Deuteronomy 5:17
The Sixth Commandment

I. Men With Chests
1. Sergeants Shughart and Gordon asked to be dropped into Mogadishu, Somalia to protect their friend.
2. They were not “men without chests.” The pilot was saved alive but they were killed.
3. Jesus said, There is no greater love than a man lay down his life for his friends.
II. The Commandment’s Bias
1. The only controversy is whether it prohibits all killing or only murder. Murder is unjust, illegal killing.
2. The message of the whole Bible includes the death penalty and invading the Promised Land.
3. In Deuteronomy 4:42 the same word is used of the one “who kills his neighbor unintentionally.”
4. God’s general rule, before we get into the details of capital punishment, etc., is “No killing.”
5. The broad command shows us where God’s bias lies; the fundamental guiding principles.
6. This commandment is broad: No killing. The exceptions prove the rule.
III. The Commandment’s Meaning
A. More Than Just the Exclusion of Violence
1. It means that I be willing to sacrifice my prize ox (or dog) to protect someone’s life.
2. When our luxuries are more important than others’ essentials, we wish they’d die.
3. A trick is to make the command only apply to some human beings, usually the ones like me.
4. In our day, people are saying we should be able to do it based on age or disability.
5. If you are very old and suffering dementia, many want to say you should be “out” and euthanatized.
6. If you are very young – still in the womb – you have no rights (they say). The fetus is killed.
7. The fetus is alive. It’s human. Therefore, it is human life. The sixth commandment covers it.
8. Downs Syndrome is not a “Reason for Abortion.” That should be a passionate conviction.
B. Anger
1. Anger, as we usually experience it, is a sinful thing. We are often angry because we feel insulted.
2. Maybe the only reason we’re not acting on our murder is because we’re afraid of being caught.
3. Why should God excuse someone for murder if they were too lazy to do what they wanted to do?
4. If God only punished those who acted on their anger, then He’d be rewarding hypocrites.
5. People should not be utterly drained of all anger. We are to be angry when innocent life is crushed.
6. We are to be what C. S. Lewis called men “with chests,” a passion for things larger than ourselves.
7. C. S. Lewis (in The Abolition of Man): this culture has a defect of “fertile and generous emotion.”
8. “We make men without chests . . . We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.”
9. That thing within us that should make us passionate for life and honor has shrunk.
10. We disobey this command when we have one kind of anger and when we do not have another kind.
C. Sometimes We Have to Kill to Save Life
1. The bias is against killing but sometimes some have to be killed to save others.
2. In World War 2, the allies had to kill a lot of Germans in order to liberate Germans.
3. We brought all these horrible things into this world through our sins. Then we blame God.
D. Anger at God
1. The crucifixion shows what self-willed people will do to God when He comes in human flesh.
2. The opposite of murder is submission, meekness, a willingness to lay down one’s life for others.
3. The opposite of the murderer is Jesus. The people chose a murderer (Barabbas) over Life Himself.
4. Abel found grace in the eyes of the Lord and Cain hated and killed him for it.
5. Do you hate your life? Suicide is self-murder and no more right than any other murder.
6. Hand over your resentments, your anger, your hatreds, to God. Submit to His rule over you.
IV. Invitation: Christ gave His life in exchange for a murderer. He gave Himself in exchange for you. He knew you were a murderer. He even knew that in your resentments, you would murder Him too. But He submitted. Now, won’t you submit to Him and let Him change your heart?