(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Now, the title of this message this morning is going to come there in verses 7 and 8 where the Bible says, Who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears, unto him that was able to save from death, and was heard and that he feared, though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. The title of the sermon is, Learning Obedience. So we see right away that learning obedience is an example that Jesus Christ set for us. It's an example that he put forth when he, as it says there, with strong crying and tears referring back to the Garden of Gethsemane when he was facing crucifixion, when he was facing arrest and certain death, that he prayed and with strong prayers and supplications and strong crying, cried out unto the Father. And if you recall in that passage he says, Not my will, but thy will be done. So we see that he's being obedient to the will of the Father in that passage. And we can see that Christ in all things is an example of how we ought to live our lives and we see here that he learned obedience. And that's what I want to talk about this morning, is learning obedience. Obedience is something that we have to have in our Christian life, it's something that affects everybody in our Christian life, and it's very important that we have it. And if you will, just turn back to Matthew chapter 7, and you're going to flip around a little bit this morning, but I'll go easy on you, I know it's early, but we are going to be turning to several scriptures, but Matthew chapter 7 and verse 21. What I want to do before I really get into the meat of the message, I want to clarify something because a lot of times when you start talking about things like obedience, when you start talking about doing the commands of God, a lot of people can take that and misunderstand it for, oh, that's what you have to do to go into heaven. That you have to obey God, that you have to keep his commandments, so you have to do his will in order to go to heaven when you die. But there's only one thing that you need to obey in the Bible in order to go to heaven. There's only one thing that we have to be obedient to, and that's the Gospel. Now if you look there in Matthew chapter 7 and verse 21, the Bible reads, Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. So there is a will of the Father which is in heaven, and Jesus is saying here that only the people that do the will of the Father are going to come into heaven. So there is something we have to obey, there is a will that we have to be subject to in order to go to heaven. He says in verse 22, Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? So here are these people that are lifting up themselves and saying, we've done many wonderful works, and he's rejecting them. He says there in verse 23, And I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from ye that work iniquity. So they're doing all these works in the name of the Lord, but God is still telling them to depart. So we see that the will of the Father is not necessarily works, but what is the will of the Father? Turning it over to Matthew chapter 12, Matthew chapter 12 verse 50. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 12 verse 50, For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother. So we see again where Jesus is saying that there is a will of the Father in heaven, and that if you want to be a part of God's family, if you want to be one of God's children, you have to do the will of the Father. So there is something that we have to obey. There is a will that we have to be subject to, a will of the Father in heaven that we have to do in order to go to heaven. But what is that will? Well Jesus tells us over in John chapter 6, John chapter 6 verse 37, John chapter 6 verse 37, All that the Father hath given me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will no wise cast out. That's a great verse on eternal security. All that we come to Jesus, he will no wise cast out. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me. So there it is. We've seen in Matthew where Jesus is referring to doing the will of the Father. He's saying only those which do the will of the Father shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Only those that do the will of the Father are going to be those that are part of God's family. So what is that will? This is the will of the Father's will, and this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up on the last day. So what is the will of the Father? It's that we would see the Son and that we would believe on him. And of course today we know we can't physically see Jesus but we can see him in the Word. He is the Word made flesh. We can see the Word, we can hear the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and we can choose to believe on Jesus Christ, and that is doing the will of the Father. Because going to heaven is simply by believing, that's what Jesus is saying here. If you believe on him, you may have everlasting life, and Jesus will in no wise cast you out if you come unto the Father through faith, not by doing your own good works. So we see that when we're talking about learning obedience, it's something that applies to people who have put their faith in Jesus Christ, that's the people I'm preaching to this morning. I'm not trying to tell you another way into heaven, that you have to work your way into heaven. I'm not going to tell you that people were saved one way in the Old Testament, they're saved by grace today, but in the future they're going to be saved by works again. It's always been by faith through grace. So that's who I'm preaching to this morning, is those that have already put their faith in Jesus Christ. Now the first thing I want us to notice about learning obedience is that obedience is commanded in scripture. And I'll read to you from Deuteronomy chapter 11, you can turn there if you'd like. In Deuteronomy chapter 11, learning obedience, what is the first thing you know about obedience? Is that something that is commanded in scripture? Every believer is commanded to obey the word of God. Deuteronomy chapter 11 and verse 26, where the Bible reads, Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse, a blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day, and a curse if you will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God. But turn aside out of the way which I have commanded you this day, to go after other gods which ye have not known. So the Bible through Moses here is kind of reminding the children of Israel of everything that they have done at this point, everything that was leading up to this point. And he's telling them, look, all the commandments that I've given you, all of the law that I've laid down, all of these things, if you do them, if you obey them, you'll be blessed. But if you don't do them, if you disregard them, there's going to be consequences. So you see how obedience is something that is commanded in scripture, and if you recall the scripture, I can't remember exactly where it is, but it says to obey is better than sacrifice. And disobedience is the sin of witchcraft. So you see that obedience is something that is a part of our life, and it is something that has to be a part of our life if we want the blessing of God in our life. So you see there in Deuteronomy where it says if you obey, you're going to have blessings, but if you disobey, you're going to be cursed. So not only is obedience something that's commanded, but disobedience has consequences. Obedience has consequences, and disobedience has consequences. It's not as if we chose to just ignore the word of God. If we said, you know, I understand what the blessings or the commandments of the word of God are, but you know what? I don't want to do them. If we just set them aside and say, you know what, I'm not going to obey the commandments of the word of God, it's not that God just says, okay, well I guess I won't bless you then. No, it's that He will curse you. God will actually Himself will go against you. There will be a punishment. It would be just as if, you know, one of my children were to decide not to obey my commandments. If I told them to do something and they did not do it, there would be consequences. It wouldn't just be that, oh, I guess that's going to go undone. Oh, I guess they just get away with not doing that. No, there would be consequences. They would be taught to learn obedience, and that's something that we need to learn, because obedience is something that has consequences, for good or for worse. Now in Romans chapter 5, we're going to see how severe the consequences of disobedience can be. How severe the consequences of disobedience can be. If you recall, who was the first person to ever disobey in the Bible? Well, it was Adam, wasn't it? He was told, thou shalt not need of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He said, all the other trees thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou mayest not eat. He was told, don't eat of that tree. And what did he have doing? He disobeyed. That was the only commandment he had to keep. That was the one thing he could not do. And that's exactly what he ended up doing. He disobeyed. Now, it was just one sin, but look at the consequences there in Romans chapter 5 verse 12. Wherefore as by one man, speaking of Adam, he is that one man, wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin. So death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. So when Adam disobeyed the commandment to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it's not just that, well, I guess now he knows good and evil. No, there was consequences. Death came by sin into the world through him, he sinned against God, and then death entered by sin, and death passed upon all men. We all now have that fallen nature that Adam brought into the world. We all have that sinful flesh that Adam brought into the world. Look at verse 18. Therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men and the justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one many shall be made righteous. Now we can see here that the consequences of being obedient and being disobedient, of learning to obey and of not learning to obey. You know, the disobedience led that many sinners, and we're all sinners today, we're all condemned because of Adam's sin, because of his disobedience, but we can also have the blessing of eternal life by the obedience of Jesus Christ. He became obedient even unto death, and he suffered those things and learned obedience so that many could be made righteous. So we can see how disobedience has consequences. We can see also how obedience has consequences. You know, if we want God's blessing in our life, if we want God to use us, if we want God to be able to bless us and to help us and to treat us well and to do good things for us, then we have to obey His word. It's not just this, well I'm your child and I get to behave however I want, and you have to bless me. That would be the attitude of a spoiled brat who just thinks that they should get everything they want just because they're somebody's child. They have to learn obedience. If you want good things from your parents, you have to do the things that they say, they have to obey their rules. I'll read to you from Exodus chapter 19. And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou save the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel, Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagle's wings, and brought you unto Myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice, if ye will obey My voice, and keep My covenant, then shall ye be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people, for the earth is Mine. So he's saying here, if you obey, then you'll be My peculiar treasure. And I'll be able to make you a light unto the Gentiles, I will make you a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people, for the earth is Mine. And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests and holy nation. So he's saying, you're going to be special, you're going to be a peculiar people, you're going to be a holy nation set apart, different from all those around you, when you have My blessing upon you, and you'll have that blessing when you obey My voice, when you do the commandments that I command you. So we see that obedience has consequences every bit as much as disobedience has consequences. So we can see how important it is to learn obedience, and that's what we're talking about this morning, is learning obedience. Now the other thing we need to learn about obedience is the fact that it's for everybody. It's not just for certain groups of people. There's no person in this world that doesn't need to learn obedience. I don't care what your role is, I don't care what your position in life is, who you are, you must learn obedience. Obedience is for everyone. Now we could say, it's even for pastors, men who would get up behind the pulpit and preach the Word of God, they also have to learn obedience. They must obey the Word of God. There's certain things that they have to obey the Word of God. For example, just to become a pastor, I've met the qualifications of 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. There are certain things that you have to obey, certain things that you have to keep if you desire to be a pastor. Visions are not exempt from being obedient to the Word of God. 1 Timothy 3 verse 1 says this, This is a true saying, if a man desires the office of a bishop, he desires the good work. A bishop that must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous, one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride, he befallen with the condemnation of the devil. So we see here that even a pastor has to meet certain qualifications, and it's not that you can get most of these on the list and maybe miss one or two, you have to meet all of these qualifications. And if you look at that list, a lot of it just has to do with the type of character that person has, vigilant, sober, given to hospitality, apt to teach, all these different things that he must do and must not do. He must be blameless, the husband of one wife. The divorcee cannot be a pastor. If you've been divorced, the pastor does not for you. You have to keep that commandment that God has commanded us, must obey it, in that we should not put away our spouses. A man must not put away his wife if he desires to be a pastor. According to 1 Timothy 3, according to the word of God, meaning that even the pastor is subject to obedience to the word of God. Not only must they meet those qualifications, but we also know that they must preach the whole counsel of God. They can't get up as a pastor and if they want to obey God and be blessed and have a blessed church and a life and be used to God mightily, they have to preach the whole counsel of God. We see so many pastors that are failing today, so many pastors that are coming up short, so many pastors that are just washed up, wishy washy, and just dead as a doornail, not doing great things for God. All they could point to is a building. All they could say is, well I have a huge parking lot. All they could say is, I have a very large building. It's a very large and empty building. And the people that are there are not doing great works for God. They're not going out on the highways and hedges and winning souls to Christ. It's because they're not getting up and preaching the whole counsel of God. They're holding back. They're trimming the message. They're not obeying the command to preach the word of God. As it says in 2 Timothy 4, I charge thee before God. That's who the charge is to the pastor, who it is before. It's not just that the people are holding the pastor accountable for what he preaches, but it's that God himself is going to make that man accountable for what he preaches or what he does not preach. I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead as appearing in his kingdom. Preach the word. He didn't say preach the parts that are popular, he didn't say preach the parts that tickle your ear, or preach the parts that make everybody feel good. There's a lot of negative things in the word of God that must be preached. There's a lot of things that go against the grain of our culture that must be preached. And people, pastors today are reluctant, they're gun-shy, to pull the trigger on the word of God, on the harder, more difficult passages of the word of God. There's certain passages that they'll never turn to, certain verses that they'll never read. But they're charged before God, and when a pastor holds back, when a pastor does not preach the entire counsel of the word of God, that man is in disobedience. He is not obeying the command to preach the word. So we see, first of all, that obedience is for everybody, even for the pastor, even for a man of God who would get up behind the pulpit to preach the word. He has certain qualifications that he must meet, and he has a certain obligation to preach the entire word of God. Obedience is for everybody, and obedience has consequences. Obedience has consequences for the pastor as well. In 1 Corinthians 9, I'll read for you, Though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, Necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is unto me, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel. So Paul is saying here, you know, it's not that I preach the gospel just because I really like you. He's saying, I preach the gospel because if I don't, woe is unto me if I don't. Because he's been charged to preach the gospel, he's been charged to preach the word of God. That would be a good verse for a lot of pastors today too. Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. You know, not just from your pulpit on a Sunday morning when you've got a crowd of people there trying to get them to come down an aisle and take a knee. It would be good for pastors today to go out on Monday, to go out on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, to go out and preach the word of God to the lost in the highways and hedges. To go out and actually knock a door and present the gospel to somebody and confront them with the gospel about their salvation. That would be good for them to do. I think a lot of pastors are going to give an account for that. You know, they just want to send everybody else to go do the work but they themselves don't want to get out there and get their hands dirty and preach the word of God. And they have to understand this, obedience has consequences for them too. They will give an account before God. In Hebrews 13, Paul wrote, Obey them which have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls. And that's a heavy charge to lay upon a man of God. The man who gets up week in and week out and preaches the word of God, that he is to be the under shepherd, that he is to watch for the souls of the people that are under his watch. That he is to make sure he preaches the whole counsel of God so they can know and understand how they ought to live their lives in order to be pleasing unto God and live a blessed and full life in accordance to God's word. They are to watch for their souls as they that must give account. So we see that pastors one day are going to give an account to God for the way that they preached, for what they did, for the watch that they kept over God's flock. But they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you. So again, learning obedience, that's for everybody and it has consequences. It's for pastors even. But also it's not just for the pastor but it's also for the flock. The people that are under the sound of the pastor's voice. In Romans 14 verse 7 the Bible says, For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living. But why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set at naught thy brother? For we shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ, for it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one another anymore, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. So Paul is reminding us here in verse 12 that we ought to be careful how we treat our brethren. We ought to be careful that we don't put a stumbling block in their way because we are going to give an account of ourselves to God. And you're not going to be able to just pass all that off on the pastor. Well, I had a lousy pastor. He didn't preach that to me. Well, did you read it? Did you have a Bible for yourself? We're going to give an account to God ourselves as members of a flock. It's not just the pastors that have to learn obedience, but it's also for the flock. I mean, that's the purpose of the pastor. That's why he needs to be obedient to the word of God. To preach the entire account of the word of God. So that the flock could give a good account of themselves to God. See, we're going to give an account for our works here on this earth as members of the flock. Obedience is for everybody. It's not just for the pastor, but it's also for the flock. And just as the pastor is going to give an account, the flock is going to give an account. And that's made very clear in 1 Corinthians 3. Where it says, For no other foundation can a man lay that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. So the Bible's showing us here that we're going to give an account for the works that we do here for God. Not working in order to get to heaven, but the works that we do after we're saved, after we've believed on Jesus Christ, after we've obeyed the will of the Father, and believed on Jesus Christ, and received eternal life through his death, burial, and resurrection. Once we're saved, we think we'll give an account for the things that we do or don't do. And it's not referring to sin that we fall into. God has forgiven us all of our sins. He's forgotten, as far as the east from the west, he has separated us from our sins. What a great verse, what a great idea that God has forgotten all the sins that are past. And if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and it cleanses from all unrighteousness. So it's important to understand that, but it's also important to understand that we will give an account for the works that we do. Were we slothful servants, were we lazy Christians, did we not read our Bible, did we not go soul-witting, did we not obey the commandments of the word of God, did we not raise our children to live for God, were we worldly, did we seek after sinful pleasures in this life? Then we're going to suffer loss. But did we obey the commandments of the word of God, did we obey the preaching that we heard, did we do the works that we were supposed to do, then we'll receive a reward. So we see that learning obedience is for the pastor, that it's for the flock. You know that would pretty much cover everybody, wouldn't it? Anybody that's in a church has commanded to learn obedience, and that there's consequences for that obedience, or disobedience. But it would even go farther than that, I would say that there's another group of people that have to learn obedience, and that's husbands. Husbands are commanded specific things in Scripture that they are to obey. They are to obey the role that they have been commanded to fulfill. So we see that even husbands, a man who is married and has children, even he has certain commandments that he is to keep, that are specific to him. Ephesians 5, verse 25, the Bible reads, Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. So you see that right there, that's a command in Scripture, that husbands love their wives. We know that love is not just this lovey-dovey, emotional, squishy feeling that you get in hopes that it's not just this emotional experience, but rather that it's actually, love is more than that. It is that, of course, but it's also more than that. When he's saying to love your wives, he goes on and explains what that means there in verse 27. That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not have a spot, a wrinkle, or any such thing, but that he might be holy and without limits. Some ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. You have to love your wife as your own body. He that loveth his wife loveth himself, for no man yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church. So we see that when a husband is commanded to love his wife, it is that he is commanded to care for her, he is commanded to nourish her, he is commanded to look after her well-being, he is to support her. And not just write her sweet notes and bring her flowers and candies, but he should bring home the bread too. He should bring home the milk and the eggs and give her a roof over her head and put clothes on her and help her with the children and provide these things. Not just this, you know, this emotional thing that Hollywood puts out there where we're just supposed to, it's just all, you know, all this lovey-dovey, just emotional thing. It's a very specific thing, there to love, there to nourish, there to cherish, even as Christ loved the Church. And today, that's a lesson that a lot of husbands could stand to learn, I mean they could stand to learn what it means to take care of their wife, because we've got a lot of husbands today that they want the government to take care of their family, they want to sit back on their laurels and allow the government to send them a check every week so that then they can take care of their wife, or if they're even around, or they want to leave their wife that they've been married to and run off with some floozy somewhere, and they don't take care of their wife. They disobey this. So this is a command in scripture that we are to obey as husbands, that we are to love our wives, and that is to nourish and cherish with them, not to despise them. You know, not to be bitter against them, it says elsewhere, that we are to love our wives, and that means something very specific, to take care of them. We can see also that men are to, you know, husbands, they have bosses and supervisors, more than likely at their work, that they are to obey. It says in Colossians 3, 2, servants obey in all things to your masters according to the flesh. So if we have a job and we have those that are over us, we have people in authority over us, bosses, supervisors, we have to obey those people. That's another obedience that we have to learn from the Word of God. Titus says to exhort servants to be obedient under their own masters and to please them well in all things, not answering again, not purloining, but showing all good fidelity that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. And I'll tell you, a lot of Christians could stand to learn this well, is that they need to obey their bosses at work. And it's not just doing what you're told, it's doing it with the right attitude, and doing it with the right motive, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all good things. You know, if we went to work, and our mindset and our attitude was, whatever I'm going to do today, I'm going to do it as unto the Lord, then we wouldn't even have to worry about what effect it's going to have on our supervisors. We can already count it that they're going to be blessed, that they're going to be pleased with us. I mean, if we're working to obey God, if we're working as if we would work as unto God our Savior in all things, then it would only stand to reason that we're already going to be pleasing to our bosses. And how do we do that? How do we adorn the doctrine of God in all things? Not poor loin, but showing all fidelity or faithfulness, you know, being faithful, and not answering back to your boss, not talking back. When he asks you to do something, you do it. Now obviously if he's asking you to do something that's, you know, illegal, you've got to draw a line somewhere, but I've never had a boss do that. I've never had a boss say, hey, go rob this bank for me, you know, let's use a little common sense here. But you know, not answering back, having a good attitude, not showing up to work with a bad attitude, not showing up to work, you know, all down in the mouth, all sad, hey good morning, good morning, you know, having this Ewar attitude, this just, you know, got a cloud over your head. When you go to work, you know, your boss wants you to be productive, he wants you to do what you're told, he wants you to add some fidelity, he wants you to show some faithfulness to what you're doing and being serious about what you're trying to accomplish. Because the boss is there to make money, you know, that's his whole thing. He's not there just to make you feel secure in the fact that you're going to have a paycheck at the end of the week. The boss is there to make money, you know, he has a payroll that he has to make, so it's very important that when we go to work, we have that same attitude, you know, we should have that same attitude as our boss, hey we're here to make money, we're here to make this company money so that we can all be taken care of, including the boss. Because if the boss can't cut himself a check at the end of the week, those doors are going to close pretty quick. So we see that, you know, even husbands, men, you know, just men in the church, they have an obligation to obey the Scriptures by loving their wife. They have an obligation to obey their bosses at work. See we see that learning obedience, it's for everybody. It's not just something, because a lot of times we say, talking about obedience, our minds instantly go to children, as well they very well should because children, as we'll see in a minute, are commanded to obey. But we see that it's for pastors, it's for the flock, it's for husbands. Not only that, but it's also for wives. Wives are commanded very specifically. People don't like to hear this today. We're living in a culture today that just wants it all 50-50, it's been, you know, the feminist movement has just ruined people's minds, all thinking that, and if you say something like this, if you get up and you read passages like this, even out of the Word of God, they're going to call you just, you know, you believe that archaic Bronze Age book, that you're just some knuckle-dragging Neanderthal who can't figure out, can't get with the times. But you know, it's really easy to sit back and look at the consequences of what has happened in this country from people not obeying the Word of God. We can look at the consequences of disobedience to wives, not obeying their husbands. I mean, look at the mess we're in in this country. We got women in the workforce, they're not taking care of their children, they're putting them in these public fool systems where kids are just getting brainwashed and all this nonsense. I mean, just, we can go on and on about it. I mean, the consequences are obvious. And really that's not the thrust of this sermon here, but I preface that, this next statement by saying that, because a lot of times, like I said, when you get up and you say something about what I'm about to say, people just bristle, you know. But as I've heard it said, you know, if I'm rubbing the cat the wrong way, the cat can turn around, because I'm going to keep preaching the Word of God the way it's written. You know, if someone who's endeavoring to be a pastor one day might as well start now just being, you know, getting ready to just preach the whole counsel of the Word of God and let the chips fall where they may, and if it makes you mad, that's fine, it's the Word of God that's upsetting you, it's not me. You know, I have the audacity to get up as a pastor to preach the Word of God. I mean, that's the job of a pastor, to get up and preach the Word of God. As a preacher. It says, wives are to obey their husbands, it's very clear in scripture, Titus chapter 2. But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine, that the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound of faith, and charity of patience, the aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things. They are to teach good things, that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be chaste, to be discreet chaste, keepers at home, obedient to their own husbands, that the Word of God be not blaspheme. So he says that the older women are to teach the younger women good things, and that list of good things that they are taught to teach the young women is to love their husbands and to be obedient to their own husbands. You know, if a woman really loved her husband, you know what she'd be? She'd be obedient. She would do the things that he asked. And she would have a good attitude about it. And that just flies in the face today of what people want to believe about how marriage ought to work, but the Bible is very clear that there is a chain of authority within marriage. And it's not that the man is better than the woman, it's just that the man is an authority. That the man should rule his own house well. And for him in order to rule his own house well means everybody else in that house has to be in subjection. It means that the wife has to obey her husband. You can't have two people ruling a house together. Someone has to be an authority in that house. And mark it down. These people are going to say, well we have a 50-50 marriage, no you don't. Somebody's in charge there, and I guarantee you it's not the man. Because if the man were in charge, you wouldn't go around talking about how it's a 50-50 marriage. Women today, they really pride themselves on the fact that they have some kind of authority. We're talking really about a man having to go to work and obey his bosses. I've had female bosses. I've had some really good ones and I've had some really bad ones. And I'm not saying women can't have a mind for business. Women can't even be far more intelligent than men. The gender is not what dictates a person's level of intelligence. But I'll say this, I've had a lot of female bosses, they really let it go to their head that they had some authority. And I think a lot of women today, when they get put in positions of authority, they kind of clamor for it. And maybe this is way out of left field, but every time I hear this and I'm working somewhere and I hear some lady's heels just clicking through some hallway in some office building, you can hear her at the other end of the building just clang, clang, clang, clang, clang, just walking down. I just think to myself, that is a person who really wants to be in charge. They want everyone to know she's there. They want to say, hey, you hear me coming? And it's not just the stylish thing to do. It's an attitude. And women today need to learn to be obedient to their own husbands. And I like how it sits there to their own husbands. And men ought not to get this attitude where they can just go around posse-ing everybody else's wife around. I mean, I wouldn't even dream of doing such a thing. But it does happen, doesn't it? Where men think they can get up and correct another man's wife. They can go to another man and say, hey, this is such and such about your wife. Now if there's something that needs to be said about anybody to somebody else, if there's something that's a legitimate concern, of course, you do that out of love and compassion for that person. You do it gently. But women are to obey their husbands today. And like it or not, that's what the Bible says. Deal with it. And I'm not going to go on and on about that. That in itself should be a whole sermon. Just talking about how a woman is being subject to her husband. For very good reasons. That the word of God be not blasphemed. For the same reason as a man should be obedient to his boss. That they could adorn the doctrine of Christ well. When we get women that are out of place and they start ruling their own homes, everything's out of whack. And it just strikes people. I don't know how many times I've talked to somebody, we've seen a wife and a husband where you could just tell that she's wearing the pants in that family. And it just seems completely out of place. It's not just among Christians today, even if you were to go back and talk to some of these old-timers who grew up, when that's just the way it was in society. To them, even to them, it seems very odd the way women are. The way that they just try to rule their own house. And again, I'm going on and on. That's a whole other subject in and of itself. But I'm just trying to make the point here that we see that obedience, that learning to obey is something for everybody. It's not just something for children, but it's also for husbands, it's for wives, it's for the flock, it's for the pastor. It's for everybody. Now of course, you know, naturally, it's for children. I mean, if there's anybody that needs to learn to obey today, it's children, right? It's children. They need to learn to obey their parents. Colossians 3.20 says very clearly, it says this, listen, it says, Children, obey your parents, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Now notice, I love this verse especially, not just because it's commanding children to obey their parents, but the fact that the Bible is directly addressing children. That Paul here, in his writing, writes children, I mean, who is he addressing children, and where are these epistles supposed to be read? In the church, right? So we see that children are to be addressed specifically in church. You know, and that would be hard for Paul to do if the children were off in another room somewhere, singing Father Abraham, or in right, out right, up right, down right, happy all the time, eating sour patch gummy worms and everything else, and singing silly songs and acting crazy. So this is a great verse, not only to show children that they are to obey their parents, but also to show us that children should be in the service with their parents. That children should be under the sound of the preaching of the word of God with the adults. And that's why I thank God for a church that does not separate children from their parents. Especially the day and age that we live in, you know, the perilous times that we live in where, you know, we've got churches that are inviting sodomites into the house of God, we've got people, even Baptist preachers, who are standing up and promoting books that would encourage others to put sodomites and pedophiles in the position of leadership over children's ministries. That's the day and age we're living in. And people want to look at people like us that say, hey, let's keep our kids with us so that we can protect them at all times, and they want to say, well, you're just out to lunch. No, friend, you're out to lunch if you think that putting a child in another room away from its parents is a bright idea, especially in the day and age that we live in. Not to mention the fact that Paul, as I said here, is directly addressing children in the church. Children, obey your parents in all things. So that's a good lesson for the kids here. That's a good lesson for the children in the service, that the Bible is addressed to them. It's not just that the pastor gets up and preaches to the adults, and hopefully some of it trickles down to the kids and they happen to overhear something, but Paul here in Colossians chapter 3 is specifically addressing children, saying, children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing of the Lord. So that would tell us right there that, you know, children, they are to obey their parents. And then, well, what does that mean to the child? Well, how do I do that? The child might be asking, well, I really want to please God, I really want to do the right thing, and I want to keep the commandments of God and say, I want to obey my parents. Do you think a child's going to know how to just obey their parents instinctively like it comes to them? Well, it's quite the opposite. Disobedience is natural to a child. It's natural to us to disobey. It's something that comes very easy. No one has to teach us how to do the wrong thing. It comes very natural for us to disobey. So when he's telling children to obey their parents, obviously it goes without saying that somebody's going to have to instruct that child in how to obey their parents. Which leads me to my last point on this last sub-point, is that obedience is learned. You know, a child is told to obey their parents, but that's something that they have to learn. Obedience is learned and therefore is something that must be taught. Obedience is something that must be taught to children. And there's several verses that would tell this. Proverbs 22, train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. What a great promise from the Word of God, that if a parent will take the time to teach their child obedience, that if they will train them, they will not depart from it when they grow old, when they grow up and become adults. Now people like that verse, but people often don't like these following verses. This also applies in the face of modern child-rearing today. It's funny, just in the last probably 24 to 48 hours, I've seen on Facebook two different articles from two different news organizations, you know, questioning, spanking, saying should we spank our children? One was saying, going so far as to say that the Pediatrics Association of America has recently released a study that says that children that are spanked are more likely to commit violence during dating. And it's such an odd thing, it's such a stupid article. We've got another one that's just saying, hey, should we be spanking our kids? And every so often you see these articles and these polls come up. And typically I avoid them. I stay away from them because sometimes I wonder, are they just putting that out there so they can figure out who's spanking their kids and who isn't? That's probably a little conspiratorial, that's probably a little far-fetched, I admit. But hey, wise man foreseeeth the evil and he hideth himself, right? So I say, I'll keep my opinion of myself on that one, but for one, I've got a pulpit, I've got a soapbox already, I don't need to go on social media to correct everybody. But I can get up behind this pulpit and tell you that God commands us to spank our children. That if you're going to teach your child to obey, that if you want your children to obey their parents, you're going to have to instruct them to obey. It won't come to them naturally. The Bible says in Proverbs 23, Withhold thou correction from the child, for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from hell. I mean, that's a command in scripture. Thou shalt beat thy child, thou shalt beat him with the rod. Now today, the word beat, you say that, they instantly think that you're just slapping about the neck and shoulder area, just beating your kids, and I don't condone that at all. We shouldn't be hitting our kids like that. We shouldn't be hitting our kids out of frustration and anger. But there's a time and place to apply the rod instruction to the seed of learning. The posterior anatomy is very important and very useful for instructing children to obey. And God has designed it that way. And people want to act today like this is some kind of just child abuse. It's child abuse to not correct your children. It's abuse to the rest of us that have to grow up with that child, that you didn't correct, that you didn't instruct, that you didn't teach, that you didn't beat with the rod, that you didn't spank your child. It's abuse to the rest of us in society to have to grow up with them and watch them turn into spoiled, entitled brats who think they can act however they want. They act like a bunch of animals. And don't learn that there's consequences for their actions. It says you shall beat him with the rod. You know, and this really, again, spanking is its own sermon. But whenever I come across this verse, I like to point out it says with the rod, for a reason. I personally do not think a parent should use their hand at any time. They should not be spanking with their hand for several reasons. One, it teaches your child to fear your hand. If they have a rod, if you have a spoon, if you have a paddle, if you have a belt, whatever it is that you use, that child's going to learn to fear that item. And they're going to get freed when they see you with that in their hand, in your hand. Not just when you're walking about. You know, if you're beating with the hand, you're teaching them to fear your hand and not the rod. They should fear the rod, not the hand. But also you should use a rod because, or a belt or some kind of implement. And it's interesting that they want to outlaw the use of an implement and say it's okay to use your hand but not any kind of a rod. Well the Bible says the exact opposite, you should be using a rod, okay, and not your hand. Two, because doing it with your hand can really hurt and you probably won't do it the way it needs to be done. And you could injure your child using a hand. Whereas if you have something that leaves a sting, it doesn't wound, then you can do it efficiently without injuring your child. Again, we're not trying to injure the children, but we're trying to, it has to hurt but not injure them. They need to feel a little bit of pain to associate pain with disobedience. You know, I can't believe you would say that. Well you know, the child that's going to run out into the parking lot or the street while mom's running after it saying, come back, stop, stop, stop, the child's never been taught to obey its mother's voice, could run out into the trash and get hit. That kind of thing can happen. Or hey, go up on the sidewalk and stand there. Or hey, it would make mom's life a lot easier if she could take you to the grocery store and not have them throw in a fit and obey, and I'll brag on my wife and kids a little bit right now, but my wife is constantly telling me, man I went to the store today, I got all these compliments, how well behaved the children are, they do such a good job, and I see these other kids that are just throwing fits, and I think to myself, yeah, that's great. People want to give these compliments, but they have no clue what it takes to get children to behave like that. It doesn't just happen. There's a discipline that's put in place in order to get children to behave the way they ought to. The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 19, Chase a nice son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crime, a man of great wrath shall suffer punishment. It's interesting, it says, let not thy soul spare for his crime, chase him while there is hope. And then the next verse is, a man of great wrath shall suffer punishment. Showing us that the man that has never chastened while there is hope, grows up to be a man of great wrath and suffers punishment. I mean all these guys that are in prison today, all these guys that are rotting away in some jail cell for some violence that they committed, chances are they never got any kind of proper discipline. And the reason why so many people are completely clueless as to how to raise their children today is because pastors are afraid to preach the whole word of God. Again, it all comes back to obedience. Pastors need to come back, get up, and preach the whole counsel of God, including these passages out of Proverbs, where it tells you to beat your child with a rod, to discipline your children, to teach them obedience so that they don't grow up and suffer punishment. And also, we read earlier, that they don't go to hell. It says, thou shalt beat him with a rod and shall deliver his soul from hell. Now does spanking, is spanking your child what keeps them out of heaven? No, but it teaches them that there are consequences and that they're sinners. And they start to figure out real fast, why am I getting spanked all the time? Why is it I can't obey you like I should all the time? Oh, it's because I'm a sinner. Then their heart is tender towards the gospel. And it's very important, and I think, you know, and I think people, they get, a lot of people hear this kind of preaching and say, yeah, you know, and they want to start doing it right and disciplining and again, it's a whole other sermon, it warrants its own sermon, but they, but I see them too, they don't, I don't think people understand exactly how, how strict to be with spanking and how important it is and how, and how to do it, frankly. Proverbs says in Proverbs 20, verse 30, the blueness of a wound cleanses its way evil. So do stripes the inward parts of the belly. He says it's the blueness of the wound that cleanses the way evil. You know, people are so afraid, Dave, to get a little bruise, to get a little scratch, to get anything like that. But listen, if a child's got a little bruise on their bottom, they're not going to die. You know? Not that I sole spare for his crime. It says that thing is going, that is what's going to cleanse away evil. That's what's going to teach them, you don't have to do that every time, but there might be times when you really have to let a child know, look, you're way out of line, and I'm serious about what I'm telling you. And they have to be corrected, and they have to be spanked. Because children are commanded to learn obedience. And to learn obedience, someone has to teach obedience. And it all comes back to this, is that obedience is the example of Jesus Christ. How did He learn obedience? Through the things which He suffered. Well, how was a child going to learn obedience through the things which they suffered? They're going to have to suffer some spanking. They're going to have to suffer, you know, be taken over the knee and having a paddle or a belt put to their backside. And taught to obey. They're going to have to suffer to learn obedience. Just as Jesus had, of course, He wasn't being disciplined or chasing for sin, but He had to suffer, and He learned obedience in that suffering. The Bible says in 1 Peter 2, verse 21, for even here on Tuberty He called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow His steps. That we also might have to suffer. You know, it might be that God requires us to go through some suffering. But that's the example that Christ set. That's the example that we're here to follow. Is having to maybe go through some sufferings. Going through some discomfort. Going through some things that are unpleasant and uncomfortable. Philippians chapter 2 says, Let this mind be in you, which also was in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought about robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Jesus was willing to obey even unto death, even to the death of the cross. And that's the kind of obedience that we need to have in our Christian lives. If we want God to bless us, if we want God to use us, then we need to learn to be obedient even unto death. You know, and it might even be in our lifetime, you know, should the Antichrist come to power, and should we go through the great tribulation, that might be a literal interpretation that we have to learn. That we might have to be obedient unto death if we're going to be blessed by God. God requires that of His children, He tells us that we are to be obedient even unto death and He will give us a crown of life. But that's the example of Jesus Christ, He had to learn obedience, and He was willing to learn that obedience through the things which He suffered. So can we, like Christ, can we also learn obedience this morning? As pastors, as a flock, as husbands, as wives, as children, we have to learn obedience. And you know what, we ought to be willing to not only teach obedience, but to be taught obedience. Parents need to teach their children, and it just might be that God has to teach us some obedience. And it might be that we have to go through some chastening, even as adults, in order to learn obedience. But it's important that we learn this obedience, because if we learn obedience, if we obey, God can bless us. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you again for the Bible, thank you Lord that we can, Lord, we don't have to wonder what it is that you want from us, we don't have to wonder what is expected of us, but that we can read the Bible for ourselves, we can hear the preaching of the Word of God, and we can understand and know what it is that you desire of us, as your children. Lord, I pray you'd help each of us to learn to live for you, to walk with you daily, Lord, to be found reading your Word daily, praying, going out, winning the loss, doing those things which you've commanded us, as husbands, as wives, as children, as preachers, Lord. I pray that you'd help us all to obey you, that you might be able to bless us. And Father, if we've been disobedient, Lord, that we would, Lord, we would understand that you've chased us out of love, and out of a desire to see us get right, so that you can use us and bless us. We love you for all that you've done for us, in Jesus' name, Amen.