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The beautiful life of the disciple of Christ
A Holy Life (1) – Do not murder
Mat 5 : 21 - 26
Honky Harjo – 22 Mar 2026
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Mat 5:21 “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not murder,’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be answerable to the court.’
The origin of murder crime
It was ancient
An ancient problem is hard to solve
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Mat 5:22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be answerable to the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be answerable to the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.
The origin of murder crime
It is deep rooted in our heart
Then to our mind
A deep rooted problem is hard to solve
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Mat 5:22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be answerable to the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be answerable to the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.
There are 2 courts that have authority on us
A normal court and a supreme court
Supreme court can overturn the decision of the normal court
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Mat 5:23 Therefore, if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.
It is important to settle our case with our accuser
Otherwise we cannot come to God and be blessed
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Mat 5:25 Come to good terms with your accuser quickly, while you are with him on the way to court, so that your accuser will not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you will not be thrown into prison.
Our accuser
The accuser can put us in a prison
A prison is a place of suffering
Who is our accuser ?
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Mat 5:26 Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last quadrans.
The court will take away ALL of our wealth,
to the last quadrans
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“You shall not murder”
Who is our accuser ?
Who is the court ?
Who is the supreme court ?
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1 John 3:19 We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will set our heart at ease before Him, 20 that if our heart condemns us, that God is greater than our heart, and He knows all things.
Our accuser is our heart,
by using the Law
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1 John 3:20 that if our heart condemns us, that God is greater than our heart, and He knows all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.
God is greater than our heart and the Law
God is willing to forgive us
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“You shall not murder”
This is an ancient problem that mankind cannot solve
The problem lies deep inside our heart and our mind
Our heart will continually accuse us by using the Law
The Law will put us in a prison so that we cannot come to God The Law will take away everything that we have
The one can help us is only GOD, as the supreme being
that is in charge of the supreme court
God wants to forgive us and sets us free from our prison
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The story of the poor woman that gave the last quadrans as her offering
Mark 12 : 28 - 41
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Mark 12:28 One of the scribes came up and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one;
What is the foremost commandment ?
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Mark 12:30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The Love Commandmnet
(is the summary of the Law)
The Law requires that we love others with everything that we have
To our last quadrans
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Mark 12:32 And the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher; You have truly stated that He is One, and there is no other besides Him; 33 and to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
The Law
The Law prevented us to come to God
The Law put us into prison and prevents us to come to God
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Mark 12:34 When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And then, no one dared any longer to question Him.
Scribe
They depend on their intellect based on their knowledge of the Law
They DO NOT depend on God’s heart
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Mark 12:34 When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And then, no one dared any longer to question Him.
Christ
Jesus came with the rich blessings of the kingdom of God
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Do you see the difference ?
The Law
Christ
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Mark 12:35 And Jesus responded and began saying, as He taught in the temple area, “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?
Christ
Jesus taught the meaning of Christ (Messiah)
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Mark 12:36 David himself said in the Holy Spirit,
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
Until I put Your enemies under Your feet.”’
Christ
God’s heart of mercy made God send Christ (Messiah) to men
Christ will win against ALL enemies
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Mark 12:37 David himself calls Him ‘Lord’; so in what sense is He his son?” And the large crowd enjoyed listening to Him.
Christ
Christ is the son of God (so David calls Him Lord)
Christ is also the son of man (so Christ is David’s son)
God Himself wants to serve mankind
This is God’s heart of mercy
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Mark 12:38 And in His teaching He was saying: “Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like personal greetings in the marketplaces, 39 and seats of honor in the synagogues, and places of honor at banquets,
The ENEMY of Christ : religious leaders
Religious leaders like to use hermeneutics to
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Mark 12:40 who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers. These will receive all the more condemnation.”
The ENEMY of Christ : religious leaders
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Mark 12:41 And Jesus sat down opposite the treasury, and began watching how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large amounts.
Religious leaders
Many rich people will be fooled and follow the religious leaders
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Do you see the difference ?
The religious leaders
Christ
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Mark 12:42 And a poor widow came and put in two lepta coins, which amount to a quadrans. 43 Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; 44 for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.”
The poor widow
Lost and gave out everything, according to the Law
Then she would DIE because she did not have anything else to live on
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The rich people
The poor widow
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“You shall not murder”
This is an ancient problem that mankind cannot solve
The problem lies deep inside our heart
Our heart will continually accuse us by using the Law
The Law will put us in a prison so that we cannot come to God The Law will take away everything that we have
and then the Law will kill us
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“You shall not murder”
The one can help us is only GOD, as the supreme being that
is in charge of the supreme court
God helps us because of God’s heart of mercy
In His mercy, He forgives and forgets all of our sins
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Who try to murder us ?
The Law
And also the religious leaders
The religious leaders are murderers because they preach obedience to the Law by using self effort
God gives the commandment “do not murder”
as a warning to the religious leaders
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Christ is the end of the Law
(Rom 10:4)
Christ has brought to us God’s heart of mercy
In His mercy, we live NOT under the condemnation of the Law, but under His heart of mercy
Always holy and forgiven
Always blessed with the richness of the kingdom of heaven
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Topic for next sermon is
a continuation on the beatitudes series
The beautiful life of the disciple of Christ
A holy life (2) – Do not commit adultery
Mat 6 : 21 - 32
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Discipleship material for today
The story of the first murder in the bible
Cain and Abel
Gen 4 : 1 – 16