October 3 LD 40, Day 3: Murder
by Pastor Steven Key
Exodus 20:13: Thou shalt not kill.
Murder is the willful
taking of another man's life by one who has no authority to do so.
That deed is, first of
all, the actual killing of a person with or without the use of weapons. It is
the destruction of a human earthly life, in direct opposition to the revealed
will of God. Today, abortion is one of the most open violations of this
commandment. But besides abortion, murder has become such a common occurrence
in Western culture that there have to be extraordinary circumstances in order
for it even to catch our attention. Television glamorizes murder and those who
are closely involved with it. The sin of killing by murder is the crassest
expression of rebellion against this sixth commandment of God. But it is not
the only violation.
The acid test of whether
our appreciation for this commandment is merely intellectual, or whether we
desire to give God all the glory in the keeping of His
commandments, comes when the declaration of God is applied in such a way that
it hurts us. When the sixth commandment says to us, "Thou shalt not kill," that ought to wound us very
deeply, because in its prohibition and negative form, the sixth commandment
points its finger at our own corrupt hearts.
The commandment says,
"Thou shalt not murder." That is, thou shalt do all within thy power to care for that life which
is God's gift, His prerogative to give and to terminate. The Heidelberg
Catechism reminds us that this includes, "that I hurt not myself, nor
willfully expose myself to any danger. Your life is not your own. Your body is
the temple of the Holy Spirit. You have no right to destroy it! You have no
right to abuse your body by any means, whether by gluttony, the use of illicit
drugs, excessive alcohol intake or the addictive use of tobacco and smoking,
which has been demonstrated beyond any doubt as doing harm to the body.
We need to be honest with
the law of God. If we continue to give no regard to the law in its personal
application, then the word of James 1:22 comes home to our conscience, "be
ye doers of the word, and hot hearers only, deceiving
your own selves."