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Promises Of The Law - part 13

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• Deuteronomy chapter 5, and we're going to be reading today verse 16. This is going to be message number 13 on the promises of the law, and today we begin with the fifth commandment. The reason I'm saying begin is because it's going to be in two parts. I will have to finish it next Lord's Day. But Deuteronomy chapter 5, look if you would please at verse 16.

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• The Bible says, "Honor thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." It's surprising to discover that almost everyone, saved or unsaved, can quote the fifth commandment. Many can quote it word for word, some almost word for word. It is one of the most well-known of the Ten Commandments. As I pointed out in the very first message, this is the first commandment with a specific promise. All the other commandments have promises that are implied, but this one has a specific promise attached to it.

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• Now, before I begin today, I want to show you the three passages where this occurs. So I want you to turn back to Exodus 20, then we'll look at Deuteronomy 5 again, and then we're going to Ephesians chapter 6. So if you look in Exodus chapter 20, and notice if you would please verse 12. Exodus 20, in the book of Exodus chapter 20, you have the first giving of the law. When you get to the book of Deuteronomy, it is the second giving of the law. In fact, the word Deuteronomy, deuteros means second, nomos means law, so it is the second giving of the law. Note if you would in Exodus chapter 20 and verse 12, "Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." Then if you will look back to Deuteronomy 5 in verse 16 one more time, "Honor thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."

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• Now if you will turn over to the book of Ephesians chapter 6 and notice if you would please verses 1 through 3. Ephesians chapter 6, beginning there with verse 1, the Word of God says it like this: Ephesians 6 verse 1, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth." Now I want you to note if you would please, in Exodus chapter 20 the Bible promised long life upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. In Deuteronomy 5 and verse 16 He says that thy days may be prolonged, that it may go well with thee in the land which the Lord God giveth thee. But when you get to Ephesians chapter 6 it talks about that you may live long upon the earth. So very clearly when you look at the Fifth Commandment, the Fifth Commandment was not given just to those individuals who were about to enter into Canaan land.

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• In fact the Apostle Paul takes this commandment and applies it in Ephesians chapter 6. Now there are so many people that try to say, well the law has been nullified, the law has been negated, the law has been done away with. Obviously the Apostle Paul did not know that because he then took the Fifth Commandment and applied it there to the Ephesian believers and consequently to others as well.

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• Now there was a quote that I wanted to give you by Calvin, very simple, very short. I want you to listen what he said: "Human society cannot be maintained in its integrity unless children modestly submit themselves to their parents, unless those who are set over others by God's ordinance are reverently honored." So let me just kind of break that down for you what Calvin just said. Here's what he's saying: without obedience, without honor, without reverence, society is going to disintegrate. And the reason society is going to disintegrate is because the family is going to dissolve. In other words, if you do not have honor and reverence and obedience in the family, you're not going to end up with honor and reverence and obedience in society. And when you stop and think about the home, someone has to rule. Someone has to be in charge. Someone has to set the limits and give the orders and say, this is how it's going to be. If the husband is not going to do it, then the wife's going to do it.

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• If a husband or the wife will not do it, then the children are going to do it. And if the children won't do it, the dog's going to do it. Somebody is going to do it. But the truth of the matter is what Calvin said is absolutely right, because without obedience and without honor, without reverence, you're not going to have a family. You're not even going to have society. Now, he said, "Honor thy father and thy mother." Let me give you the Hebrew word for honor. It is the word kabod, and it literally means to honor, to be honorable, it means glory and it means heavy. I'm going to deal with that word a little bit later on. When you look in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 2 when he says "honor thy father and thy mother," the Greek word for honor is the word timao, and it literally means to honor, to value, to revere, to venerate, and to hold in honor. Now, let me go back and give you another word because in Exodus chapter 20 and also in Deuteronomy chapter 5 he says that your days may be prolonged.

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• The Hebrew word for prolonged is the word arak, and it literally means to prolong, to lengthen, to draw out, and to make long and continue long. When you get to the New Testament He says, "Honor thy father and thy mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that your days may be long upon the earth." And the Greek word there is makrochronios or makros chronios. Makros means that which is long or lengthy. Chronios is from chronos, time. So literally, he says that you may live a long time. It means literally an extended period of time. Now, three times Scripture says "Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long" or lengthened or prolonged upon the land or upon the earth.

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• I have two questions for you. I want you to think about these two questions. Here they are. Number one: Does every single godly person live to a ripe old age? No. Here's my second question: Does every single wicked person get cut down in the prime of his life? And the answer is no. Not everyone. Not everyone. Some do live a long life. Others do indeed get cut down.

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• Now, let me hasten and point out when God says that your days may be long upon the earth or that your days may be long upon the land, this is what you and I would call a general promise. A general promise does not mean that every single individual that reads this and obeys this is going to have what you and I would call a long life or a blessed life. We have to take into consideration not only God's sovereignty, but God's will and God's decree for every individual. There are reasons given to us even in the Bible that sometimes the godly are cut off at an early stage in their life. For instance, if you look in your Bibles to Isaiah 57, Isaiah 57 and verse 1, here is a reason why many of the godly, merciful individuals are indeed taken home early. The Bible says in Isaiah 57 and verse 1, watch carefully, Isaiah 57 and verse 1: "The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come."

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• So God sometimes takes His own home early to keep them from experiencing going through the evil that is to come. That's what He says in Isaiah 57 verse 1.

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• Now, let me just point out something else concerning what you and I would call a general promise. A general promise is one that is limited to and by God's sovereignty and divine will for individuals. It does not mean that every individual is going to turn out to be exactly like that. It is a general promise. For instance, Proverbs 18 in verse 22 is what you and I would call a general promise. The Bible says in Proverbs 18 verse 22, "Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord." Now there are some men that found a wife that didn't find a good thing. And there are some women that found a husband that didn't find a good thing either. So obviously that would depend upon God's blessings upon that man and that woman. Proverbs 19 and verse 14 tells us very clearly that houses and lands are the inheritance of a father, but a prudent wife is from the Lord. So, that is a general promise, and there have been many, many men that found good and godly wives.

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• There have been some that did not find those, and likewise, vice versa with the wife finding the husband. When you get to Proverbs 23 and verse 13, here is another general promise. Let me just read it to you. "Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell." Does that mean that every child that is ever beaten with a rod is going to heaven? Of course not. If it meant that, one of the best ways to evangelize would be to take a rod and go out and just beat the devil out of everybody. But what it does mean is this.

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• With God's blessings upon the means that God has ordained, God will make those means effectual and usually those means being made effectual by God in His grace and mercy will ultimately turn out to that child's conversion. So God is saying that not every child that is beaten with a rod is going to heaven, that is for sure. So obviously this is what you and I would call a general promise. So not every individual who obeys their parents perfectly is going to have a long life.

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• Generally speaking that would be true, but there will be exceptions because of God's sovereignty and God's will for individuals. I'm thinking of the young man that we just had prayer for. I mean 24 years old and has been a godly young man for years and years and years and yet here he is suffering and at the point of death. It is indeed a general promise.

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• Now, let me give you two thoughts and then try to tie them together. When we're talking about the fifth commandment and living long upon the earth, listen carefully what I'm about to say. Divinely speaking, divinely speaking, our days are numbered and the dates of our deaths are set. Just like God appointed the day of our birth, He has also appointed the day of our death. If you look in your Bibles to the book of Job, right before the book of Psalms, Job 14, and let's begin reading there with verse 1 just so that you can see that man is in the context. Job 14, verse 1, look what the Scripture says, Job 14, verse 1: "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble."

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• Now that's a mouthful and it's true. "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one. Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass." Note if you would, our days are determined, the number of our months are with God, and God has appointed our bounds that we cannot pass. So neither one of us is going to live one second longer than God has divinely decreed and ordained for us. That's all there is to it. Now listen to my second statement. Humanly speaking, humanly speaking, our days may be either lengthened by obedience or shortened by disobedience. Now you are going to ask how can that be?

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• Well first let me just show you the Scriptures. I want you to go back in your Bibles to the book of Exodus chapter 15 and look if you would please at verse 26 because in this passage God is giving a promise of blessings of health to those that obey Him. In Exodus 15 in verse 26, here's what he tells his people: "And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases

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• upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee."

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• Now God said if you just obey Me you are going to have good health. You are not going to have to worry about all of these horrible diseases. That's just it. Here is a very good promise of not only longevity in one sense of the word but good health as well. Look in your Bibles to 1 Kings chapter 3. Here is what God told Solomon. 1st Kings chapter 3 and notice if you would please verse 14. 1st Kings chapter 3 and verse 14, God spake to Solomon and he said this: "And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days." So here is the lengthening of the days. If you would turn right over to Psalm 91, Psalm 91 and look if you would please at verse 16. Psalm 91 and verse 16, the Scripture says, "With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation." So with long life. Then I want you to turn to the book of Proverbs chapter 3, Proverbs chapter 3, and look if you would please at verses 1 and 2.

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• Proverbs 3, verses 1 and 2. God says, "My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee." Note if you would, length of days and long life and peace will be added for obedience. Skip down to verse 16, same chapter: "Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour." Now if you would turn right over to Proverbs 10 and look in verse 27. Proverbs 10 and verse 27, the Word of God says, "The fear of the Lord prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened." So on the one hand the fear of the Lord prolongs or lengthens one's days, and the lack of the fear of the Lord shortens one's days. Now, if you would turn to 1 Peter chapter 3 in the New Testament and look if you would please at verses 10 through 12. 1 Peter chapter 3 and verses 10 through 12. Here again is a very excellent truth in light of everything that we've just been reading. So 1 Peter chapter 3, notice if you would verse 10: "For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:

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• Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil." So now God says if you want to love life, if you want to see good days, if you want to be blessed, then you keep your mouth from evil, your tongue from evil, your life from evil. Do not be able to swallow it, spit it out, have nothing to do with it. In other words, simply obey. Now, let me just show you the opposite just momentarily, just a couple of passages. I want you to go back to Psalm 89, because just like the Bible is talking about how obedience can lengthen our days and bless our days, the Bible also talks about the fact that sin and disobedience can shorten our days. So in Psalm 89 and verse 45, look what the Bible says. Psalm 89 verse 45: "The days of his youth hast thou shortened: thou hast covered him with shame."

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• "The days of his youth hast thou shortened." Then if you would look in Psalm 102 and verse 23. Psalm 102, verse 23. Here it is again. Psalm 102, verse 23: "He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days."

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• Now let me just quote what Daniel was preaching to Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 4. And Daniel had interpreted the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. And finally in verse 27 he said this, "Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity." So what did Daniel just say?

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• He said, look, if you want to live longer you need to repent. You need to quit committing these sins. That is what he is saying. And if you repent and turn to God it may be a lengthening of thy days. And then there is that famous passage in Proverbs 29 in verse 1 where the Bible says, "He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy."

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• Now, I've just made two statements. Number one, divinely speaking, the day of our birth and the day of our death is set. We're not going to go one second beyond what God has ordained. Then secondly, I said, humanly speaking, our days may be lengthened by obedience or they may be shortened by disobedience. And now you're going to ask the question, well, how do we reconcile these two? Well, the answer is this. The God that ordained the end also ordained the means to the end. The means to living a long life are means of obedience and honoring God and worshiping Him. The means to live a shortened life is to dishonor God and disobey God. So God who knows the end from the beginning ordained our end because He knew the means that we were going to use and the means that we were going to take.

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• So actually what you see here is what you and I would call not only divine sovereignty, but what you and I would also call human responsibility. Since you're in the book of Psalms, I want you to turn back to Psalm 90. Psalm 90 was written by Moses, the man of God. And I want you to look particularly at verses 10 through 12. Look at what he says. He's talking about life. Psalm 90, verse 10, he says, "The days of our years are threescore years and ten," 70.

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• Many of us are already over 70. We need to be thankful. Some youngins in here are not over 70, but... But notice he said, "and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years," that is 80 years, "yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."

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• Now I want you to stop and think about this. Even if you live to be 80, 90, or 100, you still can't do the things that you used to do when you were 20, 21, you know. And you remember when David invited—not his name just slipped my mind—the old man to come into the palace and he said, "Can I taste anymore?" He said, "I'm 80 years old. Can I taste food?"

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• "Can I enjoy the music? Can I hear?" Well, no, no, no. He said, "You take this one. I can't go over there." So even if we live 80 years of age, that doesn't mean anything. 90 doesn't mean anything. 100 doesn't mean anything because we're gone. And when you compare 90 and 100 to eternity, that's no comparison at all. But notice verse 11. He says, "Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath." And then he says this: "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom."

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• So Moses is saying, look, what we need to do is understand that the day of our death has been set and humanly speaking we have a responsibility to obey God and to honor Him and worship Him. And the wise thing to do is to use what God has given us to lengthen our life. Lack of wisdom, it will shorten our life. So obviously, clearly then, He is saying that all of these things work together because God not only ordained the end, He ordained the means to the end as well. Now, as I pointed out we see both in this the sovereignty of God and human responsibility. So when we are talking about the Fifth Commandment and we are talking right now about long life or the lengthening of life, let me point out the fact that there are other scriptures that deal with long life and they are actually in reference to the Fifth Commandment.

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• Usually they are not viewed as that but they are in reality. I'll explain momentarily but let me just point out the fact that you have in the Bible a summary of the Ten Commandments oftentimes. And a summary does not replace the whole, it just summarizes. For instance, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Matthew 22 and look at this one. Here it is, Matthew 22, and let's begin reading there verse 35. Matthew 22 and verse 35, watch carefully. Matthew 22 verse 35: "Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law?" Just stop and think of the Ten Commandments. Which would you give is the great commandment in the law?

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• Well, our Lord answered, verse 37: "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Now, isn't it interesting that when our Lord was asked which was the greatest commandment, he did not quote one of the 10. What he did, he summarized the ten commandments with biblical love. He said the first one is, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, all thy mind, all thy soul. That would take care of the first four commandments. And he said the second is, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. That would take care of commandments number five through ten. That would take care of the last six commandments. And so our Lord then is basically summarizing. And of course you remember that passage in Romans 13 verse 10 where the Bible says, "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."

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• Now our Lord then is revealing that there is such a thing as biblical love and that biblical love is indeed what you and I would call a summary of the law. We can also summarize another principle like this, and we've said it all of our lives, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. In other words, if you want people to treat you right and honestly, then you have to treat other people right and honestly as well. The fifth commandment, when it deals with honor and when it deals with a long life, reaches every aspect of our lives. I want to show you the first illustration that is actually connected with a long life and it's actually connected with the fifth commandment. Turn in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 25. You'll see why I said this in just a moment. Deuteronomy 25, look if you would please beginning there with verse 13. Deuteronomy 25 verse 13: "Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small. But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have:

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• that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. For all that do such things, that is have dishonest weights and measures, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the Lord thy God." Now I want you to note if you would, the Bible is telling us that the monetary and the economic activities of an individual, of a family, of a society, and of a nation are extremely important and connected with this is longevity or long life. Let me say this.

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• It does matter how we make money. It does matter how we treat other people in making that money. Our economic activity is so important that the promise of long life is attached to the command of those that obey. Conversely, if we disobey, then our lives are going to be shortened. And I am sure that this not only applies to individuals and to families and societies and states, but to nations as well.

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• Dishonest money is theft and it is a violation of God's law. Now this brings me to an old Latin proverb that many of you have heard. You may not have heard it in Latin, but you've certainly heard it in English. And that proverb is caveat emptor. And caveat emptor just simply means let the buyer beware. So that means when you go to buy that used car, or you go buy the used clothing or whatever, you better be really careful that you don't get hooked, that you don't get skunked, as we would say, that you don't get gypped, that you don't get conned. Caveat emptor, let the buyer beware.

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• However, I want you to note that is one-sided. Because when you look in Deuteronomy chapter 25 in verse 13, He said, "Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small. But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have." What is he saying? The seller has just the same responsibility to be honest as the man doing the buying. So if I'm buying from Gary and Gary's honest, then I don't have to beware. Likewise if I'm selling and he's buying and I'm honest, he doesn't have to beware. Obviously God is talking here about a just weight and a just measure. Now notice if you would please in verse 13, He says, "Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small." Fraud in weights and measures is fraudulent money and it is theft. Biblical money is always by weight. And believe it or not, constitutional money is by weight as well.

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• You remember when Abraham bought the cave of Machpelah to bury Sarah, his wife, in? He bought it from Ephron the Hittite. Ephron had said it is worth 400 shekels of silver. And in Genesis 23 and verse 19 the Bible says, "Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant." He weighed 400 shekels of silver. Money according to the Bible is always by weight.

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• So if I were to ask you, what is a dollar? Most people have no idea. If I were to pick something up like this and someone says, "Oh, that's $20." It is not. It is 20 Federal Reserve notes, and a note is an obligation. It's a promise to pay, it's a debt. It is not a dollar. It is not real money. I probably told you this, but I'll tell you again in light of this.

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• Alice and I were at a restaurant and I went up to pay after we'd finished eating and this little girl was behind the cash register and there was no one else there. And so I thought I'd have some fun. And so I said to her, "I've got a real problem." She said, "What is it?" I said, "Well, I've eaten your food and I have no money to pay you." She said, "Well, that is a problem."

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• I said, "I know it. I said, I do have some Federal Reserve notes." She said, "We don't take those." I said, "I really got a problem and you better call your manager." The manager came over and I explained to him what I said to her. I told her, "I've eaten your food. I don't have any money. And I said, I told her I offered the Federal Reserve notes and she told me that you didn't take those." He said, "That's right. We don't take those." I said, "Well, I'm in a real problem." So I reached in my pocket and I pulled out some of these and that little girl said, "That's money." I said, "No, ma'am, this is not money. These are Federal Reserve notes. It's a promise. It's a debt." She said, "Well, why do we call it money if it's not money?" I said, "Well, that's because we are ignorant of the Bible and we're ignorant of the Constitution." And she looked at me and she said, "That's the sweetest I've ever been called stupid in my entire life."

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• Well, you know, when you talk about a dollar, the Coinage Act of 1792 defines a dollar. That definition has never, ever been changed. A dollar, according to the Coinage Act of 1792, is 371.25 grains of pure silver. When they set the rate of ounces of silver in a dollar, they also regulated it in reference to gold, 15 to one. So it took 15 grains of silver to equal one grain of gold.

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• So actually, biblical money and constitutional money is always by weight. In the 1700s, everyone knew what a dollar was. Because everyone had reference then to the Spanish milled dollar. It was a round coin of silver at a certain weight. It was called a dollar. So let me put it to you like this. Here's how you understand this. A dollar is a unit of measurement, just like a square foot, or just like an inch, or just like a bushel, or just like a quart. You would not think of going into a store and asking for a quart. They'd say, "A quart of what?" Well, a quart of milk. Well, a dollar is a dollar of what? It's a dollar of silver, or a dollar of gold. It's a unit of measurement, just like 12 inches is a foot.

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• So obviously, the Word of God is saying that we have to be honest in our money. Look in verse 14, He said, "Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small." Now a measure deals with capacity, both of liquid and dry. And what God is demanding is that it doesn't matter what we're dealing with, weights or measures, it has to be absolutely honest. God condemns fraud. For instance, in Isaiah 1 and verse 22, God says it like this: "Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water." So if I had a gallon of wine and I was going to sell it and I thought, "Hmm, I believe I could double my money. And the way I can double my money is I'm gonna pour half this gallon of wine into another gallon jug. I'm gonna fill them both up with water. And now I'm going to sell them for a gallon of wine each."

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• Well, what have I just done? I've just defrauded. I've just stolen. That is not an honest measure. And it's the same thing with coinage. So when you take your coins that are supposed to be silver and you put nickel and copper... Did you know that one of the nicknames for Henry VIII of England was Old Copper Nose? And the reason he got that nickname, he took a copper coin and covered it with a thin layer of silver and tried to pass it off as a pure silver coin. Well, when it was in somebody's pocket or they picked it up, their thumb, of course, went to the middle of the coin. That's where Henry's face was. And the silver rubbed off around his nose and the copper showed through. Thus, he was nicknamed Old Copper Nose.

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• So it was indeed theft. God places a curse upon those who deal fraudulently with their economics. This relates to the family. A family cannot exist without economics. A family cannot exist without money as you and I know it. So when a man, a family, a society, or government changes, cheapens, defrauds, adulterates, misleads, it is theft. God says in verse 16, "For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the Lord thy God." So when we talk about having long life, it is not just how we treat our parents. It's how we interact in our economic activity in that family, in that home as well. Let me give you another one. Since you're in Deuteronomy, look in Deuteronomy chapter 22. And Deuteronomy 22, we're talking about long life. There are actually three promises and they are all interrelated. Look if you would, Deuteronomy 22 verses 6 and 7. God says, "If a bird's nest chance to be before

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• thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young: But thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days." Note if you would, "that thou mayest prolong thy days."

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• Now here's the question, how does a mother bird and her young relate to the fifth commandment? God says if you are walking along and you see a bird sitting on the nest and there's either young birds or there are eggs in that nest, you have to let the dam, the mother bird, go and you can take the eggs or the young. But you cannot take both of them. Let me show you something else. Look in your Bibles to the book of Leviticus chapter 22. Leviticus 22, and notice if you would please verse 28. In fact this passage occurs several times in the Old Testament and I want you to see it in light of what we are talking about. Leviticus chapter 22 and look if you would please at verse 28. God says, "And whether it be cow or ewe," that would be a sheep, "ye shall not kill it and her young both in one day." So, if you happen to have a hankering for veal and you've got a young calf in the stall, God says you may kill it.

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• But you cannot kill the calf and the cow on the same day. If you want a lot of meat, you can kill the cow, but you have to leave the calf.

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• Now, why in the world would God tell you in Deuteronomy 22, if you see the mother bird sitting on the nest, you have to let her go and you can take the eggs or the young to yourself? Obviously if you took the mother bird and left the young or the eggs then they are going to die. So that would be killing both of them on the same day which is forbidden.

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• Now, but notice if you would, long life is connected right here. These passages are not teaching what you and I would just simply call humanitarian attitudes toward animals. It is true that the Bible says in Proverbs 12 verse 10, that the righteous man regardeth the life of his beast, but even the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. Most of you know that Alice and I nursed a young calf for a week, trying to save the calf's life, and the calf died. I mean, the calf had a quilt, had a house, had a pillow. I mean, got massages, got antibiotics, got fed. When the joints were swelled, adults would put turmeric compresses on the joints. Yeah. Why? Well, I'm going to show you something. What God is demanding in Deuteronomy 22 and in the book of Leviticus, it's not just a humanitarian attitude toward animals. He is actually demanding respect for the families of animals. If you let the dam go and kept the young, fine. If you kill the dam, then the young died, that's a violation of God's law.

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• Killing the cow and her calf on the same day is a violation of God's law. And so what God is doing here is giving us an argument from the lesser to the greater. So if God then commands and expects us to honor the families of animals, how much more does he command and demand that we respect the families of humans? You follow that? If you cannot harm an animal's family, God certainly forbids you to harm a man's family. Respect for creation means more than kindness to animals. It is recognizing the fact that God is the Creator and that God has created everything for a purpose, every animal, every insect. I don't understand sometimes roaches and mosquitoes, but there happens to be a purpose in God's plan for roaches and mosquitoes and gnats and fleas and flies. Maybe it's to harass us because of our sin and the fall, I don't know, but God certainly has a purpose. And life can only be taken on God's terms. God is the giver of life. God is the author of life.

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• I tell people I really get upset when I see people just maliciously and wickedly kill something just to be killing it when there was no danger to them and they're not going to have it as food. Twice within the last several months on our road, Alice and I have found four or five wild pigs shot and just left in the ditch.

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• Now, I realize feral pigs can destroy crops. I understand that. But where these pigs were, there were no crops. People just killed them, just to be killing them. I've seen tire tracks where people have left the main road to run to the side just to run over and mash a big old gopher tortoise. And all he does is eat grass. Doesn't hurt anybody. And you think, why in the world would anybody do something like that? Well, let me just point something out.

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• When you understand the fifth commandment, and when you understand the illustrations that God is giving us, especially in relationship to longevity and long life, these passages are teaching us the evil of tampering with the birth process. And it is unbiblical to destroy life simply to destroy life. Abortion is wicked and wrong and ungodly. You want to know where we are today? You want to know why we can kill a baby just as easy as pie? Because everybody kills everything else just as easy as pie. And the truth of the matter is, they could care less for—they care more for a baby eagle than they do for a child. Infanticide. Look at infanticide. Look at euthanasia. Look at the elderly, how they're treated. I'm just simply saying if you want to understand where we are today, it's because we do not understand God's law. We do not apply God's law and the wickedness that we see today is an example of a denial of God's law. I want you to turn in your Bibles if you would to

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• the book of Hosea. Daniel, Hosea. Hosea chapter 10, look at verse 14. Hosea chapter 10, look at verse 14. Here's an interesting statement. Well, look what God says. Let's begin reading with verse 13. He's talking to his people. He says this: "Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men. Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Betharbel in the day of battle:

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• the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children." Now I understand war. I understand fighting and killing. But usually women are not fighters. Children are not fighters. Yet, here's a war where everyone was so wicked, they just simply dashed the mother in pieces upon her own children. They killed mother and child in one day. Well, look in the book of Amos. Hosea, Joel, Amos, just over a few pages. Amos chapter one. Look if you would please at verse 13. You want to understand what is happening today? I want you to look at it. Amos chapter 1 verse 13: "Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border."

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• What did they do? They took pregnant mothers and ripped them in pieces and ripped the child out. Why? Just so they could have more land. What are we doing in foreign countries? Bombing everybody just to have a bigger empire. It's the same principle. It's exactly the same. The barbarism that we see today that is exhibited toward our children, toward our babies, toward the elders, toward others is just a consequence of not understanding and applying the law of God. Life cannot be taken except on God's terms. We may kill animals for food and clothing. We may kill animals in self-defense. We may kill animals if they are hindering dominion. But if they're not attacking us and we're not eating them and we're not wearing them and they're not harming dominion and hindering dominion, why would you kill them? I made the comment to Alice when I saw—and I don't eat pork—but when I saw those baby pigs dead in the ditch, I said, "Well, I just hope one day whoever did that goes hungry." You know, they might want that pig one day.

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• I might not like to eat pork, but I got news for you, I would eat it before I starved. I'd eat a lot of things before I starved. But I'm just simply saying, we are where we are because we have not understood or applied the law of God. God is demanding that we honor our parents. That honor extends into the economic realm and that honor also extends into the animal realm.

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• Long life is promised for obedience in these three areas. Now, here's my question. What does it mean to truly honor your parents? Let me tell you this. It means far more than saying, "Yes, ma'am," and "No, ma'am," and "Yes, sir," and "No, sir." And if you really want to know what it means to honor your parents, you need to be here next Sunday. Because I don't have another hour today to deal with it. But I do want to make two quick applications. The first one is this: long life is a blessing. A long life affords us a greater opportunity to prepare for eternity.

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• It enables us to be more useful. It furnishes us a longer opportunity to examine and to rejoice in the works of God on the earth. It is not improper to desire a long life. I'll be honest with you, I want to live a long life. And I told people this morning, I said, I don't mind living to be 100 as long as I can keep preaching, as long as I can keep teaching, you know. The reason I want to live long is just so I can keep serving the Lord and keep teaching and keep preaching. It's just that simple. Well, it's a blessing, if you would, to understand that God does indeed give long life in His will to those that obey Him. The second one is this: we have to understand that our attitudes toward economics and our attitude toward animals is just as important as our attitude toward our families.

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• In fact, the truth of the matter is, and I'll try to show this a little bit more next week, the fifth commandment is very extensive. For instance, there is a passage in Leviticus 19 in verse 32 that says this: "Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the Lord." Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head. Thou shalt honour the face of the old man. Why? Because I am the Lord thy God. In other words, God is saying, if you learn to respect your parents, you should learn to respect any of the elderly. And it is an extension of "honour thy father and thy mother" that you honour anyone who is elderly, especially those who are elderly in the way of righteousness.

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• Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee this day. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. Teach us, we pray, build us up in the most holy faith, and make us holy and godly and obedient. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

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• ♪

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T18:05:21Z