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Part of this study is the fifth
commandment in general. And then the second part will
be the duties and sins of inferiors. And then the third part, the
duties and sins of superiors. And then the fourth part will
be application to parents and to children and those specific
relationships. And then the fifth part will
be application to husbands and wives in particular. All right,
now just a brief word of introduction. Does anybody know where the word
catechism comes from? Have you guys ever heard that
word catechism? What's that? It's from Greek. Kata means down and echo is the
other part. So to sound or to echo down. It's where a person would ask
questions and then answers would be given in response to those
questions. So a catechism is the passing
down of the faith by means of question and answer or responses
to questions. Now, in the New Testament, Paul
says, let him who is instructed in the word share in all good
things with him that instructs. And those are both the word catechize.
He who is catechized in the word is to share in all good things
with the one who catechizes him or the one who instructs him
in those good things. So our church has a catechism. In fact, our church has two catechisms,
a larger catechism and a shorter catechism. The shorter catechism
was used in the New England Primer, actually, as a universal form
of instruction of our founding fathers. This is the larger catechism,
which is a more advanced edition, teaches the same things, but
a more advanced edition of our shorter catechism. All right,
so question 123 of our larger catechism, which is the fifth
commandment? The fifth commandment is, honor
thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the
land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Exodus chapter 20 verse
12. So this is one of the 10 commandments. It's the first precept or the
first commandment of the second table of the law. We have in
commandments 1 through 4 our duty to God, commandments 5 through
10 our duty to our fellow man, our neighbor, starting with father
and mother. Question 124 of our larger catechism,
who are meant by father and mother in the fifth
commandment. And then the answer comes back,
by father and mother in the fifth commandment are meant not only
natural parents. And then here we have a couple
of scripture passages that discuss your natural parents. Proverbs
23 verse 22. Hearken unto thy father that
begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old. So here
Solomon is giving the basic duty of the fifth commandment. You
have natural parents. You have a father that begat
thee. You have a mother who as she
grows old will consider becomes weaker and less capable of chasing
after kids, of disciplining perhaps as quickly or consistently as
she should. But God's word is very clear.
Hearken to thy father that begat thee. That means to listen very
carefully. When your dad speaks, listen very carefully. And then
a parallel phrase, despise not thy mother when she is old. Now
to despise a thing means that you look down on it. Like a spy
is someone who looks with their eyes. To despise is to look down
at the person or the thing that you despise. There are some things
we should despise. Your mother is not one of them.
And the idea of the Proverbs is often they'll have parallels,
two things that are very similar. Here the parallels are hearken,
that's the commandment, and then despise not. Those two are parallels. And sometimes in the Proverbs
you can actually know the definition of words or the flavor or range
of meaning of a word by looking at the parallels. Harken, despise
not. Listen carefully as Harken. Despise
not is don't think down upon them like they're a light person
that you don't have to listen to. I don't care. That's just
mom. She's old. That's despising your
mother. It says don't do that, especially
in her weakness. When she grows older, don't look
down on her because she's old and she's less capable and competent
than you thought she was when she was younger. Okay, so Here,
by father and mother, God does intend the natural parents, the
father that begat thee and thy mother. Ephesians 6 verses 1
and 2. Unfortunately, there is a rampant
false teaching in the church in our days, and it has been
since very early on. You see this rebuked by the apostles,
that because Jesus died on the cross, Therefore, God is no longer
a lawgiver. That's the idea, roughly speaking.
Jesus died to forgive our sins, and therefore, I have no duty
to God as a lawgiver and a judge. That's not correct. That's never
where approved of by the apostles. There's no condemnation to them
that are in Christ Jesus. We're under the grace of God. We're not justified by works.
We don't keep the law so that we can have everlasting life.
But that does not mean God loses his authority as lawgiver because
he took on an extra role as a savior. So Ephesians 6, 1 and 2. Children,
obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor thy
father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise.
So a couple of things here. Paul is writing to the Ephesians.
And you'll remember he addresses them at the beginning of that
book. Let me just read a couple of words that he uses to describe
his audience. Because now he's continuing to
address the same audience. And this is extremely important.
Ephesians 1. He says this, verse 1, Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints
which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.
Okay, notice here, Ephesians is written to the saints. It's
written to the faithful in Christ Jesus. And the Apostle Paul includes
the children of Christian parents in that list. Because he's going
to talk about their fathers too, the duty of parents. But here
notice, children are saints. When they're raised in a Christian
family, the Apostles would consider them to be Christians. They did not necessarily have
to look into the soul of a child to say, I know that child is
regenerated. What they knew was They had been
called by God in a Christian household The Apostle Paul baptized
by households. You'll notice this throughout
the New Testament. He would baptize each household. And the children
of believers were reckoned to be saints. They were called to
be saints and faithful in Christ Jesus. So that's Ephesians 1.1. Now he's making application to
the same people he's been writing to. Children, obey your parents
in the Lord, for this is right. This means that the saints and
their children have an obligation to the Ten Commandments. And
here, the Fifth Commandment in particular, and the Apostle cites
it, honor thy father and mother. Again, your natural parents,
the father that begat thee, thy mother, as Proverbs 23, 22 has
it. So then the apostle says something very interesting. He
says, which is the first commandment with promise? Now, if you read
Genesis and if you read Exodus, you'll find God gives commandments
and he attaches promises. And if you read the 10 commandments,
The Lord gives a promise in the second commandment that whoever
loves Him and keeps His commandment, He'll bless them to a thousand
generations. So He's already given one in the ten commandments
and several to Abraham and to Moses. He's given commandments
with promise. But this is talking about the
ten commandments. And it's not just talking about
the ten, it's talking about the second table of the law. This
is the first commandment of the second table with a promise. The first table has a commandment
with a promise, but here he's talking about the second table.
The first commandment, the second, the third, and the fourth, that
tells us our duty to God. Love the Lord your God with all
your heart, soul, mind, and strength. The fifth, sixth, and down to
the tenth tells us how do I love my neighbor as I love myself.
So this is the first commandment of the second table of the law
that God attached a promise to it. And the promise he actually
cites in verse three, that it may be well with thee and thou
mayest live long on the earth." So not only does the apostle
give the commandment to the children of believers, incorporating them
into the saints and faithful brethren, he also attaches a
promise which many people, it would get stuck in their throat
to say this. God has earthly promises for
Christians. Everything is spiritual to some
people and certainly that's the priority. But Jesus said the
meek shall inherit what? The earth. He didn't say heaven.
He said the earth. So there are earthly promises. There are promises for this world
as well as the world to come, Paul says. And certainly the
world to come is gonna last a lot longer. So it's more important.
But it doesn't mean that God says, forget about this down
here. Don't polish brass on a sinking ship. Forget about culture and
society and family and civilization. He doesn't say that. He says
that if you honor the fifth commandment, Your expectation is that God
will bless you in this life with wellness, that it may be well
with thee, and with long life, that thou mayest live long on
the earth. And attendant or subservient to both of those are all kinds
of blessings that lead to that. A life is shortened by stress,
by suffering, by misery, by all kinds of afflictions, by all
kinds of hatred and disputes and fighting, shouting, killing,
all those things, wars, they all come. with a shortened lifespan,
peace, blessings, prosperity, that leads to a long life. So
he's promising lots of other things, although he mentions,
as is common in the Bible, he'll mention the chief ones, and then
you're meant to think, oh, wow, there are lots of things that
go along with that, aren't there? Lots of things that are subservient
to that, that are like steps up to this final one. All right,
so your natural parents, God has designated them. Now I want
to read a quotation, very long, so forgive me for this, the length
of it, but it's very good. James Durham, if it be asked
here, why is the mother added? See, God said, to honor your
father. He said, children obey your parents.
But then you'll notice in verse 4 of Ephesians 6, he only talks
to the fathers, he never talks to the mothers. But here in the
fifth commandment, God adds the mother. Why is that, he asks.
One, because although the mother be not so qualified for the rule
and government of the children, yet she is no less entitled to
their acknowledgement and this parental honor by the labor,
toil, and tenderness of their birth and education." Okay, so
here, this is very important. There are supreme authorities
in the state, in business, in the church, in the family, and
then there are subservient authorities, those under the authority of
the supreme authority. In Virginia, we have a governor,
then we have local magistrates, we have county sheriffs, we have
all kinds of different authorities. And because one is not the supreme
authority in the Commonwealth of Virginia does not make them
a non-authority. That's the point of the fifth
commandment here. The man is more suited to government.
He's more suited to be the head of his household. He's given
more strength, more foresight. He tends to have in his body
and in his mind attributes and characteristics that are more
suitable to government. And the woman is not lacking
in those attributes, but she has less of them than the manda.
She is the weaker vessel. But, Just because that's the
case doesn't mean she's not entitled to honor and also in consideration
of the other things that she does. She may not speak as loudly,
she may not have as commanding a presence, she may not spank
as hard, she may not have the physical endurance that a man
may have, but she by labor, by toil, by tenderness of their
birth and education, she is likewise entitled to honor and obedience
from her children. And honor for their whole life,
even when obedience ends for mother and father, honor must
still be maintained. And then he goes on, and in this
as well as in the disposition of the members of the body, mentioned
in 1 Corinthians 12, 22-24, the excellent mixing of God's wisdom
is very conspicuous. by balancing the greater authority
of the father with the greater pains and care of the mother,
that the children's duty of love, honor, and gratitude may return
to both with suitable equality. So here we see, just because
her role is different, Just because her pains are different does
not mean she's entitled to less honor. This is extremely important. And we'll get into some of the
applications of this later about how husbands ought to bolster
the authority of their wives before their children and ensure
that honor doesn't just go to dad, but that it also goes to
mom. Honor thy father and thy mother. Then he goes on. She is added,
number two, she is added to show that it is not only the most
eminent superior or neighbor to whom honor is due, but even
these who have more weakness, and especially the mother. Hence
it is that almost, always almost in the Proverbs, where duty to
the father is pressed, the mother is also named with him, to show
that children should not think that less respect is due to their
mother than to their father. Yea, sometimes the mother is
prefixed to the father, as Leviticus 19.3. He shall fear every man
his mother and his father. Which is done to meet with the
humor of many, who are ready to lessen their duty to their
mother, and therefore are called to it, even in her old age, Proverbs
23, 22, and to guard against despising of her then, which
is too readily and frequently incident. Thus does the Lord
provide in his word against our corruption, which is ready to
take advantage of going out of bounds and outbreaking at the
weakest part. Now you see this in children.
My wife used to work at a daycare. If she told these kids what to
do and she gave them orders, it was always harder than her
brothers or other men who would come in and issue the same order.
The kids were ready to listen to the brothers and the men because
the voice and the presence and the physical strength is all
known to be greater instinctively by children. But God in his great
wisdom says both. The greater and the lesser must
be honored. The greater authority and the
lesser authority must be honored. And then the depravity of man. This is very important. The depravity
of man will look for weak spots and excuses. Well, I don't have
to honor her because she's weak. And after all, you know, wait
till your father gets home is a constant refrain, isn't it?
Mom has to tell the kids, wait till your dad gets home. He'll
take care of you. That's not right. There must be an honoring
of the mother's authority. One, because God commands it.
And two, because it demonstrates in God's wisdom how he's designed
all authorities to work. You're not just responsible to
the greatest to show honor. You must also show to the lesser.
And that's very important. It's a lesson for life, which
is why it's right in the fifth commandment. The passage in Leviticus
19, of course the most famous verse, love thy neighbor as thyself,
is right out of Leviticus 19. Lesser known is that she shall
fear every man his mother. Now fear means that you're afraid
of them and you show honor and reverence. You don't want to
displease them. So here God addresses children
to be honoring and to refuse to do things or to behave in
such a way as shows disrespect to mom. And he puts her first
in that instance. All right, page two of your handouts. Question 124 continues its answer. Who are meant by father and mother
in the fifth commandment? By father and mother in the fifth
commandment are meant not only natural parents, but all superiors
in age and gifts. And we'll look at these two.
1 Timothy 5, 1 and 2. Rebuke not an elder, but entreat
him as a father. And the younger men as brethren,
the elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters with all purity. Okay, so Timothy is a pastor. He's a young pastor. Let no man
despise thy youth, he's told. So he's a young pastor and in
his congregation are men older than him. This is not elder like
the office of elder, which is clear by the context. It's men
who are older than you because there are women who are also
older than him. And then there are men who are
younger than him and there are women who are younger than him.
So he's to behave himself as their ecclesiastical superior
in a subordinated way as to their age. And we see this elsewhere
in scripture, but here it's very clear. Timothy is to reprove,
rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. That's his public
duty. But now he's going to address a man in his congregation who's
older than him Who's the age of his dad? Is he to reprove,
rebuke, exhort with much? No. He doesn't do that with this
man. With this man, it says, rebuke
not an elder, but entreat. When a child goes to his father,
he should not ever think it's okay to rebuke him, to correct
him, to tell him what to do, to point out his flaws with sharpness.
That should never happen. He says, entreat him as a father,
appeal to him, use language that is honoring of his superiority
to you. And in this case for Timothy,
it's not that the man has official authority over him as an elder,
it's that this man is older than him in years. This woman is older
than him in years. And that has to be recognized
even by a pastor to show a childlike disposition for their age's sake. And that's very important. Now,
I'm going to skip down on your handout there. There's a quote
by William Perkins, which I think is appropriate with respect to
this passage. William Perkins noted the following.
He said, every creature as it comes near unto God, so it is
honorable. And the more honorable by how
much nearer it comes unto him. So think about it this way. God
has these attributes. And the reason why he commands
us to honor other men and women is because they're like him in
some way. Now, parents beget you. What is that like? Well, in the
beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. So the act of
begetting and also of bringing forth, which the woman does,
Those resemble God's act of creation. If someone is older than you,
what he's saying is they're more like God. God is eternal, right?
So God is beyond all comprehension how old he is because he never
had a beginning. But creatures become more like God as they
age. So the honor that's due to your
superiors in age is because they're like God in that way. He goes
on. Fourthly, of his eternity, and
hence it is that honor is given to the aged before the young
man because he bears the image thereof. Thus we see that divine
excellency in some person and consequently do bring forth honor.
This is from his book, The Golden Chain. So you see the excellency
of a man who is older than you in that he is more like God.
Now this is true if someone is wiser than you and has greater
gifts than you, which we'll look at in a second. If someone is
better looking than you, you might not think about this, but
that's a form of superiority. Taller than you, that's a form
of superiority. Anything where a person has an
advantage over other people There is some honor that's due to that
because God is the one who made them that way. It's his providence
by which one is greater than another, and consequently that
honor has to be recognized. Alright, so that's age. And then,
if you look back up on your handout, letter C there on the left column,
gifts. Genesis 4, 20 through 22. And Ada, bear Jabal, he was father
of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. And his
brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all such
as handle the harp and organ. And Zillah, she also bear Tubal
Cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron,
and a sister of Tubal Cain was Naamah. Okay, so a couple of
things here. The Bible uses the word father,
not just of our natural parents, but here it uses it of those
who had gifts, who came up with crafts and taught and instructed
others in how to do those crafts. Now we see dwelling in tents,
you have Jabal. He is the father of such. If
you wanted to know How to handle the harp and the organ. Who would
you go to? Jubal. He would instruct you. He would
be your father. He would be the superior with
more gifts and more knowledge and more understanding of how
to do those things. And if you wanted to understand
making things with brass and iron, metallurgics, Who would
you go to? To Balkane. He was the father
or the instructor. He was the one who gave knowledge
and wisdom. So in that sense, he's considered, under the fifth
commandment, in the language of scripture, he's considered
a father. Genesis 45, 8. So now, it was not you that sent
me hither, this is Joseph talking to his brethren, it was not you
that sent me hither but God, and he hath made me a father
to Pharaoh, and Lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout
all the land of Egypt. Now how did Joseph get that job? Anybody? Just think back. How
did Joseph get the job of father over Pharaoh? Well, he was wise. He was gifted. He was able to
interpret every dream that Pharaoh had that God gave him. indicating
what would happen in the next 14 years. Seven years of feast,
seven years of famine. And the dream was repeated to
Pharaoh to confirm him in the truth of it. And nobody could
tell Pharaoh one word about what these dreams meant, except Joseph. And Joseph became a father to
Pharaoh by the excellency of the gifts, not in any authority.
He didn't have authority over Pharaoh. He could not command
Pharaoh. He could command everybody under him. Pharaoh was supreme.
Joseph was second. Remember, that's what Pharaoh
said. Everyone's going to listen to you except me. I'm the only
one you won't tell what to do. That's exactly what Pharaoh said.
How then was he a father to him? By his skill in interpreting
and administering the application of those dreams to the particulars
of the grain, and the storehouses, and the buying up of the land,
and the buying of the cattle, and the buying of the Egyptians.
All that was by the skill of Joseph, the gifts that God had
given him. So when the Bible talks about
fathers, it does not just refer to the natural father that begets
you. It does refer to that, but not
only natural parents. but all superiors in age and
in gifts. James Usher, I'm gonna read this
quotation, very, very valuable. Who are superiors without authority? Okay, so mom and dad, they have
authority, especially to children in their youth. They lose that
authority over time and eventually they have none. But they're still
required, children are still required to honor them. But who
are superiors without authority? And he answers this. Such as
God hath by age only, or by some supereminent gifts, supereminent
means it raises them above others, or by some supereminent gifts
lifted above others, whether they be of the body as strength
and beauty, or of the mind as wit and learning, which are most
to be honored, or of outward estate as wealth, 1 Samuel 25
8, and nobility, in which respect, although brethren be equals,
yet by age the elder is superior to the younger." And we saw that
with Timothy. Even though he is their superior
in perhaps wisdom, knowledge, authority in the church. He has
all those things above the older men and the older women. Still,
he has to honor them because of what God has done in giving
them, although equals perhaps in grace, yet in age the elder
is superior. And this also, the mind, wit,
learning, that's what we're looking at. with j-ball, with ju-ball,
and two-ball cane, these men had learning, they had understanding,
they had gifts. Alright then, page 3, and then
we'll conclude with page 3 and pick up on page 4, God willing,
next week. Thomas Watson, a very beautiful
illustration of this. He says, there are fathers for
seniority on whose wrinkled brows and in the furrows of whose cheeks
is pictured the map of old age. These fathers are to be honored.
Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head. Hoary is like snow
when it falls down on the ground, it's white. Thou shalt rise up
before the hoary head and honor the face of the old man, Leviticus
19.32. Especially those are to be honored
who are fathers not only for their seniority, but for their
piety, whose souls are flourishing when their bodies are decaying.
That's from his book on the Ten Commandments. Okay, question
124, the answer continues. Who are meant by father and mother
in the fifth commandment? by father and mother in the fifth
commandment are meant especially such as are such as by God's
ordinance are over us in place of authority whether in family,
church, or commonwealth. Okay, so first let's look at
the family. 2 Kings 5 13, And his servants
came near and spake unto him and said, My father, If the prophet
had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it?
How much rather, then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? Now remember, this is the Syrian
leper who comes to the prophet and he's told how to cleanse
himself. Go to the river here in Israel,
wash yourself a certain number of times, and your leprosy will
be gone. And this guy gets upset. Shouldn't I have just stayed
home and washed in my own river? What's the point of coming all
the way down here to hear from this prophet? One of his servants,
and remember, in the Bible, a servant is like a child. He's like part
of the family, in other words. Slaves were always considered
in the Bible part of the family. And you'll notice this, although
there's lots of rhetoric about how awful slavery was, what are
the names that African slaves' descendants still bear to this
day? Washington, Jackson, Lee, They bear the names of who? Englishmen,
Scots-Irish, German, because they were part of their families.
They were incorporated into their families. So within the household,
even a slave refers to his master as what? My father. So he's actually very wise as
a slave because a slave can't command his master what to do.
He's under orders. He's under a duty of obedience.
So he asks him, my father, if the prophet had bid thee do some
great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? If there was some
magical incantation, and there was big lights, and everything
was amazing, and all this stuff was happening, wouldn't you have
done it? So he asks it as an appealing, as Timothy was told
to do to the older men, appeal to him. Come to him not with
sharpness, because he's your father. And in this case, the
servant sees his master as his father. And so he appeals to
him with questions indirectly. All right, so that's the family.
Then there's the church. Look there at letter E, 2 Kings
2 verse 12. And Elisha saw it and he cried,
My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof.
Now who is that? That's Elijah. Elijah is a prophet
of God. Elisha is his understudy. And the mantle, we use this phrase
to this day, the mantle of Elijah falls down on Elisha. It's where
the superior hands off his position to the inferior. And in this
case, it's in the church. This is the prophetic office.
The man who preaches the word of God is called his father by
Elisha when Elijah ascends in chariots of fire. Second Kings
13, 14. Now Elisha was fallen sick of
his sickness whereof he died, and Joash the king of Israel
came down unto him and wept over his face and said, O my father,
my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof, think
of that, the chief magistrate of the whole nation, comes to
the prophet Elisha and refers to him as my father. I will submit myself to your
authority. I will appeal to you as my superior. Why? Well, because just being
the king of Israel doesn't exempt you from ecclesiastical authority.
Just like being an ecclesiastical superior doesn't exempt you from
civil authority. Those things are meant by God
to interplay and interchange with each other. They're meant
to cooperate by God. The church and the state are
separate jurisdictions that God intends to cooperate. Just like
the family and the state, just like the church and the family,
so the church and the state, God has designed them to cooperate. So the supreme civil magistrate
recognizes the ecclesiastical superiority. The church or the
spiritual power of Elisha the prophet. All right, Galatians
4 19. My little children of whom I
travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. Now
you also see this very clearly with 1 John, where John refers
to those receiving his letter as his little children with tenderness
and care. But here notice The whole church,
all the churches of Galatia, the Apostle Paul could call them
his little children. And he could refer to himself
under the figure of speech of a mother, of whom I travail in
birth again. It's like going through labor
a second time with the second children. The same children are
coming forth. But he's laboring, he's working
hard, he's experiencing pain, just like he had the first time
they were brought to spiritual life. Now the second time, you're
making me do this all over again. But notice, my little children,
though he was an apostle of Jesus Christ, he looked upon them as
his children. Isaiah, letter F there, Isaiah
here in the Commonwealth. Isaiah 49 verse 23, speaking
to the people of God after their days of humiliation, now in their
days of exaltation, he says, And kings shall be thy nursing
fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers. They shall bow
down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up
the dust of thy feet, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord,
for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me. You'll notice here the irony.
On the one hand, the kings and queens are referred to as fathers
and mothers, right? So the people of God are going
to look to them as superior in the commonwealth. But then what
are the kings and the queens also going to do to them? They're
going to bow their face down to the earth. That's a sign of
respect. That's a sign of inferiority. They're going to go down. They're
going to lift you up. So they will be your superiors
in these things. You will be their superiors in
those things, you see. So it's a recognition of the
twofold. There's the ecclesiastical superiority. There's the civil
superiority. An honor must go from each to
each, if that makes sense. The magistrates must be honored
as fathers and mothers, kings and queens. And then you have
the the people of God, his prophets, so to speak, being honored by
the civil magistrate by their due submission to their government
in their sphere. That's extremely important. In
totalitarianism, there can be no other spheres of superiority.
It must only be the state that is superior. In God's economy,
There are always jurisdictions. There's the family, there's the
church, there's the state. And there must be a mutual flow
of honor and respect. The state must honor the authority
of the father and the mother in their own household. The church
must honor the authority of the father and the mother in their
own household. The state must honor the church
in its superiority in spiritual matters. The church must honor
the state in its superiority in civil matters. And this is
exactly how God designed society to work. When you have any kind
of hostility among the jurisdictions, what do you find? You have an
incomplete society. You have a corrupt society. You have a tyrannical society. And one of those jurisdictions
There are families who will not recognize the authority of the
church. That's a corruption in this teaching, what scripture
says. You have states that are totalitarian who say, no way. You have churches that teach
people they owe no allegiance to the civil magistrate. Actually
the Church of Rome teaches that. They say, you see this, if one
of their priests happens to be a pervert, Do they turn him over
to the magistrate? What do they do? Shuffle him
off to another parish, so he can continue his perversity,
because their doctrine is, we're under the authority of the Pope.
We're not under the authority of any civil government. Samuel
Adams, in his own way, you know, founding father, the beer guy,
he said, his view was, tolerate all sorts of Christians except
the Roman Catholics. Because they have an allegiance
to a foreign government and they're anti-Christian. Don't accept
them. Everybody else, fine. We'll let you be, you know. He
had his own beliefs. He was very strong in his beliefs.
He's willing to tolerate all kinds of Christians. That's where
he drew the line. No Roman Catholics. Because their authority structure
is the Pope is a civil head. He has two keys. The key to the
kingdom of God and the key to the thrones of the earth, he
says. He believes that he inherited
from Constantine on the day of his baptism. That Constantine
gave him the whole of Western civilization and all the kingdoms
under his dominion to the Pope himself. It's called the donation
of Constantine. They made it up and forged it.
And in the book of Revelation it says the same thing. That
the red dragon of Rome, the pagan Rome, would give his authority
and his seat. to the ecclesiastical Rome. So it kind of matches what
scripture says anyways. But here you'll notice there's
no snubbing of civil authority in the Bible. Even though there
is an ecclesiastical superiority and they'll bow and lick your
feet, you still owe them honor as father and mother. You still
owe them respect. You still owe them obedience.
You still have to recognize their superiority. So just to review,
And we'll pick up, God willing, on page four next time. So we
looked at, which is the fifth commandment? Honor thy father
and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which
the Lord thy God giveth thee. We looked at who are meant by
father and mother. By father and mother in the fifth
commandment are meant not only your natural parents, then on
page two, but all superiors in age and gifts, then on page three,
And especially such as by God's ordinance are over us in place
of authority, whether in family, church, or commonwealth. Again,
those separate jurisdictions that are intended to cooperate.
All right, let's close our time together in prayer. And again,
just a reminder, if you have any questions, please write them
down. And we can talk about them too
afterwards, but write them down so that the benefit can be for
others who can't be here and be with us. And then I will take
those questions up and answer those at the beginning of our
next session. All right, let's close in prayer. Our Father in heaven.
The 5th Commandment In General, Part 1
Series 5th CMD Study_24
| Sermon ID | 5162412917575 |
| Duration | 41:57 |
| Date | |
| Category | Teaching |
| Bible Text | Ephesians 6:1-2; Exodus 20:12 |
| Language | English |
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