Turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter 20. With the holidays and the topsy-turvy schedule of the last couple of months, I know we've been on for a routine. We're going through the Gospel of John in the morning and the book of Ephesians in the evening. God willing, we'll return to those. in February.

Next Sunday is what's called the Sanctity of Life Sunday, and since I'll be away, I wanted to preach on that subject this evening. So our focus will be Exodus 20, specifically at verse 13. It'll be some repetition for those who consistently attend the Wednesday night Bible study. We have been going through Exodus And then as well, we've kind of dabbled in these themes in our confession study, chapters 19 and then chapter 24.

So hopefully the review will seal it into our hearts that will indeed cause us to see the necessity of gospel, to be sure, but also the law of God. But I do want to read the Decalogue as a whole. We'll pray and then look at verse 13. So 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 bondage.

You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments.

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.

In it you shall do no work, you nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's. Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountains smoking. And when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off.

Then they said to Moses, You speak with us, and we will hear. But let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said to the people, do not fear, for God has come to test you, and that his fear may be before you, so that you may not sin. So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was.

Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Holy Father and gracious God, we thank you for the gospel of our salvation. We know that you have blessed us richly, given us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

We praise you for justification and sanctification and glorification. We know as well you've given us your law, you've given us that commandment wherein we are to protect the lives of others, wherein we are to value human life. And God, tonight we pray that the Holy Spirit would guide our thoughts and our minds as we consider this theme in Holy Scripture. As well, God, help us to be faithful in terms of prayer, in terms of the way that we conduct ourselves in this lower world, and help us, God, as the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, to have the answers that this world desperately needs from both gospel and law.

Again, we pray for the forgiveness of all of our sin and all unrighteousness and those things that do darken our mind and that cause us not to receive with glad hearts the word of truth. So cleanse us now in that precious blood, guide us by the Spirit, and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Introduction: Law and the Sixth Commandment

Well, as we have had cause to reflect on our Wednesday night Bible studies, we have seen that in Exodus chapter 20, you have what's called the moral law of God. There is a threefold division of law in the Old Testament. You have the moral law, which is the 10 commandments. You have the ceremonial law, which were those things unique to Israel's worship and their life of faith in the Old Covenant.

And then you have what was called the judicial laws, the laws that were to guide them and govern them for their tenure in the land. When it comes to the moral law, we see that it abides. When the prophet Jeremiah announces new covenant blessing, he speaks of God writing the law on the hearts of those who are saved by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus. He's not going to write a brand new law.

He's not going to make up something new, but rather it is the Ten Commandments, which is in fact the moral law, a reflection of God's perfections. That is what is transcendent, irrespective of what covenant you find yourself in. If you're in the Old Covenant, the Ten Commandments are binding. If you're in the New Covenant, the Ten Commandments are binding.

What we find in Exodus 20 and repeated again in Deuteronomy 5 are for us in terms of church life. Now, there is not only a threefold division of the law, but the Reformed tradition has identified three uses of the law. And those uses are quite simple. First, there is what's called the civil or political use.

And that simply means that God gives His law to restrain creatures, to restrain us from being as bad as we could possibly be. The second use of the law is called the pedagogical, and that word simply means child tutor. It simply means that, like in the language of the Heidelberg Catechism, how do you know your sin and misery? I know it from the law of God.

The law of God shows me my sin, it shows me my misery, and it shows me my need for the Savior. So it's a child tutor to lead us to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ for justification by faith. Now, once we're justified by faith, Christ points us back to the law, and we engage in what's called the normative use of the law, the normal day-in, day-out sanctification process. It's not undefined, it's not nebulous, it's not just a matter of the heart relative to God.

But there are commandments that God gives us and calls us to obey in terms of being justified by faith, we now consequentially live in a manner that is consistent with God's law. Jesus prays in John 17, sanctify them by thy truth, thy word is truth. Jesus says in John 14, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. The Apostle Paul, when he wants to show what love looks like in the context of the local church, he points to the second table of the law in Romans chapter 13.

We know that we love each other if we're not murdering each other, if we're not stealing from one another, if we're not committing adultery with one another's wives. The Apostle Paul points to objective, concrete example in terms of God's revealed law. So the law is binding upon the church today. If we use it for justification, we're using it unlawfully.

But if we use it in that normative way, as a definition of righteousness and holiness, we're using it in the right way, in a lawful way. And then one final thought by way of introduction. When it comes to the world that we live in, we see violation of this law. We see transgression against the Sixth Commandment.

We see it in spades, and we're going to comment on that a bit later in the sermon this evening. But with reference to our prayer life, We ought to go into the closet mindful that this isn't some nice and almost sanctified world. We live in a brutal age. We live in an ungodly age.

We live in an age where there is the celebration of bloodshed all around us. The Christian church ought to be in prayer. We ought to appeal to the God of justice and righteousness. We ought to appeal to God to work in the hearts of civil government that they rightly punish lawbreakers in civil society.

It ought not to be the case that murderers walk our streets. It ought not to be the case that abortion and euthanasia are celebrated. It ought not to be the case that we engage in such transgression against God most high. Solomon says that righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.

And I think that we're feeling that keenly as we move on in what appears, at least in some degree, as a late-stage republic. So we need to pray as the people of God. We need to understand the law of God. And as well, we need to be bold with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Because when that law is preached properly and people see their depravity, we come with the balm of Gilead. that blessed message of justification by faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Explanation of the Command

So let's look at this sixth commandment under two considerations. Notice, first of all, the explanation of the command, and then secondly, we'll look at the application of the command. And we won't confine ourselves to this particular passage. We'll look at other places throughout scripture for both heads.

So the explanation of the command, and then secondly, the application of the command. And under the explanation, I've got four sub points. First, we'll look at the terminology explained. Secondly, the prohibition considered.

Third, the exceptions noted. And then fourth, the reason specified. Now notice,

The Terminology Explained

first of all, the language. He says, your God through Moses in chapter 20 at verse 13, it says, you shall not murder. Now the old King James translates this as kill. I don't think this is the best translation.

I think the new King James and perhaps other modern translations that use the word murder, get at it better. As we drop down later to the exceptions noted, there is justifiable homicide in the Bible. There are three instances wherein a person may, with God's authorization, kill another human being. So all murder is killing, but not all killing is murder, and we need to keep that in our minds.

So with reference to the particular word that Paul, not Paul, that Moses uses, got Paul in my head for some reason, and what Moses uses here, This is the word. Walter Kaiser explains, while Hebrew possesses seven words for killing, the word used here, which is ratza, appears only 47 times in the Old Testament. If any one of the seven words could signify murder, where factors of premeditation and intentionality are present, this is the verb. So it's built into this particular statement that there is this prohibition against premeditated murder, about killing somebody with malice aforethought.

Now, Webster in his 1828 dictionary, I don't know what it would say today, they're changing dictionaries, they're changing language, but way back when in 1828, Webster defined it this way, to kill a human being with premeditated malice. That is crucial to the definition of murder. Premeditated malice. There must be premeditation.

There must be intention. There must be studied vengeance. Malice of forethought. Deliberateness.

All those are essential to establishing the fact of murder. Again, when we see the exceptions noted, we'll note that those things are absent. It is not premeditated. It is not malice of forethought in war.

It is not malice aforethought in terms of self-defense. It's not malice aforethought in terms of capital punishment. So malice aforethought is absolutely crucial relative to establishing murder. Turn over to Exodus chapter 21, where you see a distinction between murder and between just homicide in general.

Notice in Exodus chapter 21 at verse 12, he who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death. Right? Makes sense. He who strikes a man and that man dies, the man who struck him shall surely be put to death.

Now notice the qualification in verse 13. However, if he did not lie in wait, There was no aforethought. There was no premeditation. There was no deliberateness.

There was no planning. This was an accidental homicide. So verse 13, if he did not lie in wait, but God delivered him into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee. So the cities of refuge were there for those instances of accidental homicide.

It was still bad. You shouldn't accidentally kill people, and as a result, you're going to have to go live in that city of refuge for a time, but you are not guilty of the crime of murder, and therefore, you're not to be executed for your crime. Turn over to Deuteronomy chapter 19. Deuteronomy 19 details this in a bit more language.

Deuteronomy 19, specifically at verse 4. And this is the case of the manslayer who flees there, talking about the cities of refuge, that he may live. Whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally, not having hated him in time past. See, there's an accidental homicide.

Again, be careful. Don't go out willy-nilly and live in some arbitrary way. You need to be careful as human beings so that you don't accidentally kill people. But accidentally killing people is not murder.

You're not culpable or responsible for the death penalty in that instance. And he goes on to describe. Notice in verse five, as when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies, he shall flee to one of these cities and live. Lest the avenger of blood, while his anger is hot, pursue the manslayer and overtake him. because the way is long, and kill him, though he was not deserving of death.

Since he had not hated the victim in time past, therefore I command you, saying, you shall separate three cities for yourself." Pretty simple observation. You go out to the woods. You go to cut lumber, timber, and the axe head flies off. It finds its way into your neighbor's head, and he dies.

You didn't mean to do that. You didn't try to do that. You didn't have malice aforethought. There was no premeditation.

You were not deliberate in that activity, so therefore you're not responsible as a murderer to receive the death penalty. That's why the cities of refuge were there. Again, it would cause enough turmoil in your life to hopefully cause you to be more responsible. Check your axe head before you go out in the woods in the morning.

Notice it goes on in verse 8. Now, if the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers, and gives you the land which He promised to give to your fathers, and if you keep all these commandments and do them, which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and to walk always in His ways, then you shall add three more cities for yourself besides the three. Lest innocent blood be shed in the midst of your land, which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and thus guilt of bloodshed be upon you. You need to understand what's happening here.

The Bible envisages capital punishment. That's going to be one of the exceptions noted. But to give capital punishment to one that is not deserving is a criminal activity. That's why it's highlighting the necessity of these cities of refuge.

You're not supposed to execute a man unless he's committed the crime. If he hasn't committed the crime of murder, he is not liable to the death penalty. There are pains taken to protect innocent life and even to protect accidental homicide people's lives. But then notice in verse 11, but if anyone hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises against him and strikes him mortally so that he dies and he flees to one of these cities, then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood that he may die.

Your eyes shall not pity him, but you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you." So there is this distinction in Scripture between accidental homicide and murder.

The Prohibition Considered

Now secondly, under the explanation of the command, we have the prohibition considered. Obviously, the external act. Obviously, lying in wait in your neighbor's bush, waiting for him to get home, you've got a problem with him, you're angry with him, and you want to end his life, that external act makes you guilty of the particular commandment, or transgressing of that particular commandment. But the rest of the Bible doesn't simply localize it in the external act.

The Bible shows us that the internal disposition of man can be guilty of violating the sixth commandment. And this is probably more appropriate for the church of Jesus Christ. I doubt any of you are waiting in anybody's bush with your ax ready to end his life because, you know, he borrowed your lawnmower and broke it and you've got a real ax to grind with him. But when it comes to the internal disposition that we find in the Bible that is an outflowing of the sixth commandment, we need to take heed, brethren, that we do not sin this sin, that we do not breach the sixth commandment in terms of the way that we conduct ourselves.

With reference to that internal disposition, there is that unwarranted hatred of others. Now, the Scripture speaks in the imprecatory Psalms of David, specifically in Psalm 139, which is a passage that is relative to the Sanctity of Life Sunday. After he celebrates the reality that God is the Divine Weaver, he mentions the fact that he hates those who hate God. Now, when we look at that, we need to understand that the Psalms of David, those particular imprecations, are the prayers of God's people with reference to the injustices that obtain in the world.

He doesn't have a personal animosity against one individual. He has this hatred for that which is evil. He is consistent with Proverbs 8. The fear of the Lord is to despise or to abhor or hate evil.

The Apostle Paul says the same sort of a thing. Now, with reference to this hatred of others, we see it condemned by Jesus in Matthew chapter 5, which we'll investigate in a bit more detail a bit further down the road tonight. But in Leviticus chapter 19, 17 and 18, you can turn there. See, the Sermon on the Mount isn't some new spirituality for the Church of Jesus Christ.

Rather, it is the attempt by Jesus to get rid of all the fog that the Pharisees and the scribes had imposed upon the law. In other words, the law of God, even in its Old Testament expression, always affected not only the outer man, but the inner man as well. It wasn't simply about, oh, I didn't end somebody's life, so therefore I'm not guilty of violating the Sixth Commandment. The Old Testament had the same internalness about it as does the New Testament.

So in the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus says, you have heard that it was said, but I say to you, he's not elevating the law. He's not making it more spiritual. You've heard that it was said to you by the Pharisees, by the scribes, by the persons tasked with teaching the church who failed to teach it properly. So Jesus basically is just bringing that law to bear in all of its blessed detail with reference to the Sermon on the Mount.

The Old Testament never permitted, never authorized, never allowed you to hate people willy-nilly. It never allowed you to despise your neighbor, to despise your brother, to despise your friend. In fact, when we get to the New Testament in 1 John 3, we're not supposed to hate one another. We're not supposed to be like Cain.

We're not supposed to be those who despise the people that we're supposed to love. So notice in Leviticus 19, a passage that fares much in the rest of Scripture, the New Testament included. Notice in 1917, you shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall not hate your brother in your heart.

This isn't the Sermon on the Mount. Not that the Sermon on the Mount is not important, but I'm simply saying what Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount is consistent with the law of Moses. He's expounding the law of Moses. He's expounding it in its clarity, in its correctness.

He is, again, disavowing the people of the notions of these Pharisees and scribes that only simply located the commandment in the external act. Notice he goes on, you shall surely rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because of him. Kind of an interesting passage. Rebuke your neighbor?

Yes. Rebuke your neighbor. Why? Because if you don't rebuke your neighbor, you're going to be embittered against him.

God has given a vehicle by which we may maintain interpersonal relationships that are upright and godly. And part of that is being honest with each other and rebuking one another. so that we don't internalize it and then express it by way of hatred or bitterness or avoidance of that particular person. I think this passage, which appears in the first reading to be kind of disconnected, is absolutely positively connected. You shall not hate your brother in your heart.

Well, we don't typically hate people in our hearts when there's no problem. When our brother brings us coffee, we don't hate him. When our brother does vicious and vile things to us, the tendency is there to respond with a degree of hatred. Well, how do we mitigate against that?

By rebuking him. It's a beautiful thing. Be honest and open and deal righteously with one another, and then you won't hate your brother in your heart. Verse 18, you shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

I am the Lord. Calvin says the hand indeed gives birth to murder, but the mind, when infected with anger and hatred, conceives it. So the sixth commandment is concerned with the external act of ending another person's life. But the sixth commandment is also about the disposition of heart that leads to the ending of that person's life.

And even if you don't get to the point where you're ending that person's life, what you have committed is sin. What you have committed is a transgression. What you have committed is a breach against the sixth word, and we're not to take that lightly. We're to deal with it.

As well, and we'll see this again later on when we apply the commandment, the unwarranted anger against another person, Matthew 5, and then the assassination of another's character, Matthew 5. But again, not just Matthew 5, but all throughout Scripture, all throughout the Old Testament. It was never legit in Old Covenant Israel to have this unwarranted anger against another person, and it was never legit to assassinate another person's character. You may not end his life in terms of the physicality, but you can do great harm to his life in terms of any boon or benefit.

You ruin a man's reputation. You ruin a man's standing in his community. You ruin a man by your libel or your slander or your false allegations or your gossipy big mouth. You bring great harm to that particular individual.

It is a violation and a transgression of the sixth commandment.

The Exceptions Noted

Now, thirdly, under the explanation of the command, the exceptions noted. I've already referred to them. The death penalty, the legitimacy of just war, and the place of self-defense. Those are three instances that the Bible condones in terms of homicide.

Now, I know that sentence sounds alarming. that the Bible condones homicide, that a preacher in God's church would say such a thing, that just sounds like great chutzpah. It sounds completely contradictory to anything we've been taught in the Christian church. But this is what we need to be taught in the Christian church. The Bible isn't silent on these matters.

And this isn't politics. This is the application of God's law to all of life. And when it comes to this particular situation, when it comes to capital punishment, that's not murder. When it comes to just war, that's not murder.

And when it comes to self-defense, that's not murder.

Capital Punishment

So in the first instance, with reference to the death penalty, we have the command given to Noah. Genesis chapter 9, verse 6. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood will be shed, for in the image of God he made man. Very clear.

Very simple, doesn't take a lot, doesn't take a rocket scientist, doesn't take a PhD from seminary to understand the implications. Whoever sheds man's blood. Now, when we move through scripture, we know that that must mean murder because the later legislation details the difference between accidental homicide and the actual act of murder with premeditation and malice of forethought, all those sorts of things. Whoever sheds man's blood in the act of murder by man, That's civil government.

His blood will be shed. The theological rationale or proof or reason for this is found at the end of verse six. For in the image of God, he made man. In other words, you assaulting the life of another human being is a direct assault or attack on God most high.

And so when the civil government enacts the sword, which is probably one of their very few responsibilities, They're not there to serve you from the cradle to the grave. They're not there to educate you and medicate you and teach you and make sure you're safe. Their primary emphasis throughout scripture is to wield the sword in terms of punishing criminal elements within society and defending society from foreign invaders. Now, when it comes to Genesis chapter 9, you can't relegate that away.

Well, that's the Old Covenant. No, that's the Noahic Covenant. The Bible teaches that the Old Covenant, the covenant made by God with the children of Israel, has been rendered obsolete. That's the emphasis in the book of Hebrews.

We've got the New Covenant now. But the Noahic covenant is a universal in scope covenant. It's a binding covenant. It's not a special grace covenant.

It's a common grace covenant. It provides the context for the preaching of special grace. but it's God's promise not to flood the earth again. It's God's pledge to provide for the civil government that sword so that they can punish the crime and the viciousness that obtained prior to the flood. Why was there a worldwide flood, brethren?

It was most likely largely due to a violation of the sixth commandment. The earth was exceedingly corrupt and filled with what? It was filled with violence. So when Noah comes out of the ark with his family, he receives again a mandate similar to what Adam receives in terms of being fruitful and multiply.

He's also given this particular privilege or prerogative to make sure that there is a policing of the nations. to make sure that government is in place, again, not to provide every possible thing you may ever need, but to protect you from criminal elements within society and foreign invasion. Now, when we get to the New Testament, Romans 13, the Apostle Paul says that there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. And then he, well, let's just turn there because sometimes I've found that people don't always believe that the death penalty is still going, still in play, still operative, still mandated. It's not a suggestion by God.

And we'll see that as we move through the material here. We're going to be here probably for hours tonight, so you just buckle down and let us go. All right. So Romans 13, 1, let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. 4, there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

Again, not a new thought in scripture, not a new thought in redemptive history. Jesus speaking his wisdom in Proverbs 8, by me kings reign. The whole monarchy in Israel was established by God. We saw some of that this morning in our study in 1 Samuel 8, in our confession hour.

But notice, verse 2, therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God. And those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Evil works.

They don't police the thoughts. They don't go after your conscience. They don't go after your mind. They don't control that.

They don't have that prerogative. They don't have that omnipotence or rather omniscience. They don't search the mind like Jesus does. It's very important.

As I said earlier, all murder is killing, but not all killing is murder. All crime is sin, but not all sin is crime. We don't want the magistrate punishing the 10th commandment because none of us would be around anymore, right? Not all sin is crime.

And when it comes to thoughts, God will police those. God will deal with those. God will definitely deal with that. You don't want the civil state in the minds of men.

So I suggest the better reading or an additional sort of a gloss on verse three, rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil works. That's what they respond to. When there's an act of criminality, that's when the civil magistrate does his business. Now notice, verse 3b, do you want to be unafraid of the authority?

Do what is good and you will have praise from the same. The praise from the same is probably not, they're going to take you down to Five Corners by the new monument there, take your picture and put you on the front of the progress. I think it's probably that they'll leave you alone. You'll be able to go to your work.

You'll be able to raise your family. You'll be able to just do what you're supposed to do. I don't know that it's awards. I don't know that it's laurel leaves around your head.

The whole idea is that you want to be unafraid of the authority, do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. But know this, Paul says in verse 4, for he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid." Again, we need to carry on that gloss of works. He is God's minister to you for good, good works.

He makes sure that you're protected. He makes sure that you can walk down the street at night. But if you do evil works, be afraid. Why?

For he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is God's minister and an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. See, he's got this sword. This signifies his power.

It signifies his authority. But it's not just an empty symbol. He has the power to wield the sword. Now, he doesn't have to punish every crime with the death penalty, but if the crime is such that it deserves the death penalty, then the civil magistrate is to function in that capacity.

And then one final passage relative to the death penalty. You can turn back to Numbers. Numbers chapter 35. I mentioned earlier that this isn't a suggestion by God.

This isn't, well, if you want to have a better country, you should probably think about this. No, Numbers 35 tells us very clearly what is involved in terms of specifically the crime of murder. Notice in Numbers 35 at verse 31. Moreover, you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death." Again, not any wiggle room there, brethren.

That's not open for interpretation. That's not, well, you know... It's pretty clear. The crime of murder demands capital punishment.

The crime of murder demands that response from the civil polity. Moreover, you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death. He shall surely be put to death. And you shall take no ransom for him who has fled to a city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the priest.

Now notice what's in view here. So you shall not pollute the land where you are for blood defiles the land and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it except by the blood of him who shed it. That's a passage that always strikes fear in my heart in light of abortion. In light of this willy-nilly disregard of human life, our country is saturated with blood guiltiness.

Remember what happens when Abel is in the ground? His blood cries out to God Most High. You see, there is no ransom, there is no payment, there's no fine, there's no, oh, I'll do 15 years and if I do good time, I'll be out in 10. No, that should never be countenanced in a government or in a civil polity.

Thomas Watson, that Puritan divine, says, to kill an offender is not murder, but justice. A private person sins if he draws the sword. A public person sins if he puts up the sword. A magistrate ought not to let the sword of justice rust in the scabbard, as he shall not let the sword be too sharp by severity, so neither should the edge of it be blunted by too much levity.

They're preaching climate change at us 24 hours a day, while the streets declare the godlessness of man. It is absolutely far gone beyond anything that God has called the civil government to. They're not supposed to be at every stage in your life. They're supposed to make it such that you can walk down the street without being mugged, without being brutalized, so that you can know that our country isn't going to murder image bearers in the womb or expand maid.

There might not be any breaks on that if these ghouls have their way. If you just don't feel like, you know, having a full day or you have a bad day. Brethren, having a bad day is no reason for the government to step in to help you exit this world. When it comes to this commandment, the Lord God Most High mandates it.

Just War

Now, with the next exception, it's the legitimacy, and I'll qualify this as just war. Just show you in Scripture that this is a category. Defining a just war, as you know, is a very difficult thing, and especially the wars that we are familiar with over the last couple of hundred years. But with reference to war, Deuteronomy chapter 7, Deuteronomy chapter 7.

What does God say to the children of Israel when they go into the land of Canaan? Well, I want you to go in there, and I want you to put up on your Facebook pages nice invitations for all those mean, nasty Canaanites to just leave. You know, I'm giving you this land, and you're going to take this land. I promised it to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The time has come. Go in there and just ask them nicely to leave. That's not what he says, brethren. You may not like the implications, it might not settle well with you, but Deuteronomy 7 mandates holy war.

Again, when you get into the New Covenant era, we are not, as the church called upon, to engage in holy war. Do not think that carries over into this new covenant expression of the church. Now, there's a holy war spiritually. Bunyan wrote of the holy war.

Again, spiritually, there is this antithesis between good and evil, and we are participants in this. And certainly, as spirit-filled people, we pray in light of that reality. But in terms of the physical expression of warring against other people, No, we're not supposed to do that in terms of holy war, Deuteronomy 7. But that does not suspend the concept of just war.

In Romans 13, he bears the sword for the punishment of criminal offenders within civil society. But he must also defend us from foreign invaders. And a few weeks ago, I quoted Charles Hodge, or it's either Charles or AA, with reference, there were two men, one was a son, one was a father. But he mentions this in terms of war.

He says, no plea of honor, glory or aggrandizement, policy or profit can excuse, much less justify war. You hear what he's saying? If you're going to deal with war, you've got to deal with it in its biblical categories. You cannot go to war because your particular leader wants honor.

He wants glory. He wants aggrandizement. He wants policy implementation. He wants profit.

You can't excuse war on those grounds. He goes on, however, to say, nothing short of necessity to the end of the preservation of national existence. So if there's a foreign invader, yeah, you are not called upon to just watch them decimate your society, to watch them take all the women and all the children and all the stuff. No, the Bible envisages a person or a people group, a body politic, being led by a leader engaging in that resistance.

In order to make war right in God's sight, it is not only necessary that our enemies should aim to do us wrong, but also, one, that the wrong he attempts should directly or remotely threaten the national life. And two, that war be the only means to avert it. So that's the just war part. But the fact that there is war, Deuteronomy 7, Romans chapter 13, the favorable view of the military in the New Testament.

Now brethren, what they are doing, at least in the United States, to the military there, it doesn't seem like they're brutal fighting men anymore, but back in the Roman Empire, that's what they did. They killed people and they broke things. That was their job. So when those soldiers ask, or are in the presence of the preaching of John the Baptist, and he is counseling them on repentance, do you know what he doesn't say?

Get out of the military. hang up your sword, get rid of your armor, go work at Walmart. He doesn't say that. He doesn't sanction military service. Neither does Jesus.

Neither does the book of Acts. What was Cornelius's job? He was a military man. When the Holy Spirit fell upon him, when he was baptized, guess what Peter doesn't say?

Well, I'll be expecting you to, you know, get rid of or resign your commission and, you know, go work at Walmart. The military is a necessity in a fallen world. We live in a vicious, brutal, barbarous world. And at times, and I think it's qualified well by Hodge there, there's a lot more to be said to be sure.

But in those instances of national defense, yeah, that's okay, that's biblical, that's just.

Self-Defense

And then the third thing is the place of self-defense. You can turn first to Exodus chapter 22. Exodus chapter 22. We're not gonna be here all night, but I do not see us finishing this message.

So I wanna just make sure you're all aware, you don't have to buckle in too tight. But notice in Exodus chapter 22, Verse one, if a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, he shall restore five ox and four sheep for a sheep. Now notice in verses two and three. Verses two and three legitimize self-defense.

Verses two and three legitimize self-defense, home defense, family defense, okay? Verse two, if the thief is found breaking in and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed. The man who strikes him and kills him, there's no guilt for his bloodshed. Why is that?

Well, you hear a noise at night, and you kind of mosey down the stairs, and you're rubbing the sleep out of your eyes, and there's a guy in your kitchen. and you engage in an exchange, and in that exchange, he dies. You're not guilty of murder. You're not culpable. There should be nothing that happens to you.

You shouldn't have to be taken down to the station. That's not what we find here. He's not guilty for the bloodshed. Now, verse 3 qualifies this, and verse 3 indicates that other information, if it obtains, may change the outcome.

So verse three, if the sun has risen on him, there shall be guilt for his bloodshed. Okay, so if it's daytime, I'm not wandering down my stairs and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. If it's daytime, I am better able to judge his purpose for being in my house. If it's daytime, most likely my neighbors are awake.

So if I scream or shout, I can get some assistance. When it comes to this qualification, if I kill him in that exchange, then there most likely will be guilt for me. Now if he's there with a gun and he's going to kill me and kill my family, well then certainly you're going to be vindicated. But you are better able to determine why he's in your house at that particular time, so you can't just engage in an exchange and kill him.

There might be guilt on your part if that happens. But in terms of verse 2, it's nighttime, you don't know what his intentions are, you engage in that exchange, and in that exchange, you end his life. You are not responsible. Why?

Because of self-defense. Turn over to Luke's Gospel, Luke chapter 12. This passage is not a passage that is calculated to teach the legitimacy of self-defense. I'm going to tell you that right out, exegetically, it is not a passage that is in the Bible to teach you about self-defense.

But it is a passage where our blessed Savior assumes self-defense. He presupposes that persons will defend themselves, their wives, their kids, their home, that sort of a thing. Notice in Luke's gospel, specifically at chapter 12 and verse 39, But know this, now it's a caution, it's a warning concerning the coming of the Son of Man. And he says, but know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.

Huh? You mean he doesn't stand there and say, oh, you want to come in and steal? Oh, sure. You want my wallet?

Oh, yeah, just down at the end of the hall. Just pick up after yourself when you're all done. No, you reject this man from coming into your house. You defend yourself, you defend your family, and you defend your domicile.

Now, that statement at the end of the sermon, well, chapter 5 of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus talks about turning the other cheek, he's not talking about defense of home, defense of others, defense of self. He's talking about a an attitude, a disposition on the sort of day-in, day-out sort of a basis. Don't be the kind of guy that has to requite every little thing that happens to you. Have a thick skin.

Be able to function in a way that is, you know, operative in terms of life itself. Matthew 5 does not militate against the rest of the Bible. The rest of the Bible teaches us that it's okay, relative to God, in civil society, to engage in the death penalty, to engage in just war, and to engage in self-defense. So those are the exceptions noted.

The Reason Specified: Imago Dei

And then notice finally under the head the explanation of the command. And this is probably a good place for us to end, a good place for us to be reminded as we think about the sanctity of life, not just next Sunday, I hope we think about it all the time, as we're confronted with the various abuses in this regard, we need to have a biblical understanding of this doctrine of the image of God. So the reason specified is the fact that man bears God's image. Genesis chapter 1.

In fact, you can turn there. Get that passage before us. Genesis chapter 1. As you read through the creation account, it's a wonderful display of the power of God, the wisdom of God, the goodness of God.

It's a blessed reality. He makes all things out of nothing by the word of his power in the space of six days. And it's all very good. It's a blessed thing.

But when he creates the animals, when he creates the birds, when he creates the land beast, when he creates the sea animals, it is never stipulated. It is never specified. It is never told us that those animals bear the image of God. That is confined to man.

That is unique to man. Now, I'm not one of these people that are for punishing or torturing or doing vile things to animals. I think we need to be responsible stewards and agents in God's world. I think we need to be responsible people that don't abuse things just because we want to abuse things.

But at the same time, I'm not one of these people that are not gonna eat meat. That's not murder, brethren. They don't bear the image of God. The Baltimore Oriole, the Beluga Whale, the Dolphin, the Orangutan, they're nice.

They're wonderful. We shouldn't shoot them in the head for no reason. But they're not image bearers of God. That's confined to man himself.

Notice in 126, then God said, let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle. See, what we're told today is that that's vicious, it's vile, it's cruel. Well, that's their view of God.

That's their view of the Bible. That's their view of Yahweh and His anointed. I mean, brethren, if you chase out the commands of Scripture, Everything the world tells us is contrary to that. Exercise dominion over the animals, and that includes eating them.

Oh no, we can't do that. What does God say here? Well, let's just read it. Let's see it for ourselves.

Genesis chapter one, verse 27. So he created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and God said to them, notice, be fruitful in what? Multiply.

You mean multiplying the species is a good idea? Yes. You mean 7 or 8 billion people on this globe is a good thing? Yes.

You mean having more babies is good? Yes. The world tells us just the opposite. Do you know the biggest threat to the environment is that baby in the diaper?

The biggest threat to the environment is man. They want to worship the creature rather than the creator, and as a result, they invert his purpose and plan. Everything God says is good, they say is bad. They say, oh no, these are more mouths to feed.

These are more backs to clothe. The people of God should say, praise God Almighty that He's given us these rich gifts, these resources. Children are a gift from God, not something that is a curse, not something that is a problem, not something that is bad. Fruitfulness and multiplication is God's plan. for creation.

So in light of that, do you think the infinite wisdom of God so built this globe that it could sustain that multiplication? Yeah, he did. It's amazing. It is wonderful.

When we're all dead, buried, and gone, guess what still marches on under the power and plan and purpose of God? This globe. The earth can take care, well, it can't take care of itself, that sounds like the humanist. God takes care of it.

And again, responsible stewardship. I mean, we shouldn't do things knowingly reckless and knowingly foolish and knowingly stupid, but we should in fact realize that God made the earth to care for us to sustain us, to be a blessing for us. It is intriguing. When you read scripture and then you think about modern policy, wow, it's exactly opposite.

There is a huge contrast. So the reality is that God made man in his image. As I mentioned before, it was a paraphrase of Voss. Voss says in Life Slain, it is the image of God, i.e. the divine majesty, that is assaulted.

Now, when we ask the question, well, when is it the image of God?

The Image of God in the Womb

This comes up with abortion a lot. Is that baby in the womb the image of God? Is that baby in the womb sentient? Is that baby in the womb self-aware?

Well, yeah, absolutely, positively, that baby in the womb is self-aware. It is sentient. It is to be protected under God's law. But it's not just the baby in the womb.

It's the baby in the womb all the way till the day that it dies because of God. not by its own hand, not by the hand of some ghoulish doctor that is violating the Hippocratic oath. So the biblical testimony is that we are the image of God before the fall into sin. We see that here in Genesis 1, verses 26 to 28. It is true of man after the fall into sin.

Now some theologians disagree in terms of this particular doctrine, but I think they'll all agree that yes, we bear the image of God at least in some sense. I have my convictions on what that some sense means, but the Bible tells us in chapter 5 of Genesis, the image of God James chapter 3, the condemnation of the use of the tongue, the misuse of the tongue. He says, with it we bless our God and with it we curse men who are made in what? In his similitude, in his likeness.

So the image of God is not forfeit completely at the fall. The image of God continues in man. Now, thirdly, the image of God is there in the womb, the pre-born in the womb. I mentioned the divine weaver passage in Psalm 139.

But if you're taking notes and you want to jot these down, Genesis 25, 19 to 23, Job 10, 8 to 12, Job 31, 13 to 15, Psalm 51.5, David tracing back his native depravity, goes right back to the womb. In sin, my mother conceived me. He's not saying the conception act itself, the conjugal relation between his father and mother was sin. He's saying that as soon as David was, he was in sin.

As soon as David was, he was an inheritor of Adam's nature. But it was David. In sin, my mother conceived what? Some product of conception?

Some mass of undefined cells? No, she conceived me, David. That's what he says, Psalm 51. Ecclesiastes 11.5.

Two passages speaking of two men that were very instrumentally used in the advancement of the kingdom of God. Jeremiah 1.5 and Galatians 1. What does the prophet trace his call to the prophetic ministry? God called him from the womb.

What does the apostle Paul trace his call to the apostolic ministry? God separated him from his mother's womb. Elizabeth and Mary meet together. What does Elizabeth say to Mary?

The mother of my Lord is present. Isn't that amazing? The mother of my Lord. So Jesus in the womb of Mary is the Lord.

I mean, the Christological implications of that are astronomical. But according to the humanity implications, are absolutely consistent with redemptive history, with redemptive revelation. It is the image of God that we're dealing with in the womb. And then turn with me to Exodus 21.

A specific passage that regulates or legislates or protects those babies in the womb. Exodus 21 at verse 22, if men fight and hurt a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, literally, so that her children, plural, come out. Come out is the language of giving birth. This is not a miscarriage.

This is the language of premature birth. If men fight, and in that exchange, they happen to throw a blow her way, and then her babies come out, yet no harm follows to her or her baby babies. No harm follows in terms of the woman and the issue from her womb. No harm follows.

He shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman's husband imposes on him. And he shall pay as the judge has determined. See this concept of suffering and pain and, you know, I lost time at work. That's not a modern original invention.

Western civilization owns its jurisprudence to redemptive revelation. It owes its jurisprudence to the God of Holy Scripture. It owes its jurisprudence to the Bible. This idea of pain and suffering and I missed work, as we worked through, I think everybody would testify that was here on Wednesday night.

I mean, you don't have to testify, but I think you'll notice that God takes that seriously. If you are involved in something and you are out of work as a result, when it comes time to impose a fine on that person, he's got to pay for the time you were out of work. You don't live on love and fresh air, brother. You gotta buy eggs, which 10 bucks a dozen now is, you gotta work.

And if somebody keeps you from that work because of their recklessness, they're going to pay the fine in order to compensate you. So notice what goes on in the passage. Verse 23, but if any harm follows. To mother, who got smacked by these two goons, or one of them, and to the babies. that came out.

Look at this. If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. You see, the death penalty is imposed upon an accidental abortion. Because the guy's fighting another guy.

He didn't intend to kill her or her baby. He intended to beat this guy in this brawl. So this is an accidental abortion that has, as it's sanctioned, the death penalty. How much more state-licensed abortion?

How much more when that's the premeditated act? How much more when that's the given intention? How much more when we live in a society where this is OK, this is permissible, this is legit, this is something that we're OK with? No, the blood cries out, brethren.

Think of that Numbers 35 passage. It is terrifying. The blood of righteous Abel cried out. The blood of righteous babies, innocent, judicially innocent babies cries out.

Image-Bearers at Every Stage of Life

So it's true in the womb, it's true of children. Children, image bearers, you're not supposed to abuse them, you're not supposed to hurt them, you're not supposed to mistreat them. The Apostle Paul operates accordingly. Ephesians chapter 6, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath.

Don't do that. You're not supposed to do that. You're not supposed to hurt them. Several prohibitions in the Old Testament, you're not supposed to give your children a molot.

Why? Because that was child sacrifice. That was to kill them. You weren't supposed to make them pass through the fire.

That wasn't some, you know, walk on coals to see if you were a stud or not. It was to kill them. The pagans did this. They celebrated this kind of carnality.

And the children of Israel are prohibited. You can't say, well, they're just children. They're protected by God's law. But it's also true of the handicapped.

Leviticus 19, don't put a stumbling block in the way of a blind man. Bartimaeus, the Lord Christ, dignifies that handicapped man. Jesus is passing through Jericho. Blind Bartimaeus says, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.

He stops, he walks over to him, and he asks him, what would you have me to do? The handicapped are valuable. They are image bearers. We are not to treat them with the kind of disrespect and disdain that modern society does.

The elderly, the elderly and all of us, every single one in this room ought to learn the Bible's lessons in this. If you are a young person, give up your seat to the hoary-headed person. If you are a young person, defer to others that have age over you. When you are in a society where there is little regard for the elderly, again, that's barbarism, that is brutality, that is not a healthy place to be.

So the elderly are protected. So from cradle to grave, actually from womb to grave, God tells us that every stage of life, that person is an image bearer. As well, it's true of the sick, James chapter 5. Oh, well, you know, they're just saying, oh, no, they're dignity.

They have dignity. They are image bearers. And therefore, they must be afforded that respect and protection that God's law envisages for them. And as well, finally, it is true of man relative to animals again.

We ought not to be brutal to animals. Persons that are brutal to animals, we have no safe bet they're going to not be brutal to people. It's a terrifying prospect. But with reference to animals, they are under man in the packing order.

That is God's purpose and plan. We're not supposed to worship them. We're not supposed to deify them. We're not supposed to avoid them like the plague.

And whether or not you want to eat them, that's your prerogative. But you cannot do so by saying, the Bible forbids it. No, the Bible doesn't forbid it. In fact, the Bible tells us it is perfectly legitimate.

And when that prodigal son returns home, the father doesn't tell the servants, make a big salad. He says, slay the fatted calf. My son who was dead is alive. My son who was lost is found.

It is fitting for us to feast on this beast.

Application: A Nation Under Judgment

Brethren, the Bible tells us that man bears the image of God and therefore is to be protected in light of that reality. The scriptures are clear. the unlawful shedding of man's blood is a capital offense, and a nation that does not punish it, a nation that encourages it, a nation that is involved in it, is a nation ripe for judgment by God Most High. If the church doesn't wake up and pray for kings and all who are in authority, so that the church may lead peaceable and quiet lives vis-a-vis 1 Timothy 2, we are being derelict in our duties. We are to pray.

We are to preach. We are to proclaim the cross, but also the law, which necessitates sinners fleeing to that cross. Well, let us close in a word of prayer.

Closing Prayer

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for its clarity at this place of the sixth commandment. And God, we do live in a brutal and barbaric age. We live in an age where technology is even employed to to kill more people.

And it is gross, it is ghoulish, it is vile. And it bothers us, and we're not holy like you. We're not even holy and it bothers us. You are a holy and a righteous God.

You heard the blood of Abel cry out. Certainly all of that unrequited blood that has polluted this earth cries out to you as well. And we would pray most high that you would send forth your gospel. We pray that more and more people would be saved.

More and more people would turn from these murderous principles and that they would embrace the true and the living God. And God, be merciful to our civil authority. Be merciful to those in high places that they're not only fine with these things, but oftentimes subsidize them and promote them in the name of whatever it is that they invoke. Just be merciful, we pray.

And thank you again. In this church, we thank you for all the children, all the babies, all of these little ones. Help us to be faithful in the way that we rear them. May it be in the training and the admonition of the Lord.

May you save more and more and more. And we ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. We'll close with a brief time of meditation.

Scripture References

• Genesis 1:27; 5; 9:6; 25:19-23
• Exodus 20; 20:13; 21:12-13; 21:22-23; 22:1-3
• Leviticus 19:14; 19:17-18
• Numbers 35:31; 35:33
• Deuteronomy 5; 7; 19:4-5; 19:8; 19:11
• 1 Samuel 8
• Job 10:8-12; 31:13-15
• Psalms 51:5; 139
• Proverbs 8:13; 8:15
• Ecclesiastes 11:5
• Jeremiah 1:5
• Matthew 5
• Luke 12:39
• John 14:15; 17:17
• Romans 13:1-4
• Galatians 1:15
• Ephesians 6:4
• 1 Timothy 2:1-2
• James 3; 5:14
• 1 John 3