Matthew 5: 21 – 26
Murderer
21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. 23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26 Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.
The disciple Luke commented on our Lord’s word’s in chapter 12 of his Gospel, “57 “Yes, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right? 58 When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59 I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite.”
Now, I would like to give you a little quiz. This is a self- test so you do not have to show others your score. See how many of God’s 10 Commandments you can name. You can use your fingers to count off.
How did you do? I am sure you got all 10 correct right? Do you remember when our Lord was confronted about which commandment was the most important commandment. The correct answer is all of them. For you see in the first 4 our Master, Lord, and Savior Jesus Christ points out that we are to love Him, The Father, and The Holy Spirit with all of our hearts, mind, soul, and strength. And then He added and to love our neighbor as ourselves which deal with the last 6 Commandments.
Our Adoni Yeshua will bring out in today’s teaching and we will see in the next few teachings the deeper meanings of the Commandments. For today we are going to look at Commandment number 6 – Though Shalt Not Kill.
21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.
It is interesting to me that our Holy Jehovah Elyon – The Lord Most High - after He had given the first four Commandments, which dealt with mankind’s interaction with Him, that the first Commandment He lists for our purpose of getting along with each other is the fifth Commandment that teaches us to honor our fathers and mothers.
Just look at the news with the daily report of all the crimes committed. You look at these offender’s biographies and you see that they began their life of crime from their youth. They start with petty crimes which are considered Misdemeanors and continue to do worse things, which are the felonies that include murder.
This is what our Precious Jehovah Gmolah – The Lord God of Recompense. He knew and warned our ancestors Adam and Eve, that partaking of the tree of Good and Evil, that incorporating evil into our very beings will cause evil to dominate our ways. Evil would develop in our hearts and then produce the bad fruit of its development. Look at how quick it manifested itself from the time of creation. A son by the name of Cain allowed this evil root to develop in his thinking which ultimately became rage. I have this formula that says that thoughts equal emotions which equals actions. Look at how Cain allowed evil thoughts to dominate his perspective, then these thoughts turned into emotions of jealousy, which led to him killing his brother. We find this information in chapter 4 of the book of Genesis, “4 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the LORD.” 2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD. 4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering, 5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. 6 So the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” 8 Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. 11 So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.” 13 And Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! 14 Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.” 15 And the LORD said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.”
Please notice how our Master El Roi, the Strong One Who Sees All, had warned Cain regarding his sinful thinking. “And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. 6 So the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”
Our Holy Ruler’s judgment for murder is what? I believe your answer is ‘death for the person who does this’. Then if that is you answer how do you explain Adoni Yahweh’s action toward Cain? Cain had complained bitter to our Creator that the ‘recompense’ of his actions which was murder, were too great. So, did our Lord just eliminate him? No, He actually put a mark of protection on him. Is God conflicting with His Own rules? - of course not. Our God Is Supreme. He makes the rules we do not. We need to humbly seek out why would this possibly happen?
You have to realize that mankind never knew the extent of their actions. No one ever killed anyone before. They did not know what murder would do to another human being. I believe this is why our Wonderful Holy King was so Merciful toward Cain. I would compare Cain’s awareness to a cartoon. You see how the cartoon characters are shot or a bomb goes off and nothing happens to them except their hair is on edge and their faces blackened. Cain was never aware of what his actions would cause.
Some of you might disagree with my theory. That is okay. However, are you aware that our Merciful God has also done the same thing for you and me? How so? Well we are also guilty of murder. In fact our crime is worse than Cain’s. We murdered God’s Holy Son. Our sins put Him not only on the cross but He bore all the Father’s ‘recompense’ against sin on Him. In His Awesome Love He also poured out His Grace and Mercy towards us. He said this regarding us murderers as recorded in the Gospel of Luke chapter 23 verse 34, “Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Can you know see how Great our Magnificent Holy God Is toward us?
Sin begins in the heart and manifests itself in the worst way. When I pray I ask our Lord God to forgive me for all my thoughts, words, and actions. I cannot go a day without messing up in all three categories.
And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. 23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26 Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.
Our Holy Lord and Savior Jesus Christ teaches us that murder is the by product of what first was born in our very sinful hearts. We read in Matthew chapter 5 His truthful counsel, “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.”
We mentioned earlier that one of our Lord’s title’s is Jehovah Gmolah – The Lord God of Recompense. Because of His Holy Being the price of sin must be paid. Now, the question is who will pay? As our Holy El Shaddai – God Almighty pronounced here in Matthew, ‘25 Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26 Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.”
This is really a ‘no brainer’ folks. If you accept our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ sacrifice as your payment of your sins then your debt has been fully paid. If you decide that you will face your own sins without the Lord then as you see in verse 26 – ‘26 Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny, ‘ then your prison cell will be at a place called ‘Hell’ and I am sorry to say that you will never be able to pay ‘the last penny’.
In America there use to be a place called ‘Debtor’s Prison’. If you owed money to people and couldn’t pay you were sent to this prison. Now if you are in prison, how can you earn any money in which to pay back what you owe. Do you see the problem here? I say again that you will never be able to pay back your debt.
In the bible we read in Psalm 90, “10 The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” You know what 70 is very long and then you have to meet your eternal destination. Where will it be – heaven or hell? Our Holy King, Lord, and Savior volunteered and gave His life for you and me. However you need to do something to receive God’s forgiveness.
Don’t just believe me but see what God says you have to do to be saved. We find out the way from the book of Romans chapter 10, “8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”(that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”
Now, what exactly is this saying? I would say that you know that Jesus Christ lived and died here on earth. Am I right? Well, then you are half way to being saved. The book of Romans says if you believe this and then confess this with your mouth, what will happen? You will be saved!
So, if you want forgiveness from our God and have not prayed to ask for His Salvation, then, if you are truly sincere and want this, then I invite you to join with me with this prayer. I ask you now to get on your knees and pray out loud this prayer to God.
‘Dear Heavenly Father, please receive my prayer. I know that Your Son, Jesus Christ came to earth and died for me. I know that He rose again from the dead and sits at your right hand. Please forgive me of my sins. Dear Jesus, please come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior. Please fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Help me Lord Jesus to live the rest of my life pleasing to You. I will pray from now on in Your Name. Amen.”
If you have prayed that prayer there is a party going on in Heaven right now. You don’t believe me? Look at what it says in the Gospel of Luke chapter 15, “7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.’ Sounds like a celebration to me, how about you?
Now as a pardoned felon go out and enjoy your new life.
