I don't know how old I was, but
I remember as a boy looking at the 10 commandments and trying
to figure out which ones I had broken and which ones I had kept. And I remember thinking regarding
the sin of murder, that was one that I had not committed. I was
okay on that one. Now, if you took a poll, The
average person probably thinks that the worst thing that you
can do is to murder somebody. And I want you to think about
that, to take somebody's life. What have you done when you do
something like that? Think what that does to their
children or to their spouse or to their parents. What a horrible
thing to take someone's life. Indeed, it is wicked. And there
is probably this one sin that most people think that they're
not guilty of. I may have lied. I may have been
disobedient to my parents. I may have cheated. I may have
stole. I may have even committed some kind of sexual sin, but
I've not murdered anybody. I've never killed anybody. And
you may have even killed someone in the service, but that's not
murder. That's not the same thing. Now, six times throughout this
chapter, In Matthew chapter 5, we read, you've heard it said,
and a quotation from scriptures, and I said unto you. Look in verse 21, you've heard
that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not kill. And
whoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment, but I
say unto you. Look in verse 27. You've heard
that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery.
That's in the 10 commandments. But I say unto you, look in verse
31. It had been said, whosoever shall
put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement.
That's scripture. But I say unto you, In verse 33, again, you've
heard it said by them of old time, thou shalt not forswear
thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oath, but I say
unto you. Verse 38, you've heard that it
was been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,
but I say unto you. Verse 43, you've heard that it's
been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy,
but I say unto you. Now this is what is being referred
to when it says that the Lord spake as one having authority. He quotes scripture. He said,
you've heard it said, but I say unto you. Now all men understand
is the letter of the law. Thou shalt not kill. It's wrong
to put somebody to death, to take someone's life. And indeed
it is, but the Lord is giving us the spirit of the law, the
meaning behind the law. Killing is much more than taking
someone's life. 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 that's quoted in Exodus 20
in the Ten Commandments and it's quoted again in Numbers chapter
35. But I say unto you, verse 22,
that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall
be in the danger of judgment. And whosoever shall say to his
brother, Rekha, shall be in danger of the council, but whosoever
shall say thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Now turn with me for a moment
to 1 John 3. Verse 15. John tells us, whosoever hateth
his brother, is a murderer. Now there you go. That's what
the Word of God says. Hate is malicious and unjustified
feelings toward others. Hate. Whoever hates his brother
is a murderer. But the word hate is used also
with regard to If you try to serve two masters, you'll either
hate one and you'll love the other, meaning you'll show a
preference to one over the other. To show a preference to one over
the other is to hate. And what about Luke 14 6 when
he says, We're to hate our mother and father and brothers and sisters
in our own life also. Now does that mean we're to have
a malicious, unjustified, wicked attitude towards them? No. It
means we're not supposed to prefer them to the Lord. That's all
that means. He's not telling us to positively
hate our parents or our children or our spouse. He's telling us
to love them over the Lord is to hate Him. So to hate is even
to show preference. to one over the other. To not love your neighbor as
yourself is to hate him. To be angry without a cause,
back to our text in Matthew chapter five, but I say unto you that
whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, without a just
reason, that is murder in God's sight. To be envious of someone
is murder in God's sight. To be jealous, to be resentful
of him because of what he has that you don't have is to be
a murderer in God's sight. To wish him ill and to wish that
you have it better than him is to murder in God's sight. You wish you had the situation
that he had instead of him, that's murder in God's sight. Is anybody
guilty? Is anybody guilty of murder? And to say, Rekha, verse 22,
whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger
of judgment. And whosoever shall say to his
brother, Rekha, your thoughts come out in words. Rekha means
empty headed, stupid. It's more a judgment against
his intellect than his morals. You feel him to be beneath you. Shallow person. And you're more
deserving than that shallow person. Have you ever felt that way?
I'm sure you have. You know what God calls that?
Murder. Now he takes it farther. But whosoever shall say thou
fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. When he says you fool,
you morally worthless wretch. This has to do with his character,
not just his intellect, but his character. You morally worthless
wretch. Turn with me to Romans chapter
one for a moment. Romans chapter one. Verse 28, and even as they did not like
to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate
mind. If someone doesn't like what
God has to say about himself, he says, okay, I'm going to leave
you alone. God gave him over to a reprobate mind to do those
things which are not convenient or right. Being filled with all
unrighteousness. fornication, wickedness, covetousness,
maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity,
whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters,
inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding,
covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful,
who knowing the judgment of God that they which commit such things
are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure
in them to do them. Now, is that person a wicked
person that's like that? That description I've just given
that those are bad people, aren't they? I mean, we they're guilty. They're wicked. And let's go
on reading. Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever
thou art that judgest. Do you set in judgment on them?
For wherein thou judgest another, you condemn yourself. For you
that judge doest the same things. For me to call my brother. or
anybody, you morally worthless, reprobate and fool, you graceless
wretch. And I've said that and I've thought
it. Christ says, that's murder. That is murder. I believe we're in a room full
of serial killers. You reckon? murderers, people who have been
guilty of multiple homicides. Maybe not with guns and knives,
but we've murdered characters by innuendo, by rumor, sometimes
even by silence when we should have spoke. That is murder. Now expands it even farther.
Let's go on back to Matthew chapter five, verse 23. The thought is not finished. Therefore,
if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and this is a freewill
offering in the Old Testament. You're giving something because
you want. You're giving a gift to the cause of the Lord. And
you bring your gift to the altar. Therefore, if thou bring thy
gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother
hath ought against thee. You're bringing a gift and in
your Bringing that gift, you remember your brother has something
against you. You've done him wrong. You've
murdered him. You've murdered him. By gossip,
by innuendo, by silence, by even the expression on your face before
others, you've failed him. You've promoted yourself at his
expense. You failed him as a friend. Don't
think God will accept your gift. He won't. You leave your gift
there at the altar. Leave it right there and you
go first and be reconciled to your brother. Leave thy gift, verse 24. Leave
thy gift before the altar and go thy way. First be reconciled
to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift. First be reconciled to your brother. You desire to be reconciled.
You know you've sinned against him. You're sorry for what you've
done. You apologize. You desire his
forgiveness and you want the reason for anger to be taken
away. You want to be reconciled. You
first be reconciled to your brother. Do unto him as you would have
him do unto you. You first be reconciled to your
brother. Remember, it's our works that
prove the reality of our faith. I just brought that down. It's
our works that prove the reality of our faith. And a believer
has experienced mercy. A believer has experienced forgiveness. A believer has experienced reconciliation. And he wants to show mercy. He
wants to forgive. He wants to be reconciled in
all ways. We can't be indifferent toward
our brother. Our Lord said, if you forgive
not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly father forgive
you your trespasses. Look at Luke chapter six for
just a moment. Luke chapter six, verse 35. The Lord says, but love your
enemies. and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again. And
your reward shall be great, and you shall be children of the
highest. For he is kind unto the unthankful, and to the evil.
Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father is also merciful.
Judge not, and you shall me not judge. Condemn not, and you shall
not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven.
Given, it shall be given unto you. Good measure, pressed down
and shaken together, and running over shall men give unto your
bosom. For with the same measure that you meet, with all it shall
be measured to you again. Don't offer your gift until this
is taken care of. By this shall all men know you're
my disciples, by your love one toward another. And what a privilege
it is to have brothers and sisters in the gospel. What a privilege
it is. I want to be reconciled to every
one of them. Everyone that's got something against me because
of the way I've treated them, oh, I want to be reconciled to
them. I want to do what the Lord says to do. Remembering who they
are and remembering, I don't want to offend them because the
scripture says, a brother offended is harder to be won than a strong
city. I don't want to offend them.
Now, let's stay in the context, verse 25. He says, agree with an adversary,
and that's an opponent at law, quickly. While 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. Now, let's stay in the context. The adversary, the law man, what's
he talking about? Murder. Murder. Now, if you're being brought
to court, convicted of murder, and everybody
in here knows they've been guilty of murder. If this is what murder
means, everybody in here's been guilty of murder. If you're being
brought to the court, settle out of court. Don't let this
be brought before the judge. Settle out of court. Agree with
what he says quickly. Don't wait, don't hesitate. Agree
with what he says quickly. 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 has paid the
uttermost farthing. Now this is quoted also in Luke
chapter 12 verse 58 with a slightly, a slight variation, but here's
the point. Get this settled out of court. Now what's that mean? Agree with
your adversary quickly. Get this settled out of court.
Don't let it be brought into court because if it is brought
into court, you'll be condemned. You'll be thrown into prison
and you won't be let out. Settle out of court. Now, if it's not clearly evident,
after considering what the Lord tells us murder is, that we are
guilty of multiple murders. Everybody in this room, guilty
of multiple murders. If we stand before God to be
judged with regard to this sin, without even respect to the other
sins we've committed, just this sin, this sin of murder, murdering
men and women, if we stand before God in judgment on our own, all
we will be is condemned. He says, settle out of court. That's the only hope we have. Agree with your adversary, your
opponent at law, quickly. While you're in the way with
him. Agree with him quickly. Now this is the only time this
particular word is used in the New Testament. This word agree,
it means be well disposed toward. Be truly at agreement. Be happy with what he says. It
goes further than agreement because you have no choice because you're
being caught or just submitting because you have no choice. There's
agreement in the heart, in the affections, and in the mind.
Agree with your adversary quickly. Now, when he says you're guilty
of murder, say, I agree. guilty as charged. I agree with
that assessment. I am guilty as charged and I
agree right quickly. Now there's an agreement with
what God's law says concerning me and you in our condemnation.
Turn with me to Romans chapter 3 for a moment. Hold your finger
there, Matthew chapter 5, Romans chapter 3. Now we know, verse 19, We know that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before
God, guilty as charged. Agree with your adversary and
do so quickly. I'm guilty. You know, I'm sitting here talking
about being guilty of murder, and I'm giving the right meanings,
and I'm thinking, this ought to be smiting me a whole lot
more than it is, to think that I'm actually guilty of murdering
people, and I'm just sitting here talking about it like this. Not much to me, but I am guilty. I'm guilty of this sin. of which
he's speaking of, and I agree. I'm well disposed toward what
he says. You know what? I'm also well
disposed toward how murderers can be saved. You know somebody
else who was a murderer? David. David, the man after God's
own heart. He murdered a lot of people.
like this, but he actually even committed a physical murder. Now, you remember the story.
David, the man after God's own heart, at the time when kings
should have been out fighting battles, he was hanging around
the house, looking around up on a rooftop, and he spied Bathsheba. And he terribly abused his power. This was another man's wife,
but whatever he said went, so he said, bring her to me. She
was brought to him, he committed adultery with her, she became
with child, and in order to cover it up, he had her husband murdered. Cold-blooded, premeditated murder. Now somebody says, can a believer
actually commit a sin like that? Why would you ask a question
like that? Why would I ask a question like that? There's no sin that
you could not commit apart from the restraining grace of God.
And anything you haven't committed, it's only because, and anything
I haven't committed, it's only because he prevented it. Somebody
told me once a story of a preacher who said, these lips have never
kissed the lips of another woman, but my wife. And somebody said,
did you ever have an opportunity? Anything we haven't done, it's
because God's prevented it. David was left to himself, and
he committed cold-blooded, premeditated murder. And he became very hardened
in this. He went months and months without
confessing his sin. He became hardened, oh, so hardened. Sin has such a hardening effect. And he was hardened. And then
God sent his prophet, Nathan. And you remember the story that
Nathan gave him. He said there was a man that
had a little lamb that he loved. He loved it like his own child.
It actually ate with him. And there was a rich man who
had flocks and many lambs, and a stranger came through, and
the rich man didn't want to use his lamb. So he took this man's
little lamb, little ewe lamb, and he killed it, and he fed
it to the stranger instead of using his own. David said, as the Lord liveth,
that man shall surely die. And Nathan said, thou art the
man. You're him. You're the one I'm
describing. And David cried out, I've sinned. There's his confession. I've
sinned. He didn't whitewash it. He didn't
soft pedal it. I've sinned. And as soon as he
said, I've sinned, Nathan said, but the Lord hath put away thy
sin. And he learned how a murderer
can be forgiven. And upon that, he went out and
wrote Psalm 32. Let's turn there. Psalm 32. The
Psalm of David, a masculine psalm of instruction. David says, blessed is he whose
transgression, whose murder is forgiven, whose sin, whose murder
is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no guile. Now we're gonna come back to
those verses in a minute, but let's go on reading. He said, when
I kept silence, he didn't confess his sin. My bones waxed old through
my roaring all the day long, for day and night thy hand was
heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the
drought of summer, Selah. But then I acknowledge my sin
unto thee, And my iniquity have I not hid. I said, I'll confess
my transgressions unto the Lord. And thou forgave us the iniquity
of my sin. For this shall everyone that's
godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found. Surely
in the floods of great waters, they shall not come nigh unto
him. Thou art my hiding place. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble.
Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. This is
God speaking. He says, I'll instruct thee and
teach thee in the way which thou shall go. I will guide thee with
mine eye. Be not as the horse or as the
mule, which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held with
bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. Many sorrows
shall be to the wicked, but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy
shall compass him about. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice,
ye righteous, and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart. Now those first two verses. This
is how murder can be forgiven. You all have heard me tell this
story. I'm going to tell it again. When I was very sick, this was
1988, thought I had two hours to live. People had come and
said goodbye to me, thought I was going to die. And I thought,
I am going to stand before God in judgment in just a couple
hours. How's my soul? And I started looking within
and I concluded that I was a reprobate. I concluded that there wasn't
any grace in me. I concluded that there wasn't
one thing about me that could recommend me to God. And I remember
In that hospital room, I was all by myself. I heard the machines. I was hooked up to machines.
I started crying like a baby. I'm going to hell. I thought
I'm going to be in hell in just a little bit. And I was so scared. I was so frightened. I was utterly
without hope. And the Lord brought this scripture
to my mind. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven. whose sin is covered. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Everything I thought about myself
was true. Worse even. All the things I
thought, all the stuff I thought, it was all true. But here's my
hope. God didn't impute it to me. Now that is the hope of the
believer. God took my sin, He took my murder,
He took all my sin, and He imputed it to His dear Son, and it became
His sin. And God in His justice had no
mercy on His Son. He killed His Son because His
Son was guilty, guilty of murder, guilty of all these crimes that
all of His people have committed. Guilty, guilty, guilty. And God's wrath came down upon
him. He showed him no mercy. The guilty died. But you know
what? His righteousness, just as my
sin became his sin, just as my sin was imputed to him, his perfect
righteousness is imputed to me. It becomes my righteousness. And beloved, this is not just
a document of some kind that says, you know, righteousness.
No, I am the very righteousness of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that is the only hope a murderer
has. When I got to thinking about
this, how many murders have I been guilty of committing? Saying,
Rekha, or saying thou fool, or being angry with my brother without
just cause. How many murders? You see, the
Lord is showing the spirit of the law. And understand this
about God's law. If you think you've kept any
of these commandments, even one time, you don't even have a clue
as to what it means. All the law does is condemn. That's it. It doesn't do anything
else but condemn. It exposes evil. It exposes wickedness. It exposes murders and liars
and cheats. That's what the law does. It
exposes sin. And it drives me to the Lord
Jesus Christ. I must have his righteousness
because I flat out don't have any of my own. I must have his righteousness. The law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ. I'll tell you what God's law
does. Isn't that amazing? I can look back and I remember
specifically thinking, well, I've not broke that commandment.
I might've broke some of the other ones, but I've not broke
that one. Oh, what a fool. What a fool. I'm thankful for God's holy law.
It shows the holiness of God, the righteousness of God. It
exposes my sin and it drives me to the Lord Jesus Christ that
I might be justified by him. I've heard people say, well,
the law sends us to Christ, and Christ sends us back to the law
to teach us how to live. That's foolishness. That's foolishness
is all it is. All the law does is expose and
condemn, and that's it. But you know what? I can look
at God's holy law, and I think of this scripture. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Law? Bring a charge against him. There isn't any. He's not guilty. He never committed a murder.
He never did anything wrong. Who is he that can condemn? Here's
the only answer I need. It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
that's risen again, who's even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Now the Lord teaches us what
the law really means, not what the Pharisees thought it was.
If you can just keep from taking someone's life, you're in good
shape. No, we've been guilty of multiple murders, but thank
God for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, that my sin became
his sin. and His righteousness is my righteousness,
and oh, that I might live unto Him who is my righteousness. Let's pray.