October 12, 2008
Sermon #753
The 10 Commandments-No Murder
Exodus 20:13 (NKJV) 13 “You shall not murder.
What it does not mean
Killing in War
First Battle in the Bible
Genesis 14:11 - 20 (NKJV) 11Then they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way. 12They also took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed. 13Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, for he dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner; and they were allies with Abram. 14Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were born in his own house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. 15He divided his forces against them by night, and he and his servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.
16So he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the people. 17And the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley), after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him. 18Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. 19And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; 20And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all.
ILL: Abram went to war and God blessed him…
The Praise of Miriam
Exodus 15:1 - 4 (NKJV) 1Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying: “I will sing to the Lord, For He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea! 2The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will exalt Him. 3The Lord is a man of war; The Lord is His name. 4Pharaoh’s chariots and his army He has cast into the sea; His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea.
The Victory of David
1 Samuel 17:33 - 51 (NKJV) 33And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.” 34But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, 35I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. 36Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.”
37Moreover David said, “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!” 38So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail. 39David fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them.” So David took them off. 40Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine. 41So the Philistine came, and began drawing near to David, and the man who bore the shield went before him.
42And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him; for he was only a youth, ruddy and good-looking. 43So the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44And the Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!” 45Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
47Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’S, and He will give you into our hands.” 48So it was, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. 49Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. 50So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. 51Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.
B. Self Defense
2 Samuel 23:11 - 12 (NKJV) 11And after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines had gathered together into a troop where there was a piece of ground full of lentils. So the people fled from the Philistines. 12But he stationed himself in the middle of the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory.
C. Defending those who cannot defend themselves
ILL: Stevens’ argument concerning Moses
Acts 7:23 - 24 (NKJV) 23“Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. 24And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian.
D. Argument against:
Matthew 5:38 - 42 (NKJV) 38“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. 41And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.
ILL: This is the argument of the “Society of Friends”-Quakers-and pacifists. I’ll admit “I’m one!”
Sergeant York of WWI was a pacifist who received the highest decorations in war. He killed more German enemies than any other man. When asked why, he said it was “in order to save lives. If he had not ‘kilt’ those Germans, they would have ‘kilt’ my friends” If it means saving the “elderly,” me or my wife, or saving the lives of the children, especially my children, or grandchildren, I will defend them with my life or by taking someone else’s.
“No murder” I believe means “no abortion”
Psalm 106:36 - 41 (NKJV) 36They served their idols, Which became a snare to them. 37They even sacrificed their sons And their daughters to demons, 38And shed innocent blood, The blood of their sons and daughters, Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; And the land was polluted with blood. 39Thus they were defiled by their own works, And played the harlot by their own deeds. 40Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against His people, So that He abhorred His own inheritance. 41And He gave them into the hand of the Gentiles, And those who hated them ruled over them.
Proverbs 6:16 - 19 (NKJV) 16These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: 17A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, 18A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, 19A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.
Isaiah 59:6 - 7 (NKJV) 6Their webs will not become garments, Nor will they cover themselves with their works; Their works are works of iniquity, And the act of violence is in their hands. 7Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths.
Jeremiah 7:5 - 7 (NKJV) 5“For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, 6if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, 7then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
Joel 3:19 (NKJV) 19“Egypt shall be a desolation, And Edom a desolate wilderness, Because of violence against the people of Judah, For they have shed innocent blood in their land.
But Pastor how can we know that the unborn are persons – innocent blood?
ILL: I want to give you a Greek word, Brephos (bref’ os)
Luke 1:44 - 45 (NKJV) 44For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe (brephos) leaped in my womb for joy. 45Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”
Luke 2:12 (NKJV) 12And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe (Brephos) wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
Luke 18:15 - 17 (NKJV) 15Then they also brought infants (brephos) to Him that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 16But Jesus called them to Him and said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. 17Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”
IIL: The babe in the womb, the babe in the cradle, the babe in the arms – were all the same to God!
ILL: The NT Church:
* Letter of Barnabas 19: 74 AD “Thou shalt not slay the child by procuring abortion: nor again shalt thou destroy it after it is born”
* Tertullian’s Apology, 210 AD “Now we allow that life begins with conception because the soul begins at conception, life taking its commencement at the same moment and place that the soul does. The law of Moses, indeed, punishes with due penalties the man who shall cause abortion.”
ILL: What scripture is Tertullian using?
Exodus 21:22 - 25 (NKJV) 22“If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, 24eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Who and How Many?
37% Are protestants
31% Catholic
1.3 % Jewish
18% “Born Again”
1% because of rape or incest
6% health of mother
93% social/economic
US 3,700 per day , 1.37 million per year
When in Western Culture – never except by physicians in Hitler’s Germany and in Stalin’s Russia
ILL: Story given by a Christian from Germany
“I lived in Germany during the Nazi holocaust. I considered myself a Christian. I attended church since I was a small boy. We had heard the stories of what was happening to the Jews, but like most people today in this country, we tried to distance ourselves from the reality of what was really taking place. What could anyone do to stop it?
A railroad track ran behind our small church, and each Sunday morning we would hear the whistle from a distance and then the clacking of the wheels moving over the track. We became disturbed when one Sunday we noticed cries coming from the train as it passed by. We grimly realized that the train was carrying Jews. They were like cattle in those cars!
Week after week that train whistle would blow. We would dread to hear the sound of those old wheels because we knew that the Jews would begin to cry out to us as they passed our church. It was so terribly disturbing! We could do nothing to help these poor miserable people, yet their screams tormented us. We knew exactly at what time that whistle would blow, and we decided the only way to keep from being so disturbed by the cries was to start singing our hymns. By the time the train came rumbling past the church yard, we were singing at the top of our voices. If some of the screams reached our ears, we’d just sing a little louder until we could hear them no more. Years have passed and no one talks about it much anymore, but I still hear that train whistle in my sleep. I can still hear them crying out for help. God forgive all of us who called ourselves Christians, yet did nothing to intervene.
Now, so many years later, I see it happening all over again in America. God forgive you as Americans for you have blocked out the screams of millions of your own children. The holocaust is here. The response is the same as it was in my country - SILENCE!"
Have you ever wondered how people could have stood by and just let this happen? Do you wonder why the Christians in this true story chose to just sing their praise to God a little louder to drown out the victim’s cries?
The old man’s story is in the past - it cannot be changed. It is easy to think we would act differently now. But the old man’s last words are haunting: "It’s happening all over again in America with abortion."
As American Christians, we have become so comfortable in our lovely buildings and padded pews. We have beautiful fellowship halls for our many banquets. We have the latest sound equipment for our praise and worship. We have computers to keep our records. We gather together each week and shut ourselves inside our buildings. We raise our voices as loud as we can in the name of God.
And yet, in the heavenly realm, our voices raised in praise are drowned out by screams of agony from millions of babies who are being executed before they are born. We can’t see them. We can’t hear them. But it is happening as you read this!
Babies are being aborted up until the day of birth in this country. Their organs and brains are "harvested" for use in medical experimentation. In Wichita, Kansas, the smoke stack from the furnace of Dr. Tiller’s abortion clinic belches black smoke and the sickening smell of burning flesh. These are the bodies of preborn 7th, 8th, and 9th month old babies being "disposed of."
If the Christians in the old man’s church had done something, they probably would have been killed. That is not the case with us today. We don’t even have that excuse for our silence.
Is a woman going to hell because she has had an abortion?
No! – People go to hell because they neglect the salvation provided on the cross.
John 3:10 - 21 (NKJV) 10Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
16For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
Results from abortion:
You will be more likely to bleed in the first three months of future pregnancies
Your next baby will be twice as likely to die in the first few months of life
Your next baby will be four times as likely to die in the first year of life
Your next baby is more likely to be born prematurely
You will have a 50/50 chance of miscarrying your next pregnancy
You may become sterile – 1 out of 20 women due after an abortion
You will probably have mental and psychological problems –emotional attachment, relationship problems, memory impairment, hostile outbursts, depression and substance abuse.
ILL: When a woman has a baby, she usually goes through a mild depression because her body knows that something is missing. She normally will get through this quickly because she is holding her baby. When a baby is aborted or dies at birth, her depression can continue for some length of time, sometimes years – in an abortion, it continues a lifetime!
You can murder a person’s spirit
I have in my book collection a book written by Dr. E. Norfleet Gardner, the minister who ordained me, titled Always the Ten Commandments. Dr. Gardner writes:
“Everyone has the stamp of God’s spirit upon him. It is because of this spiritual image, with the ability to think, to reason, to long, to be like God, to prepare one’s own soul for eternity, that one must not murder. When one kills, he destroys something that is God like.
I think for us there may be a greater significance in this commandment then that included in the statement….There is something more significant, because we kill in more deadly fashion when we kill the spirit of life. Here is a boy, of marked possibilities for good…and someone strikes at the heart of that boy’s chief ideal and kills it. There is a girl, with all of life’s beauty and romance before her. Someone comes to hurt her life, and to overwhelm her with a sense of shame and defeat. …Here is another who desires to be a Christian, and grow in grace, and feels the call of God ringing in his ear for some special service. Someone ridicules his profession and says something to bring discouragement and turn him back from the highway of royal endeavor. In that person’s life is crushed the thing that makes for usefulness, and murder has been done.
…Who can tell what real life may become? Who can say how much in the sight of God it may be worth? Who can tell what may be the value of the life of your child? Who can tell what that life may be worth?
Conclusion:
Pastor’s are under threat by the I.R.S. that if we say something from our pulpits that can be considered political, the tax structure can be taken away and our church taxed out of existence. We are under the same duress from some members. “If you say something against my candidate or party, I will leave this church and take others with me.” Well, this is not political, – but it is moral - any person who will keep abortion and the Supreme Court backing abortion is not fit to be in office!
German Pastors were under threat by the government during the holocaust. Most said nothing! Bonheoffer lost his pulpit, his freedom and finally his life for calling Hitler evil and the killing of Jews evil. Abortion for conveyance is evil! Bonheoffer was right, I had rather be right.
A woman has the free choice not to get pregnant – she can be celibate or use birth control; but she does not have the right to murder that child once she has conceived. A doctor has a free right to practice medicine but he does not have a moral right to kill either the Brephos (bref’ os) or the elderly. The Commandment of God still stands!
Exodus 20:13 (NKJV) 13“You shall not murder.
ILL: An artist was working on a stained glass window. He asked a woman who was cleaning, “Did you see a very small sliver of glass on the floor?” She said she had swept it up since it was not important. The artist made her hunt until she found it. Then he climbed upon the ladder and fitted it into the space of the eye of the Saviour. When the light shone through it the old woman looked up in wonder. Your life may be like that! So little that it seems like not much value to Christ but he thinks life is of supreme value. He was willing to give His life for it!
