I want you to listen carefully
to this first statement. There is no middle ground between
honoring God and despising Him. There is no middle ground between
honoring God and despising Him. If God is not honored, something
else is honored above him and God is despised. Either we honor
God or we despise him. There's no middle ground. First
Samuel chapter two, verse 30. The title of my message is the
most certain of all laws. First Samuel two 30. Look at
the last sentence of the verse. These are God's words to Eli,
the priest. The Lord God says them that honor
me, I will honor. And they that despise me shall
be lightly esteemed. That is the most certain of all
laws. Hear me, young people. Hear me,
mothers and dads. Hear me, you who are the ancients
of Israel. Them that honor me, God says,
I will honor. And they that despise me shall
be lightly esteemed. Now let me tell you the occasion
of this message. I read the passage just before
going out to San Diego a couple of weeks ago, and I thought this
would be most appropriate text from which to address that congregation
as they begin their labors together. And I knew as I prepared the
message for them, this is the message God would have me bring
to you. Brother Eric and Amy, as you know, just moved out there.
They arrived on Monday night about the same time we did and
started unpacking their stuff. Monday or Tuesday and Wednesday
and they had services Tuesday night and Wednesday night On the church, they're called
Eric as pastor Before they called him as pastor. They told me something
They said when I pastor comes out here when God gives us a
pastor He won't have to work unless he wants to and his wife
won't either we're gonna take care of him. That's for me For me That's going to take some
doing. When Eric talked to me about
the possibility of going out there, you heard me say to him
from this pulpit, if I thought this is what God would have me
to do, I'd be moved tomorrow, I'd throw caution to the wind,
I would do what I know God has me to do, and I wouldn't consider
anything else. I wouldn't consider what I'm
going to do, how I'm going to live, how I'm going to provide
for my family, how I'm going to feed my children, when I'm
going to get to see my children or my grandchildren, I wouldn't
give a thought to it. I wouldn't give a thought to
it. Paul said when God sent him to preach the gospel immediately,
I conferred not with flesh and blood. Reckon why? I'll tell
you why. Because flesh and blood will
always give you an excuse to disobey God. Flesh and blood
will always give you a good excuse to disobey God. Just imagine
how far Abraham would have gotten toward Mount Moriah when the
Lord God said to Abraham, take your son, your only son Isaac
whom you dearly love, and offer him on a mountain that I will
show you as a sacrifice to me. Now just suppose, just suppose
Rex that he had gone home and talked to Sarah about doing that.
Reckon how far he had got. Reckon how many steps he would
have taken toward Mount Moriah. No, he didn't say a word to her
about it. He did what God told him to do,
throwing caution to the wind. But wait a minute. Wait a minute.
This is the son through whom God promised to send his son,
the Messiah. This is the son through whom
God promised to send his seed in this world. This is the son
by whom redemptions to come. If I kill this boy, what's God
going to do to bring the Messiah? No, no. Instead, he believed
God, knowing full well that as he obeyed God, God would honor
him. And he took Isaac to Mount Moriah
and he left his servants down below and he said, I and the
lad are going to go yonder and worship God. I'm going yonder
to kill my son and we will come back here. He believed that God
would raise him from the dead, which in a figure he did and
thus taught us to honor God. This is the most certain of all
laws. Them that honor me, I will honor. We're told that Eli honored his
sons in verse 29 above God. His sons Hothni and Phinehas
used their office as priests in Israel to serve themselves. What an obnoxious thing. What
an obnoxious thing. These men who were given the
high honor and the great privilege of living in the house of God,
offering sacrifice to God, serving God, instructing the people of
God from the word of God, took those things that the people
brought and indulged their own lust and gratified themselves. They used what the people brought
to God to satiate their own lust. They were guilty of these three
horrible crimes. They used the priest's office
to enrich themselves for their own ease, their own indulgence,
the gratification of their own lust. Preachers do so all over
the world every day, and they are the sons of Belial. That's
true, no matter who the preacher is, no matter who he is. Any
man who uses this office, this high God-honoring, God-honored
office for his own lust satisfaction is a child of hell. He is not
God's. He is not God's. God's servants
will not enrich themselves by the sacrifices of God's people.
They won't do it. Number two. They committed adultery
with the women who came to worship God at the very door of the tabernacle. These priests. Why does that
seem so shocking? If they would rob God's people,
they would certainly ravish the women in the house of God and
think nothing of it. They were guilty thirdly in this
regard. They taught Israel. to despise
God's sacrifice. They taught Israel to despise
God's sacrifice. To despise Jesus Christ, the
Lamb of God, who was portrayed and typified in the sacrifices
they brought. So the children of israel continued
year by year and day by day to bring their sacrifices to the
house of god and they brought those sacrifices Despising what
they were doing and despising god's sacrifice because of these
priests When eli heard the report of his son's wickedness We're
told in chapter 3 verse 13 that he restrained them not Now read
verses 22 through 25 with me Samuel 2 22 Now Eli was very
old and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel and how they
lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation and He said unto them. Why do you such things? for I hear of your evil dealings
by all this people and Nay, my sons, for it is no good report
that I hear ye make the Lord's people to transgress. If one
man sin against another, the judge shall judge him. But if
a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him? Notwithstanding,
they hearken not unto the voice of their father, because the
Lord would slay them. Now that's the way Eli rebuked
his sons. You read that and you might think,
well, the old man had learned in his old age to be more gentle
than a young man is and this is to be commended. He didn't
get all bent out of shape and get all worked up and he didn't
speak harshly to his sons but gently rebuked them. That's a
wise, prudent thing. God saw it differently. God saw it as despising him. You see, there are other virtues
to true manhood, especially in a man who's in the position as
Eli was in, as God's priest, as I am in, as God's preacher. There are other virtues to true
manhood besides gentleness. Sometimes a firm word of rebuke
is necessary. Sometimes severity is required. When the honor of God is at stake,
are you listening to me? When the honor of God is at stake,
gentleness is treason. When the honor of God is at stake,
gentleness is treason. Men these days call dogmatism
and boldness in the things of God, bigotry and sectarianism. The world praises the preacher
who never offends anybody. God blames him. Did you notice
how Eli's sons responded to his gentle persuasion? They hearken
not unto the voice of their father. Notice the word because, because. because the Lord would, because
the Lord was determined to slay them. They had gone so far in
their wickedness that God sends them further still in their wickedness
so that there's no turning back. And the reason is this, God was
determined to kill them. Now, certainly the first thing
that should be noticed here is a clear type and prophecy of
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest.
Eli was descended from Aaron's youngest son, Ithamar, not his
eldest son, Eliezer. We're not told why or how the
priesthood had been transferred in Aaron's family from the family
of Eliezer the eldest to the family of Ithamar the youngest,
but clearly it was for Eli was of Ithamar's family. God's original
gift of the priesthood to Aaron and his sons was a conditional
gift. God's original gift of the priesthood
to Aaron and his sons was a conditional gift. It was deliberately made
by God as a conditional gift. Because God never intended that
it should continue forever. And there was no possibility
that Aaron and his house would continue in the priesthood left
to themselves. No possibility. The law was designed
by God as a temporary thing. Only a temporary thing. Typifying
and foreshadowing the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
our blessed Savior, and our great high priest. God never intended. I don't know why men can't get
this through their thick heads, except because men love their
own righteousness. God never intended, God never
intended the Levitical system and the law to stand forever.
It was never designed for anyone except Israel, never given to
anyone except Israel, and then only as a temporary covenant.
Christ is the end of the law. The law was given to bring us
to Christ. The law was given unto Christ. And when Christ has come and
fulfilled the law, Christ is the E N B of the law. He's the terminating point of
the law. Now, folks, hear me say that
you can't carry that too far. I agree. You can't carry that
too far. You can't carry that too far.
He's the end of the law's ordinances. He's the end of the law's ceremonies.
He's the end of the law's priesthood. He's the end of the law's tabernacle
and temple. He's the end of the law. He's
the end of the law's covenant. He's the end of the law's curse.
He's the end of the law's motivation. He's the end of the law's power.
He's the end of the law's rule. Christ is the end of the law. That means ye are not under law,
but under grace. In the passage before us here
in 1 Samuel 2, the object of God, the Holy Spirit was to convince
Eli and Israel of the certain and total abolition of the Levitical
dispensation by the coming of another priest. Look at it. Look at verse 30, 1 Samuel 2,
30. Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith I said indeed that
thy house in the house of thy father should walk before me
forever But now the Lord saith be it far from me God promised
David and his sons. They'd be priests forever as
long as they obeyed him and now God says far be it from me That's
not going to happen Then that honor me I will honor and they
that despise me as have your sons Aaron's sons as has this
priesthood then that despise me shall be lightly esteemed
now look at verse 35 and I Will raise me up a faithful priest. You know who that is, don't you?
I I will raise me up a faithful priest that shall do according
to that which is in my heart and in my mind. I'll raise up
my own son to be high priest in Israel. And now by the obedience
and death and resurrection and acceptance of Jesus Christ as
our substitute, our great high priest sits on the throne of
glory before God's spirit. He goes through the world and
accomplishes God's purpose in his grace. Now we have a high
priest over the house of God Touched with the feeling of our
infirmities and this high priest is able to say to the uttermost
all who come to God by him Christ is God's priest over God's Israel
and He magnified the law and made it honorable as our priest
by his obedience unto death as our sin atoning substitute. And
now as such, because of his obedience as the one who honored God, Christ
has been exalted and seated on high. In and by Christ Jesus,
God's priest, all the sons of God are made priest unto God. All God's children in Christ
are priest unto God. We are His chosen generation,
His holy nation, His royal priesthood. A royal priesthood. Priest. Priest. How is it that we're
priest? We're not priest in the sense
that folks in churches call themselves priest. You ought to be aware
of priests who wear collars. They're dogs. Read the book. No, we're not
priests like that. We're not priests for one another.
The preacher is not a priest. Preachers these days all want
to be priests. It's called pastoral counseling. You see, people have the idea
that somehow, somehow if you go talk to the preacher in his
office, he will talk differently than he does from the pulpit.
Not this one. Not this one. I do my counseling
here by God's Word. We don't do our counseling as
priests. You don't need me to mediate between you and God.
You don't need me to be your mediator. I am not a mediator. I can't mediate for myself. But
we who believe are God's priests. Priests are men and women who
live in the holy place. Priests are men and women who
live by God. Priests are men and women who
live by God's provision. Priests are men and women who
do business with God personally in the holy of holies. We come
to God by faith in Jesus Christ, and we come into the holiest
of all with bold, confident assurance of faith by the blood of Jesus
Christ. Now, you have problems with assurance? I know you do. I know you do.
Me too. Me too. We struggle with this
matter of assurance, and I know why. Colin, if you have a problem
with assurance that you're God's, here's the problem. You're bringing
something besides Christ. That's the problem. You're trying
to get peace with God by something other than Christ and his obedience
and blood. You're trying to bring something
of your own. And we always have a problem when we try to draw
near to God on the basis of something we are or something we do. How
do we come to God? Through faith in Jesus Christ
the Lord. Well, I don't feel very saintly. Good. I'm glad you don't. I don't
feel very close to God. Me either most of the time. David Burns, that's just Most of the time. Most of the time. I feel dead
and full of hell most of the time. That's just fact. And I come to God in just that
state with nothing but sin and a Savior. Nothing but corruption and Christ. Nothing but guilt and the crucified
Redeemer. Nothing but badness in me and
nothing but the blood of God's Son. And that's my acceptance
with God. Christ is our priest. He honored
God. He pleased God. He's the priest
over the house of God. And in him, I've been made a
priest, accepted of God. He's the priest. He's the sacrifice. He's the altar that sanctifies
our gifts that we bring to God. He is everything in our worship
of God. Eli's sons stand before us then
as a clear, typical picture of the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Let's look at this text again. Thank God for our blessed
priest. But the text is talking here
to us in another way. God says, them that honor me,
I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. These sons of Eli were considered
by God to be direct and absolutely in contempt of him. The same
thing is true of every act of disobedience. and every neglect
of known duty. People say, I don't like that
word duty. You know I don't either. I don't either. Man, duty, why
are you doing it? Because you're supposed to. That's
the least, the basest, the lowest of all reasons to do anything. But man, that's the least you
can do. That's the least you can do. Your duty. Your duty. I often, I know this will shock
you, I often don't feel like preaching when it comes Sunday
morning, Sunday night, or Tuesday night. Sometimes I'm sick. I don't tell you about it, but
sick, upset stomach, headache, just weak, tired, wore out, empty,
dry. I'd be more at home anywhere
than preaching. I don't feel like preaching,
but I've got a duty. I've got a duty. And if I can
get up, I'm going to be here. Got a duty. The least I can do
is my duty. That's the least I can do. And
you know what? I've never regretted it. I've
never stepped up here when I thought I was too weak to stand up and
preach that God didn't enable me to get the job done. Duty
is the least we can do the very least we can do I don't always
feel like doing what's required in the office back here, but
you got a duty you got duty. I Started going to church regularly
when God saved me at 16 years old and I was working going to
school and Often worked till 4 o'clock in the morning on Sunday
mornings often did get off from work go home take a shower and
clean up go to church and Bless his heart, sometimes the pastor,
he was drier than last year's corn shucks blown across the
desert. I mean, he had almost as much emotion as the backside
of a stop sign. And he exercised it for an hour
and a half every Sunday. And I go to church, and once
I fell asleep. I did, just once, I fell asleep,
and I'm wearing a big class ring, and Shelby punched me. and they
had bars going down the side here, and I rang the bell on
them. Embarrassed the fool out of me,
but I was there. Why would you do that? Because
there are people who I influence who needed for me to be there,
whether I got anything out of it or not, whether God spoke
to me or not. People that I influence who needed
for me to be there. That's the reason why I was there.
I have a duty and the neglect of any known duty before God
is despising him. I know the same thing's true
of many of you. You do things, you come here and you don't feel
like it. You come here and sometimes God speaks to you and sometimes
he doesn't. You do so because this is right. This is right.
We're not here. We're not here just for ourselves. That's not it. The work here
is not for me. It's not for me. And it's not
for you. It's not just for you, Bobby.
It's not just for you. Thank God He speaks to you. Thank
God He made you part of it, but it's not just for you. You're
here for the work, not the work for you. You understand that?
We're gathered here not for our benefit, but for one another's
benefit, and thereby we benefit. Does that make sense? Make sense? You got a family to take care
of. And it's more important that you take care of the family than
it is to take care of yourself. More important that you look
out for the family than that you look out for yourself. Eli's
sons, God considered to be the contempt of him. And Eli's neglect
of responsibility in restraining his sons, God considered contempt
for him. All disobedience, all neglect
of duty, implies a preference to my will, my interest, or my
pleasures above the will and honor of God. To neglect God's
salvation is to despise his son. To resist God's will is to despise
his dominion. To disregard God's word is to
despise his word. This is what Eli did. He preferred
his son's to God. Well, he was afraid that his
sons would be upset with him if he restrained them. So he
didn't. He preferred to live in harmony
with his sons than to live in harmony with God and for the
honor of God. He preferred the smile of his
sons to God's sacrifice. He preferred their pleasure to
God's praise. Therefore God killed his sons
both of them in one day and took the priesthood from him forever
God demands that we honor him a Son honoreth his father and
the servant his master if I then be a father Where is mine honor?
And if I be a master, where is my fear sayeth the Lord of hosts? unto you that despise my name
and you say I Wherein have we despised thy name? No, we don't go to the house
of God worship. No, we'd rather stay home and
watch guns smoke. No, we'd rather visit with our
neighbors. No, we'd rather go to the lake. No, we'd... Wherein have we despised
thy name? In despising my worship. Despising my service. Despising my sacrifice. You despise my name. I repeat,
there's no middle ground between honoring God and despising him. I have no doubt that Eli was
a true believer. I have no doubt about that. Eli
judged Israel for 40 years and his heart trembled for the ark
of God. I don't read those words about
any other man, Mark. This, this man. When the Ark of God was
taken, his heart trembled for the Ark of God. Eli was a man who served God,
a worshiper of God, a believer, yet he failed to honor God in
the matter of his two sons. Therefore, God took his sons
in his wrath and took the priesthood from him and his family forever. Now, I want you to get this.
I want you to get it. This is the most important of
all laws, or the most certain of all laws. Them that honor
me, I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. Sooner or later, God's going
to judge the world by this law. Sooner or later. In light of
that fact, I pray God will give us grace, each to judge ourselves,
that we be not judged. Many a man whose life and family
had been plagued with sorrow and grief can trace the bitter
stream of woe to this cause. He has not honored God. Let's see if I can make good
on that. Here's a law that'll never be broken. Don, you can
bank on this. If we honor God, God will honor
us. If we despise God, we'll be lightly
esteemed. Abraham honored God. Oh, man, what a man Abraham was. God said, I know Abraham. He'll
command his family after me. I'll not hide myself from Abraham.
God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees. Where are we
going? I don't know. What are we going to do when
we get there? I don't know. God said, leave. And Abraham left
his family in Ur of the Chaldees and walked with God. You know
what God did with Abraham? You remember what God said he
would do with Abraham? What God did with Abraham? Lindsay, God
made Abraham the father of many nations. God made Abraham our
father, spiritually. We're the sons of Abraham. That's
what the book says. God made Abraham the man through whose
family he brought his son into this world. Oh, how God honored
Abraham who honored God. Lot was a righteous man. As righteous as Abraham. Made
righteous by Christ. A man saved by God's free grace. A man chosen, called, redeemed
all by the grace of God. But Lot made some horrible choices
in which he despised God. He set his face towards Sodom
and he moved to Sodom. And he raised his family in Sodom. And he got two cursed races. from his incestuous relations
with his own daughters. God said, them that honor me,
I'll honor. Those that despise me, I'll lightly
esteem. Job honored God. Oh, how Job honored God. He was perfect and upright, a
man that feared God and eschewed evil. And when God in one day,
in one day, took everything he owned, in one day, took everything
he owned, and then took his children, and then took his health, until
his wife said to him, why don't you curse God and die? In all
this, Job sinned not, nor charged God with folly, but he bowed
his head and worshiped. And when his three friends, his
miserable comforters, had made all their accusations, Job still
honored God. He said, though he slayed me
yet will I trust him. And oh, how God honored Job.
Read the last end of the book. Read the end of the book. How
God honored Job. David was a righteous man, like
Job, a man after God's own heart. I'd give anything to be half
the man David was, Rod. David was a remarkable man. But
in the matter of Uriah the Hittite, David dishonored God. And the
thing that David did displeased the Lord. And the sword never
departed from David's house. Because God said, I'm going to
show you and all Israel and all the world that the thing you've
done displeased me. Jephthah, that son of a harlot. That man who came from nowhere
out of nothing. That man who was despised by
his brothers and cast out. You won't be here with us. That
man honored God. God made him a judge in Israel.
And he said to the Lord, he said, Lord, you give me victory over
your enemies today. And when I go home, first thing
comes out of my house, I'll sacrifice it to you. And God gave him the
victory. And Jephthah went home, and everybody
heard about the victory. Oh, man, what a victory. He came
home to accolades. And he came up to his house,
and his daughter came out with a timbrel in her hand, and she
was dancing and jumping up and down. Oh, daddy, daddy, how God's
blessed you. And Jephthah said, oh, my soul,
what have I done? And he said to his daughter,
I've lifted my hand to God, and I can't go back. And Claus, this just might have
been the most honorable thing God did for Jephthah. His daughter
said, you do what you told God you'd do. Oh, how God honored Jephthah.
Them that honor me, I will honor. Those that despise me shall be
lightly esteemed. Eli, the righteous man, failed
to honor God And he suffered the consequences
in his family forever. Now, here's our duty. Honor God. Honor God. Every Sunday school
child has learned the chief duty of man is to glorify God. That's why God put us here, is
to honor him. That's the reason God created
you, is to honor him. And I'm going to tell you something.
You're going to honor him. God's going to get honored by
you one way or the other. Either in his justice or in his
grace. But he's going to get honor in
you one way or the other. He will either use you for your
everlasting destruction or use you in the building of his kingdom.
God will be honored by you and by me one way or the other. You can bet on it. the one thing
that God will have from all his creatures. The one way or another
is his honor. Here Eli failed miserably. He did reprove his sons for their
wickedness. He did tell them it was wrong,
but that wasn't his responsibility alone. He neglected to exert
the authority God had given him as priest to demand that they
honor God. And therefore, God said, you
despise me. We must make God's honor the
aim of our lives. Jonathan, did you hear that?
Make God's honor the aim of your life. Bob Pottser, did you hear
that? Make God's honor the aim of your
life. That's the goal, God's honor. No, we cannot add anything
to God's honor. We can't. We can't diminish from
God's honor. God's glory is his glory. But
we do affect how God is honored or despised by those we influence. We do affect how God is honored
or despised in the eyes of those people we influence. You and
I are an occasion of God either being honored or dishonored,
honored or blasphemed by those we influence. How often, oh God forgive me,
how often I know I have been the occasion of God being dishonored
in the minds of men. It ought never to be. It ought
never to be. God deserves to be honored by
us. He chose us. He redeemed us with the blood
of His own dear Son. He called us by His grace. He's
forgiven us of all our transgressions and forgives us all our iniquities
continually. He has kept us and is keeping
us and will keep us by his grace. God has made himself known to
us as he's not made himself known to the world. The world sees
his wisdom and power, his eternal Godhood in creation. They hear
the thunder. They see the clouds. They see
his path in the whirlwind. They know God speaks and they
know God is and they know God's power. But God calls us to see
his face in the face of Jesus Christ, his son, and thereby
to see his glory in the crucified Savior. Oh, how he's honored
us. We were by nature. like all other men, deceived
and deceiving, fornicators, and idolaters, and adulterers, and
effeminate, and abusers of ourselves with mankind, and thieves, and
covetous, and drunkards, and revilers, and extortioners, such
as could never inherit the kingdom of God. But now we've been washed,
and sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus.
and by the spirit of our God. God deserves to be honored by
me. Oh, God deserves to be honored
by me with every breath of my body, with every fiber of my
being, with every moment of my time, with every thought of my
mind, with every work of my hands. God deserves that I should honor
him in everything. Now, let me speak plainly. Sometimes
folks, because we refuse to put God's people under yoke of the
law, they say we're ambiguous and don't speak plainly. Let
me give you seven distinct clear ways taught in this book by which
you and I ought to honor our God. First, believe Him. To believe the Son of God is
to honor God. No sinner can honor God except
by faith in Jesus Christ. You cannot honor God except you
believe God. People talk about serving the
Lord. I've decided to start serving the Lord. You can't serve him
till you believe him. You honor God by faith in his
son. He that honoreth the son honoreth
the father also. What shall we do that we may
do the works of God? The Lord Jesus said, believe
on him whom the Father has sent. Number two, we honor God by confessing
our sins to the glory of his justice and his grace. Listen to this. This is how David
confessed his sin. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of thy tender
mercies. Blood out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. For I
acknowledge my transgressions. My sin is ever before me against
thee. Thee only have I sinned and done
this evil in thy sight. Listen to this now. That thou
mightest be justified when thou speakest and clear when thou
judgest. God when you judge my sin in
my family, you're right. And God, when you forgive my
sin through the blood of your son, you're justified. We honor
God's justice and his grace in the confession of our sin. If
we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Number three, We honor God by
submitting to his rule, bowing to him, bowing to him. Some time ago, I read a letter
from John Newton. I'm not in the habit of doing
that, and I don't fault you who do. I get these books that are
letters of Pink and letters of Newton and letters of others.
I don't read them because I don't like to read people's correspondence.
I just don't like to read letters you wrote to somebody else. I'm
not interested in that. Maybe I'm just not that nosy. I just
don't commonly do it. But for some reason, this one
came across my desk years ago when I read it. Newton was writing
to a lady. who had lost her husband of many
years a few months earlier, and she was still mad at God. And Newton said to her, your
anger I cannot excuse. And he went on to tell her how
God had blessed her, what a life they had had, what a fine husband
she had had, how they had served God together, and God deserved
better. He was saying to her, bow to
God. As long as you fight, you're
going to hurt. As long as you're angry with God, you're going
to hurt. As long as you tick against his will, you're going
to hurt. The Lord Jesus said, come unto me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And then he says
to you who come to him, take my yoke upon you and learn of
me. I never plowed with a yoke of
oxen. I'm not quite that old. I did
when I was a boy. Take a mule and drag a sled through
the tobacco fields my granddaddy, but that's the closest I ever
got to it But I've given to understand that oxen unaccustomed to the
yoke It's not easy to get them put it on you got you got your
work cut out when you get started But the oxen that are accustomed
to the yoke Farmer comes out takes the yoke and oxen just
they're ready to take it on no point in fighting this it's coming
No point in bucking. It's coming. He's gonna win.
So they just bow to the yoke. Children of God, bow to the Savior's
yoke and it'll make life easy. You'll find rest for your souls.
Bow to his will and you'll live in peace. Honor God by bowing
to the rule of Christ. Number four, Right along that
same thing, trust his unerring providence. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. And Larry,
you can't do both, can you? You can't trust the Lord and
lean to your understanding. You'll do one or the other. Trust
in the Lord with all your heart. and lean not unto your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths. Honor God fifthly by extolling
his greatness. When you talk about God, when
you think about God, when you sing about God, think great. Ascribe ye greatness unto our
God is the way Moses spoke to Israel as he left them. Ascribe
ye greatness unto our God. Always speak of God in his greatness. Every doctrine that's true ascribes
greatness to God. Every song of praise in our congregations
that's worth singing ascribes greatness to God. Every prayer
that is uttered that's worth saying ascribes greatness to
God. Every sermon that's preached
that's worth hearing ascribes greatness to God. Number six, honor God by rejoicing in the
Lord. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. Let
your moderation be known to all men, the Lord's at hand. Be careful
for nothing. Be careful for nothing. What an exhortation. What an
exhortation. Be careful for nothing. Jerry Sadler, you and I ought
to be the most carefree people in the world. We're gods. What have I got to care about?
That's what you're teaching this morning, wasn't it, Linda? The
shepherd cares for the sheep. They don't have to care for themselves.
And as long as I try to care for myself, I won't rest in hell. Be careful for nothing. In everything,
give thanks. And with that, your supplications
Your prayers and supplications with thanksgiving be known unto
God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall
set a sentinel around your hearts and minds, shall keep your hearts
and minds through Christ Jesus. God's elect ought to be the happiest
people under the sky rejoicing the Lord. Christ is mine. I am my beloved and my beloved's
mine. Number seven. Honor God. By consecrating yourself to him. In the totality of your being. Consecrate yourself to God, honor
him, honor him. Parents, honor God in your house.
Honor God in your house. You young people, you think about
dating somebody, think about getting married. Don't even consider, don't even
consider taking somebody out and dating them. Man or woman,
don't even consider doing so with whom you can't worship and
serve God. Don't do it. You'll make yourself
a bed of briars. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't
do it. God might overrule. He might.
I've seen him do that, but I promise you, you're making for yourself
a bed of briars. Don't do it. Don't do it. Honor
God in your house. Honor God in your house. Brother
Lance Heller's son, Ryan, just graduated from Harvard. I said
to him the other night from the pulpit, I said, don't go anywhere. brilliant mathematician, electrical
engineer, chemical engineer, somewhat engineer, what he is,
but brilliant, brilliant fellow. Went to Harvard on a full scholarship.
And I said, I'm telling you the truth. I'm telling you the truth.
If I had to scrub toilets for a living for the rest of my life
with your degree to worship God, I'd put myself somewhere where
I could worship God and scrub toilets. I wouldn't go to work
for the richest firm in the world if I couldn't worship God where
I was. Wouldn't do it. Honor God in
your house. Honor God in your house. That's
the primary thing, Ricky. Honor God in your house. As for
me and my house, we will serve the Lord. I hear folks say, Dave,
a man just can't say that. He can't if he's a man. He can't
if he's a man. And he can if he believes God.
In this house, we will serve God. Let your sons and daughters
know it from infancy. In this house, God is honored. In this house, we live by this
book. In this house, we worship God. And it won't be any other way.
It won't be any other way. Honor God. Oh, preacher, honor
God. It's my responsibility as your
pastor, as a preacher, in everything we do as a local church, to see
to it that God's honored. And I'm not going to allow things
that, in my opinion, being convinced by the Word of God, by the Spirit
of God, dishonored him. It's not going to happen. Not
here. Not here. As God gives me grace, that's
my responsibility. And I'm not going to give it
up. I'm not going to give it up. That's my responsibility.
And where you are, where God's given you responsibility to serve
him, honor him. Many, many years ago, the Queen
of England asked a businessman to go to Hamburg as her ambassador. And the businessman responded,
but your majesty, Queen Elizabeth he's speaking to, my own business
will suffer by my absence. No, she replied, it will not. You attend to my business and
I'll attend to yours. God says to you, you attend to
my honor, I'll attend to yours. You attend to my business, I'll
attend to yours. Honor God. Honor God. And this I know. This I know. This I know. Them that honor
me, I will honor. In this life and in the last
day, he will say, well done. Come, blessed my father. Them that honor me, I will honor
and honor forever. Amen.