Because I Said So! - Part 2 - Part B

The problem with that. Thou shalt not kill, is now the you mean years after this was given to the children of Israel. Paul the apostle would write in the book of Romans. Looking at the law that God gave all of the commandments. All of the instructions. Paul will say this, for we know that the law is spiritual by my damn carnal and sold under sin is no problem with the law as it reflects the heart of the lawgiver. That's the bar.

The problem is with the people who receive the lawful laws spiritual. I am carnal, sold under public service announcements are required part of every television schedule from encouraging children to read fruits and veggies through reminding us to spay or neuter repair PSA's help us remember to do things we should frankly already be doing.

Dr. they had correctly skipped weekend division Skip IT begins unpacking the fifth commandment not to kill the 10 Commandments are not only direct commands from God has seen with our current teaching series God stops and they give us direction to help her succeed in every area of our lives will see more that here in just a moment but first pass this to point you to connect with them on social media. A pastor Skip here if you want to stay up-to-date on the latest from this ministry follow at Skip Heitzigs it on Facebook, twitter and Instagram that's HEITI hope you're following along at our current series God's tartare Skip takes us through Exodus chapter 24 in verse 13 today. So let's join in there to begin well. As for going to the 10 Commandments it would be really great if we memorize them is not too hard.

There's only 10 of them. Some of you remember doing that us children to be great if you teach your children the 10 Commandments. In fact, I wonder if you know them right now at least what we've gone through so far. Let's go through them ready, no looking down. This is an open book test the first commandment.

I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me.

The second one you shall not make for yourself any graven image carved image.

The third one right there to keep the Lord's name holy. The next one. Remember the Sabbath you don't take the Lord's name in vain. Then you keep a day holy the Sabbath day.

The next one. Honor your father and your mother. That's good. It trailed off a little bit, but you got the gist of this is the simplest one so far it's the shortest one found in verse 13 you shall not murder. Maybe in reading this commandment your thinking okay the other commandments they had something to do with me.

There was a lease relevance for my own personal life. Honor your father and your mother Skip I got that did like we talked about doing that with parents-in-law but nonetheless I admit that those are things that are relevant to my own personal life honoring God above all else, certainly, but Skip here is a commandment that I can just tune out because it absolutely has no relevance to my life whatsoever because after all, you would say you never plotted the murder of another person. And even when somebody pulled out in front of you on the freeway and you had a moment of road rage and you even thought I'm gonna follow them through the entire state of New Mexico and make their day miserable still you didn't plan on how to murder them, but I'd venture to say that virtually every person self included in this room has gotten away with murder. If we apply the meaning of the Lord Jesus Christ and his words in the New Testament to this commandment and will look at that this morning before we close well murder has always been a problem with mankind. From the very beginning the first two people, Adam and Eve had two kids in the first crime ever committed by those two kids was homicide in Genesis chapter 4 the Bible says that Cain and his brother Abel were out in the field. They were having a conversation. And Cain rose up, and slew his brother Abel. And so it is been the history of mankind. Whether we had rocks in our hands or clubs or axes, or swords, or in more modern times guns and bombs people kill people. That's the sad legacy of the human race.

In fact, did you know that out of the 11 so-called developed countries murder. Homicide is highest in our country the United States of America.

I'm told that you have one chance in 153 that you will be murdered one chance in 153 as an American that you will be murdered.

They tell us that intentional killing i.e. homicide is the fourth leading cause of death in our country versus heart disease. Second is cancer.

Third is accidents and the fourth is intentional killing homicide murder this year alone over 25,000 people will be murdered. Those of the ones that will be registered 25,000 at 70 per day. That's one murder every 24 minutes in our country.

Staggering, astonishing. I read an interesting articles in the Reuters news agency a couple weeks ago the police in Vienna, Austria reported a woman who lived with a mummified corpse of her aunt for over a year can of that's really spooky. And here's the story.

The police knocked on the door after reports from the neighbors who tried to get into see this 96-year-old woman and her niece 51 years old said while she's sleeping. She doesn't want to be disturbed when the police finally got and they discovered that under this old 80s covers on her bed was the corpse that had been there for a year and it seemed that the niece had been taking the pension money that this elderly aunt was getting in.

She was using her ATM card. The autopsy was done to see if there was foul play involved. But what would possess a person to live with the mummified corpse of an old person for over a year. Well, here's another question. What would you be willing to do for say $10 million or $2 million or $4 million that was a question that a couple of New York researchers asked 3500 people across the United States what they would be willing to do for enough money so hypothetical cases were given they discovered right around the $2 million mark.

People were willing to do a lot 25% of those who were interviewed said that they would be willing to completely abandon their families for $2 million in these two researchers said and I quote 7% of us say they would murder someone for enough money. That's about one in every 14 people whether they could actually pull the trigger is another question, but 36 million of us would be willing to consider the offer. Well the commandment is playing. Verse 13 you shall not murder, and I'm glad that our translation corrects the old King James. If you have an old King James, I apologize great translation, but it simply says thou shalt not kill modern translations correct the language the best and only translation can be murder. Here's why there are seven Hebrew words that could be translated to kill the one word that is translated murdered is the word that is used here rate sock. In fact, it's only two words this commandment in the original Hebrew low rate sock no murder. It speaks of the intentional killing of another human being for personal reasons. Now that's the definition intentional killing of another person or another human being for personal reasons.

Receipt. You shall not kill.

You shall not murder doesn't mean that you can't kill animals for sacrificial purposes. In the Old Testament God gave them the command. It doesn't mean that there can't be capital punishment. God gave that command in the Old Testament, it doesn't mean that the people of Israel couldn't go to war. They were given that permission in the Old Testament, it doesn't mean that you can't protect your family or your house.

If somebody's trying to break and that was also specified under the Torah.

This specifically deals with intentionally killing someone else for personal reasons. So we want to look at that in depth this morning.

First of all I want you to notice with me. The premise of this command. Now I know it's it's stated in the negative use shall not, but it's put in that way. It also affirms the positive. The negative use shall not implies the positive and here it is life is sacred, and because life is sacred. You shall not murder, it's important to think about that premise. Receipt, death must always be viewed through the lens of life.

Whatever value we place on life will determine whatever we believe about death as an example, if I believe that life is a gift of God that God created me then for me to murder someone is to divide the very purposes of God, and to defy God himself. If on the other hand, I say well, life is not by special creation. I'm just a cosmic accident. I'm just a biological creature like any other creature, then killing someone or ending life is simply a biological action when Napoleon Barnett Bonaparte was ruler of his country. He had a general name. Prince Clement, Prince Clement advised Napoleon Bonaparte that the plan Napoleon had devised to wage war could cost the lives of 100,000 people, innocent people.

Many of them Napoleon's reaction hi you said what are the lives of 100,000 people to me. In other words, the way he viewed the lives of other people determine his willingness to put that many people to death your sale. That's so archaic. However, the current belief today in our educational system pervasively is that man women were just advanced protoplasm that meant make you feel good about yourself. You're just a blob of advanced protoplasm in this advanced protoplasm beats that advanced protoplasm and they get together and have little advanced protoplasm's so all you are, they would have you believe is just a complex animal and advanced animal not made by God. No special value just a biological mechanism.

Listen to this quote from the American Journal of pediatrics by Dr. Peter Singer quote we can no longer base our ethics on the idea that human beings are a special form of creation made in the image of God singled out from all other animals and alone, possessing an immortal soul so follow my thinking if every year in our schools and from our journals. We are telling people you're just an animal you're just an animal, your why should we be so surprised if our kids start acting like animals.

Why should we go. I can't believe the crime rate. Wait a minute you been feeding them this line that there animals and so another acting savage like without morals without underpinnings that God gives because were his creation, and then you have a media that is pouring millions and billions of dollars into glorifying violence in children's programming that depicts 25 violent acts per hour is the average, but apart from that, aside from that cultural view is the biblical truth were not just an animal were not just organic. We have been made by God and life is a gift from the creator, which is the whole basis for the sanctity of life based on Genesis chapter 2 verse seven where we read the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living being. And it's that text and others like it that even our founding fathers thought should be woven into the fabric of the language of this nation like the Declaration of Independence.

We hold these truths to be self evident in our lives. Anybody can figure this out, that all men were evolved equal no didn't say that created equal and endowed by their Creator tour with certain inalienable rights among these life, liberty, and The Pursuit of Happyness. Moreover, not just as life a gift from God. We are made in the image of God.

The image of God. That means you and I possess certain characteristics that our dog or cat are pet snail or whatever we have at home don't possess.

Unlike those creatures we men and women are made in the image of God present mean means were capable of conceptual thought, we can come up with our own ideas were capable of imagination were capable of creativity being artistic. My dog never paint a picture be cool if he did, I think I'd make a lot of money if he did, but I never saw him in the corner doing this thinking, contemplating, imagining, creating also man can produce complex city can go from simple to complex connect the dots in our reasoning. Not only that, but mankind is a Trinity or a tri-unity body soul and spirit the tripartite nature that reflects the very Godhead himself and also mankind. Unlike my dog is a good dog but he doesn't have what I have I have an eternal dimension.

I enter life asking questions like why am I here. My dog never said where were you, you know, just had emceed him. He's fine and taken for a walk every now and then but I have an eternal dimension and so do you. We have the capability to long for God to have a relationship with God because we were unlike our pets made for eternity. So the very foundation.

The premise of this command is that life is sacred, but there's a problem and the problem is not with the command.

The problem is with those to whom the command is given, the problem with the valve shalt not kill is in the valve the you the me years after this was given to the children of Israel. Paul the apostle would write in the book of Romans. Looking at the law that God gave all of the commandments. All of the instructions. Paul will say this, for we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal and sold under sin is no problem with the law because it reflects the heart of the lawgiver. That's the bar. The problem is with the people who receive the law. Paul would say law is spiritual.

I am carnal, sold under sin. Even God understood that there would be this problem when he gave the 10 Commandments. In fact, the whole law, and the children of Israel we remember the story on Mount Sinai. There was thundering and lightning big wire show and the children of Israel did want to go any closer is Moses you go and listen to whatever God tells you come back and tell us what to do and will do it you right whatever God tells you to tell us will do it. Moses goes up to the mountain, God's as you know, Mo, I heard the words, the children of Israel told you what they said was good. But listen to what God said. But oh, that they had such a heart to fear me and to always keep my commandments that it would be well with them and their children forever. I love what they said.

I only wish they had the capability the heart to do everything that I've told them to do so. God understood is nothing wrong with the commandment but there is something wrong with the way man is now wired after the fall without a many rather than innocence. There's depravity famous text of Scripture. Many of you know it well a lot of Jeremiah 17 describes the human heart is says that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked who can know it.

To get that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know how many of you have ever heard of a radio show. The long time ago before television from the 1930s called the shadow ever heard of that shadow to a few of you many of you actually heard of that the shadow was this unknown sleuth on the radio who solve crimes and win against criminals and he was simply called the shadow and in the show began each week on the radio like this. There is music will and then who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men. The shadow knows here's why am bringing that up, not just to be silly, though I am not even a 1930s radio show admitted that evil lurks in the hearts of men and the shadow knows the Bible knew long before there was a shadow. Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men. The spirit knows and he's revealed that in his word. So every time we see any active evil any crime, any act of violence.

We can simply say exactly what the Bible said would happen were not born innocent were born by Adams nature to pray and Anita missing parts of the wicked are very encouraging solution is incredible will talk about that more tomorrow when we returned with the second half of this message getting away with murder.

Today's message which is one part of the teaching series focused on the 10 Commandments title God's talk to in this series will also make a vital issue be your audio library.

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