The Sixth Commandment

I want to read a few verses here that you all know very well. But I want to start the sermon off and kind of plant some seeds in our mind as we go through the subject that we're going to talk about today. 1 Corinthians 13, of course, is the love chapter that talks about the outgoing love that we would have for one another. Let's begin in verse 4. Think about these things, and as we talk about the subject that we're going to talk about today, some of these things will come back into your mind. It says, Love, in verse 4, suffers long and is kind.

Love doesn't envy. Love doesn't parade itself. Love is not puffed up. Love doesn't behave rudely. Love doesn't seek its own. It's not provoked, and it thinks no evil. Love doesn't rejoice in iniquity, but it rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things.

Love never fails. We know those verses very well, and as we're in the church, we know that God, through His Holy Spirit, is developing that type of love in us, and that's something that should mark us, and Christ said love should be how people would know that we are His disciples. His law, His way of life that He calls us to, is the law of love. Now, when He gave us 10 commandments to form the basis of our way of life, that was the law of love.

The first four commandments tell us or teach us how to love God, and the last six commandments teach us how to love each other and to enact these verses here in verses 4 through 8. Today we're going to talk about the sixth commandment. We've talked about 1 through 5 already, and you know what those are, but the sixth commandment, you can write down in Exodus 20 verse 13, you could all tell me what the sixth commandment is.

It simply says, you shall not murder. And in the old King James it says, thou shalt not kill. And on the first face of that commandment, it seems like that would be a relatively easy one to keep, doesn't it? I would guess that probably none of us in the room have taken the life of another person, and if we have, we're going to talk about some people in the Bible who did that. But by the time the sermon is over, I think we'll see that we're all guilty of this commandment, of having transgressed it as well.

You know, when God talked about, thou shalt not murder, in the old King James it says, thou shalt not kill. I was going to say, did I come out with any notes at all? In the old King James it says, you shall not kill. And in the new King James, they changed the word kill to murder, and there's a few good reasons for that. If you look at the Hebrew word that's translated kill in the old King James, murder in the new King James, it's the Hebrew word ratzach, R-A-T-S-A-C-H, and it means put to death, kill, and it says especially murder or manslay, or we would say in today's age, manslaughter.

So it's when we, when, by our actions, something is put to death. And so, in the old King James they said kill, but over the years they saw that people were beginning to use the word kill and apply it to other things. So before we get into thou shalt not kill, I wanted to address a couple of those things. One of the things that you may hear some people say is when the command says thou shalt not kill, it means that we should not kill animals as well. And the verse in the Hebrew word is very clear that the only time that that Hebrew word is used, or the Greek equivalent to the New Testament, is when it's talking about people.

Whenever it talks about animal sacrifice, whenever it talks about anything to do with animals, and there are appropriate uses where God said it is okay to kill animals when we use them for sacrifices, as they did in the Old Testament, when we use them for food or other purposes. But just because the commandment doesn't mean you shall not kill animals doesn't mean that that gives us a right to kill animals, just without any reason. God created the universe and He expected us to, or the earth, and He asked us to dress and keep it and to respect life.

And as you go through the Old Testament, you can see in Exodus when He even talks about the Sabbath command. He says your animals shall rest along with you. Your ox, your donkey, those animals aren't supposed to be out working on the Sabbath, they rest just like we rest. And over in Proverbs 12, we'll just look at one verse on this. In Proverbs 12 and verse 10, it says, A righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

So we respect life. When God put us on earth, we respect all life.

That would include anything in the creation, and to use it for an intended purpose is fine. To abuse it for any reason is not fine. The other thing that you may read or hear about is that the commandment, you shall not kill, indicates that there should be no such thing as capital punishment, that no government should ever have capital punishment as part of its constitution.

And that's not the case, either. God did institute capital punishment, and he did it right from the very beginning. Let's go back to Genesis 9 and just look at a couple verses on that. Genesis 9. This is the time right after Noah and his family came through the flood, and as God is instructing them on how to live, he says in Genesis 9, verse 5, So surely for your life, blood, I'll demand a reckoning, from the land of every beast I'll require it.

So if a beast takes a life, its life is required, and from the hand of man. So if a man takes a life, his life is required. From the hand of every man's brother, I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God he made man. Respect life, is what he said.

Now, as time went on, it wasn't just anyone who could make a determination for capital punishment. It was by the word of two or three witnesses that these things happened. Eventually it was the kings who enacted or determined capital punishment. And that's what we have in our governments today. It's not us who determines who should die, it's a government in our court system that does that. We find that supported over in Romans 13. In Romans 13, in verse 1 it says, Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. So, let's say, let us say, we all live in the United States of America, we all live in the state of Florida, if we live to any other nation on earth, we are subject to the laws of that land.

God said, as long as those laws don't transgress or conflict with God's law, be subject to them. For there is no authority except from God, the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment upon themselves. For rulers, he says, are not a terror to good works but to evil.

Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? There's a simple way to be unafraid. Do what's good, and you'll have praise from the same. For he, the authority, is God's minister, or his agent to you for good.

But if you do evil, be afraid. For he doesn't bear the sword in vain. The government holds the power of life and death. He doesn't bear the sword in vain. And the government can enact that. For he is God's agent, an avenger, to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Some nations don't have a capital punishment policy. That's fine. That's their right. And some nations do. And that's fine. That's their right. The commandment doesn't preclude it in New Testament times.

What those two things, out of the way, let's talk about the commandment. Because you shall not kill is a very straightforward commandment. You shall not kill. I mean, you can't get a whole lot clearer than that. But there are men in the Bible that we look up to and we respect who had done just that. And we're going to talk about three or four instances here to get an idea of what the root of murder is.

First one I want to talk about is Moses. Moses murdered someone. You remember the story when he was walking through town one night and he saw an Egyptian taskmaster, taskmaster taking the task, the Israelite slave. And Moses became angry and decided he was going to avenge the life of that. And the Bursa say back in Exodus, he looked to his right, looked to his left, and when he didn't think anyone was looking, he killed. He killed that taskmaster.

There was a reason he did it. He thought he was okay in what he was doing, at least maybe on the face, that he was taking vengeance on someone that was taking advantage of someone else. But it was wrong. And he thought he was doing it in secret, but he found out later that someone did see what he had been doing. Did Moses kill the man because his life was in danger? No. Did he kill it because he was angry? Yes. Did he do something rash?

Yes, he did. But you know what? He repented of it, he was forgiven of it, and God used him. God used him to deliver his people. So even from the act of murder, God could use someone, and in such a way, in a dramatic way as he did, Moses. Another one that you know well, and you probably thought of immediately, was David. King David. Guilty of some heinous sins. In adultery, and then to cover up adultery, he had Uriah killed.

Let's turn over and read a little bit about that in 2 Samuel. In 2 Samuel 12. And verse 9. 2 Samuel 12 verse 9. God is having Nathan reveal to David what he had done, because when David did these things, it's like he was oblivious to what had gone on. He wasn't repentant at all until it was brought to his attention. Verse 9. God has Nathan say, Why have you despised the commandments of the Lord to do evil in his sight? You've killed Uriah. Well, Moses actually did kill the Egyptian. David didn't kill himself Uriah.

He arranged for Uriah to be put in the front of battle, so he would be killed. But he didn't actually do the killing himself if we wanted to be technical on it. But God looks at the intent of the heart. And here, David, he says, you have killed Uriah.

David might have said, no, I didn't. But David knew exactly what the intent of his heart was. You've killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword. You've taken his wife to be your wife. You killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. And interestingly, God didn't demand David's life for that. He had mercy, but for the rest of his life, the sword would follow David, he said. So God can show mercy.

And David went on from there to repent, live a totally different life, and God called him a man after his own heart, even though he committed some heinous sins. Why did he kill Uriah?

Because he wanted to cover up another sin. He wanted his wife, and he didn't want people to find out what he had done. It wasn't that he hated Uriah. It wasn't that Uriah had done something to him, and that wouldn't have excused it either. But David was looking to cover something up, and to cover another sin.

Find another man back in the New Testament.

Talk about the Apostle Paul for a minute. Over in Acts 7, before he was called and before he was converted and let God turn his life around, he was a totally different person. And he was very zealous, but he was very zealous against the people of God. And he didn't really have any outgoing concern for the lives of those people that he came in contact with that believed differently than he did. So when Stephen was in the town center there that day and talking about what was going on and giving the history of Israel and then coming through and accusing them or telling them point blank that they had killed the Savior and the Messiah that they had been working that they had been waiting for, the people rushed at him. Let's pick it up in Acts 7, verse 57.

It says, They cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord. And they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul, who became Paul, laid their coats down.

And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, Lord, receive my spirit. And then he said something that showed the love that he had. Don't charge them with this sin. And when he said this, he fell asleep. And verse 1 of chapter 8 says, Saul, Paul, as we know him, was consenting to his death. He was happy to see him die. Why? Did he hate Stephen? Has Stephen done something to him that would warrant? No. Stephen had a different idea than him. Stephen had a different set of beliefs than him. And in Paul's mind, that was worthy of death. If you don't believe what I believe and you have a different set of religious beliefs, then you deserve death. That's what Paul thought at that time in his life. He was consenting to his death. It doesn't say that he actually threw stones at him, but he stood by, and what happened he was happy with. One chapter over in Acts 9 and verse 1 says, then Saul, still breathing threats, still hurling threats at people who believe differently than he did, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest. The intent of his heart, these people can die. They don't need to live. They believe differently than I do. Therefore, they deserve death in his mind. And from this man, from this man came the apostle to the Gentiles. From this man came the letters that we read today that form a bulk of the New Testament.

Because when Christ, or when God called him, Paul repented deeply. And from the man he was, he became someone that we look up to, the loyalty that he had to God, to Jesus Christ, and how he sacrificed his life to do that. But before that, he was a man of murder.

We don't know that he actually physically murdered anyone, but he breathed murder. And his intent was that people would die.

Because they believed differently than him.

One other man to talk about, we don't look up to him. You remember King Ahab of Israel.

And he had the wife Jezebel. And there's the occasion back in 1 Kings 21, where he and his wife did many things against God. But here's one of them in chapter 21, where he gets up one morning, looks over at his neighbor's vineyard, and decides it's something that he wants himself. In verse 2, it says of chapter 21, Ahab spoke to Naboth, his neighbor, saying, Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it's next to my house, and I'll give you a vineyard better than it. Naboth refused. I'm not going to give you what has been in my family all this time. And as you read down through the verses there, you see that Ahab just became really distressed. He really wanted that vineyard. He looked at it and it's like it was something he had to have, coveting at its best, you might say. And I mean that with tongue in cheek. He had to have it. Jezebel came through the house and said, Ahab, what's the problem? Why do you look so down and distressed and whatever? And he goes, I wanted that. I wanted what Naboth had, and he won't give it to me. Jezebel decides she's going to take matters into her own hands. And so she says in verse 7, you exercise authority over Israel. Arise, eat food, and let your heart be cheerful. I'll give you the vineyard of Naboth. I'm going to go out and get it for you, Ahab. She wrote letters in Ahab's name. Sealed them with the seal, sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who were dwelling in the city. And she wrote in those letters saying, proclaim a fast. Seat Naboth with high honor among the people. And seat two men, scoundrels before him to bear witness against him, saying, you blasphemed God and the king. So she's going to frame him. She's going to set something up to falsely accuse him to get what she wants. And then she says, after you do this, and she found people willing to do it, she says, take him out and stone him that he may die.

You see, she's misusing the authority there of capital punishment that King Ahab had. And so they set up a process by which it happened exactly the way Jezebel devised. Did Naboth do anything to deserve that? Not at all. He was just minding his business when someone decided they wanted what he had. And so then Jezebel went about and had him killed. And he took the vineyard. From the vineyard. From him. You look at these four and we could talk about other murders in the Bible.

But you look at what the men did here and what the causes of the murders were.

Old Testament. Old Testament reasons for murders. One New Testament one. But we had someone who was angry and thought he would take it upon himself to avenge what he thought was a wrong.

In another case, we had someone who murdered to cover up a sin. He had been caught in adultery. And here's Bathsheba with child. How do I cover this up? You have Paul who believes, if you don't have the same religious beliefs as me, you're worthy of death. And here you have Ahab, who decides, or Jezebel, I guess, who decides if you want something bad enough that someone else has, it's okay to murder him to get it.

Now we get the Orlando news where we live, but I would imagine the Jacksonville news isn't so much different than the Orlando news. But you know what? Every one of those situations that we talked about, the reasons for murders are exactly the same thing that I can switch on the TV and listen to and hear the same reasons for murders today. And a lot of them make national news. How many murders have been to cover up something that someone else did? We live in a world where we know there's people in the world who would just as soon kill nations for their beliefs because they differ from what their beliefs are. That makes news all the time. Switch on the news and you can see someone avenging someone else's death. And so it goes. What happened then happens now. And people have the same intensive heart then that they have now. And other reasons for murder as well that we can we can talk about. All these were intentional murder. People wanted and they intended that the other person would die. The Bible also talks about unintentional murders. Let's look at Numbers 35 for just a second here. Numbers 35. Just read a few verses in this. This is the chapter that talks about cities of refuge. And God knew as he was setting up the government there were going to be occasions where there were going to be unintentional murders that came up and the people were going to say, oh I didn't intend to kill him it was an accident. And so he provided for cities of refuge. But here in verse 20 as he's talking about some of these unintentional murders he kind of gets back to a matter of heart. Verse 20 of New Verse 35 said, if he pushes him out of hatred or while laying in wait hurls something at him so that he dies, or if in enmity he strikes him with his hand so that he dies, the one who struck him will be put to death.

He's a murderer. So he's saying someone can come to you and say, you know, it was an accident. It was an accident that I killed that person. But he said, look at the thing, you know, I mean, they may say it's an accident, it may look like an accident, but look at what the intent of the heart was. Was there enmity between the two people? And just convenient, just convenient that the person was killed. What was the actions that preceded it? And so even through here, verse 22, if he pushes him suddenly without enmity or throws anything at him without lying in wait or uses a stone by which a man could die, throwing at him without seeing him so that he dies while he wasn't his enemy or seeking harm, then the congregation judged between the man-slayer and the avenger of blood.

Some difficult situations that were there. And some of them really were unintentional murders. Let's look at one that's, I would say, probably more Old Testament-oriented. We wouldn't see this so much today. Maybe you're in a profession that you would. Let's turn back to Deuteronomy 19.

Deuteronomy 19, verse 4.

It gives us an example of an unintentional murder.

This is the case of the man-slayer, we would say manslaughter today, who flees there to a city of refuge, that he may live. Whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally, not having hated him in time past, notice the qualification, as when a man goes into the woods with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings the stroke with the axe to cut down on the tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies.

Well, that would be unintentional. I don't use an axe that often, but when I do, and believe me, it's rarely, I know that that axe head can be loose. And there's been a few times I've picked it up and I thought, you know, and it's usually when I'm edging one, believe me, I don't cut down trees. That's far more than I want to do. But I know that those things can happen. And if I was to go out and swing that thing without checking the axe head, yeah, it could fly off and hit someone. Definitely an unintentional murder.

And we look at that today, and that, you know, might be an Old Testament thing that we would look at and say that doesn't happen. But today, we have things that we would consider unintentional murders. Let me give you a couple examples, and you could probably give me a few more. If someone gets behind the wheel of a car, and they've drunk too much, and they hit someone, and that someone dies, did they intend for that person to murder? Did they get into that car, intending that they were going to kill someone? No. But did their actions result in the death of someone? Yes, it did. It's an unintentional murder. So if we ever drink and drive, as the state would say, we could be built guilty of the same thing that it's talking about here in Deuteronomy 19, verse 4. You see, it's a law of love, a law of looking out for the other person.

That's what God is looking to develop in us. And so our actions need to reflect an outgoing concern or concern for other people. So we wouldn't want to do that, even in the chance that we could harm someone else. Let me give you another one that's been in the news. In fact, I might have heard last night that this young man already got convicted. It's been in the news about a young man who was texting while he was driving. Have you heard about him? And wasn't he 17 when it happened? And I don't know, did he get convicted last night? I think the jury might have come in, or maybe they were thinking he was. Now when that young man got in the car and he started texting, did he intend to kill someone? No, he didn't. But he did. And someone may have died as a result of that. It's an unintentional murder. Had he been practicing the law of love, he would have thought, you know, I shouldn't be doing this. Someone could get hurt as a result of my actions.

As we go through our lives, and there's other things that we could talk about. We could talk about people that do drugs and drive. And other things, and I'm using driving because driving is a tremendous opportunity, but that car can also be a weapon in some cases.

We want to make sure that we are considering the other person. When God gives the law, or the commandment, you shall not murder, or you shall not kill, he's talking about a law of love.

Look at the other person and love him. If David had really had an outgoing concern and been considering the life of Uriah, he wouldn't have done what he was doing. David was looking out for himself. It was a selfish act. When Saul, Paul, was consenting to the death of Stephen, and other Christians that he was part or at least consenting to their death, he wasn't looking out for their welfare. There was no love for them. He was looking out and satisfying his own belief.

Of course, when Jezebel went out and had Naboth killed, she wasn't concerned about Naboth or his family or him at all. She was just wanting something for herself. Murder is a very selfish act.

It's something that we do very reflective of a lack of love. And God is saying, love your neighbor as yourself. Don't envy and let it lead to what you do. Don't get angry with someone and let it lead to what you do. Look out for the welfare of the other person. Let's turn a couple chapters over to chapter 22 of Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy.

And there's a principle here in verse 8 that God reports here. It says, it says, when you build a new house, then you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring guilt of bloodshed on your household if anyone falls from it. And you see how he's building in concern for other people by that command, or that law, or whatever we want to call it, that statement? When you build a house, if someone's going to go up on it, build a parapet around it. Be concerned for them because you don't want to bring good bloodshed on your house in case someone falls from it. It's a law of love that he's looking for.

And he wants us to be concerned for other people just as God has always been concerned for us.

And as we have that love, we'll have that kind of concern.

You know, I think most of us, if we asked if America was a civilized or an uncivilized society, I would guess we'd say it's a civilized society. I would say that. I feel safe, you know, when I'm at home, I don't walk down the streets of where I live or, you know, where I'm visiting any of you and ever feel unsafe. But I was reading a study, I guess I was listening to something, and it was talking about the incidents of murder in America. I was talking about boys, specifically, and it said that a boy growing up in America witnesses a lot of murders in his life. And they gave a number that I, you know, there's no way to prove this, they gave a number that I thought was very exaggerated, so I'm going to give you one that's less than half of what they said. Think about what you think. The average American boy growing up in America, how many murders he sees by the time he's an adult. Now, this is the lower number they said, 20,000. 20,000 murders that boys in America see today. And I thought, the number they gave, I thought, just incredible. That number seems incredible to me. Well, I started thinking about the number of TV shows you watch that have murder as the chief plot, the number of movies, almost all of which have murder as part of the plot, and the kicker, they said, was the video games. The video games that glorify murder, and that no matter what game it is, the most popular ones are always about murdering someone. There's something about war and just an absolute fascination with killing someone else. So when I think about that statistic, I think, well, how civilized of a land are we that we could have that many people growing up seeing that many murders that would just become callous to it. We don't want it to happen to us, but we certainly take pleasure in it. Remember the verse at the end of Romans 1?

It says that we shouldn't even be doing those things, much less taking pleasure in those that do that.

And yet we live in a land that glorifies murder, and yet we're all appalled when we read the murder stories or hear about the stories on the news and everything else that goes along with it.

You know, there's one other area where murder is there in America today, or the intentional killing of life. Let's go back to Exodus 21 for just a minute.

Exodus 21, verse 22.

Another one of the verses where God is talking about the behavior of people toward each other.

He says, And just to fight! The other man may not have even known that the woman was pregnant. But if the baby dies, or if the woman dies, God says, life or life? Eye for eye? Tooth for tooth. And in America today, how many babies are killed intentionally? And it's part of the law of our land. And it's something that we read about, we hear about, that's talked about, and that is part of just about every presidential election, as long as I can remember. And that's America today. And that's just actually, physically taking life. Which is what we've talked about so far. It comes from the heart. Murder comes from the heart, that we don't have enough respect for other life that we would do something to allow it to be taken. Jesus Christ has something to say about murder, too. Let's turn back to Matthew 5. Matthew 5. Let's start with verse 17. It's just a brief reminder. Of course, this is Christ's sermon on the Mount. Verse 17, he says, don't think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. Don't think that I came to do away with that Old Testament. The first five books or the prophets or any other part of it. I didn't come to destroy it, he said. I came to fulfill it. And we've talked about that. I came to complete it. I came to give you a full understanding of what that Old Testament means. For surely I say to you, verse 18, till heaven and earth pass away. One jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. As long as heaven and earth exist, that way of life is binding. And he expects that mankind will live. And certainly those who he calls and commit to him to live his way of life will live.

Verse 21, he says, you've heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. Old Testament Israel just had to abide by the physical command. Just don't kill anyone. And yet in Israel, it was a sin that was broken as all the others of them were. But Christ says, as part of filling up the law and explaining what that law means and what he expects us in New Testament times to do, he says, I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, Raka, shall be in danger of the counsel. But whoever says, you fool, shall be in danger of hellfire.

And in that verse, he gives kind of a stage of three different thought processes or things that we can do that he would say, you're guilty of violating the sixth commandment. Whoever is even angry with his brother without a cause, he says, shall be in danger of the judgment.

Moses may have killed the Egyptian slave master in anger. Certainly Cain killed his brother in anger. Genesis 4 says, he became angry when God accepted Abel's offering and not his. And out of envy and out of jealousy as well, Cain killed Abel. He wasn't able to control his anger.

And how many times do we hear on the news about a bar fight that goes on and someone's anger gets out of control and all of a sudden there's a murder in place?

I was talking to someone, you will never meet this person, at least in this lifetime. And she was telling me that she was coming from an abuse background in her own marriage.

But she was telling me, and she doesn't live in this state, so you don't even have to think that it's anyone in this area or any of the church. It's not. It's not. And she was saying, you know, my sister has told me for years how she's going to die. And I said, well, how is that? Because she was baiting me. She wasn't going to tell me. And she goes, she said that one day her husband's going to get so angry at her that he's going to kill her. And then he's going to kill everyone else in the house. And then he's going to get guilty, he'll kill himself, and you'll hear about it on the news. And I thought she was joking, but she went back and she goes, no, she said that from the time that she'd been married just a few years. Because she said he gets a look in his eyes that he is so angry, she can see that he's just that close to killing her.

But so far he's backed off. And she doesn't want to leave him, but she can see that anger in his eyes and know that sometime, or if she believes, sometime it's just going to be there that he pushes the button too far because he gets so angry over something.

And we hear about those things. We read about them in the newspapers. We read about families and domestic violence. And it's the anger that is there that people can't control. We all get angry at times. But I can't say that I've ever looked someone in the eye that was so angry with me that I thought I was a second away from being killed. I can't even imagine what that would be like. Maybe sometime in the future we're all going to have to face that, that someone is so angry with us that that will be.

God says, be angry. There's times to be angry, but don't sin. Keep that under control is what he says.

Let's look at James 1. James 1.

Uncontrolled anger can lead to a lot of problems. James 1, verse 19. James writes, So then my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of God does not produce the righteousness of God. Or the wrath... Did I say that right? For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

The wrath of man doesn't lead to the people God wants us to be. The wrath of man leads to the antithesis of the law of love.

So Christ says, even if you're angry, angry with your brethren without a cause, that you look at him and in your heart it wouldn't bother you and you wouldn't mind seeing that person dead, you're guilty.

Control. Control it, he says.

The next thing he says in that verse is if you say, raka. Raka to your brother. And that's been a word I think that's always fascinated me, raka. The fact that the translators didn't even bother trying to translate that word. Just leave it where it is, raka.

Now we know for the times we've been in the church it's not a word we ever want to be accused of saying. But let me read from a commentary here what it says raka means or what it is about. It says, raka is an Aramaic transliteration for reka, a term expressing contempt, scorn, or disdain.

The Greek word raka means empty, vain, or worthless one, signifying a lack of intellect. The only place it's found in the Bible is Matthew 5.22. And it says the Jews used this word as a word of contempt.

So when they used that word, they had absolutely no use for the person that they were using it for.

What was interesting is what the root word of that means, what the root of that word derives from. It says that the raka is derived from the root word meaning to spit.

So you can kind of get a picture of what someone is doing when they're saying raka to someone.

They're kind of like they have so little respect for the person that they're just spitting their words out at them. That they just can't stand even being the person there. It's hardly worth their time to be there. That you can just feel the hate, the total lack of respect for that life that that person is having. Can you kind of picture what it would be if you said raka to someone, what the meaning of that word is? You would never do it to someone you had respect for. You would never do it if there was love in your heart because you would never disdain someone that well or that severely. And Christ told the people back then, if you say raka, if you look at that person and you have so little respect for them, that you would handle them that way, you're guilty. You don't have the law of love in your heart. You have a murderous law reigning in your heart. Now this is another one. Maybe I've lived a sheltered life. I can't say when I read the definition of this that I've ever had anyone spit at me or talk to me in such a disdainful way. Maybe I've had it and I've blocked it, and I hope you've never had that experience. But I've seen it depicted and I've heard of it, so I kind of know what it would be like to have someone do that, to just feel the hatred coming out of them and the total lack of respect that they might have for you. Christ said, don't even let it. Don't let that attitude even develop. In Philippians 2, verse 3, he says, Esteem everyone more highly than yourselves. Have that law of love that there's no pride in you that you would ever look down on someone to the extent that you would absolutely dismiss them in that fashion. Because if you ever even have those feelings, there's pride there that can lead to death, or lead to murder, that you want to repent of and that you want God to remove from your heart. Don't even let it happen. Because only a person that has hate harboring in their heart would ever do something like that. Let's go back to verse John 3. For a second, 1 John 3 and verse 15. You can also mark down if you want 1 John 2 verse 9, which is an ancillary verse to this one.

1 John 3 and verse 15 says, Whoever hates his brother is a murderer. John tells it like it is, whoever hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. Cain hated his brother. Plenty of people that we hear about on the news hate the people that they murder. Hopefully none of us have that type of hate toward anyone no matter what they've done to us. Even Jesus Christ, when people did horrific things to him, he still loved them and didn't wish them any ill. So he says, don't even hate.

And then he says, in the last part of Matthew 5, 21, and he even sets it apart by, but. Don't be angry to your brother without a cause. Don't say rocka to him, but if anyone says, you fool, they're in danger of the judgment.

You fool.

We know what the word fool is used like, is used in America. We would say someone's a fool if they just don't know what they're doing. We just kind of look at them and say, you know, they don't have the intellect that they need in this thing. Maybe they're ignorant of some things. And you're a fool to think that that's going to happen. We might use it in that regard. Is that what God's talking about when he says, you fool? Now, that isn't what he's talking about. And they read from the Matthew Henry commentary just a couple lines, transitioning from rocka to you fool. He says, rocka is a scornful word. It comes from pride. You fool is a spiteful word and comes from pure hatred. Malicious slanderers and censures are poisoned the kills secretly and slowly.

So when Christ said, you fool, he was thinking of something different than this. Someone telling someone, you're looking at that in not the right way. It had a very condemning meaning. It goes on and he says, in biblical usage, the term fool generally doesn't indicate a person of diminished intelligence. Instead, the term carries both a moral and religious judgment.

Let's go back to Psalm 14. You can get a biblical definition of what a fool is.

Psalm 14 and verse 1, it says, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God.

Well, that's a different word than I would use if someone told me there was no God, but I guess it fits. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They're corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none who does good.

Have we ever looked at someone and made a moral determination on them?

Have we ever looked on someone and said, they have a religious flaw. They don't know God. You fool.

William Barkley says this. He says, what Jesus is saying here is this. And he's talking about the rock as well. In the old days, men condemned murder, and truly murder is forever wrong. But I tell you that not only are a man's outward actions under judgment, his innermost thoughts are also under the scrutiny and judgment of God. Long-lasting anger is bad, contemptuous speaking is worse, and the careless or malicious talk which destroys a man's good name is worst of all.

We've heard of character assassination, right? We use the word to kill someone's character.

We're in the political season in America. If you don't know what it is, listen to some of the things and the stories that go around as one presidential candidate talks about another, one that has nothing perhaps to do with the issue at hand. What is the intent of some of those things?

The intent is just to kill the person's character. Make you think so poorly of them that you wouldn't want anything to do with them.

We've all seen this in our lives. We've all seen people who would do what it takes just to get their own way to tell you whatever it takes to turn someone against someone else. It's kind of what America is like. Maybe we've participated in it ourselves. We've all been guilty of saying things to someone or about someone behind their back. Perhaps in a malicious intent, because we want people to think less of them.

Christ says, if you say, you fool.

And he uses it as almost the emphasis of that. Don't do it. Don't assassinate another man's character.

Don't start casting out things that would lead people to believe differently than what is the truth.

Don't slander. Don't cast aspersions. Don't do those things.

Turn to Matthew 15.

In this chapter, Christ is talking with the Pharisees, and he's discussing with them some of the traditions that they had that they were trying to accuse him of transgressing.

And this particular one happened to be the way that he was washing.

And in verse 11, he says, it's not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man, it's what comes out of the mouth that defiles a man.

What we say, certainly when we say, rocka, something coming out of our mouth, certainly when we say, you fool with the way the Bible defines you fool, something coming out of our mouth.

In verse 15, Peter asks, what do you mean by this? And Christ asks, you know, are you still without understanding?

He says in verse 17, don't you understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into stomach and is illuminated, but those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart.

They defile a man.

When you say these things, it shows what's in your heart.

A heart that is being led by God's Spirit isn't going to say, rocka.

A heart that's being led by God's Spirit isn't going to say, you fool.

It's not going to engage in the game of trying to discredit someone else.

For the purpose of, what is one of the purposes of murder? Gaining an advantage for yourself. Finding something that you want.

For out of the heart, he says, proceeds evil thoughts.

Out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts.

Murders.

Adulteries. And things that we'll talk about in future weeks. These are the things which defile a man.

Jeremiah 17, verse 9, God says the heart is wicked and desperately...

I've got that backwards. The heart was desperately wicked and evil. Who could know it?

What comes out of the heart that's not led by God's Holy Spirit is what results in these things.

When we repent, when we're baptized... Remember in Colossians 3, it says, you put off the old man.

All these old things are no longer part of you. All the wrath, all the anger, all the maliciousness, all the malice that you have toward people.

All that's gone. All the fruits of the flesh are gone.

And what does he say? Put on the new man, tender mercies, love, outgoing concern for people.

The law of love.

That no longer murders, in fact, or murders in the heart.

Turn over to Proverbs 6, verse 16.

Some of our teens may have memorized this verse over the years for a teen study somewhere along the line. Proverbs 6, verse 16, let's look at some of these things that God hates. Let's look at them from the things that we talked about today.

It says these six things the Lord hates. Seven are an abomination to Him.

A proud look... Oh, we've talked about Raka.

We've talked about someone who's so superior that they would so look down on a person that they would just as soon see them dead because they don't even think they're worthy of living.

A proud look. A lying tongue. Someone who would say a lie because they want to harm another person and the intent of their heart is to discredit them.

Hands that shed innocent blood. A heart that devises wicked plans. Premeditated murder, like David did. And like Jezebel did. And like the things that we see and hear about on the news.

Feet that are swift and running to evil. They're looking for things to do that. A false witness who speaks lies.

Again. Maliciousness. Something coming out of the heart that is looking to discredit and kill someone else.

Horsekill their character. And one who sows discord among brethren. Who kills the unity that God wants us to have.

Because His Spirit is a spirit of unity. He's not looking for a spirit of division.

That, and all those things that perceive that, would kill that thing that God values most. Or I won't say most. He'd leave values, as it says in Psalm 133, verse 1. And that as Christ talked about in his, or prayed in his last prayer. That you will all be one as God the Father and I are one. And we're one together.

The sixth commandment says, you shall not kill, you shall not murder. I hope, well, I know that none of us in this room would ever take another life intentionally.

But I hope that we all use God's Holy Spirit. That we let Him lead and guide us. So that those other things in our heart that would lead to murder and hate and the anger that Christ talked about. And the things that he said were violations of that sixth commandment. That those are weeded out as well. So that going forward from here, we look at that commandment in a different way. And we always believe and we always follow the intent that Jesus Christ had. You shall not murder.