The Fifth Commandment 04/23/2023

First Baptist Church Leominster

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James version. Now, as we introduced this last week, but rather God only, and this teaching was becoming quite pronounced in the second century, it became a great heresy that had to be dealt with, but it was being dealt with by John here.

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They were mixed up in the good churches, and so there was a lot of confusion, a lot of error. How do you determine who's a true

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Christian and who's not? And so John wrote this epistle, and there are many tests here as to distinguish true

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Christians from those who are not, and we have that set before us here in 1st

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John chapter 2 as well. My little children, these things write

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I unto you that ye sin not, and if any man sin, we have an advocate with the

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Father Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is a propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

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And hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He that saith,

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I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

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But whoso keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him.

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He that saith, he abides in him, ought himself also to walk even as he walked.

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Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which you had from the beginning.

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The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. Again a new commandment

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I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.

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He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.

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He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

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But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

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I write unto you little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. I write unto you fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning.

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I write unto you young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you little children, because you have known the father.

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I have written unto you fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning.

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And I have written unto you young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.

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Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the father is not in him.

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For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the father, but is of the world.

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And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

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Little children, it is the last time, and as you have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many

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Antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us.

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For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out, that they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us.

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But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you, because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

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Who is a liar, but he that deceiveth, or he that denieth that Jesus is the

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Christ, he is Antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the

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Son, the same hath not the Father. But he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the

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Father also. Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning.

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If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the

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Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.

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These things I have written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abides in you, and ye need not that any man teach you.

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But as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

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And now little children abide in him, that when he shall appear we may have confidence, and be not ashamed before him at his coming.

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If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him.

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Let's pray. Father, although there are many people in this world that profess to know you, profess to be true

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Christians, we thank you, our God, that you've set forth in your word tests by which we can not only consider them, but we can consider ourselves also.

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That we might be better able to affirm ourselves that we truly have come to Christ.

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We thank you, our God, that when we sin as Christians, that we have an advocate with you, our Father, even

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Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. That he'll stand on our behalf and testify that we are his, we who have believed on him.

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We thank you, our God, that his death provided a propitiation for us, and that it appeased your wrath, and so that you're no longer angry with us, your people, but at peace because of Jesus Christ having paid for our sins.

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And Father, we know that we belong to you because you have put it within us to keep your commandments.

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No, none of us do perfectly, but it is our desire, and we do attempt, our

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God, to conform our thinking and our lives to your word. Help us, our God, not to be liars, claiming to know you, but purposing intentionally to live according to our own laws, our own word, our own will.

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Help us to keep your word, and in this your love will be perfected in us.

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We pray, our God, that you would cause your love to be a shed abroad in our hearts, that we would truly obey and follow this new commandment to love one another, even as you have loved us.

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For those who love the Christian brethren are in the light and walk in the light.

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Those who hate the Christian brethren and sisters are in darkness, and they walk in darkness, and they're clueless as to their true condition.

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Help us, our God, to be faithful. Help us to not love the world, neither the things in the world, for we know, our

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God, that anyone who loves the world is an enemy of yours, but rather help us to love you, and help us, our

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God, to resist and to resent everything in the world that so easily seems to allure us, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, our

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God, that fallen man desires and seeks after and pursues. Deliver us, our

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God, from this sin, for we know the world is passing away in the lust thereof, but he who abides in your will will abide forever.

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And so help us, our God, to live in faith in the Lord Jesus and to walk with you in faithfulness as you enable us, our

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God, by the blessed presence and power of the Holy Spirit. We thank you, our

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God, that you've given us an anointing, we who are Christians, that we know who Jesus Christ is.

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He's truly God, he's truly man, and no one or nothing can convince us otherwise because you've anointed us to this truth, our

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God, and therefore we need no one to teach us of these things because we know him who is true.

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Help us to live accordingly, we pray. And now, Father, we pray as Pastor Jason comes and opens your word to us that you would enable us to apply this fifth commandment to our lives, to honor those in authority over us, particularly our parents, our mothers and dads, our

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God. Help us to be dutiful and submissive and obedient children, our

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God, not only to our human parents but most of all, of course, to you, our Heavenly Father.

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And so help us, help us also, our God, to show regard and respect to those persons in positions of authority that you've placed them.

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Although we may not respect their persons because of what they say and teach and do, help us to respect the position to which you have placed them.

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Thank you, our God, that you are the king of this world and you are ordering everything for your glory and for our ultimately good.

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And we pray you keep us in this truth, our God, living for you faithfully until Christ comes.

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Help Pastor Jason now impart your word to us. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

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This morning we continue our study of the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20, verses 1 to 17.

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Thus far we have covered the first four commandments up to verse 11. So please turn with me to the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter 20.

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By way of reminder, let's read the first 11 verses. And God spoke all these words saying,

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I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

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You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that it is in the water under the earth.

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You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous

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God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

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You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

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Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a

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Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male servant or your female servant, or your livestock or the sojourner who is within your gates.

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For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day.

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Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. God spoke all these words and each one of these words reflect his character.

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The law of God reveals the character of the lawgiver. Each one of these commandments was engraved and imprinted with the being, the nature, and the attributes of the

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Lord God. In the first commandment, verse 3, we're commanded to have no other gods but the

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Lord God. You shall not put any other gods before the Lord God.

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You shall not put any other gods before the face of the Lord God. You shall not follow, you shall not serve, you shall not worship any other so -called

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God but the Lord God alone. In the second commandment, verses 4 to 6, we are commanded to worship the

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Lord God in the right manner. You shall not worship the Lord your

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God by using carved images or any other likeness of anything in heaven, on earth, or under the earth.

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You shall not bow down to man -made images or idols. You shall not worship them nor serve them.

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Rather, the Lord God is to be worshipped in spirit and truth in a manner that is consistent or regulated by the

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Scriptures. In the third commandment, verse 7, we are commanded to hallow or revere the name of the

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Lord God by not taking the name of the Lord God in vain. You shall not use the name of the

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Lord your God in an irreverent or superficial manner. In your speech, in your actions, and the entirety of your lives, the name of the

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Lord God must be employed in a thoughtful, meaningful, and reverent manner.

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In the fourth commandment, verses 8 to 11, we are commanded to remember the

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Sabbath day to keep it holy. One whole day in seven is to be set apart and sanctified.

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One whole day in seven should be treated differently from the other six days of the week.

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The Sabbath day is kept holy when we celebrate the day as a day that is different and distinct from every other day.

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So in the first commandment, worshiping a false God is forbidden.

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You shall have no other gods before me. In the second commandment, worshiping the right

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God in a false manner is forbidden. You shall not make for yourself a carved image to worship or to use as an aid in worship.

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In the third commandment, any abusing or profaning the name of the

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Lord God is forbidden. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

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And in the fourth commandment, forgetting and corrupting the Sabbath day is forbidden.

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Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. The first four commandments belong to the first table of the

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Ten Commandments, and these four commandments address and govern our relationship to the

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Lord God. The last six commandments belong to the second table of the

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Ten Commandments, and these address and govern our relationship with others. Thus, the first table of the

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Ten Commandments is vertical. They pertain to our relationship with the Lord God.

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And the second table of the Ten Commandments is horizontal. They pertain to our relationship with our fellow man.

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It's extremely important to understand the spiritual significance of this division.

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Unless you are right with the Lord God, the first table, you will never be right with your fellow man, the second table.

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And likewise, you cannot be right with the Lord God if you do not treat others rightly.

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The two tables of the Ten Commandments are interdependent upon one another. And the best summary of these two tables is found in the book of Matthew.

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Matthew 22, verses 37 to 40. And he said to him, you shall love the

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Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

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This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it.

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You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.

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The Westminster Larger Catechism states in question 102, what is the sum of the first four commandments which contain our duty to God?

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The answer, the sum of the four commandments containing our duty to God, is to love the

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Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength. And with all our mind.

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And in question 122, what is the sum of the six commandments which contain our duty to man?

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Answer, the sum of the six commandments which contain our duty to man is to love our neighbor as ourselves and to do to others what we would have them do to us.

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Beloved, in your life, love for the Lord God must come first.

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Love for the Lord God must you be your priority. If you do not love the

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Lord God, then you will never be able to love your fellow man. And conversely, if you do not love your fellow man, if you do not love your neighbor as yourself, then you do not love the

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Lord God. You don't love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

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You cannot be right with others unless you are first right with God. And unless you are right with God, you cannot be right with others.

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It's important to keep these principles in mind as we begin the second table of the 10 commandments.

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Commandments 5 to 10. Let's look at the text together.

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Commandment number 5, Exodus 20 verse 12. Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the

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Lord your God is giving you. Well what is the command? The command is to honor your father and your mother.

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Children are to honor their parents. The term honor is an interesting word.

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In the Hebrew language, which is the language of the Old Testament, the literal meaning of honor is heavy, or to weigh heavily.

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The term refers to something that is heavy, or something that is of great weight.

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In honoring your father and your mother, you are giving great weight to them.

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This same term can also be translated as glory, as in giving glory to the

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Lord God. To give glory to the Lord God is to ascribe to him the utmost significance and the highest priority to his being, to his word, and to his work.

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To glorify the Lord God means that we will attach or assign to him preeminence, the highest place, the greatest place, because the

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Lord God is worthy. Children are commanded to honor their fathers and their mothers in a similar way.

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Children are to attach great weight and great significance to their parents.

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Children are to attach great value and great worth to their parents because of their position as parents makes them worthy.

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You see the Lord God is a sovereign God. The Lord God is over all things and in his sovereignty, the

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Lord God has ordained and chosen families. According to the eternal decree of the

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Lord God, children are placed in the homes of their parents. The construct of your family, your parents, your siblings, comes from the hand of the

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Lord God. It has been specifically chosen and put together by the Lord God.

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Children are commanded to honor their parents, not because of their intrinsic worth, but because of their

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God -ordained position as father and mother. In contrast, the opposite of honoring your father and your mother is to dishonor your father and your mother.

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Rather than giving great weight to them, you give very little weight to them.

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To dishonor your parents is to treat them lightly. It's to treat them as insignificant and unimportant.

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To dishonor your father and your mother is to treat them in a dismissive, disregarding, inflippant manner, as if they didn't matter at all.

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This command to honor your parents is an enduring command that will extend throughout your entire life.

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For children, the command to honor your father and mother primarily involves obedience.

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Ephesians 6, 1 and 2. Children, obey your parents and the Lord for this is right.

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Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.

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Paul is even more specific in the book of Colossians. Colossians 3 .20. Children, obey your parents in everything for this pleases the

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Lord. In everything, children are to obey their parents for obedience is pleasing to the

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Lord. Children are to obey their parents for this is right. The term obey is a and to hear.

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Children are to give their full attention to and comply with the instruction of their parents.

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Children must do this by consciously and volitionally aligning themselves under their parents.

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In other words, to obey means that you will line up under your parents, you will listen to your parents with a readiness to execute.

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The Heidelberg Catechism states question 104. What is God's will for you in the fifth commandment?

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Answer, that I honor, love, and be loyal to my father and mother and all those in authority over me.

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That I submit myself with proper obedience to all their good teaching and discipline and also that I be patient with their failings for through them

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God chooses to rule. Proverbs 20 .20

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says if one curses his father or his mother his lamp will be put out in utter darkness.

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Proverbs 23 .22 listen to your father who gave you life and do not despise your mother when she is old.

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In our day and age it is quite common to see children operate with a complete and utter disregard for their parents.

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The warnings of the parents are ignored, the instruction and counsel of the parents are ignored, the voice and the authority of the parents are ignored.

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Many children simply discount and dismiss their fathers and their mothers and for many parents this is just a normal aspect of everyday life.

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One of the marks of the prevailing wickedness of the last days is disobedient children.

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In writing to Timothy, Paul wrote, 2nd Timothy 3 verses 1 to 5, but understand this, in the last days there will come times of difficulty for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self -control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power.

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Avoid such people. In the book of Romans there is a list of horrifyingly wicked sins that are ascribed to those who did not see fit to acknowledge the

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Lord God any longer. So the Lord God gave them up to a debased mind to do that which ought not to be done.

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And what was the result? Romans 129, they were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice, they are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness, they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless, though they know

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God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but they give approval to those who practice them.

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Children, that is quite a list, isn't it? Being disobedient to your parents is not an insignificant sin, it's a big deal.

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Being disobedient to your parents is nestled right in there between being an inventor of evil and being foolish, being abusive and being ungrateful.

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There are no little sins, only little sinners. Do not be one of them.

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Honor your father and honor your mother. Well, what if your parents don't deserve honor?

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What if your parents are unloving, uncaring, and unfair? What if your parents are selfish and hypocritical?

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What if your parents are great blasphemers against the Lord God? Then do you need to honor them?

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Yes, even then. There are no qualifications to the fifth commandment.

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Deuteronomy 516, honor your father and your mother as the Lord God commanded you, that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the

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Lord your God is giving you. There are no loopholes, there are no stipulations or conditions, there is no fine print.

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The Lord God commands that honor be given to fathers, that honor be given to mothers.

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It is a clear and simple, straightforward command. Sin, of course, makes everything more complicated.

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Sin makes everything far more difficult and far more problematic. Sin is a destructive and disastrous force, especially within the family unit.

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Our sin is like a pebble thrown into a pond. It produces a ripple effect that it spreads far and wide, from spouse to spouse, from parent to child, from child to parent, from child to child, from family to family.

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No one sins alone. Sin grievously affects everyone around us, but it especially affects those closest to us.

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It especially affects our loved ones. And parents, this is the reason why it is so monumentally important that you are walking in a manner that is pleasing to the

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Lord God, that you are walking in a manner that is worthy of honor. Our children see us at our worst when we're sick, tired, frustrated, angry, anxious, fearful, depressed.

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Our children clearly see our shortcomings. Our children clearly see our weaknesses, our failures, our limitations.

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Our children can clearly see our hypocrisy. And it can be hard for children to honor their parents if they do not respect their parents.

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No parent is perfect, but you must pursue.

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You must strive. You must discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. To be a good parent, you must first be a good

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Christian. This has got to be the foundation for everything else.

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Parents, you must first love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

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Beloved, your children need to see that the priority in your life is the Lord God, that your passion is the

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Lord God, that every breath you breathe is for the praise, glory, and honor of the

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Lord God alone. And not just in your words, in your deeds, and not just in public, but behind closed doors, not just Sunday mornings, but every other day of the week as well, through the good times and the bad.

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Beloved, you must be, and your child must see, that you are the embodiment of the psalmist's cry.

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Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

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My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, and God is my portion forever.

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Psalm 73. Beloved, does your life accurately reflect these words?

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Is there nothing on earth that you desire besides the Lord God? Is God the strength of your heart?

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Is God your portion forever? If your heart fails, if your health fails, if your flesh slowly wastes away, are you content with the

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Lord God alone? Or do your attitudes and your actions reflect something else?

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Again, in Paul's letter to Timothy, he writes that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.

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And after listing 18 different sins, he then describes the hypocrite.

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2 Timothy 3 .5, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power.

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Avoid such people. Sadly, this description can be used to some within the church.

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There are many Christians, including Christian parents, who have an appearance of godliness but deny its power.

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In this passage, the word for appearance refers to the outward shape or the form of something.

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The term refers to a silhouette, a vague outline, or a fuzzy shadow of something.

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Those having the appearance of godliness are like the scribes and the Pharisees, who the Lord Jesus Christ described as brilliant whitewashed tombs on the outside.

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But on the inside, they were filled with rot and decay and bones of the dead.

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Those having the appearance of godliness are not concerned with the internal, as long as it looks pretty on the external.

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Those having the appearance of godliness are not concerned with their character but with their appearance.

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All of the emphasis is on the external outer man rather than on the internal inner man.

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To focus all of your energy on the external is to be an empty shell. It is to be a hollow man.

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It is to be a spiritual fraud and a hypocrite. Sadly, there are many

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Christian homes that are hollow, that are empty. There are many

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Christian parents who are a silhouette or a mere shadow of godliness, parents who lack true form, parents who lack true substance, parents who lack sincere and authentic godliness.

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And the main problem with this appearance of godliness is that while they are holding on to this empty facade, they are in reality denying the true and gracious, life -giving power of the gospel to their detriment and to the detriment of their children.

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I would argue that this is one of the major causes of the weakened state of the Christian family. This is one of the major reasons why

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Christian children are leaving the church. Empty and powerless and hypocritical

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Christianity. How do you expect the light of the gospel to penetrate the darkness when your beacon is not even lit?

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How do you expect to successfully evangelize the lost when your own life denies the authority and the power of the

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Lord God? How do you expect to raise your children in the fear, discipline, and instruction of the

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Lord when your own spiritual life is a wreck? When your own spiritual life is in shambles?

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Beloved, this appearance of godliness, this form of godliness, this empty and hollow godliness is ruining the family.

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And this empty form of godliness is ruining the church. The question

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I'd like to ask you today, each one of you, but especially parents, what truth is reflected in your life?

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What truth is reflected in your words, in your works, and your daily dealings with others?

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Do you reflect the glory of the Lord God? Do you reflect the power of the

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Lord God? Does your marriage reflect these things? Do your family, friends, and co -workers see the light of Christ shining through?

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Or do they see an empty hollowed -out shell? Do they see the appearance of godliness with no substance?

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Beloved, your love for the Lord God must be all -encompassing. It must be all -consuming.

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There should be nothing else in your life that comes even remotely close to your love and affection for the

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Lord God. Luke 14 26, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

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Verse 33, so therefore any of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

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A disciple's love for the Lord God, your love for the Lord Jesus Christ must be so great and so intense and so vast that every other relationship is like hatred by comparison.

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And your children must see and experience your love for the

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Lord God. Christian children, children and general, they look, they listen, and they learn from our lives much, much more than from our words.

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If you preach and proclaim Christianity but you practice hypocrisy, your children will not be inclined to honor either you nor the

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Lord Jesus Christ nor anyone else. Parents, you must be an example of godliness in your home.

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Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. Live a life that is worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

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Live a life that is worthy of the Lord Jesus Christ being fully pleasing to him. Live a life that is worthy of honor.

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Don't be a stumbling block to your children. Be an example. Be an example that your children can follow.

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Living an honorable life can influence your children to do the same. Of course, example alone will only get you so far.

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Not only must you be an example of godliness, but parents must also teach their children to love and to fear the

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Lord God. Deuteronomy 6, verses 5 to 7, you shall love the

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Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

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You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise.

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Christian parents are to impart maximum effort to teach their children about the

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Lord God. This is one of the highest priorities of the Christian family. Even though there are other important tasks and responsibilities, there is none greater than the spiritual training of our children.

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There is none more important, nor has greater implications than this responsibility.

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And the teaching and training of our children is not a once -in -a -while activity. It's not a one -time act.

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Rather, it is to be continuous. It needs to be happening all the time. Beloved, you need to be bringing up your children in the discipline and instruction of the

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Lord when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

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Training our children is to be a constant and continuous endeavor. And the primary learning environment that the

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Lord God has given to us is the family, the home. The context of the family is the most natural setting for parents to communicate and display the truth of the

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Lord God to their children. In 2002, the

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Southern Baptist Council on Family Life completed a study on the American family. According to their research, the majority of children in America have less than 10 minutes of significant and meaningful conversation with their parents each week.

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Less than 10 minutes. But even more disturbing, the study continues, if you remove the mother, you can measure this statistic in seconds.

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If you remove the mother, you measure this statistic in seconds. It's no wonder children struggle in honoring their parents.

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The parents are never around. What I find extremely unsettling about this statistic is that the scriptures teach that the training of children unmistakably falls to the father, not the mother.

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Mothers are included in the training, but the responsibility to train children falls to the father.

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The biblical pattern that is outlined in the scripture is that the role of the father is to instruct and teach the children.

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Fathers, you are responsible to teach your children the truth of the scriptures.

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Psalm 78, verse 5, he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise to tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.

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Ephesians 6, 4, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the

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Lord. One of the reasons why so many children walk away from the truth, walk away from the church, is because fathers have failed in their responsibility.

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They have failed to train up their children. Fathers, how much time do you spend on trivial things?

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How much time do you spend in recreational activities or hobbies or just by yourself?

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How much time do you spend away from your family, away from your children?

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How much time do you spend in the Word? How much time do you spend in prayer, in meditation?

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How much time do you spend training your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord? How much time do you spend explaining theological difficulties to your children?

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How much time do you spend warning them of the dangers of sin and the consequence that sin brings?

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How much quality time do you spend with them? Beloved, our failures as fathers, as husbands, this has far -reaching effects in our home and in our church, far -reaching effects.

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And these failures stem oftentimes from that empty form of godliness, from the denial of the true power of the gospel of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. We need to repent of these things.

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We need to seek to know the Lord God. We need to learn the fear of the Lord God.

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We need to strive to honor and obey the Lord God. We must love the

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Lord God with all our hearts, with all our souls, and with all our minds. And we need to diligently teach our children to know

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God. We need to diligently teach our children to fear God. We need to diligently teach our children the law of God when we sit down, when we rise up, when we walk by the way, when we lie down.

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I came across a very convicting quote from Woodrow Wilson, our 28th president of the

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United States, when he was the president of Princeton University. He spoke the following words to a group of parents.

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He writes, I get many letters from you parents about your children. You want to know why we people up here in Princeton can't make more out of them and do more for them.

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Let me tell you the reason we can't. It may shock you just a little, but I'm not trying to be rude.

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The reason is that they are your sons, reared in your homes, bone of your bone, blood of your blood.

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They have absorbed the ideals of your homes. You have formed and fashioned them, and they are your sons.

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In those malleable, moldable years of their lives, you have forever left your imprint upon them.

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Beloved, what kind of imprint are you going to leave on your children?

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Will it be an imprint of godliness? Will it be an imprint of the appearance of godliness?

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Or will it be something else? Be diligent to teach your children the sound words of our

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Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness. Be diligent to work hard to be an example to your children so that they might follow.

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Always remember that your sin will cause a ripple effect that will spread throughout your family.

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So turn away from your sin, turn to the Lord God, fix your eyes on the

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Lord Jesus Christ, and pursue holiness. Live a life that is worthy of honor.

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Children, there is one more very important point that needs to be made. Even when our parents live honorable lives, very often it is still difficult to honor and obey them.

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But the Fifth Commandment gives us a wonderful promise to help motivate you in this struggle.

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Exodus 20 12, honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the

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Lord your God is giving you. Deuteronomy 5 16, honor your father and your mother as the

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Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land.

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To children who honor their parents, to children who obey their parents, the Lord God promises long life.

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He promises a good life, an abundant life, that your days may be long and that it may go well with you.

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The Westminster Shorter Catechism states, what is the reason annexed to the Fifth Commandment?

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The reason annexed 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.

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The Lord God will bless your obedience to your parents. The Lord God will bless the honor you bestow upon your parents.

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Children, this is your duty. This is the Lord God's command. Honor your father and your mother.

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In closing, I want to share a passage from the wisest man who ever lived. Proverbs chapter 4, hear my son and accept my words that the years of your life may be many.

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I have taught you the way of wisdom. I have led you in the paths of uprightness. When you walk, your step will not be hampered and if you run, you will not stumble.

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Keep hold of instruction. Do not let it go. Guard her for she is your life.

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Proverbs 6, my son, keep your father's commandment and forsake not your mother's teaching.

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Bind them on your heart always. Tie them around your neck. When you walk, they will lead you.

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When you lie down, they will watch over you. When you awake, they will talk with you for the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light and the reproves of discipline are the way of life.

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Children, may honor and obedience become your way of life. Let's pray.

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Lord God, we confess to you that we have all broken the fifth commandment.

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As children, we have not obeyed our parents. We have not honored our parents. And as parents, we have not raised our children rightly.

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Lord, we confess our failures. We confess our sin. And Lord, we ask that we would have a right view of these things.

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Lord, help us to see clearly. We pray for the children of this church. We pray for our children. We pray that you would strengthen them.

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We pray that you would open their eyes to see the truth. We pray, Lord, that they would walk in obedience to this command so that they might have a long life, that they might have a wonderfully blessed life.

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Lord, I pray for each one of the parents here. I pray, Lord, that we would live a life that is worthy, that we would live a life that is worthy of our calling.

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Lord, help us to pursue you chiefly. Help us to pursue you above all other things.

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We pray, Lord, that when our children look at our lives, even our adult children, that they would see that mom and dad are sold out for the

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Lord Jesus Christ and there isn't anything that can come between them and the Lord.

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We pray, Lord, that this would be heard in our words, that it would be seen in our actions. We pray,

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Lord, that our testimony would shine forth. We pray,

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Lord, for protection for our children. The world is a wicked place. It has many temptations and many allurements, and they're very attractive, but Lord, they are all a lie, and we pray that our children would see that.

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We pray that we would instruct them in that way. We pray, Lord, that we would be parents that are living for you, that are raising our kids, that are teaching our kids, and we ask,

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Lord, that you would do a tremendous work in each one of our lives. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.