Running To Win

Dave McCallister: Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Murder, it's now so common that we aren't phased by it anymore. But the taking of innocent life breaks one of the cardinal commandments of God. And since Roe versus Wade, that commandment has been broken untold millions of times. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is running to win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, when a society drops the death penalty, they think they're being humane.

But serious crime inevitably rises when they do this.

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: Dave, you're absolutely right. Of course, in the Old Testament, it says that a man who sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed. All that to say that the death penalty was instituted. Now, that being said, one of the challenges of the death penalty is that there have been many people who have been wrongly convicted. So, oftentimes society has taken a very light view, so to speak, of crime. We know when that happens, certainly, as you've already emphasized in your intro, crime increases. We have to go back to the Bible where the scriptures clearly teach that we should not murder.

And as you've already indicated, that needs a further explanation because that includes many things that may not be thought of directly as murder. I've written a book entitled Why Holiness Matters. I wrote it because, as I like to emphasize, holiness matters. And holiness is a requirement in the New Testament for all those who are obedient to Christ. For a gift of any amount, we're making this book available for you. At the end of this message, I'm going to be giving you some contact info. But for now, let us listen. 12-year-old boy was watching a western.

His mother was one who very much was against drinking. And as she came into the room, it happened that the villain was just walking into a saloon and the boy knew that he was in trouble. So, in order to get out of the trouble, he said, "Ah, mom, don't worry." He said, this guy isn't coming into the saloon to take a drink. He's just going to kill somebody. All of which reminds us that human life today is not worth very much considering all the things that happen. Television is filled with violence. We have all kinds of murders and even here in the city of Chicago, we've come to accept them pretty well.

Even though the Bible says with clarity, thou shalt do no murder, God says, that's Exodus chapter 20 verse 13. I want you, however, to turn to Exodus chapter 21, which we'll be referring to in just a moment as well as a couple of other passages. You know that evolutionists do not value human life very much because they say that we came up through the animal world and therefore, since we are one with the animal kingdom and we kill animals, why can't we kill human beings? That's one of the great arguments in favor of abortion is that we kill animals and we kill baby pigs when they are deformed.

Therefore, why shouldn't we kill baby humans when they are deformed? When we are really only a higher intelligence than animal, but basically on the same spectrum. And so, evolutionists know right well that their view demeans humanity. And I can find writers, I have them in my library, who say very strongly that man has been far overrated in terms of value and that it's time that we recognize that he really had a much lesser place than we have been giving him. The other thing that evolutionists have been doing is to try to speak about animal rights, to bring animals up.

A prestigious university here in the Chicago area that I will not mention had a seminar on animal rights. They all got together and wondered what kind of rights animals had. Well, certainly we should not treat animals cruelly, but animals can be killed by man. They can be used in experiments and they also can be used as animals for food. Now, I know I'm going to get some letters this week over that, but that's all right. I've said it and I don't mind having said it. But the problem is that God says when it comes to man, that he is a cut above the animal world.

And that's not the problem. That is, of course, scriptural teaching that man is special. He is unique. Now, I can imagine somebody saying, "Well, you know, at last the pastor has come to a commandment that doesn't apply to me." It's true that I may have other gods beside the true God. It is true that there may be times when I may take the Lord's name in vain, but at least thank God I'm not a murderer. In fact, as we look at this congregation today, I was thinking about this yesterday. I wondered if there's a murderer here.

We wouldn't necessarily ask you to rise if if that's the case, but you know, in a congregation of 14 1500, is there someone who is guilty of murder? Well, I think by the time we have finished this message, we will find out that the answer may be yes, at least in some sense guilty of breaking this commandment. Now, when we look at the text, it's very clear, thou shalt do no murder. But the question that we have to ask is what are the different ways in which this commandment can be broken? Can even those of us who have never taken someone's life in any sense of the word, can we also be guilty of murder?

What are the ways that this commandment can be violated? First of all, this commandment can be violated with the hand, murder by the hand. What do I mean? I'm talking about somebody who actually snuffs out the life of somebody else, physical murder. And there are different ways that this kind of murder can be carried out. For example, you can just go ahead and kill someone. You can take a gun and you can shoot them. You can put poison in their soup. There are a number of different ways that this can be done to rub somebody out, somebody who's in your way.

That's one way that you can murder with the hand. You can murder an enemy. There's another way and that is you can murder a fetus, a fetus. You know, this passage in Exodus chapter 21 that we read actually indicates that a fetus comes under the protection of what is known as the law of retaliation. It says in verse 22, if men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she has a miscarriage, yet there is no further injury, he shall surely be fined. Verse 23, but if there is any further injury, that is if the child dies, that 's the important point.

If the fetus doesn't live when she has a miscarriage, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, eye for an eye, tooth for tooth. It seems clear from the Bible that the fetus comes under the protection of the law of retaliation in the Old Testament. And we know that in Psalm 139, it says that God is the one that formed me before I was born and he was the one that embroidered me. That's a good translation of the Hebrew word. He embroidered me in my mother's womb. He put me together. And in the New Testament, the fetus is called a baby, as in the case of John the Baptist.

It says that the baby leaped in her womb, the baby. 40 300 babies killed every day in the United States because of abortion. There's another way that this commandment can be broken. You can kill an enemy, you can kill a fetus, or you can kill yourself. Or people who commit suicide. 25,000 Americans a year have a death wish and they like to die and so they do. They they commit suicide. Something like Jonah in the Old Testament wanting desperately to commit suicide, but not quite knowing how to pull it off. I think it's about four times in the book of Jonah you have Jonah complaining to God and saying it is better to me to die than to live.

And in the fourth chapter, he pleads with God. He says, please kill me. And he probably would have done it himself if he had only had the nerve. You know that suicide is is is a very selfish crime. People say, well, when I commit suicide that I'm out of people's way and everybody's going to be happy. One of the things to ask someone who's on the verge of committing suicide is who will find you? Uh who will find the body? Who will have to take care of the funeral arrangements? Suicide is a tremendously difficult experience for those who are left behind to face.

And of course, we don't have to commit suicide. There is hope for believers. Now, let me simply say that some people think that a true believer can't commit suicide. The answer is yes, they can. Of course, they're dying by committing murder. They're dying with unconfessed sin, but there are multitudes of Christians that are going to die with unconfessed sin on their hands and God is going to take care of that just as he takes care of any other unconfessed sin. Legally, believers are accepted in Jesus Christ and I have met some and I have known some who have been so depressed and so harassed that eventually they did die at their own hand.

I think of a young man gloriously converted out of paganism in Canada had a wonderful testimony of the power of Christ. I remember being on a kneeling at a bed and praying with him and how that young man prayed. But then he entered into the RCMP, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, more accurately today the Royal Canadian Motor Car Police, but nonetheless still called Mounties. And he because he was different. Have you ever met people that are different? There's nothing wrong with them, but they just don't seem to fit. And they teased him and they tormented him.

And he said to me one day he says, it's one thing to live for Jesus when you're on the top of the pile. It's another thing when you're on the bottom and when you're being ridiculed. And I was startled one day listening to the radio, to the news of all things, to discover that this young police officer had committed suicide. It can happen. But the person who commits suicide is violating this commandment that says, thou shalt not kill. You're killing yourself. Now, do you know what God thinks about murder? God says that murder is so serious.

It is such a a violation of the fact that we are created in the image of God that the text says in chapter 21 verse 12, he who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death. Now, there are some people who say this. You've heard the arguments on television and in the newspapers. They say we so value human life that we believe that nobody has the right to take the life of somebody else, even if he is a convicted killer who is a serial murderer who has killed 30 different people.

We should never exercise capital punishment because human life is so sacred. That's the way the argument goes. Very interestingly, God would say, no, your opinion is still too low. Human life is even more sacred than that. Human life is so sacred that if somebody takes the life of another to display the sacredness of human life, you have to take their own life. That's what God says. In fact, if you're unconvinced, look at what he says in Genesis chapter 9 verse 6. This is the whole argument for capital punishment. It's because human life is so sacred.

God says that the person who takes it, the only proper retribution is for his own life to be taken. Genesis chapter 9 verse 6, whoever sheds man's blood by man, his blood shall be shed. Why? Because man isn't very sacred? He is of little value? No, for in the image of God he made man. Interesting. God says you take somebody's life. The only proper way to deal with that is to have your life taken. The only argument against capital punishment that I can possibly think of is the possibility that exists that you're executing the wrong person.

But in those cases where there is no reasonable doubt, there is there is the responsibility of the state because the Bible says that if you don't do it, the land will be polluted with blood. And I'm not blaming our judges and our criminal system. I shouldn't say just judges alone, but the whole criminal system unfortunately suffers in America today. I think with what they ought to do if someone commits a murder and he's let go on the street and commits another five that he should be guilty of the first one and then the criminal justice system should be guilty for the other ones.

But then again, I 'll get some other letters, so I'd better hurry on. Now, in the book of Numbers, the Bible says very clearly that even though there may be a ransom for some capital crimes in the Old Testament, such as adultery and others, that there can be no ransom given if you're guilty of murder. If you're taking notes, it's Numbers chapter 35 verse 31. Numbers 35 31, we won't turn to it, but God says this. He says if somebody takes another person's life, you cannot accept a ransom. There can be no exceptions unless it was unintentional, in which case it is manslaughter.

If it is deliberate, then you must take that person's life. Why? Because God says human life is important. That's what is called murder by the hand. And the result is the death penalty. But there's a second way that this commandment can be broken, murder by the heart. Murder by the heart. Turn to 1 John chapter 3 verse 15. 1 John, don't confuse it with the Gospel of John. 1 John is almost just a few pages actually away from the book of Revelation. That's the easiest way to find it. 1 John chapter 3 verse 15. He makes a startling statement that Jesus actually also made on the Sermon on the Mount.

He says in 1 John 3 15, everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. Let me read that again. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. Does this mean that a Christian cannot hate another? Some people interpret it that way, but it's contrary to fact, isn't it? You've met Christians, I've met Christians that hate each other. But he is talking about brothers here, so he must be speaking about Christians and he knows that Christians can hate one another because he says hates his brother.

So, I think the phrase eternal life abiding in him doesn't mean that he doesn't have eternal life. It means that the eternal life is not being expressed in him. The whole emphasis on John is on fellowship. It is on abiding in Christ. And he's saying that if you say that eternal life is abiding in you, that it is being lived out in your life, that there is fruit of eternal life and you hate your brother, you are a liar, the text says, because no eternal life can be expressed, can be lived out in the life of someone who hates his brother.

But what a strong statement. Why is it that some people hate one another? First of all, because there are some people who are in the way of others. And so hatred and animosity develops. For example, you'll recall the case of Herod. Jesus is born in Bethlehem and Herod, when he sees that a delegation is going to Bethlehem to find out about this person that 's being born, he says, tell me about it when you find out the information and send me word that I may go and worship him also. What a liar. But why was it that Herod hated Jesus?

It's because Jesus was a threat to him. Jesus was being born as the king of the Jews and Herod thought that he might be without a job. Jesus might make Herod look bad. And that's why Herod hated Christ and intended to kill him. And in his heart was a murderer even though he didn't pull it off. You know, those of you who are in business know that out there in the world it's dog eat dog. There are all kinds of people there who want to make you look bad and make themselves look good so that they can step on you to get a promotion.

And they'll do everything that they possibly can to do you in. Oh, it's easy to hate people like that. Resentment begins to build up and you begin to say, if I could kill my wood. Watch it. Everyone who hates is a murderer. Even if you hate your brother, you're a murderer, not to mention the people that are in the world. There's another reason not only because there are people who get in our way, but also because perhaps we've met people that have hurt us. They've hurt us. And so we want to retaliate. There's something within us that says we want to even the score.

We want to make sure that this person will not get away scot-free. And so if you had a mother that rejected you and a father who beat you up, if you have a spouse that has done you in, that has lied to you, that has betrayed you, there again the resentments and the hurts grow. And that's why most murders that are take place here in the city of Chicago, they are family affairs. Usually it's some relative, some resentment, somebody who received an inheritance and there's somebody else that wants to chisel you out of what's coming to you.

And the resentment and the anger and the court cases and all these things begin to develop and you just can't see how people can be so unreasonable and there's something within you that says I will do them in no matter what it costs. And so you have a situation of some relatives that are related to someone whom I know where a man was so angry at his wife who had taken the kids from him that he shot her and shot all the children in the car and then turned the gun on himself and committed suicide.

What he was saying is I am so full of resentment and hatred that I will kill you to make sure that you are rubbed out even if I end up doing it to myself afterwards. But the text says again, if you hate you're a murderer. Well, this is Pastor Lutzer and I want to admit that we get into some very complicated matters when we speak about the issue of crime and punishment and justice. I want to remind you that we live in a world in which we can do what we can to bring about justice, but ultimate justice rests with God.

And God recognizes that within the human heart there is hatred. And as Jesus said, in that sense you're a murderer. I've written a book entitled Why Holiness Matters and I like to emphasize that I wrote it because we're living in a day and age when people oftentimes are very soft on sins, so to speak, and they want a God who justifies their sinful lifestyle. And people oftentimes redefine God to make him very inclusive, very non-judgmental. But we have to understand that holiness in the New Testament is taught very strictly with a great sense of definition, yes, being separated unto God.

And you and I should strive to be holy. I hope that you have a pen or pencil handy because this is what you can do. Go to rtw offer.com. Did I say that too quickly? rtw offer.com. Of course, rtw offer is all one word. Or you can pick up the phone and call us at 1 888 218 93 37. Remember the name of the book Why Holiness Matters, the subtitle, the Ten Commandments Jesus and You. And even as you connect with us, I want to thank you in advance for helping us. Thanks to your partnership, the ministry of Running to Win goes around the world and we hope to continue to expand its reach for the salvation of souls and the blessing of God's people.

Dave McCallister: It's time once again for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. What causes a Christian to sin? Sometimes we may say the devil made me do it. Is this correct? Here's how one of our listeners puts the question to Dr. Lutzer. Does scripture say that Satan can read our minds? Can he invade our thoughts or do we sin just because of our own sinful nature?

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer: I take those to be two separate questions in answer to the question of whether or not Satan can read our minds. I can say that I'm not sure. Uh it's possible that we as believers are protected and Satan isn't able to be there and to know what we are thinking. And I assume that that protection is indeed there. The Bible doesn't speak expressly to it, but that would be consistent with what I expect. However, the other question that you are asking is can Satan inject thoughts into our minds if we let him? And the answer is yes.

He does it under the guise of sin. The best example is Ananias and Sapphira in Acts chapter 5. Isn't it interesting that Peter comes to them later and you recall that they did lie about the price of the land to make themselves look good. So, they lied about the extent of their gift to the church. But Peter said, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? So, obviously the thoughts that they had, the deceptive thoughts that they had were actually injected into their minds by Satan. But because they thought that those thoughts were their own, they weren't afraid of those thoughts.

And I think Satan does the very same thing today. If we are willing to give him a place in our hearts, if we are willing to open ourselves up to the kinds of evils that are around us, he will tempt us. He'll even get to the point where he can put ideas in our minds. And unfortunately, we won't be afraid of those ideas because we think they are just ours. Now, at the end of the day, we can never blame Satan for our sin. We give him permission to carry out his deceptions. So, we need to be balanced in this matter.

Dave McCallister: Some words of caution from Dr. Erwin Lutzer. Thank you, Pastor Lutzer. If you'd like to hear your question answered, go to our website at rtw offer.com and click on ask Pastor Lutzer or call us at 1 888 218 93 37. That's 1 888 218 93 37. You can write to us at Running to Win 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60614. At the bedrock of the law of God is the prohibition against taking innocent life. Yet hundreds of people are killed every year in each of our major cities. Life is cheap and gets cheaper when convicted killers never pay the price God commanded.

Next time on Running to Win, tune in for more on commandment number five and on how seriously God views the value of life as our series on the Ten Commandments continues. This is Dave McCallister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.