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Please turn with me in your Bibles 
to Colossians chapter three. Colossians chapter three, while 
you're turning there, I want to thank everyone for your prayers. 
As most of you know, we had a bit of a scare with reference to 
Rebecca's health. We went to the doctors on Friday. 
There is no cause for great concern, nothing serious for which we 
praise God and are thankful to his people for your prayers and 
your concern. A Colossians chapter three, I'll 
just pick up reading in verse one. If, then, you were raised 
with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ 
is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things 
above, not on things on the earth, for you died and your life is 
hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, 
appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Therefore, 
put to death your members which are on the earth fornication, 
uncleanness, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things, the 
wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience in which 
you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. But now you 
yourselves are to put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, 
filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since 
you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put 
on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge, according to the 
image of him who created him. Whether he is neither Greek nor 
Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor 
free, but Christ is all and in all. Therefore, as the elect 
of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, 
humility, meekness, longsuffering, bearing with one another and 
forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against 
another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things, put 
on love, which is the bond of perfection, and let the peace 
of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in 
one body, and be thankful. Let the Word of Christ dwell 
in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one 
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with 
grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or 
deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to 
God the Father through him. Wives, submit to your own husbands, 
as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and 
do not be bitter toward them. Children, obey your parents in 
all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, 
do not provoke your children lest they become discouraged. 
Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the 
flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in sincerity 
of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, do it heartily 
as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you 
will receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the 
Lord Christ. But he who does wrong will be 
repaid for what he has done. And there is no partiality. Masters, 
give your bond servants what is just and fair, knowing that 
you also have a master in heaven. Amen. Let us pray. Our God and 
our Father, we come to consider the Holy Scripture now and we 
pray for the ministry of Your Spirit. We thank you for that 
promise of our Lord, who said that if we being evil men love 
to give good gifts to our children, how much more will our heavenly 
Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? We ask and we 
seek and we knock and we trust, Lord God, that you are gracious 
and kind and will supply that which we need. We pray for the 
forgiveness of all of our sins and for cleansing afresh in the 
blood of Christ so that we may receive your word for us today. And we ask in his most blessed 
name. Amen. Could you turn the volume 
down just a little bit so that we don't offend needlessly? Well, 
we are considering the larger context in Colossians 3, a description 
of what a new man in Jesus Christ looks like. And we remember, 
according to Colossians 3, verses 1 to 4, this is the foundation 
upon which our ethic is based. We are to seek those things which 
are above. We are to set our mind on things 
above. We are to think on the Lord Jesus 
Christ. We are to fill our minds and 
fill our hearts with the understanding of God's Word. Paul in 1 Corinthians 
says that we have the mind of Christ and we are to think Christ's 
thoughts after him. And the way that we do that is 
by studying the Bible, by focusing on the person and the work of 
our Lord Jesus Christ. Having set forth that foundation, 
Paul then tells us to put off. We are to put off vice. We are 
to put off the sins of the flesh. We are to put off the sins of 
the tongue. And then he tells us we are to 
put on. Not only does the Christian put 
off bad, but he puts on righteousness and he imitates the Lord Jesus 
Christ. And that's what Paul takes up 
in verses 12 to 17. And then he tells us that there 
are responsibilities in the domestic realm, in our households, and 
that's the section we find ourselves in. We might summarize the responsibility 
here for the new man as be subject to. We all live with specific 
responsibilities, and we are to bring glory to God. Remember, 
back in verse eleven, Paul says, Where there is neither Greek 
nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor 
free, but Christ is all and in all. Some might say, well, that 
being the case, these role distinctions and these responsibilities are 
no longer binding on us. But that's not the case. We have 
redemptive unity. We are joint heirs together in 
Jesus Christ. But that does not obliterate 
God's distinction for us. And Paul takes that up with three 
pairs. He gives the relationship between 
a wife and her husband, husband to wife, then children to fathers, 
fathers to children, then bondservants to master and master to bondservant. The language of Mary Harris, 
this whole section shows that to pursue the realm above and 
to be preoccupied with its affairs does not promote an ascetic other 
worldliness, but rather a wholehearted commitment to the daily duties 
of this world for the sake of the Lord. Get that down. So far, so often within the Christian 
church. There is this peer mentality. If you're a missionary or you're 
a preacher, you're really doing great service for the Lord. But 
if you're a housewife, you're not really doing that much. Paul is completely contrary to 
that mindset. You want to be great. Seek first 
the kingdom of God and his righteousness where the Lord has placed you. God is good, God is sovereign, 
God is glorious. In fact, as I was thinking about 
our subject this morning, I thought about a principle that probably 
was more common a generation or two ago. It says that children 
are better seen than heard. Maybe some of us grew up in such 
an environment where it was that we were better seen and not heard. 
We almost might get the idea that children are unimportant, 
but not so with God. God addresses children very specifically 
in verse 20 in this household code. God singles out children 
as responsible participants in the congregation. Responsible 
persons that have duties before God and before their parents. We're going to look at two things 
this morning with reference to this one statement in verse 20. 
We're going to look at the fact that it is a religious commitment, 
and then secondly, it is a requirement of God's law. So, it is a religious 
commitment and it is a requirement of God's law. Now, I realize 
it does not say that here in chapter 3, verse 20, but the 
parallel passage is in Ephesians 6, 1 to 3, where Paul says, Children, 
obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your 
father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise 
that it may be well with you and you may live long on the 
earth. The idea is that in our mundane 
relationships, in our day in and day out grind, we have the 
ability, and especially as redeemed creatures in Christ Jesus, to 
bring glory to God. in what may appear to be a non-sensational, 
a non-exciting, a non-wonderful place to be. We are to serve 
the Lord where He has placed us in the manner in which He 
has specified. That brings glory to God. That 
honors the Lord. That pleases him, and that is 
precisely the motivation that the Apostle Paul uses in this 
passage. Again, I maybe I can't convey 
this frustration enough, but I am sick and tired of hearing 
that the basic Christian doesn't glorify God as much as the active 
servant who is out in the mission field. That is foreign and contrary 
to the scripture. And many of buying consciences 
in such an unholy way are actually legislating above and beyond 
the word of God. And they will give an account 
for such activity. No matter who you are, you have 
the potential to serve and to please and to honor and glorify 
God. Now, if the Lord has put it on 
your heart, he has fitted you. He has qualified you. He is shaping 
you to go to this foreign mission field to preach the gospel. Praise 
God. I'm not going to say that's not 
a good thing, but if he hasn't, Praise God. Do you know that 
most of us in the Christian church are just regular, normal, everyday 
guys? You look at the history of redemption. 
Look at the history in the Bible. I mean, you can sort of set up 
certain tags of men. You got Moses. You got David. You've got the Lord Jesus. To be sure, you've got the Apostle 
Paul. Now, certainly there's a lot of other men in there. 
But you think about those are the main men in the scriptures. 
You look at church history. Not everybody's a C.H. Spurgeon. Not everybody's a John Kelvin. 
Not everybody's a Martin Luther. That's OK. It really is. God's kingdom is made up of regular 
ordinary people, and we ought to embrace that and seek to serve 
God in the capacity that He has called us to. Well, let's look 
at this, children. Look at verse 20 with me. I don't 
want to confuse you. I want to see you understand 
what God's word is to you today. Children, obey your parents and 
all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord. So the 
party addressed is you. You're a child here. God, through 
the apostle, is speaking to you. You fit the bill. You are the target audience. 
That doesn't mean adults who can turn off and tune out and 
think about lunch or think about work or think about whatever 
it is. I hope along the line you will find something of profit 
as well. But the children are addressed. God does not neglect children. God is pro-children. God loves children. You look 
through the scriptures and you see that God addresses children. When the nation of Israel assembled 
together in Nehemiah 8, they had their little one. When the 
law of the Lord was to be read, the little ones were present, 
listening, giving heed to that word. There's a specific instruction 
to men after one of the most powerful statements in Old Testament 
religion. Deuteronomy 6, 4, it's called 
the Shema, which simply means hear or listen. It says, Hear, 
O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And then men are 
instructed to teach these things to their children. Why? Because God has a heart for children. Throughout the book of Proverbs, 
Solomon addresses who? My son, my son, my son, my son. In the book of Ecclesiastes, 
the preacher Solomon addresses the young people. He says, Remember 
your creator in your youth. God is pro child, and it's no 
different in the New Testament. The new humanity must function 
properly in the home. The child is embraced Christ 
by grace alone through faith alone. You are to obey if you 
haven't embraced Christ by grace alone through faith alone. You 
have to obey. This is God's Word to you. Notice the duty. He says obey. Guess what, kids? It means exactly 
that. Well, you know, little lawyers 
are what our children become sometimes. They want to parse 
Greek verbs and they want to get into debate. Well, I don't 
know if that really falls under the command there. The command 
means obey. It means to listen and to do 
what it is you are being told. If you do not do that, it is 
an abomination to the Lord God. Just a couple of passages to 
sort of illustrate that the fact that God calls you as children 
to obey your parents in all things will say something about all 
things in just a moment. But get it in your little head 
that obedience is just that. It's not argument. It's not back 
chat. It's not asking for redefinition. 
It's not negotiating. It's not saying only if. It is 
to obey your parents. Deuteronomy 21. Now, this envisions 
an older child, an adult rebellious child. But I have this zany idea 
that adult rebellious children don't get there by accident. 
They are rebellious, insubordinate, and ungodly in their young age 
as well. Deuteronomy 21, 18. If a man 
has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice 
of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they 
have chastened him, will not heed them. We're dealing with 
an adult here. We know that because of verse 
19. I'm sorry, verse 20. But in verse 19, it says, Then 
his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him 
out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. And 
they shall say to the elders of his city, This son of ours 
is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He 
is a glutton and a drunkard. Generally speaking, two and three 
year old boys aren't drunkards and gluttons. These are adult 
sons. But I believe the implication 
is there are adult sons who learned this pattern of insubordination. They learned this pattern of 
rebellion. Now, the text specifies that 
the parents even chastened that. It wasn't as if they just neglected 
this youth. They didn't just let him go. We notice here that this is what 
is called for. Verse 21. Then all the men of 
this city shall stone him to death with stones, so you shall 
put away the evil from among you and all Israel shall hear 
in fear. Some of you young people might 
be saying, well, we don't really do that anymore. Well, there's 
not a whole lot of evidence to see that it was taking place 
often in Old Covenant Israel. Perhaps the law given was enough 
to put the fear of God into the hearts of young men. You might 
be thinking, well, you're just trying to scare me. Yes, I kind 
of am. God does not take this lightly. 
Your parents function as God in the home, not like we have 
deity and we have the power over you and all that sort of thing. 
But God has stationed your parents as your authority over your life. He does not take it lightly when 
you are disobedient, when you are rebellious. of Proverbs 30. We're going to pick out the scary 
text. We can't neglect Proverbs 30 
Proverbs chapter 30. And if you're a young in here, I 
encourage you to look at these passages. I encourage you to 
follow along. You need to understand that it's 
not OK to assert yourself. It's not OK to back chat. It's 
not OK to be rebellious. God is a moral governor in this 
universe and he has a specific word for you. Doesn't matter 
what Dr. Phil or Oprah or what any of 
them want to say. God says obey. I am convinced 
that if parents enforce this, perhaps we wouldn't have to be 
afraid to go out. Because we are living in a generation 
somewhat similar to that is described in the book of Proverbs. Notice 
in Proverbs 30, verse 17, the eye that mocks his father and 
scorns obedience to his mother, the ravens of the valley will 
pick it out and the young eagles will eat it. It's a very powerful 
statement with reference to the need for children to obey their 
parents in the Lord. And that's not something that 
is confined to the Old Testament in the book of Romans, when the 
Apostle Paul is highlighting the depravity and the wickedness 
of men, when he speaks of homosexuality and a sin that is against nature. It is in that context with murder, 
with covetousness, with sexual immorality, with maliciousness, 
all these things. And he says, disobedient to parents. In 2nd Timothy chapter 3, as 
he is highlighting or painting for us the character of man in 
the last days, disobedience to parents is one of those things. It's not okay. It's not just 
something that happens. It is something that is an offense 
to the God of heaven and earth. So, the duty is simple. It means 
precisely what it says. You need to obey your parents. 
John Eady said that the love of the child's heart naturally 
leads it to obedience. Only an unnatural child can be 
a domestic rebel. Going back to Colossians 3, verse 
20, the scope of disobedience. He says, children, obey your 
parents in all things. This does not mean molestation. This does not mean abuse. You 
must obey God rather than men. Your father and your mother do 
not have the right to command you to do something that is contrary 
and violates the law of the living God. You say, oh, he told me 
I got to obey in all things. You must obey God rather than 
men when it comes to the legislation of ungodliness in your home. 
We live in a generation that is rife with this sin. It is 
sickening, the amount of abuse that is hurled upon children. 
And we are not advocating that whatsoever. Anybody wants to 
do something to you that God says, no, you don't obey that, 
you heartily disobey them. And if you've got they got a 
problem with that, they can come and see me or Mr. Lawson or some 
of the other big brothers in the church and we'll take care 
of that. No, maybe not like that. Well, 
If it falls down to that, brethren, I'm not against that. That is 
heinous and wicked and vile. To abuse a child. Jesus said 
that if a man causes one of these little ones to stumble, let alone 
to violate them, abuse them, and mistreat them, if he causes 
a little one to stumble, he's going to have a millstone hung 
around his neck and be cast into the sea. Christ does not play 
games with such abuse and such ungodliness, and neither do Christ's 
people. It's wicked. So the scope is 
all things, all things lawful. The idea here, and I think Edie's 
right, the principle involved in the admonition is that children 
are not the judges of what they should or should not obey in 
parental precepts. I think in many respects, this 
particular command, though there is a specific word for fathers 
after this command has to be recognized by the parents and 
has to be enforced and has to be carried out by the parents. Do we take a little child who 
is a sinner in Adam, who is totally depraved and totally unable, 
and expect him to agree upon the terms of household relationships? No. You are the authority in 
your home. And then notice the Christo-centric 
motivation. Kids, I thought about that word 
and I thought, you know, I want these kids to know what Christo-centric 
means. It means Christ-centered. That's 
not a stretch. It sounds just like that. Christo-Christ-centric-centered. This is a religious commitment. 
You are to obey your parents in the Lord. Very specifically, 
as he says in verse 20, obey your parents in all things, for 
this is well-pleasing to the Lord. That is your contribution. That's how you can bring glory 
to the Lord. By being obedient to your parents 
of all things. By not back-chatting. By not 
curling your lip. By not grumbling or complaining. 
By not arguing. By not becoming a lawyer. Now, 
if you become a lawyer when you grow up, that's fine. But I mean 
in the home. Nothing worse than a five or 
seven year old lawyer. or fifteen or sixteen-year-old lawyer, or 
seventeen or eighteen-year-old lawyer, or nineteen or twenty-year-old 
lawyer. Those are the most disgusting lawyers on the face of the earth. 
Your parents love you. Your parents are commanding you 
things for your good. Only a fool would resist that 
and reject that, and that's precisely how Solomon defines fool very 
often in the Book of Proverbs. It is the young man that hardens 
his neck. It is the young man that resists 
his father's instruction. It is the young man who causes 
grief to his mother because he's insubordinate and rebellious. 
Your parents love you and want the best for you. I was going 
to save this for a bit later on, but this is what Spurgeon 
said as he was rehearsing and reflecting upon his early life. 
of the early years when he was a child. He said, fathers and 
mothers are the most natural agents for God to use in the 
salvation of their children. I am sure that in my early youth, 
no teaching ever made such an impression upon my mind as the 
instruction of my mother. Neither can I conceive that to 
any child there can be one who will have such influence over 
the young heart as the mother who has so tenderly cared for 
her offspring. A man with a soul so dead as 
to not be moved by the sacred name of Mother is creation's 
blot. Never could it be possible for 
any man to estimate what he owes to a godly mother. Amen. A hundredfold. So that natural 
affection ought to drive you to obey your parents. That natural 
love ought to drive you to obey your parents. But there is a 
Christ-centered motive in our text. Obey your parents in all 
things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord. You mean the Lord 
who made the heavens and the earth? The Lord who sustains 
everything in this world? The Lord who put President Obama 
in the White House and Mr. Harper in Ottawa, that Lord who 
keeps all of our blood flowing, who keeps our heart pumping, 
that Lord who causes all the big things to happen, who watches 
over the government of this universe, actually sees it when in my home 
I obey my parents? Yes, this Lord sees it and He's 
well pleased by it, according to our text. Isn't that great? I think it was Jerome who said 
that God doesn't concern himself with things like cockroaches 
and with gnats. Oh yes, he does. Jesus is able 
to argue that the hairs on your head are numbered. God cares 
about the number of hairs that are on your head or a sparrow 
falling out of the sky. He cares about your obedience 
to the parent, to your parents. He sees it and he's pleased by 
it. The obedience rendered is born 
out of natural affection, but it's most excellent character 
is the Christ pleasing element involved in that obedience. Children, obey your parents in 
all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord. That is 
the religious commitment. Notice secondly, in Ephesians 
chapter six, the requirements of the law. Ephesians six, verse 
one, children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. 
That's what we've just seen. And if obedience has to do with 
action, his citation of the of the of Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 
five has to do with the attitude. Not only do you obey, but you 
honor your father and your mother. As a parent child, I can tell 
you something, if you just do something and in your heart you 
are far from us, we are not pleased. Are we parents? No. If they're 
mumbling and grumbling and cursing us under their breath, but they're 
carrying out the external act, that's not pleasing. Paul not 
only treats your action, but he treats your attitude. Honor, 
he says, your father and your mother. You know, the root word 
of honor is heavy. Back in the hippie generation, 
they used to say, wow, that's heavy. That's actually a legitimate 
application of the world. A word that's heavy means it's 
big, it's honorable, it's solid. There is some substance there. 
We are to honor God. We are to treat him as heavy. 
He's not light. We just don't think him away. 
We just don't acknowledge him in our thought process. No, he 
consumes and he ought to be the center of our thought process 
and of our affection. We are to honor him. We are to 
revere him. Our attitude is to be consistent 
with his holy character. And it's the same with a child 
toward his parents. You're not on the same level. 
You know, there's a there was a trend. I hope it's gone now, 
where children call their parents by their first name. Hey, Jim, 
how you doing? Oh, great, son. How are you? That's not a good trend. That's 
not good. That's not to honor. That's not 
to revere. That's not to respect. And Paul 
says, honor your father and your mother. The child is to count 
as valuable, to value, to honor, and to revere his parents. So 
it's not just the external action, but it's the internal heart. 
It's the attitude. You speak ill of your parents 
to your friends? You speak ill of one parent to 
the other parents? Do you dishonor, do you not revere 
them? That's not God's word to you. 
God's word is that you obey them and you honor them. You speak 
well. And you know what? Every parent 
in here and every parent that has ever inhabited this earth 
are less than perfect. Learn from Jesus. Our responsibility 
is not contingent upon the person we're responsible to. Let me 
just try and illustrate that. Jesus was subordinate to an ungodly 
magistrate. He didn't complain, he didn't 
argue, he didn't grumble. He said, Peter, go find that 
money and go pay our tax. He was subordinate and he was 
submissive and he honored his father and mother, his earthly 
parents, Joseph and Mary. They were not without sin. They 
were sinners. So our duty doesn't change based 
on our situation. We like to think it does. We 
like to go to a passage or a section like this and say, well, you 
just don't know what my husband's like. You just don't know what 
my wife is like. There's not qualification given 
in these passages. There's a duty. children honor 
your father and your mother. And this applies not just to 
the children here. This as the Westminster divine 
so wonderfully observed applies to the area of lawful authority. What is required in the Fifth 
Commandment? The Westminster Shorter Catechism. The Fifth 
Commandment requires the preserving the honor and performing the 
duties belonging to everyone in their several places and relations 
as superiors, inferiors or equals. What Paul is saying is that the 
new humanity, those who have been saved by grace through faith 
in the Lord Jesus, those who old man have died and the new 
man lives on. You are not to get rid of God's 
law. You are not to get rid of the requirements of God, but 
rather he gives life to you. He gives ability to you. He writes 
that law within your heart. He renovates, he renews, and 
he enables you to actually carry these things out. Not calling 
for us to be lawless, he's calling for us to be lawful. The new 
humanity is not to disregard God's law, but they have been 
enabled and empowered to keep God's law. So the commandment 
here, honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment 
with promise that it may be well with you and may live long on 
the earth. It's reference to the first commandment 
speaks of a series we know from Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. 
He's talking about the Ten Commandments. Talking about what is called 
the Decalogue, the Ten Words of the Living God. Go back for 
just a moment. We can see a few other passages 
where children are called, required to show honor and reverence for 
their parents. In Exodus 21, verse 15, he who 
strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. 
It's a very very bad thing to strike your father or your mother. And again that's picked up by 
Paul in First Timothy as well. Leviticus Exodus 21 verse 17 
and he curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to 
death. Don't leave here saying Butler 
wants to kill all the kids who've ever said a bad thing. I'm not 
saying that. Butler couldn't do that. Butler wouldn't do that. 
And Butler's not advocating that. I'm simply showing you what the 
Bible says as your responsibility towards your parents and how 
God doesn't just minimize this. He doesn't say, well, you know, 
there's been a revolution and people are independent and free 
thinking is what is involved now. And that's just great. It's 
not just peachy. No, God wants you to obey your 
parents and to honor them. Leviticus 19 in verse 3. Leviticus 
19 in verse 3. Verse one says, And the Lord 
spoke to Moses saying, Speak to all the congregation of the 
children of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy for I, 
the Lord your God, am holy. Every one of you shall revere 
his mother and his father and keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord 
your God. Revere his mother and his father. This is God's word to us. And then the living in his twenty-first 
night for everyone who curses his father or his mother shall 
surely be put to death. He is cursed his father or his 
mother. His blood shall be upon him. The Book of Proverbs, as 
I already mentioned, is filled with references to the children 
to obey this particular law of God. And then God attaches a 
specific promise, according to Paul in Ephesians chapter six. He makes this very clear that 
it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. Great 
statement. God actually applies a promise 
to this command of fixes a promise to this command. Now, I realize 
that there are general disturbances to the providential order. I 
understand that sometimes a young child can get cut off in his 
youth. and maybe not enjoy this long life in the land. I believe 
it is a general principle or the language of Hodge. It is 
the usual course of his Providence or in the language of eating. 
It is a principle of the divine administration and the usual 
course of Providence. The usual course of Providence 
is simply this. As a child, if you honor and 
obey your parents, things are going to go good with you. The guy who's 35 or 40 who cannot 
keep a job, who is insubordinate, who has all kinds of problems 
and all kinds of issues, a lot of times we can trace that back 
to this principle. Not to say that every time you 
honor and obey, necessarily you're going to get the best jobs, you're 
going to have the best life, everything's going to go great 
for you. But in the usual course of God's providence, people are 
blessed when they obey. And that's what Paul says. Now, 
we've looked at the religious commitment. We looked at the 
requirement of the law. Now, I want to go back right 
to you kids very specifically and ask you something. I don't 
want you to raise your hand and I want you to, you know, voice 
out an answer. I just want you to hear what 
I'm going to say. This command is impossible, isn't 
it? Isn't it? I'll answer for you. Yes, it 
is. So why is it there? Well, it's 
there to instruct those who have come to faith in Jesus Christ 
on how to live. But it's also there to call you 
who are not believing on Christ to see something of your sin. Right. Children, obey your parents and 
the Lord for this is right. Honor your father and your mother. 
That's an impossible command. Just like it is for the wives 
to submit to their own husbands. Just like it is for the husband 
to love his wife. This law, God's law, drives us 
to the cross. Please get this down. If you 
are a child here today and you are not believing the gospel 
of Jesus Christ, I don't want you to leave from this place 
saying, I'm going to obey Mommy and Daddy better. I'm going to 
honor Mommy and Daddy better. You will fail and you will fail 
miserably. God's law always stands to show 
us where we stand. And as a child, this is a unique 
command with specific application to you to show you that you are 
a sinner. And there is one answer in this 
book, and it's not go out and do better. It's not go out and 
try harder. It's not go home and cry and 
apologize to your father and your mother. It's to believe 
the gospel. It's to believe the truth that 
Jesus came into this world and he lived in obedience to this 
command. Do you realize that Jesus never dishonored his parents? 
Jesus never disobeyed his parents. Jesus always did what they said. That's amazing to me. I couldn't 
have handled being Joseph and Mary. I couldn't have handled 
that. He always does what I say. I'm 
not used to this. Now, I used to know that. Now, 
I used to have just beautifully responding. Luke 12, he's found 
confounding the doctors of the law. What does the text say? 
He continued in subjection to his parents. Didn't you know 
I had to be about my father's work? We're worried about your 
son. He continued in subjection to his parents. He never disobeyed 
his parents. He never had a hard attitude 
that was foul or cross. He never back chatted with his 
mother. He didn't play the defense attorney. He didn't sit there 
and try to dispute or debate. He didn't curl the lip. He didn't 
raise the fist. He didn't look a foul at them. 
He did what he was told. Because we can't. You see? So I think if we lose sight of 
God's law and Sinai, we lose sight of Jesus. God's law in 
Sinai shows us our need for Jesus. Don't lose that. Bunyan was absolutely 
right that low views of God's law produces low views of sin 
and low views of the Savior. Machen said, what is necessary 
in our day is a preaching of the law so that grace may be 
sought after. preaching this law, so you'll 
go out and perform better, but so that you'll feel the weight 
of your sin and that you'll cast yourself at the foot of the cross, 
that you will seek mercy in Jesus, who always obeyed, who fulfilled 
all righteousness, yea, who said, it is my delight to do the law 
of the Lord. and then he yielded himself up 
as a sacrifice for sins and then he rose again and he ascended 
on high and he sits in front of the right hand of God most 
high, so that if one of you little children has the thought that 
I have sinned against the Holy God, I don't always obey my mother. I don't always honor my father. 
I've got rebellion in this heart. I'm not saying you gotta know 
the full lengths of it. You gotta know the details of 
it. But if you see yourself a sinner in this text, see Jesus as the 
Savior for sinners. There is a pedagogical function 
for God's law. Pedagogue means this, kids. He 
teaches. The law teaches. The law teaches 
you you need Jesus. Isn't that a beautiful thing? Paul's not here saying, look, 
I know that you kids can do better. I know you've got it in you to 
obey. No more than he was doing that with wives. OK, just buck 
up, sister, and do a little better. Come on, brother, I know you 
got that love in your heart. Come on. In the specific context, 
he's dealing with those who, by God's grace, who have come 
to faith in Jesus. And as those who have come to 
faith in Jesus, they are to live according to God's law, not to 
be saved, but because they've been saved. They are to relate 
with one another in a God-honoring context. They are to put off 
sin. They are to put on righteousness. 
They are to be subject to one another. They are to be watchful 
and prayerful in their lives. But you know, for that little 
child sitting in Colossae or in Ephesus, hearing this word, 
Paul's message was never, go and perform better and God will 
give you long life in the land. Always, always come to Jesus 
Christ in faith. That's what you kids need to 
learn. That's what you children need, is Christ. You don't need 
to go read books on how to be a more obedient and honoring 
child. You need to learn what Jesus is all about. You need 
to believe the gospel. That's what Sinai, one of the 
functions of Sinai, is to show you that you have missed the 
mark. See, we like to think we're pretty good. Probably some of 
you kids are saying, you know, I'm not that bad. I honor my 
mom most of the times, I honor my father most of the times, 
and I really try and obey. Let's just say for the sake of 
argument, you got a 99% record. That is pretty good. You'll go 
to hell forever and ever and ever. May not like to hear that, 
but that's what the Bible says. God doesn't accept 99 percent. God accepts perfection and there's 
one who has rendered perfection and it's his own blessed and 
dear son. And in the call of the gospel, he says, believe 
on this blessed and dear son and you will be saved. He pardons 
all your iniquities. He takes away all your sins and 
he takes that righteousness of Jesus and he imputes it to you. He gives it to you. He constitutes 
you as having never sinned against him. It's not a change in the 
character. It is a legal declaration made 
by God most high in the doctrine of justification by faith. So 
you believe the gospel and you will be saved. and then take 
this pray over it and see by the grace of God and the power 
of the Holy Spirit in the life of sanctification to obey and 
honor our home should be pictures of gospel ethics being fleshed 
out and played out. Husbands should be loving their 
wives. Wives should be submissive to their own husbands. Children 
should be honoring and obeying their parents. If you're a Christian 
child here and you believe the gospel, you have been freed and 
empowered and enabled to do what Paul says here. Praise God. Praise God. Help your parents. Honor them. Read the Proverbs. You know what a foolish son is? 
He's a grief. Don't cause grief to your parents. Why would you 
want to do that? Remember, we made the application. 
Husbands, your wives need to submit to you. Try to be a good 
guy. Don't be like Farrell and make 
her make bricks without any supplies. I sometimes feel that's the way 
we operate. Here's your responsibility. You 
just do it, baby. OK, she needs to do that. I'm 
a big advocate of that. You love her, man. You love her 
and you treasure her and you give her that zeal and that desire 
to want to be submissive. Same thing with the children. 
Next week we'll see. Fathers, do not provoke your 
children unless they become discouraged. Don't provoke them. Don't exasperate 
them. But children, don't do that to 
your parents. They're not telling you to sin 
or commanding you to do bad things. Honor them. Obey them. Magnify 
the cross of Christ in our homes and in our families. The impossibility 
of this command should lead us to the foot of the cross of our 
Lord Jesus Christ. And having believed that gospel, 
having received that legal declaration by our God, we ought to get up 
from that cross and we ought to pursue righteousness and godliness 
and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. Well, there's three places of 
motivation with reference to this command, and please embrace 
this, kids. The place of natural affection. 
Natural affection. You should gravitate to obeying 
your parents. That's the way it ought to be. 
But the legislation in God's law, God commands it. God orders 
you and the blessed effect of the gospel of free and sovereign 
grace. It's interesting to me when Malachi 
is announcing the ministry of John the Baptist. What is the 
apparent mark of this? The hearts of the fathers will 
be turned to the children, and the children will be turned to 
the fathers. When the gospel is received, 
as Lloyd-Jones says, when a man is converted unto Christ, even 
his cat benefits from that. That drunken, wicked wretch doesn't 
come home and boot the cat into the wall. He is saved by grace. He has read the Proverbs. He 
sees that a righteous man has regard for a beast of his beast. So if his beast profits, certainly 
his children will. Certainly, the natural affection 
that is latent in a child's heart is going to give expression to 
the father and the mother in a context where the gospel has 
conquered. That home ought to be a display 
of God's wondrous grace and God's wondrous mercy. And parents, 
we will deal more specifically with parental responsibility 
next week, but there are some things we should consider. The 
children here are sinners by nature. And kids, if you don't 
like that, read Psalm 51. When David, who was a man after 
God's own heart, is talking about his depravity, he traces it to 
his mother's womb. As soon as David was, he was 
in Adam. And later on, later on in Psalm 
58, he talks about the wicked are estranged from the womb. 
They are born and they go astray by speaking lies. It's a little 
bit of a different indictment then. Oh, look at that little 
comely piece of fluff and love. That cuddly little piece of fluff 
and love is going to rebel against you and raise his fist against 
you and say no to you. That's generally the first word. 
At least my little cuddly pieces of love learned was no. No is man's declaration of independence. I want to help motivate you, 
son or daughter. No. What's another word that 
they learn naturally out of the womb is mine. You've got to labor to get that 
child to share. Why? Because he's a sinner. He's a sinner. Parents understand 
that. Love them. Pray for them. Take 
them to the gospel. Take them to the law for sure. 
But never hold that law before them as something that you've 
attained or you've done or you can do. That law shows them their 
sin and their need for Jesus Christ. Sinners. If, as Edie said, that the focus 
here, the principle of the admonition is that children are not the 
judges of what they should or should not obey in parental precepts. 
Who is the judge? The parents. You have to be active 
in encouraging this command in your home. You have to be active 
with reference to God's word. You have to be active with your 
little ones. One man, Klaus Bachmuel, I love 
that name, he used to teach at Regent. He has a little exposition 
of the Ten Commandments. I know that Regent isn't the 
bulwark or bastion of orthodoxy and all that sort of thing, but 
Klaus Bachmuel wrote an exposition of the Ten Commandments called 
The Christian Way of Living. So, man, that's amazing that 
at Regent, this guy wrote a book on the Christian way of living 
and it's an exposition of the Decalogue. He said this, and 
I think he's spot on. The parents who reject the first 
commandment, you shall have no other gods before me. The parents 
who reject the first commandment can expect their children to 
reject the fifth one. We look around at society and 
we wonder, what's ever happened to these children? We don't let God in society. 
He can show up on our money. We'll put in God we trust. We'll 
give that religious nod from time to time. But as a general 
rule, we in society have voted God right out. So it ought not 
to surprise us when we have rejected this God that our children will 
reject their parents. The parents who do not submit 
to God should not expect their children to submit to them. I 
actually think if there's repentance going on in the home today, it'll 
be fathers before their children saying, please forgive me. We cannot expect obedience and 
compliance with the fifth if we are not paying attention to 
the first. Let that sink in and pray to 
God for forgiveness. Trust in the mercy of Christ. First, John one nine. If we confess 
our sins, even parental sins, even long patterns of sin, patterns 
that perhaps have affected our children. We can confess those. God is merciful. God does forgive. God does cleanse. And by the 
grace of God, let us embrace our responsibility. Let us never 
entertain willful disobedience and rejection of parental authority. 
Let us bring our children to appreciate the fact that God 
is a holy God, that he has legislated a good law, and that if they 
are breaking it, it's because they're a sinner and they need 
the Lord Jesus Christ. And as they profess faith in 
Jesus Christ, the manifestation of that, the place it's going 
to be fleshed out first and foremost, is in the home. He comes to turn 
the father's hearts to the children and the children's hearts to 
the father's. In my history here, sometimes people say, I don't 
know if my kid is converted. I don't know if my kid is saved. 
Well, I certainly don't. I don't live with him. I mean, 
if he's trusting the gospel, he's saved according to the Bible. 
But those who trust, those who believe the gospel, there are 
works, there are evidences, there are manifestations. Parents, 
be cautious, though. Grace in a 10-year-old is going 
to look different than grace in a 30-year-old. Sometimes we 
parents can be so brutal and so vicious and so hard and forget 
the way God deals with us. Praise God that every time you 
and I sin, there's not a voice out of heaven saying, how in 
the world could you call yourself a Christian and do that? Last hour, we talked about sanctification 
and I sought to qualify something. There is a doctrine of progressive 
sanctification. Not everybody's at the same level. 
I think that as churches understand this, the better off we're going 
to be, especially should God ever increase our numbers. You 
know what happens when there's more people? Things aren't as 
tidy. There's more frayed edges. Everybody, 
everyone here, we all have our issues. We need to understand 
and appreciate the doctrine of progressive sanctification. This is necessary in the home. Grace does not make a 10-year-old 
25. Oh yes, mother, father, yes, 
that's the way. No, they're still 10. They're still going to engage 
in child folly. Please remember this as parents. I'm preaching to myself. Please 
remember this as parents. How could you ever? How could 
you? How could you? Just stop for 
a moment. Can you ask yourself that question? 
I can. How could I ever? How could I 
this? How could I that? Is it going 
to be different with a 10 year old who professes faith in Jesus? 
They've got to not only be full of grace and truth, but they've 
got to be 30 now? They've got to be on their way 
to law school? No, they're still kids. God never wars against 
nature. He wars against sin. He's not against nature. He's 
against our sin. And we need to remember that 
as parents. We need to encourage. We need to love. We need to care. 
We need to appreciate that doctrine of sanctification. We must appreciate 
that doctrine of justification. There is a presumption that can 
develop in Christianity, and I'm not talking about our Pato 
Baptist brethren. I'm talking about our Baptist 
brethren, where we can assume that because they were brought 
up in a Christian home, and they go to a Christian church, and 
they go to a Christian Bible study, that they have the grace 
of Christ in their hearts. We mustn't presume. We mustn't 
presume. We must encourage. We must love. We must have wisdom. If you're 
understanding this, you'll realize this is tough. This is really 
tough. You need grace, you need help, 
and God grants it. Well, may the Lord indeed take 
these thoughts and impress them on our hearts. Kids, I love you 
and I pray for you, and I want nothing more than to see you 
look to Jesus Christ in faith. To believe that gospel that we 
try to preach here Sunday in and Sunday out. That gospel, 
that good news is simply this, that Jesus came into this world 
to live for sinners, to die for sinners, to rise again. And that 
everyone who looks to him in faith will receive the forgiveness 
of sins. That's my chief desire. I speak 
for Pastor Cam and for our brother Steve Lawson. That's what we 
want, is for you to believe the gospel and be saved. That's the 
most important thing. Whether you become a lawyer, 
a doctor, whether you become a whatever, a mechanic or whatever 
it is, praise God, work hard, do the best you can, serve God 
in that capacity. But what's most important is 
your never dying soul. And only Jesus can tend to that. 
Well, let us pray. Father, we thank you for the 
Holy Scriptures. We thank you for their comprehensive character 
and the fact that they deal with us in all stations of life. And 
I pray our genuine desire, God, is that our children would embrace 
the Lord Jesus. They would hear this gospel and 
they would believe it. And they would know that joy 
of being found in him, not having a righteousness of their own, 
which is from the law, but having that righteousness which is from 
you through faith. And our Father, we pray that 
you would just bless us as parents, help us to have wisdom. We thank 
you for that promise of James that if any man lacks wisdom, 
let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without 
reproach. We pray that you would guide us and direct us and help 
us in this in this area of our Christian lives. And for those 
who are yet to be married or yet to have children, bless them 
and help them and all their preparation and all their praying and all 
their seeking after you, Lord God. We pray that you would just 
impress these truths upon their minds and upon their hearts. 
And we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.