As in the last weeks, we've been following the Ten Commandments as they're explained for us in the Heidelberg Catechism. This morning we are up to the fifth commandment, honor thy father and thy mother. And we're gonna read in the scriptures concerning God's authority over us. We begin in chapter 12, chapter 13 of Romans. So we read now in Romans, New Testament epistle of Romans, We're gonna read the first 10 verses. And then after that, we're going to turn to the book of Colossians. Reading the word of God this morning in Romans chapter 13, the verses one through 10. This is the word of God. Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers King James powers there is authority. For there is no power or authority but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Will thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain. For he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore, ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For, for this cause, pay ye tribute also, for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, Honor to whom honor. O no man anything but to love one another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Now we turn a little further in the scriptures to the letter to the Colossians. We're gonna read the last part of Colossians chapter three. God's word in Colossians chapter three and we're gonna start at verse 16. And here the scriptures are teaching us that we are, when we are redeemed in Christ, that we have but one master, the Lord Jesus Christ, and for his sake, we do all things. Colossians 3 verse 16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord. And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and be not bitter against them. Children, Obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. And whatsoever ye do, Do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth the wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done, and there is no respect of persons. May God, by the Holy Spirit, write his word this morning upon our hearts. have come to Lord's Day 39 of our Heidelberg Catechism, which, as I said, is the explanation now of the Fifth Commandment of the Law of God. You'll find this on page 22. If you open your psalter to the back section of the psalter, you'll find this on page 22 in the back of the psalter, Lord's Day 39, question 104 of our Heidelberg Catechism. The question, what does God require in the fifth commandment? That I show all honor, love, and fidelity to my father and mother, and all in authority over me, and submit myself to their good instruction and correction with due obedience, and also patiently bear with their weaknesses and infirmities, since it pleases God to govern us by their hand. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, this morning we come to the second table of the law of God, commandments 5 through 10, the calling for us to love our neighbor as ourselves. Children, when Moses descended from Mount Sinai he had in his hands two tables of the law of God. The first table, to love the Lord God, commandments one through four, and the second table of the law, commandments five through 10, to love the neighbor as ourselves. Both of these tables, in the hand of Moses, were written on both sides in such a way that no further writing could be given, because this is the complete will of God and nothing may be added and both of those were written by the very finger of God in stone to express that these commandments abide forever and come directly from God's own good and holy will, the 10 commandments given to us. Those commandments that have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The guilt of our sin being washed away and his spirit now in our heart renewing them that we desire to express our praise for our salvation by living according to both tables of the law of God. The first table, commandments one through four, call us to love the Lord our God alone. We shall have no other God but He. We shall put our trust in Him only. The second commandment, we will not make a graven image. That is, we will not conceive of God according to our own minds or our own thoughts, but we shall conceive of God and worship God and know God as he has made himself known to us in the holy scriptures and especially through the preaching of the word. The third commandment, we will keep God's name holy. His holiness and presence, His name is ever with us. We shall always desire to glorify and honor God in what we're doing. And the fourth commandment, we will remember the Lord's day, not the Lord's morning, not the Lord's night, the Lord's day. We will worship Him in spirit and truth on that day. Now we come to the second table of the law. We must honor our father and mother and all in authority over us. We must love and not kill and not hate the neighbor in his person. We must in the seventh commandment not commit adultery. We must be pure sexually in our lives, pure vessels in our bodies and in our thoughts unto Jesus Christ. The eighth commandment, we shall not steal. The possessions that God has given to another are not ours. We may not covet them. We may not take them. The ninth commandment, we will bear no false witness. The name of our neighbor will be safe with us. We will promote his name and we will speak to him if we believe that there is something between us. And finally, we shall not covet. We shall be content. with the Lord has given to us. So we're beginning the second table of the law of God this morning. Commandments 5 through 10. And the second table of the law begins with the fifth commandment for a purpose. Because the love of the neighbor begins in the home. or we may say the love of the neighbor begins when the spirit of grace puts in our hearts respect and honor for the authority of others over me. The very first neighbor that we meet is mom and dad, our parents. We are to Obey them. We are to respect our parents. If the love of God is not working in our home, it won't work. It won't work outside the home either. The Apostle Paul in Ephesians speaks these words, Ephesians chapter six, words that you'll remember. Ephesians 6, verses 1 and 2. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor thy father and mother. These words, which is the first commandment with promise. It's the first commandment with promise, not of the 10. The second commandment also had a promise that God will show mercy to thousands of them that love and fear him. So it's not the first commandment to which there is a promise added, but the apostle means it's the first commandment of the second table of the law, the love of the neighbor, with promise for the rest. There's promise, there's the way of obedience to all of the other commandments in the second table of the law, when this first commandment is written on our hearts. Because the first commandment teaches us that we must honor all that God has placed in authority over us for Christ's sake because we belong to him. So I call your attention to the fifth commandment, our call to honor all of Christ's authority or honor all of authority that Christ has placed over me. We want to see that authority, Christ's authority is conferred upon certain spheres of life, that honor, secondly, is required from Christ, that we show honor to all these authorities and obedience as we're able to, and then finally, that God promises us blessing. Honor thy father and thy mother, that they days may be prolonged. and that it may go well with thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. That's the fifth commandment. Our catechism with this commandment immediately broadens it beyond the home, beyond father and mother, and our catechism says this means that I must show honor, love, and fidelity to my father and mother and to all who are in authority over me. It immediately goes from the home and leaving the home goes into the school, the extension of our homes. It goes into the church of Jesus Christ. It immediately goes into our job and workplace and to our employer. It goes into our marriage and the relationship of husband and wife. it goes into the state in our relationship to the government and to the policemen and to the laws over us and it teaches us that in all of these things we must live as the servants of Jesus Christ for his sake honoring the authority that he in his sovereignty has placed over me his child now what is authority? well authority is simply the right to rule others. It's the right to set out a path that must be followed. It is the right to require obedience to that path and punishment if need be or correction and chastening if that path is not followed. That's authority. Scriptures teach that that authority of God, that's his alone, that he has conferred that authority, he has done that in different spheres of our life. He's done that in the home, made father and mother that place of authority. He's done that in the job, he's made the employer. The scriptures teach that employers have authority to tell the workman what he should be doing on this day. In the state, there's authority and respect that we must show for the laws. In the school, the extension of the home, there is authority, but it's all conferred by God, and we must honor, we must love, and we must show loyalty to all those spheres of authority, and we must obey with one exception. We obey those fears of authority that Christ has instituted in this world, but not if they require us to disobey our Lord. Not if they put into law that which contradicts God's will for our life. Then we will not obey. We will submit, we will not revolt, but we will not obey as Peter and John said to the Jewish Sanhedrin, an authoritative body, who said to them, you may not preach in that name. They wouldn't even say it. It was the name of Jesus. We don't want to hear that name from your lips. We don't want to know that you're walking in obedience to Jesus Christ in your life. We don't want to see it. And they said, we ought to obey God. rather than men. The commandment teaches us that God has placed his authority over us in these different spheres of life. And that God has done this because it is God who possesses all authority. Jesus taught us, we all know the last phrase of the Lord's Prayer, for thine is the kingdom, the rule, The power, which means authority forever. God is the kingdom and the authority. He is God. He is perfectly righteous. He is the creator. He is the only good God. No one tells him what to do. No one tells him or corrects him as to what is right. God is perfect. God is pure in himself. So the catechism children in their written work this week had to look up Psalm 93 and Psalm 97 and Psalm 99, which all begin with these words, Jehovah reigneth. He reigns. Let the earth be glad. You remember what Nebuchadnezzar was taught of God. When God made him, when he said, is not this the kingdom that I have built? Don't I possess all this authority? And God made him a beast. And when he was restored, he said before God, I honor him who liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion. His kingdom is from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the earth are as reputed as nothing before him. And then recall our Lord's words to Pontius Pilate in the moment of his trial. When Pilate says, don't you understand that I have the authority to crucify you or to release you? And Jesus responded, you could have no power, no authority at all unless it were given thee. from above. Let every soul, also Christ submitted in the flesh, be subject to the higher power, for there is no power, no authority, but of God. And we must teach our children these things. We must teach them that authority is not because someone is simply bigger or stronger than they are. A policeman could be 130 pounds, and you could weigh more than that policeman. But he has authority over you when he stops you and when he asks you questions. And for Christ's sake, because we kneel to Christ, we obey him. A wife may say, but I'm really smarter than my husband. Maybe I'm even stronger than my husband. But scripture says husbands love your wife, and wives submit to your husbands. An elder may be a poor man, and as a congregant, I might be a rich man, a president of a corporation. But the elder, when he comes to me in the worth with the word of God, I submit to, and I receive him, and I listen carefully to him. and the point is that God here we come to the heart of the fifth commandment as we look at the fifth commandment now in the light of the New Testament scriptures the fifth commandment comes down to this that God who has all authority always has conferred this authority upon his son Jesus Christ the scriptures teach us that Christ in his resurrection and ascension when he entered into glory at the right hand of God all of God's authority was conferred upon our Lord Jesus Christ the man born of Bethlehem and crucified now risen and at the right hand of God the Son of God in flesh upon him right now is all authority the right to rule and he rules over all things and as those who belong to him We submit to Him by submitting to all authority that He places over us, always remembering that when that authority comes to us, we obey, we honor, we always honor, we always respect the authority, but we obey that authority only and not when it commands us to contradict our confession to Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches us that we are free. We serve one master. We don't serve many masters. The Bible teaches us that when Christ has redeemed us, we are now his servants. We belong to him. All of our life now is devoted to him. And for his sake, when his authority comes to me, for he rules over all, when his authority comes to me in the home, to my parents, in the job or workplace, to my employer, in the state, with a teacher who's standing before me, wherever that authority is, I honor it. And I honor it because I'm Christ's servant. And I do so for his sake. This is our comfort. Our comfort is that we belong to Jesus Christ. that belonging to him, we do all things to please him. Children, do you remember what Jesus said? Jesus said, I do all things to please my father. So we, born in him, do all things to please him and to please our heavenly father. It may be. That our boss in many ways is incompetent. Maybe he's harsh. It may be that our parents sometimes are wrong. But we honor them. We honor them for Christ's sake. And that's not only a point of comfort for us under authority, But the truth that Christ has all authority and that we belong to him is a sobering word to us when he places us in authority in the home, in the church, work, wherever that may be. When he places us in authority, we feel a weight. We feel a weight that one who is apart from the grace of God can't feel. And the weight that we are feeling is that we must conduct that authority always in a manner that is pleasing to our Savior, Jesus Christ. As a husband, I am to love, lead, guide, and and help my wife even as Christ. I must reflect Him. I am exercising my place through Christ in our marriage. As a parent, I must reveal Jesus Christ to my children in what I do. As an employer, I must rule and make decisions as Jesus Christ. We feel a weight of authority upon us. It's very sobering. And it's very sobering because that authority also is a temptation to our flesh, that we begin to use that authority for ourself. We begin to exalt ourselves. We begin to make rules of ourselves without prayer. And then that authority begins to corrupt us and we begin to get, as we say, a big head over all that I am. head of corporations or head of this and head of that, that's a temptation to our flesh that we use that authority to serve self and not Christ. And so to be given authority, we under authority do all things for Christ's sake. Those given authority exercise that authority as a child of God in service of Christ's kingdom. We exercise it as we stand, we put ourselves consciously, we must as parents and fathers and mothers, we must as a teacher, as an office bearer, as an employer, if we have a civil job as a policeman, we must put ourselves before the face and the eyes of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we want to rule in the fear and service of Christ. Authority is a place of service, to serve others. by caring and ruling and directing them in the way of the Lord. And now the commandment says, wherever that authority comes to you, you must not first look at the person, but you must look at Christ, and you must show them honor. Honor your father and mother. Honor, says the catechism, all those who are in authority over me. The word of God in Romans chapter 13 kept repeating that. Who so resisteth the authority, resisteth the ordinance of God. He is the minister of God to thee. He's representing obedience to God before you. The apostle says, children, obey your parents in the Lord. He doesn't mean obey parents that are Christians and non-Christian parents. You don't have to obey them. He doesn't mean that. He means children, obey the parent that you have in the Lord, in the sphere of the Lord, out of respect for the Lord. And so we're tempted to say to authority, Well, exactly who are these people that they can rule over me? We say in the government concerning Caesar in the government, they're unbelievers, many of them. Who are, we say, my parents? Look at all their defects. I wish my parents were like other parents. Then I could obey them. We are always inclined to look at the person. And our flesh always is inclined to degrade that person and to say the competence of my boss is just not there. If that's what he wants, okay, but we show perhaps a bad attitude toward him. We don't, if we don't like the way he does things, we really don't seek his best interest as we work for him. We say that a person's competence is not there and therefore I won't respect him. Or we say, I could do so much better if I were in this place. He's not a capable leader. It's too bad that I don't have the authority in this. We say, my parents don't have a clue about me. My mom is so We must obey all authority for Christ's sake. And so God calls us this morning to examine our hearts and our attitude towards authority. It doesn't mean that when authority is over us that we may not use lawful ways to speak to them, to explain to them. We may do that. But the commandment is going after the sin of pride. When authority comes over us, we resent that, even as Adam began to resent God's commandments, which were good and pure. This is intolerable that I have to obey God. We show that in contempt for authority, dissatisfaction, despising the authority, Defiance. We give a look of defiance. We show that we're not happy. We do that in our homes to each other. This morning, by God's grace, we do deplore the anarchy of this world. the riots, the looting, the contempt for authority, the dishonoring of police officers, the dishonoring of parents. And we see that as our country spurns the law of God, so also God brings upon them judgments. But this morning we're looking at our attitude, the attitude that can come to us. when we face those authorities that God has placed over us, and that when we don't like that authority, our nature wants to agitate against them, or spread suspicion about them, or to accuse them, or to tear them down before others. And as we realize, as children of God, we believe this, that we may not take up arms guns and revolt of our society, which is turning away from God. We must witness, but we must be obedient, faithful citizens of this land. We realize that we can't do that, so also we must realize that when the authorities come to us in our home, in our school, in the church, at the job, they're too. We must render honor. The catechism uses three words. Three things are required. Honor, love, and fidelity to my father and mother. We are to honor. So children, you note with me that the fifth commandment does not begin, children obey your parents, although the apostle And Ephesians 6 immediately adds the word, but the commandment does not say that. The commandment says, honor your father and mother. Obedience is important, but God is saying, that's not the heart of it. That's not enough. It's not enough that you simply say, okay, I'll do it. And you do it with an attitude. And you do it resenting and grumbling and banging the door as you go out. That's not obedience. The Lord is the God of the heart. And he requires honor, he requires the attitude in which we follow that authority. He requires an attitude of respect. Respect for Christ's sake for that authority. The word honor means to give weight to something. There's something before you and you give weight to it. You give notice to it. And what is before you in the parent, in any figure of authority, is Christ in his authority over me. And that's a weighty thing. and I give honor to my God. You remember Noah after the flood and he made a vineyard and he fell into the sin of drunkenness and he was naked, shameful. Drunkenness leads to shame. And he was naked in front. He passed out in his tent and he was naked in front of his sons. And Japheth and Shem took a blanket and backed up, went backwards to put that blanket over their father. They did not want to look. But Ham, when he walked by the open tent, he laughed. He mocked his father. He didn't feel the weight that this is a father. And he's fallen into a very shameful thing. He did not show love for his father. We are to honor and love those who are in authority. That love must be rooted in Jesus Christ. And that love, the catechism teaches us to those in authority over us, speaking now especially of the home, our parents, speaking in the school, in the church, that love must be a patient love in the home. As we respect authority and as we respect each other and we want to honor each other, then we need to be patient. The catechism says, patiently bear with their weakness and their infirmities since it pleases God govern us by their hand. So if I were to ask you now, 1 Corinthians chapter 13, the chapter on love, verse four, love is, or charity is, and then 16 things are listed about charity. If I were to ask you, what's the first one? Love is, What's the first word that comes to your mind? Love is, the word is, long-suffering and kind. The love of Christ is patient with each other. Patient with your mom and dad in their weaknesses. Patient with your husband or your wife in their weaknesses. patient with others in the church, elders and deacons, teachers, patient in their weaknesses and infirmities. The weaknesses and infirmities are not just when our parents get senile, but also in their sinful behavior at times. I'm referring to when they're irritable, When they show their weakness, they come back. As a parent, when we do that, when we sin against our children, we need to go to that child and confess that sin and say, Dad was wrong when he blew up the way he did, when he did that. That was wrong. That was sinful on my part. But as a child, we see the weaknesses of those who are over us. We must be patient. loving, and kind. And we must show fidelity, loyalty. Loyalty to our parents when they get old. Loyalty to our congregation, to our denomination. Loyalty. We must have honor, love, and loyalty. Loyalty in the workplace. I referred to that just with a brief comment a little while ago. When we work for our employer, as a Christian, maybe things are not being done rightly. And it's very frustrating to us. We're not able at this point to get a different job. And we're tempted to not care. Because he doesn't apparently care. No. We are to be loyal. we are to do always what is in his best interest, the best interest of our employer, regardless of how he might be treating us. We must be loyal for Christ's sake, because Christ put me there to reveal that I obey and follow my Lord Jesus Christ, that a witness may be left by me on the workplace of my loyalty to authority for Christ's sake. God promises us his blessing. Honor your father and mother that thy days may be prolonged and that it may go well with thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. That's God's blessing. That commandment, that God will prolong our days in the way of obedience to this commandment, That does not make a correlation between this commandment and a long earthly life, that God promises you a long earthly life. But the commandment means our future life, children listen now, our future life, what our life is going to be like, is built by God's grace, but it's built on learning to honor authority as a child. That's what that means. When by God's grace we're taught in the home to honor, in the love of God, authority, that's going to be a blessing in the days that are ahead for us in our life. But if we grow up rebellious, that we'll follow nobody's will but our own, that we can't serve another, but that we always have to have our own way, then that's going to lead us in a very difficult life. That's why this commandment is put first of the second table of the law is that first commandment. It is in the home when we are taught that Christ rules over all things and that in all things I must submit myself to Christ and serve him. This gives promise. in our life, and when we're rebellious, it can lead to much chastening, much hurt, many tears in our lives. So we think of this commandment this morning, and we take application to ourselves. We're beginning. The second table of the law, the love of the neighbor. What is the way? What's the door that God says that must be opened to the love of the neighbor? The love of the neighbor now in all of its aspects. Where does that begin? It begins in the home. The devil knows that. That's why he hates the home. It begins in the home when the home, by the grace of God and the love of God, teaches respect, honor, for God-given authority. Respect and honor to God, to Christ, for those in authority over us. That's the path to the whole love of the neighbor. the love of the neighbor in his body that I do not kill him, the love of the neighbor sexually, the love of the neighbor in his possessions, the love of the neighbor in his name. It all begins by this grace of God to honor, to love, and to be faithful to those who God has placed in authority over me. This is what we want in our hearts. We ask God to mortify, kill the old man who is a rebel, and bring me into sweet obedience to Jesus Christ in all that I do. Amen. Lord, we thank Thee for Thy Word. We thank Thee for the powerful grace of Jesus Christ the power of his cross to take rebel sinners and give us that grace whereby we bend our knee in love adoration for Jesus Christ, our Lord. We pray that this spirit then may be seen, not just in word, but that it may also be seen of us that for his sake, upon whom thou has conferred all authority, Jesus Christ, for his sake, we will honor and love and be faithful to all that thou hast placed in authority over me. In Jesus' name, amen.