Dispensation of the Mosaic Law, The Fifth Commandment – Respect for Authority. Marriage

Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Tree of Life
Weekly Review
Week Ending 032518
Dispensation of the Mosaic Law, The Fifth Commandment -- Respect for Authority

There are four Divine Institutions:
1) Volition;
2) Marriage;
3) Family;
4) Nationalism which produces patriotism.

As many of you know, today the United States of America is facing destruction as a nation mainly with divisions being promoted among all kinds of people and races. The left side of politics is doing everything it possibly can to discredit and impeach our President.

The fourth estate, the media, etc., is also doing what it can to try and destroy the freedom that we have without them even realizing that they are on shallow ground. What should be our attitude toward our President.

ACT 23:1-5, And Paul, looking intently at the Council, said, “Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day.” And the high priest Ananias commanded those standing beside him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! And do you sit try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?” But the bystanders said, “Do you revile God’s high priest?” And Paul said, “I was not aware, brethren, that he was high priest; for it is written, “‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.”

The cause of national disintegration and the solution for recovery are clearly stated in the Word of God. In fact, they are closely related to our subject with which many people are familiar with but about which they know very little about— the Ten Commandments, or the Decalogue (EXO 20:1-20).

Now, so far we have covered the first four Commandments:

The First Commandment: EXO 20:3, “You shall have no other gods before Me.”

The Second Commandment deals with Idolatry when it says in EXO 20:4, “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.”

The Third Commandment is found in EXO 20:7, which forbids taking the Name of the Lord Thy God in vain or in vanity; “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.”

The Fourth Commandment: EXO 20:8, we just completed our study on the sabbath: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it Holy.”

Therefore we are on the Fifth Commandment: Our next Commandment deals with marriage, the parents, and honoring the authority of the man and the woman, EXO 20:12, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.”

The Sixth: EXO 20:13, “You shall not murder.”

The Seventh: EXO 20:14, “You shall not commit adultery.”

The Eighth: EXO 20:15,“You shall not steal.”

The Ninth: EXO 20:16, there is the principle of lying and attacking the legitimate authority by bearing false witness and lying about others; “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

The Tenth: EXO 20:17, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Therefore, in EXO 20:18-19, And all the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, lest we die.”

Notice, they were afraid among those who were willingly rebellious and knew that the wrath of GOD was becoming more and more impatient with their negative volition toward the word of GOD. Therefore, they at least had enough brains to realize that the timing of GOD was about to deal with them in a harsh way if they do not repent.

Therefore in EXO 20:20, And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid.”

One of the first lessons that a spiritual leader must do is to help the people overcome their fears especially when under pressure.

EXO 20:20, And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; [WHY?] for GOD has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear OR THE RESPECT of HIM may remain with you, so that you may not sin OR continue to live in the sin of rebellion.”

The point is that there are so many other sins that are not mentioned in the Ten Commandments but are still sin, mainly personal sins.

However, each of the Ten Commandments is backed up by a series of divine laws which were given for the protection and happiness of both believers in Jesus Christ and of unbelievers to ensure their freedom.

Even though the Mosaic Law is not our modus operandi today, the commandments have always applied to the human race in general. The first five commandments declare the principle of spirituality, or the possibility of establishing a relationship with GOD; the last five apply to man’s relationship toward his fellow man:

You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet.

When a nation operates under these divine norms and standards, the result is individual freedom and happiness and national stability and prosperity.

On the other hand: PRO 29:18  Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is he who keeps the law.

The vision we should have is a vision that restrains the people from getting involved with evil.

No group of people can survive as a national entity without a basic system of spirituality and morality; and where these commandments and principles are violated by a maximum number of people, that nation will be destroyed.  And so this leads us to the importance of legitimate authorities in life; EXO 20:12.

In EXO 20:12, we read,  “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

The word “honor” is the key to understanding this commandment.

The Hebrew verb in EXO 20:12 is kabad which refers to honor and respect.

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

Here, the Hebrew word kabad refers to respect for the AUTHORITY of your father and your mother with the promise of blessings for those who respond to the command.

This is not a commandment to love your parents or even to respect their person, but it is a commandment TO RESPECT THEIR AUTHORITY. In fact, when it comes to the Ten Commandments, this is the first command that has with it a promise.

EPH 6:1-3, Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.

Now, the primary responsibility of parents is not to win the love and affection of their children, but to instruct and teach them - not sparing the rod - thereby establishing parental authority. What the rod should be is up to you. And although the Fifth Commandment commands children to respect parental authority, that authority must be exercised justly and fairly.

EPH 6:4, And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger; but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Respectfulness in the home must be learned early in life, first, in the family, so that later it will be applied to the teacher, the athletic coach, the law officer, the drill instructor, etc.

The Fifth Commandment forms the basis for the whole Biblical principle that no one can have freedom and happiness in life without learning respect for authority. And here is an important principle: Only those who themselves learned respect for authority are really ever qualified to exercise authority.

In other words, those who are qualified are those who themselves have honored the legitimate authority in life. This is why we must be very careful who we put in places of authority.

The principle of authority exists in every facet of life and is designed for the protection of individual and national freedom. When there is general loss of respect for authority on a national scale, disintegration and destruction of that national entity will surely follow! This is why it is a tragedy to launch a person into adult life without a concept of respect for authority. If your parents did not use or establish their authority when you were young, then you are really behind the eight ball.

This is why PRO 22:6 says, Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is mature he will not depart from it.

One of the most basic of the destructive influences existing in our country is the concept of permissiveness in rearing children; furthermore, there are many efforts to encourage young people to reject the authority of their parents. Unless children are taught respect for authority and the principles of freedom it protects, they will destroy their freedom.

This pattern of self-destructiveness was very evident in Jeremiah”‘s day, and the same pattern is becoming increasingly evident in our day.

The “liberal media “ in this country is a sign of national suicide.

The enemies of our nation are hard at work seeking to destroy all aspects of authority, for they know that a generation that does not recognize authority can never resist socialistic conquest, and, in fact, the present generation seems willing to bring it about. This is why socialism is sneaking its way into our nation.

And so this brings out the importance of Divine Institution #2, Marriage, and #3, the Family, which is the basic authority-teaching institution in a national entity. There can be no freedom apart from recognition and respect of the various structures of authority. There cannot be happiness apart from conditions of freedom in which there is respect for authority.

Now, with this in mind we need to note the importance of the change in a person‘s life that comes from honoring the legitimate authorities  in life. However, whether it is marriage or family what does the Word of GOD have to say about both situations.

Believe it or not we actually must begin with the man and the woman in the Garden.

GEN 2:15-25, Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.”

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. And the man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.

So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh at that place. And the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. And the man said, “This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”

For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

This subject of is a very lengthy subject in the Word of God.

It is very interesting that the apostle Paul is one of the greatest experts on marriage in all of human history.

This is because of divine revelation and it‘s interesting because AT THIS TIME, Paul is a bachelor but that makes no difference when it comes to the principles of Bible doctrine.

You see marriage for the Christian is the most difficult, the most challenging and the place of more failures in the Christian life than anything else. This is why the principle of authority is emphasized in the Law to establish respect for the Lord and His plan for our life. Marriage of course is a divine institution for believers and unbelievers alike.

And even though it is so designed by God, it is the believer who so often fails in marriage and in relationships with the opposite sex. This is simply a failure of his own spiritual life. Once you are born again you are a spiritual baby and you have to grow up spiritually. This is why the apostle Peter said 1PE 2:1-2, Therefore, putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,

Just as when you were born physically you had to grow up before you could face anything in life and take responsibility for your own decisions, whether they are good or bad. Now, marriage puts two people, a man and a woman, in confined quarters. This is one of the reasons that many many problems exist.

When marriage usually begins it begins with the total attraction between a man and a woman, but as it progresses, it retrogresses. It retrogresses simply because the attractiveness which was the first attraction begins to disappear as people get older. And what was hidden by attractiveness and the desire for unfulfilled fantasies it soon appears...and that is the real person. And the real person is the greatest challenge on a day by day basis for living in the PPOG or growing in grace. And so when the Lord created the woman He desired that marriage should be the beginning of love not the end of love.

This is why the apostle Paul said EPH 5:25-33, Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her; that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless. So, husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let each individual among you also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see to it that she respect her husband.

Today marriage, for many, is the end of love instead of the beginning. And therefore if a marriage is going to continue, If a relationship is going to turn out right, there has to be an understanding of principles of Bible doctrine and respect for the authority within the marriage and the family.

You cannot build a marriage on philosophical writings, or even on love and attraction, the only hope for a believer is to build the marriage on the Word of GOD.

When verse 32 talks about the mystery, it is referring to the mystery that goes back to the Garden of Eden and the principle of what the first Adam lost in the Garden at the fall and what the last Adam, TLJC, restored and how it relates to the angelic conflict. This is why we must avoid Christian degeneracy which destroys marriages. All it takes is one person in a marriage to become a degenerate in that marriage has an excellent chance of self-destruction.

The main solution falls back on the principle of authority. The woman respects the man. The man respects the woman, and the family is taught legitimate principles of authority. If there is no respect for one another in the marriage then the marriage is all over even though the people may stay together for one reason or another. However, it is not a genuine marriage!

A genuine marriage starts with some sort of love and as time goes on and the two involved become less attractive physically, the relationship even becomes greater.

Any relationship in life, to be successful, must be founded upon principle. Business relationships, family relationships between parents and children, etc.

The interesting thing about most relationships is that there is time off. But there is usually “no time off” from marriage. Let‘s notice some principles that the apostle Paul brings out concerning relationships before he directly turns to authority and marriage.

EPH 4:31 says, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be put away from you along with all malice.”

Notice a very important word in this verse which destroys relationships and especially marriage which is the word bitterness.

EPH 4:32, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

Now, most people today are making a terrible mistake in the choice of a lifetime partner.  And one of the reasons is they are born again believers who have not learned the principles of this particular passage. And sometimes it may start out as a good marriage but it isn’t going to make it because it just takes one in the marriage who fails in the spiritual life. And once that failure occurs, it’s all over even though they may stay together.

Now, two people who are mismatched in marriage, without the principle of Bible doctrine or without the establishment principles for the unbeliever, will not make it in that marriage. However, we are not talking about the marriage of unbelievers, we’re talking about the marriage of those who have believed in TLJC.

Now more mistakes are made today in Christian marriages than anywhere else because marriage is a very sensitive spot with regard to your spiritual life. You surrender a certain amount of privacy in marriage though it shouldn’t be that way.

Privacy should continue after marriage but in many cases, it doesn’t. And you surrender a certain amount of privacy in marriage and as you do so it is inevitable that you get to know the one that you’re married to. And when you do, this is the big test as to whether or not you’re going to forget every doctrine that you have ever learned.

There is a lot of corn-ball human viewpoint nonsense going on today that simply will not cut it in the Christian life. There are actually many individuals who think that marriage is the ultimate in happiness and of course they have never been married. In reality the ultimate in happiness is fulfilling the PPOG. And for many marriage has become the major source of destroying any possibility of entering into God’s plan or staying with God’s plan.

Once people get their eyes on people it is very difficult to remain in objectivity in the PPOG. And when you’re stuck with someone and the facade of their beauty or their attractiveness or whatever it was...disappears it is very difficult to remain in a situation like that.

If you are a woman with money never marry a man who doesn’t have money unless you have seen your lawyer and he has written up for you a contract where your money always stays with you. Remember just because a person is a nice Christian, or has a sweet face, and utters a lot of platitudes, or he can show you his notebook full of notes from Bible Class, do not assume that he is not after your money or something else.

People are no better in marriage than they are as people. If you girls and single ladies can learn that, it might save you a lot of wear and tear. You see in the first stage of romance most females have a tendency to idealize some male. And therefore you do not see the flaws that are obvious to everyone else, including your parents and others.

People are never the same after marriage. Either they change for better or for worst but they’re never the same. When two people walk down the aisle to get married...at that time they might as well say goodbye to whatever they were at that moment. From that time on they will never be the same again. They will be worst or they will be better but they will never be the same.

People who are losers in life will be losers in marriage. People who are winners in life are going to be winners in marriage. No one starts out as a winner in marriage. By the way if you are separated, divorced, if you are remarried...that does not necessarily mean that you were a loser.