Murdering in Our Hearts

We must not forget that we can kill with a word as well as with a weapon. Today, Sinclair Ferguson identifies key principles for understanding God’s law so we may know more fully how He would have us live in this world.

It seemed the most natural thing to me that our reflections together in the Ten Commandments that we started last week should actually take up ten podcasts and spill over into this second week. They are, after all, meant to be the Christian’s friends, not his enemies. They’re like guards posted around our life to keep us safe and faithful. And so, it’s worth lingering over them and reflecting on them one by one. And today we’ve come to commandment number six: We’re not to murder.

I remember my mom and dad taking me to the famous Cecil B. DeMille movie The Ten Commandments—Charlton Heston, the magnificent, eighty-year-old Moses. I think I was only eight at the time, but the voice of God booming down on Mount Sinai actually held no surprises for me because I’d been made to learn the Ten Words by heart long before then. And I suppose someone thought I needed to be kept in order.

But if you were anything like me and had to learn the Ten Commandments when you were young, you probably shared my relief when you got to number six. You might not have loved God with all your heart and soul and strength, and you’d probably sometimes not fully obeyed your parents, but at least with number six, you could relax and say with the rich young ruler, “This commandment I have kept from my childhood upwards.” But now we know better, don’t we?

And perhaps for the same reason, after memorizing the Ten Commandments, perhaps you were moved on to memorizing the Sermon on the Mount. And if so, you might remember the sinking feeling when you learned that you can murder with your mouth as well as with a machine gun. And you can lacerate with a look as well as with a knife. And you can kill with a computer keyboard as well as with a blunt instrument. That’s what Jesus said this commandment really meant. And of course, when we realize this, we begin to see that the Ten Commandments have all got an inside as well as an outside. And, at last, we’ve found a clue that helps us to understand and apply them to our lives. They all come alive with instruction for us.

I wonder if you’re familiar with the help the Westminster Assembly’s Larger Catechism is just at this point. Here are four very helpful statements it makes in answer to Question 99: What rules are to be observed for the right understanding of the Ten Commandments? And here’s part of the answer: “For the right understanding of the Ten Commandments, these rules are to be observed . . .”

Its rule number two is, “That it is spiritual, and so reacheth the understanding, will, affections, and all other powers of the soul; as well as words, works, and gestures.”

And here is principle number four: “That as, where a duty is commanded, the contrary sin is forbidden; and, where a sin is forbidden, the contrary duty is commanded: so, where a promise is annexed, the contrary threatening is included; and, where a threatening is annexed, the contrary promise is included.”

And principle number six: “That under one sin or duty, all of the same kind are forbidden or commanded; together with all the causes, means, occasions, and appearances thereof, and provocations.”

And then there is even this principle: “That what is forbidden or commanded to ourselves, we are bound, according to our places, to endeavor that it may be avoided or performed by others, according to the duty of their places.”

I think you can tell that they had been listening to the Lord Jesus, that every commandment has an outside and an inside. And the real significance of the commandments and the real challenge of the commandments is not just about our outward behavior but about our inner spiritual condition. And that’s what’s so challenging for them as a Christian.

Well, I hope you see the inside as well as the outside. It’s not enough for the outside to be washed. The inside needs to be washed too. And that’s why we constantly need to remind ourselves that it’s only by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ that the righteous requirements of the law will ever be fulfilled in us. So, let’s look to the Spirit of Christ today to enable us to live like Christ.