In the sermon titled 'Fifth Commandment – A Commandment About Honor,' Scott Brown explores the extensive implications of the Fifth Commandment: 'Honor your father and your mother.' The sermon emphasizes that this commandment is universally applicable, touching the core of human relationships and the principle of honor that God establishes for harmonious living. Brown discusses the innate human tendency towards rebellion, as seen in the natural inclination to say 'no,' and how this commandment offers a path to freedom from the burdens of dishonor, promising prosperity and longevity for obedience. He highlights the commandment's role in forming the foundation of societal structures starting from the family, as it is the training ground for all relationships. The sermon also draws parallels between the Fourth and Fifth Commandments, emphasizing the interconnectedness of family and church life, where the family upholds the Sabbath and values that strengthen the church. Brown further discusses the broader scriptural applications of honor, extending it to elders, spouses, employers, and civil authorities, illustrating the pervasive nature of honor in Christian life. The sermon concludes with the call for introspection and repentance for dishonor, urging listeners to embody the spirit of Christ, who perfectly honored His Father, thus fulfilling the commandment. Brown underscores the blessings that come from obedience, including increased quality and longevity of life, and the generational impact of living in accordance with God's commandments.

Okay, please turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 5 and verse 16. Deuteronomy 5, 16. As we're stepping our way through the Ten Commandments, we now here arrive at the Fifth Commandment, which reads, honor your father and your mother as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be long and that it may be well with you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you." Let's pray. Oh Lord, we pray for help, to understand and to obey. And Lord, I pray that you would guard my tongue and guard all of our hearts now, that we might not sin, but acquire a heart of wisdom from what you have delivered to us today.

In Jesus' name, Amen. Well, this fifth commandment is enormously practical for every single person in the room who isn't a son or a daughter here. So it applies to all. There's no target market here, it's everyone. And it's a fascinating command because it brings up many questions.

How about this one? Why is it that for most children, the first word that they utter from their lips is the word no, right? It's because deep within the heart of the human spirit is the principle of I am and know to you. And so when we come to the first command, or the fifth commandment, we come to something that touches every part of our being from the time that we were born. The heart of the matter here, I think, is so critical to understand.

And it's this, that God, in his mercy toward his children, would make a way for them to be set free from the burdens, from the devastation, from the cursings that come from dishonor. And God would set us free from this bondage and bring us into a prosperity as a result of his good commandments. He has promised here a good and long life for those who would obey this command. Now, some of you have been abused, And you struggle every day to keep this commandment. And yet, you need to understand that God has something better for you than a continued process of repetition of one dishonorable thought after another in this life.

And so God has good news for all of us here today in this commandment, that we would find ourselves blessed, for blessed are the peacemakers. And some of you are still in chains. You know, dishonor leaves its tracks upon us. It shows itself in various forms. It manifests itself in the anger that we possess, and it imprisons us all our life long.

It might manifest itself in the loneliness that isolates us from the dishonorable thoughts and meditations of our hearts. It may be self-pity that depresses us and dogs us every day, The depression from the fallout from dishonor. There's self-pity that causes us to lose perspective on life and the true blessings that God has for us. There are the broken relationships that break the heart. There's the self-righteousness that puffs up.

All these things are the tracks of dishonor. There's the disappointment that obsesses. There's the insolence that takes up residence in our speech, in our eyes. And we have eyes like knives as a result of our failing to keep this commandment. And then of course perhaps one of the more practical ramifications of this, there's the failure, there's the personal failure because it's not going well with us now.

God promises prosperity but he also promises failure to those who will not honor their fathers and their mothers. You can see how significant this commandment is. But for us today, before us is an opportunity to break free. Every little boy, every little girl, and even the oldest among us today have this commandment upon us and the promise is there. Notice that it's a positive command.

Eight of the Ten Commandments are in the negative, do not. Two are in the positive. Last week, we focused in on the fourth commandment, which is in the positive. And then today, the fifth commandment, which also is in the positive. We may misapply this this morning.

If you have children with you, you may be tempted to misapply this. And just think it applies to your children. But it applies to all, all who are sons and daughters. And of course it does apply to children. Parents must understand this commandment if they are going to be good parents.

And they must see to it that this is understood in the hearts of their children. But primarily, we might be tempted to point the finger to the ones sitting next to us, as we are always tempted to do, when in fact there are, in reality, three fingers pointing back. So I pray that we don't misapply it and miss the point and apply it to someone else this morning who might not need it quite as much as the one upon whom the three fingers are pointing. This commandment establishes a principle of success And it establishes the principle of success before all the various authorities that God has placed upon us. Civil authorities, mentors, pastors, elders in the form of older people, and all of these things.

And so this is sort of the range of thought for this command. Now, I would like for us to step back for a moment and look at this command in its wider context. In its wider context, of course, this is the fifth commandment in the midst of 10 commandments. And the 10 commandments really are all about two things. The first is about breaking, about getting free from bondage.

Getting free from the bondage of the land of Egypt. And that's the first principle of the Kingdom of Heaven, that you might be saved, that you might repent of your sins, and you might escape the bondage of Egypt. And so the Ten Commandments begin that way. It begins reminding of the salvation of God, the grace of God to rescue a sinner from bondage. But then the logic continues to flow and what you get from the Ten Commandments themselves are the ways that we stay free from bondage.

We've been delivered, but how do we keep free? And we keep free by keeping the commandments of God. And of course, you know, there are two divisions of the Ten Commandments. There's the first table of the law, the first four commandments, which speak of man's relationship with God. And then the second table of the law, which we've begun with this commandment, man's relationship with man.

And so here we are in this second table of the law. Notice that this first in the second table of the law is a commandment that governs family life. And this is where you start when you deal with the subject of relating to man. You learn how to relate to man in your family. This is the first place that you learn how to relate to your fellow world citizens here.

The family is the training ground for all relationships. You must understand this principle in your family or you won't understand it well thereafter. For children, they need to understand that they're in a time now in which they've been given a window to understand this commandment, that they would learn how to honor their father and mother. Because this commandment will be pivotal for every relationship that they'll ever have. You know, I've been marveling really at the practical usefulness of the Ten Commandments.

They really are really alarmingly every day and alarmingly practical. And they address us according to the temptations that we have, the various problems that we have with God and man and money and time and everything like that. The first commandment governs your heart. You shall have no other gods before me the second commandment governs your eyes You shall not make for yourself a graven image the third commandment governs the tongue You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain The fourth commandment governs your use of time. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

And the fifth commandment governs your family and all of your relationships of authority beyond that. Honor your father and your mother. And so there are a number of implications to this fifth commandment that we see in its broader context. And I want to just make a quick comment here about these two commandments that we've just been focusing in on. The fourth commandment governing the use of time and the celebration of the Sabbath, and then the fifth commandment which governs family life, because they are alike in many ways.

The fourth commandment shows how the family relates to the church and how the family is really given the responsibility for fulfilling the responsibility of weekly worship. Isn't it interesting that the family and the church are so interrelated here? Without the family taking its responsibility to ensure that there is a Sabbath day. The church will not be strong. The other members of the body of Christ will not have a full participation of the family.

So God gives governors of households the responsibility to make sure that everyone in the household celebrates the Sabbath. In this way, the church and the family are harmoniously linked. There's a symbiotic relationship. And God places the responsibility on the shoulders of fathers and mothers to make sure that every member in their family, every visitor in the household, even the ox and the donkey, get a rest. And of course, I'm so grateful that you don't bring your oxen and your donkeys here to this fellowship, because they don't belong here.

But your children do belong here. And you today, by bringing your families here, have taken this to heart. It is in the family that is the seed of the strength of the Church. And so it's so critical that families understand the Fourth commandment so that they'll be faithful to build up the church. Many families have no love for the church at all, but this commandment makes it so clear that fathers and mothers must ensure a great love for the church and a regularity and a faithfulness in fulfilling this commandment.

And so the fourth commandment shows us how the family relates with the church. And also so does the fifth commandment, because It begins the hard attitude of every good church member to fulfill the commands of God for church members, to honor elders, to submit to those who are placed above you in leadership, and also to honor one another. We'll get to that later because this commandment to honor really flows out to many relationships that we'll get to later they're defined in Scripture. So this fifth commandment to honor your father and your mother is the beginning, is the beginning of all honor. Honor is required by God in many different areas.

In Philippians 2.3 we read, honor one another, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each one esteem others better than themselves. Romans 12-10, be kindly affectionate to one another in brotherly love, in honor, preferring one another." And so honor is something that is due to all of the members of the body of Christ. The Bible speaks of how important it is to honor wives. In 1 Peter 3, 7, we read, likewise ye husbands deal with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife. Now that's patriarchy right there.

What I would just suggest is that we need a return of patriarchy, not only patriarchy, but hyper patriarchy. We need this kind of hyper patriarchy that rises up and honors a woman. That's what biblical patriarchy, there's all kinds of patriarchy out there. But biblical patriarchy is quite hyper on honoring of wives and not pressing them down, of course. There's the honor of the gray-headed in Leviticus 19 verse 32.

Thou shalt rise before the hoary head and honor the face of the old man and fear thy God. I am the Lord. You notice how the honor to the elderly is connected with honoring toward God himself. Some of us are studying the life of Jonathan Edwards and going to a class that Andy Davis is teaching over Southeastern Seminary. One thing you learn about the Edwards household, and it really was a happy household.

It was a beautiful household. But guess what the children did every time Jonathan or his wife would enter the room? The children would rise to their feet. I was reading the Journal of Esther Edwards, who was one of Jonathan Edwards' daughters, and she regularly refers to her father as my honored father. Very, very tenderly does she speak of her father in her journal.

And so here we find this honoring of the Hoary Head rising when the old man walks into the room. I don't know who might qualify for that here in this church. But it might seem so strange for us to do anything as crazy as that. But here is this command in Leviticus, thou shalt rise before the hoary head. You know what this does?

I think this should help us understand how totally disconnected we are from the heart of God regarding honor. It would be unthinkable for us. If your children rose, if you had a visitor in your house and your children rose every time you entered the room, they would call you a child abuser. That's what they would do. But do you see how disconnected we are from the heart of God in this matter?

The heart, and I don't believe this means that every time an older person walks in the room you have to stand. I mean, I don't believe that. But let's notice, let's notice the heart of God in the matter, that there is an extreme kind of honor that God requires of younger toward the older. And here we find these very strange otherworldly commands and principles that seem so counterintuitive to us. Do you know why that is?

Because of the greatness of our sin. Because we don't think God's thoughts after him. And so when we read the commands of God, we think how strange. But the truth is, you know who's really strange? We're the strange ones.

We read that we should honor widows in 1 Timothy 5.3. Honor widows who are widows indeed. We also are told in 1st Timothy 517 that we ought to honor those who labor in sound doctrine. Let the elders that rule be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. We're told in 1st Timothy chapter 6 verse 1 that we should honor employers.

Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor. Why? Why should you honor your employer? The answer is given. That the word of God may not be blasphemed.

You know, there are a number of things in Scripture that we learned that cause the word of God to be blasphemed. One is a woman who's not a keeper at home or a woman that is not chaste. Here's one right here. An employee that does not honor his employer, he causes the Word of God to blaspheme. When you complain against your employer, you have some legitimate complaint about him, you are setting the possibility for the blasphemy of the word of God, as people see that.

These are very dramatic statements in scripture regarding honor. We should honor God, we should honor the King. We see that we should honor our spiritual fathers in Malachi chapter 2 verse 7 and 1st Thessalonians 5. And so here we come to the question, is it legitimate to honor anyone but God? Absolutely it is.

Of course it's not exactly the same kind of honor. But let me tell you this. Do not be deceived. It's the exact same word that's used. And so the same term that's used for honoring man is used for honoring God.

And I believe the reason that is, is because the honor of a human being is representative of honor of Almighty God. And when we properly honor man, not improperly, not in a worship way, a worshipful or an idolatrous way, but when we properly honor man, we are honoring God himself. The Heidelberg Catechism shows how this command is very broad in its nature. It begins by quoting scripture. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother.

Proverbs 4.1. Hear ye children the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. Proverbs 15.20. A wise son maketh his father glad, but a foolish man despiseth his mother. Proverbs 20-20, whoso curseth his father and mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.

Exodus 21 17. And he that curseth his father and his mother shall surely be put to death. Romans 13 1. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers, for there is no power but of God. The powers that are ordained of God.

Romans 13 2, whoever therefore shall resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. Romans 13 3, the rulers, for rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, that thou shalt have praise from the same. Romans 13.4, For he is a minister of God to thee for good.

But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain. For he is a minister of God, an avenger, to execute wrath upon him who doeth evil." Romans 13.5. Wherefore, ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. Romans 13.6, for this cause pay tribute also, for they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing. Romans 13.7, render therefore all their duties, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.

And then the Heideberg Catechism ends with this last text, Proverbs 23, 22. Harken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old. So you see that the Fifth Commandment really is, as has just been illustrated, it's the beginning of honor. It's the beginning of dozens of relationships of honor that come after home life. And so for that reason it's critical.

And so the first great blessing of the Fifth Commandment is that it is the beginning of all other honor. Now, I'm giving you seven blessings of this commandment, and this is the first one. The second blessing of this commandment is that the fifth commandment gives us a way of dealing with sin and imperfection in others. This is a great blessing, because we are surrounded with imperfect and sinful people. All of us had imperfect fathers.

And All of us are surrounded by sinful and imperfect civil leaders and business leaders. And so it's in God's kindness to give us a law to help us navigate the waters of imperfection and sin in other people's lives. This is so important. You know, let me just make you a guarantee, you interns who are with us now, believe me, you will see many imperfections in your leaders. You've already seen imperfections in your own fathers.

You've already seen them in your own church leaders. And now you will see them right here. You'll see them in the elders of Old Baptist Church. You will even see them in your fearless leader, Peter Bradrick. What will you do?

What will you do when you see the sins of men? How will you react to those who are in authority over you when that time comes, when it is revealed to you that there is a genuine shortfall? What will you do? To me, this is one of the most important things for men and women to understand in their lives. If they don't get this, they will be banging their heads against the wall, bloody over and over again in this life.

And so this fifth commandment gives us a way of dealing with sin and imperfection in others. And here's one of the principles that we find here. Dishonor makes much of the sin of another person and makes little of your own sins. That's what dishonor does. Belittling a father or a mother or a boss or a leader is typically the exaltation of your own righteousness and the minimizing of their own.

It exalts their sin and trivializes your own. We are self-righteous and we fall into self-righteousness. We were sitting reading the resolutions in our home of Jonathan Edwards this week. Resolution number eight really bears in on this. This was perhaps the most striking of all the resolutions as we talked about them as a family.

I came home and my daughter was writing this one down. I said, what are you doing? She says, this was the most outstanding one for me, as it was, I think, for all of us. Jonathan Edwards in his 70 resolutions writes this, resolved to act in all respects, both in speaking and doing, as if nobody had been so vile as I, and as if I had committed the same sins, or had the same infirmities or failings as others, and that I would let the knowledge of their failings promote nothing but shame in myself, and prove only an occasion of my confessing my own sins and misery to God." What is this? This is the, instead of exalting the sin of another and my own purity, it's the opposite.

It's seeing a sin and letting it remind me of how sinful I am. That's what honor does. Honor does not exalt itself. Honor sees clearly what sinfulness really is. The Lord Jesus himself spoke of this principle.

He said, he said, and why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye." As he said that in Mark chapter 7 verse 3, it illustrates the hard attitude of the apostle Paul, who in 1 Timothy 1.15 said that he was the chief of sinners. And so this principle is a wonderful, wonderful principle for us. It's a blessing because it gives us a way of dealing with the imperfections of other people so we wouldn't be consumed with bitterness toward those people, but that we would see our own sin and do business with God rather than exalting ourselves over another person and finding ourselves languishing in the morass of bitterness. And this is where many spend their lives. Maybe you're spending this morning that way.

It's quite possible. I don't expect that we are clean on this Fifth Commandment here. I know we're not. But God has given us a blessing here to help us deal with the sins of others. And then thirdly, the Fifth Commandment teaches us something about care for the elderly.

You know, barely half of the American population over 45 believes it's their responsibility to take care of their parents. You realize it? You know what that's going to do to the healthcare system in this country? Most people in the country think they're, all bets are off as far as they're taking care of their parents. They're not going to do it.

They don't think it's their responsibility. This commandment overthrows that kind of thinking. You know Christ explained this commandment. He interpreted the fifth commandment by identifying a particular sin in Israel when he was having his earthly ministry. He said in Mark chapter 7, he said, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." And what he meant by that was that this generation was dishonoring their father and mother and using a spiritual excuse for it.

He said that, in vain they worshiped me, teaching his doctrines the commandments of men. They had invented a doctrine that is summarized by the term Corbin. In other words, instead of taking your parents, you could declare your money Corbin. You could set it aside, like put it in a trust for the church and dishonor your parents by not using it to take care of your parents. And he said, this people honors me with their lips, but they claim Corbin, and it's fake.

They're not honoring their father and mother, and their sin is overthrowing the fifth commandment. The Lord Jesus gives us this illustration to interpret the law. Not only does Christ fulfill the law, but he also interprets it. He tells us how we should dissect it and understand it. Christ takes the fifth commandment and he connects it with Corbin, with people who take funds that should be for the taking care of the next generation and funnel it off to the church and calling themselves spiritual for it.

That's what he was doing. And so the Lord Jesus is chastising the Pharisees for this doctrine. So not only is the fifth commandment a blessing because it's the beginning of all honor, number one. Not only is the fifth commandment a blessing because it gives us a way to deal with the sins of those around us. Not only is the fifth commandment a blessing to us because it teaches us how to care for the elderly, but the fifth commandment, number four, is deadly serious.

There are times when we need a deadly serious testimony from God. Now, the threatenings, the judgments, the strength of the language regarding the Fifth Commandment is really astonishing. If you just read the words at face value, they're very, very striking. I mean, first of all, the promise is that it will go well with you. That's the beauty, the beauty is cast forth in this text here but there's all there's always the flip side of this.

You know honor you know forms the structure of all all relationships and without honor society breaks down In Exodus 21 We read and he who strikes his father his mother shall surely be put to death And he who curses his father or mother shall surely be put to death." Here we find that in Israel, those who dishonored their fathers and mothers were treated as murderers. Of course, the Lord Jesus already told us that if you're angry with your brother, you're a murderer. That if you lust after a woman, you're an adulterer. And here we find this very same principle that it is murder to a father or a mother to dishonor. If you dishonor your mother, you're committing murder before Almighty God.

It's a very, very serious business. Christ always goes to the heart of the matter. Proverbs 30, verse 17 says, the eye that mocks his father and scorns obedience to his mother, the ravens of the valley will pick it out. The young eagles will eat it. I think that's a picture of failure.

I think that's a picture of wounds and harm. I talked about beating your head against the wall and getting bloody. How about getting your eyeballs plucked out by your raven? That's what this is likened to. The language is very, very strong.

You know, when you have a child or when you have rolled your eyes at your parents, when you've tried to hide from them, when you have ignored them, when you have hit them, you need to realize that these are very, very dramatic sins against Almighty God and it will not go well with you if you maintain it. And this is why parents have to be so vigilant to guard their children's hearts and help them to know when they've dishonored their father and mother. You know, I'm pretty confident that most children, at least this was true of our children, Most children hit their parents. Of course, with our children, I think it was only once that that happened. It should never happen again.

But all children are tempted to hit their parents or run from them. When your children run from you, When they hit you, when they roll their eyes, they have found themselves in a murderous relationship with you. And you need to understand how critical that is. The fifth commandment is deadly serious. Proverbs 30 verses 11 through 14 says, there is a generation that curses its father and does not bless its mother.

There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not washed from filthiness. There is a generation, oh, how lofty are their eyes. And their eyelids are lifted up. There is a generation whose teeth are like swords and whose fangs are like knives to devour the poor from the earth and the needy from the young men. Notice this addresses the look, the eyes.

You can see it in your children's eyes, or how about your own eyes? How about your own eyes toward your own father and mother? Are they like knives? All of us are tempted in many ways in this area. This is not just a childhood problem.

This is also a parent of the child problem as well. The writer of Proverbs says that there are six things that the Lord hates. A proud look and one who sews discord among brethren. Proverbs 15.5 says a fool despises his father's instruction, but he who receives correction is prudent. Proverbs 1531 says, the ear that hears the rebukes of life will abide among the wise.

He who disdains instruction despises his own soul. He who heeds rebuke gets understanding. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility. I pray that among us, it will never be the case that parents will have to bring their children before the authorities and say what parents said in Deuteronomy 21, This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice.

He is a glutton and a drunkard. I pray that God will give us a harvest of honorable children for whom that will never have to happen, but it may have to happen. And the consequences are very, very dramatic. Deuteronomy 27.16 says, curse it is the one who treats his father and mother with contempt. When you treat your father or mother with contempt, you curse yourself.

Your life becomes cursed. Do you realize that? It feels so powerful, but you need to know that it's the power of a curse upon your life. When you feel that sense of influence and rebellion. Romans 1.30 makes it clear that disobedience is a sign of a debased mind and deserving of death.

1 Timothy 3, 1 through 5, that disobedient children are a sign of perilous times. This is a deadly, serious matter. In Deuteronomy 28, we see how serious this is. Those who reject the commandments of God, the Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart. That's what happens to those who dishonor their fathers and mothers.

And so, what we're talking about here is that this is a deadly, serious issue. In Isaiah chapter 3 verses 1 through 8, we learn that this is a sign of the collapse of a society when children are insolent toward their elders in verse 5 of Isaiah chapter 3. There are tremendous dangers in this whole matter. And so we need to be very clear that this is a deadly, serious matter. So not only is the Fifth Commandment the beginning of all honor, not only does it give us a way of dealing with sin and imperfection in others.

Not only does it teach us how to care for the elderly, not only is it deadly serious, but the Fifth Commandment also establishes a very beautiful and wonderful relationship. It establishes the unity of husband and wife. It calls for honor for father and mother. Now in many pagan cultures it's the father that is exalted. It's a wicked patriarchy.

It's not a biblical patriarchy. But what the fourth commandment does is that it establishes, it establishes honor for a woman in the household. It protects a woman and it's a husband that needs to assure that this happens. It often happens that children will dishonor their mother. But God has placed husband and wife in a unified relationship and so that in that relationship there's protection for that woman.

And Some of you I know have had to protect your wives from the influence and the disobedience of your children. You should continue to do that. If you're not protecting your wife, you need to begin to protect her. Because God has established this principle that honor would be given to a wife, and it would establish a unified marriage. The two shall become one.

The marriage does have a head, of course, but there is a mutuality and a love and a protection in marriage that God has established And that is hyper patriarchy. That's the kind of patriarchy that we want. We want husbands that protect their wives. We want husbands that protect the honor and the reputations of their wives. And that's what's in play in this commandment here.

And so we find this principle that establishes the unity of the husband and the wife and the honor that is protected for the wife. And so sixthly, the fifth commandment implies reciprocal obligations of parent and child. We know from Ephesians chapter 6, 1 through 4, that yes, it is so that this is the first commandment with a promise and that it will go well with children who obey their parents but there's also another problem and that is that parents can cause their children to sin by exasperating them, By speaking wrongly to them, by demanding things that shouldn't be demanded, by certain hypocrisies, carry hypocrisies in their lives. But at the same time, it doesn't give parents a free pass to just continue in their hypocrisy. It should cause parents to understand the reciprocal nature of the Fifth Commandment, that parents also need to be repenting for their sins against their children.

Yes, they should honor you, but so often we sin against our children in the process of helping them to honor us. And so we have to be very careful to understand that there is a reciprocal obligation that we have and that we may attempt our children to violate this commandment. We often rightly claim this, that Our perfections are not the justifications for honor. That honor is only due to those who behave properly. That's not this principle in Scripture.

God demands honor towards sinners. And so children should never say, if you would only change, I could honor you. That's a wicked excuse. But at the same time, parents need to understand that they also have a responsibility to love their children. And I'm thinking through the many different ways that I have exasperated my own children through the years.

And there are different ways you can exasperate your children, depending on how old they are. Raising little children is different than having older children in your house. It may be easier to exasperate older children than it is younger children. It's quite possible. The challenges are different.

The relationships change and all of the commands of God for love and honor and respect and obedience are still in play. Not just the ones about obedience and often we forget that. I recall it wasn't very long ago I realized that I was still speaking to my own son as if he was eight years old at certain times and he wasn't eight years old And that's a way that parents can exasperate their children. So there are reciprocal obligations in this matter of the Fifth Commandment. And then seventh, and then now having seen a number of blessings we could really go on.

There are many, many other issues that we could unpack that are blessed results of this commandment. But we'll leave it at these seven. And let's move on now to the promise. We've talked about this commandment, that honor has to do with giving weight to the relationship, to caring much for the relationship, instead of trivializing it, so much that you would honor and obey your father and mother. And So that's the first part, honor your father and your mother.

And then there's the promise that's spoken of in the second part of the verse. Now this promise is wonderful and it means so much. You know what it means? It means that you can change your household by this. It means that you can change your church by obeying this commandment.

You can transform society by obeying this command, because it will be well with you for a long time. And the spin-off benefits are enormous. Length of life and quality of life are promised here. Let's talk about length of life. He says here that your days may be long.

And he's speaking of some kind of increased longevity. It doesn't mean that if you honor your father you may not get killed in a car wreck at age 18. It doesn't mean that. But it can mean that. And that God will preserve your life longer.

It can mean that your generations will roll on in faithfulness, and your life will extend from one generation to the next. Maybe a dozen generations, or maybe a thousand generations for those who love God and keep His commandments. Because the commandments of God are for the generational blessing of mankind, That all the families in the earth shall be blessed. And so there is this principle of long life. In Deuteronomy 7, 9 through 11, which is a passage we're headed toward here in our study.

We'll read in verse 9, therefore know that the Lord your God, he is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commandments and he repays those who hate them to their face, him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with them who hates him. He will repay him to his face. Therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today and observe them." And so we find this propelling to a thousand generations of the legacy of love that is left by an honorable son or daughter. This applies to the person who obeys the fifth commandment.

There's a promise to a thousand generations to you And so your love will survive you and will go on. And that's a tremendous blessing. We learn that kings who are faithful to the word of God, their days will be prolonged too. We learn that in Deuteronomy chapter 17, verses 18 through 20. So there's this issue of length of life that God will preserve you.

I think it also means that when you obey and honor your parents, it means you might not get killed by doing stupid things. Your parents say, I don't want you to do that. You need to go the speed limit. Don't drive on that ice. Whatever it might be, honor your father and mother.

Maybe they're wrong about it. But it just may preserve your life. It may prolong your days. The councils of parents generally are for the prosperity and the health of their children. Now you may not understand it, you may not agree with it, but God would have you to accept it and to obey and honor your father and mother.

And your days, your days will be prolonged by listening to them. And then there's quality of life. So there's length of life and then there's the promise of quality of life, that it may be well with you in the land. God throws no words away here, but this is a promise of prosperity. It's a promise of things going well.

You might ask, is it going well with me? Is it possible that some of the things not going well in your soul are related to this violated command? That you may be churned up for some reason and you don't feel well, you're angry, you're frustrated, you're fearful for the future, you're disappointed in your father and mother, you're disappointed in your boss. It's not going well with you because you did not obey this commandment, but you may obey it today. You can open up the doors of heaven that it may be well with you.

You can throw off your bitterness. You can be relieved of your insolent spirit. You can be set free from your self-righteous attitude toward those in your life. You can be set free from it by obeying the fifth commandment and it will be well with you. This is a promise.

If you throw off your anger and your bitterness and your disobedience toward your parents, it will be well with you. That's a promise. I think it has to do with your mind, your emotions, your financial life, your marriage, your friendships, your church, your business associates, and even the realm, the government that you live in, I believe it affects all those things. That this commandment is such a seed that grows and affects so many things, that it may be well with you. And notice that it's linked to the land, it's linked to real life, that it may be well with you in the land.

I would just like to suggest that there are two kinds of land. There's this land that you're walking on, and there's the promised land in heaven. And it will be well with you in both of those lands. But he's speaking specifically here of the land, the dirt that these people are going to walk on. He's talking about real everyday life.

It will be well with you in everyday life. The dirt you walk on will be blessed because of this commandment that you've been keeping. But the dirt will be cursed because of the lack of care for this commandment. You know how important it is that all of us do a heart check of honor and dishonor toward our parents. I'll have to say that in considering these things particularly this week, I've seen more ways that I do not honor my own dear father and mother who are a blessing to me.

And I don't expect that any of us will be able to walk out of here without the conviction of the Holy Spirit unless our hearts are hard toward it. But you can have the sweetest parents in the world and violate this commandment, as I have myself many times. You know, if our hearts weren't enough of the problem, we have so many forces in this world that are working to deconstruct honor in the world that we live in. The world philosophies are at work for the destruction of anything that would prosper God's people. And there are many, many ways that this commandment is attempted to be being deconstructed.

Right before our eyes, we're watching our own government deconstruct the things that work for honor of father and mother. If you go to the website of WhiteHouse.gov, you will see one fifth commandment deconstructing policy after another with the attempt to remove children from their parents, to pay mothers to get out of their homes, to take child care down to three years old. Can you imagine a three-year-old child from age three growing up only seeing daycare workers and educators and not seeing their parents. That's a deconstruction of this. We're watching the absolute dissolution of culture as a result of it.

The fallout from deconstructing the fifth commandment and the commandments regarding marriage and family life are absolutely enormous. Who will preserve these things? We must preserve them. It's only the Church that will preserve these things that will make it go well with you. I would just like to submit that it will only be the true church for whom it will go well with.

It won't go well. And the suicide and the depression And all the things that go along with breaking the Fifth Commandment will be upon those who really never had parents and they never loved their parents because they were never with them. What we're doing here to recover these biblical doctrines of the family are so critical. Because they have implications for a thousand generations. And so we find here that this commandment is the precursor.

This is what I believe it was Dan Horne said in our study on Tuesday. He said this is the precursor to collapse of society, The rejecting of this commandment. I would just like to add, but it's a prophecy of prosperity as well. It is indeed a precursor to collapse, but it is also a prophecy of prosperity for our children. And so here we found some wisdom from heaven regarding the government of family life and we were brought to the relational qualities that should govern home life.

The specific kind of culture that we should be building in our homes and in this church as well. And it identifies the marks of the daily interactions, the conversations, the looks, the words, the dispositions, the body language, it governs it all. What kind of culture do you have in your family? I pray that God would give us more cultures like the Edwards culture, where the children's hearts, not just their feet, the secret of the Edwards Homes wasn't just the bodies that were rising, but their hearts were honorable toward their parents. That God would give us a culture more like that, that we would have such a heart in us, that we would always fear Him and keep all His commandments that He has given us, that it might be well with us and with our children forever.

Now what we do find here is something that is so beautifully illustrated in the Lord Jesus Christ. Whenever you read the law, whenever you read the Ten Commandments, you always have to somehow, at some point, short circuit to Christ. Because he not only explains them in his ministry, but he also fulfills them. And what we see in the Lord Jesus Christ is a son who honors his father, a son who does the will of his father, a son who loves his father and a father who loves his son. In John chapter 5 verses 17 to 22 we see that the son looked on his father with a spirit of submission that's identical to what we find in the Fifth Commandment.

He says, most assuredly I say to you the Son can do nothing of himself but what he sees his Father do. For whatever he does the Son also does in like manner for the Father loves the Son and shows him all things that he himself does. Did you notice the reciprocal nature of that love between the Father and the Son? In John 8 28 we read that the son seeks to please the father. This is the heart of the fifth commandment.

I do nothing of myself but as my father taught me I speak these things And he who sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone, for I always do those things which please him." The Son sought to do the will of the Father. He said, my food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work. He says in John chapter 6 verse 38, I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me." The Son demonstrates His love through obedience. In John 14, 31 we read, "...but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment." The son imitates the Father's actions in Word and Deed in John 5.30.

He says, I do nothing unless I see my Father doing it. I say nothing unless I hear my father saying it." Bruce Ware in his book The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit summarizes this relationship in this way. These three persons are never in conflict of purpose. Now when I read this, think of your own family. You sons, think of yourself.

Put yourself in this text here. They're never in conflict of purpose. Mark that. Never jealous over another's position or specific work. Mark that in your family.

Never prideful over one's own position and work. And they're always sharing fully the delight of being the one God and accomplishing the unified purpose of God. There is a unity of differentiation. Where love abounds and where neither jealousy nor pride is known. Each divine person accepts his role, each in proper relation to the others, and each works together with the others for one unified common purpose.

It is nothing short of astonishing to contemplate the fundamental and pervasive unity within the Trinity, given the eternal differentiation that exists in the three persons. So how do we apply all this? Let me just give a couple of thoughts about how we might apply this. First of all, We obviously need to use this as a moment, a gift from God to take stock. And please you young boys and you young girls, take stock of your soul now.

Do you see the enormous consequences of this? Do you see that heaven and hell are in the balance on this? Do you see the tracks of dishonor in your life? Do You see the various forms of bondage, of anger, or loneliness, or self-pity, or self-righteousness, or disappointment, or insolence, or failure, or sarcasm. If any of these are part of your clothing, shit, throw them off.

Tear them off now. Be done with them. They're rags. They're rotting. And they will take you to the grave.

And so it ought to be a time here this morning to also consider things beyond our own hearts. I've just spoken about things of the heart, anger and self-righteousness and things like that. But now, what about our behaviors? Because our eyes and our body language often tell the whole story, although it is possible to fake everyone out. It is possible to say one thing with your mouth but have something else in your heart.

But let's talk about the outward, the outward expressions of dishonor in children, or maybe older children. Maybe you're 35 or 40 years old, and you're still talking back to your dad. Maybe you're still withholding love, like you did when you were eight. Maybe you are a fountain of bitter speech toward your father or your mother, like you were when you were eight. And you never broke it.

You can break it now. The Lord Jesus Christ offers the power of His Holy Spirit through repentance to break the chains of dishonor that any of us might be harboring in this room here today. I felt that the 104th question in the Heidelberg Catechism on this commandment was very, very helpful, very clear. Here's the question, What does God require in the Fifth Commandment? Answer.

That I show all honor, love, and fidelity to my father and Mother, and in all authority over me, to submit myself to their good instruction and correction with due obedience, and also to patiently bear with their weaknesses and infirmities, since it pleases God to govern us by their hand." And so here we are this morning with a golden and very sweet opportunity to trade in your broken relationship with repentance, to make the swap, to Take the anger and put it away and replace it with mercy toward those who are in authority over all of us. Would you pray with me? Oh Lord, that your love would spread, it would flow down, it would come out like a fountain from us, changing all bitterness into mercy, taking all self-righteousness and turning it into the sweet happiness of a satisfied soul. In Jesus' name, Amen.