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our text for tonight's message is taken from Exodus 20:3 thou shall not kill which is also the title of our message this is the six commandment and it is one of the shortest of all the Commandments in English it is only forwards of all the Commandments most people will feel that they have obeyed the six commandment obviously they have not killed anyone and if you were to ask which of the Ten Commandments is controvers the answer is almost all of them people who strongly object to the first commandment which excludes all the other gods people would have different understanding about dishonoring the names of God people would find it pointless in keeping the Sabbath but everyone would agree with the six commandment because no one approves of murder when we hear of people being slain or children being killed we all agree that it is a terrible thing it is wrong every culture or government has some sort of prohibition against murder now having said all this it would be nice to congratulate ourselves that we have all kept the sex commandment and then move on to the next commandment but we cannot do that because when we study this commandment carefully and try to understand the full implication we find that this commandment is still blatantly violated by many people today including Christians this is what we want to learn for today's message firstly let us consider what is forbidden in the six commandment the westmin Shorter Catechism question 69 asks what is forbidden in the six commandment the answer is the six commandment forbid the taking away of of our own life and the life of our neighbor unjustly or whatsoever tendeth there onto the basis of this answer is found in Genesis 9:6 who so shth man's blood by men shall his blood be shed for in the image of God made he men the Bible is very clear that taking the life of another is forbidden and there are three main reasons firstly God is the source of life God gives life he is the sustainer of life and he alone has the authority and the right to determine when a life will end when someone takes the life of himself or another another he robs the sovereignty of God over life and death secondly man is unique because he's created in the image of God so when you attack a human being you are attacking the one in whose image he is made John Calin said our neighbor Bears the image of God to use him abuse or misuse him is to do violence to the person of God Who images himself in every human soul and thirdly life is precious God has given us life and breath so that you and I may live for his glory the chief end of man is to glorify by God and to enjoy him forever so to take a life unlawfully is to Rob God of his glory so this commandment would include abortion infanticide euthanasia or mercy killing or even committing suicide abortion is where a pregnancy is humanly terminated and an infanticide is where an infant is allowed to die or actively killed because of birth defects very often abortion and infanticide occurs when parents want a perfect child so when they perceive that the child is not perfect they choose choose to kill it rather than to bring it into this world to face difficulties of course there are occasions when the mother's life is in danger or something has gone wrong or all the other efforts to preserve the baby's life have failed but we are talking about abortions where parents perceive the baby is going to have a lesser quality of life perhaps because of disability or it is deformed or it is less than perfect or Worse still the gender of the baby is not the right choice they want a baby boy not a baby girl God forbids Christians have always believed that an unborn baby in the womb is a person made in the image of God but sadly today in our society people have been taught otherwise there's much debate about abortion some people say as long as the baby still dwells in the womb as long as the baby maybe is not delivered yet it can be considered for abortion quite some time ago a renowned Professor wrote a book stating that it is acceptable for parents to kill their severely disabled infants he was talking about infants that are out of the womb and this is what he said if they are going to have a lesser quality of life in this Society they would be better off if their parents just put an end to it killing a defective infant is not morally equivalent to killing a person this professor went on to say sometimes it is not wrong to kill at all and listen carefully to what he said children less than one month have no human consciousness and do not have the same rights as others I was horrified when I read what he wrote and I wonder how he knew that children under one months old have no human consciousness as parents when our children were born they opened their eyes and they tried to recognize the surrounding and especially their parents when we played with their little fingers they would try to hold on to ours all because they wanted connection if that is not human consciousness then what is it do you remember the story of John the Baptist in the Gospel of Luke 1:1 15 the Bible tells us that John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit even when he was in his mother's womb and in verse 41 when Mary the mother of Jesus visited her cousin Elizabeth who was pregnant with John the Baptist the baby Rejoice by leaping in the mother's womb that is human consciousness by the way the professor that I mentioned a moment ago is a lecturer in the munes University of Melbourne can you imagine our children being influenced by this kind of secular teachings as parents it is our duty to ground our children in the word of God as Proverbs 22:6 says train up a child in the way he should go so there is a way the child should go and when he is old he will not depart from it today there are protest all over the world and on the internet from those people who call themselves pro-choice they argue that everyone has a right and a woman has the right to choose what she wants to do with her body I find it difficult to comprehend how a woman can choose to live with a man and she can choose to risk pregnancy and then she can choose not to face the consequences of those choices consider yourself you choose to drink and drive let's say and because you are drunk you killed a family in a car crash does it make sense that you can argue since I did not intend to kill anyone and therefore I don't have to face the consequences that would be foolish those people who call themselves pro-choice in reality they are proe yes they are making a choice and what they are choosing is not life but death for the individual who has life the baby is the most helpless of all human beings it cannot defend itself it should be protected not killed you and I are not free to eliminate the life of another simply because it is more convenient for our lives

abortion and and infanticide are forbidden in the sixth commandment what about euthanasia or mercy killing it is sometimes known as do assisted suicide it is the act of painlessly killing those who are old severely sick or disabled to reduce their suffering so you look at those those people and say it is better to pull the pluck it is better to give them an injection because they are not having the quality of life that they ought to have the argument is made on the basis that when a person's quality of life is no longer good then they should be helped to die if that is what they wish and often times the request for euthanasia comes from the family rather than the patient himself because the situation seems hopeless no more cure on one hand there is the high cost of Health Care on the other hand they do not want it to be a burden for the family so they choose to kill rather than to prolong the life mercy killing may sound Noble and good but it is truly an Abomination unto the Lord the question we need to ask is who is the one who determined the quality of life God says all life is precious are we going to argue with him who defines that a life is no longer worth living who makes the decision as to when a person ought to leave and when a person ought to Die the doctor the family member or the government official only God alone has the authority and the right to determine the length of our days on this Earth but what about those people who are on life support machines today we have the medical capacity to keep a body functioning or provide extraordinary artificial life support even after all the organs have failed there is a difference between terminating life and terminating treatment sometimes terminating treatment is a way of turning to God and trusting that life into God's hand but we have to be very careful and prayerful so that that we will not cross the line because sometimes people may not know the difference and they have crossed the line that should never be crossed let me share with you the testimony of a Christian sister who was in such a situation some years ago doctors said that she was no no longer conscious no more cure and they asked the family to consider terminating treatment which means immediate death for her the family had to make a very difficult decision to follow the advice of the doctor or to fight for the mother's right to live the children decided that the mother ought to be given a chance to live as long as God would allow it so they fought for her I was very touched by the children's love for their mother but one thing struck me it was about a week after that decision was made God took her home God is all knowing he knows all the decisions we make every single one of them can you imagine if the children had decided otherwise what if the children had decided to terminate treatment for their mother they would have to leave with that decision all the days of their lives and their conscience would weigh heavily down on them God knows and he allows them to make the right decision and then took the mother home so that they would not be weighed down by this guilty conscience that is why we must be very careful as well as prayerful when it comes to making difficult decisions what about committing suicide life is tough all of us would agree we have encountered different trials and tribulations sometimes it seems that it would be a lot easier if we could just end everything that is why people contemplate suicide but remember man is not the Lord and Master of his own life God is the one who determines the moment of death and man must accept it only when it comes though we sympathize with those people who attack suicide due to psychological reasons depression or for whatever reasons unknown we sympathize with them but it cannot justify the solution that they have chosen to deal with their problems when you and I face the trials of life we must run to Jesus we must tell our problems to him we go to him for he is our refuge and hope not suicide please do not ever contemplate suicide we are not the master and Lord of our own lives God is the Bible says Thou shalt not kill but what about capital punishment soldiers fighting in the battlefield or even killing the animals it is interesting to note that here the Hebrew word for kill is never used in the legal system or in the military or in hunting and killing of animals there are other Hebrew words for those kind of killings in other words the phrase Thou shalt not kill does not simply forbid killing but it forbids the unlawful killing of a human being murder or premeditated taking of an innocent life so it cannot be applied to capital punishment or soldiers fighting in the battlefield or hunting and killing of animals it is always wrong to take the law into our own hands if Justice is to be done it is to be justly administered by the governing authorities so when a judge sentence an offender to death it is not murder it is Justice the Apostle Paul said in Romans 13:4 for he is the m 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 the execution of a mother stops him from killing again and it deters other criminals from doing the same thing so the ultimate purpose the ultimate goal is not the destruction of life but the preservation of life

in the case of War it is the same principle but on a larger scale the purpose of having an army is not to kill people but it is to preserve a country's safety it is also for the preservation of life let us move on to our second Point what is required in the six commandment the westmin Shorter Catechism question 68 asked what is required in the six commandment the answer is the six commandment require all lawful Endeavors to preserve our life and the life of others so the six commandment not only forbids the taking away of a life unlawfully but it requires us to preserve the sanctity of human life perhaps the best biblical example of preserving the sanctity of human life is illustrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when he spoke about the Good Samaritan in the Gospel of Luke chapter 10 I think all of us are familiar with the story of the Good Samaritan remember there was a man who was robbed by thieves and he was left to die on the streets if nothing was done the man would die but the thieves were not the only ones who violated the six commandment on that day there were two respected religious leaders who also broke the sixth commandment not by killing but by leaving the man to die the priest and the levite saw that the man had desperate need and yet they pretended not to notice they looked the other way maybe they were late for worship or maybe they did not want to inconvenience themselves but whatever be the reasons they made a deliberate decision to avoid a man and then they walk on the other side of the road it was most shocking for religious leaders to behave like that today we may call these people pastors ministers elders or deacons in a sense the worst thing that had happened to the victim on that day was not just being robbed but being rejected by his own spiritual leaders they were too busy or they couldn't care less to save his life Martin Luther said what this story shows is that sometimes all it takes to break the sixth commandment is to do nothing at all so the six commandment is violated not only when a person actually does evil but also when he fails to do good to his neighbor you and I are required to preserve life we are called to be like the hero of the story of the Good Samaritan the Good Samaritan took time to see what the man needed when he saw the need he was filled with compassion he got involved and invested his own valuable time and money and he made sure that the man would be taken care of and would be restored but what is more remarkable about this Samaritan is that he did all these for someone outside his own group in those days the Jews did not associate with the Samaritans they despised the Samaritans yet this Good Samaritan treated this Jew the same way he would treat his friend do you realize that this story was told because Jesus wanted to illustrate the true intent of the Ten Commandments because in the preceding verses Jesus said Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind and thou shalt love thy neighbor and as thyself and then a certain lawyer tried to justify himself and he asked Jesus and who is my neighbor so in response to his question Jesus told this story and just like many of the stories Jesus told he always used the stories to provoke the heart so Jesus when he finished the story he said which one of these three was a neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves and the lawyer said he that showed Mercy on him then said Jesus unto him go and do thou likewise in other words go and be the Good Samaritan and love thy neighbor as thyself keeping the sixth commandment means more than just not murdering someone it means loving our neighbor it means showing kindness to strangers and mercy to our enemies perhaps the question we need to ask ourselves is not how many people have we murdered obviously we have not killed anyone but what about those people who are in need whether emotionally spiritually or physically or financially what about those strangers who stro into our lives and need our help and then we pretend like we do not see them and walk the other way we sing the hymn pass me not oh gentle savior but how many people who are in desperate need have we passed by one day you and I would have to stand before before the almighty God some will be reckoned as the priests or the levite praise be to God if we are reckoned as the Good Samaritan up to this point most of us may think that we have obeyed the six commandment we have not killed anyone phys physically we may have helped others who are in desperate need but let us consider the words of our Lord Jesus in Matthew 5: 21-22 allow me to read for you Matthew 5:21 ye have heard that it was said by them of old time Thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the Judgment but I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment and whosoever shall say to his brother raka shall be in danger of the councel and whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of Hell Fire so instead of being one of the easiest Commandments to keep Thou shalt not kill is actually one of the hardest because we may not have killed anyone by our actions physically but we have killed them often times with our words and even in our thoughts a boy once asked his father How did war begin his dad replied well take the first world war it started when Germany invaded Belgium immediately the wife interrupted him and said tell the boy the truth it started because someone murdered someone else the husband felt his authority was undermined he got angry and shouted back k keep quiet you fool am I telling the story or you the wife was offended and she screamed back you are the bigger fool and she marched out of the room slammed the door there was an uneasy silence that followed finally the boy said daddy you don't have to tell me anymore how War started now I know it begins in the heart they realize that when you are envious of someone it is not simply Desiring to have what he has but having the desire to have it taken away from him so that he can be hurt in the process when you HTE someone it is not just a grudge but having the desire to get back at the person it is really a way of wishing he was dead that is the reason why 1 John 3:15 says whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer

are you not a murderer have you ever said anything hurtful to anyone have you ever hated someone so much that you wish the person would disappear do you have an enemy whom you are out to get do you want to to get back at someone to make the person pay for what he or she has done John Calin said this is the murder of the heart we are all murderers in the eyes of God we are all guilty of the Sixx commandment Thou shalt not kill at some point in our lives and just like all the other Commandments if we are found guilty it will be eternal hell none of us can keep the laws of God perfectly including the sixth commandment only Jesus Christ has kept all the laws of God perfectly on our behalf and when Jesus died on the cross he forgave the murderers as well as for others as well remember he said father forgive them for they know not what they do after Jesus ascended into heaven the Apostle Peter preached in Jerusalem to the very people who had crucified Jesus Christ of all the sins Peter specially accused them of murder killing the one who came to be their savior when they realized what they had done they desperately wanted to know what they could do to save themselves that was when Peter said to them repent and and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins dear friend if you think that you have always obeyed the six commandment think again if you believe that you have broken the six commandment you are always prone to get angry you have always had these murderous thoughts in your mind there's murder in your heart if you have killed someone in your word Tau or even you have committed the sin of abortion infan site or Ethan NAIA and you think that I am finished There's Hope for you because Jesus came for you repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ he will provide the Forgiveness of sins Jesus said him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out let us look to the Lord in prayer Our Father in Heaven indeed this is one of The Commandments that many people would feel that they have obeyed but when we study this commandment carefully and try to understand the full implication we find that this commandment is still blatantly violated by many including ourselves though we may not have committed the act of killing someone physically but surely thou knoweth we have done so in our hearts and this is the mud of the heart but praise be to God just as we have violated all the other Commandments our lord Jesus is able to provide the Forgiveness of sins including the sixth commandment some of us may even have committed the sins of physically killing someone it could be abortion it could also be euthanasia because we have made certain decisions in regards to our elderly parents or even grandparents that's hope for us because of our Lord Jesus Christ we repent and we turn to him the one who died on the cross shedding his Precious Blood and rose again from the dead on the third day he is able to provide the Forgiveness of sins for those who are still lingering outside thy kingdom oh Lord convict their hearts of their sins for we have violated all thy commandments so many times but thou are able to save convict their hearts so that they would turn to Jesus Christ and believe in him and have salvation oh Lord be merciful be gracious we pray all this in Jesus name amen