you
It's not on me
you
They passed the Kevin which one which clock do you look out this one or the one at the back on the back?
Just there for show now
Okay
you
Okay, you just want some Bible trivia. Yeah, maybe just for the boys
Adam and Eve had three sons one was Cain one was Abel. What was the third one?
Nicholas yes
All right
Good work Johnny. Yeah, ten points
Here's a here's a harder one Cain had a son what was his name?
No, no, no, it was
What now is the night
Tim no close in Enoch
Oh
Seven minutes. Yeah, actually I'll try and name them. We got
Prancer Rudolph Blitzen
Blitzen why they call him blitz, but is it blitz all glitzen?
Oh, okay Rudolph
I don't know
That's a good one
You
Okay, good evening everybody
Welcome to church
Please turn in your hymnal. It's hymn number three
I'm gonna sing Jesus paid it all him number three
Here the Savior say
thy strength
Indeed is small
child of weakness
watch and pray
find in me
thine all in all
Jesus paid it all all to him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow
But now indeed I find
thy power
thine alone
Can change the leper's thoughts and melt the heart of stone
Jesus paid it all all to him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow
For nothing good have I
Whereby
their grace to claim
I'll wash my garment's white
In the blood of Calvary's slam
Jesus paid it all
All to him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow
And when before the throne
I stand in him complete
Jesus died my soul to save
My lips shall still repeat
Jesus paid it all
All to him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow
Amen
Okay I'll ask our brother Matt
Could you have him a word of prayer? Thank you
Dear Lord, thank you for coming to church today
We pray you'll rest in service
And may you hear our prayers
And our songs that we sing to you Lord
And we receive them gladly
We pray you'll feel positive
The Holy Spirit is reached as well
And all these things we pray in the name of Jesus Christ
Amen
Okay
Psalm 119
We need to go
Yeah I did
Alright guys take your Bible and turn to Psalm 119
And we are continuing our reading through
The verses
So we're up to verse number 81
Psalm 118
And verse number 81
I don't even know how to pronounce that
I think it's cap
Because many times when I look at the different letters
I hear them pronounced
The H many times are silent
So I'm assuming it's cap
But we're going to be reading together from verses 81 to verse 88
So verses 81 to verse 88
Let's read it together
My soul fainter for thy salvation
But I hope in thy word
Mine eyes fail for thy word
Saying
When will thou comfort me
For I am become like a bottle in the smoke
Yet do I not forget thy statutes
How many are the days of thy servants
When will thou execute judgment on them that persecute me
The proud have digged pits for me
Which are not after thy law
All thy commandments are faithful
They persecute me wrongfully
Help thou me
They had almost consumed me upon earth
But I forsook not thy precepts
Quicken me after thy loving kindness
So shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth
Now before I hand back over to brother Tim
I just want to take sister Leticia to prayer
We know that she's having some early stages of
The contractions, baby's not out just yet
Unless brother Anthony has updated us
But let's just quickly take the family to a word of prayer
And the baby and delivery
So let's just pray
Heavenly Father, Lord I do want to thank you for the Griffin family
And the blessing they are to this church
And the friendship they've given each one of us
Lord we do bring our sister in prayer
Leticia before you Lord right now
Lord I thank you for the fruit of the womb
Which is your reward
And Lord I pray for
Well we know labour is not smooth
It's not easy I can't pray for an easy labour necessarily
Lord but labour is challenging
It's difficult
We read about this Lord from the very beginning in the book of Genesis
But Lord I do pray that it would be a safe delivery
Lord I pray you'd strengthen and comfort Leticia
As she's going through this time of contractions
Lord and the excitement that the family has
Lord I pray that both herself and Anthony would get plenty of sleep
Lord prior to the delivery
Because I know that can take up a lot of energy
And Lord I do pray for this little baby
That it would be well and healthy
And Lord that it would be a blessing not only to the family
But to the entire church
We pray these things in Jesus name Amen
Amen
Alright thank you brother
Alright
Hymn number 4
The way of the cross leads home
Hymn number 4
The way of the cross leads home
I must needs go home
By the way of the cross
There's no other way but this
I shall ne'er get sight
Of the gates of light
If the way of the cross I miss
The way of the cross leads home
It is safe to know
As I onward go
The way of the cross leads home
I must needs go on
In the blood sprinkled way
The path that the Savior trod
If I ever climb to the heights sublime
Where the soul is at home with God
The way of the cross leads home
It is safe to know
As I onward go
The way of the cross leads home
Then I bid farewell
To the way of the world
To walk in it nevermore
For my Lord says
Come and I seek my home
Where He waits with the open door
The way of the cross leads home
It is sweet to know
As I onward go
It is sweet to know
As I onward go
The way of the cross leads home
Okay now for our Christmas hymn
Turn to hymn number 423 I believe
Sister Carissa picked this one for us this evening
So thank you
Joy to the world
The Lord is come
Let Earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room
And heaven and nature sing
And heaven and heaven and nature sing
Joy to the world
The Lord is come
Let Earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room
and nature sing. Joy to the world, the Savior reigns. Let men their songs employ.
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains repeat the sounding joy, repeat
the sounding joy, repeat, repeat the sounding joy. No more let sins and
sorrow grow, nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make his blessings flow, far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found, far as, far as the curse is found.
He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove the
glories of his righteousness, and wonders of his love, and wonders of his
love, and wonders of his love.
Okay, now it's time for the Bible reading. We'll be reading from Genesis chapter 4,
King James Bible, Genesis chapter 4.
I might put my mic on, might be a good idea. Okay, Genesis chapter 4.
And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bare Cain, and said,
I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother Abel, and Abel
was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of
time it came to pass that Cain brought forth the fruit of the ground, and
offering unto the Lord. And Abel he also brought of the firstlings of his flock,
and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering,
but unto Cain, and to his offering, he had no respect. And Cain was very wroth,
and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth, and why
is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if
thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire,
and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked with Abel his brother, and it
came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his
brother, and slew him. And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy
brother? And he said, I know not, am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast
thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And
now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy
brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tellest the ground, it shall not
henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be
in the earth. And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear.
Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy
face shall I be hid. And I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth. And
it shall come to pass that every one that findeth me shall slay me. And the
Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on
him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should
kill him. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the
land of Nod, on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and
bare Enoch. And he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the
name of his son Enoch. And unto Enoch was born Ired. And Ired begat Mehugeel,
and Mehugeel begat Methuseel, and Methuseel begat Lamech. And Lamech took
unto him two wives. The name of one was Ada, and the name of the other Zilla. And
Ada bare Jabel, he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have
cattle. And his brother's name was Jubal. He was, and his brother's name was Jubal.
He was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. And Zilla also, and
Zilla she also bare Tubal Cain, an instructor and of every artificer in
brass and iron. The sister of Tubal Cain was Nahima. And Lamech said unto his
wives Ada and Zilla, Hear my voice ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech,
for I've slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. If Cain shall be
avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold. And Adam knew his wife
again, and she bare a son, and called his name Seth. For God said, For God said she
hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. And to Seth, to him
also there was born a son, and he called his name Enos. Then began men to call
upon the name of the Lord. Let us pray. Dear Lord, thank you once again that we've
been gathered here this evening. Please bless us as we hear your word. Help us to
have open minds and open ears, and let this sink deep into our hearts. And may
it be applicable to our lives. And yeah Lord, we just pray that you would be with
us. In Jesus name. Amen.
So we're continuing our Ten Commandments series. Ten Commandments. Anyone know what we're up to?
Which number? Commandment we're up to? Commandment number six.
Okay. Commandment number six, which is, Thou Shalt Not Kill. Which is the title for the
sermon tonight, Thou Shalt Not Kill. Now you know when you look in, when you're
reading through the book of Exodus, and you're reading through the Ten
Commandments, that's the one verse that you get. Thou Shalt Not Kill. You want to memorize the verse?
Thou Shalt Not Kill, you've memorized the verse. You just remember that? You know, when it
comes to the topic of killing, to me it is so, it's an issue which is so
simple, so straightforward, like, you know, just don't take another man's life, all
right? I mean, just don't kill a baby in the mother's womb. How about that, okay?
How about we don't abort babies? Like, to me, it's such a simple thing, but then at the
same time, once you do kill, once you do commit some level of homicide, it does
become extremely complicated. You know, there are many things in the Bible that
are very straightforward and simple. Marriage. Let me explain marriage.
Marriage is supposed to be one man, one woman, together for life till death do us
part. It's, you know, it's the beginning of family, having children, straightforward and simple,
isn't it? But as soon as people get divorced, and they get remarried, or there
might be even step-parents, and it's not necessarily anyone's fault, or they don't
know any better, they don't know the Bible, you know, if you kind of start messing up
that, it becomes very messy. Families can become very messy. You know, children don't
know necessarily, do I listen to my stepfather, do I listen to my biological
father, and then, you know, I've got brothers and sisters in this family, you
know, I can spend time with my dad here, I can spend time with my mother, like it
becomes so complicated, you know, families that are separated and divided, just because
they don't follow just a simple command about marriage, you know, one man,
one woman for life. There are many things in the Bible that are just simple,
straightforward, you know, we just follow the Bible away, we just give in to it, you
know, we just put away the pride, we humble ourselves, and we just do the best
we can according to God's Word. Life can be very simple. But then when it comes to
the topic of murder or killing, yeah, it seems simple to me. I've never killed a
man, I don't intend to kill a man ever, okay, and as long as I keep my hands
clean in that area, my life is going to be straightforward and simple. But once,
of course, you break this commandment, it can become very complicated. Now, there
are times, of course, you know, the word, I use the word homicide because that's
the word we use, it's not a Bible word, it's a word we use today. The word
homicide is a very general term, it just basically means that someone has died,
okay. I mean, you might, you know, it happens all the time, you might be driving
a car innocently, you have a car accident, you know, someone makes a
mistake, just obviously not your intention to kill a man, someone can die
from that result, that is still a homicide. You know, homicide is basically
the death of a human being, and we're going to look at this, we're going to
look at how there are different degrees, different, yeah, different degrees of, you
know, you have probably heard of first-degree murder, second-degree murder,
etc. And the Bible kind of touches upon this topic as well, and it is something
that we need to be aware of, we need to understand that just because someone
loses their life, it doesn't mean that they've broken this commandment,
commandment number six in the Bible, and this is why it can become very
complicated as, as we look into this topic. But the reason we read Genesis
chapter four is because, you probably realize, it contains the very first
murder that we see in the Bible, where Cain slew his brother Abel. And one
thing that's very good with the Bible, it gives us a lot of information about
this topic, about these commandments. And what we're going to be looking here
in Genesis chapter four, and we're just going to look at a few chapters here, a
few different chapters in the book of Genesis, is the story of murder.
Like, you know, the first murder, what, what are the, what's the aftermath?
And, and what is it that God wants to do as far as, you know, ensuring that,
that, you know, justice is served when someone loses their life. So let's
start there in Genesis chapter four and verse number eight. It says,
And Cain talked with Abel his brother, and it came to pass, when they were in
the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
Now, I won't have, to have too much time to go into why he slew him.
You know, basically, they both came to present a sacrifice before God.
God accepted Abel's sacrifice, God did not accept Cain's sacrifice, and
Cain became very envious about that. And he decides, hey, he finds a time that
he can spend time with Abel, and he kills his brother, the very first murder
that we see in the Bible. Now, Jesus Christ does speak about another murder
rate from the beginning, and that, of course, is the devil, okay?
And when I think about the devil as a murderer, yes, you know,
the devil is to blame for many of the murders and many of the deaths of human
beings throughout the centuries, okay? But the reason it's called a murderer
is because he caused Adam and Eve to sin in the garden.
They've taken off that tree of knowledge of good and evil, and they did die.
You may, you know, they did die spiritually.
They didn't die physically, but they died spiritually.
And the reason why, you know, the devil played such an instrumental part
in mankind dying spiritually, you know, and going to hell,
and this is why Jesus Christ described the devil as a murderer.
And, you know, this is the devil's plan.
He doesn't just want to destroy human beings' lives on this earth,
and he successfully does that, but he also wants people to die,
spiritually die, and go to hell, okay?
Now, I won't be talking about the spiritual death here.
We're going to be primarily looking at the physical death,
life and death situations that we have in our lives, okay?
But let's keep going there in verse number nine.
And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother?
And he said, I know not. Am I my brother's keeper?
So what's he trying to cover up the murder?
Trying to pretend I don't know anything about this, okay?
And he said, What hast thou done?
The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.
And now art thou cursed from the earth,
which has opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand.
When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength.
A fugitive and a vagabond shout thou be in the earth.
So this is the punishment for Cain, for killing his brother.
Now, the Bible does teach the death penalty, okay?
If you know your Bible as well, you know that the Lord God says,
if you commit murder, you deserve to be put to death, okay?
The Bible's pro-death penalty, okay?
It's what God wants for many, yes, murder, but many other sins,
many other crimes that we have in the Bible.
But I want you to notice here that God had not yet instituted the death penalty for murder, okay?
The laws of Moses, the old covenant, had not yet been put into place.
And here, basically the punishment that Cain is receiving is not the death penalty,
but rather that he will no longer be able to profit on the earth.
If he tries to till the ground, if he tries to grow his crops, it's not going to work out for him.
He's going to be a vagabond, he's going to be a beggar.
You know, it's going to be basically this guy that just goes around like a...
What do you call them in Europe?
Gypsies.
They come around from place to place, stealing, they're just trying to get through life.
They're not productive at all, and that's the punishment that falls upon him.
It says in verse number 13,
And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear.
Behold...
Now I want you to notice what Cain says here, okay?
Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth,
and from thy face shall I be hid,
and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth.
And that's what he says, I think the next words are very telling.
And it shall come to pass that everyone that findeth me shall slay me.
Now, when it comes to the population on this earth,
Cain and Abel are the first generation from Adam and Eve.
So obviously the people that he's talking about that are going to find him and slay him
are the other brothers that were born,
because we know that Adam and Eve had many other children besides Cain and Abel,
though we're not given all their names, okay?
And so really, right now on the earth it's just this one family,
and we are one family at the end of the day, but you know, this one family there,
and he's worried that his siblings, or even maybe his nephews at this point in time,
you know, might rise up in vengeance to kill him.
Now I think it's very telling what Cain says here,
because it shows the nature of man.
We know that if someone commits murder, they should die.
Like, we don't really need that written in law.
Like, written in our hearts, we know a murderer should die.
Right? We know somebody that just takes any man
and, you know, sheds any blood to just, you know, pay the penalty.
And obviously he's speaking about family here.
Hey, you killed my brother.
Cain, you're a wicked man, and out of revenge,
someone might be driven to kill that individual.
This is why the death penalty is so important for murderers,
because it gives the families closure.
All right? Yes, okay, you know, it's sad that my,
you know, my family member, my loved one's been killed,
but thank God, you know, this person's been found guilty,
and now he dies of death, and now for the rest of the years
that I have this bitterness with me,
I can go to the murderer's grave and spit on his grave.
Right? I mean, this man's been put to death,
he's out of society, and he's not going to,
obviously he's not going to be able to do it again.
All right? So it does give families closure
when the murderer is put to death.
And Cain recognized this.
He goes, yeah, they're going to want to kill me.
You know, mankind, the nature of man,
they're going to want some type of revenge.
Blood for blood.
So look what God says in verse number 15.
Now, some people say, what is that mark?
And they think it's like some physical mark, right?
I've heard it said that, isn't it the Mormons
that say he became black?
Yeah, he became a black man, that's the mark.
This makes no sense.
There's one family on the earth.
They're all brothers and sisters and nephews.
They know who Cain is, okay?
The mark is not some physical mark.
The mark is that if you,
it's basically this promise from God
that if you go and kill him,
it's going to be seven times worse for you, okay?
It's already bad for Cain.
He's going to be unproductive on the earth, okay?
And it's going to be seven times worse for you
if you, out of vengeance, go and kill Cain.
He doesn't need to be marked as a black man
to identify who he is.
They know who he is.
They're all direct families right here, okay?
So it's ridiculous to think
there's some type of physical mark, all right?
But notice, if you drop down to verse number 23 now,
now, we read about another murder
that takes place here in verse number 23.
Now, I don't know if this is the second murder
to ever take place.
We don't know.
Generations go by in the Bible.
It says here in Genesis 4 23,
And Lamech said unto his wives,
Ada and Zilla, hear my voice, you wives of Lamech.
Harken unto my speech,
for I have slain a man to my wounding,
and a young man to my hurt.
So he says, look, I've killed a man, okay, to my wounding.
I don't know whether he's saying that
he personally got wounded in this battle
with this other guy,
or he realizes that he's going to be cursed by God
the same way that Cain got cursed by God.
But I want you to notice,
because there is no death penalty, okay,
I want you to notice what this man says
in verse number six,
how he tries to justify himself of this murder.
He says, whoso shed of man's blood
Sorry, I'm reading the wrong verse there.
Sorry, verse number 24.
If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold,
truly Lamech 70 and sevenfold.
Now, God's not said this to Lamech.
Lamech's just saying it to himself.
Lamech is saying basically,
look, if Cain can be avenged sevenfold,
it's going to be seven times worse
for those that kill Cain,
then surely me,
I guess he thinks he's better than Cain for whatever reason.
Okay, surely me 77 times.
You know, someone comes and avenges
that man's murder upon me,
that person should be cursed 77 times worse for that person.
Again, God did not say this is what the man's saying.
So what are you finding in society?
As someone gets away,
well seemingly gets away with murder,
God did judge Cain.
But it seems like here that,
look, people are committing murder,
and they're just trying to justify themselves.
Well, if Cain's protected sevenfold,
then I can be protected 77 times.
Okay, 77 fold.
And so you can see that if you have a society
that's just getting away with murder as it were,
okay, thinking that, you know,
well, you know, I can kill a man,
but if someone kills me, I'm safe,
and it's gonna be worse for you,
then you can see how the society
can go down a downhill trend right here, okay?
So go to Genesis chapter six now,
just go two chapters later,
Genesis chapter six.
And I want you to see what the world has become
without the death penalty.
And obviously there is other wickedness
going on in this world.
But in Genesis chapter six, verse number five, it says,
and God saw that the wickedness of man was great
in the earth, and that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
And he repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth,
and he grieved him in his heart.
And the Lord said, I will destroy man
whom I have created from the face of the earth,
both man and beast and the creeping thing
and the fowls of the air,
for it repenteth me that I have made them.
And so society becomes so wicked.
It starts with Cain, and then you've got Lamech,
and you've got wickedness, and just every thought,
every imagination, every wicked thing
you could potentially think about
is taking place on the earth.
I mean, mankind is completely wicked.
Of course, Noah finds grace in the eyes of the Lord.
And so we have the story of Noah
and the ark that he built, and the flood of Noah as well.
And so truly, yeah, God does decide,
mankind has become so wicked.
He destroys the earth.
Noah and his family, they're safe on the ark.
And as you know, they get off the ark eventually.
And I just want you to fast forward here.
Go to Genesis chapter nine now,
and I want you to notice the difference
pre-flood to post-flood, okay?
So Genesis chapter nine, verse number five.
Genesis chapter nine, verse number five.
Genesis nine, five says, so Noah comes off the ark,
and this is what God says to Noah.
It says, and surely your blood of your lives
will I require.
So God is already, as soon as they come to the ark,
is already thinking about murder, okay?
And again, you put it all together, it's very clear,
there must have been a lot of murder going on
prior to the flood.
So this is one thing that's on the top of the Lord's mind.
And surely your blood of your lives will I require.
At the hand of every beast will I require it.
He says, even if an animal kills a man,
that beast should be put to death.
And we do have those laws, even in our country today.
If you have some wild people or something
and it tears apart a little baby or something and it kills,
it is lawful to take that dog away and to kill it, okay?
And so yeah, that's how God feels.
Even if an animal goes and kills a man,
God expects that animal to be put to death.
And then he says, and at the hand of man.
So if a man murders another man,
God's gonna require that blood as well, okay?
That man should be put to death.
You see, this is the first time,
even before the Lords of Moses,
that God brings in the death penalty.
It's after the flood.
There was no death penalty before the flood, all right?
And so God knows, in order to create a society
where people are actually afraid of murder,
he's gotta put these in place, you know, blood for blood.
So not only does it say at the hand of every beast
will I require it and at the hand of man,
but then he says, at the hand of every man's brother
will I require the life of man.
And I truly believe, you know,
the Lord's basically thinking about Cain and Abel
right there, at the hand of every man's,
because a man, of course, a man is a man,
but then God just makes it very clear, even a brother,
you know, even if Cain kills Abel,
that Cain should be put to death,
will I require the life of man.
And so it's, you know, it's kind of like,
well, the way God speaks,
he kind of like gets progressively worse.
So it's bad to die from the hands of an animal, okay?
Yeah, it's even worse to die in the hands of a man, okay?
Man murders another man, it's even worse.
But even worse is one brother kills another brother,
you know?
And so God makes it very clear
that he's going to require that life.
Look at verse number six.
Whoso shed off man's blood,
by man shall his blood be shed,
for in the image of God made he man.
So this is one of the first things that God says
when Noah comes off the ark.
So it's something top of the mind for the Lord God.
As I said, you know, I truly believe
if you just follow the story there from Genesis 4
to the flood, it's quite clear to me
that one of the major sins that's taking place
on the earth is just murder, okay?
And people just, well, Cain got away with it,
so I can get away with it.
Lame it got away with it, so I can get away with it.
And God, no, no more, okay?
No more.
Now you'll be put to death.
The death penalty gets brought in,
in Genesis chapter nine.
This is why some people, some people,
some Christians are against the death penalty.
They recognize that it's part of the commandments
that God has given in the old covenant.
And they'll say, well, that's old covenants.
You know, we're in the new covenant now,
and we shouldn't have any death penalty.
That's what some Christians say.
But notice the death penalty is put into place
even before the old covenant, okay?
So this is something God's put from the very beginning
once he's restarted, you know,
kind of restarted the earth with Noah and his family.
Now, I've heard people take, you know, these verses
about, you know, taking the blood of your lives
and say, well, vegetarians and vegans, what do they say?
They say, basically, if you're eating meat,
that you've killed, or that, they'll say murder.
They won't just say you've murdered an animal.
You know, if you're eating some fish, okay,
you're eating a hamburger, they say, look,
you've killed a cow.
You know, there's been murder to a cow there.
And they elevate animals to the height of human beings.
But I want you to notice they're still
in Genesis chapter nine.
If you just go up just two verses,
we read Genesis nine five, look at Genesis nine three.
Another thing that God changes
when they come off the ark is in Genesis nine three,
he says, every moon thing that liveth shall be meat for you,
even as the green herb have I given you all things.
So as soon as they come off the ark, God says, look,
whatever moves on the earth, whatever animal,
you can eat of it, okay?
And then he goes on about the murder.
So obviously, when he talks about murdering,
he's not talking about hunting an animal
and eating of that animal, okay?
So these vegans that say it's murder
if you're eating an animal, obviously,
they just don't know the Bible, okay?
They're idiots, they're idiots, okay?
The life of an animal cannot be compared
to the life of a man, okay?
Why?
God said, because man is created in the image of God.
All right, so that's the introduction,
that's the history of death, murder,
and the punishment, the death penalty.
And we can see, you know, even to this day,
you know, unfortunately, Australia, you know,
we no longer have death penalty.
I can't remember exactly when it all got,
it was at the 80s or the 90s.
But I think it was different states though, wasn't it?
Yeah, the last man that was hung was in the 60s.
But the death penalty was still in effect,
but they just weren't enforcing that law, okay?
Now, go to Genesis chapter 20, please.
Genesis chapter 20 and verse number 13.
So we're just going to the 10 commandments here,
Genesis chapter 20 and verse number 13.
And again, I just wanna show you this one verse,
very clear, Genesis chapter 20, verse number 13.
Thou shalt not kill.
Now, when I read that verse,
and I remember just even as a child,
reading this verse, thou shalt not kill,
it was very clear to me that this is murder.
Because I recognize that nations go to war against nations.
I recognize that soldiers fight in battles,
they're gonna shoot their bullets,
people are gonna die, this is the nature of war.
I also realize that in the Bible, you know,
and yes, we have war in our world today,
but we know there's war in the Bibles.
We know that many times God directs
the nation of Israel to go to war,
you know, in the land of Canaan, for example,
they go to war against the Philistines, for example,
and people die, all right?
And we also have the death penalty that God put into place.
Even as a child, I would read, thou shalt not kill,
and I knew there were different conditions
of what that meant.
Like it was very clear to me,
when God says thou shalt not kill,
he's saying thou shalt not murder, right?
Like first degree murder.
You premeditate to just take someone's life, okay?
And you just kill the man.
Yeah, I mean, that was very clear to me.
But I remember going to church,
I remember going to Christian school,
and they want to complicate this.
And it's like, well, then, you know,
some people are against like going to war.
You know, they think Christians should not be soldiers.
They should not go to war, okay?
And they say, well, it says thou shalt not kill.
Well, you know, that's not what it's about.
That's not what it's talking about, for example, right?
And so people have, look, I think many of the wars
that we go and fight these days are useless.
Like I would never want my boys to join the army.
Let me just put it that way.
I think many of the wars are just unjustified, all right?
And, you know, we have wicked men,
wicked politicians making decisions to go to war.
You know, there are times when war is necessary.
And you know what?
If a Christian man, you know, goes as a soldier,
defends his nation in self-defense for the nation,
you know, and ends up killing people,
obviously that person has not killed.
He's not a cold blooded murderer in that sense, right?
And so to me, it was very clear.
But what's wonderful about, if you can actually
keep your finger there in Exodus,
we're gonna come back to Exodus,
but turn to Matthew chapter 19.
Turn to Matthew chapter 19.
And actually, Christian, can you turn on that air con for me?
Genesis chapter 19 and verse number 18, please.
Genesis chapter 19, verse number 18.
Jesus Christ starts to list some of the commandments here.
And I want you to notice how he, Jesus Christ,
in the New Testament, explains thou shall not kill,
or how he words it, how he phrases it.
In Matthew 19, verse 18, it says here,
he's safe unto him which?
Jesus said, thou shalt do no murder.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness.
So Jesus Christ here is naming some of the commandments here.
But notice he doesn't say thou shalt not kill.
He says thou shalt do no murder, all right?
So it's clear.
If you just compare scriptures with scriptures,
you compare how Jesus Christ phrases that commandment,
it's clear to Jesus, it's common sense,
that thou shalt not kill is thou shalt not do murder, all right?
Now, again, I bring this to your attention
because I remember I was a teenager.
We had someone come to the door of our house,
someone preaching their false gospels.
I can't remember if it was a JW or for some,
I have a feeling it was some other religion.
I can't remember what it was right now.
And the 10 commandments came up,
because you know how people preach a false gospel,
and they say, well, in order to go to heaven,
you've got to keep the 10 commandments, all right?
And they started to give me some examples,
and they gave me the example of thou shalt not kill.
So they're like, this really took place.
They said, so even when I walk on the streets,
I check am I about to step on an ant.
And if I step on an ant, you know, I've committed murder,
and I've got to go to God and ask for forgiveness.
Because these people, they're just stupid.
They've got a false religion.
They don't understand, right?
They haven't got the spirit of God.
But I'm just showing you how something that is so simple,
so basic, even me as a safe child with the spirit of God,
I can understand thou shalt not kill.
These false religions, what, you step on an ant?
I mean, is that really how God wants us to live our life?
This took place.
I can't remember why.
I don't think it was the JWs now that I think about it.
I can't remember who they were.
I remember, I think it was some church
that was started out of Mexico from,
I'm just trying to remember now.
I think it started out of Mexico,
and they were trying to plant a church down here in Sydney,
and some people came knocking my doors
and just explaining the 10 Commandments to me,
had to be saved by keeping the 10 Commandments.
So man, stepping on an ant,
you know there's smaller things than ants in this world.
You know, there are microorganisms.
They can't even see the naked eye.
So man, you know, you just walk,
you just go out for a walk.
You need to go confessing your sins
that you're a murderer then, if that's legit.
But it's stupidity, of course.
But I just want to show you once again,
thou shalt not kill is thou shalt not do murder.
Now, I started by beginning,
you know, speaking about the degrees of murder.
And the Bible does go into this.
You know, you can accidentally kill a man.
You know, it's still called homicide.
Hey, you could kill a man in self-defense.
Someone might be trying to hurt you.
Someone might be trying to kill you.
Hey, someone might be trying to kill my children,
my family, right?
I don't know.
You know, if a man breaks into my house,
I don't know what his intentions are,
and I might end up killing that man.
And so, you know, that's very different, of course,
from just cold-blooded murder, okay?
So there are different degrees of murder.
I told you to go back to Exodus,
keep your finger in Exodus.
So please go to Exodus 21.
Go to Exodus 21.
So Exodus 20 has the commandment,
thou shalt not kill.
And then God does start to explain
different elements of this.
So Exodus 21, please.
Exodus 21, verse number 12.
Exodus 21 and verse number 12.
The Bible reads,
He that smiteth a man,
so that he die,
shall be surely put to death.
Okay, the death penalty.
You go and commit murder,
you should surely be put to death.
But notice verse number 13.
And if a man lie not in wait,
so this is not premeditated.
It's not like you're waiting to kill this person, right?
You're not lying in wait.
But God deliver him into his hand.
Then I will appoint thee a place,
whither he shall flee.
But if a man come presumptuously
upon his neighbor,
and slay him with guile,
thou shalt take him from mine altar,
that he may die.
So verse number 12 and verse number 14
is about someone who,
the Bible says presumptuously, okay?
So presumptuously is basically premeditated.
We use that term premeditated murder, okay?
That person, yeah,
he goes out cold blooded murder,
he should be put to death, all right?
But verse number 13
has it a little bit different.
It says, I'll read it again.
If a man lie not in wait,
so you don't intend to kill that,
but God deliver him into his hand,
so he ends up dying,
like, you know,
it's like God just allows it
to take place where he dies,
where, you know,
it can be any other scenario, right?
It could just be as it were.
I said drive in a car, you know,
and you accidentally hit a pedestrian
and he dies, you know?
It wasn't, you didn't lie in wait.
You didn't, it wasn't premeditated.
You're not trying to go out
and kill somebody, you know?
As I said, someone breaks into your house
and you're trying to defend your family,
defend, you know,
maybe you don't even intend to kill the guy,
you know,
but you smite him and he dies, you know?
He wasn't presumptuous.
Then God says in verse number 13,
then I will appoint thee a place
whither he shall flee.
Now this is important
because even if you kill someone
by accident or self-defense
or defending your family
or whatever other way
you could kill someone,
God understands that there are going to be people
that are still seeking revenge
even if it's an accident, okay?
And so because of this,
God's going to appoint a place
for that man to flee.
All right, so in the Bible days,
if you ended up killing a man,
you would flee into,
God created these cities of refuge.
Now I haven't got time
to go into all of this brethren,
but for your homework, okay?
So your homework for this week before Sunday,
I want you to read Numbers 35, okay?
The big chapter in the Bible about murder
and whether it was like first degree murder,
second degree murder,
whether it was manslaughter,
manslaughter is like accidental death, right?
Numbers 35 has all of that detail.
I'm not going to go through Numbers 35.
It's a big chapter.
There's a lot to read through,
but that's your homework, okay?
But basically in Numbers 35,
God explains further
what he's covering there in Exodus 21.
And basically God would have
certain cities in the nation of Israel
that if someone did end up killing a man,
that he could flee into that city.
And someone that was seeking revenge
or to slay that man,
that they would not be allowed
to enter that city and kill that man,
or they'll be completely guilty
if they did something like that, okay?
They themselves will be put to death.
And the idea behind this city is,
of course, when there's death of a man,
there's going to be passions,
there's going to be revenge,
there's going to be a desire for vengeance,
even if it's an accident.
And that's where the man would be safe
in one of these cities of refuge.
And while that man would be
in the city of refuge,
it would be determined, right,
whether this guy is a cold-blooded murderer
or whether he's not,
whether it's not presumptuously, okay?
And if they find out, you know,
this guy did commit first degree murder,
then he'd be taken out of the city
and stolen to death, death penalty, all right?
And if you fled there and like,
yeah, it wasn't your intention to kill the man,
the man died unfortunately for whatever reasons,
and that's found,
you're to remain in that city
until the high priest of that day
would pass away, okay?
Then you'd be free to exit the city, all right?
So you could be in that city for quite a while,
but again, it's for the protection of that person, okay?
It's for the protection of the one
that slew the man.
And so the point being, brethren,
again, I don't have time
to go through all the detail here,
but the point being,
you can do your own homework,
is that even God identifies
that there are different murders,
that that can take place.
This is what I'm saying,
it's straightforward,
just don't kill a man,
and you'll be fine.
But if a man ends up dying,
the Bible can, you know,
things can become extremely complicated.
Now, thank God,
even our court systems understand this, all right?
A big difference between just cold-blooded
first degree murder
or something like manslaughter, you know?
And there are different types.
I was reading through different countries
have different laws,
you know, you've got first degree murder,
second degree murder,
third degree is often manslaughter,
you've even got like,
I think it's called vehicle
or something like this,
vehicle homicide,
where if you're driving recklessly,
okay,
and you end up killing someone,
there's a crash,
there's an accident,
someone dies,
then you're going to be judged a certain way
versus if you're just driving normally
and it's just a random accident,
then, you know,
you might still face some level of penalty,
but not as bad as someone
that is actually driving recklessly.
And so even our governments today recognize
that someone's life could be taken,
and but there are various, you know,
laws as to how that person should be punished.
But a person that's, yeah,
definitely committed first degree murder,
there are two or three witnesses
that testify of that
and he's found to be guilty,
then he should be put to death.
Now, you should still be in Exodus,
so go to Exodus 22.
Go to Exodus 22.
Let me just show you self-defense, okay?
Exodus 22 in verse number two.
Now, self-defense should be a given, all right?
If someone's trying to hurt you,
someone's trying to kill you,
and you end up killing that man,
I mean, common sense should say
you're not a murderer.
You know, you're innocent.
You know, you're guilty of that man's blood.
That's what common sense should tell us, right?
But anyway, I'm thankful that God
does put this stuff in the Bible
because we don't live in a society
with common sense anymore.
But Exodus 22 verse number two,
it says if a thief be found breaking up
and be smitten that he die,
there shall no blood be shed for him.
So if someone's trying to break into your house,
all right, and then, you know,
you're trying to stop that guy from breaking in,
a scuffle breaks out,
you end up hitting the guy,
and he dies.
Well, you're not guilty of murder.
Obviously, you did not premeditate it.
You weren't out there to just kill someone today, okay?
You're trying to protect your property.
You're trying to protect yourself.
You're trying to protect your family.
Now, if we keep going to verse number three,
it says if the sun be risen upon him,
so if someone tries to break in,
so you know how the Bible kind of separates
someone trying to break in at night
and someone trying to break in
when the sun is risen, okay?
Because when someone's trying to break in,
and look, most theft is going to happen at night.
That's just a common thing, okay?
But obviously, when it's taking place
in the nighttime, there's no light.
It's hard to judge that person's intentions.
You're more likely to kill a man,
you know, out of self-defense when it's dark
because you don't know what kind of weapons
he might be carrying.
You don't know when it's dark.
You can't see clearly.
You're just trying to do whatever you can
to defend yourself, all right?
But if the sun be risen upon him,
meaning you have a greater outlook
as to what this person's intention is, okay?
It says there shall be bloodshed for him,
for he should make full restitution
if he have nothing,
then he should be sold for his theft.
So this is a man who basically breaks in,
all right, and let's say,
you know, it's June of the day,
so he takes whatever he wants to take.
Instead of that man being put to death,
instead of being put to death,
he should restore whatever he stole.
And we know the Bible commands different,
like, different laws where maybe sometimes
you have to restore threefold or fourfold,
but there is a difference between these things, okay?
And I just wanted to show you that,
the Lord does speak about self-defense
in the case that there be some type of murder
when a thief is trying to break in, all right?
Not only that, but Jesus Christ said in Luke 22, 36,
this is when he's preparing his disciples
because he knows he's going to go to the cross.
He says in Luke 22, 36,
then said he unto them,
but now he that have a purse,
let him take it,
and likewise his scrip,
and he that have no sword,
let him sell his garment and buy one.
Why would Jesus Christ say,
hey, if you've got no sword,
sell one of your garments,
sell some clothing,
because clothing back then was very expensive, all right?
And go and buy a sword.
What would you need a sword for?
Self-defense, all right?
I mean, they're going out,
preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
People might hate them.
People might be trying to attack them.
Hey, and if there's a threat of their life
and threat of their health,
of course, take the sword and defend yourself.
This is why, you know,
self-defense is just fine.
We should, you know,
our guns in Australia were confiscated.
When was this, brethren?
Was it mid 80s or mid 90s?
The guns in Australia were confiscated,
and it's against the teaching of Jesus Christ.
You know, he wants people to feel safe.
You know, you can't even walk around
with a knife in your pocket, legally, okay?
Unless you're like a tradie or something,
then you can walk around with a knife in your pocket
because you need it for work.
But generally speaking, even Australia,
even, what are those guns that shoot those middle balls?
But they're not deadly.
A BB gun.
BB gun.
You can't even have a BB gun in Australia without,
you know, it's illegal.
You know, in Australia,
we're not allowed to defend ourselves.
But according to Jesus Christ,
you know, we have the right to have a sword,
you know, to defend ourselves somehow.
But anyway, I'm trying to teach you that even
from the Old Testament to the New Testament,
even the words of Christ,
he's all for self-defense.
And we understand that if you were to kill a man
out of self-defense,
that you would be innocent of his blood, okay?
No blood should be shed for him.
All right.
Now, let's talk about governments very quickly.
Turn to Romans chapter 13.
Now, when it comes to governments,
God has given governments powers, yeah?
Number one, we've already talked about,
governments should have the power
to put in place a death penalty.
And our nation did carry out the death penalty, okay?
They didn't always carry out
the death penalty righteously.
You know, there are many people
that are put to death throughout history
for things that aren't even considered
worthy of the death penalty, okay?
So, there's always been wicked governments,
you know?
If you're putting people to death
over things that God says
they're not worthy of death of,
that's a wicked government.
But if a government that does away
the death penalty and doesn't ever apply it
for the things that God clearly says
it should be applied for,
that's a wicked government as well.
But the point is,
government does have the right,
God-given right for the death penalty.
Now, we should follow the principles
that are laid out for us in the Bible.
Not only that, we spoke about governments,
they have the right, they've got the power
to put an army together,
you know, a defense force together.
A defense force, not an attack force.
What's happening today?
What's happening over the last few decades?
Governments, it's no longer a defense force,
it's an attack force, all right?
In America, they're sending their armies
across other countries,
other nations, across the seas,
that they've got no authority over
and they're going out for the attack.
And they're saying,
well, they attack someone else first.
No, it's a defense force.
It's defend your country,
defend your nation.
That's what a defense force is.
But I want you to notice here
in Romans 13 and verse 103,
the point is the death penalty
or soldiers dying in warfare,
this is obviously not murder.
This does not fall under the category
of thou shall not kill.
Because in Romans 13, three, it says,
for rulers are not a terror to good works,
but to the evil.
Will thou then not be afraid of the power?
Do that which is good,
and thou shall have the praise of the same.
Have praise of the same.
For he is the minister,
who's the he?
That's the rulers,
the people in authority, the governments.
For he is a minister of God to thee for good,
but if thou do that which is evil,
be afraid for he beareth not the sword in vain.
For he is the minister of God,
a revenger to execute wrath
upon him that doeth evil.
God has given governments the power
to have the sword.
God has not given them the sword in vain.
Just like Christ says,
that we should have a sword.
Okay, it's not in vain.
You know, the sword is to be used to kill,
you know, to put people to death,
to be able to send your soldiers out
to protect the nation.
And if the opposing force
loses soldiers in death,
then that's not murder.
And so, I just want to show you,
yes, governments are allowed,
they've been given the right
to take away life,
but it's not murder in that sense, okay?
Now, the governments here in Australia,
they've put into law
that mothers can murder their children,
that doctors can murder children
in the mother's womb.
Now, that's lawful.
The government's passed the law,
but it's against God's word.
It's cold blooded murder.
It's first degree murder is what it is.
What's that baby done?
The baby's innocent.
Oh, but it's going to ruin
the mother's future.
The mother wants to get an education.
The mother wants a career.
Yeah, well, so kill a baby?
That's first degree murder.
And Reverend, I know, you know,
we look at what's happening right now
across our nation, abortions,
and once again, these doctors,
they should be put to death.
They deserve to die, okay?
And I understand, you know,
that things aren't right.
We're not going to see these doctors
put to death in our lifetime.
Hopefully we do.
We're unlikely going to do that,
but don't forget that one day
we're going to rule with Christ
for a thousand years, okay?
And guess what's going to happen
in the millennium?
Any abortions that take place,
we're going to take those doctors
and put them to death.
We're going to stone them to death
because that's what they deserve, all right?
So things are going to be different
when Christ rules this earth.
But the point is, you know,
governments do have some elements of authority,
but once again, it's not whatever,
it's not, they can't just kill
whoever they like, you know?
There are some governments,
there are some people that kill their,
you know, their rivals in governments.
This is where dictatorships take place, right?
They end up killing any other rivals
that might raise up against them,
and that's wrong.
That's not the right thing to do.
You know, God has given certain conditions
on when governments are allowed
to put people to death.
Now, the question that comes up
when we talk about thou shalt not kill,
these are the Ten Commandments.
Who brought the Ten Commandments from God
to the nation of Israel?
It was Moses, right?
It was Moses.
And, you know, I have said in the past that,
well, basically Moses is a picture
of an Old Testament pastor,
because the children in the wilderness
are also in the New Testament called
the church in the wilderness.
And so in many ways,
the Moses represents an Old Testament pastor.
He wasn't just an Old Testament pastor.
He was basically the government as well.
He was in charge,
and he had direct access to God.
And so he's not exactly a pastor,
but he is a good picture.
Like his temperament, his leadership is what
I look to when I think about, you know,
being a good leader, you know, a good pastor.
But people often recognize,
well, hold on, you know, Moses,
you're bringing the Ten Commandments
thou shalt not kill,
but didn't Moses commit murder?
You know that story?
Well, let's have a look at it.
Let's go to Exodus chapter 2.
Question becomes, what about Moses?
What about Moses?
Now, I would never ordain a man
who deserves to have been put to death.
Like if someone's committed murder, brethren,
all right, and they're part of our church,
well praise God that the person got saved, right?
I mean, look, obviously we can't,
we're not here to carry out, you know,
that level of justice or that level of,
you know, we don't have that power as a church, okay?
If someone in a church has a history where
one day in the past they actually committed,
you know, first degree murder,
they are welcome to our church.
I want you to understand this.
Now, should they have been taken
and put to death?
Absolutely, all right.
Hey, that person may very well become
a great church member, married with kids,
regrets his mistakes, right?
Justice was not done on this earth,
but let me just tell you,
I would never ordain a man into
the office of a bishop
who's done a crime that is worthy of death.
I would never do it.
And so what about Moses?
He committed murder.
Well, let's have a look at it.
Exodus chapter 2 and verse 11.
And it came to pass in those days
when Moses was grown,
that he went out unto his brethren
and looked on their burdens
and inspired an Egyptian smiting in Hebrew,
one of his brethren.
And he looked this way and that way
and when he saw that there was no man,
he slew the Egyptian
and hid him in the sand.
So, I mean,
if you just read Exodus 2 there,
doesn't that just sound like
Moses went out, cold-blooded murder?
He goes, man, this Egyptian,
he's treating these Israelites poorly, right?
He's putting these burdens
on these Israelites
and he starts to get, you know,
because he recognizes the Israelites
even though he was raised by Pharaoh's daughter,
even though he's part of the royal family,
he's been educated in Egyptian ways,
he looks at his people,
all right, of his flesh
and he can't handle that,
they've been afflicted so heavily.
So he looks one way,
he looks another way,
hey, it looks like he's not trying
to get caught here, right?
And he goes, kills this man
and buries him in the sand.
I mean, I don't know about you,
but I read Exodus 2
and it sounds like this guy,
Moses, he just committed cold-blooded murder,
first-degree murder, all right?
So I forgive you if you thought that as well.
Now, if you go to the book of Acts,
go to the book of Acts chapter 7,
Acts chapter 7,
and don't forget,
the New Testament is like a commentary
to the Old Testament, okay?
It shines a light on the Scriptures.
We should understand the Old Testament
through the lens of the New Testament, all right?
Acts chapter 7 and verse number 23.
It says that when he was full,
40 years old,
it came into his heart
to visit his brethren,
the children of Israel.
And seeing one of them suffer wrong,
notice the next words,
he defended him
and avenged him that was oppressed
and smote the Egyptian.
For he supposed his brethren
would have understood
how that God by his hand
would deliver them,
but they understood not.
So Acts chapter 7 brings to light
something else here.
It wasn't just anger.
It wasn't just this guy
is treating this Israelite poorly.
Moses goes in and defends the Israelites.
He defends him, okay?
Now, but Pastor Kevin,
that's not self-defense.
We have a term in our court system
about this kind of, you know,
homicide,
and it's called justifiable homicide.
Justifiable homicide.
It's similar to self-defense.
But look, if I see a man
who's, let's say,
let's say there's someone
who's out to kill one of my children,
okay, and I know that's his intention.
He's causing, and not even kill.
Maybe he's just causing
excessive harm on my child.
Don't you think I'm going to jump in
and stop that man, okay?
And look, it may even result in death, okay?
And even in our court system today,
we understand this idea
of justifiable homicide,
where you go and you kill someone
who is the violator,
and you're actually
protecting someone else.
In fact, this is what happens
in the police force all the time.
You know, you've got somebody,
in fact, just remember,
not even long ago,
just a few months ago,
we had, it was all over the news,
because it was during the whole
Black Lives Matter situation,
and there were some police officers
that attended a fight
that was taking place,
this was in America,
on an American street,
and there were two ladies fighting,
and one of the ladies
pulls out a knife,
and she's about to stab
the other woman,
and they're both black women,
and the police officer
pulls out his gun,
and shoots the woman with a knife.
Now, obviously,
he's not defending himself.
He wasn't, you know,
the woman wasn't attacking him
with a knife,
but she was about to go
and stab another woman.
I mean, it could be a deadly stab wound.
You know, if not,
it would just be, you know,
a serious injury,
but it could be deadly.
The police officer shoots
that woman that pulled out her knife,
and then during the whole
Black Lives Matter,
they're trying to demonize this cop.
You know, they're trying to say,
you know, why did he shoot?
You know, it's white on black murder.
Black Lives Matter, right?
And they're trying to destroy that cop.
Look, I think any good man
would have made that same decision.
This person's pulled out a knife.
He's about to harm someone.
I'm going to take,
I've got my gun.
This is the only thing
that will stop this woman right now,
is that bullet, okay?
Now, I'm not here to try to defend
every police action.
You know, there are many wicked cops,
and they take advantage,
and they've got power,
you know, the power goes to their heads.
I understand that.
I understand there are many wicked,
there are many wicked people
in many professions.
Would it surprise me if I told you
there are many wicked pastors
in churches as well?
There are wicked people in all professions,
including the police officers, okay?
But this is basically what Moses did, okay?
He was concerned about this Israelite.
It's not just been afflicted.
This Egyptian was causing major harm
to this individual, all right?
And within Moses, he said,
man, this man's under severe harm.
This guy's causing a lot of damage here.
I mean, potentially death, I don't know.
Moses jumps in,
defends the man, defending him.
It wasn't about killing the man.
He wasn't like,
I'm just going to go kill an Egyptian.
He goes and tries to defend,
and out of that defense,
he ends up killing that man.
And so, it says here,
when he was full 40 years old,
this took place
when Moses was 40 years old.
And at that time,
he knew that God would use him
to deliver the Israelites
out of the hand of the Egyptians.
Because it says in verse 25,
for he supposed his brethren
would have understood
how that God by his hand
would deliver them,
but they understood not.
And we know that this event
caused Moses to flee out of Egypt.
And then, how old was he?
Does anyone know how old was Moses
when he actually did deliver
the Israelites out of Egypt?
80.
Another 40 years.
I'm 40 years old right now.
You know this tells me
that at 80,
I can do even greater things for God.
Like I think now I'm 40,
maybe I can do great things for God,
but maybe it's not real.
Maybe God has greater plans
for me when I'm 80.
Dad, you're approaching 80.
Now maybe God has the greatest things
for you when you turn 80.
And then, you know,
we know Moses lived to 120 though.
You know,
we know there was 40 years
in the wilderness,
and God, you know,
Moses would pass away
before the children of Israel
would enter into the land of Canaan.
So Moses lived a long time,
120 years all right.
But anyway,
I'm getting off track here.
But I just want to show you that
Moses was not a cold-blooded murderer.
You know,
if Moses was that cold-blooded murderer,
of course God would not have used
a man like him
to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.
Can you please turn to Matthew 5?
Matthew 5.
Matthew 5 and verse number 21.
Now, I don't know if you've ever
committed murder or homicide,
I should say.
I don't know.
I don't want to know.
It's not important to me.
But, and look,
it's very unlikely that you would.
It's obviously a very rare occasions
that you would take another man's life.
But we should not allow this commandment
to go over our heads and think,
well, then, you know,
it doesn't apply to me in any way,
shape or form.
One thing that I love about Jesus,
when he came to this earth,
yes, he reinforced the commandments
that God had given in the Old Testament,
but one thing that Jesus Christ does,
he's amazing at doing,
is he rises that,
he raises that bar even higher.
Okay.
And, you know,
you even have that story
of the rich young ruler coming to Jesus
asking, what good thing, you know,
shall I do to inherit eternal life?
And Jesus just raises the bar.
He goes, well, you've kept the,
the guy thought he kept all the commandments.
Jesus goes, well,
sell everything you've got then
and follow after me.
Jesus Christ, what he does,
he comes, you know, on the earth,
he just keeps raising that bar
and showing that even,
even if you try to keep
all the commandments perfectly,
you're still not good enough for heaven.
Now, none of us can keep it.
Okay.
You know, keeping the commandments perfectly
still doesn't, doesn't qualify you for heaven
because we're born of a sin nature.
Okay.
It's within us.
And Christ is here raising that bar.
He says in Matthew 5 21,
You have heard that it was said
by them of old time,
thou shall not kill.
Yep.
And whosoever shall kill
shall be in danger of the judgment.
Yeah.
So Christ saying, yep,
we've heard this in the old times.
Verse number 22.
But I say unto you
that whosoever is angry with his brother
without a cause
shall be in danger of the judgment.
Wow.
Have you ever been angry at a brother?
Have you ever been angry at someone?
Of course.
Now look, this is not saying
being angry is a sin.
All right.
Jesus Christ says that
whosoever is angry with his brother
without a cause.
All right.
I can be angry at certain people
because of a situation,
because they caused some type of conflict
or someone's been wicked.
All right.
I can be angry at the,
at the abortion doctor
because I've got a cause.
They've committed murder.
Hey, I can be angry at the pedophile.
I can hate the pedophile either.
Okay.
It's not without a cause.
But the point of here without the cause
is basically if I just,
if I'm just angry at you,
I just hate you for no reason.
Like we just have a personality conflict.
We just,
we don't see eye to eye on certain things.
Yeah, we just don't get along
because our personalities clash
and now I'm just angry at you about that.
Well, that's sinful.
You know, we should strive
to get along with other people.
You know, I don't expect everybody
to just be in lockstep with me
about everything.
And you know what?
Even when people talk to me
and I disagree with them,
you know, I just,
I just want to get along.
I'm not there to just argue everything
and just cause conflicts and fights
about every little thing.
And so we need to be careful
not just to get angry for whatever reason,
for any stupid reason.
Now if you've got a real cause to get angry,
it's not a sin.
But notice how Christ just raised that bar.
Like I've never killed a man.
I never intend to kill a man.
I hope to never kill a man.
But I can get angry at people.
And now Jesus Christ starts to apply it
to our thought life.
That's what Christ does all the time.
It's not always the outward,
but Christ also focuses on the inward.
What's taking place in the hearts?
What's taking place in the mind?
And then he keeps going there
in verse number 22.
And whosoever shall say to his brother,
Rehka shall be in danger of the council.
Now that word Rehka,
I forgot to look it up,
but from memory,
it's got, it's basically,
you're kind of like cursing your brother
or you're saying like you're nothing,
you're worthless, you're hopeless.
You're basically just cursing your brother out.
Then you should be in danger of the council.
So your brother might take you to court,
you know, of a defamation or slander
or these kinds of things.
And then it says,
but whosoever shall say, thou fool,
shall be in danger of hellfire.
What do you think of that?
Okay, danger of hellfire.
Now people try to think that,
oh, you can lose your salvation.
Now, if you just say to someone,
you're a fool.
Now you've lost your salvation.
Now you're in danger of hellfire.
But I want you to just notice very quickly,
and this is just to give you the answer
because I know that's going to
process in your mind.
I want you to notice the differences
in how Christ explains this.
It says in verse number 22,
and I say to you that whosoever is angry
with his brother, okay,
shall be in danger of the judgment.
And look at that, it keeps going,
and whosoever shall say to his brother,
Rekha.
So obviously Christ is speaking here
about the brother.
It's the, you know, it's a saved brethren.
All right, talking about the saved people.
But then it says here,
but whosoever shall say, thou fool,
so no longer is it about a brother.
It's no longer referring to yourself
or the other person as a brother.
So this is just in general, okay.
Even in general,
if someone just hates another person,
thou fool,
and that person never gets saved,
they're going to pay for that sin in hell.
They're going to suffer in hell
even for thou fool.
Hey, even a single lie
casts you into hellfire, okay.
So that's what Christ is telling us, all right.
Verse number 23,
Therefore if thou bring thy gifts
to the altar,
and there rememberest
that thy brother have ought against thee,
leave there thy gifts before the altar,
and go thy way,
first be reconciled to thy brother,
and then come and offer thy gifts.
So notice that Christ takes the teaching
about thou shalt not kill,
and then he starts dealing with
the personal conflicts that we have
with each other.
So thou shalt not kill is more
than just the outward,
but it's also the inward.
It's also the personal conflicts
that we develop in our lifetime.
And you know what,
it's wrong for us to come to church
and bring our sacrifices
of praise before God,
and we have an open conflict
with our brethren, okay.
What is God going to do?
First be reconciled to thy brother,
and then come and offer thy gifts.
You say, Pastor Kevin,
I have a conflict right now
that's been unreconciled.
Well, here's the thing,
you can't necessarily reconcile
every conflict, can you?
I mean, sometimes you've gone
and tried to reconcile,
but they don't want to reconcile.
Then what do you do?
Are you just not going to go to church
and offer your gifts of sacrifice
to the Lord?
No, you do what you can do, obviously.
You know, you try to make peace,
you try to reconcile,
but if other people do not want,
well, you keep coming to the Lord God
and you do what you need to do, all right?
But these are issues of the heart,
and that's what I want you
to be thinking about tonight.
You can't necessarily apply murder
and all these kinds of things,
but you can definitely apply anger.
We've all had conflicts.
We've all had conflicts
with our brethren.
We've all argued with someone in church
or with our family or whatever.
Brethren, please go and reconcile
your differences.
Just get along, all right?
Why live a life of misery
and bitterness and anger?
You know what?
Just try to reconcile,
and you know, usually,
if you just humble yourself
and try to get things right,
most people will just appreciate it
and just put those differences aside.
You know what?
It's like, well, look,
we don't have to be best friends,
but we don't have to be enemies either.
That's what most people would be like, all right?
And again, there are certain people
that will not want to reconcile with you.
What more can you do?
All right?
You've done what you can.
You just go and serve the Lord.
Now, please turn to Romans chapter 13.
We are near the end.
Romans chapter 13 and verse number 8.
We'll end on this one.
Romans chapter 13, verse number 8.
The Bible says,
O no man anything,
but to love one another,
for he that loveth another
hath fulfilled the law.
For this thou shalt not commit adultery,
thou shalt not kill,
thou shalt not steal,
thou shalt not bear false witness,
thou shalt not covet,
and if there be any other commandments,
it is briefly comprehended in this saying,
namely thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Love worketh no ill to his neighbor,
therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
I love this as well.
So we're up to these final commandments
that we're going through.
Thou shalt not commit adultery,
we've just covered tonight,
thou shalt not kill,
thou shalt not steal,
thou shalt not bear false witness,
thou shalt not covet.
So these are the final commandments
that we'll be looking at.
But you know what?
Instead of you being worried
about every single commandment, right?
Am I doing commandment number six?
Am I doing commandment number seven?
You know what?
Just love your neighbor as thyself.
And if you do that,
obviously if you love your neighbor as yourself,
you're not going to go out and kill someone.
You're not going to go and covet
what other people have.
You'll be appreciative
that my neighbor's been blessed by God
and he's got whatever he's got, okay?
You're not going to go out
and steal the things that belong to your neighbor.
And so brethren,
just therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
That's what's wonderful about the New Testament.
It summarizes the 10 commandments,
summarizes the commandments.
These commandments that deal
with our relationship with mankind,
with our neighbors, with our brethren,
just love.
Just show people the love of Jesus Christ.
You know, and that truly,
you know what?
If you just receive the love of the Father
and you love what God loves
and you hate what God hates,
hey, you get angry
with the things God gets angry about,
it's fine.
You show love to your brethren.
You won't even need to worry
about keeping every single commandment
because it's going to,
obviously you're not going to be able
to break these commandments
simply because you're loving
your neighbor as thyself.
And so brethren,
let that be a thought for us tonight.
It's not just the outward.
It's not just the wicked abortion doctors.
It's not just wicked murderers
and serial killers and pedophiles
and whatever people know.
You know what?
Thou shall not kill applies to us.
Do you have anger?
Do you have hatred for your brother?
Without a cause.
Do you have broken,
you know, relationships?
Do you have conflicts?
Go and resolve it.
Go and resolve it before
you come to church this Sunday.
Okay, let's pray.
Heavenly Father,
Lord, I just want to thank you for your word.
I thank you for Jesus Christ
and Lord, the fact that
he raises the bar so high
and Lord, when the bar is risen,
we actually realize just how far
we've come short.
And Lord, of your glory,
of your righteousness.
And Lord, thank you so much
for giving Jesus Christ our Savior.
And Lord, I thank you
as we keep studying for this series
on the Ten Commandments
that we would also just consider, Lord.
Not as just commandments
that took place, Lord,
in the time of Israel.
Lord, I do want to pray, Lord,
that we would bring back
the death penalty in Australia.
Lord, I pray you'd move in the hearts
of our politicians.
That we'd be brave enough, Lord,
to punish the wicked,
these people that deserve to die.
Lord, and yeah, Lord,
I do pray for a righteous government.
Please bring people
in our political system
that have fear of God,
that will push legislation
or that honors your word.
And Lord, help us not to be angry
with our brethren without a cause
and help us to be peacemakers
and not people that are driven
to have conflicts.
Lord, I thank you so much
for being a great God
and great Savior.
We pray these things
in Jesus' name.
Amen.
All right, brethren,
please take your hymnals.
We'll end with hymn number 363.
Hymn number 363.
We'll sing
Wonderful Words of Life.
Three, six, three.
Wonderful Words of Life.
Let me more of their beauty see
Wonderful Words of Life.
Words of life and beauty
Teach me faith and duty
Beautiful words,
Wonderful words,
Wonderful words of life.
Beautiful words,
Wonderful words,
Wonderful words of life.
Christ, the blessed one,
Gives to all
Wonderful words of life.
Sin, a list to the loving Paul,
Wonderful words of life.
All so freely given,
Woo in us to heaven.
Beautiful words,
Wonderful words,
Wonderful words of life.
Beautiful words,
Wonderful words,
Wonderful words of life.
Sweetly echo the gospel call,
Wonderful words of life.
Offer pardon and peace to all,
Wonderful words of life.
Jesus, only Saviour,
Sanctify forever.
Beautiful words,
Wonderful words,
Wonderful words of life.
Beautiful words,
Wonderful words,
Wonderful words of life.
Brother Michael, would you close us in a word of prayer?
Would you close us in a word of prayer?