ࡱ> .0-7 WbjbjUU &7|7|Wl  <<<<<<<<6 8 8 8 8 8 8 $m \ <<<<<\ <<q <^<<6 <6 " " <0 9/j" "  0 " " The Sanctity of Life Exodus 20:13 Introduction: We live in a murderous world, and always have even though we might not have been aware of it. Just looking back over the last Century we find that even though we here in the United States enjoyed relative peace and safety tens of millions of people all over the world were murdered. Probably the most well known murderer in modern history is Aldolf Hitler. He was personally responsible for the deaths of approximately six million Jews and hundreds of thousands of other people. Although Hitler is the most well known, hes not the most notorious. Joseph Stalin is said to have been responsible for the deaths of perhaps as many as sixty million of his fellow Russians. There have been and still are numerous dictators who have murdered, and continue to murder millions of people. Here in what we think of as the civilized world the murder rate has and continues to increase dramatically. In March of 1996 the population of Great Britain was horror stricken when a madman walked into the classroom of a primary school in Dunblane, Scotland, and open fire killing sixteen children and their teacher. Here in the United States weve had several of these incidents the Colombine Massacre being the most well known. Not long after the Colombine incident a man went on a murderous rampage in a church in Texas, killing a number of worshipers. Shortly before I left England, a man burst into a church service wielding a samuri sword wounding a number of people. A few weeks later a copycat incident occurred where a local politician was killed. Here in America 38,000 people die each year from gunshot wounds. Here in America you can buy trading cards with pictures of and information about your favorite mass murderer! Researchers estimate that the average American child who watches 3 hours of television a day, has by the age of 18 witnessed 40,000 murders and 200,000 other acts of violence. Abortion is another area where we see the murderous heart of man revealed. There have been literally millions of unborn children murdered in their mothers wombs since the 1973 Supreme Court decision to legalize abortion. Some social commentators have referred to the modern culture as the culture of death, but in reality murder has been a problem since Cain slew Abel. The only remedy for a murderous culture is submission to Gods command, You shall not murder. I. What is murder? Anyone who strikes a man and kills him shall surely be put to death. However, if he does not do it intentionally, but God lets it happen, he is to flee to a place I will designate. But if a man schemes and kills another man deliberately, take him away from my altar and put him to death. Ex 21:12-14 a. What we call first degree murder is what the command refers to. b. Manslaughter, capital punishment, war are not referred to in the command. II. What is the penalty for murder? a. Capital punishment. Whoever sheds mans blood, by man his blood shall be shed. Genesis 9: 6 Whoever kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses; but one witness is not sufficient testimony against a person for the death penalty. 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. 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. Num 35:30-33 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and 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 on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Rom 13:1-5 III. Why is murder strictly forbidden, and punishable by death? a. For in the image of God He made man. Gen 9:6 Human life is emphatically declared to be sacred. Life is a God given gift, therefore man is not to take away from another man what God has given except under the circumstances God has declared. b. God will ultimately deal with murderers. Our modern judicial system might go easy on murders (the average time spent in prison for a convicted murderer is less than 2 years) but God doesnt. His laws havent changed the unrepentant murderer has hell to look forward to. Close: Application to believers under the New Covenant. a. As weve seen, murder is a major problem in our world. But it doesnt really seem to be a problem in the church. As a matter of fact, Im sure that if you asked faithful church-goers what they thought of murder, they would say it is wrong! And if you asked them if they would ever commit murder, they would respond with an absolute NEVER! Yet according to the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, it is quite possible that our churches are filled with murders. Listen to Jesus: You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder,' and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. But 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, 'Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire. Matt 5:21-23 Here Jesus is teaching that to hate, to feel bitter, to have unpleasant, unkind feelings of resentment towards a person is the equivalent before God of committing murder. Raca! You fool, terms of contempt. Racial slurs, or what we commonly term verbal abuse are all a violation of the sixth commandment. It is a violation of the spirit of that commandment, and if indulged in may lead to a more open and dreadful infraction of the Law. We need to remember that on the day of judgment we will give an account of every idle word which we have spoken. b. We as Christians shouldnt have anything to do with films or other forms of entertainment that glorify or treat lightly murder. c. Anger big issue today. Anger management etc. Confess our sin and let the Holy Spirit flood us with the fruit of the Spirit. 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