The verse I wanted to focus on was verse 12 where the Bible read,
Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
And the title of the sermon this morning is, Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother.
And I think when we study this phrase in the Bible, when we study this commandment,
there's three different ways that we can really look at this commandment.
Now, it says very clearly though at the latter part of this verse that thy days may be long.
So it's saying, hey, there's a benefit to keeping this commandment that you could live a long life.
Go view it to Ephesians chapter number six, Ephesians chapter number six in the New Testament.
And the first point that I want to address, I think is what most people think of first
when we think about honoring thy father and mother.
It would be the aspect of obedience, of obeying your father and your mother.
And when we look at this point, I kind of have like four sub points.
We're going to be focusing on obedience for a moment.
I'll read for you in Deuteronomy, it reiterates this commandment.
It says, honor thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee,
that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee,
and the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
So according to the Bible, God not only commands you to do this,
but he says, if you do, I'll prolong your days.
You'll live a longer life if you obey your parents.
Look at Ephesians chapter six, verse one.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
You say, hey, I'm a young man, I'm a teenager, I'm a young boy.
Well, if you want to live a long life, God says it's based on you obeying your parents.
And not just one of them, not the one you like, both of them, your father and your mother.
Look at verse two, 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.
God keeps reemphasizing the fact that if you want to live a long life,
you're going to obey your parents.
People who obey their parents seem to live longer lives.
Why? Because God promises it.
Because God tells us that he'll prolong our lives.
Look at verse four, and you fathers, provoke not your children to wrath,
but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Now, in order for a child to obey their parents, let me give you a hint.
Their parents have to instruct them. Their father has to be around.
How can you obey your father when your father isn't even present in your life?
So, if you want your children to live long lives, you have to be there to instruct them,
to guide them, to teach them, to train them, give them wisdom that they may live by.
Now, go to Proverbs chapter number 30,
and we'll spend a lot of our time in the book of Proverbs this morning,
but it's because the book of Proverbs is written to children.
It's constantly saying, my son, my children, my son, over and over and over,
and we constantly see a father instructing a son, giving wisdom unto a son,
and this is such an important aspect of the Christian life,
that fathers teach their children, and most importantly, that children will obey their parents.
They'll actually take the advice of their parents and do it, receive it.
This is the picture of how God wants to deal with us,
how we're supposed to obey God's commandments.
I'll read for you from Romans chapter 13, the Bible says in verse 1,
Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God.
The powers that be are ordained of God,
whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God,
and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
You say, why should I obey my parents? Because God said so.
Not because of what your parents think, not because of what the government thinks,
not because of what man thinks.
God says that children obey your parents, for this is right.
God is the one that ordained it, and when you resist your parents,
you're not just resisting your parents, you're resisting God.
God is the one that says obey your parents,
and if you fear God, you will fear your parents.
Fear your mother, fear your father.
Look at Proverbs 30, verse 15.
The horse Leech hath two daughters, crying, Give, give!
There are three things that are never satisfied,
yea, four things say not, it is enough.
The grave and the barren womb,
the earth that is not filled with water,
and the fire that saith not, it is enough.
The eye that mocketh at his father,
and despiseth to obey his mother,
the ravens of the valley shall pick it out,
and the young eagles shall eat it.
The Bible is giving us a couple different things where
this attitude, this spirit, this thing that we observe in the world today,
it's never satisfied.
It's implacable.
It's saying what? Fire just wants to keep burning.
As long as it's got room to burn, it's going to keep burning.
The grave, guess what, everyone dies.
And it's never going to be satisfied.
People are going to continue dying.
And we see a rebellious spirit in a child is never enough.
They're going to continue being more rebellious,
more mocking, more arrogant, more prideful.
You see, it's never enough.
They just want to keep mocking their parents and disobeying their parents.
You've got to squash out the rebellion in your child.
Go if you went to Deuteronomy 21.
It's a disease.
And you know what? Teenagers today have this disease.
It's Brad and every teenager.
They just think they are smarter than their parents.
Every teenager.
Every teenager thinks they know more than their parents.
And if you think you know more than your parents, you're a fool.
You're not wise.
Your parents know more than you, period.
I don't care what you think.
Oh, my dad's not that smart.
My dad doesn't know what's going on.
He didn't have Facebook back in the day.
He didn't have YouTube.
He doesn't know how to use the computer.
Look, your dad knows 10,000 things more than you.
You need to hearken to the instruction of your parents.
Your parents know better.
Your parents love you.
Your parents are not giving you bad advice because they don't like you,
just to ruin your life.
No, they're doing it because they've been there, done that.
There's no new thing under the sun.
It might not have been called Facebook back in the day,
but guess what?
There was still gossip when they were still dating.
There were still enemies and friends and trolls.
We all still existed.
It was just different ways.
And, look, they've been there, done that.
They were foolish.
They've learned.
They're wise.
Listen to your parents.
But, you know, the child that doesn't, this is how God feels about it.
Look at verse 18.
If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son,
which will not obey the voice of his father,
or the voice of his mother,
and that, when they have chastened him,
will not hearken unto them,
then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him
and bring him out unto the elders of the city
and under the gate of his place,
and they shall say unto the elders of the city,
This our son is stubborn and rebellious.
He will not obey our voice.
He is a glutton and a drunkard,
and all the men of his city shall stone him with stones that he die.
So shalt thou put evil away from among you,
and all Israel shall hear and fear.
You know how you could squash rebellion in the public school today?
Take the rebellious one out and stone him.
I bet they'd shapen up pretty quick.
I bet they'd figure out,
maybe I should hearken unto the authorities in my life.
And we see, unfortunately, our society is continually destroying itself
because there are all these rebellious, arrogant, prideful, teenage jerks
that just don't want to hearken to their parents.
You know what?
God said they should be put to death.
The guy that's the lazy gamer,
I don't want to get a job,
I just want to play video games all day
and drink alcohol with my buddies,
that guy should be put to death.
You know what?
As a young man, you should be able to work,
and you should work hard,
and you should be sober.
And the man that's not going to do that,
God says, well, I think you're worthy of death.
That's pretty serious.
Now, obviously, in the society we live in today,
this would never happen, right?
America, this isn't happening.
You can't take your child up to the government
and say, look, this guy won't listen to us, hearken to us.
But here's the thing.
When man fails to execute God's judgment,
do you think God's just going to let that go?
God will repay.
When man fails to put someone to death,
God will take care of it.
And if you're a stubborn and rebellious child,
you better be careful every single step you take.
What was the promise if you did honor your father and mother?
Your days would be prolonged.
Well, guess what?
There's a caveat to that.
What happens if you don't?
What happens if you're rebellious?
What happens when you're stubborn?
The opposite is just as true.
Go view it to Proverbs chapter number one.
So what was my first point?
My first point is that we need to obey
because it's the command of God.
God commands for children to obey their parents.
That's why you should be obedient.
But you should not only be obedient because he commands it,
you should also be obedient because your parents,
they want to protect you.
God gave us commandments to protect us.
God didn't make any commandments just to ruin your fun.
He didn't think, well, you know,
going out and being a drunk is just so much fun,
I just want to ruin it for everybody.
No, being a drunk is stupid.
Drinking alcohol makes you stupid in every way of the word.
Okay?
God didn't make that commandment to ruin your life.
He did it to bless you,
to keep you preserved from wicked filth in this world,
from destruction, from all kinds of misery.
And the same thing as parents.
Parents don't make up rules to ruin their kids' lives.
They're doing it to protect them
because they want them to not have dangerous things
abounding around them.
Look at Proverbs chapter 1 verse 8.
My son, hear the instruction of thy father
and forsake not the law of thy mother,
for they shall be an ornament of grace under thy head
and chains about thy neck.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay weight for blood,
let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause,
let us swallow them up alive as the grave and hole,
as those that go down into the pit,
we shall find all precious substance,
we shall fill our houses with spoil,
cast in thy lot among us, let us all have one purse.
My son, walk not thou in the way with them,
refrain thy foot from their path,
for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood,
surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird,
and they lay weight for their own blood.
They lurk privily for their own lives.
So are the ways of everyone that is greedy of gain,
which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Now, when I read this chapter, when I read these verses,
the first thing that always comes to my mind is the gangs.
You know, young men that are attracted to get into the...
cast thy lot among us, you know, fill our houses with spoil,
what do the gangs want to do?
They want to be this new family,
and they want to go and rob the innocent,
and be this murderous, you know, rebellious gang,
where they kill people, where they're taking people's lives,
and they're trying to attract too, they're trying to recruit the young,
they're trying to bring the sons into their situation,
and look, we see what's going to happen to them.
They're laying weight for their own blood.
So many young men are dying because they get involved in the gangs,
and they die at a young age. Why?
Because when you honor your father and your mother,
your days are going to be longed.
But when you're not, when you're stubborn,
when you're rebellious, guess what?
God will repay.
God could take your life.
We see that it take away the life of the owners thereof.
When you live a murderous and rebellious life, children,
it's not going to go well with you.
And I've never heard a parent say,
hey, go join the gang.
Even people that live in poverty,
they live in this type of lifestyle that say,
don't join the gang.
Go to school, get an education.
And look, I'm not for public education,
but I am for education.
I am for working hard and having, you know,
a decent life, going to church, living for God,
and the people that reject that and want to go live of the world,
well, they're going to die of the world.
Go to Proverbs chapter number 6.
Look, why was this parent giving this guy instruction?
Because he loved him.
He's trying to protect him from the wicked,
evil people out there.
This is why parents, you look at a certain group of friends
of your child, you say, don't hang out with those friends.
Don't hang out with that group.
Don't hang out with those girls.
You're telling your children, don't hang out with those people
because a parent, they don't have any emotional connection
to these children, and they say, look,
these are some bad kids for you to hang out with.
You're going to get mixed up in all the wrong things
if you let them be your friends.
They're giving you these commandments
not to ruin your life to protect you
because they love you.
Look at Proverbs 6 verse 20.
My son, keep thy father's commandment
and forsake not the law of thy mother.
Bind them continually upon thine heart
and tie them about thy neck.
When thou goest, it shall lead thee.
When thou sleepest, it shall keep thee.
And when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.
For the commandment is a lamp,
and the law is light,
and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.
Let's stop for a moment.
Now, a lot of times in Proverbs,
you have multiple applications of the verse.
Obviously, everything in Proverbs applies to God
and giving us commandments and his word,
but let's take the primary application
because in verse 20, it said,
keep thy father's what?
Commandment.
And then in verse 23, it says,
for the commandment is a lamp.
It said in verse 20, forsake not the law
of thy mother, and we see in verse 23,
it says, and the law is light.
So we see the father and the mother
complement one another,
and when you keep your father
and your mother's commandments,
it's going to guide you.
They're going to put you on the right path.
Your parents are not going to lead you
down a really dark road.
Now, obviously, there's always an exception to the rule,
but I'm not trying to talk about the exception.
Every single father and mother in this room,
I believe, is going to guide their children
down the right path, harken unto your father,
harken unto your mother.
They brought you to church for a reason.
Why don't you consider that?
Say, oh, man, maybe they actually care about me.
Maybe they're trying to protect me
from the darkness of this world.
That's why we come to church to get the light.
Let's keep reading.
Verse 24, to keep thee from the evil woman,
from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
Lest not, after her beauty and thine heart,
neither let her take thee with her eyelids.
This is just a side thought, all right?
Some people will say this.
They'll say, you know what?
Any part of the body that could be sensual,
women need to cover up.
So I guess women need to wear, like, sunglasses
when they come to church, you know?
I mean, the eyelid will take you.
That's stupid logic.
Let's just keep reading, all right?
Look at verse 26.
For by means of a whorish woman,
a man is brought to a piece of bread,
and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.
Can a man take fire in his bosom,
and his clothes not be burned?
Can one go upon hot coals in his feet, not be burned?
So he that goeth in to his neighbor's wife,
whosoever toucheth her, shall not be innocent.
Men do not despise a thief,
if he still satisfy his soul when he is hungry,
but if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold.
He shall give all the substance of his house,
but whoso committeth adultery
with a woman lacketh understanding.
He that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
A wound and dishonor shall he get,
and his reproach shall not be wiped away,
for jealousy is the rage of a man.
Therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
He will not regard any ransom.
Neither will he rest content, though they'll give us many gifts.
The Bible's saying, look, men,
if you were to commit adultery with another man's wife,
that guy's probably going to just take you out.
It doesn't matter how much money you offer him.
And look, that's how I feel.
The most grievous sin I can imagine is my spouse committing adultery.
I think that's the worst thing.
Even if she killed somebody, that's way more forgivable.
There's plenty of people I probably wouldn't even mind that much, you know?
But you know, if she commits adultery, that's cut into the heart.
That's the worst.
And we see, look, if someone were to touch my wife,
I'm going to be really mad.
You know what? That's the same thing with God.
God is a jealous God.
What does jealous mean?
It means you like the things you own.
That means I like my wife.
I don't want to share her with someone else.
She's not to be shared with anybody else.
She's mine, and I like her.
I love her.
Your children, you should be jealous for.
You're not trying to share them with the don't care system.
In the public fool system, why don't you keep them to yourself?
Love them yourself.
And we see here that the mother and the father,
they're warning their son against this whorish woman.
You know, I can't help but read this and think of my mother.
My mother constantly, constantly warned me about whorish women.
And I just did not believe her.
I just kept thinking like, look, where are all these women that want to lie with me?
You know, you're a teenager in high school, and you're like, I'm a geek.
Nobody likes me.
She's like, look, there's all these women that are trying to get you.
I'm like, I can't find a single one.
But the reality is they do exist.
And when you grow up, when you mature, the whorish woman is everywhere.
She's on every single corner.
And look, when she tells you all these special flattering things,
she says it to every guy.
If a woman will be with you on the first night,
she'll be with any guy that night.
Don't think you're special.
Don't think that you're something to be admired
when some woman does just take you with her eyelids.
She'll take any guy, and she's trying to destroy his life.
You know, my mom, she was so concerned with this
that if a girl would ever call our house
and she'd ask for me and my brother,
she would immediately just hang up.
She'd be like, hey, is Jonathan there?
Now, one time my wife called and she's like,
hey, it's for like a school function or something.
She didn't immediately click, you know, hang up or whatever.
But if a woman called and she was just like,
hey, I want to talk to your son, I'm interested in talking to your son,
she's like, click.
There's young women that came to our house one time
just to want to see my brother,
and she's just like, get out of here, whores.
You know, I mean, she's like, I mean, you know,
she's not going to put up with it.
And look, she's doing it because she's praying to protect her son.
She loves her son.
That's my next point.
Let's go to Proverbs 31.
Proverbs 31, look, why are the parents protecting their children?
Because they love them.
They're not doing it because they hate them.
You don't protect people you don't love.
If it's someone I don't care about, have fun.
Go do whatever.
Go destroy your life.
But you know, my children, I love them.
I want to protect them.
I want to guide them.
I want to instruct them.
And look, if you love your children,
you'll warn them about bad friends.
You'll warn them about the whores and the whoremongers.
Look, just because the Bible's emphasizing
the man and the woman doesn't mean there isn't just as many whoremongers out there.
In fact, there's probably more.
There's probably more whoremongers.
What's a whoremonger?
It's the male version of a whore.
It's a guy that will lie with many women that he's not married to.
That's what a whoremonger is.
And you need to protect your daughters from all the whoremongers that exist today.
Look at Proverbs 31, verse 26.
She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and her tongue is the law of kindness.
That sounds familiar, right?
Look at verse 27.
She looketh well the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.
Her children arise up and call her blessed.
Her husband also, and he praiseeth her.
Now, the interesting thing about love, okay,
is when you don't give commandments to your children, they won't love you.
And when you don't give commandments to your children, you don't love them.
It's a symbiotic relationship.
You must give commandments to your children for you to love them,
and they must also hearken to those commandments if they love you.
This is how it works.
God gave us commandments because he loves us,
and if we love God, we'll keep his commandments.
Jesus Christ said, if you love me, keep my commandments.
Love is through keeping the rules and commandments that are given to you from authority.
Go to Proverbs 29, flip back a couple, or flip back a page.
The Bible says, my son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother.
And we saw in Proverbs 31 that it said that the tongue is the law of kindness.
Clearly, a mother is making up laws because she's kind, because she's loving.
She's doing it from a place of sincerity, not to rule her children with rigor.
Now, I mean, some mothers might, but obviously, we see that the Proverbs 31 woman,
the law that's coming out of her mouth is kindness.
It's love. She cares for her children.
Look at Proverbs 29, verse 17.
Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest.
Yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.
The Bible promises when you command your children, when you instruct them,
you'll actually enjoy them.
You say, why do some parents not enjoy their children?
Because they don't rule them.
Because they don't have commandments for them.
There was a Chick-fil-A that's pretty close to my house in Houston,
and for some reason, every time we go there, there's this young lady with their daughter,
and she's always there, and this daughter runs the relationship.
Let's just be honest.
I mean, she's screaming to go on the play page.
She's screaming for ice cream. She's screaming all these things,
and I never see the mother correct the daughter,
and she looks tired and frustrated and annoyed,
and she doesn't look like she's having a good time.
Look, if you want to have a good time with your children,
tell them to obey. Give them some rules.
If you don't give them rules, they're going to ruin your life.
You want to have a good life, parents, get some rules for your children.
If you don't have rules for your children, you're not going to enjoy life,
and if you keep having more kids, it's going to get worse and worse and worse.
You know what? If you have good rules, the more children you have,
you're going to get more delight.
Happy is the man that had this quiver full of them, is what the Bible says.
So you have to have both.
You have to have lots of kids, and you have to rule them well.
Go to Proverbs 9. Proverbs chapter number 9.
Parents who love their children will have rules for their children.
Look at Proverbs 9 verse 8.
Reprove not a scorn, lest he hate thee.
Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.
Love thee.
Now, in the moment, your teenager probably won't like your rules.
I'll just be honest, right?
They're probably going to, you know, the rebellious spirit in them is going to be pretty hard.
But you know when they grow out of that?
They're going to be very thankful that you gave them rules.
They're going to love you and appreciate you.
And the teenagers that grow up, okay, and their parents just let them have free reign,
they often hate their parents.
You know that kid that grew up in school, and his parents let him do whatever,
and it just seems like my parents don't care about me.
Isn't that what they say?
Why? Because when you don't have rules for your kids, your kids can tell they just don't care.
They just don't love me.
If you love your children, you must give rules.
You must give commandments.
Go if you would to Proverbs 3.
The Bible says foolishness is bound in the heart of a child,
but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
If you want the foolishness out of your child, get the rod.
The rod will teach them and train them and get the foolishness out.
If you don't, the foolishness is going to stay in there.
It's going to fester.
It's like all the liberals today, all the millennials today,
they still have all that foolishness in them because the rod was never applied.
This is why we love God.
This is why liberal Christianity is stupid.
I mean, liberal Christianity, they forsake all of God's commandments, don't they?
I mean, they basically just say, oh, it's just all about love
and I would never judge anybody and oh, that's Old Testament
and you don't tell me what to do.
It's stupid because you know why I love God?
Because he gives me commandments.
Because he punishes me.
I actually love him for that.
I'll read for you from Deuteronomy chapter 8.
It says, Thou shalt also consider in thine heart
that as a man chasteneth his son,
so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee.
Therefore, thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God
to walk in his ways and to fear him.
The Bible says the same way that a man would chasten his son
is the same way that God will chasten us.
This is why it's hard for a child who is never disciplined by his father
to even believe the Bible.
They just think, well, I don't deserve hell.
I never received any punishment for anything I've ever done wrong.
Look, we have to punish our children
so that they can understand what the Bible even teaches.
Look at Proverbs 3, verse 11.
My son despiseth not the chastening of the Lord,
neither be weary of his correction,
for whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth.
Even as a father, the son in whom he delighteth,
happy is the man that findeth wisdom,
and the man that getteth understanding.
The Bible says we should not despise chastening.
Obviously, being spanked, being chastened is not fun in the moment.
Nobody enjoys it.
If you're enjoying it, you're doing it wrong, parents.
If your kids like it or are laughing or having a good time, wrong.
They should not enjoy it.
But we see, look, why do we love God?
Because he corrects us.
And he loves us, that's why he corrects us.
I don't correct someone I don't love.
I'm not going around trying to correct all these people out here
that you know I don't know.
I don't correct other people's children.
I don't correct my children because I love them.
And because I love them, that makes me want to correct them.
Go to Hebrews chapter number 12.
The Bible says,
Blessed is the man whom thou chasteness, O Lord,
and teacheth him out of thy law.
You want to be blessed?
You got to get punished by God.
And you know how you get punished by God?
Being saved.
If you're not saved, he doesn't punish you.
When I go to Walmart and I see a kid disobeying,
I don't chasten them.
I think I'd get in a lot of trouble.
If I just picked up some random stranger's kid and started spanking him,
I think I'd get in a lot of trouble.
And look, God is not going around chastening the unsaved.
He only chastens the saved.
You know where they're going to get their punishment?
Hell.
But you Christians, we're going to get punished when we sin.
We're going to get punished.
That's why you see a lot of wicked people today.
It seems like they get away with murder.
And literally they get away with murder.
They go to the grave with lots of money and they seem all happy.
This is what the book of Job is teaching.
Job's like, what in the world?
You know, Hugh Hefner dies at an old age with all this money.
It seemed like he had such a great life.
Well, not a great life now.
Now he's receiving his punishment.
And look, he wasn't getting chastened because he wasn't saved.
But look, if you start going down that path,
God's going to come down on you like a ton of bricks.
Because when you get to heaven, there's not going to be any more punishment.
So he's going to come down hard while you're on this earth.
They say, oh, you all are so legalistic.
Yeah, I love God's commandments.
Yeah, he is going to punish me when I disobey him.
It has nothing to do with being saved,
but it has everything to do with me being a son.
Look at Hebrews chapter 12, verse 5.
And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children.
My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord,
nor faint when thou art rebuked of him,
for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you, as with sons.
For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?
But if ye be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons.
Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us,
and we gave them reverence.
Shall we not much rather be in subjection on the father of spirits and live?
For they verily for a few days chasten us after their own pleasure,
but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness.
Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous.
Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness
unto them which are exercised thereby.
What is the Bible saying?
Well, it's teaching us that in order to be chastened by God,
you've got to be a son.
Now, how are you a son?
But as many as received him, to them gave me power to become the sons of God,
even that believe on his name.
The Bible says we're all children of God by faith.
When you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you're born again spiritually.
Now God is your father. Now you are his son.
And there's nothing you could do to change that.
Just as much as I can't change my physical parents,
I can't change my spiritual parents.
I can't change the fact that God is my father.
I can't change the fact that I've already been born into the family.
But when you're born into God's family, he says, guess what?
There's blessing and cursing.
If you obey me, blessing.
If you disobey me, I'm going to chasten and scourge you.
I'm going to come down on a ton of bricks.
And if you're in wicked sin without chastisement,
sounds like you're a bastard.
The Bible is saying, look, you can't just get away with wicked sin forever.
God will come down on you.
He will bear his sword upon you on this earth.
You will receive correction.
You will receive chastisement.
And if you got away with it your whole life,
are you a son?
Were you really saved?
Now, it also says here that no chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous.
The reality is when God punishes you, you're not going to enjoy it.
Just as much as hopefully when your parents chasten you,
you're not going to enjoy it, okay?
The punishment needs to not be fun.
But what does it say?
Afterward, it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness.
It means afterwards you can reflect on it and see I needed that.
I'm glad that that happened to me.
I can see why my parents love me.
Now, go to Proverbs chapter 13, if you would.
Proverbs, go back to Proverbs.
The Bible also says in Revelation chapter 3 verse 19,
as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.
Be zealous, therefore, and repent.
God says he chastens those whom he loves.
And look, nothing can separate me from the love of Christ.
Look, once you're born again, God loves you, period.
There's no way that God can stop loving you.
But just as much I could never stop loving my children,
I could be pleased with them and I could be unpleased with them, right?
My children could make me angry with them,
but I'll never stop loving them.
The same thing is with God.
And we as good parents should always teach and train our children
that we'll always love them.
But if they disobey us, we will be unpleased with them.
We will punish them. We will chasten them.
And why do you do this?
Obviously because we love them, but also to give them wisdom.
Look at Proverbs 13 verse 12.
Apply thine heart unto instruction,
and thine ears to the words of knowledge.
Withhold not correction from the child,
for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
Thou shalt beat him with the rod,
and shalt deliver his soul from hell.
My son, if thine heart be wise,
my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
He's saying, why are you beating your child?
You're beating the hell out of him.
Not in the sense of how hard you're hurting him.
You're doing it spiritually.
He's saying, look, if you don't want your kids to go to hell,
you've got to beat them.
You've got to train them. You've got to chasten them.
You've got to scourge them.
And we see very clearly from this passage that it's not a suggestion.
I thought verse 14, thou shalt beat him.
That's the same as all the other Ten Commandments.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
The same one, thou shalt beat him.
You say, oh, we don't spank.
Just sounds like you don't believe the Bible.
Sounds like you don't actually follow God's commandments.
Sounds like you're in rebellion against God.
Look, these people that want to say,
well, we don't spank. We love our kids too much.
You hate your kids.
He that spareth the rod hateth his son is what the Bible says.
If you love your children, you're going to use the rod of correction.
And you know what that's going to do?
It's going to give them wisdom.
Look at verse 15.
My son, if thy heart be wise.
Look, why is he instructing his children to give them wisdom?
Go to Proverbs 4 now.
Go back to Proverbs chapter 4.
We gain wisdom from correction.
And think about it.
Just think of it as a general principle.
If I'm wrong about something and then someone corrects me,
I've gained information.
Doesn't that make me smarter?
Doesn't that make me more intelligent?
So obviously when I'm doing something bad,
when I'm doing something wrong and someone corrects me,
that's going to make me wiser.
I want to get all of my errors fixed.
I don't want to keep errors.
I don't want to keep things that are wrong.
I want to constantly be growing and learning
and getting new information.
That's why I love it when I read the Bible
and God keeps correcting me, keeps humbling me,
keeps teaching me and training me.
That's how I get wisdom.
Look at Proverbs 4 verse 1.
Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father
and attend to no understanding,
for I give you good doctrine, forsaking not my law.
For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved
in the sight of my mother.
He taught me also and said unto me,
Let thine heart retain my words,
keep my commandments, and live.
Get wisdom, get understanding, forget it not,
neither decline from the words of my mouth.
So who's talking here?
It's a father talking to his child
and he's saying you need to listen to my mouth.
Now obviously we can apply this spiritually too
to God's commandments, but it's both.
You need to hearken to the voice of your father
and your mother.
Look at verse 6.
Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee.
Love her, and she shall keep thee.
Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom.
And with all thy getting, get understanding,
exalt her, and she shall promote thee.
She shall bring thee to honor,
when thou dost embrace her.
She shall give thine head an ornament of grace,
a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.
Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings,
and the years of thy life shall be many.
Man, isn't the Bible consistent.
Hey, when you obey your father,
when you're getting wisdom from your father,
what's going to happen?
Your years are going to be many.
The years of your life.
Because the Bible keeps telling you,
hey, obey your parents, live long.
Obey your parents, live long.
You know what, if I meet a really old person,
I bet they obeyed their parents.
I bet they were pretty obedient unto their parents' rules.
Even the unsaved,
even the people that don't even believe the Bible,
when you look at an older person,
they probably have a lot of respect for their parents.
They probably did a lot of the things
that their parents taught them.
Their parents were very strict and stern with them,
and they loved their parents for it.
The Bible is consistent, because it's true.
Let's look at a couple more verses real quick,
and then we'll go to Genesis chapter 18.
But go to Proverbs 8.
Flip forward just a couple chapters.
The Bible says,
Hear me now therefore, ye children,
and depart not from the words of my mouth.
Look at Proverbs 8 verse 32.
Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children,
for blessed are they that keep my ways.
When you keep your parents' commandments,
when you keep their instruction, you're blessed.
Go to chapter 13.
Look at verse 22.
Chapter 13, verse 22.
The Bible says,
A good man leaveth an inheritance
to his children's children,
and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.
Now, when we read the first part of this verse,
I believe it has multiple applications.
I think most people, they immediately think of the carnal aspect, right?
Because who doesn't want to receive inheritance from their father, right?
And look, I think that that's true.
I think a wise parent will bless their children carnally.
Why not?
Why wouldn't you want to give an inheritance unto your children?
Why wouldn't you want to bless them?
But more important, how about a spiritual inheritance?
How about giving your children wisdom?
How about teaching them to go to church three times a week?
You say, hey, I want my kids to go to church three times a week when they're older.
Well, do you go to church three times a week?
Are you taking them to church three times a week?
If you're not, then my question is, why would they?
You give them that inheritance.
Hey, I want my kid to be an independent fundamental Baptist.
Well, take him to an independent fundamental Baptist church.
Hey, I want my children to have good doctrine.
Well, sit them down at home and teach them the Bible.
Teach them the doctrines.
Hey, I want my child to be a good soul winner.
Teach them how to go soul winning.
Take your kids out with you soul winning.
This is just obvious, and we see the wealth of the sinners laid up for the just,
saying, look, the wicked things that people lay up, they're not even going to retain them.
But you know what?
If you instruct your child in wisdom, that wisdom's not going to go away.
Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Look, if you teach your child to be wise, he's not going to lose that.
And that's why it's more important than riches, because your child could waste all the riches.
Your child could waste the inheritance you give him carnally,
but if you give him a spiritual inheritance, that's much more ingrained into their soul and into their heart.
Go to Genesis chapter 18, Genesis chapter 18.
The Bible says in Proverbs chapter number 14,
In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence, and his children shall have a place of refuge.
So if we fear God, the Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
The Bible says the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom.
So when you fear God's commandments, that's how you get wisdom.
That's how you have strong confidence, and your children can have a place of refuge.
You want to keep your children safe?
Have the fear of God.
Fear God's commandments.
You want to love your children and give them protection, and you want to give them wisdom?
You must fear God's commandments yourself.
Look at Genesis 18, verse 18.
Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation,
and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him,
for I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him,
and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment,
that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him.
Now here's a question.
Why did God choose Abraham?
You know, a lot of people, these, like, Calvinists, they think, you know, everything,
God just picks everybody and does everything, we're all just these puppets or whatever,
and they try to twist predestination, okay?
They try to twist the facts of the Bible, but God does predestine everything.
But the question is, why does God predestine some people to be saved and some people to be damned?
Why are some people predestined to do great works and others not to do great works?
It's based on his foreknowledge of their actions.
He says, hey, you're predestined to be saved because you're going to believe on me,
because you're going to love me.
You know what? I'm going to foreordain that Jeremiah is going to be a prophet under the nations.
Why? Because I know that he's going to be faithful,
because I know he's going to preach my word,
because I know he's going to be a brazen wall to any of his enemies.
He knew that's how Jeremiah was going to be.
That's why he picked him. Why did he pick Judas?
Because he knew he'd betray him.
So look, he's picking people based on his foreknowledge of their actions,
of what they're going to do, what their faith is going to be like.
Why did he pick Abraham?
Because he said, this guy is going to teach his children right.
This guy is going to take Isaac on the altar, and he's going to sacrifice him even if I tell him to.
I know that about Abraham. That's why I picked him.
He's not just picking your average Joe off the street and then forcing him to be Abraham.
No, he knows Abraham. He loves Abraham. That's why he picked Abraham.
And look, God foreknew you.
God has works ordained for you.
The question is, are you going to walk in them?
Are you going to do the works that God has ordained you to do?
And we see as a father, as a parent, God has ordained for you to be a godly parent,
to be a godly father, a godly mother.
But are you going to do it?
Are you going to be like Abraham?
Are you going to give your children wisdom?
Go to Matthew chapter 15.
So that was my first point, and it was a little bit long, all right?
The first point, why should we honor our father and mother?
What is that about? It's about being obedient.
If you're not obedient, then you're not really honoring your father and your mother.
And the same goes with God.
If we're going to honor God the Father, we must be obedient unto his commandments,
be obedient to everything he teaches us.
But there's another way to look at the word honor,
and the Bible teaches clearly that honor can mean another thing.
Honor can be referred to money.
It can be referred to financial situations, okay?
It can be giving someone honor to whom honor is due.
What the Bible is saying, look, if, hey, I have to give somebody money, I give them honor.
Now, here's a common example of this.
If you have somebody that's getting married, okay,
it's customary that the groom will give an honorarium unto the priest
or to anybody involved in the service.
And what is that? It's money.
You hand them 100 bucks, you hand them 200 bucks, you just hand them some money.
Why are you giving them honor?
You're giving him money, and the same thing applies with your parents.
Look at Matthew chapter 15, verse number 4.
For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother,
and he that curses father and mother, let him die the death.
But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother,
It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me,
and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free.
Thus ye have made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition,
ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you,
saying, This people draw nigh unto me with their mouth,
and oneth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Now, this is kind of a harder passage to understand what's being said here, okay.
What is happening?
Well, in verse number 5, he says,
Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift.
What is happening?
Well, if we look at the latter part of this phrase, we'll understand.
He says, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me.
It's saying your parents could use something of substance that you have,
maybe money, maybe a car, maybe housing,
something that you could profit your parents with,
and whenever the situation comes, maybe they're asking,
maybe somebody else is saying, Hey, can you help them?
You're saying, Oh, I can't give that unto my parents.
That's a gift.
That's a gift. That's not something I can just give unto them.
Now, who's the gift to?
We'll go to Mark chapter number 7.
We'll get a little bit stronger insight of what this is teaching us.
But the gift was a sacrifice unto God.
They're saying, No, I've laid aside that as a gift to God.
I couldn't give that to you.
So anything that they want, anything you could possibly help your parents with,
they're just saying, Oh, no, that's laid aside for God.
I can't give that to you.
I don't want to help you.
And then what do they do?
Well, they don't actually keep God's commandment.
The commandment was to honor thy father and mother.
They're saying, No, this is a gift to God.
Now, in the Bible, does it ever say you have to give gifts to God?
No, you're supposed to tithe.
But then you have things in the Bible called free will offerings.
Now, a free will offering is of your own volition, okay?
It's not a commandment.
It's not a commandment to give gifts unto God.
It should be out of your own free will.
And they're trying to say, No, we want to give a sacrifice unto God.
But then what do they do?
They invalidate the commandment to honor thy father and thy mother.
And Jesus is looking at them saying, Whoa, I would way rather you just keep my commandments
and actually help your parents than give this sacrificial gift to God.
And he understands that when they're giving it, they're not even doing it because they love God.
They're just doing to be seen of men.
They're just doing it out of feigned lips.
They don't actually care.
They're just trying to look more spiritual, more pious.
Oh, that's for God.
All my money goes to God.
But then they do what?
They let their parents be forsaken.
And you know what?
The Bible teaches that when your parents get older,
you are the one responsible to take care of them financially.
You're supposed to be.
That's God's retirement program.
You have a bunch of kids and then your kids take care of you.
Look at Mark, chapter seven, verse 10.
For Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother.
And whoso curses father and mother, let him die the death.
So that was the commandment.
OK, look at verse 11.
But ye say, if a man shall say to his father and mother, It is Corban,
that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, he shall be free.
And ye suffer him no more to do aught for his father or his mother,
making the word of God of none effect through your tradition,
which ye have delivered, and many such like things do you.
What is he saying?
Well, Corban is only found in the Bible one time.
If you look it up, it's basically a sacrifice to God.
It's just some type of offering that you want to give to God.
That's what the dictionary says or that's what online says.
And we see the Bible tells us it was a gift, right?
So it's a gift that's addressed.
And we see he shall be made free.
What is he saying?
He's free from any burden of helping his parents.
He's saying, hey, this money could help my parents.
Oh, no, that's a gift.
I can't give that to you.
I can't give this gift.
So now he's free.
And we see it says in verse number 12,
And ye suffer him no more to do aught for his father or his mother,
seeing that the person will not help his parents.
His parents are starving.
His parents are losing their house.
And then you have these vipers, these people praying on them,
getting reverse mortgages and just stealing all their money right from underneath them.
And you won't help your parents.
Oh, it's a gift.
I sacrificially give unto my church.
I can't help my parents.
God's saying, that's wrong.
You're like a Pharisee.
You ought to obey God's commandments rather than give me a gift.
I don't want your gift.
It's garbage.
Why don't you actually follow my commandments?
That's the whole duty of man.
And he's saying, look, you're supposed to honor thy father and thy mother.
You say, hey, my parents are struggling.
Help them.
That's what God commands.
Go if you would to John chapter number 19.
See, I don't think Jesus cared that much about it.
Let's see how much Jesus actually cared about this.
John chapter 19.
Jesus Christ has taken the sins of the whole world upon himself.
He's on the cross.
He's got the crown of thorns.
Blood's coming down his head.
He's struggling for every single breath.
He's struggling for life.
He has the weight of the whole world upon his shoulders.
And let's see what he says in verse 25.
Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister,
Mary the wife of Cleophas and Mary Magdalene.
When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple standing by whom he loved,
he saith unto his mother, woman, behold thy son.
And saith he to the disciple, behold thy mother.
And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.
Jesus, in his darkest hour, when he's struggling the most that any person could ever struggle,
he still cares about his mother.
He still is honoring his mother.
He's saying, John, you've got to take care of my mother.
I'm going to go out of this world.
I'm not going to be here.
John, will you take care of my mother for me?
Will you take her unto you?
We see that Jesus Christ was still honoring his father and his mother in his darkest moments.
Right before he dies and goes to hell.
Go to Matthew chapter number 8.
Matthew chapter number 8.
We see that the men of God, they cared for their parents.
They cared for the commandments of God.
Look at Matthew chapter 8 verse 14.
And when Jesus was coming to Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid and sick of a fever.
And he touched her hand and the fever left her and she arose and ministered unto him.
So where were they?
They were in Peter's house.
He was like, hey, Pastor Shelley, I got this.
I can take care of my parents.
Well, I got some bad news.
It was also his wife's mother.
So you've got to take care of the in-laws too.
According to the Bible, that's God's commandment.
And we see even Peter, when they go to his house, where's the mother-in-law?
She's at Peter's house.
Why? Because he's taking care of her.
Because he loves his parents.
He's honoring his father and his mother.
Go to 1 Timothy chapter number 5.
1 Timothy chapter number 5.
What does the Bible teach?
The Bible teaches that God's people, God's children should honor thy father and thy mother.
Not just be obedient, you should also financially help them if they need it.
Look at 1 Timothy chapter 5 verse 1.
Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father,
and the younger men as brethren, the elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters with all purity.
Honor widows that are widows indeed.
Now, someone that doesn't agree with me, you're going to get destroyed at this point, okay?
Because you say, oh, we just got to be nice to the widows.
If you only think that honor means, you know, respect and being nice, this chapter will make no sense to you.
Honor is clearly also something financial.
Look at verse 4.
But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to show piety at home,
and to requite their parents, for that is good and acceptable before God.
Now she that is a widow indeed and desolate,
trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.
But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.
And these things give in charge that they may be blameless,
but if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house,
he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
So he's saying, look Timothy, you got to tell the people in the church of God,
you better take care of your parents, otherwise you're worse than an unbeliever, an infidel.
That's some strong language.
He's saying, look, if you want to be blameless,
if you want to follow the commandments of God,
you better honor your father and your mother, you better provide for them,
and he's not talking to the women, he's talking to the men.
You men ought to provide for your house, your whole house,
and even the widows in your family.
It says children or nephews, that means your aunt.
That means anybody in that family tree you got, you would take care of them.
Now obviously some people might refuse.
You know, they might not allow you to take care of them.
And look, if I was going to take someone in my house, they got to follow my rules.
I'm not going to compromise my children, but I'll tell you this,
there is not a family member that I would not take in help.
Why? Because that's what God commands us to do.
I don't want to be like an unbeliever.
I don't want God to look at me and say, oh man, why?
Because I want to live a long life.
He's saying, hey, why are you doing this, Pastor Shelley?
Why? So I can live longer.
You want to live longer? Treat your parents well.
Honor thy father and thy mother.
Look at verse 16.
If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them,
and let not the church be charged that it may relieve them that are widows indeed.
Now when you study this chapter, it gives you the caveat,
when would the church take God's money and just give it to a widow?
And man, when you read that list, you realize pretty much nobody's ever fallen on that list.
I mean, this woman has been diligently following every good work.
She's like old. She has no one to take care of her.
She has no family. She's done everything right.
She's a great servant and a saint.
Then at that point, he says, you know what? Take God's money and help her out.
Just let the church.
But you know what? When you have widows in the church that are going without,
it makes the church look bad, obviously, right?
I mean, if you have widows in the church and they're struggling to get by
and it's like nobody's going to help them.
But he's saying, look, here's the plan to fix it.
Tell their sons and their nephews to take care of them.
You're the one that's supposed to take care of them.
Any man or woman, not just the men.
Hey, everyone is supposed to take care of their parents, of the women and the men and their family.
Go if you go to Leviticus chapter 19.
So that was the second point we had in the morning sermon.
We have one last point.
So when we think about honoring, obviously, we need to be obedient to our parents.
But not only that, we should be willing to help them financially.
And we see that God in the New Testament explains both.
He said in Ephesians that we're supposed to obey our parents for this is right, right?
Not only that, we see in the gospels that Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees
for not financially supporting their parents by twisting the commandments,
not observing the commandments.
And look, this is what the Pharisee attitude is, okay?
They want to teach you their personal opinion over the commandments of God.
Wicked.
I should never impose my personal preferences upon you as commandments.
You know what are commandments? What God said.
Remember in Exodus chapter 20 verse 1?
And God spake all these words.
If I'm going to get up and say, thus saith the Lord, chapter and verse please.
Chapter and verse.
That's why it's stupid when people get up and say, here's commandment,
thus saith the Lord, but they don't have chapter and verse.
Like that's what the Pharisees were like.
But here's another thing that we need to take in consideration
is that we need to also have respect unto our parents.
So some people, they think, honor thy father and mother.
Well, I don't live with them, so I guess I'm done.
You know, I grew up, I'm 18 years old, now I don't have to honor my father and mother.
And you got to help them financially, but not only that,
you should always respect your parents, period.
Till you die or they die, respect should all, even after they die.
You shouldn't just be, you know, cursing them when they're in the grave either.
You should still have respect unto your elders, you should respect your parents.
Look at Leviticus, chapter 19, verse 32.
Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honor the face of the old man,
and fear thy God, I am the Lord.
Now in this verse, did it say, honor the really good men, the saints, the perfect.
He says, look, just by being old, you should have respect unto the old man.
You should treat older people with respect.
That does not mean you have to listen to every single thing that comes out of their mouth, okay?
If they say something against the Bible, I'm going to believe the Bible.
I'm still going to do what the Bible says, but you know what, I'm going to do it respectfully.
Say, hey, I hear what you're saying, and I know that you're older and you have more wisdom than me,
but my final authority is the King James Bible, and I'm going to live by what God's Word says.
Here's chapter and verse of why I disagree, okay?
I'm not going to sit here and just say, oh, you're just old fuddy-duddy, you don't know anything,
you didn't grow up in this time, you don't have a smartphone, you don't know what's what.
Let me tell you something, I'm not going to say that to an older person.
That's disrespectful, God doesn't like that attitude.
You know what, I should have respect unto elders, respect unto older people.
Go back to Titus, go back to the New Testament, go to Titus chapter number 2.
Now the Bible said in verse 25, rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father.
I've heard some, you know, people try to teach that that's not a pastor,
and it's clear in the Bible that that's a pastor, but I'm not going to take the time to prove that.
But it's still true, okay, that we should have respect unto older people.
And I believe why in that passage it doesn't mention older men is because that should just be understood.
That's just obvious that you'd have respect unto older men that have position and authority.
Look at Titus chapter 2 verse 1,
But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine, that the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity and patience.
So the pastor is still supposed to teach the aged men.
He's still supposed to instruct the aged men.
This is why if you have the interpretation that rebuke not an elder is an older man, stupid.
I'd have to be, wait a minute, everybody raise your hand that's older than me so I can't rebuke you real quick.
This is only for the younger people, okay.
Obviously the pastor is supposed to rebuke with all authority.
The Bible says not to let a man despise his youth.
So clearly it's not just saying you can never rebuke an older person.
But at the same time we're never supposed to rebuke a pastor.
That's super clear in the Bible, okay.
But as a pastor, as a man of God, you're supposed to still command that the aged men be sober,
quit drinking, throw out the liquor.
Not only that, be grave, be serious.
Take your life seriously, even when you're older.
Be temperate, sound in the faith, in charity. Why?
Because the older men have great influence on the congregation.
They have great influence on their children.
They have great influence on their younger children.
And look, I haven't raised any teenagers.
You know what would be great?
When I get to that point my dad can still give me wisdom.
My dad can still give me instruction.
Look, I'm not old enough, oh, I already got it all figured out.
I don't need my dad to help me with anything.
That's stupid. That's ignorant.
No, my dad has lots of wisdom and I can still learn from him.
I can still ask him questions.
He can still guide me.
As long as we both have breath in our lungs, I'm going to have honor under my father.
I'm going to have respect under my father.
Now if he tells me something contrary to the Bible, I'm still going to believe the Bible.
I'm still going to hearken to what God said.
But that does not mean that I can't learn something from him.
Even if my dad was unsaved.
Look, older people, they just know a lot more things than you.
They've lived life.
They can still give you good advice even when they're not saved.
So you should still have respect unto your elders, period.
Look at verse number three.
The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as become of holiness,
not false accusers, not given too much wine,
teachers of good things, that they may teach the young women to be sober,
to love their husbands, love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home,
good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
Now I love these verses, but unfortunately there's a dearth in the land.
The baby boomer generation forsook the commandments of God.
There's a lacking of elder women who served God to teach the younger women.
So unfortunately a lot of younger women, they have to figure out breastfeeding without any instruction.
They have to figure out how to cook meals without instruction.
They have to figure out how to be subject unto their husbands without instruction
because their mothers were mouthing off to their husband every single day.
And we see that it's important that the elder women live godly
so that they can teach the younger women all the skills necessary to live their life successfully.
You know what would be great? If we raise up a bunch of godly women that can teach and train their daughters.
You know, I've seen so many women, my wife included, thinking,
I wish I had an older woman to just ask what she did. How did she do it?
But they didn't even do it. They didn't do the breastfeeding. They didn't have lots of kids.
They didn't raise their children going to church three times a week.
They didn't learn how to teach their children to obey in the church service.
They put them in the nursery program where they run around screaming with their heads off.
And then guess what kind of church they want to go to?
The Pentecostal church where everybody's running around screaming with their heads off.
Look, you want your kids to go to the right church, bring them into the right church.
That's why we're family integrated.
Why? Because I want your children to like this kind of church.
God's church. The Bible. Loving God's word.
Not getting you a picture show and a coloring mat and a snack.
That's not godly. That's not going to teach them anything.
Go to Psalms chapter 71. Psalms chapter 71. We're almost finished.
And look, some people, they despise getting older.
Myself included, it kind of dreads, you know, it's a little bit dreadful. I'll just be honest, all right?
I think of it and I'm like, man, what am I going to do?
You know, what do most old people do? They just want to retire.
You know, I want to go get the country club membership and vacation and travel and just live it up.
Living it up when you're old, that just sounds, it sounds like it'd be depressing.
It's like, I remember when I was young and I could actually play golf.
I remember when I was young and I actually enjoyed doing all this travel and I could actually taste food.
Now I've lost all my taste buds and, you know, I can't even enjoy anything.
But look, the Bible has a plan for the elderly.
The Bible teaches that being old is not a bad thing. It's a good thing.
If you follow God's commandments, look at Psalm 71 verse 15.
My mouth shall show forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day.
For I know not the numbers thereof. I will go in the strength of the Lord God.
I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.
O God, thou hast taught me from my youth and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.
Now also, when I am old and gray headed, O God, forsake me not until I have showed thy strength
unto this generation and thy power to everyone that is to come.
The Bible says when you get older, you're supposed to teach the Bible just as much or more.
And guess what? You should have a lot of wisdom.
You know, when you got older, you have so much more life experience.
You've seen things come and go.
And you know what? It'd be great if you'd been in a God's church for a long time.
Because you'd say, look, the heretics, they're going to come and go.
The enemies, they're going to come and go.
And you can help support the weak.
You can help support those that haven't seen it.
You say, I've seen this every single year for 40 years.
Look, this guy's a heretic. Get away from him.
Wasn't the Bible teaching us in Proverbs chapter 1 that the father would tell his son,
don't go with those guys. These are some bad people, some bad apples, you know.
Get away from these kind of people.
And we see we need the elderly. We need every generation.
God doesn't look, oh, just the young are important.
Nope. The elders are just as much important, if not more so,
that they can teach and train and instruct the young and to guide them.
And you say, well, every old I have to be church I've ever been to is just old people.
Well, guess what? They didn't teach and train their children.
They didn't teach them the Bible.
They took everything they had for granted.
They forsook God's commandments.
And now they're suffering for it.
If you don't want to be that kind of church,
if we don't want to just all get old and die and the doors shut down,
we must teach and train our children.
And you know what? They'll love us for it.
And if you see your parents honoring their father and mother, guess what they'll want to do?
They'll want to honor you.
When they see you constantly backbiting against your parents,
not financially supporting your parents,
not having respect for your parents,
guess what's going to happen when they get older?
Not going to have respect for you.
Not going to show you the piety at home.
Not going to want to take care of you.
We see that all of God's commandments are super important.
They have so much ramification on our lives.
We need to take it seriously that we honor our father and our mother.
And go to Ephesians chapter 6.
This is the last place I want to have you turn, okay?
We'll read it again, but I'll read for you from Malachi chapter 1.
The Bible says,
God's saying, if you're supposed to obey your physical parents,
why aren't you obeying me?
And you know what?
Just as much respect as we should have for our parents,
we must have for God.
We must have fear of God.
The Bible says in Psalms 111,
Holy and Reverend is his name.
We should have respect under the name of God.
Respect under the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Psalms 89 verse 7 says,
We must have respect for God and man.
Both.
And we must, if you want to have respect for God,
you've got to also have it for man.
If you're not having it for man, God's saying,
well, you don't really respect me then.
You don't really respect my commandment.
You didn't really respect me when I said in the Ten Commandments
to honor thy father and thy mother.
Look at Ephesians chapter 6 verse 2.
Do you really fear God?
Do you fear that God could take your life right now?
If you do, then you need to honor your father and your mother.
What does that mean?
You must be obedient.
You must obey your parents.
Not only that, you must financially support them when they need it.
Not only that, you must have respect under your parents.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you Father so much for your Word.
Thank you so much for being such a loving father unto us.
I pray that we would have the same respect and honor to you
as to our physical parents
unto those that are in our lives that we respect our elders.
I thank you so much for the wisdom and love and protection that you give us
and how much you take care of us.
I pray that we would get these commandments deep into our heart.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.