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Now, as we introduced this last week,
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but rather God only, and this.
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Teaching was becoming quite pronounced in the second century, it became a great heresy that had to be dealt with,
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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.
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How do you determine who's a true Christian and who's not?
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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 John
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My little children, these things write I unto you that ye sin not, and if any man sin, we
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have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is a
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propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the
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And hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments.
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He that saith I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar, and the truth
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But whoso keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God perfected.
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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
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The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.
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Again a new commandment I write unto you which thing is true in him and in you, because
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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
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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.
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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.
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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've written unto you young men because you are strong and the word of God abideth in you and you have
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Love not the world neither the things that are in the world.
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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
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not of the Father but is of the world.
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And the world passeth away and the lust thereof.
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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
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are there many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time.
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They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they
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would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made
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manifest that they were not all of us.
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But ye have an unction from the Holy One and you know all things.
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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
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that Jesus is the Christ.
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He is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son.
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Whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the Father but he that acknowledgeth the
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Son hath the Father also.
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Let that therefore abide in you which you have heard from the beginning.
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If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you ye also shall continue in the Son and
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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.
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But the anointing which ye have received of him abides in you and you need not that any
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But as the same anointing teaches you of all things and is truth and is no lie
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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
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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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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
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not only consider them but we can consider ourselves also that we might
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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
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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
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wrath and so that you're no longer angry with us your people but at peace because of Jesus
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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
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attempt our God to conform our thinking and our lives to your word.
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Help us our God not to be liars claiming to know you but purposing intentionally to live
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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
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obey and follow this new commandment to love one another even as you have loved
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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
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clueless as to their true condition.
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Help us our God to be faithful.
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Help us to not love the world neither the things in the world for we know our God that anyone who loves the world is an enemy
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of yours but rather help us to love you and help us our God to resist and
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to resent everything in the world that so easily seems to allure us.
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The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life our God
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that fallen man desires and seeks after and pursues.
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Deliver us our God from this sin for we know the world is passing away and the lust thereof
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but he who abides in your will will abide forever and so help us our God to live in
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faith in the Lord Jesus and to walk with you in faithfulness as you enable us our God
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by the blessed presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
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We thank you our God that you've given us an anointing we who are Christians that we know who Jesus Christ
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is he's truly God he's truly man and no one or nothing can convince us
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otherwise because you've anointed us to this truth our God and therefore we need no
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one to teach us of these things because we know him who is true help us to live
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And now father we pray as Pastor Jason comes and opens your word to us that you would
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enable us to apply this fifth commandment to our lives to honor those in authority over
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us particularly our parents our mothers and dads our God help us to be dutiful
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and submissive and obedient children our God not only to our human parents
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but most of all of course to you our Heavenly Father and so help us help us also our God
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to to regard show regard and respect to those persons in positions of authority
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that you've you've you've placed them although we may not respect their persons because of what
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they say and teach and do help us to respect the position to which you have placed
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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
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our ultimately good and we pray you keep us in this truth our God living for you faithfully
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Help Pastor Jason now impart your.
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Word to us we pray in Jesus name Amen.
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This morning we continue our study of.
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Exodus 20 verses 1 to 17.
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Thus far we have covered the first four commandments up to verse 11.
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So please turn with me to the book of Exodus.
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Exodus chapter 20 by way of reminder.
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Let's read the first 11 verses.
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And God spoke all these words saying I am the Lord your God who brought
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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.
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You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above
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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.
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For I the Lord your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the
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children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me but showing steadfast love
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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
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guiltless who takes his name in vain.
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Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
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Six days you shall labor and do all your work.
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But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God on it you shall not do any work
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you or your son or your daughter your male servant or your female servant or your livestock
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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
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Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
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God spoke all these words and each one of these words
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The law of God reveals the character of the lawgiver.
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Each one of these commandments was engraved and imprinted with the being
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the nature and the attributes of the Lord God.
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In the first commandment verse 3 we're commanded to have no other gods but the Lord God.
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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.
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You shall not worship any other so -called God but the Lord God alone.
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In the second commandment verses 4 to 6 we are commanded to worship the Lord God in the
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You shall not worship the Lord your God by using carved images or any other
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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.
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You shall not worship them nor serve them.
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Rather the Lord God is to be worshiped in spirit and truth in a manner that is
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consistent or regulated by the scriptures.
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In the third commandment verse 7 we are commanded to hallow or revere the name
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of the Lord God by not taking the name of the Lord God in vain.
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You shall not use the name of the Lord your God in an irreverent or superficial manner
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in your speech in your actions and the entirety of your lives.
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The name of the Lord God must be employed in a thoughtful meaningful and
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In the fourth commandment verses 8 to 11 we are commanded to remember the Sabbath day
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One whole day and seven is to be set apart and sanctified.
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One whole day and 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
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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.
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In the second commandment worshiping the right God in a false manner is forbidden.
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You shall not make for yourself a carved image to worship or to use as an aid in
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In the third commandment any abusing or profaning the name of the Lord God is
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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.
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The first four commandments belong to the first table of the ten commandments
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and these four commandments address in govern our relationship to the Lord God.
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The last six commandments belong to the second table of the Ten Commandments and these address in
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government our relationship with others.
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The first table of the Ten Commandments is vertical they pertain to our
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relationship with the Lord God and the second table of the Ten Commandments is horizontal,
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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
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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 10 commandments are interdependent upon one another.
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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.
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And he said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul
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This is the great and first commandment.
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And the second is like it.
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You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
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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
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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 Lord
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our God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our strength and with all our
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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
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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 be your priority.
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If you do not love the Lord God, then you will never be able to love your fellow man.
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And conversely, if you do not love your fellow man, if you do not love your neighbor as yourself,
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then you do not love the Lord God.
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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.
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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
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Let's look at the text together.
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Commandment number five, Exodus 20, verse 12.
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Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God
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Well, what is the command?
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The command is to honor your father and your mother.
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Children are to honor their parents.
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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
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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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The same term can also be translated as glory, as in giving glory to the Lord God.
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To give glory to the Lord God is to ascribe to him the utmost significance and the
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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,
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the highest place, the greatest place, because the Lord God is worthy.
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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
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their position as parents makes them worthy.
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You see, the Lord God is a sovereign God.
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The Lord God is over all things, and in his sovereignty, the Lord God has ordained and
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According to the eternal decree of the Lord God, children are placed in the homes of their parents.
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The construct of your family, your parents, your siblings,
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comes from the hand of the Lord God.
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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
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because of their God -ordained position as father and mother.
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In contrast, the opposite of honoring your father and your mother is to dishonor your father
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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.
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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
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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
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For children, the command to honor your father and mother primarily involves obedience,
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Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
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Honor your father and mother.
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This is the first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the
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Paul is even more specific in the book of Colossians, Colossians 3 .20.
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Children, obey your parents in everything, for this
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In everything, children are to obey their parents, for obedience is pleasing
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Children are to obey their parents, for this is right.
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The term obey is a combination of two words, under and
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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
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In other words, to obey means that you will line up under your parents, you will listen to your
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parents with a readiness to execute.
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The Heidelberg Catechism states, question 104, what is God's will for you
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in the fifth commandment?
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Answer, that I honor, love, and be loyal to my father and mother
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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.
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And also, that I be patient with their failings.
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For through them, God chooses to rule.
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Proverbs 20 .20 says, if one curses his father or his mother, his lamp will be put
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Proverbs 23 .22, listen to your father who gave you life and do not despise your mother
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In our day and age, it is quite common to see children operate with a complete and utter
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The warnings of the parents are ignored.
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The instruction and counsel of the parents are ignored.
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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.
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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, 2 Timothy 3, verses one to five.
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But understand this, in the last days, there will come times of
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For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud,
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arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents.
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Ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self -control,
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brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit.
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Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.
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Having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.
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In the book of Romans, there is a list of horrifyingly wicked sins that
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are ascribed to those who did not see fit to acknowledge the Lord God any longer.
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So the Lord God gave them up to a debased mind to do that which ought not
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Romans 1 29, they were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil,
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They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness, they are gossips,
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slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors
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of evil, disobedient to parents.
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Foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless, though they know God's righteous decree that those who
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practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them, but they give approval to those who
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Children, that is quite a list, isn't it?
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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
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and being foolish, being abusive and being ungrateful.
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There are no little sins, only little sinners.
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Honor your father and honor your mother.
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Well, what if your parents don't deserve honor?
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What if your parents are unloving, uncaring, and unfair?
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What if your parents are selfish and hypocritical?
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What if your parents are great blasphemers against the Lord God?
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Then do you need to honor them?
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There are no qualifications to the fifth commandment.
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Deuteronomy 5 .16, honor your father and your mother as the Lord God commanded you,
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that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
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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.
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Sin, of course, makes everything more complicated.
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Sin makes everything far more difficult and far more problematic.
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Sin is a destructive and disastrous force, especially within the
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Our sin is like a pebble thrown into a pond.
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It produces a ripple effect that spreads far and wide from spouse to spouse,
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from parent to child, from child to parent, from child to child, from family to family.
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Sin grievously affects everyone around us, but it especially
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affects those closest to us.
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It especially affects our loved ones.
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And parents, this is the reason why it is so monumentally
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important that you are walking in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord God,
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that you are walking in a manner that is worthy of honor.
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Our children see us at our worst when we're sick, tired, frustrated,
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angry, anxious, fearful, depressed.
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Our children clearly see our shortcomings.
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Our children clearly see our weaknesses, our failures, our limitations.
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Our children can clearly see our hypocrisy.
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And it can be hard for children to honor their parents if they do not respect their parents.
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You must discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.
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To be a good parent, you must first be a good Christian.
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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
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Beloved, your children need to see that the priority in your life is the Lord God,
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that your passion is the Lord God, that every breath you breathe is for the praise,
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glory, and honor of the Lord God alone.
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And not just in your words, in your deeds, and not just in public,
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Not just Sunday mornings, but every other day of the week as well.
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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
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Whom have I in heaven but you?
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And there is nothing on earth that I desire beside you.
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My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart.
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And God is my portion forever.
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Beloved, does your life accurately reflect these words?
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Is there nothing on earth that you desire besides the Lord God?
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Is God the strength of your heart?
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Is God your portion forever?
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If your heart fails, if your health fails, if your flesh slowly wastes
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away, are you content with the Lord God alone?
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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
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And after listing 18 different sins, he then describes the hypocrite.
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Having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.
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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,
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In this passage, the word for appearance refers to the outward shape or the form
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The term refers to a silhouette, a vague outline, or a fuzzy shadow of
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Those having the appearance of godliness are like the scribes and the Pharisees, who the Lord Jesus Christ described as
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brilliant whitewashed tombs on the outside.
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But on the inside, they were filled with rot and decay and bones
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Those having the appearance of godliness are not concerned with the internal as long as
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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
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To focus all of your energy on the external is to be an empty shell.
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It is to be a hollow man.
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It is to be a spiritual fraud and a hypocrite.
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Sadly, there are many Christian homes that are hollow, that are empty.
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There are many Christian parents who are a silhouette or a mere shadow of godliness, parents who
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lack true form, parents who lack true substance, parents who lack
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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,
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they are in reality denying the true and gracious life -giving power of the gospel
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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.
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This is one of the major reasons why Christian children are leaving the church, empty and
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powerless and hypocritical Christianity.
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How do you expect the light of the gospel to penetrate the darkness when your beacon is
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How do you expect to successfully evangelize the lost when your own life denies the authority
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and the power of the Lord God?
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How do you expect to raise your children in the fear, discipline, and instruction of the Lord when your own
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spiritual life is a wreck?
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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
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godliness is ruining the family.
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And this empty form of godliness is ruining the church.
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The question I'd like to ask you today, each one of you, but especially parents,
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what truth is reflected in your life?
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What truth is reflected in your words, in your works, in your daily
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Do you reflect the glory of the Lord God?
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Do you reflect the power of the Lord God?
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Does your marriage reflect these things?
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Do your family, friends, and coworkers see the light of Christ shining through?
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Or do they see an empty, hollowed -out shell?
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Do they see the appearance of godliness with no
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Beloved, your love for the Lord God must be all -encompassing.
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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 for the Lord.
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There should be nothing else in your life.
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And affection for the Lord God.
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If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and
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children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
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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
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and so intense and so vast that every other
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relationship is like hatred by comparison.
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And your children must see and experience your love for the Lord God.
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Christian children, children in general, they look, they listen, and they
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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
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be inclined to honor either you nor the Lord Jesus Christ nor anyone else.
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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.
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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.
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Live a life that is worthy of honor.
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Don't be a stumbling block to your children.
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Be an example that your children can follow.
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Living an honorable life can influence your children to do the same.
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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
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love and to fear the Lord God.
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Deuteronomy 6, verses five to seven.
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You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.
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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,
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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 Lord God.
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This is one of the highest priorities of the Christian family.
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Even though there are other important tasks and responsibilities, there is none greater than
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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.
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It's not a one -time act.
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Rather, it is to be continuous.
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It needs to be happening all the time.
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Beloved, you need to be bringing up your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord when you sit in your
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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.
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And the primary learning environment that the Lord God has given to us is the family, the
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The context of the family is the most natural setting for parents to communicate and discuss and display the truth of
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the Lord God to their children.
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In 2002, the Southern Baptist Council on Family Life completed a study on the American family.
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According to their research, the majority of children in America have less than 10 minutes of significant
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and meaningful conversation with their parents each week.
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But even more disturbing, the study continues,.
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If you remove the mother,.
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You can measure this statistic in seconds.
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If you remove the mother,.
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You measure this statistic in seconds.
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It's no wonder children struggle in honoring their parents.
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The parents are never around.
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What I find extremely unsettling about this statistic is that the scriptures teach that the training of children
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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
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Fathers, you are responsible to teach your children the truth of the scriptures.
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He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers
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to teach their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn,
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and arise to tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God
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and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.
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Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline
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and instruction of the Lord.
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One of the reasons why so many children walk away from the truth, walk away from the church,
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is because fathers have failed in their responsibility.
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They have failed to train up their children.
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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?
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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?
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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?
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Beloved, our failures as fathers, as husbands, this has far -reaching
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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,
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from the denial of the true power of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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We need to repent of these things.
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We need to seek to know the Lord God.
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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.
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We must love the Lord God with all our hearts, with all our souls, and with all our minds.
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And we need to diligently teach our children to know God.
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We need to diligently teach our children to fear God.
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We need to diligently teach our children the law of God when we sit down, when we
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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
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president of the United States, when he was the president of Princeton University.
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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.
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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.
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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
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your bone, blood of your blood.
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They have absorbed the ideals of your homes.
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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
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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?
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Will it be an imprint of the appearance of godliness?
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Or will it be something else?
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Be diligent to teach your children the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that
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Be diligent to work hard, to be an example to your children so that they might
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Always remember that your sin will cause a ripple effect that
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will spread throughout your family.
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So turn away from your sin.
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Fix your eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ and pursue holiness.
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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.
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Even when our parents live honorable lives, very often it is still difficult to
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But the fifth commandment gives us a wonderful promise to help motivate you in this struggle.
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Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God
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Honor your father and your mother as the Lord your God commanded you that your days may be long and that
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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
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He promises a good life, an abundant life, that your days may be long
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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 command?
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The reason annexed to the fifth commandment is a promise of long life and prosperity
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as far as it shall serve for God's glory and their own good to all such as keep this
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The Lord God will bless your obedience to your parents.
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The Lord God will bless the honor you bestow upon your parents.
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Children, this is your duty.
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This is the Lord God's command.
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Honor your father and your mother.
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In closing, I wanna share a passage from the wisest man who ever lived.
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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.
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I have led you in the paths of uprightness.
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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.
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Guard her for she is your life.
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My son, keep your father's commandment and forsake not your mother's teaching.
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Bind them on your heart always.
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Tie them around your neck.
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When you walk, they will lead you.
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When you lie down, they will watch over you.
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When you awake, they will talk with you for the commandment is a lamp and the
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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.
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Lord God, we confess to you that we have all
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broken the fifth commandment.
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As children, we have not obeyed our parents.
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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.
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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.
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We pray for the children of this church.
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We pray for our children.
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We pray that you would strengthen them.
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We pray that you would open their eyes to see the truth.
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We pray, Lord, that they would walk in obedience to this command so that they might have a long life, that they might
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have a wonderfully blessed life.
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Lord, I pray for each one of the parents here.
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I pray, Lord, that we would live a life that is worthy, that we would live a life that is
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Lord, help us to pursue you chiefly.
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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
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and dad are sold out for the Lord Jesus Christ and there isn't anything that can come between them
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We pray, Lord, that this would be heard in our words, that it would be seen in our actions.
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We pray, Lord, that our testimony would shine forth.
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We pray, Lord, for protection for our children.
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The world is a wicked place.
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It has many temptations and many allurements, and they're very attractive, but Lord, they are all a
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And we pray that our children would see that.
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We pray that we would instruct them in that way.
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We pray, Lord, that we would be parents that are
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living for you, that are raising our kids, that are teaching our kids.
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And we ask, Lord, that you would do a tremendous work in each one of our lives.
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Thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name, amen.