The Ten Commandments - You Shall Not Murder

Welcome to the Roots Community Church, where it's all about Jesus.

We are in a series going through the Ten Commandments,

and we have it subtitled, as you'll see up on

the screen, law Defining Love, because we want the love

that we show, the love that we practice how we

understand love to be defined by God's law, not our

own definitions, not our own desires, not our own feelings,

not our own laws. We want our love to be

real and true and true love. Real love can only

be understood and practiced according to God's standard of what

love is, according to how he defines it, his sixth

commandment that we're looking at today, the sixth lave of

God that defines and shows us how we are to love,

is simply this Exodus twenty thirteen. You shall not murder.

You shall not murder. I thought long and hard about

how to even begin this sermon. I drafted and scrapped

so many introduction introductions, so many pieces and parts to

this sermon. And where I landed is I realized I

just need to start with some vulnerability. In fact, that's

how I started writing this in the first place, just

writing I don't even know what to say. So the

vulnerability is that I think, as I've explained this far,

as this was incredibly difficult to write. And I'm not

saying this for your pity or for words of encouragement.

I'm saying it to be honest. I mean, how does

one write a sermon based on just four words? Four

simple words? You shall not murder? While I was writing this,

I got frustrated, and, just to be real, scared. I

got frustrated. Not people, oh I think I'm losing there,

I am, thank you. I got frustrated not because I'm

the lack of words in the text, but because I

found that going off of these four words gave me

too much space to insert my own ideas, my own opinions,

my own desires. I found myself wanting to make voices

of outside influences be heard instead of God's voice in scripture.

Then I found myself getting scared, scared that I I

would say the wrong thing by either not saying enough

on one topic to appease some of you, or saying

too much on another topic to offend or anger the rest.

I'm just being real, And as I'm working through all

these thoughts and emotion, I was reminded of what the

apostle Paul said to the church in Galatia. He said,

for am I now seeking the approval of Man or

of God? Or am I trying to please Man? If

I were still trying to please Man, I would not

be a servant of Christ. I'm not up here to

share my own opinions, my own ideas to the fulfillment

of my own desires. I'm not up here to amplify

the voices of commentators, YouTubers, pastors or politicians. I'm up

here to amplify the word of Almighty God to his

glory for our benefit. And I say all this because

I don't know how some of you are going to

react or feel based on what I say up here today.

But I wouldn't be doing my duty as a shepherd

if I did not say what the Chief Shepherd has

said and commanded in his word. So, as I'm speaking,

if any of you feel guilty, sad, or angry, I

pray that through the power of the Holy Spirit, through

the truth of God's word, those feelings would be changed

to guiltlessness, to peace, and to joy. So let's pray

for that right now. Heavenly Father, I thank you for

this time that we can open your scriptures and be

taught what true love is, how we are to understand it,

how we are to apply it, how we are to

practice it. And Lord, I pray that you would convict

each and us of our sins, that we would rest

in the forgiveness offered to us through the death and

the resurrection of your son Jesus, Lord, that we would

rejoice in the promises we find in your word today,

that we would submit to them fully, That we would

turn aside from our own convictions, our own feelings, that

we would just rest in the truth of your word.

Help us all to do this, Lord, in your name, Amen.

So to start this off, I need to address the

question what is murder? What is it? I know that

seems like an obvious question, but words matter, and I

need to make sure we are all on the same page.

And so to answer that question of what is murder,

we need to look at what scripture says murder is

the first thing to remember that murder is more specific

than simply killing. The Bible shows us that not all

killing is considered murder. Exodus twenty two, for example, talks

about a person killing someone when they have no other

recourse to protect his life and property as a legitimate

act of self defense. We also see many times in

the Old Testament God commanding Israel to go to war

and kill his enemies, and neither of these acts of

killing are forbidden by this commandment. Additionally, and I'd say

very importantly, is that the Hebrew word used here in

this commandment is the verb ratzak. And there's an R

role to that that I cannot You don't want to

hear me try to roll an R. So I'm not

I'm not gonna get My wife knows. But rot sook

means to murder and specifically implies the unlawful or unjustified,

violent aching of human life. The primary concern and purpose

in this commandment against murder is to protect innocent life.

So as Scripture lays it out for us, the definition

of murder it uses, and what we're going to use

today is murder is the deliberate taking of innocent human life.

Murder is the deliberate taking of innocent human life. And

I think that most people could honor and follow this

command to protect innocent life. Yeah, I can get behind that.

But as I'm going to show you later, God is

not only concerned with how you practically follow his law,

He's also concerned with your heart being in alignment with it.

He's not only concerned with you practically following his law,

He's also concerned with your heart being in alignment with it.

And I'm going to argue that to fully follow and

honor this law both practically and in your heart, we

have to start with how we view human life. And

a point for you for those taking notes. All human

life is inherently valuable. All human life is inherently valuable.

Human life has inherent value in the eyes of God.

This is what we need to hone in on to

fully understand and implement how we are to think of,

treat toward, and love all human lives. When we go

back to Genesis, to the creation of humanity, we get

an idea of just how valuable human life is. If

you turn to Chapter one, verse twenty six, then God said,

let us make man in our image after our likeness,

and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,

and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock,

and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing

that creeps on the earth. So God created man in

his own image, in the image of God. He created

them male and female. He created them after creating the universe,

all the stars, the galaxies and their planets, all the

vegetation on the earth, the seas, all of life that's

teeming within it. God makes mankind, male and female. He

makes humanity. But what sets humanity apart from the rest

of everything he just created is that He made all

of us in his own image. In Latin, this is

understood to be the imago day. It refers to the

immaterial part of humanity. It sets human beings apart to

have dominion over the earth and enables us to commune

with our creator. It is a likeness. It's a likeness

of God mentally and morally and socially. Mentally, we were

created as rational, free thinking agents. We have reason. We

are a reflection of God's intellect and freedom. When someone

writes a piece of music, or paints a landscape, or

makes a calculation, they are displaying God's image. Morally, humanity

was originally created in righteousness and perfect innocence, a reflection

of God's holiness. Our conscience or moral compass, if you want,

is the essence of that original state. When someone writes

a law or recoils from evil, when someone praises good behavior,

they confirm the fact that we are made in God's image. Socially,

humanity was created for fellowship, reflecting God's triune nature three persons,

one God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and Eden. Humanity's primary

late relationship was with God. And God made Eve for

Adam because, as he said, it is not good that

man should be alone. Every time someone gets married, makes

a friend, goes to church, like you all are here

now you are demonstrated, demonstrating being made in the likeness

of your creator. It's the Imago day. And these are

just a few examples of how we reflect God's image

as image bearers. But they show us how humanity is

set apart from the rest of his creation. We are different,

we are special in that sense. They show us how

valuable humans are in the eyes of God, and how

valuable humans need to be held in our eyes too.

You are valuable. And so when I consider all of

these truths in the context with this commandment, you shall

not murder. The definition of murder that we talked about earlier,

the deliberate taking of innocent human life. It starts to

take on new meaning in light of how we are

to view human life, how we're meant to value it

and protect it. That definition I understand it now is

you shall not deliberately take the life of an innocent

image bearer. You shall not deliberately take the life of

an innocent image bearer. You see the difference it makes

in the call to protect inns a life when we

understand the value each human holds in the eyes of God.

You see how that you see it, You shall not murder.

You shall not deliberately take the life of an innocent

image bearer. This command applies to each and every one

of us, each and every image bearer, toward toward each

and every image bearer, at every stage of human life,

at every stage of human life, we have inherent value.

You see where I'm going with this. I can't skirt

around it, nor am I going to. This command is

to be applied to the protection of every unborn human,

every unborn in image bearer. And I need to say

this with absolute clarity and urgency and love, and I

pray you hear this. Abortion is murder. Abortion is murder

at every stage of life, at every stage of development,

within the womb. Humans have inherent value as image bearers

of their creator. We see this in the Book of Psalms,

when David wrote, for you formed me in my inward parts,

you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you,

for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. At the beginning

of the Book of Jeremiah, the prophet wrote, the Word

of the Lord came to me, saying, before I formed

you in the womb, I knew you, and before you

were born, I concentrated you. When Mary, pregnant with our

Lord and Savior, visited her cousin Elizabeth, scripture tells us

Elizabeth's baby John, the baptizer, leapt in her womb at

the mere presence of Jesus. God forms and knows every person,

every image bearer before they're born, body and soul. The

unborn humans hold the same value, reflect the same image

of Almighty God, the same image of the Creator that

you and I reflect. Abortion is the murder of a

fellow image bearer, the murder of an innocent, valuable human,

and more than that, I'd argue it's child sacrifice. Hear

me out on this. When Israel and their rebellion against God.

They started adopting practices of neighboring civilizations and cultures, cultures

that worshiped man made gods like Molek and Bal. One

of the practices they adopted was ritual child sacrifice. They

would sacrifice children to appease these man made gods, to

gain blessings from them, to make life easier. They would

put their own needs above the inherent value of an

innocent image bearer. And you can go to Leviticus and

Second Kings and Jeremiah where it talks about these child sacrifices.

Why do we read stories like this? And some of

us might think, well, that's horrible. How could a person

sacrifice a child to a god to gain something from

it to make life easier? How could they do that?

It's an outrage, yes it is. But when an unborn

image bearer is aborted, when it is murder, they may

not be offered up on the altars of man made

gods like Israel did, but they're being placed on altars

all the same. The names of the altars have simply changed.

The names of the altars are now called Healthcare, Mercy Convenience.

From twenty twenty three to twenty twenty five, in Washington

State alone, there were an estimated one thousand, eight hundred

to two thousand, two hundred and fifty unborn image bearers

murdered monthly since the legalization of murder of an unborn

image bearer in nineteen seventy three to twenty twenty five,

Washington State alone recorded recorded one million to one point

two million acts of murder since nineteen seventy three. In

the United States, the refounded on Christian principles has murdered

sixty five to sixty six million image bearers. And we'd

like to talk about the atrocities of Mao and Hitler

and Stalin sixty five to sixty six million. And I

didn't make these numbers up in the ho I wish

it would have been made up. These numbers are reported

state by state, to the CDC, to the Johnston Act

or Johnston Archive, to the Gutmacher. You can look up yourself. Abortion.

The murder of an unborn image bearer is child sacrifice,

and it happens frequently, regularly, and all too often is celebrated.

Because the names of the altars have been changed to healthcare, mercy,

and convenience. It's because we as humans have stopped valuing

human life. We have stopped valuing human life. We've stopped

recognizing that all human life reflects and carries the image

of its creator. We must value human life. We must

not deliberately take the life of an image bearer. I

mentioned earlier that you might feel sadness or guilt or

anger at what I'm gonna say today. I'm gonna speak

to that feeling of guilt first, for any of you

that might be feeling guilt about this topic because of

a choice you made, or a choice someone you know made,

someone close to you. I need you to hear this.

Yes it was murder, Yes it was sin. Yes it

incurred God's wrath. Do that in But that sin does

not put you.

Outside of God's of forgiveness from it, That sin does

not put you outside of God's means of forgiveness.

From it, no one, and I mean no one, is

beyond God's forgiveness. The death of his son Jesus wholly satisfied,

completely satisfied God's wrath. Do your sin, and by placing

your faith in Jesus, by confessing with your mouth, believing

in your heart, that he died and rose again, the

Bible says that you two are saved from God's wrath.

You are clothed in Christ righteousness, and adopted into God's family,

fully forgiven, fully loved. And nothing can ever or will

ever snatch you out of the Father's hand. Nothing no one.

Paul tells us in Romans eight, verse one, there is

therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

If you are in Christ, you are no longer guilty.

You are forgiven. For those of you feeling sadness or

grief over what I've said, I urge you to take

that to the Lord in prayer, and remember what scripture

tells you and Psal I'm thirty four eighteen. The Lord

is near to the broken hearted and saves the crustian

spirit saw I'm one forty seven to three. He heals

the broken hearted and binds up their wounds. Don't stay

in your grief, take it to him. Don't treat your grief,

have it fully healed by the truths found in His word.

If you feel anger over what I've said, anger caused

by disagreement, my answer is the same to you as

it was to those feelings sadness. Take it to the

Lord in prayer, and I pray that he would soften

your heart to the truth of his word, and that

you would submit to it. That you would lay down

your own feelings, that you would lay down your own

definitions of love, that you would lay down any political

standings you have and submit to his word. And I'd

bet that there are a lot of you here that

feel anger over what I've said, not because you're in disagreement,

but because you're in agreement. And now you're feeling anger

towards our leadership, towards our state, it's toward our country,

towards someone specific that you know that made the horrible

choice to murder a child. I get it. I do.

I feel that anger frequently, especially while I was writing

this sermon. But here's the thing about anger toward a

fellow image bearer. The Bible calls that murder too. The

Bible calls that murder too. If you're anything like me,

when you read through the ten commandments, you come to

this one and you read the words you shall not murder,

and you think, okay, easy. I've never murdered anybody, nor

do I intend to next, But remember what I said

earlier that God is not only concerned with how you

practically follow his law. He's also concerned expects, desires, and

demands that your heart be in alignment with it. During

Jesus' ministry, he encountered people that felt and spoke and

acted superior because they practically followed God's law. And do

you know what He's said to them? You know what

he said about them? Their heart is far from me.

When God sent Samuel to anoint David as king, Samuel

looked upon one of David's brothers, a tall, handsome one.

I think he was. The Lord told Samuel, do not

look on his appearance or on the height of his stature,

because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not

as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but

the Lord looks on the heart. The Lord looks on

the heart. And this is key. In Matthew fifteen, verse nineteen,

Jesus said, for out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery,

sexual immorality, theft, false witness slander. It all starts in

the heart. So if God is not only concerned with us,

practically following his law. If he's also concerned that our

hearts are in alignment with it, and murder begins in

the heart, what does all this tell us, thank you

for asking, Duncan. First, it tells us that we need

to be especially concerned with the condition of our hearts.

We need to be concerned about the condition of our hearts. Second,

it tells us that the value that all human life has,

the value that we need to read it with, needs

to be believed and held in our hearts. First, that's

where it starts. You need to be especially concerned with

the anger you might be feeling right now toward a

fellow image bearer. Jesus makes this so abundantly clear. Why

in Matthew five, go and turn there now, if you

have a bible, I'm gonna take a drink of water.

Matthew five, verse twenty one. He said, you have heard

that it was said to those of old you shall

not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.

But I say to you that everyone who is angry

with his brother will be liable to judgment. Whoever insults

his brother will be liable to the council. And whoever

says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire.

Jesus shows us makes it very clear that to follow

the law of God doesn't only mean practically following it.

It means that your heart must be in alignment with it.

He shows us that even if you've never physically murdered someone,

if you're angry with them, you've broken the sixth Commandment.

The pharisees attitude was the same as what ours is

when reading this commandment. I'm good, I haven't murdered anybody.

But Jesus confronts that position with no, you are guilty

because there's murder in your heart. This is the difference

of outward conformity versus inward transformation. Outward conformity versus inward transformation.

Because at the end of the day, God's gonna look

at your heart, not your actions. Not only your actions,

I should say, He's gonna look at your heart on

the outside. The Pharisees conformed to the law of God,

but their hearts were far from him. I'm gonna be

honest again, what Jesus said in Matthew's Gospel missed me

up while I was writing this, and it has been

the last two weeks. I have a brother just one

year younger than me, and when we were inseparable as kids,

but when we hit the ages of twelve and eleven,

oh man, I started being angry with him a lot.

Those were siblings, know what I'm talking about, But I

mean really bad, bad anger. Aside from a few outbursts

or the random name calling, I thought I was a

good boy who obeyed my parents and loved my brother.

But he was all a facade. It was an outward conformity.

It wasn't an inward transformation on the inside. I was

angry with him non stop on the inside. Anytime he

showed my parents disrespect, I was angry. Anytime he scoffed

or was ungrateful at the things they gave him. Every

time he was rude toward a sibling, I was angry.

Thinking I was like, oh, I'm justified because I'm the

good older brother. Ruh, No, No, it was not justified,

and that anger was left unchecked. And when I was

about well, I think fourteen, maybe fifteen, so he would

have been thirteen or fourteen, that unchecked anger resulted in

a fistfight, a really bad one. That anger gave birth

to sin. It ended with me standing above my brother

who's in the fetal position on the ground. And I'm

six foot at the age of thirteen, two hundred pounds

plus maybe, so I'm standing above my brother who's in

the fetal position, thinking that, yeah, I just he got

his just desserts. Yeah, I just beat my brother because

I felt justified in my decision to execute judgment on him.

I guess this is my confession. I'm a murderer in

my heart. I'm a murderer in my heart, and I

do it to this day. When I when I read

about the abortion statistics that I read through, when I

read about the failures of our leaders, when I read

about what our children are exposed to, when I look

at the people image bearers doing these things, I'm filled

with anger. I'm sorry to do it now. Even last

night in the airport, I'm looking at image bearers and

immediately making judgments based on how they dress and wishing

I'm again fully transparent, wishing terrible things upon them image bearers.

I'm a murderer. I have broken the sixth commandment. Is

it weird to say? I hope I'm not alone? But

the reality is I think the reality is I think

we're a bunch of mass murderers in here. There are

some questions that came up for me when when studying

what Jesus said in Matthew. The first being is what

he's saying about committee murder in my heart? Is it

only anger toward my brother that's murder? It's the first

question I had to wrestle through. Is it only anger

toward my brother that's murder? And my brother I'm talking

about someone of the faith, a brother or sister. Some

might push back at what Jesus said and said, oh, well,

he said anyone who's anger with their brother. So that

doesn't include other people. It doesn't include my neighbors. It

doesn't include an enemy. But for any lord of the

ringstands out there, like Treebeard said, don't be hasty. Don't

be hasty coming to that conclusion. Let's address the first one.

Does that include your neighbor? Jesus tells me to love

my neighbor as I love myself, But who is my neighbor?

If you go to the story of the Good Samaritan,

that the parable that Jesus tells in Luke ten Luke

ten verses twenty five, And behold, a lawyer stood up

to put him to the test, to put Jesus to

the test, saying, teacher, what shall I do to inherit

eternal life? And he said to him, what is written

in the law? How do you read it? And he answered,

you shall love the Lord your God with all your hearts,

and with all your soul, and with all your strength,

and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

And Jesus said to him, you have answered correctly, Do

this and you will live. But the lawyer says, desiring

to justify himself, and who is my neighbor, trying to

get out of it. Jesus replies, a man was going

down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers

who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him

half dead. Now, by chance, a priest was going down

that road, and when he saw him, he passed by

on the other side. He avoided him. So likewise a

Levite when he came to the place and saw him

pass by on the other side. But a Samaritan. And

he's telling this story, Jesus telling his parable to a

Jewish audience who hate the Samaritans. Consider them half breeds.

But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was,

and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went

to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil

and wine. Then he set him on his own animal,

and brought him to an inn and took care of him.

And the next day he took out too, Dinaris a

lot of money back then and gave them to the innkeeper, saying,

take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I

will repay when I come back. Then Jesus asks, which

of these three do you think proved to be a

neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? And

the lawyer said the one who showed him mercy. And

Jesus said to him, you go and do likewise. Who

is your neighbor? Yes, everyone is your neighbor, and you

need to love them all? Why because he first loved you. Okay,

but Jordan, surely not my enemies. Surely I can be

angry toward my enemies. First Off, bro, you were literally

enemy of God before he save you. Secondly, look at

this in Matthew. This is Matthew five again, verse forty three.

You have heard that it was said you shall love

your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you,

love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

so that you may be sons of your father, who

is in heaven. For he makes his son rise on

the evil and on the good, and sends reins on

the just and on the unjust. For if you love

those who love you, what reward do you have? Not

even the do not, even the tax collectors do the same.

And if you greet only your brothers, what more are

you doing than others? Do not even the gentiles do

the same. You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly

father is perfect. I don't know about you, but I

think the Bible makes it pretty clear someone who says

about your neighbors, your enemies, your brothers, that you don't

have the right to be angry at any of them.

The second question, and I'm going to address, is this,

what about anger toward leaders, people outside of your circle,

outside of your reach? What about people in power? What

about our government? Again, fully with you, I get it. First,

you need to remember the Bible tells us. You can

read about this in Romans thirteen. I don't have time

to get into it. Today, God installed put in place

each and every one of them, even the bad ones,

as an act of judgment on sinful nations, even the

bad ones. Secondly, you need to remember and trust that

God does and will deal with each and every person,

especially the ones in power. In Romans twelve, Paul wrote,

Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty,

but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your

own eyes, in your own sight, repay no one evil

for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable

in the sight of all. Now watch this, if possible,

so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with

all beloved. Never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the

wrath of God. For it is written vengeance is mine.

I will repay, says the Lord to the contrary. If

your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty,

give him something to drink, for by doing so you

will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be

overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. When I

read this, verse. Not only am I reminded of the

bar that's set for me, that's set for me to

how to treat my neighbor, my enemy, my brother. I

also come face to face with reality that when I'm

stuck in my sinful anger toward my leaders or government,

when I'm breaking the sixth Commandment in my heart, I

realized that in that moment, I'm not trusting that God

is in control. I'm not trusting that God will have

his vengeance. And that's an issue, that's an area of

trust I need to work on. And again hope I'm

not alone here. The third question I had is this,

what is anger? Again, going back to basics, words matter?

What is anger? Is all anger bad? Does all anger

break the sixth Commandment? The short answer is no, not

all anger breaks the sixth Commandment. Now again, as Treebeard says,

don't be hasty. I don't want if you start thinking like,

oh good, I don't don't need to worry. See you

next Sunday. Yes, you do need to worry, because, as

I said, not all anger breaks the sixth Commandment. There

is good anger, there is bad anger. There is righteous anger.

There is unrighteous anger or sinful anger. The sinful anger,

it's the kind that is murder. How you differentiate between

the two is by what you do with the anger

you're feeling. How to tell if the anger you're feeling

is sinful or righteous is what you do with the anger.

For example, Jesus was righteously angry when he came to

the temple, made a whip and drove people out of

the temple who were exchanging money. The Bible says zeal

filled him for his house, for God's house. He was

filled with zeal for the house of God. And he

was filled with righteous anger when he went in with

a whip and turned tables over of the money lenders, saying,

you have turned the house of God into a den

of robbers. That was righteous anger. There was no murder

committed that day. Cain, on the other hand, was not

so righteous when, in his anger, murdered his brother. Murdered

his brother because God accepted Abel's offering and not his,

And this was right after God warn Cain not to

act sinfully in his anger. In Genesis four, verse six,

the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? And

why has your face fallen? If you do well, will

you not be accepted. And if you do not do

listen to this. If you do not do well, sin

is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you,

and you must rule over it. What we do with

our anger, how we direct it, the thoughts that brings

to mind, its desire, that we dwell on, how we

act on it is the determining factor for if it

is good anger or bad anger, if it is righteous

or unrighteous, if it is if we're law keepers or

law breakers, if we love others or we're committing murder

in our hearts, if we value human life or devalue.

It can get the band come up. One of the purposes,

one of the purposes that God had for these ten commandments,

was to show the children of Israel how they are

to live as his people in a world in rebellion

against him. He chose the people of Israel, He marked them,

commanded them to live differently and buy this law, taught

them how they are to love Him, how they are

to love one another, both practically and in their hearts.

The story is the same today. God sent his son Jesus,

the New Covenant, the fulfillment of the Law, to a

world in rebellion against him, chose you, marked you, commanded

you to live differently, taught you how to love him

and how to love one another, both practically and in

your heart. And that, beloved, is what we must do today.

Keep the law by loving God and loving others. Keep

the law by loving God and loving others. And how

do we do that? John tells us first John chapter three.

For this is the message you have heard from the beginning,

that we should love one another. We should not be

like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered

his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his

own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. Do not

be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know

that we have passed out of death into life because

we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.

Whoever hates his brother is a murderer. And you know

that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By

this we know love that he laid down his life

for us, and we ought to lay down our lives

for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods

and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart

against him, how does God, love abide in him, little children.

Let us not love in word or talk, but indeed

in truth. The Bible says that God writes his law

on our hearts. We know what to do, we know

what not to do, and as John puts it, we

need to love. Remember, God not only demands that we

practically follow his law, he demands that our hearts be

in alignment with it. That means we need to love others.

It sounds cheesy to say it, sounded cheesy to write it.

Love is the answer, but it only sounds cheesy when

you're not talking about real love. Let me expand this

a bit. Define it. Real love is the answer. The

love of God is the answer. Real love as shown

in the person of Jesus Christ John thirteen, verse thirty four.

Jesus said a new commandment. I give to you that

you love one another just as I have loved you.

You also are to love one another just as I

have loved you. You are to love one another. You

think you're doing a good job loving others, Go and

look at what Jesus did for his disciples. Go back

and look at what Jesus did for you. I certainly

don't love that way. Beloved. We have been called to

show the world who we belong to Jesus Christ, and

I'm sorry I skipped that verse and verse thirty five.

Jesus finishes by saying, by this all people will know

that you are My disciples. If you have love for

one another blood, you have been marked and adopted as

a child of God. As his child, you have the

duty to obey his command to not murder, not only practically,

but in your heart too. To do that, you must

see and believe that all human life is valuable, just

as God sees it. All human life is valuable. That's

going to mean you forgiving someone you don't want to forgive.

That's going to mean trusting in God's judgment and vengeance.

That's going to mean praying for the good of other

image bearers instead of harm upon them. Ultimately, you need

to faithfully keep God's law by loving him and loving

your fellow image bearer. You need to faithfully keep God's

law by loving him and loving your fellow image bearer,

not by how you decide how to love, how He

has shown us how to love, by protecting the vulnerable,

by forgiving the guilty, by praying for your enemies by

trusting in him. This is what real love looks like.

This is the kind of love Jesus demonstrated to the world.

This is the kind of love he now demands of

us as his disciples. This is love defined by God's law. Amen.