The Perfect 10, Part 4

Turn with me in your Bible to Mark chapter 12. Mark chapter 12. We're going to begin here this morning because it serves as a A good introduction to our study of the Ten Commandments in Exodus chapter 20. That's where we are in our study of the book of Exodus, the Ten Commandments, Exodus chapter 20. But we're going to look at Mark chapter 12 this morning because I want you to look with me at the last question asked of Jesus during his earthly ministry.

The question goes as follows, Mark chapter 10, verse number 28, and one of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that he had answered them well, asked him, what command is the foremost of all? Jesus answered, The foremost is her Israel. The Lord our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

There is no other commandment greater than these. The comm was simply to love God. And the manifestation of your love for God is se in your love for man. Scribe responds, verse 32, Write, teacher, you have truly stated that he is one, and there is no one else besides him. And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understand, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as him is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifice. Now, wouldn't you like to be there? But you realize something about this man.

He didn't realize that Jesus was God. Or he refused to accept that Jesus was God. God. So listen to what Jesus says.

Verse number 34. And when Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, he said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God. And after that, no one would venture to ask him any more questions. Why? Because you see, once you've answered that question, there are no other questions. It is the foremost question. And that is what? To love God and to love your fellow man. Because that flows out of your relationship with God. The first four commandments deal with our response to God Himself.

The next six commandments deal with our response to other people. And those six. Flow out of the last six, that is, flow out of our relationship with God. So if someone was to say to you, Do you love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength? How do you know that? How do you evaluate that? You evaluate that by looking at commandment number one, two, three, and four.

You see, the next six flow out of the first four. You can only do the next six once you understand the first four.

That's why they're in the order they're in. And the very first place. You will recognize that you love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. The very first place that will be evident is in your fing.

family. That's why comm number five is where it is. Honor your father and your mother. You show me somebody who doesn't honor mom and dad, and I'll show you somebody who has already broken comm one. Now, I'm not here to make evident how sinful you are or how sinful I am. Remember, the law of God is designed what? To reveal our iniquity. In order that we might recognize our necessity for a Savior, you see, we really think ourselves more highly than we ought to think of ourselves. And we live in a world which focuses in on self-est, and we preach a word that focuses in on self-denial.

And so what we preach and teach is going to be against what society preaches and teaches. And we must understand the mercy and grace of God. And that happens when I realize I fall short of His wonderful glory and I beg His mercy, and He bestows because of His great love and kindness for me. His salvation upon me and saves my soul because I realize I need a Savior. That's so important, right? And so we come to commandment number five and commitment number six. Today. Remember, we told you we're covering two a week.

I want to give you commandment number five, then commandment number six this morning because, like it or not, the two really truly go together, and I will show that to you this morning. So commandment number five deals with my respect for my family, and commandment number six deals with my regard for all of humanity. You shall honor your father and mother, commandment number five, and you shall not kill. Or, best translation, you shall not murder. Okay? You with me so far? You got your notes, got your pens, got your thinking caps on?

Commandment number five. The very first relational commandment outside of the one with my God that helps me understand: do I love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength?

Do I truly worship Him in spirit and in truth? Is God the sole focus of my attention? Is God the sole focus of my affection? Is God the sole focus of my adoration? Is God the central focus of my life? If so, then I will honor my mother and my father. I will honor them. The Bible says in verse number 12 of Exodus 20.

Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. Paul says in Ephesians 6: this is the first commandment with a promise.

It's got a promise to it. It tells you what's going to happen if you do what God says. So let me talk to you just in a few minutes about what God is saying here.

The word honor is used 144 times in the Bible. Honor father and mother is used seven times. Twice in the Old Testament, five times in the New Testament. We read about it in Ephesians chapter 6, verses 1 and 2, where children are to obey their parents, and they are to honor their father and mother, that they might live well on the earth. Colossians 3, verse number 20, says the exact same thing about honoring your mother and your f. Important. What does that mean to honor mom and dad? What does it mean to fulfill the mandate?

Notice the Bible doesn't say honor your father and mother if they've been very good to you. It doesn't qualify the character of the parent. It just says, honor your father. And your mother. So, what does that mean? Well, the word honor means to be heavy. To be heavy. To be filled with weight. It speaks of respect. It speaks of dignity. It speaks of value. The Bible says that the word honor speaks of material gifts.

Remember Proverbs chapter 3, verse number 9? Honor the Lord. From your wealth, from the first fruits of your increase.

So when you honor God. When you give respect to God, when you give weight to God, when you value God, you are giving to Him out of the first fruits of your increase.

That honors him, that glorifies him, that magnifies him. Over in 1 Timothy chapter 5, it speaks of the fact that we are to honor widows, verse number 3 of 1 Timothy 5, that we are to honor widows who are widows indeed. Over in verse number 17 of 1 Timothy 5, it speaks of the fact that we are to honor our elders. And some of our elders are worthy of double honor. What does that mean? Does that mean that some you really like and some you really, really, really, really like? No, a double honor speaks of, we get the English word honorarium.

There are some elders that are just good, and there are others who are good for nothing. That was a joke. You didn't get it, did you? Okay, I know you're a little sleepy. Wake up out there. The bottom line is that some elders are paid because they're worthy of double honor. There are others who work for free. That's why in our church we have paid elders as well as volunteer elders. They both have the exact same status. They are all equal, but some are paid to be elders, and others are elders because they're volunteers.

And that's how our church is set up, based on what 1 Timothy 5 says about those who serve as elders in the church. But you see, the Bible uses the word honor to speak of those we value and giving money to them. The Bible also speaks of the word honor in terms of giving respect. I love what it says over in Leviticus chapter 19, verse number 3. It says this. Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God. Every one of you shall reverence your mother and father.

You shall respect them. And then, over in Leviticus chapter 19, verse number 32, you shall rise up. before the gray-headed and honor the aged and you shall revere your God. I am the Lord. How do you revere God? When you honor the aged, when you honor the gray-haired man, when you stand up in his presence. You see a gray-haired man coming to church, supp to stand up out of respect for the individual. And so we see where honor is used of material gifts. It's used of placing value and respect upon others.

It's also used of an exalted position. It says over in Deuteronomy chapter 26, verse number 19, these words. I'll begin with verse number 16. This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. You have today declared the Lord to be your God, and that you would walk in his ways, and keep his statutes, his commandments, and his ordinances, and listen to his voice. And the Lord has today declared you to be his people, a treasured possession, as he promised you.

and that you should keep all his commandments, and that he shall set you high above all nations, which he has made for praise, fame, and honor. Honor. It refers to an exalted position. God says, 1 Samuel 2.

3, He who honors me, I will honor. The practicality of that in the book of Deuteronomy, God says, You keep my commandments.

You love me with all your heart, soul, and mind. You know what I going to do? I'm going to exalt you among all the nations, that they will see you as one who is honored before them. Them. So, how do I do that practically with my parents? How do I honor my mother and my father? Is there a time limit? Is there a time where I honor them while I'm in the house, but I can dishonor them when I'm outside the house? Answer: No. You can never dishonor, devalue, or disrespect your God-given authority while on this earth.

You can't do that. And God speaks to that. So, how is it I, as an individual, one who is 4 years of age, honor my mother and my father? You see, it's important, Mom and Dad, because you see, you might have a parent that was abusive. You might have a parent that was authoritarian. You might have a parent that was ungodly. You might have a parent that was so disrespectful to you as a child that you don't want to even give them the time of day. So, why do you honor your mom and dad? Because you have little ones in your family who are watching you and they will follow in your footsteps.

How you treat your mom and dad is going to be how they treat you as their mom and dad. Mark it down. That's the way it happens. They're going to follow in your footsteps. They're going do what you do. And so you honor them. Maybe you don't even like your mom and dad. You can still respect them and you can still honor them and you can still value them and you can still give weight to them. Right? The Bible says in 1 Peter 3:7 that husbands are to grant honor to their wives.

You're to grant them honor, give them honor, give them respect, give them weight, give them value. And as husbands treat their wives, we teach our sons. How to treat their wives. You might say, you, I don't even like my wife. We've been married for 52 years, and I'm tired of living with the same old woman. week after week and her complaining about what I do or don't do and I'm tired of her. But you honor her and you respect her, number one, because God said so.

Number two, because you got little eyes who are watching how you treat your wife and they will one day treat their wife the same way you treat your wife.

That's the way it happens. Because the lessons, life lessons, are more caught than taught. Our children catch what we do. So I say that because if you have a parent that you don't believe is worthy of honor or worthy of respect, be careful because your children will treat you with disres. In the years ahead, they're watching you. And so, how exactly do we do that? I must hurry here because time is fleeing by. And that is, you always speak well of them to others. You always speak well of them to others.

Proverbs chapter 20, verse number 20 says it this way. He who curses his father or his mother, his lamp will go out in time of darkness. In other words, he who curses his mom and dad is going to die. Another way we honor our mother and father is that you never do anything to harm them or drive them away from you. You would never do anything to harm them or drive them away from you. The Bible says you honor them when you receive instruction and rebuke.

From them. Proverbs chapter 13, verse number 1, says it this way: A wise son accepts his father's discipline, but a scoffer does not listen.

To rebuke. A wise son will listen to his father's discipline. Qual and longevity of life hinge on how you honor your father. And your mother. That does not mean that everybody who dishonors their mother is going to immediately die or dishonors their father. We must leave room for the grace of God to operate, right? And God's grace does. I mean, can you imagine if all of us, when we dishonored our mother and father, we died immediately? In the Old Testament, you know, when you dishonored your mom and dad, they took you out behind the barn and stoned you.

Can you believe that? You must get the essence of the truth because it speaks to the heart of what is happening. And that's the motive. That there'll be a quality and longevity of life. But you've got to do what God says.

You've got to obey God. And that's the bottom line, right? God says, He who honors me. I will honor. Do you honor your father and mother? That's commandment number five. And I ought to say something about commandment number six so that I can say that I at least covered it. This morning, because I want to show you how the two go together. You shall not murder. You should not kill. The best translation is murder because God is not opposed to all killing. God promotes capital punishment. You can read about that in the Old Testament and New Testament.

There are times when God told the nation of Israel to wipe out entire gener of people. So God is not against all killing, but he is against the evil intent of murder and taking. the life of someone else. All murder. All murder. He's against that. Because it's God's response to kill. But know this, that all murder has begun or did begin with our adversary, the devil. Devil because he was a murderer from the beginning, right? John chapter 8, verse number 44. You see, Satan is against all that pertains to life.

If you spell evil backwards, what do you have? Live, right? If you spell lived backwards, what do you have? Devil, right? You see, Satan is the antithesis to life. He's against life. So he wants physical death, he wants spiritual death, he wants eternal death, he wants any kind of death he can get. He's the murderer from the beginning. But you can't go around blaming Satan, can you? Because Mark chapter 7 tells us that out of the heart comes forth fornications, adulteries, and murders. And that's what Jesus addresses.

In Matthew chapter 5. And I'll close with this. Turn with me to Matthew chapter 5, please. But Matthew chapter 5. Remember, Jesus says in Matthew chapter 5, verse number 20: unless your righteousness Exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you're never going to enter the kingdom of heaven.

So Jesus attacks that. You see, they had an external righteousness, not an internal righteousness. Their righteousness was based on human achievement. God's righteousness is based on divine accomplishment. And the very first thing He says is what?

You have heard that the ancients were told, you shall not commit murder, and whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court. Now, you can just picture the scene. You have heard that it was said by the ancients of old, you shall not murder. You give people on the and say, Oh, amen, Jesus, preach it, brother. You're right on, Jesus. Go for it. Let them have it. Amen. They had to have the amen section somewhere probably back in those days. And so you can hear them say, You're right. You've heard that it was said by the ag of old, you shall not murder.

Preach it, Jesus. And then Jesus, remember, because he says in Matthew 5, he came to fulfill the law, not to abolish the law, he interprets them Exodus chapter 20, verse 2. Number 13, when he says this, but I say to you that everyone who is an with his brother shall be guilty before the court, and whoever shall say to his brother, Rak, shall be guilty before the Supreme Court. And whoever shall say, you fool, shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Jesus says, murder is not about what your hands do.

Murder is about what your heart truly is. Because murder begins in the heart. Mark 7. From out of the heart comes the murderers. It's not what's outside the man that determines what he does, it's what's already on the inside of man that causes him to do what he does. And Jesus says, listen, if you're angry with your brother, you're guilty.

If you say to your brother Rak, there's no English translation that will, that has an equivalent to it in today's day and age. But it's a word of derision, it's a word of denouncement, is guilty before the Supreme Court. And only the severest penalties went before the Supreme Court, the Sanhedrin, the 70 elders. And whosoever shall say to his brother, you fool, or you moron, it's the Greek word moros, or we an English word moron. You're a moron. You're guilty of the fires of hell. Wow. See, there are some people, more than we like to count, who would say, I'm not a murderer.

I would never kill anybody. I would never take a gun and blow somebody's heads off like the Menend brothers did to their parents and shot their heads right off their bodies in their own room. We would never do anything like that. No, no, you probably wouldn't. But.

In your heart, because of what happened to you as a child or your upbringing, you hate your mother and your father. You're angry with them. And Jesus says, you're guilty of murder.

John would say in 1 John chapter 3, verse number 15, every who hates his brother is a murderer. Wow. I look at this and I realize I'm guilty.

You think I love everybody? I don't. I should, but I don't. And I've been guilty of this more often than I'd like to admit. And so the knife goes deep into my soul because I realize that if I am going to honor my God and worship Him properly, then I must evidence that in my relationship with those closest to me. and my brother, and not to hate them so as to murder them in my heart. Now I know that if you hate your brother, they're not going to send you away for life. They're not going to put you in an electric chair.

I know that. But the Bible makes it very clear that if you hate your brother, you get far worse than an electric chair. You get the fires of hell. And John makes it very clear in 1 John that the evidence of a true conversion is a life that loves the brethren, a life that respects and honors their mother and their father. And while it might be easier for some of us to show respect and honor to our parents because of our up, because of what they've done. It doesn't give anybody ever the right to say, you know what, I'm going to negate that commandment in my life because my parents are not worthy of respect or honor.

Quite the contrary. God says they are. And the question is: will you fulfill that? And in so doing, will you love your brother and not hate? Your brother. And so in Romans chapter 13, verse number 8, Paul says this. Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another. For he who loves his neighbour has fulfilled the law for this you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law. How does love fulfill the law? You see, when you love God, by worship Him as He needs to be worship. You will love your brother. And so it all comes back to your relationship with the living God, right? Now, some of might be sitting there saying, you know, this. This was a down message, man. We were hoping that when you got back from vacation, you'd give us an upper. Not a downer. I got news for you. In Christianity, the only way up is down.

It's the only way up. God takes you down to the depths of despair. So when you call out to Him, oh God, give me mercy. Oh God, give grace. I can't do it, God. I can't. Can't honor my mom and dad. I need you. And God says, You're right.

I'll help you. I'll guide you. There's somebody I can't stand. Truth be known, Lord, I hate them. I don't want to be around them. And God says, you know what?

Let me help you love them. Let me help reach out to them. Let me help you not return vengeance, but return good for evil.

Let me help you do that. Because you see, that's what the grace of God is all about. So once the law of God shows us our sin, it's the grace of God that sets us aright so that we might accomplish His will for our lives. Let's pray together.