All right, Matthew chapter five
have titled the lesson this morning, the true meaning of thou shalt
not kill. I'm looking forward to the next
weeks as we look at several of the Lord's explanations of several
of the different commandments telling us the true meaning of
all of these commandments. I remember the context here.
What the Lord has been teaching us is what true righteousness
is true righteousness. is not the best that we can do.
True righteousness is perfection. True righteousness is the best
that God can do. Look at verse 20. We ended our
lesson with this last week. For I say unto you that except
your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of
heaven. So perfection, righteousness
is not the best that we can do. Now the Lord begins to teach
us that the law is spiritual. You know, even if you can outwardly
keep these commandments of the law and not let somebody see
you break them, it doesn't really matter. Because now he's teaching
us that the law is spiritual. The law requires more than outward
obedience. It requires obedience in the
heart. Now that's a real problem for us, isn't it? Because we're
born with a dead, sinful, depraved, rebellious heart, disobedient
heart. And that makes all of us unrighteous
and makes us lawbreakers from the very get-go because of our
heart. So the Lord shows us that by
teaching us the true meaning of the law. It's exactly what
Dan said in his prayer, to look away from ourselves and look
to Christ. That's the true meaning of every
commandment of the law. The purpose of the law is not
to give us a way we can earn a righteousness by keeping The
purpose of the law is to show us that we can't keep the law,
so we have to look to Christ. That's the only option we have.
If we want righteousness, we have to look away from ourselves
and look to Christ who kept the law for his people. In the next
weeks, we're going to look at what the Lord is teaching us
here. He gives us the true meaning of five commandments of the law
to show us that the true meaning of the law is Christ. The true
meaning of the law is that salvation is in Christ, not in our obedience
to it. The true meaning of the law is
look to Christ who fulfilled it. The first example that the
Lord uses is thou shalt not kill. Matthew 5 verse 21. You've 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. Now,
this is the sixth commandment. Thou shalt not kill. And whoever
broke this commandment was to be put to death. That was God's
commandment. Now, nobody here has physically
taken somebody else's life, made them stop breathing. Does that mean that we're innocent
of one of God's commandments? Can we say I can find one commandment? I'm not guilty of that one. No,
we can't say that at all, because look what our Lord says, verse
22. 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
save his brother Rekha shall be in danger of the counsel.
But whosoever shall save thou fool shall be in danger of hell
fire. Now this is a totally different
matter. The Lord tells us this commandment
is spiritual. If you just want to kill somebody,
You're guilty of breaking this commandment. Thou shalt not kill.
You've killed them already. If you're angry at somebody without
a good reason, you've broken this commandment. Thou shalt
not kill. If you call somebody Rekha, and that word means worthless. If you tell somebody you're just
worthless, you've broken this commandment. Thou shalt not kill.
And this term Rekha was such a term of contempt. It's derived
from the word that means to spit on somebody. Now if you just
ever just wanted to spit at somebody, you've broken this commandment
that I should not kill. If you call somebody a fool,
and the word literally means stupid or blockhead. It reminded
me that's what they call everybody in Charlie Brown, you blockhead.
But it means more than that. The way they use this word means
a wicked person. If you just thought somebody
is just so stupid and they're just wicked. You're guilty of
this, breaking this commandment, thou shalt not kill. See, murder
applies to more than just taking somebody's life. We can murder
a man's reputation with our words, can't we? We can murder a man's
feelings with our words. We can murder a relationship
with somebody because of our words. Well now, how are you
doing so far in this commandment? Not too good, are we? And you
know, when we see, okay, I've broken this commandment. You
know what our natural reaction to feeling that guilt is? Well,
I got to make up for it. I got to make up for it with
religious activity. But look what our Savior says
about that, verse 23. Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the
altar, this is a free gift offering. You bring your free gift offering
to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother has thought
against thee. Leave thy gift before the altar and go thy way. First be reconciled to thy brother,
and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly
whilst thou art in the way with him, lest at any time the adversary
deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the
officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee,
thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the
uttermost farthing. Now, let me tell you the way
this is normally taught, and then there's something good for
us to learn here. But then we're going to come back and see the
real meaning of this commandment. Now, if you find yourself at
odds with a brother or a sister, you go make it right with them.
I mean, you go make it right with them right now before you
worship God. And there's something to that.
Look at first Peter chapter three. There's something to that. God's
not going to be worshiped in this world. We're fussing and
fighting and carrying on. God's worshiped in peace and
love. He can't be worshiped in a feeling
of hate and hard feelings. Peter tells us something about
that in first Peter chapter three, verse seven. Likewise, ye husbands
dwell with them according to knowledge, with your wife, giving
honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, as being heirs
together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered."
Evidently, if we're not dwelling with our wives according to knowledge,
we're not giving them honor as the weaker vessel, we're not
giving them honor as heirs together of the grace of life, our prayers,
our worship will be hindered. Now we want a place of worship
here, don't we? Then let's seek to have peace
with one another. Seek peace and pursue it. The fulfilling
of the law is love. Not hard feelings, not hate,
not fussing and fighting. The fulfilling of the law is
love. Well, now let's not fight with
those people that we love. Let's do whatever it takes to
have peace with one another because that kind of peace is rare. It's precious and it allows us
to have a place of worship. Let's make this a place of known
to be a place of worship, not a place of fussing and fighting
where we're trying to, you know, maneuver around and feel like
we're rising up politically in the ranks or something. Let's
make this a place of peace. So we have this worship. And
if we've done something to offend a brother, I mean, let's go make
it right. Make it right with them. I tell
you how you begin that. Tell him I'm sorry. Those are
three powerful words when you put them together. I am sorry.
Powerful words, especially to a brother or sister, isn't it?
Our Lord says if your brother's got charges against you, you
agree with him quickly. You tell him you're right. I'm
sorry. And you make it whole. Don't
stop just saying I'm sorry. Make him whole. Because listen,
if he's determined to take you to court, Because you've done
something illegal, you've done something wrong, and you're guilty.
I mean, he's got you. You're guilty. Buddy, settle
it out of court. I mean, do everything you can
to settle it out of court and to make it right. And you know,
when you talk about settling out of court, you know, you talk
about bargaining with one another. Don't bargain to do the least
you can do. You make it right. Because listen,
he's got you. I mean, you're guilty. He's got
you. And he can take you to court just saying, I'm sorry, not going
to do you much good. So make it right, make it right.
And avoid doing that to your brother in the first place. Seek
peace and pursue it. Avoid doing that to your brother
in the first place. All right. How are you doing
with that in your heart? Well, most of us probably aren't
doing too good because that goes against our nature to say, I'm
sorry. goes against our nature. Our
mothers have to teach us to say, I'm sorry, don't they? It doesn't
come to us naturally. And to humble ourselves before somebody
else that we've done wrong, to humble ourselves before somebody
that could really whack us, goes against our nature. And besides
that, sometimes it's just impossible to get along with some people.
Scripture tells us, if it be possible, as much as lieth in
you, live peaceably with all men. Now, sometimes that's not
possible. Sometimes even believers don't
see eye to eye. Now, brethren should still have
peace if we don't see eye to eye, but that happens sometimes.
Well, all right, this is plainly seen. We've all broken this law,
haven't we? We've all broken it. The law
has fulfilled its purpose, hasn't it? To show us we're guilty on
all counts. Now, we shouldn't have hard feelings
towards one another that would get in the way of worship. That
is a shameful thing. It's a shameful thing. The only
way we can get along with our brethren is by avoiding them.
That's shameful. Let that not be named among us.
But the Lord is not teaching us here that our ability to worship
Him depends on how well we managed to get along with one another.
That's not what he's teaching us. He's not teaching us that
our relationship with him is determined by how well we get
along with each other or how well we do at making up, you
know, for things we do wrong. That does not determine our relationship
with God. That's not what the Lord's teaching
you. If that was what he was teaching, he'd be teaching salvation,
but works with He'd be teaching salvation by the works of the
law. He'd be teaching us that our
relationship with God depends on how well we act, not on the
grace of God. You see that? So that's not what
the Lord's teaching here. Remember the context. Now the
Lord is teaching us what it is to be truly righteous. He's teaching
us that the only way we can possibly be righteous is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. If we believe Christ and we're
in Him, we've kept the law when Christ, our representative, kept
it. And that's the only way we can be made righteous. But we've
broken the law. When we just look at this one
commandment, thou shalt not kill, we've broken the law. Well, is there a way for a lawbreaker? Is there a way for a lawbreaker
to be saved? Yes, there is. and it's in the
Lord Jesus Christ. The true meaning of this commandment,
thou shalt not kill, is not that this is something we can keep
in order to make God happy with us. The true meaning of this
commandment, thou shalt not kill, is this. You're guilty, so look
to Christ. That is the true meaning of this
commandment. And I can show you that in what
the Lord teaches us here. The real problem, the real problem
we have is our sin is toward God. Now our sin hurts others,
but our sin is toward God. What did David say when his sin
was revealed? David had killed Uriah. He committed adultery with his
wife. And David said, Lord, against
thee and thee only have I sinned. and done this evil in thy sight.
My sin hurts Uriah, but my sin is against thee, against the
Lord. And what makes us breaking this commandment worse, that
sin always has to do with God. The way we've broken this commandment,
thou shalt not kill, is we've killed God's son. Now that's
the issue. We were the ones that cried,
crucify him, crucify him. And you say, now, wait a minute.
I wasn't there. I'm not that old. I wasn't there. We were
in spirit. We were in heart. That's our
nature to say, crucify him, crucify him. I'll not have this man to
reign over me. That's killing the son of God.
We call the Lord Jesus Christ, God's son, Rekha. We called him
a worthless man. We held Christ. the Son of God
in such contempt, we spit in His face. Now, we may not have
ever used the word Rekha. We may not have seen the Lord
in the flesh and spit in His face in the flesh. But I tell
you what, when we don't believe Christ, when we hear Him preached,
you know what we're saying? We're saying Rekha. We're saying
Christ is worthless to me. That Christ you're preaching
is worthless to me. His righteousness is worthless
to me. I don't need him to obey the
law for me. I do just fine on my own. That's
calling him the Savior worthless. If we don't believe Christ, when
we hear him preach, we don't bow to him. We're saying his
sacrifice is worthless. I don't need his sacrifice. I
don't need the blood of Christ. I'm doing just fine on my own.
That's saying Rekha, unbelief is calling Christ worthless.
and it's spitting in his face. We're guilty, aren't we? We're
guilty. You and I are part and parcel
with the Pharisees who called Christ a fool. They heard what
he had to say, the doctrine that he preached, and they said, well,
you've got a devil. You're a wicked man. You're crazy. I know a whole lot better way
of salvation than what you're teaching. That's calling him
a fool. Isn't that almost always our
reaction the very first time we hear the gospel? I'll not
have that. That's not what I've always heard.
I don't want that way of salvation. That's to call Christ a fool.
And we've been angry at the Lord without a cause. Almighty God
has not given one person here a reason to be angry with him.
If we're angry with him and we're angry him without a cause, We're
in that crowd that the Lord said, you fulfill the scripture that
you hated me without a cause. And someone says, well, I don't
hate Christ. No, no, no, no, no. I don't hate
Christ. Let me tell you something. To prefer something, to prefer,
just prefer anything over the Lord Jesus Christ is to hate
Christ. That's right. And that's not
something I made up. What did the Lord say? Can't
serve two masters. You either love the one or hate
the other. If you love one master, you hate the other. If you prefer
one master over the other, you hate the other. So to prefer
anything to Christ, who is the master, is to hate him. That's what God's word says.
Now that exposes our guilt. That makes it just as clear as
the noonday sun, we're guilty of murder. We have killed God's
son. God said, thou shalt not kill,
and to thumb our nose at God in the most horrible way possible,
we killed his son. Now, I've been spending some
days studying this, but when I first started studying this,
probably like you, you came here this morning and thought, well,
I've done a lot of things wrong. but at least I killed anybody.
But when we see the true meaning of the commandment, that's exactly
what we've done. We are guilty of murder. And
look at Romans chapter seven. This is what happens every time
God shows us the true meaning of the law. Romans chapter seven,
you know, the apostle Paul, And he
was Saul of Tarsus, was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. This man knew
the law. This man kept the law. He's out
blameless in keeping the law. And look what he says, Romans
seven, verse seven. What should we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known
sin, but by the law, for I had not known lust, except the law
said thou should not covet, but sin. Taking occasion by the commandment
wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law, sin was
dead. For I was alive without the law once. But when the commandment
came, sin revived and I died. When I saw what the law really
said, I died. I realized I was dead. And the
commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, deceived me and by it slew me. Wherefore the
law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was
then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear
sin, working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the
commandment might become exceedingly sinful. Now that's the purpose
of the law, to show us we are exceeding sinful, and the only
hope we have is looking to Christ and trusting Christ. Now, is
there a way that a stone cold murderer like me can be saved? Is that even possible? Someone who put to death God's
only son, is it possible he could forgive me? Is it possible he
could give me life? Yes, there is. That's the good
news of the gospel. Yes, there is. But it's in Christ. That's not in our actions. It's
not in our deeds of the law. It's in Christ. And this is what
the Lord is teaching us in the true meaning of this commandment.
Thou shalt not kill. We're guilty, so look to Christ.
First, the stone cold murderer is forgiven and can worship God
by resting in Christ. Look back in our text, Matthew
5, verse 23. Therefore, if thou bring thy
gift to the altar and there remember us that thy brother hath fought
against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar and go
thy way. First, be reconciled to thy brother
and then come and offer thy gift. Now, who is the brother that
has something against us? It's the Lord Jesus Christ that
we kill. That's the brother that's got something against us. And
listen, it's not just this one commandment. We've broken every
commandment. of His law. He's got lots of
charges against us. Even this commandment, thou shalt
not kill. Well, how can we ever make that
up to Him? Our nature says, well, let's
bring all kinds of religious gifts and do all kinds of religious
deeds and He'll forgive us. But now that's a bribe. That's
exactly what that is. That's all that is. It's a bribe.
And that won't work with God. Would it work with you? What
if somebody killed one of your daughters? Would that work with
you? How much money could they give you to make it okay? They
couldn't bribe you. How much more our father? He's
perfect. So don't bring that gift and
expect God to be bribed by you. Leave your gift at the altar.
Just leave it there. And you go be reconciled to God.
Well, how can a stone cold murderer be reconciled to God? 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. We're reconciled to God through
the sacrifice of Christ. And this is the message we preach.
2 Corinthians 5 verse 20. Now then, we're ambassadors for
Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. Now, just stack your arms, just
quit your warfare, just quit your rebellion, quit your refusal
to believe and just bow, bow, be reconciled to God. How can I be reconciled to God?
It's by believing the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not by my own sacrifices. It's not by my own deeds of the
law to make myself righteous. I'm reconciled to God by resting
in the Lord Jesus Christ, by believing that He is all it takes
to make me righteous. That's what verse 21 says. For
He, God the Father, hath made Him, God the Son, sin for us
who knew no sin, that we, His people, might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Now the only way we can be made
righteous is by trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. The only way
we can be reconciled to God is by trusting Christ. The only
sacrifice that will please the Father is the sacrifice of Christ. We would be reconciled to God
by pleading the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
the only way God can be worshipped. There are not many different
ways of worship. There's one way of worship in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the way to God. God's not
worshipped through all of our gifts and our offerings and our
good works. God's only worshipped in Christ. Then leave all your good works
in the garbage. Just take them to the dump and
leave them there. Worship God in Christ. Be forgiven
in Christ. Then come offer your gifts. Then
bring gifts. Sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. Not works, not bribes, but free
will offerings of sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. those will be accepted in the
Lord Jesus Christ. All right, so we're forgiven.
A stone-cold murder is forgiven by resting in Christ. Number
two, a stone-cold murder is forgiven, and they're accepted by agreeing
with every charge God has against us. Verse 25, Matthew chapter
five. Agree with thine adversary quickly
whilst thou are in the way with him, lest at any time the adversary
deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the
officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee,
thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the
uttermost farthing. Now the adversary here is the
Lord himself. He's the one we've sinned against,
because all of our sin is against him. And there can't be any reconciliation
with the Lord. until the entire debt, the entire
sin debt is paid. Every farthing, every penny has
got to be paid before there can be reconciliation with God. Well,
how can God, our adversary, be satisfied? What will pay that
debt? Just one thing, the sacrifice
of Christ. The sacrifice of Christ, the
blood of God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. then agree quickly
with everything God has said about you. God says that we're
guilty, that we have no righteousness of our own. Now don't argue and
say, now wait a minute, I'm not as bad as that guy. Don't argue
and say, now wait a minute, I'm not perfect, but I've done some
good things. Just agree quickly and say, true Lord, I am a guilty
sinner. Just plead guilty. Every single
time you ever come before the Lord, plead guilty. It's the
only plea we got. Well, why is pleading guilty
our best option? Because if we plead guilty, we
can throw ourselves on the mercy of God's court. And there's a
good hope there in there. Because God's plenteous in mercy.
God's plenteous in mercy and truth. You see, if we plead guilty
and say, true Lord, I'm a guilty sinner. That's the only thing
I can say about myself I'm guilty. If we plead guilty, then we can
plead Christ's sacrifice because he came to die for sinners. He
didn't come to die for the righteous, did he? So the righteous can't
plead the sacrifice of Christ. But if the only thing I can plead
is guilty, then I can plead Christ's sacrifice and his blood will
pay the entire debt in full. That is salvation and mercy and
truth. See, Christ came to save sinners.
Then the only cry I have is, Lord, I'm a sinner. Save me. If I'm a sinner, I can ask him
to save me because he came to save sinners. And he saved sinners
by paying all of their sin debt, by dying in their place as their
substitute. Lord, I'm a sinner. Save me. And you notice the Lord here
says, agree quickly, quickly. Agree with the Lord quickly. Because time is of the essence. Quickly agree that you're a sinner
who has murdered the Son of God and you deserve to die. Quickly
agree. I need Christ. I got no other
hope but Him. Quickly beg for mercy and not
merit. And you know what God's word
says? He says I'll save you. Now that's the true meaning of
the law. That's the true meaning of all the law, and that's the
true meaning of this commandment, thou shalt not kill. The true
meaning of that is, we're guilty. I looked across. There's salvation
for a stone cold murderer. I hope the Lord will bless that
to you.