My Most Precious Faith (Part 7) Our Duty To Men

Our Duty To Men - Commandments 5-10

The fifth commandment - Exodus 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the lord thy God giveth thee.

Believers are required in the fifth commandment to honor their parents as well as all that are in authority over them – Elders, Parents, Civil magistrates, Labor Foremans, Etc. We also must respect and honor those of equal callings in life with them. This commandment is a rule of life that tells us to respect each other in our various life positions.

The term father and mother is that used of our physical father and mother, but also represents those in authority over us in the family, church, employment, government.

We owe all those in authority over us reverence from a sincere heart and proper behavior as we are so directed by their guidance. We should be willing to learn from them all that is good and proper and to take any correction from them. We should be filled with thankfulness that we are blessed to be taught by them. If we are in rebellion against them, are talking about them in disgrace, or are mocking and slandering them in any way then we are sinning.

In order to properly obey the fifth command is for us to obey those in authority. For the one in authority to properly obey this command they are to treat those that they lead and guide with honor and respect. This includes loving them, praying for them, giving of time to counsel and instruct them in their duties as well as in the way of life everlasting. Those in authority are to cherish and nourish the people they are to lead so they are not exasperated in life, provoked to anger, nor dishonored in any way.


To those that are on equal calling in life we are to recognize the individual talents and encourage the use of them for the good of the family, church and society. We are not to undervalue the gifts that our peers have nor are we to put them down in such a way as to attain their portion in life and step on them "going up societies ladder".


The Lord has given a promise to them that obey this command - the promise of long life and prosperity. There have been countless testimonies of the elderly as to the great promises of this blessing being fulfilled. I sort of think that if it is true that stress shortens life then if we get this commandment under control and apply it in our lives that we too may, just on the health issue, live longer.



The sixth commandment – Exodus 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.

In this short command we have the rule of the preservation of life. This commandment calls me to the diligent pursuit of life.


I am to avoid all sinful angry passions and not kill my neighbor in and by my thoughts, words, gestures, or deeds. I am also called to do that which I can do to preserve life by giving to the poor, standing against abortion and euthanasia, etc. I am also being called in this command to defend the weak and innocent in every possible way.

Another call of this command is to love my neighbor as myself, be peaceable, and be willing to forgive and be reconciled even when great wrong is done to me.

The performance of any sinful anger toward a person is wrong and ought not to be done. The laying aside of the duty to protect innocent life is a grave sin and a breaking of this commandment and is very often done in times of anger.

This commandment protects all life without doing away with the taking of life by our civil magistrates in our court system in capital offenses. God has commanded the death penalty in some instances and has placed this into the hands of our governmental system. Personal vindictiveness is not to be done. It is the government that has this duty and call.

Note that in this commandment there is no promise given. There is only the clearly stated command of what we are to do in society which is preserve life.



The seventh commandment - Exodus 20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

At the end of this twentieth century this commandment is broken every day, hour and minute. Our industries are selling goods and wares based on the premises that a provocative scene with men, women and even children will sell everything from clothes to hamburgers. Christians are pressured to see this if they desire any kind of outside entertainment in their home through television, for this comes into view every ten minutes or so on the commercials that market the products that pay for the entertainment. It is very important to ask this question to yourself in this culture today, "How can I best keep this commandment in all that it requires?". I am not going to try to answer this question for you at this time, but you will see the frame work to answer this question in as I state what is required in this commandment.

It is required in this command that we be pure in our heart and conduct and that we do nothing that would provoke adultery in thought or deed in ourselves or in any other. We also are in every way and in all things keep marriage honorable as God has established one man for one woman forever, "till death do us part".

To do all that this commandment requires is a call to control all our thoughts towards others so that they are pure and chaste. It was told to us by our Lord Jesus that to think improper thoughts in lust is the same as if we have committed adultery already.

There is also a need to address the provocative clothing situation. The clothes being "designer" is made to attract the fit to the body and does in many instances cause a provoking of the male/female senses in lustful sexual thinking. We are called on this commandment to dress in modesty. Modesty is the orderly wearing of clothing, not the drawing attention to the body nor is it to be so that there is a down playing the body. Modesty in no way will in and of itself provoke unchaste thoughts.


We are called to all the holy duties of keeping the marriage pure and undefiled. If married or when you are married you are to seek to meet each others sexual needs so that there be no door opened for Satan to enter in when there is need for intimate sexual relations. In other words all the conjugational duties are to be fully met in the marriage bond as a preventive measure against adultery.

It possibly need not be stated that sins against this commandment are rape, incest, fornication, sodomy or any unnatural lusts, impure thoughts, or imaginations that run wild with all types of impurity such as bestiality or the "sexual slave and master mentality", orgies etc. It may need to be stated that the breaking of this command is done when there is an undue delay in marriage for "it is better to marry than to burn" and better to marry than to enter into a fornicative relationship with a person when there are sexual needs that need to be met. A word of caution: I am not saying to marry for sex, but if the person is a believer and you see the need of a mate in life so that you can multiply and fulfill the societal function as husband and wife and family and this person is one whom you have a difficulty controlling your sexual needs with then rather than sin in breaking this command it is better to marry and not delay than both you and this person find that you have greatly sinned.

To the married the plain command of the seventh commandment is to guard your marriage in thought, word and action to love your spouse and be enthralled with that union till death do you part. Not to guard your marriage and hold it honorable is sin.



The eighth commandment - Exodus 20:15 Thou shalt not steal.

The eighth commandment requires us to do what we can for the good of our neighbor treating them fair with honesty in business dealings as social equals. It also requires of me to work diligently the six days God has established so that I can provide for my family and share my goods with the poor and needy. The eighth commandment requires of me the diligence to pursue a wealth or outward estate for myself and for others.

The sin in the eighth commandment is that against stealing. Stealing is doing anything that would hinder the good of your fellow man. Theft in the sight of God includes any cheating or swindling of our neighbor through schemes that would possibly appear legal. False weights and measures, A wrong or bent way of advertising goods which you would sell your neighbor in such a way that would hide defaults in the product being sold, etc, etc.

In Christian circles throughout history there have been times when the upper class has separated itself from the middle or lower class and then if their lives touch at all it is either very short lived or it is only in contact through missionaries, or benevolent agencies. Please understand that whatever you procure in life the objective is to use the gain in the manner prescribed in scripture. The means by which you procure your gain is to be godly and the way in which you use and distribute your gain is to be in a godly fashion paying tithe, giving to the poor, caring about others. We must remember it is pure religion that does not forget the most needy such as the widow and orphan.


I request that you in your life be a servant to all that are in need that come your way. I pray for you that if God does not see fit that you should have the gain to help others but that others need help you that God would so work in the hearts of his people that truly you would never lack the necessities of life.



The ninth commandment - Exodus 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

The simple requirement of the nineth commandment is to simply tell the truth. This speaks against any malicious lying about someone or the giving of false testimony. The twisting of the truth to fit our own design is strictly forbidden. There should be no gossiping or unjust condemnation of anyone without a proper hearing or without a just cause and this with the proper witnesses.

The commandment requires us to maintain and promote truth between each other and with all our fellow man.

If we are called in witness against someone we are to speak the truth. As I have told you dear children please tell the truth even though it may hurt, it is the best thing! The saying that "the truth never hurts" is a lie as can be seen for obvious reasons. Even though it may hurt it is always proper to state truth rather than lie.

To lie is to succumb to the tactics of the father of lies, the devil. Note that Christians are to follow the God of the universe not the “god of this world”. In following Christ we will love truth. We will therefore speak letting our “yea be yea” and our “nay be nay”. In doing this we will be seeking our own best interest and the interest of our neighbor.



The tenth commandment - Exodus 20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

This commandment requires that we be content with what we have in life whether much or plenty. We are to be fully content with our lot in life and in being content we will not desire to break any of the commandments or as I call them rules of life. We will worship God properly recognizing his sovereign and providential control in the things we have been provided in life. We will have learned to be content as the Apostle Paul called us to in his writings in the epistles.

We are forbidden in this command to grieve over or envy anything that is our neighbors. We must recognize the proper ownership and providential care God has given to others, and that it may be and possibly will be different than the care he has given to ourselves.


I must again confess my sin: I have not nor could not ever keep these commandments for daily I sin against God and against my fellow man. I struggle daily in my thinking I am sometimes angered wrongly when I think that God is doing something "unfair "to me.

I also say things I should not say against others and again I sin just in questioning the providential things of God. There is then the actions of anger or not doing what I should or the doing what I should not do that also is part of my being. The breaking of the commandments happens daily in thought, word, and action.

This happens with all men in every generation and always will. The only person that has not sinned in thought, word and deed is Christ himself, who was the sinless son of God.

Not being able to keep these commandments I do not see myself as a non-Christian. I see myself as a sinner and I know that Christ alone has lived the perfect life, shed his blood and died in my place on the cross. This same Christ has also placed all his righteousness on me and when the Father looks at me he does not see me as sinful but he sees me clothed in the pure and real righteousness of Jesus Christ.


Even though that which I have just stated is correct, the commandments are still to be forcefully preached and taught. We are to be instructed by the church, as Christians, in the requirements, duties , and sins that are forbidden in the commandments. This is to be done so that we can more and more our need for the salvation given us in Christ in order to drive us more and more to the cross for the continual cleansing power of the blood. Also the value in preaching and teaching the commandments is so that we believers, while praying to God for a more holy life by the power of the Holy Spirit, will see and know the holy commands and will strive to be more and more conformed into the image of God so that we will love the Lord with all the heart and our neighbor as ourselves. This is the sum of the tem commandments.