The sermon focuses on the fifth commandment from Exodus 20, emphasizing the importance of honoring one's father and mother. It underscores that the family is the foundational building block of society, and rejecting this commandment leads to societal breakdown. Honoring parents is seen as vital to societal and spiritual health. The sermon stresses three ways children can obey this commandment: through obedience, respect, and faithfulness. Biblical examples, such as the stories of Absalom and the prodigal son, are used to illustrate the consequences of disobedience. The sermon also calls for parents to be role models, teaching and disciplining their children in the Lord, and stresses that honoring parents extends to caring for them in their old age. Ultimately, it calls for repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, who perfectly obeyed His Father, offering salvation and new life to all.

Exodus chapter 20 beginning in verse 1. Then God spoke all these words saying, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them.

For I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing loving kindness to thousands, to those who love me, and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God in it you shall not do any work you or your son or your daughter your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Honor your father and your mother that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. May God bless the reading and the preaching of this word. Amen. Amen. Please be seated.

The fifth commandment, honor your father and mother that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. Last Lord's Day we began by keying in on that phrase father and mother. Father and mother. So not two daddies, Not two mommies, father and mother. So homosexual marriage isn't real.

And two people engaged in that charade shouldn't be raising children. Same goes with the insanity of transgenderism. No children, God says so. So we talked about this last week just to remind us it would be better for a millstone to be hung around their neck and for them to be cast into the sea than for the judgment that's coming their way to get to them for making the little children stumble. And that's precisely what they, that's precisely what we as a nation are doing, what our land is doing, that's precisely what we're doing when the state gives children to two men or to two women, making children stumble.

So doing something that God hates, it's madness, it's evil, it's an abomination, it has to stop. So America, civil magistrates, you must stop giving children to gays and lesbians. They aren't for them. Biological man, biological woman, that's a father, that's a mother, that's God's design, full stop. Honor your father and your mother.

Now to that word honor. Again, last week we noted how the word honor there at the start of verse 12 is actually the word for heavy or weighty. It can also be translated glory or glorify and that's very telling parents and children. The calling of a father and a mother is a weighty and glorious thing and obedience children to your father and your mother is a weighty and glorious thing. It's the kind of glory, children, that changes the world.

But in America, we've been exchanging that glory for a lot. Our Institutions are breaking down. Society is breaking down. Our land doesn't seem to be being blessed. Why?

Because authority is under attack. Our society hates authority. Our land despises authority. And that hatred and that rejection of authority throughout the land starts with the authority in the home namely the authority of fathers in the home being rejected So when you reject the fifth commandment, brothers and sisters, adults and children, when you reject the fifth commandment, you shouldn't be surprised that from that rejection comes the rejection of every other authority and every other institution in the world. Why?

Because the family is the foundational building block of society. That's the way God made the world. And so to reject the authority that God has given to that foundational building block, the home, to reject the fifth commandment is to push the self-destruct button as a nation. As to push the self-destruct button as a world. Because all other authorities have to go when the authority in the family goes.

It's the way God made it work. That's why God says what he says at the end of the fifth commandment. If you read the end of the fifth commandment, we've done it twice this morning. Honor your father and mother so that it may go well with you in the land that God gives you, so that you may live long in the land that God gives to you. Honor the authority in the home and by extension all the authorities that God has ordained.

The fifth commandment implicitly, if you're going to honor the authority in the home Therefore you honor the authority outside the home. All the authorities that God has given to you, beginning in the home, you honor. You subject yourselves to the fear of the Lord. And so all the authorities beginning in the home, and by extension all the authorities that got us ordained, you won't perish from the land when you do that. You won't be pushing the self-destruct button if you get things right in the home, which by extension will leak out into the community and which by extension will leak out into the state and by extension will leak out into the nation and by extension will cover the earth.

You've got to get it right in the family. You won't perish from the land if you do that. God promises I will covenantally bless your family when you honor your father and mother, which will then covenantally bless your community, covenantally bless your church, which will then covenantally bless your community, covenantally bless your church, which will then covenantally bless your nation, and you will live long in the land. This is a covenant blessing beginning with honoring parents in the home. And Pastor Toby Sumter says the same thing, quote, if an individual family or nation is not prospering, one of the first areas we should look at is whether there is a culture of honoring parents.

The Bible is clear that the fifth commandment is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land. So children, children, when you hear the fifth commandment and you think, meh, meh, I'm just really not into that. It's not for me. I'm not really into honoring my parents. Children when you do that, that's sin.

And you are trading in something eternally glorious for something cheap and shiny that will destroy you and destroy your family and destroy the world so children lay down this morning your cheap rebellion Lay down your sin and pick up the glory, pick up the crown that is yours in honoring your father and your mother. When you do that, you save the world. That's Proverbs 17 says. Lay down your cheap rebellion today, pick up the crown that is yours and honor your father and mother and be a part of saving the world. So the text says honor your father and your mother and that's a glorious, heavy and weighty thing.

Which means parents, we talked about this last Lord's Day but you need to teach your children discipline your children and set an example for your children parents train your children in the Lord Proverbs 22 6 train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he's old, he'll not depart from it. And what is one of the primary means of doing this? What's one of the primary means of training and instructing your children? Remember the Sabbath day to keep it whole.

Worship every week. Remember the Christian Sabbath. Bring them on the Lord's Day the whole time. Second, discipline them. Proverbs 22 15, foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child but the rod of reproof, the rod of discipline will remove it far from them.

So lovingly discipline your child. Why? Because you want them to obey this command and you want them to live long in the land that God has given to them. So lovingly spank your children. Why?

Because God requires it of you. And that is what he, your heavenly father does to you Christian. He disciplines you because he loves you. So fathers and mothers, you love your children, follow God's lead. Third, just reviewing here in case you forgot or weren't here, parents use equal weights and measures.

Be a good example. Be a good example. If you're going to ask your children to do something, you are to model that same something for them yourself. Proverbs 20 verse 10, unequal weights and measures are an abomination to the Lord. So don't be a hypocrite.

Don't demand behavior from your children that you aren't willing yourself to do. So if you see whining in your children, before you get the paddle out, check the tree that's in your own eye before the splinter in theirs. Are you whining at home? Are you complaining at home? Are you not obeying at home?

Don't you dare then go discipline your child before you deal with your sin yourself And this includes the way you adults honor your aging parents Be an example your children are watching you. How do you want your children to treat you and your agent? Go and do likewise. We'll get to that again at the very end of this sermon. So as we saw last week parents, the fifth commandment is very much for you.

If children are to honor their parents, if children are to obey their parents, you need to disciple them into that. Teach them the law of God. Discipline them. Teach them. Set an example for them.

Parents, the fifth commandment is very much for you. But now children, this morning, we will see in the time remaining this morning that the fifth commandment, of course, is very much for you too. It's very much for you. So children, the command is directed to you. Look there again in verse 12 of our passage, honor your father and your mother that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

So just as I gave your parents last Lord's Day three ways in which to obey the fifth commandment, here children for you are three ways to obey the fifth commandment as children. Number one, obedience to your parents. Number two, respect and reverence for your parents. And number three, faithfulness to your parents. Devotion to your parents.

Obedience, respect, and faithfulness. First, obedience. Children obey your parents. Now, the Apostle Paul quotes in Ephesians chapter 6, he quotes the fifth commandment directly. He addresses you children in Ephesians chapter 6, which by the way shows you children that God very much wants you throughout the service, all the service, all the time in the gathering.

God wants you in here because he has a word for you every Lord's Day. And here is this word for you this Lord's Day. Children obey your parents, Paul says in Ephesians 6, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise So that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth Paul says to you children the way you honor your parents primarily is through obedience You want to obey the fifth commandment? You want the land that you live in to be blessed?

You want the society that you live in to be right, to actually work? Then obey your parents, that you may live long in the land. So how do you honor your parents? Well, first off, you obey them. So children, what does it mean to obey your parents?

Is this a difficult question? I don't think so. It is difficult to do though, isn't it? But let's talk first about what it means. What does it mean to obey your parents?

Here's what it means. You obey your parents right away, all the way, and with a happy heart all the way. Children, you are to obey your parents, you are to do what they ask you to do right away, you are to do what they ask you to do all the way, and you are to do what they ask you to do cheerfully, with a happy heart. So when they say to do something You do that something right away and parents if your children don't obey you right away Discipline them now, of course if they have a question about what you want them to do, that's not the same thing. But if they will not obey you right away, when you command them and it's clear that they know what you want them to do and they will not do it right away, they're not obeying God right away.

You've got to get this in your head. You have authority because God gave you that authority and so when they reject you they reject God. You want to drive that foolishness very very far away from their hearts do you not? So you want them to obey God right away? They must obey you right away.

Children obeying your parents right away is obeying God right away. And you obey all the way. So when your parents, children listen to me, this is a big one. When your parents say to do something, you are to do exactly what they say to do. Not part of what they say to do.

Children, go pick up your room, and you pick up a little corner. I did it. It's not picking it up. Not some of it, not part of it, All of it, all the way. And parents, if your children don't do this, they don't do something all the way.

If they do something halfway, and they know how to do it all the way, you need to spank them. Because if they won't obey you all the way, how will they obey God all the way? In fact, if they aren't obeying you all the way, they are not obeying God all the way. So drive that foolishness far from them. Otherwise they will not live long in the land that God has given to them.

And children, when your parents say to do something, you do it right away, you do it all the way, and you do it with a happy heart. You do it with a happy heart. Why a happy heart? Why a happy heart? I'm doing it!

I'm doing everything you ask! I got a frown on my face. Why does that matter? Because it matters because in obeying your parents you are obeying God and God tells you that obedience, right, That obedience is to be a happy obedience. That obedience is to be a happy obedience.

Think about this. God says, child, God says in Philippians 2, do everything without grumbling. 1 John 5.3, his commandments are not burdensome. Deuteronomy 28.47, God is to be served with a joyful and glad heart. Parents, if they won't obey you with a happy heart, they aren't obeying God with a happy heart and God is not pleased with grumbling hearts.

So shepherd your child's heart by training them to rejoice and be glad. And you might think, well that sounds counterproductive. You're not happy so I'm going to go discipline you. Now they're really not going to be happy. Well, that's not what God says.

It's not what God says. So we do this with our girls. It's not obedience when we say to our girls, okay girls, time to get our PJs on. So not only are our girls to go right away to the rooms and put on their PJs all the way, but they're also to do it with smiles on their faces. And if we can't be happy about it, then we gotta go into the room and get an attitude adjustment with the palette.

Sometimes I even sing a song. I doubt anybody in here has ever heard of the movie show, McGee and Me. Anybody? That's my boy. Ah, yes!

There's a song on there that says, You've got your new attitude, and that's the first place to start. Okay, I'll sing it later. I sing it sometimes. We get an attitude adjustment because we are training our children, Charissa and I, we are a glad people. We are happy people.

Happy are the people whose God is the Lord. And He says, the Lord says, children obey your parents right away, all the way, cheerfully with a happy heart. So children I want the best for you, I want us to smile and I will confess my sins when I don't obey cheerfully too. So children you may think, alright I hear what you're saying but I just don't think it's a big deal. Children, you may think disobeying your father and your mother isn't a really big deal.

It's just your parents. It's just mom and dad. Well children, that's just not true. It's just not your mom and dad. To disobey your parents is to disobey God.

And have you ever heard what God thinks about your behavior when you disobey your father and your mother. Have you ever heard what God thinks about that? Do you think he has the same nonchalant attitude that you have? God says that when you disobey your parents' children, that kind of behavior is right up there with the worst possible sins you could ever think of. I don't want you to take my word for it, I want you to take God's word for it.

So children, listen to me. Here's what God thinks about that behavior when you pop off to your parents, when you yell at your parents, when you grumble against your parents, when you stab them in the back, when they can't hear you, towards your parents. Here's what God thinks. Romans chapter 1, listen to this. They did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, so God gave them over to a depraved mind to do the things which are not proper.

And here are the things that depraved minds do. Being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, Greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, they're gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents. They're without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful. And although they know the ordinance of God that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same but also give hardy approval to those who practice them. Whoa.

Now children, I read that kind of fast, but did you hear that? Did you hear that list of evil, wickedness, murder, malice, hatred towards God, inventors of evil, unloving, unmerciful, untrustworthy. I mean that's some bad stuff. If you've seen any movie with any bad guy, the bad guys in those animated movies make themselves look way better than this list. And in the middle of this horrible list of things, God puts disobedience to parents.

Right in the middle of the list. God puts your disobedience to your parents in the same category as killing people, murdering people, hating God. And you're just gonna, it's just murder. It's just hating God. It's just something that he will cast people into eternal hellfire for.

No big deal. That's so silly. Don't think that way, children. Teenagers, don't you think that way. God puts disobeying parents in the same category as murderers.

He hates this sin. This sin of disobeying your parents is huge in the mind of God. And so children, teenagers, if you think that you can go home this afternoon and you can talk back to your parents, if you think you can yell at them, you can spurn them, you can roll your eyes at them, you can reject what they say, Basically what you're saying according to God is, it's just murder, it's just terrorism, it's just kidnapping, it's just hating God. What are you doing? You're okay with those things?

You treat those things like they're no big deal? Of course those things are big deals. You'd never say that about murder. You'd never say that about the worst forms of wickedness. And God says your disobedience to parents is right up there with the rest.

And you'll be damned for it. You will. Do you realize that? You need saving from your disobedience. You need saving from the wickedness that is deep in here.

Proverbs 30 verse 17. Proverbs 30 verse 17, the eye that mocks a father and scorns a mother. The ravens of the valley will pick it out and the young eagles will eat it. I find that to be troubling. The eye that mocks a father and scorns a mother, the ravens of the valley will pick it out, And the young eagles will eat it.

You're not getting it back. That's how God feels about your disobedience. Children, young and old. Teenagers, I'm really talking to you. So you remember Absalom.

You remember that cat? That cat. Look at me talking like I'm a middle school teacher again. Absalom, David's son, 2 Samuel chapter 18. He scorns his father, right?

He dishonors his father, he disobeys his father. He ends up dead on a tree with three javelins in his heart. Just think about the prodigal son. Oh children, please learn from the prodigal son. He hated the instruction of his father.

He did not respect. He did not obey his father. He did not honor his father. What happened to him? Luke 15, for the son who would not honor his father, for the son who would reject the fifth commandment, the pain and the anguish that came from that sin.

The misery that came from his disobedience to the fifth commandment was so great, The pain and misery was so great that the life of a pig in a pigsty was far better than the life that was his. The life of a pig wallowing in a pigsty was better than the life that was His. Children, children, disobedience to your parents is huge because it's disobedience to God, and God has not been confusing at all about what he thinks about your behavior so children obey your parents and the Lord for this is right this is right honor your father and your mother It's just not very hard to understand. But it is hard to do, isn't it? Come on, children, you can nod.

Well, maybe you don't find it hard to do. Good for you. Praise God for that. Why is it, children, that you struggle to obey your parents? Why is it that in your heart you want to disobey them at times?

And the answer is simple, because of the sin that's in you. Because you think you know better than your father, and you think you know better than your mother. You think you know better than they do. But I want you to stop for a minute, and I want to ask you about that. Do you?

Do you actually know better than them? Do you? Who gave you your father? Who gave you your mother? Who did that?

God did that. God gave them to you. Do you know better than God? What was the first sin ever to be committed in this world? The first sin that brought death and destruction into the world.

What was the very first sin? I think in a word you could say this, we know better than God. We know better than God. God said don't eat from the tree. I know better than God.

I will take and I will eat and now we all die. You want to talk about destructive? If you wonder about the destructive power of sin, look at Genesis 3. What's going on there? We know better than God.

In the Garden of Eden, that's going on in your heart, children, when you disobey your parents, That sin inside of you can be traced all the way back to Adam and Eve, and then listening to that serpent named Satan. Now, children, listen to me. When you give in to the lie that you know better than your parents, when you give in to the lie that, you know what, I'm not going to honor them, you're not listening to anybody but the lie of Satan you have sin in their children in your hearts and you need that sin dealt with And that's the marvelous news. The Son of God, the Son of God, Jesus, He did obey His Father perfectly. How?

He died on the cross, was raised up from the grave to do exactly what you children need to have done inside of you. He died. He lived a perfect life of obedience to the Father. He died, was crucified, dead and buried. He was raised up so that you could have your sin dealt with, so that you could be forgiven, so that you could have spiritual hearts made new, so that you could be made into a new creation.

Children, Jesus Christ was the Son of God and He was obedient so that disobedient children like you could come to Him with your sin so that you would come to Him with your heart that is not well, so that He could forgive you your sin and make your heart well. He'll make your heart well. New spiritual hearts is what He promises. In Malachi 4-6, the promise is that the Christ Jesus, because of the way that He kept the fifth commandment, if you trust Him, He will turn the hearts of children towards their fathers. Instead of against them.

Jesus came to turn children and their hearts towards their fathers and the hearts of fathers towards their children. So this very day, children, I plead with you. Would you come to Him? Would you trust Him? Trust Him.

Be like that man who went up to pray in Luke 18 and was so desperate for a Savior that he couldn't even look up to heaven, but he simply beat his breast, and he cried out to God, God, be merciful to me, God of the sinner. And he turned to Jesus in faith. He cried out in faith, and that young man went home a Christian. Jesus says to you this morning, children, come. Come.

Believe upon My name. Repent and believe My Gospel. Be saved. Then come to the water and come to my table and I will make you new. Children if you are this morning in that seat and you know that you've been the disobedient child of whom this Bible is speaking to, You know yourself to be the prodigal child who has gone away to the pigsty of your sin.

You need to hear me if that's you. Hear me because there is more mercy in Jesus than sin in you. You need to listen to me, prodigals. Listen to me. The Father in heaven, He is running out to meet you right now.

He is running out to meet you and He's holding His arms out to you to wash all your sin away, to wash all that stink, all that filth away. So come out of the pigsty, come home, come and be welcome to Jesus Christ, come and receive salvation. Children, let His obedience be your obedience, let His righteousness be your righteousness, let Him carry your sins away to an empty tomb forever. Repent of your disobedience and come to Jesus Christ, and live. Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

And I should point out that phrase. Notice, well, you're not in Ephesians 6, but I've been quoting from Ephesians 6. In Ephesians 6, it says, obey your parents in the Lord. In the Lord. So of course, There is a limit to your parents' authority.

There is a limit to every authority except for the one with all authority in heaven and on earth. The only one with unlimited authority is Jesus Christ. And so in the rare instance, in the rare instance that your parents ask you to disobey Jesus that I don't Know what that happened But you must obey God rather than man, but even then children listen to me even then The fifth commandment is not abolished You wing your parents over by your godly behavior. The fifth commandment applies to you regardless of any circumstance you are to honor your father and mother. You still honor them.

And one of the ways you do that, apart from obedience, alongside obedience, is reverence and respect. Reverence and respect. Honoring your father and your mother is respecting and revering your father and your mother. Now do you remember the story of Ham? Genesis chapter 9?

Do you remember that? Genesis chapter 9 Noah and his family they leave the ark and the sons of Noah Shem, Ham and Jacob and their families they begin to settle in the land and Noah, he becomes uncovered in his tent and Ham dishonors him. Do you remember that? We won't get into the nitty gritty of all that. But Ham goes into the tent and he shows irreverence.

He shows disrespect to his father Noah. And what happens? Ham is cursed for it. But his brothers, Shem and Japheth, they're blessed because in honor and reverence they go with their backs turned and cover their fathers' nakedness. Honoring your father and mother is respecting and revering your father and mother.

Don't be a ham. Proverbs 23 22 Proverbs 23 22, listen to your father who begot you and do not despise your mother when she is old. Leviticus 19.3, every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God. Now that's incredible.

Leviticus 19, I am the Lord your God. You'll be marked out as my people in in what two ways at least according to Leviticus 19 God marks his people out in multiple ways, but in this verse Leviticus 19 3 God says you're going to be known as my people by your Sabbath keeping and the reverence you have for your parents. The fourth commandment and the fifth commandment. So what does then respect and reverence look like? Well at one point in this sermon I had my own ideas based on the Bible.

And then I read Alistair Begg. And I thought, I'm gonna delete what I wrote. I'm just gonna give you Uncle Ali. So here's what Alistair Begg says, quote, Here's what respect and reverence looks like. To respect our parents means speaking kindly to them and speaking kindly about them.

We make our reverence for them apparent not only by our words, but also with our eyes. We have all watched a youngster speaking to his parents by phone. We can tell from the expression in his eyes whether his attitude is represented in his words. Respect demands that we look into our parents' eyes as we address them. And address them properly.

A young lady will wipe away the hair from her face so that her father can see her face in its entirety. A young man will be tender towards his mother, thanking her and praising her for the meal that she has just cooked and the care that she has shown to him when he has done nothing to deserve it at all. We must beware of criticizing, mocking, or insulting our parents. Many a hardened criminal will confess that their first step on the road to their sorry end was contempt of parental authority and restraint." End quote. So children, you are to revere and respect your parents.

And children, this is both of them. Notice the command in our passage. It is not honor thy father alone. It is honor thy father and thy mother. Father and mother.

So children, your father and your mother are one flesh. They are a unit together. Your mother is the glory of your father, who is the glory of Christ. Which means if you dishonor her, if you disrespect her, then you dishonor and disrespect your father and if you disrespect your mother and you disrespect your father Then you dishonor and you disrespect Jesus the Christ Very simple line of logic there So I'm gonna say it again don't be a ham Literally Don't be like that son of Noah who showed contempt for his father because all that contempt will get you is a curse. You saw it play out for hand in Genesis and Deuteronomy 27 verse 16 says the exact same quote, cursed is he who dishonors or cursed is he who shows contempt for his father or mother.

And then the text goes on to say, and all the people will say amen. Amen. Good job. This is something that the covenant community has to agree on. You show contempt for your parents, you're cursing.

Everybody says amen. Honor looks like reverence and respect. Finally, honoring your parents is accomplished through faithfulness. Now this point is brief, but I don't want you to mistake brevity for unimportance. I'm just going to tell it to you as briefly as I can, but this is so huge.

This is huge. Children, listen to me. God calls you to be faithful to your parents, particularly when they are aged. The responsibility listen to me because you're not going to get this out there. The responsibility to take care of your folks when they are unable to take care of themselves is not the responsibility of the state.

It is not someone else's job to take care of your parents. It's yours. It's yours. 1st Timothy chapter 5 verse 4 But if any widow has children or grandchildren, those children or grandchildren must first learn to practice piety in regard to their own family and to make some return to their parents for this is acceptable inside God first Timothy five eight so four verses later but if anyone does not do that if anyone does not provide for his own and especially for those of his own household if you do not provide for your own parents he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. Wow!

This is serious. Faithfulness devotion to your parents. God literally says in 1 Timothy, he actually, you could translate it this way, repay your parents. Repay your parents. For all the years of faithfulness to you, you now are faithful towards them Because this is acceptable in the sight of God, Paul tells Timothy.

And if you aren't willing to do this, if you aren't willing to care for your aged parents, you're worse than a pagan. Because even pagans are often faithful to their parents. So being faithful towards your father, being faithful towards your mother includes financial time, finances, time, energy. It's going to cost you money, it's going to cost you time, It's going to cost you energy to care for those That God has put in front of you as a near glory. It's going to cost you And that is precisely what Jesus wants you to spend your money your time and your energy on as children of elderly parents That's precisely what Jesus wants you to spend your money, your time, and your energy on, is children of elderly parents.

So go home this evening and read things like Mark chapter 7, read Matthew chapter 15. Read where Jesus rebukes the scribes and he rebukes the Pharisees for practicing Corbin. That was where a money that should have been spent for caring for parents, the children, they're going to give it to the temple and they'll be free from their parental obligations. That was what was going on in the Gospels. And Jesus looks at that practice as a way to like weasel out of the fifth commandment.

Jesus says that's ridiculous. Jesus quotes the fifth commandment and says you're not caring for your parents you're breaking my law you're breaking God's law being faithful to your father and mother at the end of their life is going to cost you time money and energy and it's the time money and energy that might be the most well spent time money and energy you've ever spent according to Jesus. So be faithful. Be faithful. How do you want your children to care for you at the end?

Go and do likewise. Honor your father and your mother that your days may be prolonged in the land which Lord your God gives to you So what if you don't have a father or mother What if you don't have children What if you've been hurt by the sin of your father and mother? What if there's bitterness inside of you? Look to Jesus. He bore your sins in His body on the tree.

He rose up victorious over bitterness and grief and strife. Hold fast to Him, look to Jesus, and then listen to what Jesus says. Here are your brothers and your sisters and your mothers and your fathers. Here around this room, is the miracle of grace that God has made a covenant household right here that you are a part of. Here through the finished work of Jesus is the family of God bought and washed by His blood.

Jesus Christ, brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ has so fulfilled the fifth commandment that he brings you into a new family, a forever household, adopted into his church, his body, his covenant household, his church, forever. So honor the fathers and the mothers that God has given you here. And be free from the bitterness that you hold against your biological parents. Be free from it because it was nailed to a cross, to His cross, 2000 years ago. Live free, drink his blood, eat his body, and as his children and as he your father, inherit the earth.

Drink his blood, eat his body, live free, and as his child, and he as your father, inherit the earth. And all the people of God said, amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for this, your word. I pray, Lord, that we would not just be hearers but doers.

You would bring, Lord, our children to repentance and faith, convict them of their sin according to your promise. And Lord, give us the grace to shepherd their hearts well. For Jesus' sake and in His name we pray. Amen.