All right, so just a brief review. We've done parts one and two so far of our study. Part one was the fifth commandment in general. Just a general view of the fifth commandment. Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. We looked at who are meant by father and mother, and we saw that it was not merely our natural parents but also all superiors in age, in gifts, and whatever station they have, whatever authority, or whatever position, or whatever in their bodies, and their minds, and their gifting, and their estate, whatever superiority God has given, that that is included under that fifth commandment. Also, we looked at why superiors are styled father and mother. and that is to teach them that in all their duties toward their inferiors, like natural parents, they're to express love and tenderness, to also work in the inferior a greater willingness and cheerfulness in performing those duties. Then we looked at, in the second part of our study, the specific duties and sins of inferiors. So those under authority, what is their duty toward their superiors? and what are the sins that they are forbidden from committing. So the honor we looked at, that inferiors owe to their superiors, is all due reverence in heart and word, not just in the speech or the behavior, but also in the inner man, the thoughts, what motivates us, the will, the affections, that there is to be an inward reverence. and then also in the behavior, in the word, et cetera. We looked at prayer and thanksgiving for them, imitation of their virtues and graces, a willing obedience to their lawful commands and counsels, due submission to their corrections, fidelity to, defense and maintenance of their persons and authorities, We looked at the bearing with their infirmities, covering over them in love, and being an honor to their government. Then the sins of inferiors against superiors, negligence in their duties, envying or contempt toward them, rebellion against their persons and places, and their lawful counsels, commands, and corrections, cursing or mocking them, And then any kind of refractory or scandalous carriage. And we looked at those terms. Refractory is when some person cannot be bent. They can only be busted. They can't turn, they can't bend to their duty, but rather they must be broken. And then scandalous being where you encourage others in evil deed in a public way so that others are defiled, the many are defiled. That's the idea of scandalous. and then such refractory and scandalous carriage as proves a shame and dishonor to their superiors and their government. Which brings us now to the third part of our study, and this specifically is the duties and sins of superiors, those in authority. What is the duty God requires of them? And then what are the sins that are forbidden them? Question 129 of our larger catechism asks, what is required of superiors toward their inferiors? The answer, it is required of superiors according to that power they receive from God and that relation wherein they stand to love, pray for, and bless their inferiors. Okay, so there may be different types of power that superiors have. There may be various types of relationship in which they stand, but these duties apply to every single form of superiority. So if there's no authority, there's going to be a different way that this plays itself out. When there is authority, there's going to be a greater duty, but it's going to have the same basic outline. So first is the duty of love, Colossians 3.19. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them." Now, bitterness is that sense that this person does not match the expectations I have of them. And that's a very common sin, which is why the Apostle mentions it. Under the inspiration of God's Spirit, God knows the temptations of men. So men are commanded as husbands to love their wives and the opposite, in this case, the sin to be avoided is bitterness. So removal of those sense of expectation and often this looks like She's not like a man, and so that can lead to bitterness. Doesn't think like me, doesn't decide like me, isn't as strong in her body as I am. That's the general rule for male-female relations. She's the weaker vessel, and that can lead men to become embittered. So love, that's a duty. Now notice Titus 2-4. The older women are to train the younger women that they may teach the younger women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children. Here, a mother. What is the duty of a mother toward her children, those under her authority, those who are her inferiors? Well, it's the duty, again, of love. Second place, prayer. Prayer is another duty that superiors owe to their inferiors. 1 Samuel 12, 23. Moreover, as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you, but I will teach you the good and the right way." So here notice, we'll get into this idea of instruction, but notice here that Samuel at the end of his ministry is saying that if he didn't pray for the people of Israel, that would be a sin on his part. Well, why is that? Well, he's their prophet, he's their teacher, he's their superior. So as a superior, God required of him that he pray for those in the nation of Israel over whom he had authority. And this is to the entire nation of Israel he's speaking here. So this duty that he owes is to all the people of Israel. Job also is a very good example in this regard. We read in Job chapter 1 verse 5, And it was so in the days of their feasting, that is, his children's feasting, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually." Notice here, Job, as a truly righteous man, is very concerned about the spiritual status of his children to the extent that he has suspicions, not evidence necessarily, he has suspicions of their evil doing toward God. It may be, he says, that they have cursed God. And because of that, he sanctifies them. He offers burnt offering. And this is all an action of prayer, because the burnt offering is offered to God with a request that God would pardon the sins. And that's what he's doing. He's praying for the forgiveness of his children's sins. Specifically, when people feast, they tend to commit all kinds of wickedness, which amounts to cursing God. They forget about God. They run after their pleasures. They often commit whoredom. So these are things he's concerned about, and therefore he's praying for his children. So love, prayer, and blessing. 1 Kings 8, 55 and 56. This is King Solomon upon the dedication of the temple and his prayer to that regard. After he finished his prayer, he says, Or it says, and he stood and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice saying, blessed be the Lord that hath given rest unto his people Israel according to all that he promised. There hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of his servant, of Moses his servant. So notice here, King Solomon blesses the entire congregation of Israel. He does so before God, so he kind of joins, to some extent you might say, instruction and prayer with the blessing. But the point being that as a superior, he blesses his inferiors. Hebrews 7, 7 says the same thing. It's a general truth of scripture and of nature we find even in the heathens, this being the case. And without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better. So when a blessing is issued, it assumes that the party blessing is in a position of superiority. This is why the apostle in Hebrews 7, he's arguing that the priesthood of Melchizedek is superior to the priesthood of Levi through Aaron and his sons. And the way he proves that is, Melchizedek blessed Abraham Abraham is the superior of Levi. Levi is the superior of Aaron. Therefore, Aaron's priesthood is inferior to that of Melchizedek. You see, because the lesser is always blessed of the better, the superior always blesses the inferior. And so here, the issuing of a blessing is from the authority to the under authority. And when we are said, for example, to bless God, it's that we return thanksgiving We don't add anything to him. When the superior blesses the inferior, they add something to their inferior. They give them something that they would not otherwise have. Specifically with God, when God blesses us, he gives us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. When we bless him, it's just a return of thanks for the blessings he's given. Okay, Genesis 49, 28. All these are the 12 tribes of Israel, And this is it, that their father spake unto them and blessed them. Everyone, according to his blessing, he blessed them. And you'll recall this, this is Jacob at the end of his life, that he brings all of his sons before him. And as a prophet, he speaks to them of things yet to come, and he issues blessings to each individual tribe, specific blessings very, very pointed for that specific son and his tribes. But notice again, it's their father that spake unto them. It is their superior who blessed the inferior. So superiors, dependent again on the power they've received from God, what sort of relationship they have, They have a duty of love for their inferiors, of prayer for their inferiors, and to bless their inferiors. Page 2 of your handout. The Catechism continues. To instruct, counsel, and admonish them, countenancing, commending, and rewarding such as do well. Alright, so first is instruction. Deuteronomy 6, 6, and 7. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." Here notice the father in particular, but also the mother, they are instructed in their duty to instruct. They're to do so diligently, that is, not being forced to do it, But delighting it, that's what the word diligence means. It means you delight in the thing. If you delight in a thing, you're going to be sluggish in executing it? No. You're going to be prompt. You're going to be thorough. You're going to be willing to do it. And so he says, teach them diligently. And then he mentions various scenarios you're going to find yourself in with your kids. Instruct, instruct, instruct, he says. Ephesians 6, 4. And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Now, nurture is basic instruction. It's kind of the starting, the ABCs, the building blocks. Admonition is where you issue a warning. You put a thought into the mind of the child that this is a dangerous way for you to go. Don't continue in it. Here are the reasons why. That's the idea of admonition. God has forbidden you from doing it. He's put a curse on it. Here's the curse that he's threatened. That's the idea of admonition. But again, this is the counsel and admonition. And then the catechism refers to countenancing. Letter F there in your handout. First Peter 3.7. Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel. And as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered." Now this is very important to understand. The value of the wife is to be expressed by the husband. That's the idea of honor. And the weakness of the wife is not to be grounds upon which a man becomes bitter against his wife. That's what Paul was talking about. Be not embittered. But rather, he's to have a countenancing of her. Now, countenance is your face. So when he's talking about countenancing, when our catechism talks about that, when Peter talks about honoring her, it's demonstrating to her that you accept her for who she is, that you accept her, not in the sense of people think, well, you need to accept me as I am, all my wickedness and foolishness, don't try to tell me any different. That's not the point. but recognizing that there is a natural weakness on her part. She's not as strong as you. Generally that's true physically. Often it's true emotionally. It might be true mentally. God has made her more tender and in that sense weaker than the man. So this weakness is not to be a grounds of despising or thinking less of her. It's rather a grounds upon which the Holy Ghost says, give honor unto thy wife. Dwell with her. according to knowledge. Understand who she is and what God has made her to be and accept that, countenance that. Show your approval of it rather than being disapproving of the fact that she's a woman. That's wicked. To disapprove of your wife because she's a woman is ungodly and satanic. It means you wish that her sex were inverted and she became a male. That's wicked. That's not right. So what Peter is commanding here is this idea of countenancing, accepting that they are, in the case of a child, for example, a child. we understand that they're not adults. So our expectation of their level of capacity to obey needs to be adjusted for the status of that person. That's the idea of countenancing, or recognizing them as God has designed them in his providence, has brought them to a specific stage. All right, so then commending, commending, letter G, 1 Peter 2, 14. Peter's referring to our duty of obedience to our magistrates, and now he's talking about the duty of magistrates, or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him, that is the king, by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. Now, if anyone could be exempted from the duty of commending, it would be civil magistrates. Their whole job is to punish people. God put a sword in their hand and said, chop their head off. If somebody could make an excuse, well, I don't have to tell anybody they're doing a good job. That's one position. You could say, well, parents, husbands, they ought to come in. But magistrates, why should they come in? But even they, according to scripture, even the civil government has a duty to praise, to speak well of, to speak highly of those who are law-abiding. and to be, in that sense, an encouragement unto what is good. So, commendation is that word of praise. Romans 13, 3, Paul says the same thing. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. One duty of civil government is to commend and praise what is good according to God. That's their duty. If they fail at it and they commend and they say praise words for things that are evil, they are not civil. They are not government. They are the ordinance of the devil. They're not the ordinance of God. But lawful civil magistrates, they will praise someone who does what is good. They will sing words of praise they will commend them all right and then rewarding such as do well letter H so those who are superiors they have a duty to reward such as do well Esther chapter 6 verse 3 King Ahasuerus the king said what honor and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him there is nothing done for him now remember This is years before Mordecai had discovered a plot Big fan maybe and tears shy I think there were two men who intended to murder King Ahasuerus Mordecai discovered their plot He reported it to the proper authorities. The men were found out, the murder was prevented, and those two men were put to death. Nothing was ever done to reward Mordecai for this deed. And you'll remember, this is the exact point where the destiny goes up or down for these two men, Mordecai and, what was the man, Haman. Haman is on his way up until this point, Mordecai is on his way down to this point and then they switch. Haman's fortunes go into the dust. Mordecai's fortunes go into the skies. And the main point at which in God's providence this shifted was this specific event. The king couldn't sleep. He's looking over the records. He realizes what Mordecai has done. And even a heathen realizes, I need to honor this guy. I need to do something great. Haman comes into his presence right after he realizes this. And the king says, if I delight to honor someone, Haman, what should I do? And then Haman gives him all the things that he thinks he's going to get. Oh, I don't know. clothe him with your clothes, put him on your horse, ride him through the middle of town, and everybody has to honor him, right? Everybody has to bow to him and acknowledge his superiority, give him, I think, even the signet ring off of your hand, put it on his hand, he'll be number one except you. Okay, that ends up happening to Mordecai. his rival, his enemy, he ends up being honored. But here, notice, the duty of the king was to honor and he knew it. And once he realized his mistake, he actually repents of it and says, oh, I got to do something about this. I need to honor. I need to give some dignity to the man who did this good. I need to return good. I need to reward him for doing well. That is the duty of a superior. Next page, page three. So it is required of superiors according to that power they receive from God and that relation wherein they stand. And then we looked at the other parts and now discontinuancing, reproving and chastening such as do ill, protecting and providing for them all things necessary for the soul and body. Okay, so the first thing is discontinuancing. Just like a husband is to countenance his wife by the recognition of what sort of being she is, so here in this case, Romans 13 concerning the civil government, where rulers are not a terror to good works but to the evil. This is discountenancing. I let you know I disapprove of your deeds. This is extremely important. If a magistrate discountenances good works, they're not ordained of God. If they make people feel like they're doing something wrong for doing something right, they are doing the exact opposite of the duty of a superior. Discountenancing is for evil works. He goes on, 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. Here notice, discontencing, disapproval, wrath, punishment, and we'll look at that in a little bit, but here the idea is, It must be known that you disapprove. And discontencing refers literally to your face. Making an angry face. There are parents who will refuse to be angry with their children. That's a sin. There are times when children need a nasty face from their parents. To let them know, I do not approve of what you're doing. Oh, sweetheart. Oh, you just hit your sister in the face. Isn't that sweet? And you smile. No. You must discountenance. You countenance and you show a happy face for the good works. You discountenance for the evil works. That's what God requires of superiors. All right, and then reproving and chastising such as do ill. Now we looked at this all throughout the book of Proverbs at the conference, but here's one of the passages. The rod and reproof give wisdom. But a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. If you want your child to be a fool, let them free range. Let them do whatever they want. Let them go their own way. Trust in their wicked heart. Foolishness will stay in there. The rod will never take it away. They'll have no wisdom. But when you want your child to be wise, you must use these two tools. The rod, that's a physical tool for the back of the child. And reproof is a verbal tool meant to instruct the mind. Now, reproving is a harsh form of pointing out a flaw. And again, some parents are trigger shy on both of these because they think their children are basically good. And they want their children just to be their pal, their equal, their friend. They don't realize, no, no, no. God puts you in authority over them to reflect God. So that means you need to be willing to reprove sin, and you need to be willing to punish it with the rod. That will make your child truly wise, and if you care about them, you want them to be wise. If you hate them, you leave them to themselves, and that will also bring shame to the parents themselves. So, reproving and chastising such as do ill. Then also 1 Peter 2.14, not just in the family, but in the civil government, or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers. Not just the discontencing of evil deeds, but also the punishment, the infliction of pain or death in the case of civil government. That is important. It must happen. Without it, superiors are falling down from the status God gave them, they're rebelling against God's authority, and they're not doing any good for the government over which they rule, the people over which they rule. Okay, so, reproving and chastening such as do ill, but then also protecting. Letter K, Job 29, 13 through 16. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor, and the cause which I knew not, I searched out." Okay, here is Job. He's defending himself against the false accusation of his friends. His friends are saying, Job, there's only one reason you're suffering, and that's because you sinned. Just admit it, you're a wicked, ungodly, wretched person. Just admit it, you oppressed everybody. You went around looking for poor people to beat up and steal their things. You found widows, spit in their faces, and took their junk. You're the worst person in town, Job, and that's why you're suffering so bad. This is Job's defense. The opposite is the case. I protected those who were helpless. That's what he's saying. Because I was rich. Because I would presume he was a magistrate if he's judging their case. I'm a rich man, richer than any other man. He's a wise man, he's their superior in wisdom. He's a magistrate, superior to them in the civil state. He has all these forms of superiority and how does he use it? To protect. He uses it to bless those ready to perish. Those exposed to death, He saves them. Those who have no husband to provide for them, they sing for joy. Those who are blind, He's their eyes. He makes sure they can see. He looks out for their interests. Those who can't walk, He makes sure they get where they need to go. Those who have no father, or those who are poor and need a provider, there he is providing for them. So this is the idea of a superior's duty to protect and then providing them all things necessary for the soul, letter L. He fathers, Ephesians 6, 4, and he fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of Caesar, right? Send them off to Caesar. They will nurture them. They will instruct them. They will admoni... No, no, no, no, no, no. The first thing you must be concerned about is the soul. Remember Robert E. Lee was talking about his basic goal for the students at Washington College was that they would be genuine Christians. Without that, there's no point in me being here. That's the whole reason I came. And if I miss that mark, then I miss everything. So that's the first thing. All things necessary for the soul. And then also the body. 1 Timothy 5, verse 8, And if any provide not for his own house, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. Now it's interesting, this is primarily a reference to widows. That's the context of 1 Timothy 5. Providing for his own means the widows that you, or if you're married, your mother-in-law, if she's a widow, you have a duty to provide for her. But be that as it may, he even goes down to like, if you have an aunt or an uncle, show piety and relieve them. So this idea of provision, if it includes these accessories to your household like widows, how much more the necessary parts of your household, the children or a spouse. If someone is not providing for those of his household, for those of his extended family who have needs, He is worse than an infidel. He's not providing those things necessary for the body. Now just a word about things necessary for the soul and the body. A lot of times in our modern world, our conception of certain types of authority is that they have no responsibility to the soul. And specifically, we've adopted the Anabaptist notion that the civil magistrate is a secular thing. They should not concern themselves with religion. Okay, now let's think this through. Civil magistrates are superiors. So they have a duty, according to the power they've received from God and the relation wherein they stand, they have a duty to provide all things necessary for the soul. So if we think this through, we call this the establishment principle, which is that civil magistrates have a duty to countenance the church. to support the church, to maintain the church, and to make sure that people aren't spouting off heresy. Now, we don't believe that as Americans. We think that's kind of ungodly, medieval, old world concept, and we have this new light that we discovered. But what we have realized, if you haven't seen this yet, is that secular states are the most brutal and wicked states imaginable. Just think about this. The secular state has paved the way for the murder of millions of infants. Those who are the most helpless, who have no one to assist them, can, in secular states, be ripped out of their mother's womb, torn to shreds, and vacuumed out. Just let that sink in for a second. If we wanted to have a Christian society, would it have abuses and perhaps people might be put to death who shouldn't? Yeah, maybe so. That's entirely possible because people are sinners. Would I rather have, let's say over the course of a 20-year period, would I rather have 500 people who shouldn't have been put to death put to death or 5 million people put to death who shouldn't have been put to death? Let's just do the math. Which one's more brutal? 500 people put to death who shouldn't have been or 5 million? Well, it's obvious. I'd rather have 500 put to death. Christendom had its problems. Christian civilization wasn't perfect because there were sinners in civil magistrates' offices. But God imposes on all authorities that they are to do specific things with their power. And Romans 13 says they're to punish them that do evil and to praise them that do well. OK, is it evil to have other gods? Is it evil to make a graven image and to bow before it? Is it evil to take God's name in vain? Is it evil to break the Sabbath? You bet it is. All those are principal evils. They're the worst kinds of evils because they're directly against God. So should magistrates punish those? Well, of course. That's kind of a no-brainer once you think it through. Of course they should. And they should provide all things necessary for the soul and the body of their people. They should protect their goods. They should protect their religion. And they shouldn't allow people to go around spouting off heresy and to say, let's pray to Satan now. Because that's the logical extent. You accept all religions are equal, then you have to let Satan have his place. because somebody has a religion where he worships Satan, and his religion says he should be able to murder infants. That's a holy right to the Satanist to commit an abortion. Okay, so are we going to let them have their way? And unfortunately we have, and we're realizing the effects of it. Okay, so, any superior has a duty to discountenance, to reprove, to chasten, to protect, to provide all things necessary for soul and body. He's to instruct, he's to counsel and admonish, He's to commend and reward such as do well. He has a duty of love, of prayer, and of blessing those under his authority. So this is a pretty tall order. These are just, we're not even getting into the sins forbidden yet. These are just duties required and we're not even done with them. But we will stop at this point. If you have any questions for me specifically, please, I'll get a little, I think we'll get some notebooks out here. Please write those down and I'll try to handle those at the beginning of our next session.