WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:08.320 This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:13.519 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org. 00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:16.000 Let's pray. 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:19.600 Father, what an amazing and freeing truth. 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:25.760 That everything else is fleeting and everything else sinks and everything else gives way. 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:33.039 And everything else that we grab to and try to rescue ourselves is fleeting and sinking and it slips away. 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:35.280 But in you, it's solid. 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:38.399 And it is never bending. 00:00:39.759 --> 00:00:45.359 And God, in that is there is hope, and there is comfort and there is truth. 00:00:46.159 --> 00:00:50.560 And so, Father, we ask you to speak and we say that we're listening. 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:52.159 And we pray sing as your name. 00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:52.880 Amen. 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:54.719 You can have a seat. 00:00:56.399 --> 00:00:59.039 If you're finding a seat, my name is Wade Collier. 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:02.159 I am the Missions and Outreach Pastor here at Graham Parkway. 00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:18.560 As I mentioned before, if you missed, uh Neil McClendon, our lead pastor, is away with Clyde, our worship pastor, and ten of our men as they are leading a men's trip, our third men's trip to Costa Rica, working on the last phase of the school in the village that we adopted. 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:31.599 And so it's my honor as we've been in the midst of this flourish sub-series or caveat, whatever you want to call it, to our sermon series on Exodus, as we're looking at these Ten Commandments. 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:52.319 And you've heard Neil say several times over the last uh few weeks as we've been going through the commandments, that we need to scrub from our hearts and our thoughts that as we read and we study these Ten Commandments, that the sole intention behind them is only to tell you what not to do. 00:01:52.719 --> 00:02:10.879 That we have to begin to change our posture in the way that we read these and to uh attempt to hear these in the way and read these in the way and apply them in the way that God intended, because not to try and hem these commandments in that we read as the ten don't do's of our life. 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:24.719 It not only it not only cheats us a full understanding of the text that we're gonna read this morning, but but church, here's my warning to you is it will also cheat you the full understanding of God's character. 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:33.039 And so um for this reason, I'm I'm selfishly excited that the way that the calendar fell, I have the sixth commandment this morning. 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:57.199 Um not because I'm morbidly obsessed with violence, uh, but because I believe that this commandment that we're gonna look at today, it begins to open the doors for us to understand fully God's heart towards violence, God's heart towards hatred, and our amazing ability to try and justify what is right and what is wrong. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:02.080 And so if you have your Bibles, if you'll turn with me to Exodus chapter 20. 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:03.759 Exodus chapter 20. 00:03:03.919 --> 00:03:08.479 If you don't have a Bible, I'm on page 61 and those black pew Bibles around you. 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:15.039 Exodus chapter 20, and we're gonna begin in verse one. 00:03:15.759 --> 00:03:25.919 It says, And God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:29.360 You shall have no other gods before me. 00:03:29.599 --> 00:03:39.759 You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water underneath the earth. 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:56.080 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. 00:03:56.319 --> 00:04:03.520 You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:06.240 And remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:12.639 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord your God. 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:23.120 On it you shall not do any work, you or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the souljourner who is within your gates. 00:04:23.439 --> 00:04:29.920 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:33.040 Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:39.120 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land of the Lord your God has given you. 00:04:39.519 --> 00:04:41.279 And you shall not murder. 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:43.759 This is the word of the Lord. 00:04:44.240 --> 00:04:49.600 If someone was to ask you, what is the meaning of you shall not murder? 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:52.000 Think about what your answer would be. 00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:53.360 You shall not murder. 00:04:53.439 --> 00:04:54.000 What does that mean? 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:55.040 What would your answer be? 00:04:55.279 --> 00:05:04.079 Most likely we would tell them that it means exactly what it says as we read it, is that we are not supposed to murder anyone, plain and simple, right? 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:07.040 And that would be correct. 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:21.279 But however, as you continue to read through God's word, as if we read what the New Testament says about murder, especially in light of what Jesus says about murder, the answer would also be incomplete. 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:45.519 It's an interesting situation when you look at parallel scriptures when you do Old Testament and New Testament, because oftentimes when people are addressed with a hard truth or a hard situation from the Old Testament, you'll see them attempt to run to the words of Jesus in attempts to find middle ground, maybe, to find softer ground to land on, which in itself is a heretical joke. 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:50.800 Because if you do that, then you're unknowingly saying a few things. 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:54.079 One, you're saying that the Bible contradicts itself. 00:05:54.720 --> 00:05:59.680 And by saying that, two, you're saying that the Lord contradicts himself. 00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:08.399 Which, if God is perfect, which he is, then he cannot contradict himself, which he can't. 00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:14.480 And then three, now you've said that Jesus is in fact not the Son of God. 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:25.120 And so now this straw man argument that you have built has now turned into this blatantly horrible statement that denies the deity of Christ. 00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:29.040 And this is a tangent, I know, but I think one worth the walk. 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:36.240 So, with opposite reasoning, I want you to keep your finger there in Exodus 20, but I want you to turn over to the right to the New Testament. 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:39.199 And I want us to have a parallel text for our time this morning. 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:42.079 And so if you would, turn with me to Matthew chapter 5. 00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:47.199 Matthew chapter 5, which is on page 810 in the Black Pew Bibles. 00:06:49.920 --> 00:06:55.040 And when you're in Matthew chapter 5, I want you to look with me beginning in verse 21. 00:06:56.720 --> 00:07:00.720 You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder. 00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:03.680 And whoever murders will be liable to judgment. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:09.120 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:12.480 Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the counsel. 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:17.600 And whoever says, You fool, will be liable to the hell of fire. 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:30.959 Now we can read verse 21 and even the first half of verse 22, and we can walk away after reading this with an understanding that Jesus is saying, Don't get angry with your brother, and that'll keep you from committing murder. 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:48.480 Which, if you didn't read past the semicolon, all the way to the period at the end of verse 22, you could possibly allow this to become your only landing point, and for good reason, much like with Exodus 20, Jesus is warning that the very act of murder finds its roots in an angry, murderous spirit. 00:07:49.120 --> 00:08:01.920 But then what Jesus does, which he often does, he goes on to raise the bar, not only for our understanding, but he also raises the bar of the severity of the sin and the judgment that follows. 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:16.480 So he takes this law from Exodus 20 one step further by explaining the true significance of the law and this deeper spiritual meaning that those that were gathered at the Sermon on the Mount had never heard before. 00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:19.600 Look at verse 21 and 22 again and see what I mean. 00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:26.240 He says, You have heard it was said to those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:32.799 But I, but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:37.279 Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the counsel. 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:42.480 And whoever says, You fool, will be liable to the hell of fire. 00:08:43.440 --> 00:09:01.360 Just some context for us to understand the depth and the width and the levity of what Christ is telling this audience on the mount and us as well today is that Jesus is not only here in Matthew 5 warning us against expressing unrighteous anger, which can lead to murder. 00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:04.000 This unrighteous anger that can lead to murder. 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:12.559 And he's warning us against that, but he's clearly commanding us that disparaging insults and name-calling should be avoided. 00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:20.720 Now, for years I believed fully in my heart that God had given me an extra biblical spiritual gift of sarcasm. 00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:25.440 And it was accompanied by this skill of dry and cynical wit. 00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:42.320 So I get that as we're talking about, even with your words, Jesus is saying it's murder, that I probably lost some of you in here when I say that Jesus is cranking up the heat by saying, Not only do not murder, but thou shalt not make fun of your brother and sister. 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:43.919 But hang with me. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:46.720 Look at the later, the latter portion of verse 22. 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:50.559 Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council. 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:55.360 And whoever says, you fool, will be liable to the hell of fire. 00:09:55.600 --> 00:10:01.279 When Christ is saying, whoever insults his brother, he's referring to this word that's raqah. 00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:02.799 Rakhah. 00:10:02.879 --> 00:10:06.240 And rakah comes from the Aramaic term, it's requa. 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:07.120 Alright? 00:10:07.279 --> 00:10:13.279 And what requa is, is it's this horribly derogatory expression meaning empty-headed. 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:19.679 So if you were to call someone stupid, and for the children in the room, don't use the word stupid, and for the adults in the room, don't use the word stupid. 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:25.279 Um, you're saying stupid, sandwiched with some of the most vulgar words you could ever think of. 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:29.600 That's our understanding of what rakha is. 00:10:29.919 --> 00:10:39.200 But before you go ahead and jot that down in your notes with the intention of adding it to your repertoire to burn your unsuspecting mother-in-law under your breath, no, know this. 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:56.879 Rakhah is a slang word, and it was considered so offensive, so vulgar in its time, just like Jesus says, if you use the word rakha, if you racah someone, you would be judged by the Sanhedrin, the Jewish authority. 00:10:57.200 --> 00:11:03.120 They would pull you in and take you to court, and you would face judgment for saying such a thing to someone. 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:11.600 And Jesus then says, if you think that holds a serious consequence, if you think that is bad, I'm about to push you to step your game up. 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:12.960 Look at verse 22. 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:15.600 Whoever insults his brother, they'll be liable to the council. 00:11:15.759 --> 00:11:18.240 You use that rakah, you're going to the Sanhedrin. 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:24.720 And Jesus says, whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:30.159 Whoever says you fool, Jesus is not channeling his inner Mr. 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:30.960 T here. 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:32.320 Jesus, anyone? 00:11:32.480 --> 00:11:32.879 80s? 00:11:33.039 --> 00:11:33.360 All right. 00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:34.240 Jesus. 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:35.519 It's a good decade. 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:38.240 Jesus is drawing on the truth of his word. 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:40.879 Don't turn here, it'll be on the screens behind you. 00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:47.440 But let's look at what the pillars are that are holding up the severity of this word fool. 00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:49.840 Psalms 14.1 says this. 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:53.200 The fool says in his heart, there is no God. 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:55.039 They are corrupt. 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:59.759 They do, I've been scared of this word all week that I'd have to say it several times, so hang with me. 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:01.120 They do abominable. 00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:03.039 Ha ha, first time, deeds. 00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:05.440 There is none who does good. 00:12:05.919 --> 00:12:14.720 A few weeks back, Neil made mention that we have a tendency as Christians, as religious people, to try to pluck pieces of scripture out of the Bible. 00:12:14.879 --> 00:12:21.440 And we want to use them to hang them on our wall or get them tattooed on our body or get them put on the back of our letter jackets. 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:27.519 But oftentimes we do this without taking on the entirety of its meaning and its purpose. 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:50.639 Just like we don't want to take Joshua 25, 15 for when it's, or 24, 15, rather, when it says, For me and my house we will serve the Lord and put it in a frame and hang it on our bathroom wall, without understanding that the call to make this proclamation accompanies a very, very, very serious and very consequential verse that precedes it. 00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:57.600 It says, Now therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. 00:12:57.840 --> 00:13:03.360 Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:08.720 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve. 00:13:08.879 --> 00:13:21.279 Whether the gods of your fathers that they served in the region beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you're living right now, but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:28.720 And so it's just a small thing that you can buy at the Christian bookstore, but it has so much more depth and so much more consequence. 00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:40.240 And so what Joshua is telling these people is if you make this proclamation of, as for me and my house will serve the Lord, you are saying, I'm going to lay aside all of the beliefs that I have that don't line up with God. 00:13:40.879 --> 00:13:54.639 If my house is going to worship the Lord, then here's what I'm going to do is I'm going to take I'm going to take every family tradition that I have inherited and put it to death if it doesn't line up with the Lord, his word, or his will. 00:13:55.200 --> 00:14:11.919 I'm going to take every sin that I do within the secrecy of my own home, and I've convinced myself that it doesn't hurt anybody because I'm doing it behind closed doors, I'm going to repent and I'm going to put it to death because it doesn't line up with God, his word, and his character. 00:14:13.440 --> 00:14:20.559 And in the same way, we read this description of what a fool is in Psalm 14, and we have to read deeper into the traits of a fool. 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:32.720 Because as if being someone who says in their heart, There is no God, being someone who's corrupt, being someone who commits abominable deeds and does no good isn't bad enough, right? 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:34.879 It goes on to say this. 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:39.600 They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds. 00:14:39.759 --> 00:14:41.279 There is none who does good. 00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:45.600 They have all turned aside, verse 3 says, Together they have become corrupt. 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:47.120 There is none who does good. 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:48.080 It repeats itself. 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:49.679 That's how much of a fool they are. 00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:52.000 No one does good, not even one. 00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:53.840 Have they no knowledge? 00:14:54.000 --> 00:15:01.200 All the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon the Lord. 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:05.440 It brings, I pity the fool. 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:09.440 Or even the term a fool's paradise to a whole other level, huh? 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:18.720 So the question is, why all this time spent in the Sermon on the Mount when the sermon is supposed to be on one sentence given by God in the Old Testament, right? 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:20.639 Verse 13 of Exodus 20. 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:25.200 It's because, church, we have to get beyond the do not. 00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:37.519 We have to get beyond the do not do this and get what God is saying about our hearts and our actions and our worship and our response to the freedom that God provides through the commandments. 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:38.559 Because that's what it is. 00:15:38.639 --> 00:15:41.120 It's not bondage, it's freedom. 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:45.840 Because remember, we're prone to grab at the low-hanging fruits of rules. 00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:54.240 And and don't get me wrong, as a father of two young children, I get the order of rules, I get the beauty of rules, I get the reason of them. 00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:58.000 And God clearly underlines all these necessities of the rules. 00:15:58.159 --> 00:16:04.799 But if we're not careful, church, we miss the beauty of God's rules because we miss this freedom that they provide. 00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:09.440 And we get so hung up on this moralism that we think we can control. 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:13.120 So turn back to the left into Exodus 20. 00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:40.720 And just like the commandment that we found in verse 3 to have no other gods before the one true God, and how that frees us up to put to death any desire to give our priority or our attention or our affection or our respect to any other authority or any false karma that we've created, and we can be free to turn our priority and our attention and our affections and our respect to the one true God. 00:16:41.200 --> 00:17:08.559 And we read this command in verse 7 that injects this freedom in the way that we posture ourselves and how our posture is set up towards God in our speech and our relationship with our Father, and how the command to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy, it breaks these chains of bondage that lie to us, that lie to us and tell us that the Sabbath day is just another day of the week to get stuff done and frees us up to Sabbath or to rest as worship. 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:26.799 And how last week, as we open the Bibles to verse 12, into this freeing truth of how this commandment delivers us into the freedom of trusting this God who is above all other gods, to build and redeem and restore the relationship between us and our parents. 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:34.880 Those two words redeem and restore just drip with freedom. 00:17:35.759 --> 00:17:36.799 Let me rephrase that. 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:40.799 Those two words redeem and restore should drip with freedom. 00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:56.240 It's kind of like when you're standing outside of the window at a Krispy Kreme donut and they're taking that God-given manna fried batter, and they're dipping it in that heaven-esque glaze, and you're just standing there mouth breathing on the window, like a hyena waiting for your turn at the water buffalo carcass. 00:17:57.119 --> 00:17:58.240 Just me, not you? 00:17:58.480 --> 00:17:59.119 Alright. 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:18.640 Those words of redeem of redeem and restore, as we look at the sixth commandment here in verse 13, where God's word says, You shall not murder, those words, church, should be redemptive and restorative. 00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:23.039 We should read those words and feel freedom, not bondage. 00:18:23.200 --> 00:18:23.920 We should feel freedom. 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:33.039 It should be, man, I regularly struggle with anger, and that feeling of anger can sometimes slip into anger fantasies, right? 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:48.960 And if people could read my mind and knew the fact that I obsess on my anger to such a depth that I have a date circled on the calendar and a plan and a location to enact my vengeance, I don't think they'd let me lead this Cub Scout group anymore, right? 00:18:51.119 --> 00:18:59.920 But as we read these, it should be, but because of this freeing, this redemptive and this restorative commandment, I don't have to give legs to my anger. 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:14.720 And then because God's word builds on itself, and God is the one true God who provides all that I need from my spiritual and my mental posture to worshipful rest and relationships, He will hear this. 00:19:15.119 --> 00:19:26.640 He will and He does provide the redemptive and restorative freedom to turn my anger and all that I've allowed to grow around that over to Him and be done with it. 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:31.039 But here is why we don't feel that way. 00:19:31.279 --> 00:19:40.640 Here is why when we read do not murder and the other commandments, we don't feel that way, is we confuse the order of redemption and restoration. 00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:45.279 We confuse the order of redemption and restoration. 00:19:45.599 --> 00:19:46.240 Why? 00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:50.559 Because everywhere we turn in our society, they're flipped. 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:51.680 Here's what I mean. 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:57.279 My wife, who I love deeply, I guess I don't have to suck up too much, she's not in here. 00:19:57.519 --> 00:19:59.839 But my wife mainlines HGTV. 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:00.960 Alright? 00:20:01.359 --> 00:20:03.359 And here's what I mean by HDTV. 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:13.680 If there's anyone in here who is aware of a rehab for those inflicted with uh the horrible addiction to Chip and Johanna Gaines and their street drug of fixer upper, alright? 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:19.599 If you know about that rehab, if you could come up after the service and slip me the information on the low low, I'd be forever grateful. 00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:27.759 Um so on Fixer Upper, we see folks roll into Waco or the general Waco area, and they find a house that's in dire need of restoration. 00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:46.559 And then Johanna jumps on her computer and does her crazy voodoo work and shows you what the house can look like, and then they uh what the finished product would be, and then Chip, who's the redeeming factor in the show, if you've never seen it, it gives a tall, gangly, uh ADD inflicted person hope that they can be successful. 00:20:46.640 --> 00:20:52.559 Um and his team get to work, and then the finished product is this redeemed product, right? 00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:59.519 And what was once worth$100,000 has now doubled in its value because of the work has been done. 00:20:59.680 --> 00:21:06.079 There's this restorative work that's been done, and now we're told that it's it's it's it's doubled in its redeemable value. 00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:11.759 But as we read God's word and we we learn his character, this is not what God does. 00:21:12.400 --> 00:21:15.440 He doesn't fix you up before deeming you worth it. 00:21:16.319 --> 00:21:23.759 And more importantly, he's not demanding that you lie to yourself, thinking you have to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and do blank. 00:21:24.240 --> 00:21:30.160 Whatever that blank is for you, I gotta do this before God will actually redeem and restore me. 00:21:31.039 --> 00:21:40.319 We see this commandment of do not murder, and we realize that yes, it is a commandment not to take someone's life, but it's so much deeper. 00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:49.440 And it speaks to our anger, and it speaks to our malice, and our death grip on the fact that we believe we are owed justice. 00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:56.400 Really? 00:21:56.640 --> 00:21:57.599 You want that? 00:21:58.400 --> 00:21:59.839 Here's my question it's a community group. 00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:03.200 What are you holding on to that it's time for you to let go? 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:07.759 What are you holding on to that it's time for you to let go? 00:22:09.119 --> 00:22:22.000 We believe and we hold on to these things, and we believe that we're owed justice and we believe this lie, much like the struggle that many of you, as well as me, I'll lay myself out here that we had when we talked about keeping the Sabbath holy. 00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:26.799 And we think, all right, well, let me get this whole thing figured out, God, the next three to 15 months. 00:22:26.880 --> 00:22:32.559 And um, circle back around to me, and then I'll start worshiping you through a 15-minute power nap on Sundays. 00:22:32.720 --> 00:22:34.559 Just, just, just for starters, right? 00:22:34.880 --> 00:22:37.759 And we believe this lie that we've got to figure it out ourselves. 00:22:37.839 --> 00:22:40.640 And in the same way, we think, do not murder. 00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:49.440 And we think, man, I liked it a lot better when I simply just had to stop just short of choking that guy out in the parking lot after work. 00:22:49.920 --> 00:22:58.799 But now you're telling me that God wants me to turn my anger and the way it manifests itself and the way I think about people that drive me crazy. 00:22:59.599 --> 00:23:09.759 The way that I let a little bit of the pressure come off the top and the passive aggressive, or maybe not so passive aggressive words that I use towards people. 00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:14.880 Yeah, God, go ahead and circle back around to me the next time we're doing a sermon series on the Ten Commandments. 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:19.839 And I'll I'll have it figured out by then, and then we'll talk about redemption, restoration, and freedom. 00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:36.240 But the problem is when God gave these commandments to Moses, He's sending him down off Mount Sinai, where the Israelites were literally circled around and worshiping their own fashioned God and their own fashioned preference. 00:23:36.400 --> 00:23:42.160 And God sends Moses down with this imperative commandment of do this now. 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:46.960 God says, Hear my word and do this. 00:23:48.880 --> 00:23:54.240 Here's how I want us to finish our time together this morning. 00:23:54.480 --> 00:24:04.720 Um, back in uh 1563, in a place called Heidelberg, which is present-day Germany, uh, there was something written that was called the Heidelberg, Heidelberg Catechism. 00:24:04.799 --> 00:24:07.680 Um there's an original copy of it up there. 00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:10.880 Um from Neil McClendon's library. 00:24:11.119 --> 00:24:11.759 Not really. 00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:15.680 Um a catechism, it's it's it's Christian instruction. 00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:23.920 And the reason that this was written, um, it was written as a series of questions and answers, questions about things of faith and then answers. 00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:27.599 And it was built to teach Christian doctrine to people. 00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:31.039 Um it was it was teached, it was teached, that's not proper grammar. 00:24:31.200 --> 00:24:35.440 It was written to teach um these reformed um Christian doctrines. 00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:40.880 And so, yes, in my last official sermon as one of your pastors, I'm outing myself as doctrinally reformed. 00:24:40.960 --> 00:24:41.519 All right. 00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:44.160 Um big surprise. 00:24:44.319 --> 00:24:48.960 But the Heidelberg Catechism, it's divided into these series of questions and answers. 00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:52.000 And day 40 is written for the sixth commandment. 00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:56.480 And so what I've asked the guys to do back there is um they're gonna have the question and the answers. 00:24:56.559 --> 00:25:04.880 And I just want us to look at this together as we understand the depth and the width and the levity of when God says, do not murder. 00:25:05.119 --> 00:25:10.960 The first question is this What is God's will for you in the sixth commandment? 00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:14.480 What is God's will for you in the sixth commandment? 00:25:14.720 --> 00:25:15.440 Answer. 00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:21.519 I am not to belittle, hate, insult, or kill my neighbor. 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:30.799 Not by my thoughts, my words, my look or gesture, and certainly not by actual deeds. 00:25:31.279 --> 00:25:33.920 And I'm not to be party of this and others. 00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:38.240 Rather, I am to put away all desire for revenge. 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:43.359 I am to put away all desire for revenge. 00:25:43.599 --> 00:25:47.200 I am not to harm or recklessly endanger myself either. 00:25:47.519 --> 00:25:51.519 Prevention of murder is also why government is armed with the sword. 00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:53.759 Question. 00:25:54.240 --> 00:25:57.279 Does this commandment refer only to murder? 00:25:57.839 --> 00:25:58.559 Answer. 00:25:58.960 --> 00:26:03.119 By forbidding murder, God teaches us that he hates the root of murder. 00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:09.039 He hates envy, he hates hatred, anger, and vindicativeness. 00:26:09.759 --> 00:26:15.039 In God's sight, all such are disguised forms of murder. 00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:17.920 Let that just sink in for a minute. 00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:25.119 If you've ever tried to wrap your head around how do I reconcile what Jesus says in Matthew 5 on the Sermon on the Mount? 00:26:25.440 --> 00:26:33.759 In God's sight, envy, hatred, anger, and vindicativeness are disguised forms of murder. 00:26:33.920 --> 00:26:35.519 But it was just a joke. 00:26:35.839 --> 00:26:38.319 Disguised forms of murder. 00:26:39.200 --> 00:26:44.799 Question, is it enough then that we do not murder our neighbor in such a way? 00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:47.119 Answer no. 00:26:48.480 --> 00:27:07.359 By condemning envy and hatred and anger, God wants us to love our neighbors as ourselves, to be patient, peace-loving, gentle, merciful, and friendly toward them, to protect them from harm as much as we can, and to do good even to our enemies. 00:27:08.079 --> 00:27:09.680 That's one long sentence, by the way. 00:27:09.759 --> 00:27:11.119 That's not divided up. 00:27:11.359 --> 00:27:15.039 Understand that, and let me just read this and kind of beat this into the ground one more time. 00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:20.960 By condemning envy, hatred, and anger, God wants us to love our neighbors as ourselves. 00:27:21.119 --> 00:27:23.599 We're like, well, there's some neighbors I like, I can do that. 00:27:24.319 --> 00:27:32.160 Then he wants us to be patient, peace-loving, gentle, merciful, and friendly towards them. 00:27:32.319 --> 00:27:34.000 It doesn't end with a period there. 00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:35.279 It keeps going. 00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:43.119 To protect them from harm as much as we can and to do good even to our enemies. 00:27:43.519 --> 00:27:47.440 So everything you just read goes to the person that drives you crazy. 00:27:47.759 --> 00:27:56.240 That in your mind and in your words and in your looks and the way you talk about them and the things that you think about them and your anger fantasies, that you're murdering them. 00:27:56.960 --> 00:28:00.799 But God says, I hate that, and I give you freedom from that. 00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:02.480 You get to lay that down. 00:28:03.119 --> 00:28:17.119 You get to rest on the Sabbath, you get to worship the one true God, I'll restore relationships within your family, and you get to lay down your anger, and you get to lay down that death grip you have that you just hold on to and be free. 00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:22.960 God never once said, though, that this calling to live a life of freedom was an easy one. 00:28:23.039 --> 00:28:23.920 He never says that. 00:28:24.160 --> 00:28:29.200 He never sends Moses down the mountain and says, Here's the Ten Commandments, and tell him how easy it's going to be. 00:28:29.599 --> 00:28:37.359 But he does say in Matthew 11, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:46.880 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 00:28:47.200 --> 00:28:49.839 For my yoke is easy, God says. 00:28:50.160 --> 00:28:51.920 The freedom's found in me. 00:28:52.240 --> 00:29:02.160 I gave the commandments, I gave you what you need to follow the commandments, and for me it's easy, because the freedom comes from me, and the burden is light. 00:29:02.480 --> 00:29:05.519 Because on our own, these commandments they feel burdensome. 00:29:05.759 --> 00:29:13.039 But with God, they're redemptive and they're restorative and they're freeing and they're easy. 00:29:14.960 --> 00:29:17.200 Hey, do me a favor and stand to your feet. 00:29:21.359 --> 00:29:41.279 If you wouldn't put your hands out like this Your Father's character is dripping with redemption and restoration and freedom. 00:29:45.200 --> 00:29:47.279 In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 00:29:47.680 --> 00:29:47.920 Amen.