A Sermon on the 6th Commandment
as delivered to GHFC Women's Bible Study Fall 2023
QUESTION: What is death?
Death is part of the curse: “From dust you came and to dust you will return.” (Gen. 3:19)
Death is the physical end of our bodies here on earth.
Death is God mercifully limiting our time of pain and suffering here on earth.
Death is the end of our opportunity to trust Christ here on earth.
Death is the consequence of our choosing to live life without the Lord.
Death is God allowing our sin to have a powerful and painful effect here on earth.
God allows our choices to have a real, powerful, and sometimes painful effect. For example:
When we eat too much, God expands our fat stores to accommodate for the excess. That’s how God made the human body. God upholds his laws for the human body even if we choose not to respect those laws.
When an engineer miscalculates the load factor for a bridge, God maintains gravity’s pull on that bridge until the pylons crumble and the bridge collapses. God upholds his laws of gravity even if we do not respect them.
And when Cain decided to kill Abel in Genesis 4, God upheld his laws for how Cain’s muscles contracted. God upheld his laws of momentum. And God upheld his laws for how bone and brain, heart and tissue react to Cain’s brute force.
God doesn’t change his laws because of our poor decisions.
So when one man takes a gun and turns it on his fellow man, when one country bombs another, when someone aborts a baby or is euthanized, God upholds his laws so that our choices have an actual devastating effect.
It’s like God saying, “If you choose to jump off a cliff, I will not change my gravitational laws. I will respect your choice to jump and I will continue to be the force behind gravity even if that means killing you.”
This doesn’t mean that God causes our evil choices. Evil is our choice to operate contrary to God’s moral laws.
The results of our choices—broken bones, death, decay, destruction—are how God causes our choices to have an effect. Death is God maintaining his moral laws in the face of Adam and Eve’s choice. It was like God saying, “If you, Adam and Eve, prefer your own good over mine, I will respect your choice and not force you to be on my side. Even though it grieves me, I will let you feel the consequences of living without me.”
And because everyone tries to live their life apart from God, everyone deserves death. No one deserves a long life and a nice painless passing surrounded by family. Actually, one person did deserve an ideal life with no death. And that person was Jesus. Jesus deserved a painless undying life, but he chose a painful life and a premature death to satisfy God’s anger against our sin.
God’s Anger in Justice
Often in scripture, God’s justice is referred to as his anger. When God is angry, it is a sign that he is about to right his scales of justice. It’s like the warning sign of a fire starting. When you see smoke, you know something’s burning. When we see God’s anger in scripture, it means his justice will soon follow.
This sixth commandment—do not slay a man—says that we are not supposed to execute justice on each other. That is God’s domain.
Even though we all owe God a great debt, we owe him our very lives, we are not to act like the debt collector for our own or someone else’s sin, even if we think someone deserves it.
To take another life either physically or mentally (like Jesus talks about in Matthew 5:22) is to try to collect or pay the debt that is owed to God alone. Life is for God to take when the time is right.
Worshipers of God say, “God decides if a person’s problem or fault warrants their premature end.”
Worshipers of self say, “I decide if a person's problem or fault warrants their premature end.”
I decide if this baby is going to be too big of a problem for me.
I decide if that elderly person has become too much of a burden to me.
I decide if I think my own life has become too long or too tedious.
I decide if my country needs more resources and thus needs to do to war.
I decide if my country needs to get revenge on that country.
I decide if that person’s behavior towards me warrants a mental slaughter in my mind.
This sixth commandment declares that we are not the debt collectors for others nor can we pay our own debts. God alone demands the payment and he pays it. Like Isaiah 63:1-6 says:
Who is this who comes from Edom,
in crimsoned garments from Bozrah,
he who is splendid in his apparel,
marching in the greatness of his strength?
“It is I, speaking in righteousness,
mighty to save.”Why is your apparel red,
and your garments like him who treads in the winepress?“I have trodden the winepress alone,
and from the peoples no one was with me;
I trod them in my anger
and trampled them in my wrath;
their lifeblood spattered on my garments,
and stained all my apparel.For the day of vengeance was in my heart,
and my year of redemption had come.I looked, but there was no one to help;
I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold;—no one could pay the debt
so my own arm brought me salvation,
and my wrath upheld me.I trampled down the peoples in my anger;
I made them drunk in my wrath,
and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”
This 6th commandment is like God drawing a line in the sand telling us: “Life and death are my domain. Israelites, respect this line in the sand, and don’t be your own judge in deciding when to take people’s lives. You were NOT born with the knowledge of good and evil. In fact, you need a major internal overhaul and then lifelong lessons in order to understand the difference between good and evil.”
Therefore, do not put to death. God is in charge of death if and when it needs to happen. This is not a popular thing to say about God. It’s easy to tell others about the author of life, but do we also mention that he kills? I think we’d rather say God only creates and never destroys. It’s Satan. Or it’s just humans that destroy. God is a nice guy. He’s a positive reinforcement kind of God.
The Scary God of the Bible
But the Bible shows us many cases where God put people to death.
QUESTION: What are some of the instances in the Bible where God took life? And why did he take life?
The flood: mankind had become too wicked (Genesis 6)
Snakes attacking the Israelites (Numbers 21)
The earth opening and swallowing those who rebelled against Moses (Numbers 16)
Elijah in a fiery chariot: his mission on earth was done (2 Kings 2)
Enoch: walked faithfully with God then God took him (Genesis 5)
42 Teenagers: mocking Elisha, telling him “to go up to heaven, bald head.” (2 Kings 2)
Moses: he wasn’t to go into the promise land (Deut. 34)
Jezebel: consequence of her crimes and fulfillment of a prophecy (2 Kings 9)
The Egyptian 1st born: So Egypt and Israel would know God (Exodus 12)
Lot’s Wife: She turned back to Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19)
Nadab and Abihu: brought unholy fire before the Lord in (Lev 10)
Sodom and Gomorrah: their wickedness (Genesis 19)
Ananias & Sapphira: Lied to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5)
David’s baby through Bathsheeba: taken because of David’s sin (2 Sam. 12)
God telling the Israelites to wipe out the Canaanites (Deut 7 & 20)
Lists of Capital Punishments in Leviticus 20
I don't know about you, but the God of the Bible makes me tremble:
1 Samuel 2:6 says, “The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up.”
In Exodus 12:23, the ESV uses the word destroyer who is the one who kills the firstborn of Egypt. This destroyer is a messenger from God. Not Satan.
(Amos 3:6b ESV) “Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?”
“See now that I myself am he! There is no God besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand. I lift my hand to heaven and solemnly swear: As surely as I live forever, when I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries and repay those who hate me. I will make my arrows drunk with blood, while my sword devours flesh: the blood of the slain and the captives, the heads of the enemy leaders.” (Deut 32:39-42)
Who wants to be the one to face this God? Praise God, one man did. And that man prayed in agony in Gethsemane “May this cup pass over me.” May I not have to drink the wine of God’s wrath. But not my will but yours be done.
Jesus faced God’s wrath and took all that anger upon himself to right the scales of justice.
We deserve to be stoned for living our lives as if they were ours, but instead of stoning us, Jesus offered himself in our place and then turns to us and says “Woman, where are your accusers? They are no more. Neither do I condemn you. Now go and sin no more.” (John 8)
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:17)
If that doesn’t make you weep and tremble, I don’t know what will.
The only one who could’ve demanded we pay out debt, didn’t demand that we do so. Instead he gave himself for us and said, go and sin no more. You are now more than a conqueror through Christ who gives you strength.
Our Anger Problem
So what do we do with this anger that we still have because the world is not right?
- People speed through stop signs. They steal from Rite Aid. They graffiti. They cuss in front of my children. Their immoral forms of government are forced upon me.
I’m impatient that God isn’t making someone mature fast enough. I’m angry that it’s taking someone so long to do something. I’m angry that I have to suffer through their slow growth!
I want them to be righteous right now! And I want to force them to be good.
EXAMPLE: The other day, I was listening to someone give their opinion about something, and as they were talking, I realized that I didn’t agree. In fact, I strongly disagreed. I also realized this wasn’t the time and place to challenge this person. They weren’t looking for alternative opinions, they were just talking, but the more they talked, the angrier I was getting. So I asked the Lord, “Lord, should I get out of this conversation ASAP? I know the longer I listen, the angrier I’m going to be. Should I just leave?”
And this was the message the Lord had for me.
“Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:6-7 ESV)
These are the words the Lord said to Cain when he was angry at Abel because Abel’s sacrifice was accepted by God and Cain’s wasn’t. Here I was, listening to this person air their opinion and I wasn’t going to get my turn when they were done so I was angry.
“Sin is crouching at your door. It desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
The Lord was showing me how the real enemy wasn’t this person airing their opinion, but the spirit of anger and division that wanted me to hate this person and make them my enemy because they thought differently.
The Lord put the emotion of anger into us for a reason. Anger is not the devil’s invention. It is the Lord’s. Thus, we can use this weapon for the Lord instead of against each other.
Sin wants to be our master. But we must be the master of sin.
You want to kill something when you’re angry? Kill sin. Murder it.
Like Jesus said in the sermon on the mount: Cut it off and throw it away lest it poison all of you.
Put to death the deeds of the flesh like Romans 8 says. Did you hear that? “Put to death!” We are being given permission to perform capital punishment on our sinful selves.
Knowing what I was supposed to do with my anger, diverted my anger away from that person and instead against sin. “Ho, ho, ho, you aren’t going to get me, Satan. I see this person as my brother in Christ, not the enemy now.” Then the Lord helped me listen to this person without “killing” them in my head.
Mental Murder
Have you ever murdered an infuriating person in your mind? You create an evil version of them in your head and then destroy them.
Philosophers call this the straw man argument.
It’s when you create a distorted and weaker version of another person's argument that can easily be refuted.
We can create a wicked version of someone in our minds and then we tar and feather them to justify ourselves and our own way. This is a way that we discredit God’s justice in order to justify ourselves (Job 40:8).
After all, it’s easier to invent a version of good and evil than to learn it the hard way by trusting the Lord with a difficult person and their differing views.
It’s easier to label in our minds: they’re bad; they’re good. Now I know who to vote for! Now I know who to boycott! Now I know who to listen to! Now I know who to trust!
My grandmother, when she used to read murder mysteries, would turn to the back of the book to find out who committed the crime. This way she would see the hints that the author wrote about the bad guy as he performed his crime.
Jesus has shown us who the real bad guys is:—the old sinful flesh, the devil, and the enticing solutions that the world suggests.
The enemy is not a political party. The enemy is not a physical country. The enemy is not a certain people group. The enemy isn’t even people of a certain religious bent. God so loved all those people, including me, that he sent his son for them.
When we find ourselves growing angry, we can direct that anger at the old sinful flesh, the devil, and the enticing solutions the world suggests instead of the people that Jesus died for.
Mental Self-Murder
Or here’s another way we’re tempted to hate. In studying this commandment, I realized that if suicide and hate are both a kind of murder, then self-hatred is also a way we can break the sixth commandment.
Have you ever called yourself names for making mistakes, or shamed yourself for getting things wrong?
Keeping track of others’ wrongs and keeping track of our own wrongs are both ways we harbor unrighteous anger. These are activities of the sinful flesh.
The old life of sin says, “You deserve to die, so kill yourself already. Kill yourself internally. Beat yourself up. You need to pay your debt. Jesus isn’t really enough.”
That is what the devil would like us to believe. He whispers to us: remember that thing you did. Remember that thing that so-and-so did to you. Think of it. Think of how big it is, and do not remember the power of the cross.
Because the devil knows that if we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, these sins lose their power. The record of others’ wrongs and the record of our own wrongs can’t tip the scales of God’s justice when Jesus’ sacrifice is weighing down the other side.
Isn’t that just like God to make the ultimate violation of this sixth commandment—our own murder of God’s son—the means by which we were freed from God’s condemnation?
Isaiah 53:10-11
…It was the will of the Lord to crush Jesus;
He has put Jesus to grief.
When Jesus’ soul makes an offering for guilt,
God shall see his offspring—that’s us, we’re now offspring of GodOut of the anguish of Jesus’ soul the Lord shall see and be satisfied;
by God’s knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, Jesus
make many to be accounted righteous,
and Jesus shall bear their iniquities.
Amen
Very good!