All right, I'm gonna ask you
to take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Proverbs
chapter 28. Proverbs 28. I'd like to look at one verse
of scripture. Verse 17. A man that doeth violence to the blood
of any person shall flee to the pit. Let no man stay him. Now, this verse of scripture
sets forth the surety of God's justice for disobedience to his
law. And this verse of scripture is
actually speaking of one of the commandments that's given. And
here's what this verse of scripture, and Lord willing, we'll look
at this. It's the law of murder. I've
entitled this message, Forgiven for the Crime of Murder. I know
you're thinking, title but Exodus 31 18 says thou shalt
not kill well I'm sorry Exodus 20 verse 13 thou shalt not kill
so this is what our verse of scripture says a man that doeth
violence a man that is oppressed or burdened because of doing
violence to the blood of any person, one that murders one
unjustly. He shall flee, he shall take
flight, he drive or drive hastily to the pit, to the well, to the
cistern, to the dungeon, to the grave, and let no man stay in. That means let no man lay hold
to help him. support him. That's pretty serious,
isn't it? That's pretty serious. God's law shall speedily take its course,
and that one who leaves this world with the crime of murder
on his soul is going to die without mercy. He shall be pursued by
the horrors of a guilty conscience, divine vengeance, and let no
man endeavor to save him. He won't. Now, when I read that
passage of scripture, now you all know me well enough to know
that we're looking for the gospel. in this passage of scripture.
You know that. If we don't see the gospel of
God's grace, we've missed it. But when I read it, let me just
express to you what I think you're probably thinking. Why would
the Spirit of God single out this particular part of the law
of God? What is it about that particular
commandment, thou shalt not kill? To understand this, we need to
grasp hold of the spiritual significance of this verse and ask ourselves
this. What is the true issue? What is the true crime of murder? Murder. Well, let me say, first
of all, it's a crime against God. All sin is against God. and against God's good pleasure
in the creation of man. Therefore, that crime is subject
to absolute justice. Now, we would know that. Genesis
9, 6 says this. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by
man shall his blood be shed for, because in the image of God made
he man. Truly man in his fallen states
is not worthy in himself. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. Man's not worthy. He's not deserving
in himself of God's mercy. He's not deserving of it. That's
why we're saved by grace, through faith, not of ourselves, gift
of God. But God Almighty, made man, the
scripture says, in his own image. The only image that we're taught
that God ever reveals himself unto man in, and that is in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore, God deems himself,
according to this scripture, violated in the murder of man. Now, you just stay with me here.
I'm just, I'm gonna build a little foundation here on just the issue
of murder, and then I'm gonna show you what it is. I'm gonna
tell you something right now before I finish this message.
We're all guilty. We're all guilty. Mike, we knew
that, didn't we? We're all guilty. We're all murderers. Okay. Let me show you, I'll show you,
Lord willing, what this verse is really saying. So, God Almighty
created man in his image. created man with an eternal soul
that shall remain forever. Animals don't have that. So according
to God's creation, when he said, let us make man in our image,
there is something that is within man that displays the glory of
God. Let me tell you what man was
also created for. Turn with me to Romans 9. Let me show you something. Romans
9. Verse 21 to 24. Man was created. He's going to glorify God in
either God's justice, wrath, or in God's mercy. All creation,
everybody, everybody. Almighty God created men for
His glory. Glory of justice, glory of mercy.
Let me show you that, Romans 9, 21 to 24. Romans 9.21, hath not the potter
power over the clay? Now that's us. Of the same lump
to make one vessel under honor and another under dishonor, what
if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known,
endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted or
made up to destruction, and that he might make known the riches
of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had aforeprepared
unto glory, even us whom he hath called, not the Jews only, but
also the Gentiles." Here's what the Apostle Paul was saying under
the inspiration of God's Spirit. What if God has been pleased
to leave one man to himself to do what he wanted to do. What
did God do in favor of him? He said, for this reason I raised
you up, that I might make my power known. Somebody said, well,
I don't know why God said. Spirit of God moved Paul the
apostle to say, who art thou, old man, that replies against
God. Quiet. Let us be quiet. God Almighty made men in His
image for His glory to display Himself the way that He's pleased
to do. So therefore, if this truth or
since this truth of doing unjustly toward another human being, if
that would be fixed in our minds, we'd be very careful. about inflicting
injuries on another. Yeah, we would all agree that
the uprightness and the purity and the innocence of the divine
image of man was removed in the garden. Man's innocence. God
Almighty made man upright. That's what the scriptures say.
He made man. And by one man's disobedience, many were made
sinners. All have sinned, come short of
the glory of God. That conscience, there's still
a remnant. In fallen man, that remnant is
still there. Man knows right and wrong. He
knows it. There's a conscience there. So according to our passage,
the Spirit of God has been pleased to especially mark out murder,
murder, to be that which is of God's displeasure. It arises,
murder, it arises out of the evil passions of a man's heart
that loves himself. Now this is where, okay, I've
got my foundation of murder. We know what murder is. I'm gonna
build on this. Lord, will you show us where
we're all murderers. We're all murderers by nature.
But almighty God has set forth that murder is that which Comes
about because of an evil passion of a man's heart. Let me show
you where this was first evidence. Hold your place and turn to Genesis
4. Genesis 4. What's the very foundation of
murder? Here's what I'm gonna start getting
at. Genesis 4, verses 1 to 8. And Adam knew Eve, now here we
go, here we go, go all the way back to the beginning. Adam knew
Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bare Cain and said, I've
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. In the process of time,
it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an
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 not 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 where they were
in the field that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and
slew him, he killed him. Why'd he kill him? Because God
had respect unto Abel's offering. What was it? It was the shed
blood of a lamb. That was pictured the Lord Jesus
Christ. And Cain brought the best of
the fruits that he had, setting forth that Cain was gonna offer
God the best that he could do. That's not what Abel did. Abel
brought a lamb, shed blood, And Cain saw that Abel's offering
was accepted and his wasn't. And you know who he was ultimately
mad at? Mad at God, because God accepted
that which God had set forth, that he would accept, the lamb.
And he killed his brother, killed his brother, Ophir. He was mad
because God has the right to do as he will. God has the right.
to set forth that which he'll accept. Now while carnal man
is trying to quiet his conscience, there was Cain's heart, he said he was
wroth. I looked that up, I want to say
this before I go on here. It said he burned. He was kindled
with anger, he was hot. He was furious, this is what
the word means, wroth. incensed. He was so mad, killed
him, killed him. Now we'll try to, we'll try to
think to ourselves, well, thanks be unto God, I'm not, you know,
I'm not under that penalty because I've never murdered anybody.
That's one crime, but I've, you know, I might have done some
other things, but I've never done that. That's what the carnal
mind says. First John 3.15 says, whosoever
hateth to pursue with hatred or detest, whosoever hateth his
brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer
hath the eternal life abiding in him. But while we still may
try to appease our conscience and say, well, but I really don't
hate anybody. I don't hate anybody. I don't,
I don't, you know. Now hear what the Lord says.
I want you to hold your place in Proverbs. Turn over to Matthew
5, Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. Now listen
to what the Lord says. Now hear, hear what we're gonna,
we're gonna appease our conscience. See, this is the problem. This
is the problem with, with all of us being born into this world. We don't know what God has to
say. And the sad part is that there's coming a day where we're
all going to stand before the Lord. And the books are going
to be opened. And the book. And men are going
to stand before God and try to justify themselves. That's what
the Lord said in Matthew 7. Many, many will say to me in
that day, Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name. We cast out devils
in your name. We've done many wonderful works
in your name. And he'll say, I never knew you. You know why? Men don't know what God has to
say. Men are standing in pulpits today, and I'm not trying to
be mean, but men are standing in pulpits today, and they're
preaching, and nobody knows, Neil, what this book says. I'm
gonna tell you something. We're gonna stand before God.
And this passage of scripture in Proverbs 28, Verse 17, a man
that doeth violence to the blood of any person shall flee to the
pit and no man shall stay. No man's gonna stop him. I wanna
know what that means because I'm gonna stand before God. I
know you are too, but I am. You see what I'm saying? I am.
So let's hear what God's got to say about this. Matthew chapter
five, verse 21. The Lord's teaching on the Sermon
on the Mount. You've heard that it was said
of them of old, thou shalt not kill. Whosoever shall kill shall
be in danger of the judgment. He said, now you've heard that.
Who said that? Well, back in the Old Testament,
well, there was a commandment, you know, it said in Exodus chapter
20, thou shalt not kill. Somebody said, well, I hadn't
killed anybody. I'm innocent, I'm innocent. Now
there's the letter of the law. That's the letter of the law.
You've heard it said, thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not kill. But then in verse 22 of Matthew
5, he's going to give the spirit. He's going to be the heart of
that commandment. He said, 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, Rakeh, shall be in danger of the council. But whosoever
shall say, thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Now I'm
going to explain those words because you're like me, you know. Unless I take them and look them
up, I don't know what they mean either, you know. So Lord willing,
I'll try to Tell you what he's saying right here. The Lord says,
there's the letter of the law. You've heard it said, thou shalt
not kill. Whosoever shall kill shall be
in danger of the judgment. That's the letter. Now here's
the spirit. But I say to you, I say to you that whosoever is
angry with his brother, now you look at these next words, without
a cause, without a cause, you know, without a cause, Whoever's
angry, whoever is provoked, whoever is aroused to anger, whoever's
rough, exasperated. That's what it is, whoever's
angry. Now let's realize something. Men can always find something
wrong with another man. There's always something that
they can become angry with. There's always something that
they can be aroused about, something to be exasperated about, but
because why? Because all men are sinners,
we're all sinners, we're all frail creatures of the dust,
and so that's, I can understand that. I understand why you'd
be mad at me, because I don't always do the things I'm supposed
to do, and I'm always inconsistent. I get it, I get it. But he said,
but I say to you, whosoever is angry with his brother, without
a cause. And I'll tell you this, there's
only one. There's only one that has never
given anybody a reason or a cause to be provoked or exasperated
or frustrated. There's only one that ever walked
it. One man walked this earth that
never gave anybody a reason to be frustrated. the Lord Jesus
Christ. Turn with me to John 15, 23.
I'm gonna try to start wrapping this up as I'm building this
thing. John 15, John 15, 23 to 25. John 15. Verse 23, he that
hateth me, hateth my father also. If I had not done among them
the works which none other man did, they had not had sin. But
now have they both seen and hated both me and my father. But this
cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written
in their law, they hated me without a cause. Our Lord spoke when
he was preaching on that sermon on the mountain, Matthew 5. gave
the spirit of that law. He was talking about himself.
But he said, but I say to you, whosoever hateth his brother
without a cause, that's the root of murder. He said, that's the
root. That's the root of murder. That's what he's saying. Whosoever
is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of
the judgment. He's saying, whosoever despises
or is exasperated, angry toward one without a cause, and only
the Lord Jesus Christ is that man. It's the love of self above
the love of God. Anger toward God because God
is God. Because he has a right. He's
angry without a cause. That anger that comes to fruition,
which the Lord said is murder. Whosoever is angry without a
cause. We say, well I never, I never,
I don't hate God without a cause. Romans 8, 6. Romans 8, 6. I want you to look at this. Romans
chapter 8. In verse 6 to 8, for to be carnally minded, that
is, minding of the flesh, is death. But to be spiritually
minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind, that mind that
is the mind with which every man and every woman is born,
the carnal The carnal mind is enmity against God. I don't have anything against the
Lord. The Lord said we do. The Lord said we do. And so therefore,
we do. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God, for it's not subject, it's not in subjection to the
law of God. Neither indeed can be. So then
they that are in the flesh cannot please God, that the scripture
sets forth that the carnal mind, we're all born with a mind, whether
we want to accept it, we won't until the Lord opens our heart
and gives us a heart to bow to this. We're all born with a mind
that's hostile toward God. We're all in a state of opposition. You say, well, I'm not. The scripture
says we are. We are. We don't want, we will
not yield unto the Lord. We're not in submission. We don't
bow. One day we will. Every knee's
gonna bow, every tongue is gonna confess, but there's a hatred,
a hatred for God, and it was because of sin when we fell in
the garden. You know, we make light of what
sin is. We just say, well, you know,
it's like, you know, It's not that big a deal. God's gonna
understand. No, no he won't. No, no he won't. We're all, in
heart, haters of God. I'll show you this. Ephesians
2. Ephesians chapter 2. Hang on
just a second, I'm gonna give us all some hope. I will. Ephesians
chapter 2, verses 1 to 3. The Apostle Paul moved right
to the church at Ephesus, and he said, and you hath he quickened,
brought you to life, spoke life to you, who were dead in trespasses
and sins, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in
the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others." We were all children that hated God. Somebody said,
oh, I never did. God said we did. God said we
did. We're guilty. We're guilty. Back
in Matthew 5.22, whenever the Lord was preaching
that message. And he said, given the spirit of that, he said,
I say unto you, whosoever is angry with his brother, without
a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. Whosoever shall
say to his brother, raika, raika. You know what that means? Vain,
empty, senseless. A term of reproach that the Jews
verbalized. toward the Lord. Whosoever, he
says, shall say, Rake up, shall be in judgment of the council.
Whosoever shall say, Thou fool, thou fool, shall be in danger
of hell fire. That used to scare me to death,
because I think it, man, if I say, if I say to somebody, you know,
you fool, you know, man, I just, I don't, you know, let a slip
of the tongue get me, but here's what that word right there, fool,
means, you know what I mean? Godless. Godless. That's another accusation that
they accused the Lord of. In John 10, 32 to 33, John 10,
32, 33, Jesus answered them, many good
works have I showed you from my Father. For which of those
works do you stone me? The Jews answered him, saying,
for a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy. because that thou, being a man,
makest thyself God. You know what they were saying
to him? You're a fool. You're godless. You're making
yourself God. That's what you are. Oh, the depth to which murder
is found within man. That spirit that we're all born
with and must be delivered from. But beloved, I got some hope
for you. I mean, you know, there's nothing
that is more beautiful than seeing with the backdrop of guilty,
you're guilty, we're all guilty. You know, you might say, well,
he's a good man. Well, I might know what you mean.
He might be a nice guy and all this stuff, but good before God,
born in Adam, no, there's none good. But with the backdrop of
my guilt, will you give me some hope? Will you give me something
that I can cling to? Turn to Romans 5, 6. Romans chapter
5, verse 6. 5, 6 to 10. Paul the apostle writing says,
for when we were yet without strength, In due time, Christ
died for the ungodly. And you know, based upon what
we've just looked at, all men are born ungodly. But God's got
a people, he's got a people in the midst of all these ungodly
ones. And we're all the same, we're
all dug out of the same pit. But he died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet perventure or perhaps, For a good man, some
would even dare to die, but God commendeth his love toward us,
and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more
than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from
wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. You know, turn, turn with me
to Job, Job 33 and I, I will, I'll wrap this up. Job 33. Here's,
here's, here's the bottom line. We're all, we're all murderers,
Bob, in heart. We're all born, according to
the scriptures, wrathful children, all, all of us. We all hated
God, all of us, whether or not we want to admit it, that's,
scripture says that's the way it is. Okay, well if that's the
way it is, Lord, can you do something for this sinner? Because I know
this, I know according to these scriptures I'm a murderer by
birth, I'm a murderer by choice, I'm a murderer by practice, I
know I am. I've done some things that, that
I admit, okay, I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Lord, can you do something
for somebody like me? I told you, I told you, my background's
not the most glowing, believe me. But almighty God was pleased
to take a wretched sinner, the one you're looking at, and just
deliver him. Here's what he's talking about,
Job 33, starting in verse 23. If there be a messenger with
him, an interpreter, one among a thousand to show a man his
uprightness. Now, if there be a murderer,
I mean, if there be a messenger to a murderer, a messenger, who
is this messenger? Well, it's the Holy Spirit. If
there be a messenger, one among a thousand, one. If there's a messenger with him,
an interpreter, He's the only one that can interpret. One among
a thousand to show a man his uprightness, to show who God
is. Then he, that is God, the interpreter,
is gracious unto him and saith, deliver him from going down to
the pit. Why? Why? I found a ransom. I found
one that would take the guilt of this murderer right here and
bear that guilt in his own body, the Lord Jesus Christ. He bore
what I am by nature. That's what you just read, David.
Just read 2 Corinthians 5, 21. He, the Father, had made him
sin for us. Now, here's the sinner. I need
a ransom. I need somebody to answer for
me. I need the Lamb of God to do something for me that I can't
do for myself. Then he's gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver
him from going down to the pit. That's what he deserves. I deserve
to be put in hell. And myself, I deserve that. I
know that. I found a ransom. His flesh shall
be fresher than chiles. he shall return to the days of
his youth. He will pray unto God, he will be favorable unto
him, and he shall see his face with joy, for he will render
unto man his righteousness. He looketh upon men, and if any
say, I've sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it
profited me not. If anybody says I'm a sinner,
and I've perverted that which is right, that's me, I've done
it, and it didn't get me anywhere, it didn't profit me one bit.
He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life
shall see the light. Oh, if there's one, if the Spirit
of God is pleased to take the word, preaching of the gospel,
and speak, to a needy sinner, remove that heart of stone, give
him a heart of flesh, right on his heart, I'm yours, you're
mine. He found a ransom, a ransom. I'm thankful he didn't wait on
me to make a decision, walk down the aisle, what in the world
would I have done? If he'd have left me to myself, tell me about
God who saves sinners in spite of what they are, doesn't wait
on them. Tell me about God who comes,
says like that baby that was out there in the desert, navel
wasn't cut, wasn't swaddled, he was just out there in his
own blood, and he said, when I came by, I saw you in your
own blood, and I said to you, live, live, and you lived. If there's any murderers out
there, Is there anybody out there that admits, you know what? I'm
not gonna justify myself anymore. I'm done. Thanks be unto God,
I'm done with that. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner that
needs a savior. I'm a sinner that needs one to
save me because I can't save myself. Then he's had mercy on
you. You tell him, you deliver him. I found a ransom. I pray God
bless this to our hearts for Christ's sake.