The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.
Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.
I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me. He shall send from heaven, and save from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind. Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Exodus 20 sets forth a covenant document between God and man. These are the obligations we are to do. If we take one out then we destroy the covenant document and destroy the covenant relationship with God.
Our text “Honor your Father and Mother” is a universal command. EVERYBODY is supposed to do this; all that are in covenant with God. This is a moral law that is for you and I. It has a purpose and is Holy, righteous and acts like a mirror. It, the Law, shows us our sins and the Law cannot save us. We are saved by the New Covenant that is in Jesus and in the Blood of Jesus. ONLY the Blood of Jesus can save us. The blood of all those sacrificed animals could not and cannot save anybody. It is through the Blood of Jesus that we enter into a New Covenant with God. When we enter into the New Covenant then we can keep this fifth commandment to honor our father and mother.
Leviticus 19:3 Honor your Father and Mother. This is on the same level as keeping the Sabbaths of God. Have reverence for our parents. Give them reverence and honor is what the Lord says to do to our parents who are in covenant relationship with God. In the Old Testament an unruly child was admonished by his parents. If he didn’t listen then they took him to the elders of the church. If he still didn’t listen then they would take him out and stone him dead. The New Testament says to treat the child as an illegitimate instead.
For the parents who don’t have a covenant relationship with God but the child does, we look at I Peter 3:1-4. Don’t nag them, your parents, but act out your Faith. Pray for them and live as you are a Believer. You are to still love your father and mother. The scripture puts father and mother on an equal plain and you are to honor them both equally. Father and Mother are balanced-equal in the honor, reverence that they should receive. This also goes for your adoptive parents and your spiritual moms and dads. Spiritual parents can be your pastors, ministers, and church leaders. It can be those who lead us to Christ and who continue to nourish us in the Lord. We need to honor them all when they are alive and when they are dead. When a man leaves his father and mother to get married, to go to his wife, he is to still honor his father and mother.
Ephesians 6:1-2 “Children obey your parents for it is the first commandment with promise.” You will live a long life. Parents have been through things in the past that their children may need help with now. By the parents teaching the children how to do, act and behave in certain situations, the children will live a long life. God keeps His promises so what should we do to live a long life? Honor your father and mother. Ask God to teach you how to better honor your father and mother.
And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
I John 5:14-15
============
And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us. And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.
Did you know the Ten Commandments can be controversial? The 4th commandment is controversial. In church today there are four groups of people. 1) Duty people who are at church as a duty. 2) Curious people who never heard a sermon about the 4th commandment. 3) Sunday worshippers who came to see what is going to be said about the 4th commandment. 4) Committed people who are committed to the 7th day Sabbath.
In the 4th commandment there is a covenant obligation. God set it out as a certain thing He expects people to do in this covenant document- Ten Commandments. If you take the 4th commandment out you destroy the covenant document, you destroy the covenant relationship with God. The 4th commandment is universal and it’s for everyone at all times. All the other 9 commandments are universal so the 4th commandment is universal too. When we look at the 4th commandment, we see the day of worship is the 7th day of the week-the Sabbath.
The Sabbath day is a weekly day that means break and rest. It occurs at the end of the week on the 7th day of the week. We don’t need to go all the way back to Genesis to see what God said about it. Look at Jesus. When did He go to worship at teach? Jesus went to church services on the 7th day which is the Sabbath. Sunday is the 1st day of the week and the Sabbath is the 7th day. The Sabbath starts at the sun down evening of the 6th day and ends at the evening close of the 7th day. Sabbath starts Friday evening and ends Saturday evening.
***Sabbath To Do’s
1) Remember the Sabbath: Just like husbands have to remember their anniversary and wife’s birthday or they get in trouble; you need to remember the Sabbath.
2) Keep the Sabbath Holy: Rest on the 7th day because God made it sanctified and Holy. Keep our activities on this day Holy. Don’t do anything that brings sin. Only do things that keep the Sabbath Holy.
3) Six Days You Are to Labor and Do ALL Your Work: After Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, God told him that he would do farming labor and that there would be weeds. This is labor and this is our work NOT God’s work we are to do in the six days. We are to do OUR work, our labor in the six days.
4) We Are Not to Do Any Work: This means we are not to do OUR work on the Sabbath-7th day. No work for anyone in the household and no work for any farm animals either. The visiting strangers/aliens in the city are to keep the Sabbath too by not working.
***Work Definition:
We all can decide what work is and what is not to be done on the Sabbath. In the Old Testament there is a list of what is deemed to be work. Today we have soul-liberty and don’t need to make that kind of list. But work can be a definite task that needs to be accomplished for oneself. Whatever you define work as, don’t do it on the 7th day because that is work for you.
God rested on the 7th day after working 6 days making creation. He rested and blessed the day. God rested, blessed it and declared it to be a Holy day. This is what the Sabbath - the 7th day is, a blessed and Holy day. This is the 4th commandment that is in the covenant/agreement we have with God the Almighty, Our Father. We need to receive this gift of Sabbath rest God has given to us.
