Please take your Bibles and turn with me to Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20. And this morning we will begin to look at the sixth commandment. I think it's a good time for us to go ahead and read all of the commandments once again as we begin to look at the sixth commandment. So I'll be reading Exodus chapter 20 beginning in verse 1 through verse 17. Hear the word of God. Then God spoke all these words saying, I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Here's the first commandment. Verse three, you shall have no other gods before me. In other words, you remember, worship God alone. The one and only God is to be your one and only God. Then the second commandment, beginning in verse four, you shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them. In other words, worship God rightly as he has commanded. And he points out here that idolatry is not worthy of him. And there are consequences where there's a reason given first for this commandment. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. And here are the consequences of idolatry. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children. On the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. But here's the blessing attached to this commandment. But showing loving kindness to thousands, to those who love me. and keep my commandments." Then we find the third commandment in verse 7. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes his name in vain. Worship God reverently. Everything pertaining to God, related to God, is to be treated as holy. And then the fourth commandment, verses 8 through 11. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. We said it this way, worship God regularly. Verse nine, six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall not do any work. you or your son, or your daughter, your male or your female servant, or your cattle, or your sojourner who stays with you. Here's the reason given, verse 11. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. So then we go to what we commonly call the second table of the law. Beginning in verse 12, the fifth commandment that we have been looking at recently. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. Verse 13, the sixth commandment, you shall not murder. Verse 14, the seventh, you shall not commit adultery. Verse 15, the eighth, you shall not steal. Verse 16, the 9th commandment, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. And then the 10th commandment, verse 17, you shall not covet your neighbor's house, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. These are the 10 commandments, the summation of the moral law of God. So in our study of the Ten Commandments this morning, we now come to the Sixth Commandment. In verse 13, you shall not murder. Notice the brevity of the commandment. You shall not murder. In Hebrew, in which the Old Testament was written, the commandment is only two words. In most English translations, it contains only these four words. You shall not murder. The sixth commandment gets right to the point. Short and simple, as we say. One might assume that there's not much to say about this commandment. It's brief. It seems simple enough. You shall not murder. Murder is wrong, clear and simple. When there are school shootings and children and adults die, the assumption is that murder is wrong, right? Now, opinions may vary concerning the reasons why someone would commit murder. And there are many different solutions put forth concerning how to prevent such murders. Yet no one approves of murder, right? Surely there is agreement that murder is wrong, right? Yet there actually is disagreement about murder. And there's even disagreement not only in the world among unbelievers, but there's even disagreement among those who call themselves Christians regarding murder. So as we begin to look at this commandment, we really need to just kind of step back and understand how important this commandment is and ask the question, what constitutes murder? What constitutes murder and why is murder sin? The sixth commandment gives us some moral clarity that we really need in our world. Take abortion as an example. I think I can accurately say that most people in the United States do not categorize abortion as murder. You simply don't hear people talk about abortion in those terms or put it in that category. We believe abortion is murder. We believe that abortion terminates a human life. In abortion, a death occurs. A human being is killed. And yet many, if not most people, seem to believe that abortion is not about murder at all, but about a woman's so-called right, either a right to privacy and or a right over her body. We are near election day in the United States and abortion has come to the forefront. We've heard abortion framed over and over again, not as killing a human being, but as a woman's right over her body. Those who are in favor of ending that life argue that it is a woman's choice. and that it is a choice really concerning a woman's own body. That no one has the right, they say, to tell a woman what to do with her own body. That is how the argument for abortion is framed today. However, conspicuously absent in this twisted argument are statements about the human being in the womb, the life of a baby, A life that is terminated in abortion. A life that is killed. The fact is, the sixth commandment speaks to abortion. Abortion kills an innocent human being whose life should be protected and preserved, not terminated and killed. The womb should not be a place of danger, but of protection. So I ask again, what constitutes murder? The sixth commandment, you shall not murder, speaks to the issue of abortion. Understanding the sixth commandment, as short as it is, gives moral clarity to this issue. Abortion is the murder of a human being. So while the commandment is short and clear, there's not always moral clarity in a sinful fallen world. What constitutes murder? Take euthanasia as another example. This is another issue about which the sixth commandment addresses and gives moral clarity. Now, in case you're not familiar with the issue of euthanasia or the word euthanasia, let's begin with an understanding of the word itself. Euthanasia is a compound word. The first part of the word U-E-U means good. And the last part of the word comes from the Greek word thanatos which means death. So quite literally the etymology of the word is good death. Some have called it an easy death is the way they describe it. You've heard of a eulogy at a funeral. Eulogy, there's that first part of the word good and the second part has to do with logos, words, good words. In a eulogy someone stands up and says some good words about the deceased. So we understand here the word means good death, quite literally. One source defines euthanasia in this way. The painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease. or in a irreversible coma. Another source defines it this way. Euthanasia is the practice of ending the life of a patient to limit the patient's suffering. The patient in question would typically be terminally ill or experiencing great pain and suffering. So there are those who are proponents of putting that person to death. and letting them experience a quote-unquote good death or easier death. And did you know that today, some would not only limit the idea of quote-unquote pain and suffering to just physical pain, but also to mental pain and anguish. Therefore, there are those who are actually advocating ending the life of a mentally ill person who believes that their pain, suffering, and anguish is too much to live with. So let's just say there's someone who who's dealing with, as they would call it, clinical depression, and to a degree that they just don't, the anguish of that, they would say, is too much to live. So there are those who are now advocating euthanasia in those cases. Now, there are many issues related to the subject of euthanasia, but one that is prominent today is called assisted euthanasia, or physician-assisted suicide. Now, what is that? Well, the phrase physician-assisted suicide has been defined in this way. It refers to active voluntary assisted euthanasia where a physician assists the patient. A physician provides the patient with a means such as sufficient medication for the patient to kill himself or herself. Now it's called suicide in most cases because it's the killing of oneself. The idea of assisted suicide of any type would have been unthinkable some years ago, but many of you remember the name Jack Kevorkian, a pathologist who promoted physician-assisted suicide. He not only promoted it, but he himself assisted in at least 130 people ending their lives. His nickname was Dr. Death. In 1998, Kevorkian was convicted of second degree murder and served eight years in prison before being released on parole in 2007. He himself died in 2011. Physician assistant suicide is now legal in 10 states. California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington, as well as in the District of Columbia. And a number of countries have legalized assisted suicide. One of those countries has been in the news recently over an event that made the news headlines. And that country is Switzerland, where assisted suicide is legal. It's not only legal for its own citizens, but Switzerland also allows people to come from other countries, to travel there, to partake in so-called assisted suicide. It was in Switzerland that a device was used recently, a device called a sarcopod, sometimes called a suicide pod, that made news. This so-called suicide pod is a device that a person can get into, sit down and recline, enclose the capsule, and after answering a few questions, can press a button which will release nitrogen into the capsule. This eliminates the oxygen. And the person becomes unconscious and dies. When this device was used recently, the Swiss authorities arrested those who were involved. Now, why would they arrest those involved in assisting a person's suicide when it's legal in that country? Well, ironically, one reason is because this device did not meet their, quote, product safety laws, unquote. Now some of you heard about this maybe this week through the briefing, Dr. Albert Moeller's briefing. He commented on this this past Thursday. He said this. Quote, Switzerland's health minister was asked by the Swiss parliament what had taken place here, and she said, speaking of the Sarko assisted suicide capsule, it does not fulfill the demands of the product safety law, and as such, must not be brought into circulation. So Albert Moller, Dr. Moller responds in this way. Those of you who are familiar with him, you could hear his voice. Okay, let me just understand for a moment what's going on here. This representative of the Swiss government, the Swiss government's health minister, did you catch the irony, speaking of a technology of a death capsule, intended only to bring about death, said that it fails to meet the nation's product safety laws. Product safety laws? How in the world can you talk about product safety laws and a death device in the same breath? What sense does that make? But it just reveals the illogic and, frankly, the immorality of the assisted suicide movement. It's just made abundantly clear with that very language. Assisted suicide is now legal in over 10 countries, one of which is Canada, to our north. In Canada, it is called medical assistance in dying, M-A-I-D, MAID. According to the Wall Street Journal, it says, quote, in 2022, medical assistance in dying represented the fifth leading cause of death in Canada. Abortion, euthanasia. These are just two issues in the culture in the world we live in. There are many more. But these two subjects alone, abortion and euthanasia, demonstrate how critically important it is to understand this short, yet vitally important commandment. The sixth commandment, you shall not commit murder. There is an increasing culture of death all around us. And this in turn shows the sinfulness and depravity of humanity. When those who have been made in the image of God reject God, don't acknowledge Him as God, do not honor Him as God, but instead believe in evolution, they have no real value for life. You cannot spurn God, reject His moral law, reject His creation ordinances, and still have a basis for the value of human beings and human life. The world may try to value life, but they cannot help but spiral into a culture of death. For without an understanding of God the Creator, and man, male and female, as unique among creation, made in the image of God, then there is no true value for life. Instead, people will pick and choose who should live and who should not. So do you see how important it is to understand this very short, yet vitally important commandment and all that it presupposes? So what constitutes murder? We need moral clarity on this issue. We need moral clarity found in the sixth commandment. We need the moral clarity of God's revelation in scripture. What constitutes murder? This question goes beyond abortion. It goes beyond euthanasia. Here are some other questions related to this commandment, you shall not murder. Is killing in war? prohibited by the Sixth Commandment. And what about killing in self-defense? What about capital punishment when the governing authorities identify crimes worthy of death and therefore administer capital punishment as just punishment for those crimes? Is that prohibited by the Sixth Commandment? You see, we can be tempted to just read over this verse, read over the Sixth Commandment and bypass it quickly without much thought. I mean, everybody believes murder is wrong, right? And as you can see, we must understand this commandment and how it applies to these issues along with others. So this may be a short commandment, but it is a vitally important commandment to understand. And although it is brief on the written page, it is broad in its scope of what it teaches and it's extremely valuable for the moral clarity it gives. And this commandment, by the way, as we will see in the weeks to come, not only addresses physical murder, now we're gonna get closer to home for us, but also addresses sins which sometimes lead to murder, not always, but sometimes do, those sins which do harm to another person. various forms of violence, assault, abuse. This commandment actually addresses hatred, what we could call heart murder. It addresses our words and how we use our words. When we use our words to harm another person, hateful words, angry words, This addresses anger itself, which is the precursor for physical murder. It addresses unkind words, gossip, slander, speaking against others in various ways. All these sins are in the scope and purview of this commandment, as we will see in the weeks to come. And so while you may have never murdered someone physically, we all have had heart murder and word murder. We all have used our tongues to harm a person. And as we'll see, it's not only what the commandment prohibits, but then the corollary of what we should do in loving one another and seeking the good of others. And so you see, this commandment is vitally important, and it's very applicable to all of us. We've all broken this commandment in some way. And yet if we don't understand the sixth commandment and what is in view here, the scope of it, its intention, then we'll not know how to keep it. We'll certainly not know how we are breaking it. So this morning, we just need to introduce the commandment. Let's begin by addressing some basic matters related to the meaning of the commandment. As we do so, we'll begin to understand it, what it forbids and what it does not forbid, and what it requires. So let's begin with just a basic meaning of the Sixth Commandment. Now, you'll notice here that some commandments are what we call positive injunctions or positive commands. Something we are to do. We just saw that in the fourth and fifth commandments. The fourth commandment in verse eight says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. That's a positive commandment of what we are to do. We've seen it in the fifth commandment in verse 12. A positive injunction, honor your father and your mother. These are things we're commanded to do. Now of course it is understood when something is positively commanded when something is required then something is also prohibited. So we understand we should not break or profane the Sabbath. We should not dishonor father or mother. But here the sixth commandment is given as a negative injunction or what we say a negative command or in the form of a prohibition. Do not do this. Namely, you shall not murder. Now, although it is in the form of a prohibition, as we will see, it affirms something. There's something assumed here that's underlying it, that's not spoken of, but yet is understood from the rest of scripture and really is understood from creation itself. It affirms something, namely the sanctity of human life And it not only affirms the sanctity of human life, it requires something. It requires of us that we are careful to preserve human life. So really to understand the commandment, we really need to back up and say, what does the commandment affirm? Well, the sixth commandment demonstrates the sanctity of human life. Sanctity. sacredness, that which is highly important and is to be highly valued. Human life is to be treated as holy and sacred. It is to be highly valued. Harming or killing an animal can be sinful in some circumstances, but this commandment has the murder of another human being in mind. you shall not murder, and understood here is another human being. For man is made in God's image as the crowning glory of creation. You remember in Genesis 2, again the commandments, we always go back to creation, don't we? In Genesis 2 verse 7, then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being, a living soul. And this distinguished him from the rest of creation. Man is distinct from animals in this way. People have souls that will live forever. They have unique responsibilities to God and to creation. Therefore, the destruction of human life has serious consequences. Genesis 9 verse 6, whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed. Why? For in the image of God he made man. Again, this is not said of animals. Man was created uniquely by God. Man has unique responsibilities before God in relationship to God in the world that God created. And murder is so serious that a consequence is taking the life of the person who murders. Additionally, the civil law given to Israel as a nation by God contained instructions concerning the punishment of the unlawful killing of a human being. Capital punishment was just punishment for those who murdered another person. For example, Numbers 35 verse 30. If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death at the evidence of witnesses. But no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. So there were protections there. There had to be multiple witnesses. Putting a murderer to death was a just punishment and consequence of murder. And so the severe consequence, the punishment for murder demonstrates the sanctity of human life. Also take note that it's clear from that verse, Numbers 35 verse 30, and other verses of scripture, that putting to death a murderer is not itself murder. So we'll talk about that in the future. Again, we're just introducing the commandment. So the sixth commandment affirms that which we know from creation itself. It affirms and demonstrates the sanctity of all human life. the sanctity of all human life. Now, what does it prohibit specifically? Well, the Sixth Commandment prohibits certain kinds of killing of human life, but it does not prohibit all forms of killing in every circumstance. So I just read from the New American Standard, 1995, you shall not murder. If you have the English Standard Version, you shall not murder. If you have the New King James Version, you shall not murder. If you have the King James Version, it says you shall not kill. Now that's not the best translation, sorry KJV only people. The word kill in the King James Version has led some to believe that all forms of killing, whatever form it may take, whether capital punishment, whether in self-defense, or in war, are all prohibited by this commandment. In fact, we'll see next week that some even say killing of all kinds, not even just human beings, but killing even animals. is in purview here but we've established it's human beings that's in view here but the word kill is not the best translation since it could easily be understood to mean that all killing is unlawful and forbidden by the sixth commandment but the sixth commandment does not prohibit all forms of killing or all forms of taking the life of another there are indeed lawful and justifiable killings There are situations of self-defense in which it would be lawful and even right to take the life of another. What the sixth commandment prohibits is murder. The commandment prohibits killing for the wrong reasons by the wrong people. Even the word murder might be misunderstood. So some have advocated the best way to translate it might be you shall not kill unlawfully. The sixth commandment forbids the unlawful killing of another person. That means that there are times in which killing another person is lawful and is not prohibited. Now there are different words in the Hebrew language which have to do with killing. In Exodus 20 verse 13, the particular Hebrew word is not simply referring to taking the life of another. It refers to a particular kind of taking of life that we would call murder. The word in Exodus 20 verse 13 is never used to refer to killing in war. It's never used to refer to killing when capital punishment is applied. So killing and murder are not the same thing. Murder is a form of killing. When someone is murdered, they are killed by someone. However, not all killing is murder. And therefore, different words are used and different civil laws were given to Israel in the Old Testament in order to address the consequences for various kinds of killings. In our nation and in our states, we distinguish between types of killing in our laws, as do other nations and governments. In our legal system, we use the word homicide. Homicide is the taking of a human life. And states may slightly be different on how they classify homicides, but generally there are three categories. There's murder, manslaughter, and then justifiable homicide. There's murder. And that's typically broken down into several subcategories. The most common are first and second degree murder. First degree murder is the most serious. First degree murder applies to situations in which someone kills another person after having planned to kill them. It requires malice and evil intent, forethought and planning. In other words, we call it sometimes premeditated murder. First degree murder receives the most severe punishments, which may include life in prison or even the death penalty. But then there's second degree murder, which usually applies to cases in which someone may have intended to kill another but didn't have time to plan it. We sometimes call this a crime of passion. That is, they did not plan beforehand to kill a person. However, something escalates the situation in which a person becomes angry and then purposes in the escalated situation to kill the person. Therefore, punishments for second degree murder might include life in prison, but the death penalty is not enforced in those states where that is legal for second degree murder. And then there's manslaughter. The charge of manslaughter is reserved for instances where the person did not plan the crime, nor did he or she intend for the victim to die because of his or her actions. Manslaughter charges usually arise out of accidental circumstances where a person died because of the event. For example, a parent leaves a baby in a hot car. It would be manslaughter. They didn't intend for that. It was something negligence in some way. Or a driver causes a fatal car accident, maybe a drunk driver. Sometimes they're charged with second degree murder. Sentences for those convicted of manslaughter vary widely depending on state laws and the circumstances of the event. But then we speak of another type of homicide. It's called justifiable homicide. That's reserved for situations where an individual killed another person in self-defense or similar circumstances. This refers to certain types of killings which are not crimes because the killing was justified. The person who committed the killing is not held criminally liable for the death. Though their civil penalties may still apply under certain circumstances. So our laws distinguish between killing that is justifiable and killing which is criminal. So the Bible makes a distinction as well. As an example of that, we see it in Numbers 35, verses 15 and 16. In Numbers 35 verse 15 it says, these six cities shall be for refuge for the sons of Israel and for the alien and for the sojourner among you that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there. So this was a city of refuge. This someone who didn't plan to kill someone, it was unintentional, so there's a place where they can be protected in a sense. But then it says in Numbers 35, 16, but if he struck him down with an iron object, and the idea there, it's intentional, he picks up the iron object for the intention of killing him, so that he died, he is a murderer. See the distinction? An unintentional killing is not murder. But here, intentionally, he's specifically described as a murderer. And the murderer shall be put to death, which is not described as murder. So the one who intentionally kills a person is called a murderer. However, the killing of a person who's murdered another person is not called murder. The one who executes capital punishment is not called a murderer. He's not broken the sixth commandment. So again, the point here is we see distinctions made between killing that is unlawful and killing that is lawful. So this just helps us in beginning to understand and lay the foundation of the Sixth Commandment. Here, it is rightly translated and helpfully translated so we understand the point. You shall not murder. You shall not murder. Now this world is filled with murder. You turn on the news and it's all over. There are murders that happen every day. And murder is actually glorified in our culture in various ways. I mean, I want to say think of, but maybe don't think of, the horror movies for entertainment. We've gotten used to it, where it doesn't even bother us as it should. It's because we need to understand the sixth commandment. This law, which is written on the heart, because we become desensitized to death, all human life is sacred. And we should be against unlawful killings wherever it occurs. All human life is sacred, no matter the age, whether young or old. Whether in the womb or outside the womb, no matter the person's race, ethnicity, nationality, whether the person is rich or poor, male or female, all human life is sacred and all murder is sin. And if we are inoculated to the evil of murder, it's no wonder that we're not grieved over quote unquote lesser sins. which harm and injure people. Sins like anger and outbursts of anger and slander, attempts to harm someone's reputation. No wonder we're desensitized to how serious that is. When we're desensitized to the awfulness and heinousness of murder. We need to see the sanctity of human life. And this commandment is going to show us the sanctity of human life. But it goes beyond that as we just begin to scratch the surface, so to speak. Beyond that, we should seek the good and well-being of others with our actions and with our words. You see, we can be tempted to read the sixth commandment without any personal conviction, you shall not murder, as if it doesn't apply to us. A person might think he's innocent of breaking the sixth commandment altogether, but let me ask you some questions. Don't answer out loud. Don't raise your hand, but just in your heart. How many of you have taken the life of another person out of rage or anger and premeditated to do so? Probably no one in this room. How many of you have been tempted to murder someone? Maybe some of you have been tempted in this way. At least you've had such thoughts. How many of you have ever harmed someone physically? Have you ever been in a literal fight? Have you ever laid hands on someone to harm them? You might quickly think, yes, but I never intended to kill them. This commandment speaks directly to taking another person's life, but it also prohibits those forms of harm of another person that fall short of actual murder. What about this? Have you ever been recklessly negligent in some way so as to inflict injury on another person? All this is in the scope of the Sixth Commandment. But let me go even further. Have you ever been angry with a person in your heart? Then you violated the sixth commandment. Have you ever spoken angry words to a person or about a person guilty of violating the sixth commandment? Have you ever injured someone's reputation? Have you ever slandered a person? Spoken against them. Spoken about them in some way that harmed their reputation. And you violated the sixth commandment. Remember, the Ten Commandments contain the moral law of God summarily comprehended. Flowing from this prohibition to not murder comes a whole host of sins that we commit, which are injurious to a person in many ways, short of taking their life. And rather than injure people, God says, you're to do them good. You're to love them and seek their good with your words to them, your words about them, with your heart, with your attitude, with your thoughts, with your actions toward them. We are to lawfully seek the flourishing and preservation of human life. So broadly under this commandment is the principle that we are to seek the good and welfare of human beings. So rather than seek to injure them in any way, we're to seek to do them good. We're to love them with our words, our actions, and in every way. So we need to be careful that we don't just read this short commandment, you shall not commit murder, and think it doesn't apply to us. We must be careful not to think that we're not in danger of breaking the sixth commandment, just because we never killed a person. It is a broad commandment which convicts us all. And as we'll see, we're all guilty of breaking this commandment. So we need to look in the mirror of this commandment as well to see our sin. And again, see that there's a glorious Savior, the Lord Jesus. The point is to him, again, to be reminded we're sinners and we broke in this commandment, but there's a great Savior. The Lord Jesus never injured anyone. He never sinfully harmed anyone in any way, shape, or form. And all we have to do is even consider our own salvation to see the good he has done for us, unworthy though we are. And so here we see the basic meaning of the commandment. But in the weeks to come, we'll begin to see the application of the commandment. That we might look into the mirror, see how we fall short. And as those who have looked to the Savior, who've been rescued from what our sins deserve, look in the mirror that we may then see our sin and be sanctified by His grace. that we would not violate the sixth commandment through physical murder, heart murder, word murder, but instead do good to those made in the image of God. Let's bow our heads together in prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for your law which is penetrating Your word, which is like a searchlight, shines upon our hearts. And Lord, even this morning as we should be righteously angry about murder, murder of unborn babies. Should be righteously angry. about the taking of people's lives in various ways, murder of human beings. Lord, I pray that we would look at our own hearts and see that this commandment commands us all to value human life, to see the sanctity of human life. May we be those who, as we look at this commandment, see how we fall short and how we so often, especially in our hearts and in our thoughts and with our words, do harm to others. I pray that instead our lives would be such that we would live out the sanctity of human life and how we treat others, how we speak about them, how we relate to them, and that we would see the fruit of the Spirit, therefore, in our lives of love and patience and kindness and gentleness. in relationship to one another. Lord, use this commandment even to tame our tongues, but even more importantly, to change our hearts. We pray that you would do this for us as believers, that our Savior would be magnified and glorified. And we pray these things in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen.