Jeff Schreve - You Are Made In The Image of God
Very interesting as you read in the Bible, Genesis chapter 3, one of the most important passages in all the scripture. Genesis 3 tells us about the fall of man. It tells us about the sin of Adam and Eve. It tells us how sin came into the world. And in Genesis chapter 4, we read about the two oldest boys of Adam and Eve, Cain the oldest and Abel his brother, and how they present their offerings to the Lord in the course of time. And God had regard for Abel and his offering but didn’t have regard for Cain and his offering because Abel came God’s way, he came with a blood sacrifice and Cain came his own way, he came with the fruit of the cursed ground. And Cain was very angry, angry at God and he takes out his anger on his brother Abel and he kills him. Right on the heels of the very first sin with Adam and Eve you have murder that hits the human race.
Well, in Exodus chapter 20, as God is giving the Ten Commandments to the people and to Moses and he’s writing these, we’ve called this series «Written In Stone,» because the Ten Commandments were written on two tablets of stone written as the Scripture says, by the very finger of God. And when we come to the sixth commandment, «You shall not murder». And So we want to talk today about the heart of murder now. Murder seems like a pretty easy thing to understand, «You shall not murder». Okay, it’s only two words in the in the Hebrew, don’t murder, and God put that on the Ten Commandments written in stone. And so on the face of it we say, yeah, that’s very basic, that’s very straightforward. But when you dig a little deeper you find that there are questions that come into our minds with this sixth commandment. What all does this mean, and what are the ramifications, and what do we need to know?
So I want to share the answers to three questions, three common questions as it relates to this sixth commandment, «You shall not murder». Question number one, why? Why did God give this commandment? For some people, they would say, well, this is so basic that I don’t even think you need to write it, God, with your finger in the stone tablets. So why did God do this? It is because man is made in the image of God. That’s why this is such an important commandment because man is made in the image of God. Genesis chapter nine, when Noah and his family come off the ark, the Lord speaks to them and the Lord says this, «And I will require the blood of anyone who takes another person’s life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die. If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in His own image».
Humans are different than any other creature that God made. And when the King James says, «You shall not kill,» people have taken that to say, well, you can’t kill anything. But that’s not what it means because obviously when it comes to animals, God is not opposed to killing animals. Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve sinned, God was the one who clothed them with coats of skin. How did he do that? He had to kill some innocent animals to clothe Adam and Eve. But people are different because animals aren’t made in the image of God. Only men and women are made in the image of God. So you shall not murder. Why? Because man is made in the image of God. And murder is an assault on the image of God. God says that human life is precious. And man is not, when you think of murder, taking another person’s life, when you think of that, man is not to put himself in the place of God. That belongs to God. Life and death belong to God.
1 Samuel chapter 2, the Lord kills and makes alive. He brings down to Sheol and raises up. God is God. God is in charge. As Job said when he gets the news that you’ve lost everything and your ten children are gone, what does he do? He bows down and worships, and he tears his robes and he said the Lord gives and the Lord takes away Blessed be the name of the Lord And so if we are going to murder another person we take the place of God. God is the one who gives life, God is the one who takes life. So that’s why God gave this commandment. Hey, you put human life at a premium because man is made in my image. Second question, What does this command forbid? I mean, when we start drilling down on this, what is the Lord actually saying? You shall not murder. What does it forbid? As I said, it’s not the word kill, although King James says kill.
The Hebrew word is «ratzach». It means to dash in pieces, to put to death, to slay a human being. It denotes the unlawful premeditated or immoral taking of another person’s life. So this command very basically forbids taking another person’s life in a premeditated intentional act, to murder another person. Now, murder is off the chain in America today. I mean, we look at this commandment, this sixth commandment, you shall not murder, and we say, well, who cares about that? We’re going to do whatever we want, and if I want to take a life, I’m going to take a life. But the command forbids taking another person’s life, intentionally taking another person’s life. But what else does it forbid? Well, it forbids taking an unborn baby’s life. See, we think about, okay, murder, that’s wrong. If I just got mad at you and pulled out a gun and shot you and killed you, oh, that’s wrong.
Pastor Jeff, you can’t do that. But then we think about abortion, we say, well, that’s a different story. No, it’s not. Abortion is murder. Now, we hear the argument from those who… they just want abortion, they want abortion on demand, they don’t want any restrictions on abortion. What do they say? My body, my choice. Well let me tell you, it’s not your body. It’s a body inside your body, and that body inside your body after nine months is going to vacate your body and live outside your body. So it’s not your body and no one has the choice to decide to kill another person.
So abortion is covered in the sixth commandment, «You shall not murder». How about suicide? This command also forbids taking your own life. I had an email just in the last week and somebody was very distraught because they had a family member who took his own life. And so the question always comes, and it’s a question that reveals a faulty understanding of salvation, but the question comes, Pastor Jeff, can this person still go to heaven? They took their own life. And so, you know, I grew up Catholic and in Catholicism, you’re taught that, you know, suicides like the unpardonable sin because you have to keep asking for forgiveness. And if you kill yourself, how are you going to ask for forgiveness? So the question, you know, give me some hope. What about my child or my family member? And my answer is the same.
Suicide is not the unpardonable sin. It’s a terrible sin. It’s a horrible sin. It’s a tremendously cowardly sin. It’s not the unpardonable sin. And if a person comes to understand, I’m a sinner and I’m lost and I need Jesus and gives his or her heart to Jesus, you’re saved. It’s apart from works. You are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone. You’re saved. Now, can you do some terrible things even as a Christian? Yes. Can you make some terrible decisions as a Christian? Yes. As a saved person? Yes. You’re not saved by works. You don’t lose your salvation by works. Works doesn’t fit in. Works is a byproduct of salvation. But if you have this mindset that you work, you have to be good enough to get to heaven, then you start thinking, well, if I commit suicide, maybe I’m not going to heaven.
Now listen, people who commit suicide, the honest question is, was that person really saved? Now that’s a different issue because if you’re truly saved, you go to heaven. No matter how bad it gets in life, God is the God of hope. «Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit».
So the sixth commandment forbids the taking of another person’s life, the willful taking of another person’s life, the taking of an unborn baby, the taking of your own life. But there are some exclusions to the Sixth Commandment, some things that when we think about taking a life, murder is just different than taking a life, because sometimes taking a life is warranted. So what are some of the exclusions? Well, number one is legal execution. That’s an exclusion to the sixth commandment. That is not murder. That is capital punishment. People say is, what does the Bible say about capital punishment?
Genesis chapter 9, verse 6, «And I will require the blood of anyone who takes another person’s life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. If anyone who murders a fellow human, anyone who murders a fellow human must die. If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands». God is for capital punishment, for capital crimes. And so When the powers that be get involved, then there is execution. That’s not murder. And also an exclusion is just war or law enforcement. When you’re in war and you’re taking life, that’s not murder. That’s not murder. We know that’s the fact because you read in the Old Testament, God told his people under Joshua, in the book of Joshua, they’re on the war path and they’re attacking people and killing people and the Lord told them to do that.
Joshua is never called in Scripture a murderer. He’s not a murderer. He’s a war hero, and he was fighting the Lord’s battles. In the book of Judges, you have people like Gideon, people like Samson. They’re not called murderers. They’re fighting the Lord’s enemies. And so a police officer who is upholding the law and protecting and serving, there might be an instance where he or she has to draw their weapon and fire and shoot and people die in that instance, the perpetrator dies. That’s not murder. So that’s an exclusion to the sixth commandment. And then self-defense. The scripture makes it clear, self-defense is an exclusion to the sixth commandment.
Exodus chapter 22, if a thief is caught breaking into a house at night and is killed, the one who killed him is not guilty of murder. But if it happens during the day, he is guilty of murder. So if you’re awakened in the middle of the night and someone is breaking into your house and you’re startled and you shoot and kill that person, that’s not murder, that’s self-defense. So what does this mean at a deeper level? Because when Jesus comes on the scene in the New Testament, the people that lived in the first century, they would say, we’re doing really good. None of us are murderers. We haven’t murdered anybody. We are righteous. And what does Jesus do in the Sermon on the Mount? He takes the law and he doesn’t lower the bar on the law, he raises the bar on the law.
And this is what Jesus said, «You have heard,» Matthew chapter 5, verse 21 and 22, «You have heard that the ancients were told, 'You shall not commit murder, ' and 'whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.'» That’s right. Yeah, that’s right, that’s right. We’re liable to the court if we commit murder, but we never commit murder because we’re righteous Jews. He says, «But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court, and whoever shall say to his brother, 'Raca, ' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, 'You fool, ' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell».
See, we can break this commandment in our heart, and we often break the sixth commandment in our heart. So I know that most of you in this room, you haven’t committed murder, you haven’t taken a knife in your hand and killed someone, you haven’t shot someone with a gun and killed them. But most of us, we say, well, I’m not guilty of that sin. Look how good I am, Lord. And the Lord says, hey, I don’t see as man sees. Man sees that word of parents. I see the heart. So let’s look at your heart. Have you been angry with your brother? Have you said to someone you stupid idiot? Have you called them a fool? Are you missing? This is what Jesus is saying, are you missing the fact that we’re not talking about just being in trouble with the law?
If you break the sixth commandment you’re in trouble with God. You have broken God’s commandment. Jesus said don’t fear those who can destroy the body but fear him who can destroy both the body and soul in hell. That’s whom you need to fear. And so this is a heart deal. And see, this is how the commandment works, because he’s going to do the same thing with you’ve heard it said you shall not commit adultery. Yeah, I’ve never committed adultery. That’s bad, «I say to you, whoever looks on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart». Whoa, that covers all of us because the Lord looks at the heart. So here is how this works. We get angry at someone. The Bible says, don’t let the Sun go down on your anger.
So you let the Sun go down in your anger. You’re angry with someone what happens to that anger anger turns into resentment. I really resent this person because how they hurt me. You let the sun go down on resentment and that turns into bitterness, into this smoldering. I just hate that person. And from bitterness, you go to hatred and from hatred, you go to murder. So Think of it like a train. The first stop on the train heading to murder town is anger. And If you don’t get off then you’re on the second stop, which is resentment. You don’t get off then you’re on the third stop, which is bitterness. You don’t get off, then you’re on the fourth stop, which is hatred, you don’t get off. That leads to murder.
And so Jesus said, «if you’re on the train, you’re guilty before God because man sees the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart». Now the Bible talks about Cain in the book of 1 John, Cain the first murderer. And this is what it says about Cain, «For this is the message,» 1 John chapter 3, «For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; not as Cain, who was of the evil one, and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brothers were righteous. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him».
Talking about Cain, here’s the interesting thing about Cain. So Cain offers to the Lord his sacrifice. It was, he’s a farmer. He gives the fruit of the ground, the best that he could produce with his two hands. Lord, this is, I don’t wanna come the way you told me to come. I’m gonna come my way. Woe to them, it says in the book of Jude, they have gone the way of Cain. I’m gonna go worship the Lord my way. Well, you don’t worship the Lord your way, you worship the Lord his way. Abel came with a blood sacrifice because that’s the way God said to come. That’s all throughout scripture. That’s how we come.
We know that the Lord told them how to come because in Hebrews chapter 11, it says, «by faith Abel offered a sacrifice, a more excellent sacrifice than did his brother. He did it by faith. And faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, which means no one can have any faith without the word of God. Abel and Cain, they both heard from God directly or from Adam and Eve telling them what God said, that when you come before the Lord, you come with a blood sacrifice». But he didn’t do it. He came his own way. And for Cain and his offering, the Lord had no regard. But he had regard for Abel and his offering.
So Cain became very angry. And the Lord said to Cain, «Cain, why are you so angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? But if you don’t do well, sin is crouching at the door and its desire is for you, yet you must master it». Cain doesn’t speak to the Lord. Cain is just so angry with the Lord. And Cain says, okay, God, you want a blood sacrifice? I’ll give you a blood sacrifice. And he jumps on his brother in the field and he slits his throat because the word used in 1 John chapter 3, for slaying his brother is the same word used for slitting the throat of the Passover lambs. Here’s your blood sacrifice, God. Cain’s of the evil one.
And so the Scripture puts that into perspective and says, everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. What happened to Cain? He got on the train at the anger point. And then it was bitterness or resentment and then bitterness and then hatred. Hatred mainly toward God, but it was directed toward his brother. How’s he going to get at God? He can’t. But I can get at the guy that you were all excited about, God, I’ll kill him. Hey, you got to check your heart. Do you hate your brother? Has there been or is there now hatred in your heart toward another person, another person who hurts you? We break the commandment in our hearts. Secondly, we break this commandment with our approval. That’s kind of like murder by proxy, our approval.
You say, well, where is that in the Bible? How about Saul of Tarsus? First time we run into Saul of Tarsus, it’s in Acts chapter 7. And Stephen is preaching this great sermon in Acts chapter 7, and they can’t handle the wisdom that he’s giving them. He comes at them with both barrels. And man, Stephen was stronger than an acre of garlic, and they’re just like, ah, they couldn’t listen to it anymore. They cover their ears and they rush upon him and they throw him out and they pick up stones to stone him. And it says, they laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul of Tarsus. He was there that day when they stoned Stephen to death. He was there saying, yeah, that’s right, kill him, kill him, kill Him. It’s murder with our approval.
So we’re guilty. You’re guilty, I’m guilty, we’re guilty of breaking the sixth commandment. Everyone in this room guilty of breaking the sixth commandment. If you say that you have never had any anger, resentment, bitterness, hostility, hatred in your heart toward another person. You need to be here when we go on for number nine, commandment number nine, you shall not lie, because you’re a liar if you say I’ve never had that. We’ve all had that and all have sinned and fallen short of the glory Of God, but here is the good news, we can be forgiven and changed by the power of Jesus Christ.
The worst of sins and the worst of sinners and the worst of murderers can be forgiven by the power of Jesus Christ. That’s Paul’s testimony, Saul of Tarsus. He said, God had mercy on me even though I was a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. I was guilty of murder by proxy. I was, as it says in the books of Acts, the soul of Tarsus. He was breathing out threats and murders against the disciples of the Lord. He’s just breathing it in, breathing it out, breathing it in, breathing it out. I hate these people. I’m going to destroy these people.
And all the time, he’s thinking He’s serving God. But He said, But I found mercy in the Lord and I love 1 Timothy 1, «It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all among. Whom I am chief, yet for this reason I found mercy in order that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience, as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life». Paul’s testimony is this, if Jesus Christ can save me, he can save anybody. And that is good news for sinners today.