and he got along pretty well
with the catchers. He's advanced, he's getting way
through and he's going strong. The family seems to be settled
in that fact. Of course, it's never easy to
lose a firstborn son. It never is easy to lose a child.
It's going to be hard on them. They have come to see Christ.
It's not an issue there, but it's going to be a hole in their
heart for a long time. So y'all remember, that's Pete
Clark's family in your prayers. Fred got his CT scans back and
didn't show any massive cancer. And so the Lord is merciful. His mercy endures forever. I went to see Wayne Land. He's
doing good. He said that it wasn't hurting
him very bad. He's in good spirits. Very lucid. He's eating good. And I also
saw, uh, Nina Hitz. Thank you, Donna. Nina Hitz. And she's doing well, too. So
we're thankful for that. All right. Let's begin our worship
service tonight with hymn number 287, Like a River Glory. I don't need no glorious, it's
just perfect peace. Over all victorious, it is my
increase. Perfect yet it's awesome, fuller
every day. Perfect yet it's perfect, Oh. Not a surge of worry, Not a shade
of care, Not a flash of worry, Touch my spirit flare. ? Hearts shall fully bless ? ?
Binding as you promised ? ? Perfect peace and grace ? ? Every joy
of triumph ? ? Falleth from above ? ? Rage doth all our triumphs
? ? By the sword of love ? May you trust Him fully, all
for us to do. May you trust Him wholly, by
Him only true. State of God, Jehovah, hearts
are fully blessed. By Him as we promised, In number two hundred and twenty-eight. I pray that's not I wish to see him but maybe not,
his words for me shall be. I need no other on him but, I
need no God but thee. I come to you. I need no water for you, but
I need no other, please. It is enough that Jesus died,
and that He died for me. My heart is leaning on the Word,
the written Word of salvation by my savior's name salvation
through his blood I need no other argument I need no one but me
it is enough that Jesus died and then he died for me. My greatest mission is to seek
the lost he came to save. For me his precious blood he
shed, for me his life he gave. I need no other argument Exodus
chapter 20, verse 12. The Lord says, honor thy father
and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the lands of
the Lord thy God. Our Father, most blessed God
in heaven, Lord of all, we thank you for all you have done for
your people. We thank you that you secured
their salvation through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ, to
put away their sins, and he has perfected forever them who were
sanctified, so much so that you will remember their sins no more,
and where a vision of these is, there is no more sacrifice. We
thank you, Father, that such things can enter the mind of
poor, wretched sinners, and we can actually rejoice in them
because you have given us faith to believe in them. We bless
you for that. Father, we pray for those of
our company who are sick, and we pray that you would continue
Wayne, bring him back to a good measure of health and thankful
for the good report that Fred got from the Cascades. We pray,
Lord, that you continue to minister to him in our name. We ask, Lord,
for my brother, Dick Parks, as he seems to be about to depart
from this world and go to the next. We know that he is trusting
in the grace of Jesus Christ alone. And we know that what
he will gain, though we will lose him, What he will gain is
beyond our imagination or comprehension to be able to sit at the feet
of Christ and worship Him without sin, to be done with the flesh,
the weakness thereof, to rejoice in Christ Jesus fully, having
nothing to keep it from Him. What a thing! What a day that
will be! I pray especially for Sandy,
also for Bruce, for Christine, for Jackson, for Kate, ask Lord
to be with them. Comfort them in Jesus Christ.
We pray for ourselves tonight, Father. We are glad to hear the
good count, Tracy Wright, Dr. Stone, Now, this commandment in some
form or another is accepted as true in almost
every religion and society in the world. It speaks to the issue
of family harmony, and any society or government entity that diminishes
the value of a family will soon find itself in dire straits.
This has been proven throughout recorded history. Even if this
is not applied to government, it remains a vital principle
of life and of a sane society in this world. It is also important
to remember that the law was added according to Scripture
because of transgression. So this law was added because
of transgression. So the beginning of this law
was because fathers and mothers were not being honored in Israel
at the time of this writing. There is a declaration of this
in Isaiah with the prophet asserts the doom and desolation of rebellious
Israel when he says the child should behave proudly against
the ancient. And we see that today. And it's
against God's commandment. Now the promise to those who
honor their father and mother is that their days may be long
upon the land and the Lord thy God giveth thee. Now, this is
not a general commandment. It was not given at this time
to the Gentiles. It was only given to Israel at
the bottom of Mount Sinai, the land referred to as the Promised
Land, or Canaan, which they will receive in about 40 years from
now at the time this is written. Because they are a rebellious
people, because they've already broken this commandment and all
the other commandments that he's given, They will wander in the
desert for 40 years before they enter into the promised land.
And not all of them that left Egypt will enter into the promised
land. In fact, only two of the original people, of the million
or so people that left Israel will enter into the promised
land. That will be Joshua, whose Greek name is Jesus, Joshua and
Caleb, whose name means the faithful dog. So Jesus and his faithful
dog are the only two. The rest, all those who are above
20 years of age that left Egypt will die in the wilderness because
of unbelief. So this land is the promised
land. Now Paul repeats this commandment, however, in Ephesians chapter
six, if you want to turn there, In the New Testament, he's speaking
to the church at Ephesus, which is a Gentile church. And we know
that the Gentiles did not come to Christ under the preaching
of the law. this, I think in the proper way, to teach that
this is a principle of life that's worth living. He says in Ephesians
chapter 6 and verse 1, Children, obey your parents in the Lord,
for this is right. Now the words in the Lord are
important words, which seems to suggest that you obey your
parents, but if they are against the Lord and hate the Lord, then
you might be In that matter, not bound to obey them, but honor
thy father and thy mother, which is the first commandment with
promise. What was the promise that they
would inherit the land? And it says that it might be
well with thee, thou mayst live long on the earth. Now, he also
says in verse four, ye fathers, provoke not your children to
wrath, but bring them up into the nurture and admonition of
the Lord. In Exodus, the promise had to
do with the lengths of days, and in Ephesians, it has to do
with the quality of life. Some scholars define the words
long life in Ephesians chapter six as having to do with the
quality of life, or rectitude, which is a moral uprightness
and correctness, a good way to live. In other words, the inference
is that the child who honors his parents will have a good
life. It will be well with him if he
honors them in the Lord. He also said the same thing to
the Church of Colossians, if you want to turn there, in Colossians
chapter 3. verse 20 it says children obey
your parents in all things for this is well pleasing to the
lord this is just basically quoting the commandment that was given
at sinai in both ephesians and colossians the way the parents
raise their children is played to play a big part of it plays
a big part on whether or not your children will honor you
or not some parents don't act very honored and aren't worthy
of honor it's that simple so he said as we just read in ephesians
Fathers, don't provoke your children to anger. Don't provoke your
children to anger. In Colossians chapter 3 verse
1 it says, Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest
they be discouraged. So this is a two-way street,
especially in the Old Testament, it's not. Under the law, and
not under grace. is a whole different set of thinking. One may think that though this
was a commandment that it came off more as a suggestion, but
being the law, and being because the transgression had already
been committed, it is an indictment of sin and carried with it in
the Old Testament a penalty of death. This was nothing to play
around with. You didn't honor your mother
and father, you could be put to death. That's explained in
several places. Look at chapter 21 of Exodus
in verse 15 through 17. It says, He that smiteth his
father or his mother shall be surely put to death. And then in 16, verse 17 says,
And he that curseth his father or his mother shall surely be
put to death. Same thing is said in Levitical
law, which is a furtherance of the teachings of Exodus. In Leviticus
chapter 20, In verse 9, it says this, for everyone that curses
his father or his mother shall be surely put to death. He that
curses his father or his mother, his blood shall be upon him.
So this was no small thing under the law. It would cost you your
life. Over in Deuteronomy chapter 21,
as Moses is getting ready to bring the children into the promised
land, the 30 days prior to them entering the promised land, the
book of Deuteronomy takes place. In Deuteronomy chapter 21, In verse 18 through 21, it says
this, it says, If a man have a stubborn or rebellious son,
which will not obey the voice of the father or the voice of
the mother, and that when he is chastened him, he will not
hearken unto them, Then shall the father and his mother lay
hold of him, and bring him out to the elders of the city, and
to the gate of the city. And they shall say unto the elders
of the city, This is our son, he is stubborn and rebellious,
he will not obey your voice, he is a glutton and a drunkard.
And all the men of this city shall stone him with stones that
he die. So shalt thou put evil away from
among you, and all Israel shall fear and fear." So this is under
the law. You know the law, killeth, the
letter killeth, the spirit maketh the lives. A world of difference
between the Old Testament teachings. and the New Testament teachings.
The Old Testament pictured the Lord Jesus Christ, as we'll see
in just a moment, these things have to do with Him. But under
that law, you either obeyed and were blessed, or you disobeyed
and were killed. It was that simple. And so our Lord addressed this
commandment also. There's one other instance that
this law was set forth in Proverbs, in Proverbs chapter 20. excuse me, Proverbs chapter 30 verse 17 it says this the eye
that mocketh at his father and despises to obey his mother the
ravens of the valley shall pick it out as his eyes and the young
eagles shall eat it that's no small thing is it our Lord was
pretty serious about this so when he said gave this commandment
to Israel It was serious about us keeping this law, not breaking
this law, although they were already guilty of it. So I've
already read this commandment when dealing with the Pharisees
who did not take care of their parents. And they gave a religious
reason for not taking care of their parents. Rather than seeing
that their parents were not destitute or taking care of their parents,
They said that their money couldn't be spent on our poor parents.
It had to be taken, it was for the Lord. We're gonna use it
for the Lord. We can't use it on taking care
of our parents. And our Lord dealt with it, and
he used this passage in the Old Testament to deal with it. That
was Mark chapter seven. It's also in Matthew and in Luke,
but in Mark it's the clearest. In Mark chapter seven. In verse 9 it says this, and
he said to them, full well, he's talking to the Pharisees. Who
are the Pharisees? They were men who lived the law,
who taught the law, who held great burdens upon men and never
lifted a finger to help them. They were righteous men in themselves
and they hated others. According to Luke 18, here in
Mark it says, full well, you reject the commandment of God.
Now they told you, they would tell you, I keep the law. I keep
the commandments. He says you reject the commandment
of God that you may have your own tradition. A tradition. And Moses, well Moses said, honor
thy father and thy mother. Whoso curses father and mother,
let him die of the dead. And I won't send him. He said,
this is what you say you believe. But you sent it to sign. You
set this aside. He said, but you say, if a man
shall say to his father and mother, it is Corbin. In other words,
it is a gift. It belongs to the Lord. I can't
help it. I'm praying. This is God's money. That is
to say a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me. He
shall be free. You used to tell a man that if
he dedicates his money to the Lord so, and not take care of
his parents, and he's free, he's okay, that's what you say, that's
a lie, that's a lie. He says, you make the word of
God of none effect through your tradition that you have delivered,
and many such like this do ye. In another place he says, you
teach for doctrines as if they were doctrines. They're traditions
and commandments of men, so this principle of honor and mother
and father is carried out all the way from the Old Testament
to the New. Now this commandment is relative,
however. This is what's more to understand. Though it is a
reasonable indictment of the sons and daughters of the parents
of Israel, it relates especially to the honor of God. When you read the Bible, when
you read the Old Testament, look for Christ, because He's there.
When the apostles taught in the New Testament, when our Lord
taught in the New Testament, He taught the Word of God. But
what did they have then? They didn't have the New Testament.
They didn't have the Gospels. They had them by the Old Testament. And so from there He taught them
about Himself. taking the word of God, and he
said to the Pharisees, the same bunch, he says, you do study
the scriptures, for in them you think you find eternal life,
but they are they which testify of me, and you will not come
unto me that you might have life. So this is, whatever you read
in the Old Testament, it's about Jesus Christ in some form or
another. And as I said, it's a reasonable indictment to these
people. The sons have not honored their
father, but it relates especially to God's honor. God's honor. Israel has been steeped in Egypt's
idolatry, brought the gods with them, and will be long here now,
until they, at the bottom of this same mountain where they
received these words, they will make a golden calf, and they
will worship it. They will have a potluck supper,
and they will have a good old time, and they will call that
golden calf that they made with their earrings and their bracelets,
they'll call him Elohim. The all-powerful God, they'll
call Him Jehovah. That calf that they made and
they're looking at, they're going to call Him Jehovah that lifted
Him out of the land. The problem with Israel from
this day until the book of Malachi is I don't. But you know what
the Israelites called God? They called Him Father. Remember
Isaiah when he said, all our righteousness is a guilty rag,
and we defate as we leave. There's nothing to call out for
God, folks. But oh God, honor our Father.
They called Him Father. Now, the commandment is to honor
your father and your mother. And they called Him Father. So
our Lord had an issue with that, and that's how He approached
them over in the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi. And this is at the end of Malachi,
after he promised the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, he said, I'm done talking to
you. And no word was given to a prophet for 400 years. 400 years of silence, four centuries
of silence, when nobody spoke about God until John the Baptist
came along 400 years later. behold the Lamb of God hath taken
away the sin of the world now Malachi chapter 1 and verse 6
our Lord says a son on earth of his father and a servant his
master then I if I be a father where is my honor now see this
is has to do with the commandment that he's given if I be a master
where's my fear saith the Lord of hosts all priests You despise
my name. You say, where in it we despise
thy name? And then he goes to tell them how indeed they did
despise thy name. How did they dishonor the Father?
How did they dishonor the Father? They did so in their worship.
This has always been in our studies in the Old Testament, all the
1st Samuel, 2nd Samuel, 1st Kings, 2nd Kings, in all the books,
the mistake or the evil that the kings did in Israel was that
they didn't follow the way that they did. And the way, the thing
that differed them from David was not that they were better
than David was better than him. David was a sinner. A sinner
saved by grace. David committed adultery, got
a woman pregnant, brought her husband back off the battlefield,
tried to get him to take credit for getting that woman pregnant.
And when he was too hard on him to do that, he sent him out to
the battlefield, had him killed. And when a message came back
from being killed, he says, well, you know, war's tough. He was
a sinner. But he was the apple of God's
eye. He was a man after God's own heart. He was a chosen sinner. And that's the only kind of people
God chooses, or has chosen, are sinners. But the mark of David,
you'll never find anything this but true about David. He never
brought idolatry into the worship of God. He never did. He worshiped
God always through a blood sacrifice. And that picture's the Lord Jesus
Christ. these people diminished his holiness
and his requirement for perfection. Our Lord said in Leviticus 22,
21, if you offer me anything, it has to be perfect to be accepted.
Can't be anything less. That means the only thing we
can offer him is that which is perfect. And the only perfect
thing that's ever existed on the face is the Lord Jesus Christ. He was perfect in all His ways.
This is how we approach God, through Him. This of course is
about the perfect sacrifice of Christ and honor and fulfill
the law and the faith that He gives His elect which establishes
the law. God is honored and God is worshiped. in the perfect sin offering of
Jesus Christ the Lord. This is how he's honored. This
is his honor. This is his glory. Remember what he said in John
17. He said, I'm going to glorify you that you might glorify me,
that you might give eternal life to as many as thou shouldst. This is how it happens. God glorified
Christ so Christ could glorify God. in saving his people. This is the glory of God, the
salvation of God, the salvation of his wrath. God is honored
and worshiped in the perfect sin offering of Christ, in any
representation of Christ in the Old Testament. was required to
be without spot or blemish or any such thing. Any or every
sacrifice offered had to have that, without spot or blemish.
And we know that they were part of the world and they were part
of sin, but physically they showed forth that they were clean. They were a clean being. Even
the priesthood. When a high priest was chosen
out of the people, out of the Levitical tribe, they couldn't
be a high priest if they had a crooked nose. or a wandering
eye? Well, they were crippled. Because they represented the
great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, they must
be without, humanly, without limits. Our Lord was the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. He was without spot
or blemish. He was perfect in all His ways. So any representation
of Christ in the Old Testament was required to be without spot
or blemish because they typified the Lamb of God who was without
sin. And the dishonor of the Father It's obvious that the
sacrifice is offered by Malachi. If you look back, he said, you
despise me. You don't honor me. I said, well,
how do we despise you? What are you talking about? In
fact, six or seven times in the book of Malachi, you'll find
that every time the Lord accused these people of something, they
said, well, how do we do it? He said, you don't love me. He said, no, we do not love you.
We love that guy. They kept on saying that they
were God's people. They loved God and all that.
He should. They didn't honor him. Looks
like it out in Malachi chapter 1, verse 17, the last phrase
of verse 6, we're going to have you despised. We despise by thy
name. That's what they said. He said,
you're awful polluting breath upon mine altar. And you say
where in we polluted thee? In that you say the table of
the Lord is contemptible? And you offer the blind for sacrifice. Is it not evil? And if you offer
the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it now unto thy God. Offer it to somebody who is above
you in politics or above you in society. and they require
an offering, you go ahead and give them something, blind, ruined,
polluted, see how they act. Will he be pleased with you except
that person say a few more words? This is how you dishonor me.
What's he talking about here? He's talking about bread, he's
talking about sacrifice, and he's talking about his table.
Those three things are what he mentions here in this passage. The dishonor of the father is
obvious. Polluted declares the bread of heaven being pure. Who's
the bread of heaven? Christ is the bread of heaven.
The blind and lame and sick for a sacrifice declares Christ's
sacrifice to being perfect. When he was the perfect sacrifice.
The contempt of the table is despising the gospel. which is
the table that God has set and calls his people to come and
dine upon the feast of fat things while on the leaves of well-refined.
God is our father. God is our father. And in Galatians
it says the church is our mother. The church above, Jerusalem above,
is the mother of us all. To declare it as anything but
perfect and thus ineffectual is to dishonor the father. To
describe the church other than those for whom Christ died and
redeemed is to dishonor the mother. To add your will or your works
to anything about you, or anything about you, or from you, is to
dishonor the table. Christ honored his Father by
fulfilling and satisfying God's justice. He honored the Father,
and the believer honors the Father in him. We don't honor God as
we ought to. If our honor was set on a scale,
and the true honor of God was set on the other end of the scale,
we wouldn't match up, we would be found wanting. Our Lord speaks
of a way that he's honored over in the Gospel according to John,
and I'll close with this. The Gospel according to John,
chapter 5. Verse 23. Our Lord says that all men should
honor the Son even as they honor the father. He that honoreth
not the son, honoreth not the father. So how do we honor the
father? By honoring the son. How do we honor
the mother? By honoring the son. How do we honor the table? By
him who is the feast upon the table. It's all about Jesus Christ. This is what the Lord says in
John 5. Honor thy father and thy mother with praise. law in
play.