In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of children obeying their parents and respecting authority. He explains that this command comes with a promise of a good quality of life and a long life on earth. The speaker also highlights the role of fathers in teaching their children and passing down the values and principles of God. He warns against the current trend of children having disrespectful attitudes towards parents and authority figures, citing examples of serious assaults and even murders committed by children against their parents. The speaker concludes by emphasizing the need for a revival and reformation in fathers' role in training their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Ephesians chapter 6, as we continue our study verse by verse through this wonderful New Testament letter the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, he's in this practical doctrine part which absolutely must stand on the glorious doctrines of grace that he so unfolded for us in the early chapters. You cannot walk in the truths of Christianity if you've not been transformed by the truths of Christianity. Boy, that's so important. This is not a how-to society, this is not a self-help society, this is not a how-to-have-a-better-life society, this is how to know the God of heaven through His Son Jesus Christ, be transformed by the power of His gospel and the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, then building on that power and change, we live out the things Paul's instructing us here in the latter parts of the book of Ephesians. By the way, I want to say to you, you cannot grasp, glory in, appreciate, or walk in the things I'm going to preach if God hasn't done a work in your heart of regeneration already. It should be foreign to you if God hasn't changed you. It should be resistant to you if God hasn't changed you. These are family secrets I'm preaching to you, amen, for God's children, God's truth. We come to this section where he's talking about family relationships, he's already talked about husbands and wives, now he builds on this principle submission to God-ordained authority in the area of parents and children. Ephesians chapter 6 verses 1 through 3, Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with the promise, so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth. Roman numeral one, let's just notice simply and powerfully the clear command to obey, the clear command to obey. Now, the thing that just jumped out at me as I meditated on this is Paul didn't beat around the bush, he didn't qualify, he didn't soften the landing field, he just tells you, children, obey your parents. Now, it seems to me that so many children in the world today have dishonorable, disrespectful attitudes toward parents and any God-ordained authority, and you wonder why it's so. John MacArthur in his excellent commentary, all of his commentaries are excellent by the way, but he said this, he said, in the United States, at least eight million serious assaults are made each year by children on their parents. In recent years, a number of children have been convicted of murdering or hiring the killing of their parents, and he continues, usually for no greater reason than resentment of parental control or discipline. Children who are incessantly told they can do whatever they wish and can have their own way, are children who will soon mock their parents, teachers, moral standards, the law, and society in general. All human relationships obviously grow out of those children with parents. Children who respect and obey their parents will build a society that is ordered, harmonious, and productive. So there's a great problem here, and it has infected the church. We're not salt and light like we need to be, and it's dominating the culture, but where does this come from? I'll tell you where it comes from. It comes from a wicked evil spirit that resides in the world, and as I said, unfortunately has made major inroads into the church. I mean, we live in a day where our present culture is so anti-truth, anti-biblical, and anti-God, that it seems to revolt at the very notion of obedience to authority. Some of you are sitting there right now, and it's rubbing you the wrong way that I'm talking about obedience to authority, but I want to say something to you. There was a day when even the non-Christian culture was so properly taught that that was an accepted and understood teaching. You see, our culture has drifted so far from God's norm. We are so subnormal that it is true, Dr. Hadner told us, that if you just try to act normal, most will say you're abnormal. That's where we are today. Let me tell you about this spirit that's permeating the world and has sneaked in and made an inroad into the church. Jude chapter 1, verses 7 and 8, give us some real insight into this. Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality, and we're talking about homosexuality and the worst of all sexual perversions, and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire, yet in the same way these men also by dreaming defile the flesh and reject authority and revile angelic majesties. God says in this word you find the most corrupt, wicked, abominable sinfulness, and you'll always find rejection of God-ordained authority. It's satanic, it's of the world, it's wickedness. 2 Peter chapter 2, verses 9 and 10. Now he's writing to Christians both in Jude and in the epistles of Peter. He said, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation and to keep the righteous under the punishment or the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment and especially those who indulge in the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority, daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties. He says, when you want to lump the worst perversions and rebellions and wickedness together, you always find a spirit of resisting and dishonoring God-ordained authority. I was talking to a fellow pastor recently and I said, you know really, now we don't do church business the way a typical Baptist church does church business, but in a typical evangelical church and maybe congregational forms of government like Baptist churches, rebellion and strife spreading and divisiveness and all this spirit is just the way you do business in the church and it's wrong and it's not of God. I mean today, if you hold that a person is responsible to obey and submit to anyone, well, you might be considered abusive, mean-spirited. It's amazing what sophisticated high-sounding words we use to cover up sinful and rebellious attitudes and hearts. The feminist would tell you that to teach a wife to submit to her husband while you're abusing her. Some union leaders would say to teach an employee to obey and work hard for his employer, the way the Bible teaches, is to take advantage of him. The liberal church member believes that if they're taught to obey, submit to church elders, well, that's abuse. The citizen who loves himself and walks with sin believes that to be loyal and submit to government authority is tyranny and abusive. There are some psychologists who would tell you today that if you tell a child no, you're warping them. You're hindering their development. That's the spirit of the age, the age that we live in. Today resisting authority is championed. It's applauded. It's celebrated even in the church. We have the spirit that was evident in Judges 21 verse 25. Judges 21, 25 says, in this day there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Everyone wants their preference and they want their way. But God's opposite of that. God's a God of order and God's a God of structure and God is a God of decency. He's ordained lines of authority for everyone to function under. In the home, the children honoring their parents, the wife lining up under the headship of her husband, the citizen lining up under the authority of the government, the church members lining up under the oversight and authority of the elders. It's God's way. Proverbs 12, 15 says, the way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel. This spirit comes from Satan. For what is Satan? He is the arch rebel of the universe. Rebelling against authority is his trademark. He glories in it. He stirs and tips others to follow him in this. The employer, the government, the church, the parents that establish good laws, rules or standards and hold those under them accountable, including discipline where necessary and expect obedience are not being abusive, brothers and sisters, they're being biblical. That's what God says. Those who resist, undermine, and disobey God-ordained authority are not godly or wise and they certainly should not be followed or admired. They are foolish rebels. They are not rebelling against a human individual or human group. They are rebelling against God and the proud rebel will find God's punishment. God promises that. Psalm 40 verse 4 says, how blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust and has not turned to the proud or lapsed into falsehood. Trust the Lord, honor his precepts, blessed you will be. Psalm 31 verse 23, oh love the Lord all you his godly ones. The Lord preserves the faithful and fully recompenses the proud doer. The child that says I'll be my own authority and I'll not honor my parents, God says I will fully recompense that. I will fully punish that. Psalm 16 verse 5, everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Assuredly he will not go unpunished. You cannot set your own laws. You cannot make your own rules. God has ordained this. And he will bless those who trust him. You never trust in your parents, young people. You never just trust in the government as the citizen. You trust in the God who controls and works through that authority. It's a trust in God we're talking about. That's why I told you earlier, if God hasn't changed your heart, you resist this. If God hadn't changed your heart, you rebel against this. But when God's changed your heart, you begin the pilgrimage of seeing how wonderfully sovereign and how almighty he is and that he works through lines of authority for your good and for his own glory. So this evil spirit that's working in children today and working in parents today who will not teach their children to obey, this evil spirit of resisting authority is promoted by the devil, the world, and the flesh, and every quarter of our culture. It's certainly infiltrated the nation, the church, the workplace, and the home. But brothers and sisters in Christ, let us be resolved to trust God and obey his word concerning God-ordained authority. Let the rebel scoff. Let the God-rejector rage. Let the seductive and the deceptive lie and undermine. Let the liberal and the man-centered humanist laugh and mock and ridiculed, but let God be found true and every man be found a liar. God's truth stands and on this rock I stand. And so must you as God's children. So getting back full circle, and the reason I do this because I get a little weary of moms and dads who dishonor their employers and moms and dads who cheat on their income tax and moms and dads that ridicule and undermine church elders, but children obey your parents. This is a wicked spirit and your children are not going to honor you unless they see that you honor God-ordained authority. And this spirit infects all of us and we must resist it and work against it for the glory of God. Now back to children and that's where we'll land for the rest of the session. Children obey your parents. You see children in past centuries should obey their parents. Children in today's world should obey their parents. Children in the future should obey their parents, period. It's God's truth for all time. We are the people of God. Let's start acting like the people of God. Children should be taught to obey their parents and they should be required to obey their parents because God's command is clear. It's very clear. Well the clear command to obey, young people, there it is. Moms and dads, there it is. Paul just kicks off talking about the familiar relationship and I notice he's tying several things together. He started in Ephesians 5 21 saying be submissive to each other. Then he starts clarifying how that works. He first of all talks about wife submitting to husbands, now children submitting to parents, and then he's going to talk about slaves are our equivalent, employees submitting to their employers. That's the way Christians function. Now let's go to a second main thing, that is the divine grounds for this command to obedience. He makes a very simple phrase in verse 1, children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. We obey because the divine one, the creator says it's right. I mean God our creator has every right to design his creation to function the way he intends it to function. Nothing more really needs to be said. Now I was talking about another truth, the truth of conversion, but Romans 9 20 is a good thing to think about when you think about doing it because it's right, it's the way God did it. When he says on the contrary who are you old man who answers back to God? Who are you old man, oh pompous, proud, arrogant one to raise yourself up and not do it God's way? Will the thing molded say to the molder will you make me like this? It wouldn't say that will it? You see it's right for children to obey their parents. It's exactly as it should be and all the liberal psychologists and all the liberal psychiatrists and all the liberals in pulpits and writing books in Christendom today who are questioning and bending the corners and compromising this are wrong because God says it's right for children to obey their parents. It's right because it is woven into the nature of creation that children should obey their parents. This is exactly as it should be. It's right and all of God's commands are right and we must lovingly and courageously teach God's word and expect ourselves and others particularly our children to honor God's word and obey their parents because this is right. God said it's right. Just some verses to show you an expression of the rightness of God's word in God's teaching. Psalm 19 verse 8, the psalmist said, the precepts of the Lord are right. Rejoicing the heart, the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. Psalm 119 verse 75, I know oh Lord that your judgments are righteous, are right. Psalm 119, 128, we could do dozens of these, therefore I esteem all your precepts concerning everything. Wait a minute, I esteem, I hold in the highest respect and purpose to obey all your precepts concerning everything that includes young people obeying your parents. You cannot hold God's truth of salvation through grace as right and then say God's purpose of authority and submitting to authority is not right. It's all right. Hosea 14 verse 9, whoever is wise let him understand these things, whoever is discerning let him know them for the ways of the Lord are right. Is that sinking in? It's right. Whatever happened to God's people lovingly but courageously and boldly looking at a rebel and saying it's not right because God says it's not right or it is right because God says it's right and brothers and sisters some things will be right even if everyone disagrees with them and some things will be wrong even if everyone's doing it period. It's right and we don't have to explain how it's better for you and it'll help your family and it'll help your children. That doesn't matter. It's right. Amen. It will be better for you. It will help your children. It will bless your family. It will build a staying and steady and stable culture but that's not the issue. It's right. We serve a God of absolute truth. We must stand on that truth, not be cowered down and not be intimidated and not be frustrated and not run and hide. Stand boldly with courage with compassion and declare the truth of God. Children should obey their parents. This is exactly as it should be. Parents must teach their children to obey and they must teach an obedience that is guided by love but listen absolutely guided by love moms and dads but not abolished by love. Parents you cannot ever hold the false destructive sinful notion well I just can't correct and discipline because I love them so much. You must love them with your discipline but you can never abolish discipline because of love. You see allowing children to disobey is love. It's self-love. It's loving and esteeming yourself and your feelings over God and his truth. Brothers and sisters have we learned that we don't trust our our emotions in our heart. When my emotions in my heart contradict God's word I have to do what old John Owen the great old Puritan said. I have to learn to pour my emotions into the mold of sound doctrine. I have to get my emotions excited about what God says not about what I think. That's Christianity because we have the truth. If my emotions are excited about error and falsehood and destructive things I must discipline my emotions to get excited about truth and by the way they will. If you'll commit to truth your emotions will catch up. You see it's a disregard for God's word. It is sin and it is unloving to your children to not require them to obey their parents. Is this too strong? Thank you. Proverbs 13 24 says he who withholds his rod hates his son. That's the rod that requires obedience. Could it be any clearer? Do you love your friend enough that when they are not requiring their child to obey not ever no one's perfect we're not talking about perfect perfection here but I mean when they have a real pattern of allowing disobedience and I'm going to tell you there's nothing more dishonoring to the name of Christ than a household of kids that mock and rebel and scoff and run over mom and dad particularly mom and you think you're showing love you think you're showing gentleness know what you're doing the bible says you're hating your children you're hating your children there's a principle I'm going to tie in here as we go along that shows you what you're doing and how you're destroying them if you do that but I want to say this with compassion and I want to say it with sympathy because I know a lot of you have been bombarded with error you've been bombarded with the lies of the world you've been bombarded by people you thought were strong Christians who were very negligent in teaching children to obey so I say it with compassion I understand the temptation and the force but I want to say it with strength not to condemn you and not to put a burden on you but to liberate you from the tyranny and the oppression of the error that's out there because it's going to ruin you and certainly ruin your children proverbs 23 verse 13 do not hold back discipline from the child although you strike him with the rod he will not die he's not talking about clubbing your children he's talking about appropriate physical corporal punishment to shepherd your children to Jesus when they disobey you must show them it's because they have a sinful heart and they need a savior you have to say and honey daddy's a sinner and I have to have a savior too and God has to punish me and discipline me at times I need a savior and sweetheart you need a savior you must come to Jesus and know him as your lord and savior shepherd your child to God through the discipline process brothers and sisters in Christ this is side note nothing nothing nothing comes within a million miles of the importance of us getting our children to Jesus everything we do should be shepherding them to Christ and salvation not this silly superstitious stuff of just jumping through a hoop and parenting a prayer walking now but a true heart conversion where the heart turns from sin and self and the heart turns to trust in rely on Christ that shows an outward evidence of fruitful righteousness in the life that's the kind of thing we want to teach so that our children come to that true regeneration of God that changes their heart in life well the phrase it is right goes beyond just the good of the child the good of the family or even the good of the nation it's right just because it's right it's not right because the parents necessarily deserve it it's not right because it's going to help the family or the home it's right because God says it's right it will remain right if everyone opposes it but all how the world the devil and our flesh always comes up with a quote exception clause end of quote you ever met anyone like that anytime there's a rule anytime to honor this person obey this person or keep these rules they're just exception clause people they're skeptical of everything all satan knows how to give us those and our flesh does well even without satan's help foolish rebels always come up with great sounding reasons why they can exempt themselves from honoring authority then to appease their conscience they recruit as many other rebels to join them in their rebellion and i believe they do this because these rebels feel like the numbers help shield them from God because when you rebel you violate your conscience your conscience condemns you you know you're not right with God you know God's judgments over you but somehow if others can rebel with you you feel a little bit safer what do you think rebels run in packs so much and i mean you can put a couple of rebels in a room full of 200 people you can have 200 young people in room and put it in a room and put a couple of rebels in there and they'll find each other in 30 minutes like magnets to each other they just run to each other i'm not just talking about these teenage gangs with tattoos all over their bodies and body piercings and colored hair and lewd clothing hanging out at street corners i want to tell you also there are rebel groups in churches they look like all american kids but they have rebel hearts against their parents they lead others to do the same and they mock those young people who will not go along with their rebellion if you ask them they'll always have an exception clause yeah but my father was like this yeah but my father's harsh at times yeah but my father didn't do this yeah but they'll always have an exception clause satan is an expert at giving you exception clauses why you can dishonor authority but i want to tell you the home that as a pattern neglects to teach and require children to obey is a home of sin it's a home of shame it's a perversion of the god-ordained pattern for the family proverbs 29 15 says the rod and reproof give wisdom but listen but a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother it's right because it's right because god said it's right the divine principle behind the command to obey roman numeral 3 the prominence of the command to obey jumps out at us when we get to verse 2 the prominence he says honor your father and mother which is the first commandment with the promise now this is in all caps and it's in all caps because it's to signify that this is not just a new teaching paul's come up with for the church age it's actually copied straight out of the old testament 10 commandments those 10 commandments were given to moses on mount sinai the scripture tells us those 10 commandments were written in tablets of stone by the very finger of god prominence prominence it's prominent because of the great truth and this is what i alluded to earlier parents that your children will learn to trust and obey god as they learn to trust and obey you you're building a divine principle and pattern in their hearts if they are not made to trust and honor and obey you then they will have great difficulty trusting and honoring and obeying god there are times when children have to be made to obey and they say why should i do this and you say because i said so there's good in this because god didn't explain everything he tells you to do are you with me parents there's times to explain if their attitude is right you don't play to a foolish rebellious spirit you discipline a foolish rebellious spirit but there are times when a child righteously and humbly asks questions and it's good to tell them when you can but you can't every time now the jews took this commandment to honor your father and mother and they listed it as the first of the 10 commandments you know why they listed as the first of the 10 commandments because they knew it was so foundational to a child learning to honor and obey god and they knew also it greatly affects succeeding generations you see here's what happens fathers teach their children what their fathers taught them and that's where we need a revival and a reformation to beef up to strengthen to raise to a higher standard of truth what fathers are teaching children so we can restore what the last three four generations lost in fathers particularly training their children in the discipline and instruction of the lord one chinese proverb says one generation plants trees and the next gets the shade so when you're teaching your children requiring them to obey you're planting some trees but their children their grandchildren will be blessed by the shade of that wonderful truth you taught them and built into their lives this is the highest command that god gave relating to the social order all that thou shalt not murder commit adultery steal envy all that jealousy all that comes under this primary foundational social order command children obey your parents now he says also there in verse 2 honor he doesn't say obey when he gets to verse 2 he changes obeys verse 1 honors verse 2 and there's a prominence in this because what he's pointing out is is that the heart attitude must be involved here not just external obedience so young people look at me this morning god's telling you to cultivate a cherishing loving attitude toward your parents don't just go through the motions and obey them god tells wives this titus teaches older ladies teach the younger ladies not just submit but to love your husbands you work with your heart and cultivate and teach your heart to love your husband don't just obey and submit to him love him the same thing is told to church members you don't just submit to the church elders you don't just obey them the bible says you're to hold them in high esteem with love i don't feel that toward my parents work at it repent of your bad feeling and cultivate a good feeling of love for your parents it's deeper it's higher it's more prominent than just an external coercion you're to have an esteem for god's great wisdom and the great god of ultimate and infinite wisdom says this is the best way so you join in with that you throw yourself in that and say this is what's wonderful because our god designed it in such a special way man the jews gave this commandment such prominence that in exodus 21 verse 15 they permitted the death penalty for someone who rose up in obstinate rebellion against their parents literally and actually an ancient jew could take their child to the the to the elders of the the country and say this child premeditatedly and habitually dishonors me and his mom and they could stone him to death he said that sounds very extreme and that sounds very harsh well you just look what's going on in our country today the wickedness the perversion the ungodliness it's because children aren't raised right and if that thing doesn't stop we're sunk and it's not going to start with the world you know what i think is an absolute shame and disgrace to the church of the lord jesus christ that secular state governments are requiring marital counseling some before marriage and some before they allow divorce they're saying somebody's got to teach people the truth and i want to say where's the church been where have we been here's what we've been we've been empty rhetoric thunder it from the pulpit but don't practice it in the church somebody get upset don't hold any standards don't hold any biblical ideas and don't have any accountability for church conduct somebody might get their feelings hurt and instead of being the salt and the light to infect the world we are now the world's problem and we are a joke to the unbelieving world we can rise up all we want and talk about moral values in the government we want a godly president and we do want a godly president but i think the world in general looks at the church and say you aren't any different matter of fact you're worse your words are empty it's rhetoric but we can strive to start raising the standard at first bad dismissal shows for the glory of god but you better count on something brothers and sisters hell will fight us every inch of the way in every seductive scheming way it possibly can so well honor here means that that child must grow up after regeneration obviously because they're not going to do this this is not natural affection when they honor and esteem their parents it means that child has now a new love for god because god's regenerated their heart that child now has a new affection and a new respect for god and his truth and because they see god's word and they see god's truth and they have that new respect they want to cultivate a love for that one that god's placed over them in their lives but i also want to say this in balance there are times when a child must honor but not obey i cannot think of anything more horrid than a parent that truly abuses their child and there are times young people when a parent may ask you to do something that is obviously evil and violate scripture you must always have an honorable attitude that's god-ordained authority but you have to humbly say mom or dad i cannot do that i love you i respect you i'll honor you in every way i can but i can't do that it's very very important church members in all appealing to authority you show great honor to the god who ordained it even though you may not can honor specific instructions or commands if that parent or whoever that person is in authority asks you to do something that's obviously wrong i think one example that we follow here is for example sometimes we see a child a young person truly come to faith in christ and we always get parental blessing before we go further and sometimes when we talk to the parent the parent says well i am against them being baptized and we say yes sir and we support you we understand that but we would not support that parent saying and we don't want this child to know jesus christ is lord and savior we'd say we're going to try to share with them about jesus when they're around us we can't obey that one and sometimes these are hard and i understand that but there are times when a child must always maintain respect for the authority because they honor the god who ordained the authority but they cannot obey the instruction of the command roman numeral four the promise attached to the command to obedience he ends this with the promise he gives some motivation here he gives some encouragement for the young person he says last part of verse two which is the first command with the promise that it may be well with you that's quality of life and that you may live long on the earth that's quantity of life now what you have to realize is that when this command was given and it's another quotation here it's it's given as a general promise not an absolute it's a general principle not an absolute it's much like proverbs 10 4 in proverbs 10 4 god says poor is he who works with a negligent hand but the hand of the diligent makes rich and you can't go that verse is a hot dog if i'm diligent i'm automatically going to get rich no as a general rule the diligent hard-working enterprising person does well financially as a general rule that's god's general truth but not absolutely in all ways james montgomery boys in his excellent commentary said it this way this is a revelation of the general purpose of god the usual course of providence now there's a negative side to this promise he said now if you honor your father and mother you obey your parents generally speaking god's going to see to it you have a better quality of life and a greater quantity to your life but there's a negative side proverbs 13 17 says the eye that mocks a father and scorns a mother the ravens of the valley will pick it out and the young eagles will eat it what does that mean well ravens and eagles are carnivores if that's a proper way to designate a bird that eats flesh and when a corpse is laying on the ground a raven usually gets there first and to check to see if it's really dead he plucks at the eye if there's no movement from the body when the eyes plucked at you know it's dead and so the eating out of the eye excuse me it's usually the first thing one of these birds will do it means if you rebel against your parents there's a good possibility you won't live very long that's god's general principle that's the general teaching our calls our course of god's providence now can i very hurriedly give you four conclusions for practical application i know our time but let me very hurriedly give you these number one we must work in our homes to promote not rights but responsibility i mean the home that's always you got this right you got this right you got this right you got this right don't do that yes there's a proper place for certain rights but i think in our culture today we have blown that thing way out of proportion at least from what i understand from the word of god the word of god is constantly teaching responsibility you're responsible to submit you're responsible to obey you're responsible to honor you're responsible to esteem and then god steps in and takes care of your rights god will be your greatest defender god will go to war for you god will vindicate your name god will advance your cause if you humbly honor your responsibilities under god daniel honored the king a wicked king a pagan king but god said honor the king he honored the king and god advanced him he looked at his responsibility not his rights joseph honored god in his difficult situation and honored pharaoh he was advanced to be the prime minister of egypt god took care of his rights if you will as he honored god ordained responsibility you see if you promote rights you promote rebellion if you promote god-ordained responsibility you promote revival we need revival number two understand that honoring authority is right and it's a duty it's right and it's a duty meditate on both of those it's right it's right for all the relationships involved it's the best way for it to work it's the only way it can truly work it's woven into the natural law that god's put in creation so it's right and think about it being right young people think about it being right moms and dads that i am contradicting the god of order and structure when i violate the responsibility to teach my children to obey it's right but it's also a duty that i must obey flying right along number three children meditate on what's right in your parents now satan is a master and your flesh is just as bad at finding everything under the sun to justify why you cannot respect and honor and obey god-ordained authority in this case your parents uh but i read something and it it struck a note with myself and i think it will strike a note with many of you especially young people sitting here this morning that uh james montgomery voice ended his section on this by talking about the problem he had with his father his father was a very successful professional man and his father wasn't at home a lot and he says that he in effect was struggling with that and growing bitter about that and maybe was resisting his father's authority and was getting a bad attitude because he was hurt or wounded by the way all rebellion almost always starts with being hurt or wounded but he said as a christian i begin to say god i'm not going to do that i won't help me to focus on what's right with my father and the things he does good and right and he said you know i begin to learn that he sent me to a very good college and gave me a very good education because he made good money in his profession he should also begin to learn as time went on that my father though he never flaunted his giving he gave very generously large amounts of money to our church and to the work of the lord he said and that blessed me he said so by focusing on the good things and the right thing my dad was doing i overcame that temptation to get bitter and resisting to god-ordained authority and i thought boy that's a great thing you know the bible says that love is that person who does not keep a record of wrongs done you got to fight that mess young people don't keep a record of when your parents failed you don't keep a record of when they lost their temper don't keep a record of when they weren't perfect that satan tried to get you to justify disobeying them which will ruin you and dishonor god meditate on what's right you want me to tell you something dads are you perked up and listening to your pastor this morning you got a nine ten eleven twelve whatever age child that god's really saved and they grasp this principle and they get on their face on their bed and say god i'm going to obey this father of mine you keep him right i'm telling you god will whip that man in shape god you told me to honor him not if he's perfect you told me to honor him you told me to obey him and that child gets on their face that god i'm going to do it because i love you you've changed my heart you've saved my soul all to be in hell because i love you and respect you god i'm going to honor him now you make him the father he he ought to be god will honor that some of your dads right now getting real good spankings because your child's praying something like that and lastly number four strengthen your resolve with the quiet time of course you could say that about anything but i just do not know of anything out there that is as attacked as having a humble honoring obedient spirit to authority it is viciously and ferociously attacked because satan knows that will thwart more of god's work than anything else he can do so if you know you're getting up in the morning young person and you know you're going out into this world and you know your flesh you know satan you know this world and you know your friends are going to work against this principle you need to get with god and strengthen yourself in his word before you go out and face that temptation so you can stay strong for the glory of god the preceding message comes from the expository preaching ministry of senior pastor teacher dr jeff knoblett for more information or other materials that are available contact anchored in truth ministries at www.anchoredintruth.org or call us toll free at 1-800-565-PRAY or have god's lamp stand programs yes they have programs organization yes they have organization services yes they have services rites rituals custom ceremony but no light because jesus removed the lamp stand church will remain but it loses its testimony you know the bible says we're to be god's salt and we're to be god's light salt has savor salt has bite to it salt can even sting if you put it in a wound but when jesus removes the lamp stand the bite of the saltiness is dulled and the brilliant light of god's truth is dimmed in essence the church ceases to be a true church it's just going through the motions wearing some of the labels it used to wear but jesus removed the lamp stand but i want you to notice jesus light doesn't go off it didn't say my light will seize he's just saying my light will not shine from your lamp stand perhaps they're individual believers here and at one time you walked in that first love and god's light was a beaming testimony through your life and long since that has dimmed and god's light still shining but you're no longer a testimony for him maybe we've left our first love newlywed love is over maybe the honeymoon is over and our relationship with the lord why my family had just uh visited one of our favorite restaurants and um as it usually happens with small children one of our little girls needed to visit the restroom so i took our youngest daughter on out to the car to wait for mama and my middle daughter to visit the the restroom we got in the car and we sat down in the car and and my little three-year-old sitting behind me and you know over the years you learn the difference in statements you learn when a statement is urgent and an emergency and when it's just a statement though it's truly felt it's not an urgent emergency you know what i mean maybe the same words but sometimes it's an emergency something you just learn the difference and my little three-year-old behind me in the car said daddy i need mama i said honey mama is in the restroom with your sister she'll be here in just a minute and i could tell this wasn't an urgent emergency but i knew she meant it a moment or two passed and she said again daddy i need mama real bad well again my parental discernment kicked in and i said well she don't need her real bad like i'll die if i don't have her or i'll make a mess it wasn't one of those a moment or two passed and the voice from the back of the van spoke up again and said daddy i need mama real bad i said honey i can see mama's coming right now they'll be in the van in just a second and sure enough they walked out the door they got into the van and they sat down then pam turned around and said honey what do you what do you want what do you want me to do and she said mama i don't want you to give me anything i don't want you to do anything i just want you and this text came to my mind i think it's true as humanly it will be seen that is first love when we don't want the lord to do anything we don't want the lord to give us anything we just want him where is the blessedness i knew when i first saw the lord where is the soul refreshing view of jesus and his word what peaceful hours i once enjoyed how sweet their memory still but they have left an aching void the world can never feel quickly i want to give you some statements questions actually and these questions depending on how you answer them could be pointing out that you have left your first love we just look at them rather quickly number one does it matter who gets the credit if in your service to the lord you've left your first love it becomes a factor to you who's getting the credit number two does it matter if it blesses you number three do you regularly pray for god and god alone to get the glory number four do you desire to be with the people of god this one is only understood by those of us been around a little while do you work the night shift with joy and praise in your heart to god number six do you regularly miss your quiet time number seven have you grown comfortable with sin a yes to any one of those may be indicating you have left your first love doing things yes perhaps this church did a lot of great things but they had left their first love