All right, brethren, let's go
to Colossians chapter three. A word for father and child. That's our subject, a word for
father and child. We saw last time how that the
Lord made these various offices and relationships we have to
glorify the Lord Jesus. We read here in Colossians 3.20. Children, obey your parents in
all things, for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke
not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Authority
and submission is the nature of God. It's the very nature
of God. We worship one God, just one
God, in three persons. The Son of God is God. He is
equal with the Father. But even in the Godhead, you
see this relationship. It's God the Father and God the
Son. And so rebellion, whether it's
against a father or whether it's against the police or whatever
it is, is rebellion against the very nature of God. It's the
very nature of God. He ordained the powers that be. In the garden, the Lord gave
Adam one law. God the Father gave his son Adam
one law. And this, the law of Sinai didn't
come in until a long time later, but Romans 5 tells us the law
entered that the offense might abound. And so when we look at
God's law for a child to honor their father, we see that we
broke that in the garden. We rebelled against God the Father
in Adam in the garden. Now, this was the first law with
a promise, the first commandment with a promise. If you look back
at Ephesians 6, we see it there. He said in verse 1, children
obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right. Honor thy
father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise. And here's God's promise. He
said that it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live
long on the earth. And ye fathers, provoke not your
children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition
of the Lord. So when we broke the law in the
garden, God put us under the curse. We came
under the curse of the law. The curse said, everyone that
cursed his father or his mother shall be surely put to death.
He hath cursed his father or his mother, his blood shall be
upon him. And so when we sin in the garden,
we broke God's law and we came under that curse. We had to die. And remember this now, that it's
not merely sin when it's committed in the outward act. It's sin
when it's in the heart, when it's in the thought. If there's
even a rebellious thought, against God our Father, or against your
earthly father, we've broken that law. And James said, to
break one is to break them all. And that's why the Lord said
in Noah's day, concerning our sin nature, he said, every imagination
of the thoughts of their heart is only evil continually. That's how God sees it, and that's
how it is. That's our sin nature. Every
imagination of the thoughts of the heart are only evil continually. And you think about this, submission
to authority is fundamental for a nation. It's fundamental for
a nation. We see so much rebellion against
authority today. It's a clear indication of the
sin nature, being spiritually dead in sin. But you take a,
a father and a child, this is where it begins from a very young
age, a father teaching their child to submit to authority. And if you don't have a father,
you end up with a nation of people like what we're seeing all over
the world, is people rebelling against authority, hating authority.
That's the sin nature that we're born with, is to rebel against
authority. Look with me at Romans 13, I
think we looked at this last time, but I just want to show
you this before we get going here. Romans 13. Romans 13.1. Let every soul be subject unto
the higher powers. That means anybody in a place
of authority. For there is no power but of
God. The powers that be are ordained
of God. God put them there. He put them
there. Whosoever therefore resisteth
the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist
shall receive to themselves damnation. I mean, punishment. Look, for
rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. If you're
obeying the law, the policeman won't do anything to you. It's
those that have Breaking the law, would thou then not be afraid
of the power? Do that which is good, and thou
shalt have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God
to thee for good. That's so of a father to the
child, that's so of a police officer, that's so of anybody
in a position of authority. He's the minister of God to thee
for good, but if thou do that which is evil, be afraid. For
he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God,
a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore
ye must needs be subject not only for wrath, but also for
conscience sake. For for this cause pay ye tribute
also, pay taxes, for they are God's ministers, attending continually
upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their
dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom,
fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. So all these powers are
ordained of God, and as we saw last time, they're to glorify
the Lord Jesus Christ, to glorify him. Now the law says, honor
thy father. So we've shown, we broke that
law in the garden. We disobeyed our father. We fell
into sin. Condemnation came under the curse.
So that's it for me and you as far as us being able to come
to God by our works. That ended that right there in
the garden. We became guilty before God,
and because we're born of Adam, our nature, the every imagination
of the thoughts of the heart are only evil continually. So
we can't come to God by our works. How are we gonna be saved? We're
saved by this right here, the word says, honor thy father.
And we're saved by the son of God honoring his father. That's how God's elect are saved.
Philippians 2, let's look there, Philippians 2. Here's what the son did, Philippians
2. Let this mine, verse five, let
this mine be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon 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. That's what the Lord
Jesus did. Scripture says, children, obey
your parents in all things. And on behalf of God's elect,
the Lord Jesus Christ obeyed the Father in all things. He said, it says in John 13,
3, Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His
hand. It was all trusted to the Son.
for the son to honor the father. Knowing all things were given
into his hands and that he was come from God and went to God,
he arose from supper, laid aside his garments, and took a towel
and girded himself. That's what we just read in Philippians
2. Our Lord Jesus laid aside his glory as the son of God and
came to where we are and took flesh, the nature of his brethren,
girded himself with our nature in sinless, holy humanity to
serve God in place of his people. Now you think about this, brethren,
that curse said everyone that curseth his father or his mother
shall be put to death. Think about this. Our Lord Jesus
bore all the rebellion against God the Father of every elect
son and daughter. Now you think about how much
rebellion that is. God's elect are a multitude no
man can number. And Christ bore, and scripture
says of us, every imagination of the thoughts of our hearts,
only evil contend. He bore all that rebellion, not
just of one elect child, but all his people. And he was made
the curse, the curse that we deserve for not obeying the father.
He was made that curse and bore the wrath of God. And he had
to die in order to satisfy and honor that law. And that's what
he did. The whole law of God, he satisfied, he honored his
father in heaven by his perfect obedience unto the death of the
cross. That's what the Lord Jesus did. The scripture says, children
obey your parents in all things for this is well-pleasing unto
the Lord. God spoke from heaven and said,
this is my beloved son in whom I am well-pleased. I am well-pleased
with my son. And God the Father fulfilled
his promise. The promise to this law was that you may live long
on the land God gives you. And God the Father promised His
son, he would raise him again, and he raised him to his right
hand in glory, and Christ is forever, eternally, the everlasting
father of all those he died for in the new heaven and the new
earth. Christ fulfilled the law. He satisfied God, and he's the
prophet, priest, and king. He is. I love how Isaiah said
he's our everlasting father. It certainly refers to the fact
that he's one with God the father, but Adam was our father, but
we sinned in Adam, and when Christ laid down his life on the cross,
our old man of Adam died. He died that as far as God looking
upon him before the law, our old man of Adam died and was
buried. But Christ came out of the grave
and arose, and he's our everlasting father. He'll never not be the
father of his people. He's our everlasting father.
So how am I gonna honor God the father? I'm the sinner. I can't
obey the law. I can't satisfy the law. So how
am I gonna honor the father? Go to John chapter five. John chapter five, verse 22. There's one way that a sinner
obeys the law, this law of honoring your father. There's only one
way a sinner does this. And this is how we establish
the whole law, this one way right here. John 5.22, for the Father
judgeth no man. John 5.22, the Father judgeth
no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all
should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that
honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sinned
him. Now here's how you honor the Son. Verily, verily, I say
unto you, He that heareth my word and believeth on him that
sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation,
but is passed from death to life. The only way we honor the Son
is believing the Father, believing on his Son, trusting that the
Lord Jesus himself is our righteousness with God. He is our acceptance
with God. And when he's made you to know
this and he's given you faith to believe on the Son and trust
the Son, believing the Father, trust the Father, honoring the
Father, he makes you to know and see he's shown you in the
gospel all this great love he had for his children in Christ.
All the great love and wisdom of God for giving the whole work
into Christ's hand. And we say with John, what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called
the sons of God. And listen, as far as our lives
in this world, God looks upon his children as having pleased
him just as well as the Son of God did. That's how he looks
upon us in Christ. We've been well-pleasing to God
in all things because Christ did it. We didn't do it, Christ
did it. He established the law. It always
saddens me when I hear folks preach on Romans 3 and they get
to the last verse and don't keep reading. You know, do we then
make void the law through faith? God forbid we establish the law.
And men will take that and say, see there, we're still under
the law. We still gotta keep the law. That's not what it says. That chapter division's put there
by a man. You keep reading through it,
Romans four, and he says the same way Abraham established
the law. He established the law in perfection
430 years before God gave it at Mount Sinai. He believed on
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only way he established
the law. So what's gonna constrain you
and me, you that are fathers and you that are believing children,
what's gonna constrain us and motivate us to obey this gospel
precept? And let me say this now, we're
not under the law. This is, for God's child, what
we're reading here is not law. Our text, this honor your father
and fathers provoke not your children, this is not law for
God's child. This is grace. I love what Brother
Rupert Ravenborg used to say, when God gives you faith and
brings you to Christ, all the commandments in the Ten Commandments,
they cease being commandments and they become promises. Thou
shalt have no other God but God. That's a promise. God's not gonna
let you. He's gonna keep your heart looking
to him only, trusting him only. You shall not murder or do any
evil to your neighbor. the second table. You won't,
because you've done it perfectly in Christ, and God's gonna keep
loving your heart for him and for your brethren and even to
your neighbor. This is the promise of God now. It's no more law, it's grace
to his people. But here's what constrains us
to honor our father and mother. Here's what constrains the child
to honor father and mother, and here's what constrains the father
to nurture their children and raise them up in the admonition
of the Lord. Here it is. It's the love of God our Father
in our Lord Jesus Christ and his perfect love to us by which
he saved us. That's what motivates us. This
is not our righteousness. We're not trying to establish
a righteousness. We already have in the Lord Jesus. But this is love in the heart
and the grace of God that motivates you, that constrains you, that
compels you in the heart by grace. It's His love. That's what it
is. We see how the Son pleased the
Father. We see how Christ Jesus, the
Son of God, pleased His Father. And we want to please our Father,
our earthly Father and our heavenly Father. He's taught us that honoring
and obeying our earthly fathers, well-pleasing to the Lord, and
we wanna be well-pleasing to the Lord. Our motive is that
we have been made righteous. We have been made holy by the
love and grace of God. That's our motive. When he says,
fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.
You know what a earthly father has in his heart? You fathers,
Tell me if it's not so. When you've had to correct your
child and you sit there and you're speaking to your child and you
say, son or daughter, you say, when I tell you what you should
do, I'm doing this for your good. I'm not doing this to hurt you. I'm doing this for your good.
And you sit there and all the things you say to that child,
while you're saying it, does it not strike you in your heart,
this is what my heavenly father says to me. This is exactly what
my heavenly father says to me. Sometimes that just humbles you
so much when you're talking to your children and you think,
this is exactly what my heavenly father says to me. We learn everything
by looking at this grace of God, our father, and the faithfulness
of his son, and we look at them toward each other. That's how
we're taught. Our heavenly father doesn't provoke
us. He doesn't put a law on us that
discourages us and that makes us see that we can never please
him. He did that to show you your
sin, but when he calls you to him by his grace, he gives you
a light and easy yoke. He gives you faith to trust Christ
and he sustains it. He creates a new heart and puts
his love in your heart when Christ is formed in your heart and sustains
it. And you see how he nurtures you
and how he admonishes you. And that's how you learn to nurture
and admonish your children. He doesn't look to us to fulfill
a perfect righteousness. He doesn't look to us to do that.
So we don't put such a bar, raise a bar so high for our children
that they get discouraged because they can never please us. The
Father didn't do that. He pities us, and so we pity
our children. And he's merciful to us, and
that makes you merciful to your children. A believing father remembers
our children are sinners, just like we are. And we need mercy. We need grace. We need God. We
need to know God loves us. And that makes you know, that's
what my child needs. That's what my child needs. Just
like I need this from my heavenly father. Christ, our God, our
father keeps us under the gospel. Because this is how he ministers
life and saves his people, beginning to end, through the preaching
of the word. That makes a faithful father want to have his child
under the preaching of the gospel. He'll never cast us out for the
sake of Christ. You know what that makes a faithful
father who's received mercy? It makes you never want to cast
your child out. And for children, when God's
given a child a heart to believe on Christ, it changes your whole
relationship to your mother and your father. It makes you see. You see how faithful God the
Father has been to you and how Christ laid down his life for
you. And it makes you want to be a better child to your parents. This is grace, brethren. When
you think about salvation, don't you just see how wise God is? How wise He is to save the way
He saves? Everything, everything is taught
us by His grace, His power, and
by experience. He teaches you these things,
so sovereign He can He can providentially control everything in your life
to teach you this word and then put you through the experience
of it to show you that He is the living God. His grace is
truly sufficient for you, that you're kept by His power, that
you've been made accepted in the beloved, He does all these
things and he does it against the black backdrop of our sin. That's how this diamond shines,
that black backdrop of sin. We see we're saved entirely by
grace. It's not by the works of our
hands. And you also see this, it makes you see as a father,
it makes you see how far short you come of being a faithful
father. like your Heavenly Father. And what does that do? That draws you to Christ for
mercy. That draws you to Him more. All
these things the Lord teaches us, showing us our sin and yet
showing us His unchanging grace, unchangeable grace and everlasting
love, it draws you to Christ. It brings you to Him and gives
you more of a need for Him. And it's the same for a child
to their father. I think about being a child in
my father's house and seeing how faithful Christ the son was
to his father, I look back and think, ah, I was such an unfaithful
son. But you know what it does? It
draws me to my redeemer and it makes me cast all my care on
him and know, I don't want to meet God standing in anything
I've ever done. I said to you last time, we looked
at husbands and wives, and I said this, same thing goes for this
word. If this was the only word God
gave us and we had to keep this word in perfection to be saved,
none of us could do it. But it sure magnifies What a
faithful heavenly father we have and what a faithful son our Lord
Jesus is to his father. And it makes you, it just makes
you fall down before him and praise him and glorify him for
saving you by grace, saving you by grace. And he picks you up,
he strengthens you in your heart and his mercies are new every
morning. Every day you start over with a clean slate and try
to be a better father, try to be a better child every day.
And yet all the while in Christ, perfect, perfect. No sin, no
record of ever having disobeyed God. That's the motive, that's the
constraint. The unchanging, unchangeable,
sovereign love of God. Let's go to him, brethren. Father,
we thank you for this word. Lord, what a faithful, faithful
father you are to your children. How thankful we are for that
perfect obedience of our savior, your son. How thankful we are
that he pleased you well. Lord, we ask you continually,
always receive us in him and for his sake alone. Behold us
in his perfection. Behold us in his righteousness
and his holiness, Lord. Lord, we're thankful you've given
us hearts and we want to please you. We wanna serve you, we wanna
obey you. But Lord, we can't look to ourselves.
We're thankful for the grace and mercy you give us and for
all the gifts you give us continually, gifts of grace. But Lord, we
have to be found in your dear son. And we're thankful, Lord,
that that's how you behold us. Lord, help us to be better fathers,
help us to be better children. Show us by what a faithful father
you are and what a faithful son our Lord Jesus is. And Lord,
make this to be the one motive of our heart, your love. Don't let us fall into legalism.
Don't let us turn from you and start looking at our works and
try to come to you by something we've done. Keep us looking only
and trusting only in your dear son. Lord, for children in this
world that don't have an earthly father, Lord, we pray you would
be merciful. We pray you'd be, make them to know you're their
father. And Lord, help us to be helpers of orphans, your orphans,
who you chose and saved by your grace. Lord, we pray today you'd be
honored in every word that's spoken, every word we sing, and
scriptures that we read. Thank you, Lord, for this grace
of bringing us here. Thank you for our brethren. Thank
you for this place. Thank you for everything you've
given us. Lord, be with Brother Laxman and Sister DeVico. as they mourn the loss of Brother
Laxton's brother. Comfort them, we ask you. Comfort Ravi and Debbie and the
children. Be with your people, Lord. Be
with Brother Cyril, recovering from his surgery. Be with your preachers. Lord,
we look to you, we look up to you and to your dear son, and
we trust you to save us. Forgive us, Lord, our sins and
our unbelief. Keep us by grace, we beg of you. In Christ's name, amen.