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Exodus 20, before we read God's
Word, let us pray. Our great God and Heavenly Father,
we do thank Thee for this day that Thou hast given us. We thank
Thee for Thy holy Word. We ask that Thou wouldst be with
us now as we consider Thy Word, as we consider the fifth commandment,
how we are called to honor our fathers and our mothers. Give
us insight, we pray, into Thy holy Word. We ask in Christ's
name. Amen. Please turn to Exodus chapter
20. Exodus 20, and let us begin reading
in verse 1. And God spake all these words,
saying, I am the Lord thy God which hath brought thee out of
the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt
have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water
under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself
to them, nor serve them. For I, the Lord thy God, am a
jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing
mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him
guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath
day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and
do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord
thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work,
thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant,
nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For
in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that
in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore, the Lord blessed
the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Honor thy father and thy
mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the
Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt
not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt
not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not
covet thy neighbor's house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's
wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox,
nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's." Thus ends
the reading of God's holy and inspired Word. Now, this Lord's
Day morning, We come again and return to a series of messages
that we had been studying at the end of last year, and that
was the Ten Commandments. We've thus far looked at the
first table of the Ten Commandments, and this morning we begin our
consideration of the second table of the Commandments. I want us
to realize just how significant these words that we find in Exodus
20 are. In verse 1, we read, "...and
God spake all these words." There are not many words in Scripture
which God Himself speaks directly without any mediary. But there's
also, if you read Exodus 19, you'll get a perspective of the
circumstances in which God gives these words. And we'll see that
that is quite unique in all of Scripture. But then we also learn
in Exodus 31-18 another unique regarding the Ten Commandments,
and that is in Exodus 31.18, we learn that there were two
tables of the testimony, tables of stone, which God wrote with
His finger. Literally, it says in Exodus
31.18, written with the finger of God. God wrote these words
on tables of stone. And what I think we have to understand,
we might think when we consider the tables of the law, is that
there were four commandments on one of these pieces of stone
and six on the other. I would contend that that's probably
unlikely. There were probably 10 commandments
on both. And what that was a picture of
was a contract, one of those being, if you made a contract
with somebody in the antiquity, you would have a copy and each
of you would take a copy of all of the contract. You wouldn't
have one person taking half of it and the other taking the other.
So I believe that all ten commandments were on both tables. But yet
we talk about tables of the law. And what we mean are the first
four commandments which focus upon our unique relation to God,
and then the second six which explain our duty to man. Jesus Himself gives us this division
in Matthew 22, 36 through 40. Please turn with me there. Matthew 22, 36 and following. We've looked at this a while
ago when we began to study the Ten Commandments or the moral
law, but I think it's appropriate for us to reconsider this passage
and its implications. We have a lawyer speaking to
Jesus, tempting Him, and he says in verse 36, Master, which is
the great commandment in the law? And Jesus said unto him,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is like unto it,
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments
hang all the law and the prophets." Here, in this passage, Jesus
tells us as He explains to this lawyer what is the first commandment
and what is the second that's uniquely tied to this first commandment. He basically takes the Ten Commandments
and rolls them into two. Love towards God, a full-orb
love towards God, as well as a love of our neighbor. And so,
we basically see that the Ten Commandments divide themselves
up in that way. Now this commandment here in
verse 12 is the first commandment in the second table. There are some people, some theologians
that believe this is actually in the first table. And I think
it clearly is a bridge from the first table where our duties
are focused upon God to the second table where our duties are focused
upon men and obviously God secondarily and primarily, but it's through
our serving and loving one another. Now here in this command we have
a precept and a promise. The precept is, honor thy father
and thy mother, and then we have a promise, that thy days may
be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Paul
says in Ephesians 6.3 that this is the first commandment with
a promise. Because there's an explicit,
positive promise regarding obedience to this command. This morning,
as we begin to consider this command, I want us to consider
the importance of this duty or this command. Then I want us
to consider the object of the duty. Then I want us to consider
what I'm calling the reciprocal nature of this duty and then
the dual nature of this duty. You're going to see that reciprocal
and dual, though they're synonyms, I'm referring to two different
aspects regarding this commandment. First, let's consider the importance
of this duty or this command. First, I think we need to remember
its emphasis in Scripture. Consider with me Leviticus 19.3.
Ye shall fear every man his mother and his father." Every man. And here the word man refers
to everyone. It's not speaking just to males,
it's speaking to everyone. No one's exempt from reverencing
their mother and father. There's no exception. Consider Exodus 21, 15. He that smiteth his father or
his mother shall surely be put to death. You see, if we don't
reverence our parents, we might hit them. And we see just how
serious that sin is in the civil Penal sanction applied here in
Exodus 21. Consider Exodus 21.17, "...and
he that curseth his father or mother shall be put to death."
Not only the child that hit his parents, but the child that cursed
his parents was to be put to death. We see a little bit, don't
we, of the seriousness of this commandment. Consider also Proverbs
30.17, "...the eye that mocketh at his father and despiseth to obey his mother,
the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles
shall eat it." Pretty graphic language about God's displeasure
towards those that mock their fathers or fail to obey their
mothers. So we see its emphasis in Scripture.
Secondly, I think we have to recognize its position in the
Ten Commandments. It is the first commandment of
the second table. It is a transition commandment
from the first four to the next six. I think as we consider this,
we have to recognize that sin is ultimately, at the core, a
rejection of authority. It's choosing to do what we want
to do rather than what God has told us to do. Wasn't the first
sin of Adam and Eve ultimately a rejection of God's authority? Another question we must ask
ourselves is where do humans first learn to submit? Or fail
to learn to submit? Where is it but the family? The
family is the nursery of the church and the state. And how
we raise our children for good or for ill dictates how they
will behave themselves in the church and in the state in their
latter years. Not only do we need to consider
its emphasis in Scripture, its position in the Ten Commandments,
but I think as we consider its importance, we also need to consider
the society that we live in. The society that we live in. Paul could say in 2 Timothy 3,
1 and 2, "...this know also, that in the last days perilous
times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their
own selves..." and then he gives a list, a litany of various sins
that will be prevalent in these perilous or dangerous times,
and one of them is disobedient to parents. He says those periods
of dangerous times will be marked by the sin of disobedience to
parents. Now, clearly we understand, we've
heard the last days explained many times. The last days in
Scripture refer to the period between Christ's ascension and
His return. What Paul is saying is throughout
that period there will be dangerous times. But there will be more
dangerous times and less dangerous times. And I would contend we
live in one of those more dangerous times Because we don't just live
in a non-Christian society, we live in a post-Reformation society. We don't live in an un-Christian
nation, we live in an apostate nation, or certainly apostatizing
nation. We've rejected and squandered
the Gospel. That's worse than a society that's
never had the Gospel and Reformation light in it. But we have. And so we are in a desperate
plight. I believe it's a plight that's
consistent with the description that Paul gives to us in Romans
chapter 1 in those latter sections where people are given over to
greater and greater sin by the Lord. And in Romans 1.30, again,
in the list of the various sins that are committed amongst those
people that are given over, the people are marked by disobedience
to parents in Romans 1.30. And as that chapter ends, Paul
says, these people commit these crimes that they know themselves
that death would be the appropriate penalty for. Disobedience to parents, there
in 2 Timothy, there in Romans 1, is ranked right up with sodomy
and other sins of the sort. You get an idea about how serious
violations of this command are. Fourthly, this is important because
of the promise attached to it. "...that thy days may be long
upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." There's
a promise. Yes, there's a threat. We've
just seen some of those, haven't we? But here's a promise. Paul
could say in Ephesians 6-2, this is the first commandment with
promise. He goes on to say in verse 3
of Ephesians 6, that it may be well with thee, and that thou
mayest live long on the earth." See, now he expands the implications
of the promise that related to the land for the old covenant
people of God, and he now expands it and puts it in new covenant
terms. It reminds us that this command
just didn't apply to children there in the promised land. It
applies to all of God's people throughout. the ages. Question
66 of the Shorter Catechism asks the question, what is the reason
annexed to the fifth commandment? And the answer is given, the
reason annexed or connected to the fifth commandment is a promise
of long life and prosperity as far as it shall serve for God's
glory and their own good to all such as keep this commandment. You see, there's a caveat that
the Westminster Assembly understood, and that is that long life isn't
automatically a mark of obedience. Sometimes God is pleased to give
His obedient children even better gift, and that is to take them
to glory before the ordinary time. Instead of giving them
silver, He gives them gold, and He takes them to Himself early,
and they're recognizing that that clearly is understood in
the commandment given the whole rest of the teaching of Scripture. Now, one other reason why we
should recognize the importance of this commandment, and that
is that in honoring those in authority, we are honoring God. Or failing to honor those in
authority over us is, in fact, failing to honor God. You see, in 1 Peter, 5.1-4, we
have duties regarding shepherds. They're to feed or shepherd the
flock, but they're to do so recognizing that they serve the chief shepherd. You see, so their duty, they're
not the ultimate authority. The ultimate authority is the
chief shepherd. They're just instruments of his
authority. That's why Paul could call ministers in 1 Corinthians
5.20 ambassadors of Christ. They're not Christ to you, but
they're called to bring Christ's Word to you, and when they bring
only Christ's Word to you, you must receive it as such. And
failure to receive them when they bring Christ's Word is failure
to receive Christ and the Father. Also in Ephesians 6, 4, fathers
in particular, clearly though by implication, mothers as well,
are to nurture their children in the Lord or with the nurture
or the chastening and admonition of the Lord. They don't bring
their own chastening and admonition. They don't set their own expectations
and enforce their own expectations. We as parents are to set for
our children God's expectations and enforce those expectations. The nurture that we bring is
of the Lord. We're but the instruments in which that comes. And so,
failure to respond positively to those that God has placed
in authority over you is, in fact, raising your fist against
God. Listen to God speaking through
Isaiah. In Isaiah 1-2, "'Hear, O heavens,
and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. I have nourished
and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me.'"
We rebel against those in authority. We rebel against the one that's
placed them in authority over us. Consider also 1 Samuel 2.30,
"...them that honor me I will honor, but they that despise
me shall be lightly esteemed." When we fail to honor those in
authority over us, we're not honoring God and God will not
honor us. So, we see the importance of
this commandment. I want us to consider the object
of this commandment. I believe in this precept, in
this commandment, we have a figure of speech that's called a synecdoche. And what that is, it's a big
word, comes from a Greek word, but what it is, it's a figure
of speech where the part is put for the whole. What that means
is what is referred to is a generic and it refers to something or
specific that refers to generic implications. That's why in the
larger catechism, answer 124, we learn that the object of this
commandment is all our superiors in age and gifts, and especially
such as by God's ordinance are over us in place of authority,
whether in family, church, or commonwealth. That's why John
Cotton in Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes could answer the
question, who are here meant by father and mother with the
answer, all are superiors, whether in family, school, church, and
commonwealth. So let's just go over these various
fathers. We have political fathers. In
Isaiah 49.23 we have kings. referred to his fathers. And
kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing
mothers." You see, a godly civil magistrate should have a paternal
relation with those whom he serves. He's to serve those under his
authority as a father. And when he does so, he does
well. But we who are under his authority
are to give him honor in 1 Peter 2.17. We're to pray for those
in 1 Timothy 2.1. We're to pay tribute in Romans
13.6 and 7. Not only does this refer to political
fathers or those in the commonwealth, it also refers to aged fathers. And we live in a society where
youth is exalted and age is despised. And yet, it should be just the
other way Consider Leviticus 19.32. I'm speaking of children
in particular. Have you been molded by your
culture in this regard? And do you show disrespect to
those that are elderly? Thou shalt rise up before the
hoary head and honor the face of the old man. Do you do that? We're called to do that. We once
lived in a society where that was common, even amongst those
that knew not the Lord and obeyed not the Gospel. And yet they
knew that there was to be respect. Even in China, in a pagan nation,
they understand respect for their elders. Children, consider the story
of Elisha, 2 Kings 2, 23 and 24. Do you remember what those children
did? It says, as Elisha went up to the city, there came forth
little children out of the city and mocked him and said unto
him, Go up, thou bald head. He turned back and looked on
them and cursed them in the name of the Lord. Elisha wasn't just
personally angry with them. He cursed them in the name of
the Lord. He recognized who he was and what they had just done.
And it says, "...and there came forth two she-bears out of the
wood, and tear forty and two children of them." Forty-two
children engaged in speaking ill of the old prophet as he
went to the city. And we get a picture of God's
hatred for not honoring the aged. Next, consider spiritual fathers.
Paul could say in 1 Corinthians 4.15 that he was the father of
many there at Corinth because they had come to Christ through
His instruction. Paul could say in Titus 2.15
to Titus, these things speak and exhort and rebuke with all
authority. He's just delineated for Titus
the kind of teaching, particular teaching that he ought to give
to old men and young men, to older women and young women.
Very detailed instruction. He says, keep teaching this.
Do it with authority. Then he says, let no man despise
thee. In other words, behave in such
a way as to not bring down the authority that you have in people's
eyes. He's not necessarily telling
him to beat his chest and tell everybody he has the authority,
but he's saying behave in such a way that your authority is
not undermined, so that your teaching in these things will
be more likely to be received. We've spoken of political fathers,
aged fathers, spiritual fathers. Also, I'm calling this group
commercial fathers or those in the work world. It's very interesting
that Naaman's servants called him father in 2 Kings 5.13. It's
also interesting in Matthew 8.6, the centurion calls his servant
his son. Do we sustain those kind of relationships
with those that we work for or those that work for us? Do we
maintain a paternal relationship with them as father and son?
Because that ought to affect the way that we behave in the
workplace. In 1 Peter, we read, 1 Peter
2.18, servants, be subject to your masters, not only to the
good and gentle, but also to the forward. You see, you have to be subject
no matter how good and gentle they are. You still have your
duty. You still have your duty regardless
of whether they're carrying out their duty. And in Titus 2.9
we learn that the servant is not to answer back. And in the
Greek it literally means he's not to give a cross answer. He's not to respond in a way
that's counter what's just been spoken. Doesn't mean he might
not speak back by saying, well, how high do you want me to jump?
Or how deep do you want the ditch dug? Or give me some more details
on what your expectations are regarding this, sir. What it's
saying is don't talk back in such a way that undercuts the
authority of the one giving us the duty. And also, lastly, this
clearly refers to domestic or natural fathers. We're to give
them obedience. Colossians 3.20, children, obey
your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the
Lord. So we're to obey. We're to have an inner esteem
for them, but it's to be worked out in our obedience. A willingness
to do what they tell us to. We'll consider a caveat to that
next week as we consider the fact that there may be times
when those in authority call us or command us to sin. And
we'll see then that we should submit to a higher authority,
that is we should submit to their authority and ours, God first. We're also, not only to obey
our parents, we're also to requite them in old age, or we're to
give them back. In 1 Timothy 5.4 we read this,
but if any widow have children or nephews, let them first learn
to show piety at home and to requite their parents, for that
is good and acceptable before God." Quite an old English word
that basically means to pay back. And here Paul in 1 Timothy is
talking about the real reality of widows in the early church. In a time when there was no life
insurance and when women's occupations were given uniquely in the home,
they were not out at the gate in the commercial sphere that
when a man died, the woman was left. without a means of support. And so the early church had to
deal with that issue in a significant way. And Paul is explaining how
to deal with it. He's saying, first, their family
ought to help them. That's the first place they ought
to be looking for help. And children ought to understand
that they're to pay back and support their parents in old
age, routinely their mother. And that's why the widow is emphasized. But also, it's obviously saying
to their father who may be beyond years of ability to earn an income. And not only must we obey and
requite our parents, and there's many other duties we'll consider
next week, but I want to at least mention another, and that is
submission to their teaching. Consider Proverbs 1.8, My son,
hear the instruction of thy fathers, and forsake not the law of thy
mother. There's been an erroneous teaching
that's made its way in conservative Presbyterianism, and that is
that because the father is the authority in the home, that the
mother has no place of teaching in the home. That cannot be supported
by Proverbs 1.8. The wife, under the husband,
still instructs and directs the children. She explains expectations
and she enforces those expectations when the father is not present.
And so, children, you are to submit to the teaching of your
parents. Now, we've looked first at the
importance of the duty. We've also considered the types
of fathers and the object of the duty. Now, I want us to consider
briefly the reciprocal nature of the duty. That is, that this
commandment refers not only to those under authority in the
home and the church and the state, but we have to remember, as David
said, the commandments are broad. They're exceeding broad. And
this commandment refers also to those that are in authority
in these various spheres. I think, for example, in Ephesians
5, 21 and following, We have a good example of that where
Paul begins with the duties of wives to their husbands to submit,
then the duties of husbands to love their wives. But he begins
in verse 21 with the command that we are, when we're filled
with the Spirit, we're to submit ourselves one to another in the
fear That means whether we're in authority or under authority,
we're to think more highly of the other than ourselves. We're
to live self-sacrificially in our response to others. And so we see that these duties,
they're relational. And there's always two sides
to the relation as inferiors or superiors. Consider wives
and husbands in Ephesians 5, 22-33. Colossians 3, 18 and 19. Paul is very concerned about
recognizing, and it's very interesting, in Ephesians, the passage that
deals with husbands and wives, children and parents, and then
masters and servants, is wedged between the effects of being
filled with the Spirit and his teaching on spiritual warfare. Do you want to know where spiritual
warfare takes place? It takes place in your relationship
with your spouse, with your children, or your parents, or with your
master, or your servant. That's where it takes place.
And how we behave towards one another in these reciprocal relations
tells us something about whether we're filled with the Spirit,
as Paul says in Ephesians, or whether the Word is dwelling
in us in Colossians. Peter deals with husbands and
wives in 1 Peter 2, 1-10. It's very interesting that when
the apostles deal with, ordinarily when they deal with the duty
of those under authority, they deal with those in authority
too. They connect the two. We see that also with children
and parents. Ephesians 6, 1-4, Colossians 3.20 and 21. Peter again deals with children
and parents in 1 Peter 2, 18-25. And we also see slaves and masters
dealt with, or superiors and inferiors in the business world. Ephesians 6, 5-9, Colossians
3, 22-41, Titus 2, 9 and 10. James Durham could say this. He said, May I the heavenly reward in
sweeping the house as well as in the religious duties of God's
immediate worship." So when you come and you're called to sweep
the house, you should be thinking about doing it to God's glory
just as much as when you come into His house on the Lord's
Day to worship Him. We're to glorify God in everything. that we do. And even the menial
tasks that we're assigned in the home or in whatever sphere
are to be carried out in the fear of God in an attitude of
doing it unto the Lord and worshiping Him and even sweeping the house
or cleaning the toilets. So we considered wives and husbands,
children and parents, slaves and masters, also sheep and shepherds. I referred to 1 Peter 1-5. And I'd again remind you of the
fact that in the church, shepherds do not stop being sheep when
they become shepherds. In that there is no single person
that has no authority over them in the church. So shepherds still
remain sheep. And they're still responsible
to those over them in the Lord, to all the rest of those shepherds
that are over them. And then also the relationship
of citizen and magistrate. Romans 13, 1-7. There, in that
passage, Paul doesn't very carefully break up, this is the duty of
the citizen, this is the duty of the magistrate. It seems like
his focus is the duty of the citizen, but interwoven throughout
that text implications and tell us a lot about what the magistrate
is to do. But he doesn't just deal with
one side of the coin and the other. He just kind of rolls
them all up together in those seven verses and lets us know
what our duty is as a citizen and what the magistrate's duty
is. We also learn something of those duties in 1 Peter 2, 13
through 17, Titus 3, 1 and 2. In the epistles, we have the
condensed teaching of God's Word regarding how Christians are
to live in the church and in the world. If you notice from
just those references, you see that a lot of the epistles are
spent in dealing with these relations of superiors and inferiors, as
the Puritans used to say. So, we've considered the reciprocal
nature Those in authority are to learn something from this
commandment as well as those that are under authority in these
various spheres. And lastly, I want to talk briefly
about the dual nature of this duty. They're not only reciprocal
duties. Those in authority have a duty
to those under them. Those that are under those in
authority have a duty to them. But what I want us to understand
is that there's a dual nature to this commandment. I want us
to understand there's a dual nature to all the commandments. That is, there are such things
as sins of omission and sins of commission. Do you understand
the difference? When I make the difference, I'm
not suggesting that one is necessarily more heinous than the other.
But there is a distinction to be made. A sin of omission is
not doing what we ought to do. And a sin of commission is doing
what we ought not to do. Omission, not doing what we ought
to do. Commission, doing what we ought
not to do. We've been forbidden to do certain
things. If we do them, they're sins of commission. We've been
told to do certain things. If we fail to do them, it's a
sin of omission. The Shorter Catechism in question
14 asks, what is sin? The answer is given, sin is any
want of conformity unto, that's a sin of omission, or transgression
of the law of God. That's a sin of commission. And
so that's why in the shorter catechism and in the larger catechism,
they answer these questions or they ask the question, what is
required in this commandment and what is forbidden? Now, if
there's something required, there's always its opposite is forbidden. So when we look at a passage
that just deals with the threat, then we can understand the positive
implication. If we look at something that
tells us what to do, we can understand what we ought not to do. And
so, we'll consider next week, and we will for the following
weeks as we look at these commandments, considering what are we to do
and then what are we not to do. It's opposite vice. So, we'll
consider godly character traits and then their opposite vice. In the shorter catechism, for
the fifth commandment, we have the question asked, what is required
in the fifth commandment? The answer is, the fifth commandment
requireth preserving the honor and performing the duties belonging
to everyone in their several places and relations as superiors,
inferiors, or equals. Then they ask the question, what
is forbidden in the fifth commandment? The fifth commandment forbiddeth the neglecting of or doing anything
against the honor and duty which belongeth to every one in their
several places and relations. And we've looked a little bit
at what some of those duties are. Next week, we will consider
those duties. We won't consider those duties
under each situation in which we are under authority, but we'll
consider them as a whole and we'll consider five to ten duties
that we have to those that are our superiors. And we'll consider
the opposite traits that our superiors, or we as superiors,
ought to display towards those under our authority. But in closing,
in the application, consider the words of Psalm 112, 1. Praise
ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth
the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. You see,
the commandments have three purposes. They drive us, they show us,
they reveal to us sin. And so they are used by God to
bring a person to recognition of their state of sin and misery. The commandments are also used
as a guide to the civil magistrate in laying out laws. There's no
law that isn't subsumed under the Ten Commandments. There's
no crime that can be committed in the civil realm that's not
a violation of one of the Ten Commandments. So it has a civil
aspect, but then it also is for the Christian who has been redeemed
by Christ, and who out of gratitude wants to serve the Lord. It's
the standard for us to serve the Lord. And we are to greatly
delight in His commandments. And God promises blessedness
to those that fear God and do His commandments. And in closing,
I think we need to consider the model. That one who perfectly
obeyed his parents. that one whom if we are not in
and not united to, we will never see God. Consider Christ and
His life, His childhood is spoken of in Luke 2.51 and following. This is what it says. If you
remember the incident, He was up, He went to Jerusalem with
His parents and they had headed back thinking He was with some
family members and found out He wasn't, they returned to the
temple and find Instead of the Pharisees questioning him or
catechizing him, he's catechizing them. And they take Jesus and
return and it says, "...and he went down with them and came
to Nazareth and was subject unto them." Here's a situation where a child's
parents were not inherently superior to him. Jesus was sinless and
He had to live in a family with sinful parents. And yet, He was subject unto
them. See, if He wasn't subject unto them, there would be no
salvation for us. He was subject unto them, but
His mother kept all these sayings in her heart and Jesus increased
in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and with man. Christ's full-orbed growth took
place in the context of His humble submission to His parents. We
need to follow Him. We need to walk in His footsteps.
That's the path that God has called us to as little Christ,
as little Christians. Let us pray. Great God and Heavenly
Father, we do thank Thee for Thy holy Word. We do thank Thee
for this commandment that directs us how we ought to show our love
to our neighbors, We thank Thee for Jesus Christ. We thank Thee
for the author and finisher of our faith, and we pray that we
would follow Him in humble submission to those that are in authority
over us, that we might live a long life, a life full of prosperity.
We thank Thee, O God, for the promise that's connected to this
commandment. We pray that Thou wouldst forgive
us for our many violations of this commandment, where we have
failed to honor rightly those in authority over us, but where
we have also, as those in authority, failed to give due respect and
honor to those under our authority. Forgive us for our sins in this
regard, we pray. And be pleased, O Lord, to assist
us to walk in new obedience and in repentance. We ask these things
in Christ's name. Amen.
The Fifth Commandment #1 - Ex. 20:12
Series The Ten Commandments II
| Sermon ID | 10310553555 |
| Duration | 42:28 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Exodus 20:12 |
| Language | English |
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