Well, there was a minute when
he's standing there. Well, again, it's good to see
you guys. Hey, Sharon. Hi. Remember those
who requested prayer? Eddie's prayer is while the family
fell on his wife's hip a couple weeks ago, he had pancreatic
cancer. He died, and I'm going to pray for him today. So remember
that family in your prayers. Greg Pender. You know, Bill Connors. You know Greg. He's in the hospital. I don't know exactly what it
was that Greg was in, but he got really agitated and restrained. I think he might have a rebound
of encephalitis he had. And he's still in the hospital
at this point. And also, this Sunday, the last
session of the month, so we haven't been able to do a statement this
Sunday, so we're going to do that. Other than that, I can't
think of anything else to spread. We've had a whole bunch of tests
today, and they told us that we don't have to wait on taking
the medicines when we have the situation. So we've got a bone
marrow plunge driving, and then Okay, let's begin our worship
service here. Number four hundred and ninety-six. I heard a long story. How His eyes are now free To
saviors like me I heard about His throning Of His precious
blood atoning Then I repented of my sins And won the victory For victory in Jesus my Savior
forever He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood He
loved me ere I knew Him and all I've done is do Him He funds
me to victory beneath the cleansing flood. I heard about his kneelings,
of his cleansing vow revealing, how he willed me to walk again
and cause the blind to see. And then I cried, dear Jesus,
come and heal my broken spirit. And somehow Jesus came and brought
me the victory. Victory in Jesus, my Savior forever
He shunned me and loved me with His redeeming blood He loved
me and I loved Him And all my love is due Him He
plunges me to victory Beneath the cleansing flood I heard about
Old Man Schmuck He is built for me in glory And I heard about
the Stakes of Gold Beyond the greatest glossy, above the angels
singing, and the old yin-yang's roaring. And some sweet day I'll
sing up there the song of victory. Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior
forever He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood He
loved me and I knew Him ? And all my love is in Him ? He plunges
me to victory ? Beneath the cleansing flood Number 255. Blessing and assurance. ? Blessing
and assurance This is my story. This is my song. This is my story, this is my
song, Praising my Saviour all the day long. Estimation, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst from my sight Angels descending,
angels above Echoes of mercy, whispers of love This is my story,
this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long This is my story, this is my
song, praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission,
all is at rest. I am a Savior, and happy and
blest, Watching and waiting, looking above, Filled with His
goodness, lost in His love. This is my story, this is my
song, Praising my Savior all the day long, This is my story,
this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. If you have your Bibles, turn with
me to Exodus chapter 20. If you look at verse 13, then I
have to mention three verses, 13 through 17. Exodus 20, verse 13. Thou shalt
not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness
against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's
house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, or his manservant,
or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that
is thy neighbor. God, Lord of all, we praise you
and thank you that we can approach a new throne with boldness because
of the perfect, successful sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
It is a big blessing to know that he who died for us rose
and ascended to thy right hand because he had purged thy sins. Put them away. Put them behind
your back. Bury them at the bottom of the
sea. Separate them from us as far as the east is from the west.
We know what we are, Father. We know our own sinfulness and
weakness and frailty. But we know that you don't see
us in ourselves. And we praise you. that you look
at us in Jesus Christ. Father, we pray for those who
are sick, those who've lost loved ones. Pray for the Wilder family,
who lost Charles and Esmo and Judy and Phil. Pray for Greg
Pendering, his wife and children, as I mentioned to you. Pray for
the doctors to be able to find out what it is that's causing
these problems. Pray for Brother Fred, to be
with him, continue to be with him, and be with Ali and Shemesh.
And pray that you'll adopt him from this new medicine, and you'll
find a wonderful cure to his disease. Continue to pray for
Dave Parks, that you'll be pleased to minister to him, and to Christie,
and Kate, and Jackson, and Moose, and Sandy, as they minister to
him. Pray that you'll be merciful to him, Take away his pain, relieve him. You know our desire, Father,
has always been the same, that he be healed. We also know that
he's your child, that these things have come to him, not at some
happenstance or some circumstance, but according to thy appointment.
And we're thankful that he knows that. Help that family, Lord,
as they face these things. to share in the reign of the
Lord. Pray for ourselves tonight as
we gather here that you might be pleased to open your word
to us. Teach us thy way O Lord, cause
us to walk in your statutes. Make this word a lamp unto our
feet and a lighter to our path. Cause it to enter into us and
give us understanding that we may Now what I read in the United
was the remaining five commandments in the Decalogue of the Ten Commandments.
And the remaining five commandments make up what our Lord referred
to as the Second Great Commandment. Our Lord put the commandments
into two sections. One, the first five verses of
the first five commandments had to do with honoring God and our
attitude toward and love toward God. The second five commandments
had to do with love for our neighbor and taking care of our neighbors.
Our Lord said, in answer to the question of the Pharisees, of
course they were trying to trick him at the time. In Matthew chapter
22, this is the way he dealt with the commandments. They said,
Lord, which is the greatest of the commandments? In Matthew
chapter 22, verse 36, they said, Master, which is the great commandment
in the law, as if one were greater than another? And they did that
temptingly. Jesus said of him, Thou shalt
love the Lord God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind. That covers the first five commandments.
And he said the next, this is the first great commandment.
The second is like unto them. Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. I won't ask for a show of hands
on how we're doing on either one of those things, but I thank
God our Lord has fulfilled them for us and kept them for us,
and certainly have never kept them and are not keeping them
now. I fully admit to you I wish I loved my neighbors myself,
but I don't, and neither do you, and I wish I loved God like I
ought to, but I don't, and neither do you. Now Paul reiterated this
truth about these two commandments fulfilling or taking care of
all the commandments. In Romans chapter 13 verse 90
it says, For this, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt
not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness,
thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment,
it is briefly comprehended in this same thing, thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself. these five that he dealt with,
he said that we're comprohended here. If you love your neighbor,
these issues will not be an issue with you. Commandments will not
be grievous if you love your neighbor. You're not going to
murder him. You're not going to steal from him. You're not
going to cut off his hands. You're not going to bear false
witness against him if you love him. So he said that's how these
things are fulfilled. Now the parable of the Good Samaritan
declared the principle that your neighbor is the one to whom you
are a good neighbor. Remember the lawyer asked the
Lord, who is my neighbor? And the Lord said, love your
neighbor. He said, who is my neighbor? He was asking that
to justify the fact that he didn't love a lot of people and they
weren't his neighbors. Now the Lord gave the parable
of the Good Samaritan of the two, the priest and the scribe
who passed by this, the poor man that was laying in the ditch,
and then the man who came by took care of him and took him
to the house and had the church take care of him. He was a good
neighbor to this man. That's what our Lord was teaching
in that passage. Several times in scripture, these
laws are stated in a different sequence than they are in the
original. Here in Moses in Exodus chapter 20. This does not have
to do with importance, as if one is more important than the
other, but rather context that assures the believer that they
all fall under the heading. of love for one another. That's
where it all falls. And that's very important. And
though our Lord declared that we are to love our enemies and
pray for those who despitefully use us, for the most part, references
to love in the scriptures have to do with loving God and loving
the householder faith. That's what these references
to love generally, in the most part, have to do with our Lord
talking to his disciples in Matthew 6 about loving your enemies.
But the rest of the time you find that God talks about love
in Scripture, about loving God and loving your neighbor. Over
in Galatians chapter 6, Paul writes in the Galatian church
about the household of faith. In Galatians chapter 6, verse 10, it says this, as we
have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, and
the word men is in italics, let us do good to all, especially
unto them who are of the household of faith. So the first thing
that the commandments are given to, first of all, as they are
reiterated in the New Testament, and the commandments of the Lord
and Mother of Regents to be born, is that it has to do with taking
care of one another, looking after the household of faith,
and you'll find that spoken of throughout Scripture. In Galatians,
we find that faith works by love. Faith, work of my life, says
in Galatians chapter 5. So the works that faith produces
are not from the law, but love, and that is primarily expressed
toward the brethren. As I say, a few examples. Look
over at James chapter 2. When James talks about faith
and works, he gives an example of how faith
works. And he says this in verse 15,
or let's go with verse 14 in James chapter 2. What doth a
prophet, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and
hath not works, can faith save him, if a brother or sister be
naked and destitute? So this is automatically about
a mother or a sister, about the household of faith. And one of
you say unto him, Depart in peace, be ye warm and filled, notwithstanding
You give them not those things which are needful to the body,
but of the prophet. In other words, your brother's
hurting, he's sick, or he needs money, and you have the wherewithal
to help him, and instead you say, I'm going to pray for him. Pat him on the back, hope everything
goes well. He said, that's not anything.
That's not anything. It's certainly not an act of
faith. It's not how faith works. John
said the same thing, the first John. Chapter 3, verse 16, he
said this, Hereby perceive we God's love, or God's love in
us, as he said in another place. Hereby perceive we the love of
God, because He laid down His life for us. He laid down his
life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
Now that's not just a willy-nilly expression that we ought to kill
ourselves so our brothers and brothers can love. That's not
what that's talking about. is in need, or in fact our brother's
wife is at stake, we are willing to give our life in her stake.
Just as we were unsafe and we were perishing in sin, and Christ
gave his life for us. This is how we perceive God's
love. This is how love is perceived. It's not about giving something
for yourself. It's about giving something.
It's how love is perceived. Hereby we perceive the love of
God that way. And he says, but, There is now
this faith working by love, but whoso hath this world's goods,
and seeth his brother hath need, and sheweth up his bowels with
compassion from him, how develop the love of God in him? The love
of God gave me, and that person, if he will not give of himself,
because this is how we perceive the love of God, that he gave
himself for us, and we have to give ourselves for our brethren.
My own children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but
in deed, and in truth. And that's how love works. Love
is not affection. It's not feelings of desire. What is love? Love is giving. That's what it
is. You love, you give. That's an
expression of God's love. He laid down His life for us. Paul said in Galatians, He loved
us and gave Himself for us. One of the most quoted verses
in scripture. In the front of it, you have
a little Gideon New Testament quoted in about 45 languages.
For God so loved the world. Well, how do we know? He gave.
He gave. Revelation 1, 5 and 6. God loved us and washed us in
his blood. He gave himself for us. Now,
this is talking about loving your neighbor. And the word neighbor
comes from a word that has to do with care and feeding of the
flock, as a shepherd leading the flock to great passion. The
word is also interpreted as a brother, or an associate, or a friend.
And these all address the principle of love or caring for someone
else. Caring for our neighbor. Now
since the law was added because of transgression, we know that
from the scriptures, the law handed down to Sinai, to Israel
declared that Israel was already guilty because the law was added
because of transgression. Transgression was committed and
God added the law to show that it was indeed a transgression
and guilty of it. It's like what Paul said in Romans
3, whosoever of the law, all that are under the law are guilty
before God. Guilty before God. That's the
language of Scripture. Now the fact is that the law
was given to Israel. All men are transgressors and
their sin is worthy of death. That's what it says in Romans
5, 12. For by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin.
So death passed upon all men, in whom all sinned. That's the way that this thing
is written. We all sinned in Adam. And we're
all judged in Adam, and in the last Adam, or in the last Adam. Wherein Adam all died, and Christ
shall all be made alive. Praise God that Christ fulfilled
the law for the elect. We're transgressors. We didn't
come to this world in a state of limbo, hanging between good
and evil. We came to this world sinners.
Every one of us was born in sin and transgression. We came forth
from the womb speaking lies. As soon as we were born, we began
to speak lies. I know we love our babies. I
just had my grandchildren here and I just think they're absolutely
precious. What do you do if they go home and you just watch them
by the entrance to each other and you find out they're sinners?
And babies are precious to us. We love our children. They're
a gift of God. We have to thank God for them. But nurses are
born sinners. They're born sinners. They will never know that unless
God teaches them to. It will remain without knowing
that. But that's how we're all born in this world. So we're
all born under the law. In that sense, we're all transgressors.
The law said, so the sinner, it shall die. We're all born
worthy of death. That's the language. Praise God,
Christ will fill the law for His elect. He died for death,
do you hear? And they bring all things to
His obedience. We don't look to our obedience
for anything. Whatever we do, we bring it to
say Christ obeyed for us. We lay it at the door of His
obedience for He obeyed for us. So the believer brings his love,
as imperfect as it is, to rely entirely on the perfect love
of Christ. The Lord was talking to Nicodemus
in John chapter 3. He said this, He said, verse
24, every man that doeth evil hateth the light. Neither cometh
to the light lest his deeds should be removed, but he that doeth
truth cometh to the light. We don't run from the light.
We come to the scriptures. We come to Christ. He's the light
of the world. Cometh to the light that his
deeds may be made manifest that God did. that they're all in
Christ, they're all in God. We bring our works to God and
say, if it's good, you did it. You did it, it's your doing and
not our doing. So the first commandment relating to your neighbor is
this, thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not kill. I remember
this when I was in primary class in Sunday school back in Southern
Baptist Church. And I remember they had a little
pictured Bible, and they opened up the Bible to this commandment,
and there was a little boy pointing a daisy red rider in a boot.
And I shot my kid. Well, I felt plenty guilty. But
I kept my BB gun, and I shot my son, Sharon Winged Beasts,
and Robin Gristmire, the Tastebird Kids. The commandment doesn't mean
you don't kill things. The commandment means in reference
to humanity, thou shalt not murder. That's what it means. Thou shalt
not murder. Killing is legitimate at war,
in self-defense, and in the defense of others. Not so much today,
I find. It's kind of weird what's going
on in the world today, especially in this nation. It seems like a lot of lawyers
want to call it self-defense, but it isn't. And it's legitimate
before God. Murder has to do with the heart. Our Lord proved that over and
over again in Scripture. It has to do with the heart of
man, and inwardly, in every one of us, it is intrinsic to our
heart. But murder is not. We just haven't
committed the act. But he sent us Matthew chapter
15, our Lord. He made that clear to his disciples.
When they kept thinking that what you ate or what you took
in your body could file you, he said, that's not what can
file you. It can ruin you. You can take things that are
ruining you. You can take too much alcohol and it'll dry your
brain. You take too many drugs, it'll dry your brain. Those things
that are ruining you will hurt you. It won't file you. The Lord
said in Matthew chapter 15, verse 18, He says, but those things
which proceed out of the mouth, they come from the heart. They defile the man. When out
of the heart proceeds evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witnesses, and blasphemies. These are the things
which defile the man. But to eat with unwashed hands
defiles not the man. These things defile man. What
comes out of your heart? We all have a heart problem by
nature. This makes all men murderers
by nature, though they may never commit anything physical act.
And given the right circumstances, the lack of God's restraining
grace, blood will flow I mean, we felt that way. Somebody
pulled out a gun in front of us and dragged it. Got a gun, I shoot. It was just the restraining grace
that kept me from doing it. It wasn't your nature. You was
talking about your nature, what perceives without a mouth, what
defiles you. It comes from your heart. One man said he could
find grace with desire and opportunity. He said grace assured that when
the opportunity to do evil arrived, the desire was not present. And
when the desire to do evil arrived, grace assured that the opportunity
did not arrive at the same time. In the New Testament, Christ
and his apostles illuminate the concept set forth in this commandment. They illuminate it, they understand
it. Our Lord said in Matthew chapter 5, when he talked about
murder, Because every morning he was talking to the Pharisees,
they had never killed anybody. They were like Paul. Before the
law, they were blameless. They hadn't done any of that
stuff, you know. That was not a problem with them. I could preach about murder all
day long in this room, right here. I guarantee you, just talking
about the physical act, you could all walk out this room just as
righteous as I was that night. That's not where the problem
lies. Our Lord said in Matthew chapter 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 judgment. But, every
time you see that little word, but, the divine conjunction that
God puts in this word. That means that what's been said
before, what follows that word, buts the opposite. He said, you
heard, you shall not kill, if you kill you're in danger of
life. But, I'll tell you what it really means. I say unto you
that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause,
shall be in danger of injury. Angry with his brother without
a cause. I don't mean you can't get angry with your brother,
but you can't do it without a cause. And whosoever shall say to his
brother Raca, or Raca, some people say it means rascal, actually
it means vain, empty fellow. You say that of your brother,
you shall be in danger of the council. But whosoever shall
say thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Calling your brother
a fool. Because a fool has said in his
heart, there is no God, there is no God for me. So this whole
thing about thou shalt not murder means a lot more than what is
seen just in the saying over in the commandments of the Lord.
The Lord made it clear that murder was a matter of attitude and
action toward our brother. Hate. John in his general epistle
made that clear, saying that to hate our brother or sister
is murder. He said it flat out. Look over
1 John chapter 3. first john chapter 3 verse 15 says whosoever hateth
his brother is a murderer he says he's an actual murderer
he hates his brother you know that no murderer hath
eternal life above him so believers don't hate each
other they can't because they have the love of God in their
heart. But he equated loving or hating the brother with light
and darkness. 1 John 2 verse 8. He said, A new commandment I
write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you, because
the darkness is past, and true light now shone. He that saith
he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness. Even until now. Now what does it mean? What's
that light and darkness mean? He said that in the first chapter
of 1 John. He says in verse 5, this then
is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto
you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. Now he created the darkness and
he has the darkness work for Him, but there's no darkness
in Him. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk
in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. But if we walk in
the light, as He's in the light, we have fellowship with one another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. Now,
that's the same people He's saying that He's in the light and hated
the brothers in darkness. He's lying. He's lying. Thou shalt not kill carries the
weight of love for God. Thou shalt not commit murder.
It carries that weight, and that's a pretty heavy weight. It also
carries the weight of the gravity of love for the brethren. First
John chapter four, verse seven and eight says this, beloved, Beloved, let us love one another. Beloved, let us love one another
for love is in God. Everyone that loveth is born
of God and knoweth God. And that's talking about spiritual
love. It's talking about the love that
God plants in the heart of His people. He that loveth not, knoweth
not God. John was really clear on this
subject. Very clear on it. Then in verses 19 and 21 it says
we love him because he first loved us. If a man say I love
God and hates his brother, he's a liar. For he loveth not his
brother whom he hath seen. How could he love God whom he's
not seen? This is his commandment that we have from him that he
who loveth God love his brother also. He even said this, it's
a matter of life and death, he said. He said, we know we've
passed from life, from death to life, because we love the
brethren. What a thing. We know we've passed
from death to life because we love the brethren. Thou shalt
not kill. It means a whole lot more than
just the act of murder. Father, bless us for understanding
the brain crisis. Amen.