Good evening, my brothers and
sisters in Christ. Gabe, thank you for this privilege
to stand here. After having tried to preach
the gospel for 33, 34 years, I realized that being a pastor,
you don't just let anybody stand in this place. A few months ago,
I preached my father-in-law's burial service, and a young man
who was helping with the proceedings from the mortuary came up to
me afterward, and he said, you can always tell a Calvinist when
you hear one preach. Well, he was quick to let me
know he was not a Calvinist. And I said, well, that's too
bad. And he said, well, when did, and what was it that brought
you to believe like you do? I said, when God saved me. That's
why I believe like I do. But then he asked me, he said,
well, would you let me preach in your pulpit? I said, no, sir,
I would not. I would not. I've been here a
few times, and there's two things that stand out in my mind and
makes my soul rejoice. The first one is the most important
one. What I've seen the few times
I've been here, is that Christ is the sum and the substance
of everything here. Without that, the rest of it
does not matter. But something else that just
rejoiced my soul, the first time I was here, it was a conference.
Of course, there were a lot of visitors, so I didn't really
know who were actually members here or whatever. I began to
see lap babies. toddlers, adolescents, teenagers,
young adults, and then some folks like me a little older. That
rejoices my soul. You don't see that everywhere.
In some places where Sovereign Grace is preached, just a few
of us old folks left around. And I thank God for that. But
having said that, now I'll turn again to Ephesians chapter six. Ephesians chapter six. Paul has
already graciously read this passage, so I'm not going to
read the nine verses in total, but we will look at all of them
to some degree. Before I begin, let me say this,
all scripture, All scripture, I'm talking about from the first
letter of the Hebrew alphabet in Genesis chapter one and verse
one, all the way to the last verse in the Greek in the book
of the Revelation speaks about Jesus Christ. The whole book
does. All scripture, whether it speaks
of eternal things, whether it speaks of gospel conversion,
whether it speaks of ecclesiology, or that is the doctrine of the
church, whether it speaks of our walk, or whether it speaks
of prophecy. All scripture has the gospel
of Christ as its driving force. I was told one time by a fellow,
and of course he was not of the grace ilk, if you understand
what I'm saying. He said getting people saved's
easy. Teaching them how to walk, that's the hard part. And I thought,
oh, poor, dear soul. It does not understand what it
took for God to save even one soul. Think about it. Paul begins this epistle, this
letter. It was just a letter written
to a local assembly. And he begins this letter with
great declarations of God's sovereign, eternal, predestinated purpose. But then it comes down to chapter
four, and he says, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech
you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you're called. saying that our walk cannot be
separated from the Gospel. He told the Philippians, it's
in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 27, only let your conversation,
that means your manner of life, your conduct, not just what you
say but what you do, what you think, only let your conversation
be as becometh the gospel of Christ. He told the Colossians
this in Colossians chapter two. He says concerning Jesus Christ
in Colossians two verse three, in whom are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, lest any man
should begow you with enticing words. And we're surrounded with
that. For though I be absent in the
flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding
your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As ye
have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in
him, rooted and built up in him. and established in the faith,
as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware,
lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after
the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world." And
here it is, and not after Christ. Walk cannot be separated from
the gospel. Walk separated from the gospel
is nothing but religious self-righteousness. Thus, this is why I say that
no text is absent from the gospel as its driving force. If only I could walk the way
the gospel encourages me to walk. I just wish I could walk like
it encourages me to walk. I wanna give you three things
this evening. concerning Ephesians chapter
six, verses one through nine. First of all, note that honor
is equated with obedience. You see that? He gives the example
of the law to children. Honor thy father and mother,
but what does it mean to honor your father and mother? Well,
the first verse he lets us know, children, obey your parents in
the Lord, for this is right. Think about it. Honor is never
mere outward accolades. There are people who think they
honor their mother and father because they give them a Father's
Day card or a Mother's Day card. That's not what it's talking
about. Now, I'm not telling you not to give your mother and father.
I think it's a good practice. There's nothing wrong with that.
But it means to obey. That's the word it's used. Obedience.
See, honor, obedience is the tenet of a gospel faith. Look at what our Lord Jesus Christ
said. Turn to John chapter 8. This is an amazing passage. John chapter 8. John chapter eight, and let's
begin in verse 28. Listen to what our Lord says
here. Then said Jesus unto them, when ye have lifted up the Son
of Man, then shall ye know that I am. And that is the most appropriate
way to read that. You'll know that I'm God Almighty. That's what he's saying. Then
shall you know that I am, and that I do nothing of myself,
but as my Father hath taught me. What an amazing statement.
You think about that? Here's the Lord of glory, the
son of God. And he says, as my father hath
taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me. The father hath not left me alone,
for I do always those things that please him. The gospel himself. He is the gospel. The gospel
himself was in accord with the father's will. He come not to
do his own will, but the will of him that sent him. How much
more should I be crying that out? Think of it. Not only that,
in Romans chapter one, look how the apostle Paul puts faith in
Christ. Romans chapter one, just one
verse. by whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience
to the faith. You see, believing God is obeying
God. Believing God is obedience. It is a grand and glorious gift
of God to be enabled to believe God. And here Paul calls that
believing what? Obedience. Obedience. Look at the negative side. 2
Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter one, verse
seven. And to you who are troubled,
rest with us. when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven
with his mighty angels, inflaming fire, taking vengeance on them
that know not God, and look at it, and that obey not the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ. An attempt to obey God that is
separated from obedience to the gospel. is no obedience at all,
at all. Secondly, to obey, that is to
honor, by default, to obey, to honor, by default,
is subjection and submission. The very thought of obedience
means that we crush our will and we bow to the will of another."
Now, while the words are not directly mentioned in the immediate
context, that is, of Ephesians chapter 6, verses 1 through 9,
subjection and submission is in the overall context. Look
at what he says in chapter 5. And verse 20, let's begin there. Giving thanks always for all
things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, submitting yourselves, you see it? Submitting yourselves
unto one another, one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit
yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband
is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the
church, and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the
church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their
own husbands in everything. Husbands, you love your wives. Husbands, you love your wives,
even as Christ also loved the church. My brother Gabe, that's
a tall order. That's a tall order. And look
what it says, and gave himself for it. My mind, years ago when
I read that, I always thought he died for the church. And that's
true. That is absolutely true. But he did more than just die
for the church. He lived for the church. His
whole life was for our good and our benefit. So, there we see. To obey, that is to honor, by
default is subjection and submission. The immediate context is clear.
Children, you obey your parents. That means you bow down to them.
That's what it means. You subject your will to their
will. You submit to your parents. Then it says fathers. The fathers
are given a command. These fathers stand before God,
responsible before God to bring their children up in the nurture
and the admonition of the Lord. That is, the father is to subject
his will to God Almighty's will. It's not, this is how I want
to raise my kids. It's this is how God says to
raise, not kids. That's subjection and submission.
We also see it concerning servants to masters, masters to the masters. The whole context here is submit,
submit, be subject to, honor, or that is obey. This too, this
too is the tenet of true gospel faith. You can see it, I'm not
going to read it, but you can go back to Luke chapter two sometime
and look specifically at verses 48 through 51. Remember when
our Lord was 12 years old and they went to Jerusalem, that
is our Lord Jesus Christ and Joseph and Mary and a large group
of family members. And it was such a large group
and I have a hard time wrapping my mind around this, but the
whole group left Jerusalem. Our master at 12 years old was
in the temple teaching the word of God and people were amazed. They shouldn't have been. He's
the one who wrote the word of God. He is the word of God. He is God's word incarnate. And
here he is at 12 years old. They realize after a whole day's
journey that Jesus isn't with them. So they returned to Jerusalem
and it takes them three days. Now you parents think about that.
It takes them a total of four days to find Jesus. And you can read the account.
Mary is a little disturbed. We salt you sorrowing. Don't you know that your father
and I have salt you sorrowing? And Jesus looked at Mary and
said, wished you not, don't you understand? I must be about my
father's business. And he was, he was. But you know
what the next verse says? He left Jerusalem, went back
to Nazareth and was subject unto them. You think about that, the
Lord of glory. I don't care if he was just 12
years old. He was no less God when he was 12 than when he was
33 years old. He was no less God when he was
12 years old than when he was dying on that cross. This was
God. God manifest in the flesh. And
what did he do? He subjected himself to Joseph
and to Mary. That is astounding. And he did
that not for himself. He did that for me. And He did
that for you, if you're in Him. That is amazing. Listen to the
way Peter put it, 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2 and verse 21, for even here unto where ye called, Because Christ also suffered
for us, leaving us an example that we should follow in his
steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. Who, when he was reviled, he
reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, and look at the next two words, but committed himself. That means to surrender to. Isn't
that amazing? He committed himself, he surrendered
himself to him that judgeth righteously, even when he suffered. You know
why? Because his father had taught
him, this is what must take place. This is what must take place.
Who? His own self. There are sins
in his own body on the tree. And I can't explain that, I just
believe it. My sins were inside him. It's beyond my comprehension.
But why were my sins inside of him? So that they would not be
judgment and condemnation against me. He was made sin for us who
knew no sin. Why? So that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. You see, you cannot separate
your walk from the gospel. Because if you do, all you have
is dry, dead, religious self-righteousness. Who is own self, bear our sins
in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins should
live under righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye
were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd
and bishop of your souls. Not only that, The Apostle Paul
says concerning our Lord Jesus Christ that he humbled himself
and became obedient. Isn't that amazing? This is the
Lord of glory. But he humbled himself and became
obedient, but not just obedient, but obedient unto death. But
not just unto death, but unto the death of the cross. What
an amazing thing. And what did God the Father do
in light of that? Wherefore He hath highly exalted
Him. He is Lord. And one day God Almighty
will make every man and woman bow to the authority of King
Jesus. I'm just glad He's bowing some
of us now. glad He's bowing some of us now. Romans chapter 10, think about
this, what was the nation of Israel's chief crime against
God? Romans chapter 1 verses 1-4 the
Apostle Paul tells us, they go about to establish their own
righteousness and have not, what? Submitted themselves unto the
righteousness of God and that righteousness is a person. person, not a set of rules, not
the Mosaic law, but the righteousness of God is a person and men and
women either submit and subject themselves, they bow down to
and obey Christ or they are under the condemnation of God. Now
here's the third thing, such gospel obedience in our text
is both quantified and and qualified. I can't deal with all of it.
I don't have time for it. First of all, notice, this gospel
obedience is quantified and qualified. Four things we'll deal with tonight. One, when we obey, we are to
obey in the Lord. It doesn't say, children, obey
your parents who are in the Lord. That's not what it says. If you're here and you're a believing
child, and you got a parent that's an unbeliever, you're still to
obey your parents. You're still to obey your parents,
but only in the Lord. But only in the Lord. If your
parents tell you to go against the truth of the personal work
of Jesus Christ, you ought to obey God rather than men. That's
what he's talking about. Even the apostles said that.
They said, we told you not to preach in this name. They said,
we ought to obey God, not men. I know of a young lady, and I
was told this, I don't know the young lady. I might be here,
I don't know. But I heard this when I was young
at Don Fortner's, that a young lady had come to know Christ,
and God had been pleased to reveal Christ to her, and her parents
were not pleased at all. She had to sneak out of the house
to go be baptized. But you know what? That's all
right. If that's what you got, you obey your parents, but you
do it in the Lord. God's honor in his son is more
important than anything else in this world. I spoke about it a little bit
with Gabe and Penny this evening. I loved my papa, that's what
I called him. My papa was a, deacon in a Baptist
church for as long as I can remember. And that Baptist church told
me, get out because we don't believe that gospel. And I mean, it was vitriolic.
These people were mean and these were my blood relatives, cousins,
uncles, aunts, grandparents. My grandfather never believed
the gospel as far as I know. But guess who had to end up preaching
at his funeral? Me. After all those years, me. And
you know what? The honor of my lord was more
important than the honor of my papa. You understand what I'm
saying? As I told Gabe, I did not try
to disparage my grandfather. He was one of the most honest
and decent men I know as far as men compared with men. But
he thought he was saved because of his choice and his decision. And his salvation did not rest
upon the person and work of Jesus Christ. The honor of God in Christ is
foremost over everything. Obey in the Lord. Secondly, obey
with the heart, bountifully, bountifully. Obey with singleness
as unto Christ. Verse five, servants, be obedient
to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear
and trembling in singleness of your heart as unto Christ. The apostle Paul put it this
way in Romans chapter six, You can read it later if you wish.
Verses 15 through 17, you have obeyed, how? How is it that you,
not just in outward overt actions. This is mainly what religion
that calls itself Christianity does today. They go through the
outward motions. I know, I did it. I'm not throwing
down on them. I was a part of it at one time.
And we went through the outward motions, but inside I didn't
want to be doing what I was doing. You understand what I'm saying?
I didn't want, I was doing it just because I thought that's
what I had to do to get God's favor. When you realize that
your favor comes from God in the person of his son, then you're
freed to do from down in here. You're free to do, even though,
you know, sometimes you're doing, you will fall flat on your face,
but you know that God's not standing over you with a big club. God
Almighty has made us accepted in the beloved, in the beloved.
He also says, here's another one of these things that are
quantified and qualified, don't flatter men. Don't flatter men. Our obedience, our subjection,
our submission is a willing service to Christ, verse six, not with
eye service as men pleasers. Oh, thank God for his forgiveness. But how much I used to do that
years ago. I was not, I could say that now. I couldn't say
it back then. I didn't even know it back then.
What I was doing, I was actually doing, trying to please men,
not God Almighty. Because I did not see God is
pleased with nothing outside of his son. The best obedience
of our hands dares not appear before his throne. My best deeds,
my best deeds, I'm gonna say this and you forgive me if I
offend, I don't mean to be offensive. Our righteousnesses are like
a dirty Kotex. And I want to be that blunt because
that's what Isaiah the prophet said. The best I can offer to
God is uncleanness, uncleanness. You remember our Lord told the
disciples, when you've done all that is your duty to do, what
did he say? Here's what we're still to say
about ourselves. We are but unprofitable servants. But thank God we're
servants. Thank God he's bowed us to his
son. Don't flatter men, but willingly
serve the Lord of glory. Here's number four. My wife asked
me about this. I told her, well, I'm gonna preach
on that. I'll give it to you when we get
there. But she insisted I give it to her before we got there.
So she got part of this before we got here. Fathers, What does
it say? And ye fathers, provoke not your
children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition
of the Lord. Of course, nurture would be tender
training, tender training. Admonition could be put this
way, well-rounded instruction, well-rounded instruction. Fathers,
mothers, There is no subject in scripture that is taboo. Do you know that? There is no subject in scripture
that is taboo. Bring fathers, bring up your
children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. In other words, don't provoke them
to wrath. In the Greek, that word provoke
and wrath is actually one single word. But it means this, do not
exasperate your children to resentment. Now what does that mean? We use
those words, even I hear those words, okay, but what's that
really mean? Let me give you just a couple
examples. Do not expect your unbelieving children to conduct
themselves like believing children. You understand what I'm saying?
Do not expect your unbelieving children to conduct themselves
like believing children. They can't do it. Now that doesn't
mean you don't make them mad. You make them mad. You bring
them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. But if they are
unregenerate, they cannot but walk as an unregenerate individual. And if you try to force them
into a walk of regeneracy, you will nothing but exasperate them
to resentment. They'll come to hate you for
it. come to hate you for it. But here's another one, another
example. Believing children, fathers, mothers, you have believing
children, don't expect them to be believing adults because they're
not adults yet. You understand that? You got
believing children, they're still children. When God saves us,
my late pastor Earl Cochran used to say, ain't nobody ever been
born with a full set of teeth. We're born babes in Christ. I
don't care how old we are physically, we're born babes in Christ. And
that's the way we must approach our children. Even if they believe
they're babes in Christ. I wanna close this up. I wanna
give you a summary of this nurture and admonition. We'll give you
four things. And four things, these four things
I believe could be mentioned as a canopy that covers all the
truth of the Word of God. First of all, and I don't give
this in any specific order because they're all vital. Okay, they're
all vital. But here's the four things, I'm
trying to sum up, nurture and admonition. Teach your children. Teach one another. The absolute,
the absolute, the absolute rule of scripture. This word, this
Bible, is God Almighty's word. Some of the old writers used
to put it this way. It's the only source of faith and practice. How you believe, how you think,
how you walk, it's all governed by what's in this book right
here. This book, will guide you and
me in the right way. Because this book points us to
Jesus Christ. That's why. Because it points
us to Jesus Christ. I mean, you can speak to your
children and you can say, well, the word of God is inspired.
And that's what the word of God says. It's given by inspiration,
but they don't understand what that means. I don't even really
understand what that means. We say it's breathed of God.
I still don't understand what that means. But I know it means
this. This is God Almighty's heart.
This is the very mind and thoughts of God Almighty written down
in this book. I better pay heed to that, don't
you think? I better pay heed to that. That's one of the first,
that's the first. Here's another one. We need to impress upon
our children and upon one another the absolute preeminence of Jesus
Christ. He's preeminent over all things.
And why? Because the Father is pleased
for him to have all the preeminence. You remember Mordecai, don't
you? The old Jew? He had an old Gentile that really
hated Mordecai. One day, he sees Mordecai, this
hated Jew, riding on the king's horse. Well, what gives Mordecai
the right to ride on the king's horse? The king gave him that
right, and nothing else mattered. You see, God says it pleased
him that in Christ all preeminence dwells. I need to be reminded
of that over and over and over because my will as corrupt as
it is continually seeks to rise up against God's will. That was. I don't know if I could
say gave the first sin, I don't know, but I think it's the first
sin we're ever made aware of that was Satan's primary sin.
I will, I will, I will. And that's our primary sin, I
will. Gospel faith is obedience, subjection,
and submission. Christ is preeminent as our prophet,
That means he is God speaking. He doesn't just speak for God.
He is God speaking. He's our priest. That doesn't
mean that he simply offers things to God on our behalf. It means
he is the offering. And he offered himself once to
God. And God the Father smiles on
that. And he is king. what a king is,
don't you? A king is one who says, this
is the way it is. And you've got no right to question
me. That's a real king. Now, I understand in this country
we don't like kings too well. We don't even like our politicians
too well. And I understand why. But Christ is prophet, priest,
and king. Here's the third one. Do not,
do not be remiss. at teaching your children and
teaching one another and constantly reminding one another of our
utter corruption before God. The philosophy of this world
is at heads with this truth. The age in which we live, and
I suppose it's always maybe been that way, but we just see it
so much now because of TV and radio and satellites. Nobody wants to own up to their
own personal corruption. We always want to blame somebody
else. Let me give you something. The Bible doesn't even tell me
that I was imputed Adam's sin. Did you know that? It never says
that. It says by one man's disobedience, many were what? Made sinners. Christ was made sin, I was made
a sinner. Adam's sin is not just on me.
It's who I am. And I cannot escape that. until I awake in Christ's likeness. This thing's a battle. And I'm
not talking about the battle out there. You know where the
real battle's at? You know what my worst enemy
is? It's that person I see in the
mirror every morning when I wake up and go to brush my teeth.
Right here's my worst enemy. I am my worst enemy. Don't be afraid to teach your
children how bad they are, how corrupt they are in God's sight. Now you encourage your children
to be, to grow up to be, pray to God that they grow up to be
decent citizens and law-abiding citizens, honest and having integrity,
but none of that will give them righteousness before God. Two
things that God shows every man or woman, boy or girl, two things
that God Almighty shows to every person he's ever saved. That's
one, how bad they are and how glorious his son is. And it all
spreads out from there. Here's the fourth thing. Parents,
children, servants, masters, whatever your station in life
is, if you're a believer, sow the seed. Sow the seed. I'm not going to turn to it,
but Luke chapter 8 speaks of four types of ground. Only one
type of ground brought forth fruit to perfection. That's the
good ground. But listen to me, good ground
ain't worth spit until the seed falls on it, even though it's
good ground. You ever think about that? The
good ground's got to be there first. But it doesn't do any
good until the seed of the word of God falls on it. So just sow the seed. You can't
save your children. You can't save your spouse. You can't save your grandparents.
We just can't do it. Earl used to say, if I could,
I'd just pull back people's head and pour the truth right in.
But we just can't do it. A blind man can no more see the
glorious light of the sun up in the sky than he can see just
a little flickering of a candle. If he's a blind man, he's a blind
man. And there's nothing you can do
about it unless somebody's got the power to come along and give
him what? Sight. But being able to see ain't gonna
do you any good unless you got somebody to see. You see? You got to have somebody to see.
Thus, again I say, just sow the seed. Just sow the seed. God'll take care of everything
else. God'll take care of everything else, brother.