Tonight, I invite you to turn in your Bibles to 1st John, 1st John chapter 3, 1st John chapter 3, and we're going to begin at verse 7 and read to the end of the chapter, 1st John chapter 3, beginning at verse 7, that's found on page 1211 in your Bibles, and then And we'll be looking at the Sixth Commandment. And you'll find that on page 247 in that forms book, the Sixth Commandment. As a matter of fact, let's start there. So I'm going to, Lord's Day 40 is on page 247 in the back of those forms book. I'm going to ask, there's three question and answers in this section on the Sixth Commandment. I'll ask the question, please respond with the answer, and then we'll read God's holy word. So question 105, Lord's Day 40, what is God's will for you in the sixth commandment? I am not to belittle, hate, insult, or kill my neighbor, not by my thoughts, my words, my look or gesture, and certainly not by actual deeds. And I am not to be party to this and others, rather I am to put away all desire for revenge. I am not to harm or recklessly endanger my life, myself, either. Prevention of murder is also why government is armed with the sword. Does this commandment refer only to murder? By forbidding murder, God teaches us that he hates the root of murder, envy, hatred, anger, vengefulness. In God's sight, all such are disguised forms of murder. And then turning the page to 107, is it enough then that we do not murder our neighbor in any such way? No. By condemning envy, hatred, and anger, God wants us to love our neighbors as ourselves, to be patient, peace-loving, gentle, merciful, and friendly toward them, to protect them from harm as much as we can, and to do good even to our enemies. And now 1 John 3, beginning at verse 7. And little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil. For the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. no one born of God makes a practice of sinning for God's seed abides in him and he can not keep on sinning because he has been born by God by this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil whoever does whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God nor is the one who does not love his brother for this is the message that you have heard from the beginning that we should love one another we should not be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother and why did he murder him because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous and there will end the reading of God's word tonight well we're continuing our study in the 10 commandments and reflecting out of the the heidelberg on what are the implications of the commandment and to understand the commandment and we come tonight to the sixth commandment after some time looking at the fifth last time honor your father and your mother now we move to the sixth commandment which is a very direct commandment it's a very clear commandment thou shall not murder it's um one of those commandments i think that's really easy to apply to the big-name murderers of the world, the Charlie Mansons, the Ted Bundys, and the Scott Petersons, and of course the list is ever-growing in our day of murder. In America, they say, in the U.S., about every 22 minutes, totaling around 24,000 a year, and that number may not seem so great to you, but it is great, but I just was reading today that there was a body found out in Jamal right on the side of the road that they're assuming was murder. This is happening all the time. In fact, in just the last two years, 94% in L.A. County have 94, there's been a 94% jump in homicides. So this is an important subject to think about, especially when we add the issue of abortion, legalizing abortion, was the National Right to Life Committee newsletter that said some time ago that more unborn babies have been murdered than the populations of New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, St. Louis, Atlanta, and San Antonio combined across the world. Think about that. What a thought tonight. We could look at statistics and continue to do that, but the horrible reality of murder is all around us. But if we left it there, I think we would be ignoring the great emphasis of Scripture to help us understand how we get here and what causes this, and especially the greater implications of the commandment, which are so far-reaching, I think, as you saw in the Heidelberg, that we would get three question and answers to this. It's an important commandment, isn't it? What a sad thing to stamp out a life due to sheer hatred from the heart and rob somebody and take their life. I've always thought that is just the worst thing to have to see and endure in this life. And the very first sin recorded after the fall in the scriptures is murder. A murder of Abel right after the fall. As we approach the sixth commandment tonight, I think we're struck with how straightforward it is in these presented these four words that are really not disputed in any way thou shall not murder i'm sure at this point in our study of the ten commandments as we have been spending time with this and reflecting on the implications of the the commandments that we're going to see and we understand how far reaching this commandment is in life and that the intent of the spirit of the commandment which reaches deep into the human heart the heidelberg helps us greatly to understand how far reaching the commandment is it's a simple outline tonight as we're looking at this we're going to look simply at the root and practice of murder and then we're going to look at the way of love because there's a great positive dimension to this commandment that you'll notice in that last question answer there 107 that it's not just about not murdering the positive dimension is that it's about love. And that's a beautiful thing when we think about it. Question 106 helps us to get to the root and the practice of the problem of murder. And you'll notice in that particular question and answer there, it helps us by asking this question, does the commandment only refer to murder? And what we read is by forbidding murder, God teaches us that he hates the root of murder there's a root to murder and then it it provides what that looks like envy hatred anger and vengefulness question 106 is really helpful and i think it's important to say that there we get to the starting point of murder um the danger is that we um as the catechism helps us to understand the danger is that we begin to to practice the beginning points that lead to murder and we practice the the the root of murder and with god that is very serious it's an important point that that all murder begins on a trajectory if you will a path that we know this in society that even when they are trying to solve murder cases they're always looking at the trajectory they're looking at the path when someone is being tried for murder they have to try to determine intent don't they so they're looking at intent was it premeditated was it before it led to the actual act in premeditation if someone kills someone without premeditation you've got the category of involuntary manslaughter and if it was a result of recklessness and that resulted in somebody dying, then you have involuntary manslaughter. So you see these categories as they're, even in nature and in law, they're trying to wrestle through intent to understand how did we get to the end point. And we tend to look at murder only after the fact, once the body is laying on the ground, once it has actually come out that somebody's life is taken. But you'll notice in the scriptures that the scriptures want to address this long beforehand. And what we find is that the act of murdering someone is a result of something that was deeply embedded in the human heart to begin with. The Bible calls this and labels this as the way of Cain. Jude says that. He designates murder as the way of Cain. Woe to them, for they've walked in the way of Cain. You'll notice how strong the language in 1 John is there of a decisive break between two different, very different kinds of people in this life. Those who are actually living out the will of their father and then those who are living out the will of God. There's a distinctive break there. There's an important distinction there as one is marked by love and the other is marked by hate. And this is what Jesus was saying in John 8. You are of your father the devil when he said to the Pharisees, and your will is to do... Think about this language, how strong this is. Your will is to do your father's desires. Desires. He was a, Jesus said, murderer from the beginning. And so when we come to 1 John and we pick up with these words, we should not be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he do it? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. Well, there you're getting at the intent. There you're getting at the heart. And I think it's important just for a minute to think about what happened in that very account. I've always thought you really can't go to a better place in all of Scripture than to understand murder, than to look at the first record of it in Scripture in Genesis chapter 4. And you know that story well. It's a well-known story that we've read throughout the course of our lives that both of them had come up to worship. I wonder if that was in Jesus' mind when he talked about people coming up to worship. Both of them were coming up to worship. Abel's worship was accepted. Cain's was rejected. This is a classic case when you study this out and you look at the trajectory of Cain and you look what was going on with Cain of just what the Heidelberg says, that envy and hatred and anger and vengefulness filled his heart. That is exactly what happened in Genesis chapter 4. Remember the Lord came along and he really began to dissect the heart. He really began to look at Cain's heart. He provided us a case study of the heart of how Cain came to this way. Remember Genesis 4 verse 6. So the Lord said, why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at your door. And its desire is for you. Sin grows, coming out of the heart. And it grows in such a way that it leads you somewhere, Cain. Notice the first thing the Lord raised. in addressing what we know would become one of the worst murders in the Bible, the first thing the Lord raised was this great question. Why are you angry? Why are you angry? It's anger in life. Anger. A big emotion. Something that overcomes people. you're an angry person in life. Why are you so angry? What has caused this? What has brought that about, Cain? Well, we know. There was nothing when you looked at Cain that I'm sure he would have demonstrated it outwardly as he came up to be a worshiper. But deep within the recesses of the heart, anger had built. Remember with Esau, the same thing happened. Hebrews will call it when we get there, a root of bitterness began to spring up in that heart. When someone's countenance falls, it's usually demonstrated in a passive way. But I want you to notice the issue that the Lord raises of a falling countenance, but anger building in the heart. Anger is a terrible emotion and a terrible problem of something that can utterly control people. I remember reading a book by a woman years ago and she wrote it and she said it. I didn't. I can talk about men's anger all day long. But if I get it from another woman, it's helpful. She observed in her counseling something that happened and something that she used and thought was common at some point in life for a woman. She said instead of being thankful, she noticed that a particular woman she was counseling had begun to practice bitterness. Practicing, she said, always practicing, perfecting the bitterness and perfecting the discontentment. In the course of time, the edginess and the moodiness began to grow. She said she realized that she could no longer control her nervousness. And one day she snapped. She lost control. The family had learned to tolerate these occasional blow-ups. She kept practicing the bitterness and practicing the anger, expecting her family to appease her and being offended when they acted like everything was just fine. First, she was only mad at her husband. Years, she was mad at the family. Time went on, she was mad at the church. Then she was mad at the mailman. Then she was mad at the waitress. Practicing, always practicing and perfecting the anger. Why are you angry? What's caused it? Cain's anger out of envy and jealousy grew so strong that the sin began to grow. Remember, Rosario, I used this example a few weeks ago, but it's so important in this context. She said, sin is like that little lion cub. I used this with the youth the other night. And that lion cub, when we entertain it, is cued up front. And we play with it because it seems harmless. But one day that little lion cub turns into a lion and devours you. It's what sin does. And that's what we're seeing here with Cain. That's what we're seeing come out of the heart with Cain. It grew so strong. The sin became so real. The sin became so developed. The sin became so full grown that we read it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him. His continual anger ended with premeditated murder. Notice the Lord's question. I mean, notice what he said to the Lord when the Lord came to him. I'm a God of justice. His blood is crying out from the ground. Listen to the anger. My, my brother's keeper. What do you think I should care about him? I don't have any responsibility to Him whatsoever. That is exactly the end point of what unrepentant anger in the heart where it leads. That's the testimony of Scripture. And the reality that the Scriptures maintain what we want to unravel for a bit is what the Sixth Commandment is all about. for, remember what Jesus said when he was dealing with the human heart and diagnosing the human heart. For it's out of the heart that, notice the things that he emphasized first. Evil thoughts. Evil thoughts towards someone. And then murder. And then adultery. And then sexual morality. And then theft and false witness and slander. All of that coming out of the human heart. So I think it's important up front when we're talking about the root of murder to know that it's nothing to play with. Remember what James says, let no one say when he's tempted, I'm tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone, but each one is tempted when he's drawn away, here it is, by his own desires. This is what happened to Cain and enticed. It's what sin was doing at the door. Then when desire has conceived, sinful desire it gives birth to sin and sin when it's fully grown there it is it grew into that lion it brings forth death it brought forth in this case the death of the brother but it brought full death in Cain that's the course of sin that's the the all sin is traveling all sin is moving and the point is when we see the outward act of murder take place the intent to take one's life That's not a random thing that's happening. That's why we make distinction between murder in the first, premeditated and something involuntary. But God is taking us and showing us everywhere that murder is the end of, and it begins in the heart, but the end act of actually taking the life is something that began in the inside. Where does murder begin? It's inevitable in this life that offenses will come. We know that. You will be offended by people. You will be offended, especially in a close community like this. I mean, you will be offended by someone in the family of God. Some people will just annoy you. There are certain people who get under our skin simply because of who they are. There are other people that get under our skin because they have a righteousness that bothers us. These are the kinds of things that happen. And murder begins from out of the heart, we begin to taste the disdain for the person. Begin to entertain that disdain. We begin to taste it. And in our sick, twisted natures, we begin to delight in disliking the person. And then it moves to gossip. A life full of it coming out of the mouth and envy and hatred and anger. That's what he's talking about here. If that's not repented of, the evil thoughts, if that's not repented of, it grows. Just like that woman where it grew. Now that's the progression that from the root of anger comes certain emotions. We envy, we hate, we have vengefulness. But in 105, you'll notice of the Heidelberg, at the beginning, there's a path that these emotions set somebody on. We begin to belittle, hate, insult, with that final end result of killing and murdering. Now, I think it's important to say that murder is not always just physical. That's where we sort of left this. There's this trajectory, this movement in the heart that leads to the murdering of people, that hate that so overtakes the heart that we're effectively what we do with people. And we all know this. This is what we do. When someone has us this way, and in our hearts we have begun this process, what we begin to do is at some point make a break. I'm not going to acknowledge them anymore. I'm not going to talk to them anymore. Love is absent. And in the end, the end result, though we would never get to the point in our lives of killing and murdering somebody physically, the very act in its final form for many people is to write them out of existence in our lives. I'm done with them. I'm done with them. as if they're dead to me by the side of the road. That we do do. Who here hasn't done that? We've all done it. I'm done with that person. The Heidelberg really helps us here with that tonight. I encourage you to read that and reflect on it. Jesus was pretty serious about it. But I say to you that whoever is, Matthew 5, 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 council. But whoever who says, you fool, shall be in danger of hellfire. Therefore, if you're going to come up to worship, says Jesus, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift before the altar and go your way. First, be reconciled to your brother, then come back to worship. See, that was the standard. The Pharisees took this, you know what he was reacting to. The Pharisees said, well, thou shall not murder if I have a bat in my hand and I'm angry at my brother and I almost went to kill him and decided that I'm not going to do it, then that's keeping the sixth commandment. And you see how far reaching Jesus is with the commandment. And I think that's why 105 is so important tonight, that belittling and hating and insult or killing are all this action of murder towards somebody that is running a course. I can't stand that person. Have you ever said that? I could never forgive them. I hate you. I wish I had never known you. Jesus says, you've murdered. To simply be angry with your brother that way is in danger of the judgment. Jesus says, in the righteous standard of the law, in the full weight of the law, The one who does this is going to be thrown into prison until he's paid the last penny. Jesus is saying and pressing upon us the weight of how serious anger is from the heart. Listen to William Hendrickson. Jesus is teaching just one lesson, a very important one. He's saying that sinful anger, the kind that leads to bitter words, is in its very nature murder. It is murder committed in the heart. Unless he repents, the person with this kind of attitude faces everlasting punishment in hell. Whatever he may be inhumanized before God, he stands condemned and is on his way to never-ending death. Thus, while the scribes and the Pharisees place the emphasis on the outward deed, as if that alone were reprehensible, Jesus traced the deed to the underlying disposition, evil disposition of the human heart. That's the way of murder. That's the way of living for the devil's desires and wills. To have so much bitterness and anger in the heart towards someone made in God's image that it takes you to the root of the problem and it leads out to action. So there we've looked at it tonight. You see how heavy and weighty this particular command is. And I think the greater issue is to remember, as James said, there's one who judges. We're not the judge. And so, then we move to the positive aspect for those who've been redeemed, for those who've been forgiven, for those who lead the new life in Jesus Christ. And the great truth that motivates us, the great truth that drives us in all of this, having received the grace of God in Christ and having been brought out of that old nature and under the devil's tyranny into a good father's relationship and into one who loves us is the great motivating truth that while we were still enemies and while we were dead in trespasses and sins, Jesus died for us. Wow. That has to set in. Who? Me. I was the dead one on the side of the road. I was the one who hated God and neighbor. And when I never chose him, when I never asked for it, in AD 30, in the month of Nisan, at about the sixth hour of the day, before I had even been born, he was paying for my sins. So, what is God after for his righteous, for his people? who live in gratitude for so great a salvation. Well, that's 107, isn't it? Is it not enough that we do not murder our neighbor in any such way? No, it's not enough. There's a positive dimension to this. There's more to this. What is the redeemed heart pursuing the will of his Father in heaven? That's the pursuit. We don't do it perfectly. That's why we come to Christ and are forgiven. But what should be coming out of the heart now of the redeemed person? Listen to what it says. By condemning envy, hatred, and anger, God wants something else of us. What does righteousness look like? We always sing in praise that God is a God of righteousness and justice and truth. He loves truth where? In the inward parts. Psalm 51. He loves truth in the inward parts. He loves sincerity coming out of the inward parts. He hates hypocrisy. What does it look like? We should be, this is just so great, patient, peace-loving, gentle, merciful, and friendly, protecting them from harm as much as we can and doing good to our enemies. oh, that's so our God, isn't it? So beautiful. So right. It's so good. I'm not standing up here tonight thinking that we live this perfectly. Please understand. What does 1 John say? If you sin, confess your sins and he's faithful and just to do what? We're all going to sin in this way. We're all not going to keep this the way we should. Confess your sins and he's faithful and just to forgive them. Forgive that root. And then cleanse the inward parts from all unrighteousness. What a great summarizing number 107 is of Scripture on how we should love. I always think that when we find people who we're most bothered with, God is teaching us something about us. God is actually showing something in them about us that's really that's wrong with us. I've also learned that when God puts people in our lives that are very difficult to love and that people who test us and push us and try us, I've often thought that is a providential working of God to teach us something about our attitude and actions to him. If you can learn that, it'll save you from that root. That God sovereignly puts people in our lives at times who test us with this and how will we respond when we understand that they're teaching us in sanctification something about us and how we've treated god who loved us by giving his son it motivates an entirely different response i promise you i've tried it and tested it and I failed the other way. John says the evidence that you have been, he wrote this to help you with assurance on this fact, the evidence that you've been born again by the Spirit, the evidence that you have a new life implanted in you, the evidence that you're loved by God, the evidence of that, that you've transferred realms and are adopted sons is known by what? How you love the brethren. we know we know that we've passed over from death to life because we love the brethren there's always something so healthy when someone's running away and saying they they don't love the brethren but there's something so beautiful about loving the brethren and enjoying your brethren john says if you demonstrate and have a love for your neighbor for those especially of whom the blood of Christ has cleansed yes those very difficult ones that's the evidence you've passed over you've already passed to eternal life so it's done it's evidence and he goes on to say if you know the love of Christ has been poured out in your hearts what that will do is drive you now in a certain measure to lay down your life for one another that's the christian life that's why the heidelberg says it's not enough that we don't kill our neighbor no god tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves to pursue them to love them first john john 13 a new commandment i give you that you love one another as i have loved you that's what drives us. It's the love of Christ. It's the forgiveness in Christ that you love one another. What it means is that it's costly and it's difficult and you're going to fail and you're going to stumble, but you're on the path of righteousness. It's easy to walk away. I get it. It's easy to not pray for your brothers and sisters. It's easy to avoid even enemies in this world it's easy to hate isn't that so interesting it's hard to love but it's easy to hate shows the human nature it's easy to let anger build in the heart it's easy there's a there's that old nature that twisted old nature that tends to love controversy and tends to love fighting and tends to love to hate But that's not the way of Jesus. The way of Jesus is to be Christ-like. Be kind to one another, says Paul to the Ephesians. Tender-hearted. Forgiving one another as God in Christ has forgave you. Jesus, you know, he doesn't treat us like that at all. And he's the righteous one who never sinned. who has a perfect right to judge us. As David said, you'd be just if you entered in a judgment with us, with me. You'd be righteous to do it. But instead, he took all that guilt and shame on himself of your sins and returned to you constantly in life. Think about all this that he's blessed you with. He's constantly tenderhearted to you. And He's in all of your afflictions and in all of your difficulties, when we continue to do the same stupid sins, He comes every week and returns upon you a message of, I've forgiven you. I love you. I don't hold it against you. I have taken that condemnation and there is no more condemnation. He gives you a kind word of peace. And that final blessing, when I give the final blessing, You know the intention of that? The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord to make his face shine upon you. The intention of that is that you would see and understand that he's announcing his smiling face is upon you. A friendly face. The face of a friend who loves you. That is what drives us to begin to behave like this. Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast. It's not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It's not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. And that's the perspective on the sixth commandment that the Lord wants us to have, to love your neighbor as yourself despite all your neighbor's failings and provocations and things that he does despite his weaknesses and failures or hers. We are, as God's people, living to demonstrate the same love that we have received in Christ. While we were yet sinners, Jesus Christ died for us. Thou shall not murder, but instead, a new commandment I give you. Love one another as I have loved you. May God give us the grace to be practicing that as those who give evidence of being redeemed. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, thank you for helping us tonight with the sixth commandment. We have all failed in this regard. We've not loved the way that we should. We confess that together tonight, that we have had anger and bitterness in our hearts that has caused us all kinds of problems in life. And tonight we let that go, right now. We confess it, we give it to you, we cast that burden upon you asking that you would remove it from us and that you would replace all anger and bitterness and envy and jealousy and all these things that fill our hearts. with love and that we would be a thankful people the way that we have been loved by a wonderful Savior. Thank you, Lord, for instructing us in righteousness. Thank you for being righteous. May we love this righteousness and give evidence of it in our lives as those who are forgiven and loved by you in the way that we now love our neighbor. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you.