with our words. Words can be very sharp. Words can be very deadly. So that, were you annoyed with someone this past week? Were you annoyed with someone? Did they say something mean? Did they say something hurtful towards you? Words that express, well, and then how did you respond? With words that express displeasure with them? So that they did something and they said something and now I'm going to let them know and I'm going to let them know with my words by using Hard, hurtful, bitter, sarcastic words towards the neighbor. Well, that's killing the neighbor with my words. And now maybe we say, well, I'm not tempted to kill the neighbor with my deeds. I'm not tempted to kill the neighbor with my gestures. I keep a pretty good handle on that. But then when we get to the words that we use, this is an area in which we all fall short. Because words can be so sneaky, words can be so cunning and so sharp that when somebody uses words in that kind of a way, it is as if we have been cut with a sharp sword. And so people of God, let's be careful with the words that we use. and that we not violate the six commandments. But there's more, even in my thoughts, even in my thoughts, so that if ever I lash out against anybody in my mind and in my thoughts, I violated the sixth commandment. That's when I despise somebody. in my heart, in my mind, and we wish that they were never in our lives, and maybe even we rehearse in our mind over and over again all the things that we do to them, all the things that I wish somebody else would do to them, if only they could get away with it. The very thought of hatred and anger is the killing of the neighbor. And the catechism isn't finished in laying out before us all the different forms of murder that neither in thoughts, words, gestures, much less in deeds, I dishonor, hate, and then it uses this word wound. Wound or kill my neighbor. So that we never say, oh, I want you dead and gone. Maybe we don't say it that way, but we do take a little pleasure in seeing them suffer. We do want to see them hurt a little bit, a little bit emotionally and spiritually and psychologically and maybe even physically. And we use our words and our gestures to beat them down a little bit, to hurt them and to wound them in their minds and souls. When we hurt and wound the neighbor in that way, then we have violated the sixth commandment. And there's still more, the catechism says also that I hurt not myself, nor willfully expose myself to any danger. And that means that we as Christians, that we are not reckless and careless in the things that we do. To partake in what's called extreme sports, Sports that are characterized by this extremely high speeds, extremely high risk activities, which often involve the very heightened risk of death. Well, we're not reckless. We're not careless with our bodies. We're always thinking about the danger that might come about. Danger that might happen to me, the danger that it would have upon family and friends if something would happen to me. Now having said that, it doesn't mean that we have to take every single precaution before we ever get behind the wheel of a vehicle or besides even riding a bicycle down the road. But we are careful. We are thoughtful. And we don't ever go out in reckless abandon exposing ourselves to all sorts of danger. But we think of how my actions could affect me and my family and the neighbors around me. There are two other special applications of the Sixth Commandment that I want to address this morning. In the first place, thou shalt not kill means this. It means husbands, Love your wives. Love your wives and do not abuse your wives and do not abuse your children. The sad reality is that even in the church, even in godly covenant homes, there can be murderous behavior, not exclusively, but especially on the part of husbands and fathers. And we've seen that even in our own denomination, instances of sexual abuse and mainly, though not exclusively, but mainly by the men, by fathers, husbands in the home. And I wonder for all the cases of sexual abuse that have and have not yet come to light, how many more would be the cases of domestic abuse And here you say, well, what's domestic abuse? Domestic abuse is the abuse that takes place within the home. Domestic abuse is a pattern of behavior on the part of the husband and the father, him, though not exclusively, But usually, it's a pattern of behavior on the husband or the father in the home, a pattern of behavior so that he can maintain power and control in the home. Domestic abuse manifests itself in so many different ways. And I list only a few. The glare. that the father, that the husband would give to his wife when she does something that he does not approve, keeping close tabs on the wife and where she goes and who she's around, the children also, and doing so in a very disapproving way, the husband's constant criticism and blame shifting and making the wife feel obligated to do things for him, making her feel guilty, making her feel very fearful in his presence, making her feel very, very small and worthless and not good at anything. And last but not least, yes, the threat of physical violence, first a kind of reckless behavior around wife and around the children, but then often that the wife and the children would become the actual objects of that reckless behavior. And that's just a small glimpse. That's a small glimpse of that sin called domestic abuse. And do you know what God's word says about that type of a sin? God's word says, thou shalt not kill. But you know what, that can happen in Christian homes The man is the head of his wife. And yes, that's true. And yes, the man knows it. But now he uses that as an excuse. Not so much even that he uses it as an excuse, he uses that as the reason to be a tyrant and a killer in the home and to exercise complete power and control and dominion in the home. And so husbands, now I speak particularly to you husbands, love your wives. and live with them peaceably and lovably. Domestic abuse, that's murder. That's a violation of the sixth commandment. So that's the first special application I wanna make out of the sixth commandment. The other is this, for those in the church of Jesus Christ who go through difficult times, for those in the Church of Jesus Christ who suffer great depression. And the temptation is to cope with that depression by taking my own life. Suicide is forbidden. And that can be a temptation even for the child of God. And then for that matter, any injury that I would inflict upon myself as a means of relieving the pressure in life, that too is forbidden. But if ever you or I are of the mind that I just don't want to go on living, then this is God's word to you, the sixth commandment, that thou shalt not kill. and that suicide is not an option for the child of God, but rather submit to the wisdom of God, because God put you on this earth, and maybe you don't feel that you know what your purpose in life is at this moment, but God does. He's sovereign. He's wise. He didn't make a mistake in bringing you into this world, but seek the grace of God. And what does the canons of Dort say to do? First head, Article 16, addresses those who might feel very low spiritually at times. And our confessions say, to persevere in the means of grace and to humbly wait for a richer season of grace. But seek the grace of God because it's the grace of God that gives relief, the grace of God which is abundantly sufficient to see you through and to bear you up. Trust in God. Don't trust in your own arm to grant you relief, but trust in the grace of God and rely on Him to care for you, to preserve you, and to lead you. and that you might go on to love yourself and to love the brethren. Thou shalt not kill. And now the catechism goes one step further in explaining the sixth commandment, everything that can cause, the causes of murder. So you even go a step behind the actual thinking and the doing. Even the causes of murder are outlined for us and forbidden. Question 106, this commandment seems only to speak of murder. But then it says, in forbidding murder, God teaches us that he abhors the causes thereof, such as envy, hatred, and anger, and desire of revenge, and that he accounts all these as murder. Even envy and jealousy when we see what the neighbor has. And usually we like to look at the neighbor who has more, the neighbor who has a bigger home, nicer vehicles, more land than me, that neighbor who has a very, very comfortable lifestyle. And then I look at myself and, oh, I don't measure up, but I really want to. We see these things and we want them for ourselves and we become very jealous. If that envy isn't kept in check and repented of and put away, that envy slowly turns us to despise the neighbor. And it can happen that in the course of time when the neighbor goes through some difficulty and it happens, as all God's people do, then we would secretly rejoice as if they had it coming. because of all the things that they have that I don't have, but that I really want. Envy, that is a violation of the sixth commandment. Hatred, 1 John 3, 15. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer, despising the neighbor in my heart, looking for his downfall. working for the neighbor's destruction, rejoicing when the neighbor gets hurt. God counts that as murder, and therefore, that's why, children, we never say, I hate you. We don't use that language. We never say, I hate you, mom and dad. I hate you, brother and sister. We don't use that language. We don't say that to our teachers. The Bible says, he that hateth his brother is a murderer. The desire of revenge is mentioned when somebody hurts me, and even if it's right for them to be punished, but we don't go out and seek vengeance for ourselves. Vengeance belongs to God. And so all of these are violations of the sixth commandment, thou shalt not kill. But now in commanding us not to kill, God also gives us the positive aspect of the commandment to love, to love. It's not enough if we simply refrain from killing. The positive aspect is that we love. The catechism asks, is it enough that we don't kill any man and the man are mentioned above? And the answer, no, for when God forbids envy, hatred, and anger, he commands us to love our neighbor. And that's what we also read from 1 John 3. in verse 11. For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning that we should love one another. And then 1 John 3 goes on to give the opposite example of love and be not like Cain. Cain wasn't a loving brother. He was a very hateful brother and in his hate he killed his own brother. But to love means that we do anything and everything for the good of the neighbor. It's a love that treats the neighbor the same way that we would be treated ourselves. A love that will help the neighbor whenever and in whatever way that we can, regardless of the cost. A love that purposes to do all that we can for the object of one's love, the neighbor and his or her welfare. Well, how do we show that kind of love to the neighbor? It's easy to say it, love your neighbor. Let's put some meat on that. The catechism does that for us. Answer 107, when God forbids envy, hatred and anger, he commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves, how? to show patience, peace, meekness, mercy, and all kindness to him. Love is to show patience to the neighbor. And last Lord's Day, when we considered the fifth commandment honoring father and mother, we learned that we must bear patiently with the weaknesses and the infirmities of mom and dad and of the government and of others who are in authority over us. And now the sixth commandment tells us that in the way of showing patience, we are loving the neighbor. Well, what does that patience look like? Well, it's when the brother or sister in the church does something that causes me grief and it gives me pain, and my natural reaction is to lash out, my natural reaction is to hold a grudge, and to hold that against that neighbor for a very long time, but that's not patience. Patience realizes that my neighbor is a sinner too. Patience understands that it might very well be the case that My neighbor who has hurt me is perhaps on his or her knees right now asking forgiveness at the cross of Jesus Christ for that sin. Patience is the ability to endure those things in the neighbor that rub you the wrong way. Patience means that you're able to endure the neighbor and it doesn't make you want to get rid of them. But love shows itself in patience. Love shows itself in being peaceful. Peace, peace, that's the absence of war. Not seeking conflict with the neighbor, not seeking to stir things up, but to live in peace and to live in harmony. Love shows itself in meekness and mercy and kindness so that we draw near to the neighbor and we do everything in our power to help the neighbor, to aid them, to cheer them, and to encourage them. The Heidelberg Catechism even says, when we are to love the neighbor and that, well, it will show itself this way in whom that neighbor might be and that we do good even to our enemies. It's easy to do good towards those who love us, but to do good to those who might not return that love to me, To do good to those and to love those who might not reciprocate that same behavior back to me, yes, yes. To love our neighbor as ourselves. And that's the parable of the good Samaritan. A Samaritan having pity upon that one with whom outwardly he was an enemy and had compassion on him and helped him and went to great lengths to take care of him. Love is doing good to those about whom we might otherwise say, I really don't like him. I really don't like her. And that addresses us as a congregation, people of God, is there anybody in the congregation right now who you might say, or anybody else in your life that you say, but I just really don't like them. I really don't like that person at all and I'm going to show it in my behavior to that person. They're going to know that I don't like them." That's not love. Love is doing good. Love is caring for them and treating them kindly. And to encourage us in a life of love, the Lord comes to us. and promises eternal life to all those who refrain from murder and love their neighbor with hearts sincere. That eternal life that's promised, that's what we have in 1 John 3. In verse 15, whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Yes, if a man does not have eternal life abiding in him, all he can do is look forward to condemnation. And the reason is because God hates that sin of murder, and God punishes that sin. And 1 John 3 brings up the example of that notorious murderer who murdered his own brother, wicked Cain, And that's an example that's set forth for us. And here we don't know all the circumstances about how exactly it happened. The Bible tells us this in Genesis chapter 4, that God had respect unto Abel's sacrifice, but God did not have respect unto Cain's sacrifice. And knowing that, the next thing we read is that Cain and Abel were in the field, and that Cain, while they are out there in the field, killed his own brother. And Genesis 4 doesn't tell us the motivation that Cain had for killing his brother, but 1 John 3, 1 John 3 does give us the motivation of Cain. 1 John 3, verse 12, not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother, and wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous. Why did Cain kill his brother? Out of envy. Out of jealousy. Cain said, God accepts Abel's sacrifice. I want God to accept mine as well. And because God doesn't accept mine and he accepts Abel's, and because I've worked so hard in tilling the ground and bringing forth good fruit, well, that envy and that jealousy turned into outright hatred so that Cain not only hated his brother. That's where it started with that hatred, that envy, that jealousy. But then outwardly he took his hands or he took some instrument, what have you, and he killed his own brother. And God saw that sin and God hated that sin. And so much did God hate that sin that he banished Cain out of the Garden of Eden. And Cain became a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth. But now this punishment of God in banishing Cain is a picture of what God does to all those who kill. He banishes them to death. He banishes them to the condemnation of hell. There's no life for the murderer, but only death and punishment. But there's a positive truth that we can also draw from that verse, 1 John 3, verse 15. You know that no murderer hath eternal life in him. The implication being that those who do not murder, that they do have eternal life abiding in them. But then you say, but how do I know that eternal life is for me? because I'm one of those who hate my neighbor. I have felt those feelings of envy and hatred and jealousy. I've had that desire for revenge. I may not have killed somebody like Cain went out and killed somebody, but I know that I have killed people with my thoughts and with my words. Well, beloved, the gospel to you and to me this morning is the cross of Jesus Christ, the cross of Jesus Christ for murderers such as we are by nature. When the Bible says, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him, our response is, but what about me? I've committed the sin. Is there no hope for me? And the Holy Spirit inspired John really to answer that very question. in the very next verse, in verse 16. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us. God loved us. and in his love gave Jesus Christ so that Jesus Christ would lay down his life for us. And in laying down his life for us, Jesus Christ has taken upon himself all of our sins, even all of those nasty sins that we have committed in violation of the sixth commandment. And Jesus satisfied God's justice against them. so that God does not view us as murderers, does not view us as killers, but views us as righteous and as innocent through the work of Jesus Christ. And for the sake of his only begotten son, and even as Jesus arose from the dead and is become life, so also now Jesus gives that life to you and to me. the life of the spirit, the life of regeneration so that now our eyes are opened as regenerated Christians and we are able to see that difference between right and wrong and see that when we commit those sins of hatred and murder that we acknowledge them, that we confess them, that we repent of them and turn from them and that we seek the Lord Jesus Christ both now and evermore. No murderer hath eternal life abiding in him, but there is eternal life for us who are the objects of God's love and by God's grace who are sorry for all our sins. And so God grant us a rich measure of His Spirit that we may experience the love of God that we may know that because of Jesus Christ alone We have eternal life abiding within us and out of thankfulness then let us live in obedience to the sixth commandment. Thou shalt not kill, but love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father which art in heaven, we thank thee for thy word. Bless it to our hearts and nourish us by thy word so that we may be edified, so that we may be built up in the faith, so that we may be those who love thy good commandments, who love thee and who love the neighbor and that we do not kill. that we would love the neighbors ourselves. Forgive all our sins against the sixth commandment. So many are they, and we are sorry for them. We thank Thee for Jesus, who forgives these sins, and who loves us, and in whose name we pray, amen. We sing Psalter number 27. Psalter number 27, we sing in stanza two, I love thy saints who fear thy name and walk as in thy sight. They are the excellent of earth, in them is my delight. Let's sing the five stanzas, all the stanzas, Psalter number 27. before in thee alone my trust has stood. My soul has sang a high triumph, my chief and only good. My Lord, I speak to thee thine name, ♪ In them is my delight ♪ ♪ Their sorrows shall be all declined ♪ ♪ To worship but one King ♪ ♪ I share not in their offerings ♪ ♪ Fall in unto me in places dark and fair ♪ ♪ And good reverently sing my praise to thee ♪ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be and abide with you all. Amen.