Thou Shalt Not Kill

In Nomine Iesu!

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Sermon Text: St. Matthew 5:20-10

“‘Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, “Thou shalt not kill;” and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: but I say unto you, that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, “Raca,” shall be in danger of the council; and whosoever shall say, “Thou fool,” shall be in danger of the hell of fire.’”

Prayer in Pulpit before Sermon:

O Lord God, enter not into judgment with us, who have not from the heart kept Thy Commandments, but regard the precious merit of Thy dear Son, and let us ever be partakers of His righteousness. Enable us also by Thy Holy Spirit to walk in Thy fear, true faith, and holiness of living and to beware of pride and security, that we may not be cast into everlasting prison, but enter into Thine eternal Kingdom; through Thy dear Son, + Jesus Christ, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior + Jesus Christ. Amen. 

My dear friends, after Adam and Eve first sinned in the Garden of Eden our Lord God promised them a Savior. He said that from their Seed redemption would come unto all mankind. He would be the One to crush the head of the serpent who deceived them into sinning. They would not be able to save themselves, but the Seed from their loins would rescue them from the death into which the devil had deceived them. They believed the promise, and taught this promise to all their children. So that it was known to their children, and was eventually prophesied by the prophets of old.

Eve, the mother of all the living, believed on the promise of the Lord God so completely that when she gave birth to her firstborn son, Cain, she thought that in him the promise would be fulfilled. This is why he is named “Cain” for Cain means, “to get.” The name implies possession, or ownership. This is why she said, “I have gotten a man with the help of Jehovah.” She believed she possessed the one who would redeem mankind back from their transgressions. This is also why they name their second son, Abel. Abel means “a breath, or vanity.” It is the same word used in the beginning of the book of Ecclesiastes which read, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” In other words, they named their second son “useless.” The first son, Cain, was “the gotten man.” The second son, Abel, was “useless.”

Cain was supposed to be the one who saved the world, but instead he commits the second sin recorded for us in the holy Scriptures. Out of jealousy over his brother Abel’s offering being accepted by the Lord God, and his being rejected, he killed his brother Abel so that his blood cried out from the very ground. Murder is the sin that was committed by mankind from the very beginning. Indeed, my dear friends, mankind learned murder from their father, the devil. For he was a murderer from the very beginning. He killed mankind by his deceiving of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He led them straight into death. For the life that the Lord God gave them, the very image with which He created them, was corrupted, so that now they would no longer live forever. 

The children of the devil continued to murder. It began with Cain, but one of his nephews, Lamech, we are told also killed a young man. And then bragged about it to his two wives. Stating that the punishment that was given to anyone who sought retribution against Cain would be meted out seventy and sevenfold. Mankind continues to kill not only physically by taking the life away from someone else, but they continue to do it through hatred, and ignoring of their neighbor’s life and well-being. We continue to be murderers just like our father the devil, because we, like our father, are not righteous at all. We have no righteousness within ourselves at all. We are completely corrupt. Our nature has been so corrupted that no righteousness can be found within us.

This is why when our Lord + Jesus tells us that our righteousness must far exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, who were known for their outward appearance of righteousness, we should be very afraid. For we have no righteousness in us, let alone righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees. We bear the inborn sin of our first parents, which led to Cain killing his brother Abel. Even though he was thought by Eve to be the savior of the world, he turned out to be a murderer. He revealed who his true father was; it was the devil. Mankind is now firmly under the power of that serpent of old, the devil.

This is why we hate our neighbors. This is why we kill our neighbors. It is why we say to them, “Raca” and “Thou fool,” because no righteousness lives within us. This is how corrupted our nature has become through the sin of Adam and Eve. This is why this same sin, which we inherited, will be passed on to our children, and our children’s children until the Last Day. And this is why our Lord + Jesus tells His Apostles in the Sermon on the Mount that their righteousness must far exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees. So that they come to realize that their nature is so corrupted by sin that they cannot fully and perfectly keep the Law of the Lord God. Mankind will always resort to killing and murder, because we are like our father the devil, we are murderers from the beginning.

He sought to kill that which was righteous, the new creation of the Lord God. He murdered his fellow creation, just like Cain murdered his brother Abel. Abel was righteous in the eyes of the Lord God. He was righteous, because unlike his brother Cain, he had faith in the Lord God. He believed on the Lord God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Cain did not believe, and so his offering was rejected. Abel believed and his offering was accepted. But Abel’s righteousness, at best, was only equal to the perceived righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. There was no one ever born in the world whose righteousness was enough to cover over the many sins and transgressions that he did, or that anyone else did.

This is why our Lord + Jesus gives His Apostles a view into what is required of the Law of the Lord God. He shows us how perfectly the Law must be kept in order for mankind to be considered righteous and be saved. He shows that such righteousness obtained through the keeping of the Law is impossible. Even when we desire to be loving and kind to our neighbors, we fail miserably. Then, our Lord God includes that we also love our enemies as ourselves. This we simply cannot do. Hate fills our hearts. Love for our neighbors is hard enough at times, and love for our enemies is near impossible. But this is what the Law of our Lord God requires for us be counted as righteous. Therefore, we become very afraid when we hear that our righteousness must far exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, for it is nowhere near where that benchmark is.

Cain killed his righteous brother Abel because he could never achieve the righteousness that his brother possessed. He could not do this because he was looking for the virtue within himself. He trusted in his works. His best work was the offering of the fruit of the ground from that which he had tilled, but he lacked trust in the Lord God. Because Abel trusted in the Lord God, he brought the firstlings of his flock as a sacrifice to the Lord God. For his righteousness, he was killed by his unrighteous brother.

Our Lord + Jesus is the only One Who in the history of the world was truly righteous. He is the only One Who perfectly kept the Law of the Lord God. It was for this reason that He was killed by the unrighteous scribes and Pharisees, who had Him nailed to the tree of the holy cross. Their righteousness is not a righteousness to which one should aspire. We should aspire to the righteousness of the Lord + Jesus, the Christ. However, we should also recognize that we will never attain to His righteousness in and of ourselves. 

This is why we in faith cling to His righteousness. For by faith, He clothes us with His righteousness. He covers over our sins with His own righteousness, so that the death into which we were led by the devil, now has given way to eternal life in the Lord + Jesus. 

Therefore, my dear friends, let us cling in faith to Him and His works and merits, for through Him we are given the righteousness necessary for our salvation. Eve, the mother of all the living, thought that Cain was the promised Seed. But, the Seed would be born to another mother. He was born to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who bore Him in her womb, and became the Mother of God. Sin entered into the world through a woman, but through a woman redemption came unto mankind. Cain killed his righteous brother Abel so that his blood cried out to the Lord God from the ground. And the Lord + Jesus was also killed upon the tree of the holy cross, so that His blood might atone for the sins of the whole world. Let us cling in faith to this righteous sacrifice of our Lord + Jesus, for in Him the promise made in the Garden of Eden by the Lord God is fulfilled. In the Name of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

Prayer in Pulpit after Sermon:

Almighty God, be pleased to accompany Thy Word with Thy Holy Spirit and grant that Thy Word would increase faith in us; bring into the Way of Truth all such as have erred; turn the hearts of the unrepentant; and for sake of Thy Name grant succor to all heavy hearts and those who are heavy-laden, that they may through the mercy of the Lord + Jesus Christ be relieved and preserved so that they succumb not to the temptation of despair but rather that they gain the victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil; through the same + Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with the Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.

The Votum:

The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!