So we're in Exodus chapter 20,
and we're continuing to think about the 10 commandments which
God gave to Moses, and Moses gave to the children of Israel,
and which have, in the goodness of God the Holy Spirit, been
conveyed through this testimony of the word of God to countless
generations. So here we are in Exodus chapter
20, and we're reading verse 12. Honour thy father and thy mother
that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God
giveth thee. Honour thy father and thy mother
that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God
giveth thee. This is the fifth of the Ten
Commandments and Paul, the Apostle Paul, commenting on this verse
in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 2, calls it the first command
with promise. So it's the fifth of the Ten
Commandments, but it's the first command with promise. Because
there is a promise attached to it. A promise concerning long
life in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. That is,
the promised land of Canaan that the children of Israel were now
travelling to. You'll remember with me, I trust,
that these commandments were given to the children of Israel
when they were encamped near Mount Sinai and or Horeb and
it is the command of God that he gave to the children of Israel
as they came out of Egypt and as they were traveling towards
the promised land, the land that had been promised to Abraham
and to Isaac and to Jacob and to which Moses was now leading
the nation out of captivity. And this reminds us, this reference
to Canaan shows us again that these commands were primarily
intended and indeed delivered to the Jewish people. But their
lasting usefulness to the church is also here marked. not as a
standard of obedience to lead us to holiness, but rather to
lead us to the Lord Jesus Christ by teaching us that our own personal
righteousness will never satisfy God's standard, God's holy perfection,
but that we must go to Christ for our righteousness. Every
sinner needs the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not the righteousness of the
law. Paul tells the Galatian churches, if righteousness come
by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. So it is the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ that the law points to. Not by providing
us with a righteousness, but by showing us how inadequate
our own righteousness is because we can never satisfy the demands
of God's holy law. This commandment begins a section
that shows how God should be understood and how
his will should be understood in our relationships with one
another. We've already thought in the
first four commandments about how we are to worship God and
how we are to present our worship to God. And here in this commandment,
it seems to be directing us rather to our dealings with others and
our relationships with others after we get our worship with
God properly fixed in our understanding. And sometimes we hear people
talking about the first table of the law and the second table
of the law. They do that because, of course,
these 10 commandments were given on two tablets of stone. And there has been the thought
that perhaps the first four commandments were written on one tablet because
they referred to the worship of God. And the next six commandments
were on the second tablet because they referred to our dealings
one with another. That's not specified in scripture. And so even when we speak about
the two tablets, we don't know the division. We don't know the
way in which these were set on those tablets of stone. And so
even talk about the first table and the second table is only
a matter of interpretation. The importance is that God has
set these before us. as a standard of his holiness
and to point us to the Lord Jesus Christ. So here we have the commandment
being given and we see how the Lord, even in this, shows us
how we are to be dealing in our relationships with one another. The little reference that I gave
earlier to the Apostle Paul calling this the first commandment with
promise is drawn from his own teaching in Ephesians where he
is showing the believers at Ephesus how our duties and obligations
to each other reflect the example of God's dealings with us. As believers it matters how we
treat one another, especially husbands and wives, especially
parents and children. Indeed all with whom we have
family and social relationships and virtues like honour and obedience
and respect and love and kindness and gentleness and trust are
qualities that should be nurtured and promoted within the relationships
where God has placed us. The appended promise that we've
mentioned speaks of long life as a reward of honoring our father
and our mother. Of course, long life is not always
the portion of a particular individual, but I think that there is a principle
here. We know that it is appointed
that day when all men and women and boys and girls must die.
It's appointed unto men once to die. And so there is an appointment. We don't increase or extend the
days of our life by the things that we do or how we live our
lives. It's not that sort of relationship,
I don't think, that is being spoken of here. But what we do
find is that obedience and respect to parents lends itself to a
wiser way of life. Whereas those who are disobedient
to parents often find themselves placed in danger's way unnecessarily. And it is true that parents do
not always know what is best. But experience in life does bring
a certain kind of wisdom and an awareness of threats and risks
from the past and from past lessons learned will help a parent to
direct their children. because they do not want their
children to make the same mistakes that they have made if that can
possibly be helped. Parents are not the fount of
all knowledge, but what this little verse is telling us here
is that we should nevertheless consider the way in which we
treat them and the respect and honour that we give to them. Here's a couple of applications
that I want to make and take from this commandment. First
one is this. It is right and proper for us
to honour our parents. And the passage here tells us
that our parents are our father and our mother. But we must recognise also that
not all parents deserve honour. Because if a parent betrays the
trust that is placed in them, and if a parent abuses their
obligation to take care for and to protect their children, then
there is a problem with honouring that kind of conduct. And some
of us have had bad experiences with the very people who ought
to have looked after our welfare the most. The Lord knows about
that and the Lord will judge that conduct and that behaviour. There is more to being a father
than simply bringing a baby into this world. But perhaps we wonder,
why does the Lord let bad things happen? Things that hurt and
things that spoil and change relationships forever. Well, it's not always easy to
get answers to such questions, but let me say this. The Lord
has wisely chosen to let sin run its course in this world
until the wrath of God has been filled up. We're going to talk
a little bit more about that later. But in that course, that
course of sin, the church, the people of God, His people and
His little ones are often misused and often hurt and persecuted. But there are two things in that
which we may be sure of. First is this, except the Lord
be merciful, He will judge with greater severity those who have
touched his little ones. The Lord Jesus Christ said, whosoever
shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is
better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and
he were cast into the sea. The Lord says, vengeance is mine,
I will repay. And so that lifts a whole load
of weight and a whole load of trouble and doubt from our shoulders. And the second is this, that
whatever the trials the little ones have been through, whatever
the trials the little ones have to bear and yet have to endure,
The Lord will use those hard times for our greater good. He will bind up our wounds. He will give us the oil of gladness. And something good will come
from this that could not have arisen by any other means. And the Lord himself will be
a father and a comforter to us. So let that be an application
that we draw from this relationship between fathers and mothers and
their children. The second thing is this. When
the Lord gives us children and when the Lord lays upon them,
those children, the duty of honouring us What a tremendous obligation
that lays upon us as parents. How far short we all fall as
parents in earning the honour God requires from our children
towards us. How inadequate and how unworthy
I tell you, this command ought to drive both children and parents
to the Lord Jesus Christ, for we neither give the honour due
nor deserve the honour given. This one little verse renders
all men and women guilty and brings shame upon our heads. So let us all look a way to Christ,
who is the Holy Father, the everlasting Father. Let us find our comfort
in his wisdom and his sovereign purpose for our own souls and
for the souls of our children and those that we love. And here's
a third little application which came to my thought here as I
reflected on this verse. Let us look to the beautiful
relationship between God the Father and God the Son as the
great example for our own relationships. How blessed of the Lord our God
to reveal himself in the persons of the Godhead by such a blessed
figure as God the Father and God the Son. The Father says,
this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And the Son
says, I delight to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is within
my heart. And again, in John chapter four,
verse 34, that first reference came from Psalm 40. In John 4,
34, he says, my meat, which is my whole purpose, my full pleasure,
is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work. Do you see the loveliness in
this relationship between God the Father and God the Son? Do
you see the love that binds them both together? Do you know that
the love of God for you and me is just the same as the love
that God the Father has for the Lord Jesus Christ. And where we can never be pleasing
to God in ourselves, let us rejoice that in Christ the Father delights
in you and in me. And in Christ we are as well-pleasing
in the Father's sight as is the Lord Jesus Christ his Son. And
where we can never be truly obedient or suitably dutiful children
or honour the Father as we ought, Let us rejoice that our Lord
Jesus Christ has satisfied every duty, fulfilled every obligation
and met every requirement. In Christ, our relationship with
God is perfect. And there's one final little
point that I want to mention. I always personally find it pleasing
to consider the care that the saviour took of his own mother
as he hung on the cross. There as the saviour was dying,
there as the saviour was bearing the weight of our sin in his
soul on that cross. He took time in his utterances
from the cross to take care of his mother's well-being in her
old age. How blessed it is to see the
Saviour acting to honour his mother in such a way. He committed
her well-being into the care of John. Even in his death, he
honoured his mother. What a delightful example the
Saviour is to us all. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us. Amen.