Obey Your Parents

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. There are children, Amanda and Justin, here this morning and Dick is going to share the message with us. He's a good friend of mine, good friend of all of ours. He was here for a weekend of meetings about a year and a half or two years ago, maybe one year ago. I can't remember. [00:00:34] Brother in the Lord, I'm not sure if he's a Mennonite or if he's a Baptist or what he is, but I think our beliefs are the same. All those names don't matter too much, I suppose. So, why don't we have prayer? Maybe we can all stand for prayer and then, Dick, you can just come up and take the lectern and tell us what the Lord has laid on your heart. You can all stand for prayer. Dear God, thank you that you are a God who is not partial, and that you will put your spirit in whoever decides to follow you with all of their heart. [00:01:07] And we are here this morning because we want to hear what you have to tell us. That's from your word and from your Holy Spirit, and I pray that you would open our ears so we can hear, so we can understand, and so we will do. And I pray that you would rest on Brother Dick, and that you would give him wisdom and the words to say, and freedom. In Jesus' name, Amen. You can sit. It's good to be here again. I thought about this about two or three months ago, that I'd like my family and I to come and visit you again. [00:01:48] We just have enjoyed our times here. Please forgive us if we don't remember all your names. I'm going to have to ask Leon to give me another one of those sheets with all the people's names on it. I put it into my computer and then I just recently my computer crashed and I lost a lot of stuff and that was one of those. I wanted to go sit down with that list and go through names and just remember, but I wasn't able to do that. [00:02:21] I'd like you to turn, please, with me to Ephesians chapter 6, verses 1 through 3. Ephesians chapter 6, verses 1 through 3. I'm not really big on titles. I usually just designate my sermons according to the verses I'm going to be preaching on, but I guess you could call this message Honoring Father and Mother. I really didn't think about preaching this because Mother's Day is next week, but I'm not really very holiday-oriented in a lot of ways. [00:03:00] But it seems interesting that I did, when I thought about preaching here, that that's what came to mind and how it seems to coordinate with the upcoming holiday, to some extent at least. Honoring our fathers and our mothers. Let's look at that. 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. [00:03:35] Shall we pray? Dear Lord in heaven, thank you for this portion of your word, as we thank you for all of the word of God. We thank you that it is infallible, that there are no mistakes in it, that it is given to us, breathed out by the Holy Spirit, written down by holy men of old, and preserved unto us today so that we can know what you want us to do and how you want us to live. [00:04:06] We can know about your grace that enables us to live a holy life, about the power of God that is available to us to live like you want your people to live. And I pray that, Father, you would use me this morning to bring your word to these people in such a way that your Holy Spirit can use it to bring conviction and encouragement, reproof, rebuke, exhortation. whatever is necessary here this morning [00:04:38] Father I ask you to use me to that end for the benefit of your people and for the glorification of our Lord Jesus Christ I pray this in Jesus name, Amen This passage is about obedience to parents and honoring our parents and it's not just for the little wiggling ones And the ones that are like 8 or 9 or 10 or even 16 or 17 is for all of us. [00:05:10] And I think you'll see that as we proceed through this message. This passage is part of a larger passage that begins back in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 21. And that really grows out of another passage. But Paul has a way of segwaying into things so smoothly, sometimes you almost don't realize that you got from one place to the other. You ever had that experience? Wow, how did we get to this subject? And he just smoothed his glass about it. [00:05:44] But he begins this particular broad topic of submitting to one another in verse 21. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. And then he begins from that point on through verse 9 of chapter 6 to talk about how wives are supposed to submit themselves to their husbands. That's in verses 22 through 24 and a little bit there in verse 33. [00:06:14] And then from chapter 5, 25 to verse 33 of that chapter, it's about husbands submitting to their wives. We don't usually think of it that way, but that's the only way you can take it when you look at this context. It's not submission in terms of obedience or them ruling the house necessarily, but it is submission in terms of loving our wives as Christ loves the church. That's how we submit to our wives. We bow ourselves down before the Lord to love our wives as Christ loved the church. [00:06:49] and there's great sacrificial love that's involved there. When you think about how Christ loved the church, just reflect on it a bit and you see what I mean. There's definitely a submission there. And then he goes on to the verses that we're going to talk about today, verses 1 through 3 of chapter 6, about children submitting to their parents by obedience and honoring them. He goes on in chapter 6 verse 4 about how fathers and presumably mothers too [00:07:23] but fathers being the head of the home probably are in more danger of offending here and that's fathers submitting to their children by not provoking them to wrath but bringing them up in the nature, excuse me, the nurture and admonition of the Lord That's our submission to our children We lay ourselves down for them. We put ourselves on the floor for them. And I'll walk over us in a sense if we can look at it that way. [00:07:54] Not like doormats or like they rule us, but in ruling them we subvert ourselves to their good. And to their, you know, I've always said that rearing children is like going about 15 rounds with a championship boxer. about 150 times and it seems to me that the the way we should look at being a parent is my children are going to be holy or I'm going to die trying to get them there that's the way we have to [00:08:25] look at it it has to be the goal of our life and if we see our children going any other way it should bring the greatest darkest heaviest grief to our heart that I think a person can experience I can't even fathom that happening in my children's life. I don't even want to, well, I do think about it. But that's why we need, as fathers, to submit ourselves to the holy outcome of our children. And then, finally, it's servants to masters in verses 5 through 8 [00:08:58] Or we would say employees to employers And the other way around in 6-9, masters to their servants There is an obligation there, there is a submission there And Christian masters or employers ought to be abundantly different than the average guy in the average business Well, let's get back. That's the basic, broad thing. This is about submitting to one another. How do we submit in these different areas of our lives? We come to the idea of obedience to parents in chapter 1 of verse 6. [00:09:33] And it says there, children, obey your parents in the Lord. Who are these children? Who are the children that he's talking about? Well, there's a bunch of them here today, but there's everybody here can be called a child. We are all children of our fathers and mothers. Now, I think the primary emphasis here in this context is children in their minority. Whenever that ends, we talk about the age of accountability and the age of coming into responsibility. [00:10:06] That's not like a light switch on the wall. You turn 12 and the switch goes on and all of a sudden, boom. It's a growing thing. And certainly Paul has little children in mind here. Certainly. And the context leads that way. We already read verse 4. Father, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. That's talking about, we see a lot of little babies here in arms, and little children are getting big enough to sit on the seat. [00:10:38] They're coming up, they're coming up. And fathers are not supposed to bring them, put them into wrath. They're not supposed to provoke them to wrath as they're bringing them up. And this is an aside, but I think one of the biggest reasons so many children are angry today is because their parents don't lovingly spank them enough Or when they need it, let's put it that way They don't discipline them, they sort of let them do what they want A child left to himself will bring his mother to shame And he will most of the time have a sour expression on his face [00:11:08] If you just think about that for a while, that really is true Now, so that is likely the most prominent thought in Paul's mind as he writes this. Little children. But think about this. If you think about the word of God, you know that the word child and children is not just used for little minority people. It's used in many places in the Bible to speak of adults. Think about the children of Israel. I remember when I was a little boy, the first time I heard about the children of Israel was not in Sunday school class, but it was at school. [00:11:42] This lady teacher in third grade, she couldn't get away with that today in the public school, but she read us the whole story of the exodus out of Egypt and going into the Holy Land. She read us, she read the story that is covered in the book of Joshua. And I remember her reading about the children of Israel. I got this picture of all these little kids in this room just kind of going off across the Jordan and across the Red Sea and all of that. That's the way kids think, you know, they don't think quite straight sometimes. They have to kind of get things in the proper orders they grow up. But that's not the only way that the Bible views children. [00:12:23] So I think there's a sense in which this verse can be applied to us who are beyond minority, but we still have parents who are alive or even dead have gone on. There's a sense in which we should obey our parents until the day that we die. There's a very real sense in which that is the case. Think about this. In Proverbs, you have a man named Solomon, King Solomon, [00:12:54] who in spite of his many failures, God used him to write some great biblical truths. And when Solomon is addressing his son, you don't get the impression, do you, that he's addressing a little nine-year-old or a ten-year-old. I don't. You need to think about some of the things he talks about. Let's look at Proverbs chapter 2, verses 10 through 19. Proverbs chapter 2, verses 10 through 19. [00:13:30] He says, When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul, discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee. Now, let me ask you, can you imagine talking about this, saying those words exactly that way to your little seven-year-old boy? He says, Whoa, I don't know anything about what you're talking about here, Dad. I know you could certainly try to help him understand, but he really isn't going to have the understanding that an older person is going to have. In fact, many older people wouldn't understand this that well, and apparently don't. [00:14:06] He says, which flattereth with her words which forsaketh the guide of her youth and forsaketh the covenant of her God [00:14:36] for her house inclineth into death and her paths unto the dead none that go unto her return again neither take they hold of the paths of life that thou mayest walk in the way of good men and keep the paths of righteousness and so forth that's not something that you address to a little boy Why? He's not thinking about going down to the house of a strange woman at that time in his life. You talk to a young man who's had the chemical changes taking place in his body, [00:15:10] he starts having some of the things transpire within him that cause him to have to deal with those kinds of temptations. So, here we have a man being dealt with as a son, a young man who was maybe in his teens, late teens, or even early twenties, or maybe older than that. And yet, he's still attending to his father's wisdom, or at least that's what his father's trying to get him to do. [00:15:46] Think about the Rechabites for a minute. You've heard about them probably. Let's go back to Jeremiah chapter 35. Jeremiah chapter 35. The Rechabites were an amazing people and they were commented on by God, used as an illustration, what we might call an object lesson. I'm just going to read this chapter to you and make a few comments. Now here we see, not just obedience to my own father, but a generational obedience to my father's father's father's father [00:16:24] However many generations back it was All the way back to Jonadab, who is regarded here as the father of the Rechabites And he made some commandments, he told them to do a couple things, or rather I should say, not do some things And they were commended by God because they obeyed him, even after generations The word which came unto Jeremiah in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, [00:16:55] saying, Go unto the house of the Rechabites, and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink. Then I took Jeazaniah, the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazaniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites. And I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Hanun, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseah, the son of Shalem, the keeper of the door. [00:17:32] And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine and cups, and I said unto them, drink ye wine and they said we will drink no wine for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commended us saying ye shall drink no wine neither ye nor your sons forever neither shall ye build house nor sow seed nor plant vineyard nor have any but all your days you shall dwell in tents that ye may live many days in the land where ye be strangers thus have we obeyed the voice of [00:18:07] Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he hath charged us to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters, nor to build houses for us to dwell in. Neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed, but we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab, our father, commanded us. But it came to pass when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up into the land that we said, come, let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and for fear of the army of the Syrians, so we dwell to Jerusalem. [00:18:49] So only one period in their existence as the Rechabites did they ever go against this idea of not living in houses because of the safety of their children and their wives and so forth. And God does not chide them for that, by the way. Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my word, saith the Lord? The words of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed. [00:19:27] For unto this day they drink none, but obey their father's commandment. Notwithstanding, I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking, but she hearkened not unto me. These people are listening to their father, their ancestor, and you won't even listen to me, and I'm right here. That's what he's saying to them. I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets rising up early and sending them saying return ye now every man from his evil way and amend your doings and go not after other gods to serve them [00:20:00] and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given you and your fathers but ye have not inclined your ear nor hearken unto me Jonadab spoke and his people obeyed I have sent you prophet upon prophet upon prophet I have benefited you in every possible way but you won't listen to me he's really holding them up as an example to follow because the sons of Jonadab, the son of Rechab [00:20:31] have performed the commandment of their father which he commanded them but his people hath not hearkened unto me but this people hath not hearkened unto me therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts the God of Israel Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken unto them, but they have not heard, and I have called unto them, but they have not answered. And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, [00:21:04] Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all that he hath commanded you, Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me forever. In other words, the Rechabites were not going to perish ever totally from the earth. They're around somewhere, I don't know where they're at, but they're on the earth today because of their obedience to their father, not even to God. [00:21:39] Now, there wasn't any particular spiritual or scriptural indictment against any of the things that Rechab told them not to do. We don't need to assume that this was even fermented wine necessarily. I believe there's a place in the Bible where it's talked about the Rechabites refused to drink wine to quench their thirst during a time of war just because they didn't want to go against the teachings of their father, the command of their ancestor. [00:22:14] So it was a matter of quenching your thirst in that particular situation. everything that was the fruit or the juice of the vine was called wine in the Old Testament it could have been fermented or not and certainly there don't seem to be the inhibitions to drinking totally not drinking any amount of fermented beverage in the Old Testament that we seem to take on in the New Testament but certainly never to drunkenness [00:22:45] but the point is is that Rechab spoke a commandment that wasn't necessarily directly from God he didn't speak anything that was against the word of God and so God commended them for obeying their father now if he told them to go out and commit adultery once a year as a celebration of some kind God wouldn't have commended for him they could have obeyed him in that but he wouldn't have commended them and it wouldn't have caused Jonadab to have a man to stand before the Lord forever But because what he said was not against the scriptures, not contrary to the moral teachings of God, we see the result that we see here. [00:23:27] So, the Rechabites teach us that even this generational obedience. Let's go to Hebrews chapter 13 and look at one more aspect of obeying those who have gone before us. Hebrews chapter 13 I want to look at verse 7 and 17 I want to compare or contrast those two [00:23:57] This has to do with obedience to those leaders and teachers in the church that have gone on They're not with us any longer They're in heaven It's a little tricky You have to be careful that you read this correctly to see that, but that's really what it's saying. He says in verse 7, Remember them which have rule over you, the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation. [00:24:31] Remember, look back and remember, them which have, past tense, the rule over you. and who have spoken unto you, past tense, have spoken. They're not speaking to you anymore. They did at one time though. They had a faith. You need to follow that faith. You need to look at where they went and how they went. And you need to follow that faith. And you need to consider the end of their conversation. Conversation in the King James has to do with our lifestyle or the life that we walk while we're on this earth. [00:25:06] Theirs had come to an end, and they were no longer with us, and yet he tells them to follow them. In other words, if you're in a church who's had a godly man who's gone on to the... You don't just abandon the things he spent 30 years teaching you. You continue on in the ways that he taught you, just as you would continue on in the ways that your parents have taught you. Now, I just think it would be amazing to see the continuity from generation to generation in our churches if we did this the way I think the Bible describes. [00:25:50] In other words, we don't just say, well, he's dead now, we can basically do what we want. We say, this is a man of God. This is a man we can learn from. And even though some of the things that he may have said were not direct commands from the scripture, there was a wisdom in what he said. And we better think twice before we abandon that. We better think twice before we abandon it. In Hebrews chapter 13 verse 17, we can see that there's a different thing going on here. [00:26:26] Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, as they that must give an account, and that they may do it with joy, and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. So, there are those leaders in the church who are alive today, we're supposed to obey them that have the rule over us, present tense, and but we are also supposed to not just forget and put on the back burner or take off the stove [00:26:56] completely the things that were taught by those godly men who have gone before us through heaven's gate there's value in this there's value in this why should we obey well first of all before we think about that i want to just give you a few examples out of my experience of people that i I think have shown this kind of deference and reverence toward their fathers. [00:27:27] I know an Amish lady named Susan, and I've talked to them a lot about the Lord through the years, and these are people we love very deeply. They meant a lot to us. But one day, we used to buy eggs, E-G-G apostrophe S. We noticed when we were looking at a letter from Susan the other day, and every time there was an S on the word, she had an apostrophe. I don't know if that's the way the Amish spell it, but it just tickled us. But anyway, we bought eggs from her and had some wonderful conversations with her and her husband. [00:28:02] One day I just asked her, why do you wear that head covering? Now my wife was probably not there that day, but she knew my wife well, and she knew that she wore a covering. But I want to know what her rationale for wearing that head covering was. Now, Susan could not explain to me from the Bible why she wore the head covering, but she said this to me. She said, that is what our fathers, our forefathers have taught us, okay? Now, it's too bad that she couldn't explain it from the Bible, but I tell you, she did have a biblical reason for wearing that head covering. [00:28:37] She really did, because she was honoring the memory of those fathers. There is a good reason not to shed the things that our fathers have taught us, just because they've gone on and times are changing. We would smell and act and think and move a lot less like the world as Christians today if we had more continuity from one generation to the other. [00:29:08] If we had more honor for the people who've gone before. I remember one time I was someplace where these people from the Adventist church had a booth, a health booth of some kind. You went in there and had your blood pressure checked. Did a few step-ups, they'd check your blood pressure and your heart, and they'd give you a rating on your health, because the Adventists are really into health and stuff like that, vegetarianism. And I'm not going to get into the Adventists and where they are and all that kind of stuff. [00:29:39] That's not the purpose, but I know that all of those Adventist ladies were sitting there with shorts and tight blue jeans and slacks and things like that on there that day, and it just occurred to me, you know, I wonder if there's a grandmother somewhere who it makes sad to see her granddaughter dressed in those clothes. I wonder if these girls, these women and girls, really honored their fathers and their grandfathers and mothers if they would dress that way. [00:30:22] That seems like a pretty good reason to take the jeans off and put a dress on. To me, it does. I mean, why should our, those who have gone before us and those who are older than us and have tried to teach us the things that are of value to them, why should that be trash just because they're getting old and we're younger? It doesn't seem like that's biblical to me. It seems like honoring, or rather obeying, in this particular context, has a lot to do with really seriously considering the things that our parents and even our grandparents have tried to teach us. [00:31:02] I think they would have been dressed differently if they were thinking about the scripture that we're studying today. Even if they didn't see a particularly good reason to continue wearing dresses. But they would have dressed differently I remember a young lady that came to our house She was a pastor's daughter And she used to spend some time with our kids back when we were in the Hillsdale area And I asked her one day, something came up [00:31:33] And she was talking about most people would wear shorts to do this thing I said, well, are you going to wear shorts? and she said oh no I could never wear shorts and I said well why and I wasn't trying to talk her out of it I just want to know what she was thinking she says because it would kill my dad it would kill my dad now that's a pretty good motivation right there that's a good reason not to wear shorts do we think that do we believe I believe that I think we have lost sight of what's what's here in the scriptures now she had a sister who was grown and married who apparently didn't care [00:32:11] I don't care whether her dad died or not, not literally, but she did not dress the way he brought her up to dress. And she and he would have been a lot better off, I think, if she would have honored her father a bit more. I got to thinking about that. Pastor so-and-so, I'm not going to give his name, but I said, I wonder how many tears he has shed. This daughter says that it would kill her dad if she wore shorts. How many tears of grief and heartache has that man shed because his older daughter dresses the way she does? [00:32:54] Let's go on to why we should obey. It says here in verse 6, Obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right. Okay? So, that's very simple. We obey because it's right. We obey because that is the way God is. That's why it's right, by the way. It's right because this is the way God is about this matter of submission and obedience. In fact, when you think about it, it can't help be one of the things that makes the universe tick [00:33:27] because it's in the Godhead. We don't think about that in terms of the Godhead. Father, Son, Holy Ghost. But Jesus and the Father are equal according to the scriptures. Let's look at John chapter 1. I'm going to take you through John here a little bit. Because it's one of the strongest books in the Bible. Well, actually I'm going to do that in a minute, but we'll do a little flipping around, so I hope you're ready. John chapter 1, verses 1 through 3. [00:33:59] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. That's telling us who Jesus is, isn't it? It's telling us that He is the creator of the universe, and that He is not only with God, but He is God. The words couldn't be clearer. If words mean anything, they can mean nothing else. Let's go to Colossians chapter 1, Colossians chapter 1, and let's look at verses 15 through 17. [00:34:40] That's what I have written down at least, I might want to back up a little bit here, but let's go back to verse 13, because it establishes that we're talking about the Son here, the Son Jesus Christ. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, that's speaking about the Father, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature? [00:35:16] For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him, Jesus Christ, none other, and for him. He is before Him, He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. In other words, if it weren't for Jesus, everything you see would just start flying apart. I remember reading an article one time in some science magazine, oh, about ten years ago, [00:35:50] and these scientists said, we think we've discovered the stuff that keeps the universe all together, and we're calling it gluon. Well, the Bible calls it Jesus. He is what keeps the universe together. He is the God of this universe. He is the creator of this universe. He and the Father are God. They are one. They are equal. And the Holy Spirit. I don't think that can be refuted from the scriptures. Philippians chapter 2, Philippians chapter 2, Philippians chapter 2 and verse 6 [00:36:24] Who, speaking of Jesus, in fact let's go to verse 5 so we can make this clear Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God Before he humbled himself and became as a man, he was in the form of God And it wasn't robbery, he didn't look at it as robbery to be equal with God I would look at it as robbery for me to be equal with God [00:36:54] There's no way I could be equal to God And back in the Old Testament when Lucifer is described as rising up and saying I will ascend, I will become like the Most High, that's robbery But Jesus Christ didn't have to ascend anywhere to become God because he was and is and always will be God. He had to descend to become like us so he could save us. He had to take on a body so he could die for us and shed his blood. And so now he's the only member of the Trinity with a body, [00:37:28] a perfect body like unto the one that we will have someday like his. Let's go to one more place, Hebrews chapter 1. Now, this book of Hebrews, what a book it is. If you don't read the book of Hebrews, some people get confused and intimidated by it. Just sit down and read it about 500 times, and you'll just find it just gets better every time. And then go back and read the book of Leviticus several times along with it. [00:37:59] Now, Hebrews chapter 1, let's look at verse 6 through 12. Here's the Holy Spirit speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ. And again, when he bringeth, this is God, or God the Father, bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him. God says, I'm not going to share my glory with anybody. He says that in the Old Testament. I don't share my glory with anybody. And here he's telling the angels to worship him? [00:38:31] It's not inconsistent. The only way it's inconsistent is that Jesus is anything less than Jehovah God himself. And the angels, of the angels he saith, who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire? But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God. Now look it, O God is the noun in direct address. This is God talking to God. Doesn't this just make you shiver? I mean, it just sends chills up my spine. It is so awesome. [00:39:04] This is God. He says unto the Son, Thy throne, O God. Say, God, I would like to tell you something. Your throne is forever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore, God, even thy God, hath anointed thee. So here's God saying, I'm your God. So Jesus Christ has a God. He is God. He has a God. He is the same God. They are separate persons, but the same God that is way beyond our ken. We cannot understand it. We cannot fathom it. But we better not be like the Jehovah's Witnesses and deny it, because they lose everything. In that one doctrinal fallacy, they lose everything. Every bit of what God promises us in Jesus Christ is out the window, and it will never come back until they acknowledge who Jesus is. [00:39:58] You can't have the Father without having the Son, and you cannot have the Son without having the Father. You deny one, you deny the other. Thy throne, O God, is forever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity, and therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. speaking of them as a man there and thou Lord, there is God speaking to Jesus Christ as Lord [00:40:33] in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the works of thine hands here is the heavenly father testifying to the universe that Jesus Christ created the universe and everything that is in it they shall perish, the things you've made shall perish But thou remainest, it's because God is separate from his creation. We depend on him, not he on us. And they shall all wax old as a garment, and as a vesture thou shalt fold them up. They shall be changed, but thou art the same. Thy years shall not fail. Thou art the same. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. [00:41:11] Who could you say that about but an eternal, infinite God? You could not say that about anybody but God himself. Now, we've established the equality of Jesus with his Heavenly Father as God, and yet Jesus submits himself to perfection to his Heavenly Father in everything. And this is where our example comes from. This is why it's important for children to obey their parents. Because this is what God does. And because that's his nature, it's got to be in his creation. And creation will not work right any other way. There has got to be submission and obedience to proper authority. [00:42:02] So look at John 4, verse 34. See some wonderful passages here. John 4, 34. Jesus saying to them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. My meat is to do what my father tells me to do, what he sent me to do. Let's look at chapter 5, verses 19 and 20 of John. Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself. [00:42:41] It's amazing. How would we ever, can you believe that Christianity couldn't have been invented by a man? When you read stuff like that, you read on the one hand, Jesus Christ making it very certain, and all the scriptures, many places making it very clear that he and God are like this, They're co-equal, that Jesus is the creator, he made of the earth and all that there is It was made by him and for him, and he establishes his Godhead that way And yet he turns around and says, I can't do anything without my Father [00:43:14] Would you, if you're inventing a religion, would you invent it that way? I wouldn't I wouldn't have him say something like that, if I was going to make this up There's only one explanation, the Holy Spirit dictated these words Well, not dictated, not like mechanical, but the Holy Spirit breathed out these words, and holy men of old wrote them. But what the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do, for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. [00:43:47] Verse 20, For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that he himself doeth, and he will show him greater works than these that he may, that she may marvel. So I'm going to do even greater things. My Father is going to show them to me, and I'm going to obey Him. I'm going to do what He wants me to. Chapter 5, verse 30. I can of mine own self do nothing as I hear, I judge. Jesus Christ is going to judge the world. He didn't come as a judge, but He will sit on the great white throne. He will judge the world, and He's going to judge as He hears. [00:44:20] And my judgment is just, because I seek not mine own will, There is sonship right there. I don't seek my own will. I seek the will of my Father which hath sent me. Here's the God of the universe saying he submits himself to his Heavenly Father. I mean, how can we do anything less than submit ourselves to our own fathers and mothers? 5.38 538. And ye have not this word abiding in you, for whom he hath sent, him ye have not believed. [00:44:55] I don't think I meant to read that one. I got that in there by mistake. But it's a freebie. It's a good verse, you know. John 8, 29. John 8, 29. 9. Look at this. And he that sent me is with me. The Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things that please him. Okay? There you go. Children, that's all of us. Children, obey your parents. If Jesus does it, why not us? Okay? [00:45:33] Now, let's go to Philippians. Here's an interesting passage. Philippians, verse 2, 6-8. Philippians, verse 2, verses 6-8. Let's see these words carefully. I read verse 6 before. Let's start at 5. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man. [00:46:17] Now listen to this next verse. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Who is he obeying? You? Me? The devil? He was obeying his heavenly father. He became obedient unto death. Oh, but we could never do that. No man should ever do that. Please remember Isaac. Please remember Isaac. He became obedient unto death. [00:46:49] His dad took him and put him on that altar, and he had the dagger lifted to thrust in his heart, and Isaac was there obeying his father unto death. Not saved by a ram quad and a thicket representing Jesus Christ. So, there may be a little more to this than we think. We also have just one more example of Jesus Christ's wonderful obedience, even to his parents, his earthly parents. Go to Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2. [00:47:22] Luke chapter 2 verses 49 through 52 This is when Jesus had gone to Jerusalem for the Passover and he got to talking to these doctors of the law and he just hung back and his parents were down the road a full day before they realized he was gone. They came back looking for him and finally found him and he says in verse 49 and he said unto them, How is it that she sought me? [00:47:55] Wist ye not that I must be about my father's business? He's 12 years old. How many 12-year-olds do you know that talk like that? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. That's right. They didn't understand anything about their son. He was so far above them. It was like the difference between Death Valley and Mount Everest and then multiply that, you know, 10,000 to the 10th degree, 10th whatever, if you guys know math. [00:48:26] I can't remember the word right now, but the point is, is he was mega, whatever, above his parents in every way. Jesus Christ did not need his parents when he was 12. He could have just done fine on his own. But look at what happens here. and he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man [00:48:57] what an amazing example how can we think that we have any business showing disrespect and dishonor to our parents when Jesus who was so far above his parents that there was no comparison. And they didn't understand a thing about that boy, their young 12-year-old boy. And yet he put himself under them at that age. [00:49:29] So it is right to obey parents because that's how God is and that's how things are made up in this universe. How complete should this obedience be? In the Lord, if you look back at Ephesians chapter 6, in the Lord, obey your parents in the Lord. This could mean on account of the commandment, or it could mean insofar as parents' commands are not contrary to scripture. In other words, you know, Jesus obeys his heavenly father perfectly because his heavenly father is perfect. [00:50:05] But we have to realize that it is necessary for us not, we are not, we are not required to obey evil commands. Let's think about it. The words for this is right in verse 1. Can we imagine ourselves saying this about a child who steals and murders because he's obeying his parents? We might feel sorry for the kid for being misled that way, but we wouldn't say it was right. We wouldn't say that's good. He obeys his parents like that. [00:50:38] And we would still hold him accountable even if we felt sorry for him for being raised in that way. Biblically, we're supposed to forsake our father's sins. Now, this is going back generationally, of course, and we're not going to go there because time is moving along here. But in Zechariah chapter 1, verses 1 through 6, take the time to read that sometime. You will see that God is telling the people in that chapter, you need to forsake the sins of your fathers. Look at where they are. If you continue on in the sins of your fathers, you're going to end up like them. [00:51:13] That's what he's saying to them. And so when we talk about this, we have to realize on the human level, we need to have balance here. Realizing that we don't have perfect mothers and fathers. and sometimes people are born with evil mothers and fathers and children have to learn how to obey their parents in those things which are right before the Lord and they truly need to say well I must obey God not man on those other things. I believe the same thing with wives. [00:51:44] I don't think a wife is justified in lying because her husband tells her to lie for him or to cheat on the income tax because that's what her husband wants to do. I don't think that's what submission is all about. and we need to take all the counsel of God and we have two sides to this coin here and I think probably most of us and most people in the world would not have to come to a point where they actually had to disobey their parents on anything in order to be right with God but there could be and probably will be times [00:52:17] where that might be necessary now let me just give you a warning there are some people, children who would like to take that and run with it. Boy, that gives me a lot of latitude. I don't have to obey my parents, you know, because, boy, they're telling me all this stuff's wrong. Well, think about it hard before you decide that you need to go against the will of your parents anytime, especially if you're young. I don't think any of you are going to run into a problem where you're going to be told to lie or cheat or steal in this church. [00:52:49] But whenever you're considering that you have to not yield to the will of your parents on something, it has to be something you think thoroughly about. It's not certainly a recommendation I give you. Now let's go to honoring parents in verse 2. It says, Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee, that thou mayest live long. What does honor mean? To honor means to prize, or to put a value on something, a reverence. [00:53:23] It could and would include obedience. For how can we say that we honor our parents, but we do not obey them? To honor parents is the fifth commandment. And Paul reminds us here that there's a promise attached to this commandment. And that is, actually it's two part. One is a good life, it will be well with thee, and a long life, you'll be long on earth. In Exodus it had to do with being long in the land that God had given them. Paul takes that and under the direction of the Holy Spirit applies it more broadly to beyond Israel to anybody who puts their faith in Christ by saying long in the earth. [00:54:01] That basically is what this scripture means. I don't want to talk about it particularly now, but I want to think about some of the doctrinal truths that we've touched on and let you focus on these for a minute. The truths that this passage teaches First of all, children have an accountability before the Lord They have to if this passage means anything at all We talk about the age of accountability and all But here we see that children, little children Have some level of accountability before the Lord [00:54:31] And that is to obey their parents And by the way, we can use that in teaching them God wants you to obey me He expects you to obey me Little kids can grab onto those concepts. And it applies, as we have talked about before, in one sense to adulthood. We all in some way need to obey our parents throughout our lives. We don't abandon the things that they taught us. They don't tell us to brush our teeth when we're 45 or go make our beds. That's different. [00:55:02] but as far as teaching us not to be adulterers, to pray, to read our Bibles, to live a holy life, those are things that we do today, many of us, in large part because our parents taught us. And so we continue to obey them. But even though it applies to adulthood as we look at ourselves as children of our parents, it applies very definitely to little children. And the greater accountability comes with greater age. I remember our changing table and in our baby room we have the diapers we'd be changing there and I can remember the first time I gave any one of my kids a swat as far as I can remember was on that diaper table because they have this way of wrenching up and doing little things that make it hard and you say no lay down and they go [00:55:50] You know, little kids, these little kids turning into brats already, and they do these things, they look right at you, they know what you want them to do. And then you, okay, doesn't have to be hard, and they go, they cry, and a great awakening has happened in their lives. Daddy doesn't like it when I do that. And they stop doing it, at least for the rest of that changing expedition. And you see, that shows that they have a conscience, or at least a consciousness of what you want. [00:56:23] They may not have a sense of right and wrong, but they certainly got something in them that makes them not want to please you on that thing. so you see that's the idea here is that we our children need to learn to obey us young the promise is excuse me I'm losing my place here [00:56:54] need to learn to obey children and the greater accountability comes with greater age My children didn't have a whole lot of accountability when I was changing them on a diaper table But they had some, and that was not to squirm and wrench their body around so they couldn't change their diaper And a little swat to their back parts would tell them, let's get things in order here Okay, as they grew older, more accountability for more things Now, the commandments of God still have a bearing on our lives [00:57:24] That's something that many people deny today This is a command from the Old Testament Honor thy father and thy mother And Paul uses it and said This is a mandated thing in the Christian life Please don't tell me that the law of God doesn't have any bearing on my life I'm not under the law I'm not saved by the law But the law of God still can teach me stuff And it can teach me how to raise my kids And teach me what to teach them Also, quality of life depends on honoring our parents [00:57:57] It will be well with thee The quality of your life depends on how you honor your father and mother Grown up or otherwise If you see somebody with a bad life They're sour, they're discontent, they're unhappy Check it out I can almost guarantee you that some If you'll check out the relationship they have with their parents There's a problem there Because they're violating that which has been built into the universe by dishonoring their parents [00:58:28] Long life depends on honoring our parents There's an evangelist whose some books I've read by him His name was Oliver Green He was a Baptist man He was an evangelist and he wrote commentaries And I used to read some of his commentaries from time to time And he used to mention this passage many times He said, I do not expect to live to a ripe old age because of the way I treated my parents when I was young Now, I don't know, it seems to me that God in his mercy would, if you repented of that, would take you off the hook on that [00:59:05] But apparently he didn't feel that way and he expected to die and he died when he was about 42, sudden heart attack Fully expecting that he wouldn't live much longer than that because he dishonored his parents We can eat all the health foods you want, exercise all you want. You're not going to add a day to your life. But if you honor your parents, God says you will have a long life on the earth. Also, God honors children who heed and obey the commandments of their parents. He blesses them with long lives. [00:59:36] He gives them long lives. He blesses them in so many ways. In Proverbs chapter 3, we see, and I'm not going to take time to read that, but we see the blessings of the wisdom of following the commandments of your mother and father. He just pours out all the blessings that can be upon you there. Everything in the book of Proverbs, every good benefit is based and predicated on listening to and obeying parents. Listen and obey and God will honor you. [01:00:11] Honor your parents and God will honor you. It's built into the fabric of the universe. Now let me, we've already touched on some applications, but I want to finish up here with a few applications. First of all, whether you're a young person here or an older person, but especially if you're older, I'd like you to think about some of these things. I'd like you to examine yourself and repent if it's necessary. Are you doing things in your life today as an adult, or as a teenager, or even a child, but especially as an adult today, that make your parents sad? [01:00:48] You know, I've discovered in my life as an adult, not so much lately, but years ago, there's things in my life that make my mom and dad sad. That grieve them. Maybe I'm insensitive to it, but ask God to make you sensitive. Or would your parents feel by what's in your life, would they have to tweak their convictions a little bit? Just sort of keep their mouths shut around you over certain issues that are important to them, that you've abandoned, that they try to teach you and implant in your life? [01:01:23] But they feel they have to tweak it a little bit just to have peace with you? How about this? Have you forsaken things that they've labored and prayed to teach you? Have you forsaken any of those things? I'm not saying you've got to jump back and go back 25 years and just change everything back to the way it was in 1960 or whatever. But you need to think about these things in the light of what we've talked about. How about this one? Do you speak well of your parents to other people, especially to your children? There's an old saying, what goes around comes around. [01:01:56] Think about that. How do you plan to take care of your parents when they get old? They're too old to take care of themselves. You thinking about that? You should be. Because that's part of honoring your parents. He that doesn't take care of his own is worse than infidel, the Bible says. And I believe that's included in there. And I'm just going to say this. I don't want to step on anybody's toes. But frankly, I just don't want to even think about my dad in a nursing home. I don't care how bad he gets. [01:02:28] I don't care how heavy he gets. He's going to die in our home. And I've told him that. That's what I want him to die with that security. Same thing with my mother. Okay, secondly, examine yourself. Secondly, make things right with your parents if it's necessary. I think you can start by just expressing love and gratitude to your parents. If you're still at home, start doing it now. Just tell your parents you love them every day and tell them you're thankful. They might make mistakes. Sometimes they might get angry. Sometimes they may go over the top. [01:03:03] but it basically in the bottom of it's because they love they love you and sometimes I find myself getting angry with my children because I'm afraid for them parents you ever had that and you feel like you get a little angry with them because what are you doing that for it's not because you hate them it's because you love them and yeah you shouldn't be getting angry like that but try to understand that you have something very wonderful to be grateful in your parents there There isn't a man, young ladies, on the face of the earth who cares more about your soul than your dad. [01:03:37] And he will protect you if you will let him, if you will ask him, from every danger that faces you. And it goes that way with sons or daughters. Ask your parents, even if you're grown up, even if you've got parents and they're still alive, If you're 60, 55, 60, 65, I'm 64. Ask your parents if there are things in your life that make them sad. What can it hurt? Ask them if they have ever felt the pressure to adjust their convictions in order to keep a good relationship with you. [01:04:13] We talked about that before. Now ask them. Ask them. Ask them if they have ever had to struggle with bitterness against you or your spouse because they felt that you had dumped any of the values they tried to teach you. I know how that feels. I'm a parent, and I've had situations where I felt like my children were dumping. Not bad. I'm really thankful for the way my kids turned out. But in just a couple little areas, I've had to struggle with bitterness. If they asked me, I'd tell them I'm not bitter against them anymore. [01:04:46] And I realize in some ways it wasn't that major. But ask your parents about that. It may not be something you can rectify, but you can say, you know, I'm really sorry I did that to you. I don't think I can change this now in my life, but it may be something you can change. It may not be, but you can tell them you love them, and you can tell them you really didn't. Well, maybe you did mean to hurt them, but if you did, you can ask them to forgive you. Ask them to forgive you for any of the things that I have just mentioned, if they are true. [01:05:21] And here, consider replanting into your life things your parents taught you, but you abandoned when you left home. You might say, well, but the Bible didn't teach this, and I have liberty in Christ. But the other side of it is the Bible does teach you to honor your parents. And there are lots of little things we could just do to please one another in the church To have deference to one another And a little deference to our parents by just practicing something a little different That would give them pleasure and peace in their heart and joy [01:05:54] You wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for them You'd still be laying on a dirty diaper table if it wasn't for them You wouldn't know any better Maybe not that bad, but you know what I mean. You know, you've seen kids that aren't taught how to take care of themselves. I wonder sometimes how much pain we inflict in the lives of others in the name of Christian liberty. You ever wondered that? [01:06:28] Finally, teach your children to honor you, if your parents are here today. And when you grow up to be a parent, make sure you teach your parents to honor you. Why? Because it's what God wants you to do, and it glorifies Him. It's in the nature of the universe. It is in the fabric of the universe, and you need to teach it. Because it will do them harm if you don't, but it will do them great good if you do. And I think, in fact, you know, there's a verse in Proverbs that tells us that the chastening of our children will save their souls from hell. [01:07:02] Let's go to Proverbs chapter 13, verse 24, real quick here. Proverbs 13, verse 24. Now look at this. There's great harm that can come if you don't teach your children how to honor you. He says here, he that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him chasten him betimes. These indulgent, lenient parents are really the child's greatest enemy in this life. [01:07:36] You are killing your children if you indulge them all the time. You're preparing them by your indulgence for their destruction rather than for the blessings that God will heap upon an obedient, respectful child. So think about these things. That's all I have to say. We're going to close in prayer now. And I pray that I haven't sounded cutting. If the word of God has cut you, that's God's business. [01:08:09] But I have not tried to hurt anybody's feelings here today. I preach to you in love and wanting to be of use by the Holy Spirit to move you in God's direction in some way. I hope that has happened. Let's pray. Dear Lord, thank you for the word of God. How precious it is to us, Lord. Thank you for the sweet, blessed Holy Spirit who is our instructor here today. And I pray that we indeed would listen to him. It got quiet when we got to the application part of this thing [01:08:41] And I believe that means that your spirit is causing us to think about stuff, Lord And I pray that, you know, we don't have to go telling everybody about it But I pray that, God, where there's a need for any kind of change in this area we've talked about And I pray for those, Lord, that don't have a clue about this because they're not saved I don't know if there's anybody here like that I pray if there's anybody here who's never repented of their sins and put their faith exclusively and totally in Christ Jesus that they would do something about that today [01:09:13] they would repent and they would put their faith in Christ and they would become godly children or godly parents in the process and I pray these things in Jesus name, Amen