Ephesians chapter 6. Throughout America this morning,
there's a whole lot of messages on the mother. Today's Mother's
Day. Oh, we're going to hand out some
roses. We're going to have something special just for you. Talk about
mom. We ought to honor our mothers,
shouldn't we? The Lord tells us to. The message I have for
you is concerning Christ. Somebody would say, how can you
just hear the same thing over and over again? How could you
preach the same message and you boil it down to something about
Christ over and over again? And I was making laps around
this building the other day and I thought, you know what? I paid
real good money to go to a concert some old bands and I didn't want
to hear their new songs. I wanted to hear their old songs.
And I didn't want it real fast or their new famed old way of
singing that song. I want it sung like the album.
That's what I wanted. I wanted the same old song. And
pay good money to go. When it comes to Christ, boy, we get
bored quick, don't we? Here in Ephesians 6 verse 1. Children, obey your parents in
the Lord for this is right. honor thy father and thy mother,
which is the first commandment with promise, there's a promise
attached to it, that it may be well with thee and 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. Servants, be obedient to them
that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling
and singleness of your heart as unto Christ, not with eye
service as man-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing
the will of God from the heart, with good will doing service
as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatsoever good
thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord,
whether he be bond or free. And ye masters, do the same things
unto them, forbearing threatening, don't threaten, knowing that
your master also is in heaven, neither is there respect of persons
with him." I struggle greatly with this text and its application
to you. I don't preach to YouTube. I
don't preach to Sermon Audio. I'm not sent to the people in
Rescue, California. I'm not sent to the people in
Apopka, Florida. I'm sent to you. the sheep in this paddock
to the Lord sent me to. As I worked on this, we don't
have a whole lot of children here. We don't have a lot of
young parents that need instruction, just a couple of us. There's
not many bosses that are in this congregation. There's not many
workers, servants in this congregation. There's a whole bulk of good
instruction in this text right here. And I mean, I could go
on for hours telling you what does God say about raising children?
How fathers and mothers ought to be. Ain't what we think. It's what God says. How should
a servant be? When I go out to my vocation
and I have a job and I'm to work, how am I to work for that boss
as unto the Lord? The Lord has something to say
about that. And the benefits of it in this world and spiritually
as it's on our mind while we do it. and to you bosses. Run
some things. That applies to anybody that's
over somebody, isn't it? Mothers, fathers, in a workplace. The Lord has a whole lot to say
to them. A whole lot to teach us. All those things are profitable
for the furtherance of the gospel. Could be. We spend a lot of time
on them. But I want us to see Christ in these offices first. And if we have some time at the
end, I'll touch on the application of how it hits children and fathers
and servants and masters. Paul was moved by the Holy Ghost
to write this letter to the brethren there in Ephesus and to you and
I, to us, the same way and the same topic as Moses wrote, as
all those prophets in the Old Testament, as the apostles wrote,
James, Peter, Matthew, Jude, John, they wrote to us. They
had a topic, didn't they? They had a theme. Saint Mark
wrote to us. They wrote concerning Christ.
And it wrote to Emmaus. The Lord expounded the Scriptures
concerning Himself from Moses on. They wrote concerning Christ. The lesson to be learned is Christ. We just finished up with the
husbands and the wives last week, didn't we? Look here in verse
32. Paul says, this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning
Christ and the church. That's what marriage is a picture
of. You can get along good, go along and get along, and be okay
in this world, and both of you is going to die. The Lord gave
us that as a type and a picture to teach us Christ. Do you know
what God is teaching us here with children, with fathers,
with servants and masters. He's given us some instruction
for our walk in this world. But He's teaching us Christ in
this. He's teaching us Christ in this. If all we seize the
carnal, and there's earthly benefits. You parents, you whip your kids.
You make them obey you the first time. You're going to have it
easier whenever they get to be teenagers. There's going to be
a benefit. You spend less than you make. Count the cost of the
building before you build it. It's going to be a benefit to
you. It'll be a temporal blessing, but if all you get is the karma,
if all you get is the temporal blessing, that's all you got.
And what's it going to do? It's going to perish. I've raised
the best children on the face of this earth. I'm going to die
and they're going to die. If I understand how God raises
his children, see Christ in them, now we've got something. I'm
beginning to see, it takes a while, if you have a pasture of sheep
and you want to know how many wolves and what kind of wolves
you've got, you know the only way you're going to find it out?
Wait till night time. I'm getting a handle on a couple of wolves
in this paddock, in this part of the world, out here. For 60
plus years, here on this coast, syndicated throughout the nation,
it's been told you go home and read your Bibles. You don't need
to assemble together. You don't need a pastor to tell
you these things. You go home and read your Bibles. You're
grown-ups. We're grown-ups in the Word. You can figure this
out on your own. Did Philip go to that eunuch?
Did he? The Lord sent Philip to the eunuch.
And he heard him reading. Heard him reading aloud. Did
he say, hey, keep after it, buddy. Keep trying. No, God sent his
child a preacher. And he approached that chariot.
He said, do you understand what you're reading? He said, how
can I except some man should guide me? Reading Isaiah, wasn't
he? Did Philip say, come here, let
me teach you all this carnal stuff. Here's how you shear sheep. You get them on their hind end,
set them up, and they don't talk. Is that what he's saying? No,
he preached Christ to them. I pray God the Holy Spirit will
be with us this morning and move my mouth to guide us in this
text and show us our Lord in it. First, let's look. Let's look at Christ as the obedient
child. Here in Ephesians 6 verse 1. Children, obey your parents
in the Lord for this is right. This is right. Honor your father
and your mother. That's a precept. That's one
of the Lord's laws, isn't it? And we remember that anything
required of a sinner before Almighty God, it's fulfilled in Christ
our Redeemer. It must be fulfilled by Him.
We can't do it. That's good instruction. Obey
your parents. Have we feared? Have we honored? Have we respected
our parents our whole lives? We haven't, have we? We need
a substitute. Turn over to John chapter 6. John chapter 6. Here's the obedience of the Son
of God to God the Father. John 6 verse 38. It's Christ speaking. It says in John
6 verse 38, For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will,
but the will of Him that sent me. 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 again at the
last day." He's saying, I didn't come to this earth to do what
I wanted to do, to obey my thoughts and my will. He said, I came
to obey my father's will. He came in perfect obedience,
obeying his father. Turn over to John chapter 8. John chapter 8, verse 28. Then said Jesus unto them, When
ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that
I am. I am He. And that I do nothing
of myself, but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. Those things are too unimaginable
to enter into. They're one. The father and son
are one. They're the same. He said, I
came to do my father's will. Why did he say something like
that? Because I have to do my father's will. Why did he say, I do nothing
of myself, but my father's taught me. Christ, as my brother read
this morning, Christ increased in wisdom and stature when he
was 12 years old from that point on. How can we imagine these
things? Why? Because I need to increase
in stature. I need to increase in knowledge. You need to increase
in knowledge. That's why I did it. And his father taught him. Us fathers are to teach. How
is a child going to know these things? You've got to tell them.
I had to be taught. He had to be taught. Our Lord
said in Psalm 40, I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. He was the perfect obedient servant. There in Gethsemane, Christ prayed
to the Father, and He said, Oh my Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. This cup of wrath. The Lord's
justice is about to be poured out on Him. He says, nevertheless,
not as I will, but as thou wilt. That is perfect obedience. That
is right. That is righteous, isn't it?
And it is in the Lord. This is according to the Scriptures.
It's according to righteousness. It's according in perfect alignment
with God's holiness. Christ, our substitute, lived
for us as little children. An obedient child. Now back in
our text here in Ephesians 6. Children, obey your parents in
the Lord for this is right. Verse 4, we're going to see the
Father and the Son again. And ye fathers, provoke not your
children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition
of the Lord." Paul was not moved by God the Holy Ghost to write
here, provoke not your children in wrath, in your own wrath. He said, don't whip your kids
when you're mad. That's not what he's saying. He said, provoke
not your children to wrath. Don't provoke your children that
wrath will come from them. Don't provoke them to wrath.
Don't provoke them in that way. Provoke them in a way, push them,
guide them, correct them in a way that love will come out of them.
Not wrath, love. That's the opposite of wrath.
Provoke them to love. God the Father did not provoke
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be wrathful, but He purposed
Him to love. Turn back in Ephesians chapter
2, just a page there. Ephesians 2 verse 4. But God who is rich in mercy
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, we had wrath deserved, didn't we? Hath quickened us,
made us alive together with Christ. We are loved by God the Father
because we are put in Christ, because we are made one with
Him. Turn to Romans chapter 5. Do we have to get better before
we can get this love? Do we have to improve a little bit? Romans 5 verse 8. But God commendeth His love towards
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God the Father poured out His
wrath on Christ our head. But the purpose, the motivation
of that was His love for those He put in Christ. Our Lord willfully,
Christ willfully, in the greatest act of love ever displayed, laid
down His life for His people, for His bride. It says in John
15, greater love have no man than this, that a man lay down
his life for my friends, for his friends, and He says, ye
are my friends. The Father provoked, He prompted
the Son to love. If we could be reminded of that
at 10, 19 a.m. on a Tuesday, what joy would
come of that? Christ was given the Word and
the will of His Heavenly Father and He performed it in love to
His people. And He still does. He intercedes
for us. He calls us friends. That's something
to be conscious of, isn't it? Turn over to John chapter 11. John chapter 11, Mary and Martha,
they sent word to the Lord that Lazarus, their brother, was sick
and he was about to die. And the Lord waited. He didn't
go running to him. He waited. He waited in love.
That was an act of love. And whenever he arrived there,
Lazarus was already dead in the body. And Mary was being comforted
by this multitude of Jews. She heard Christ was near. She
heard Him coming down the road and she took off a running. She
fell on His feet and she cried to Him. It says there in verse
33. John 11, 33. And when Jesus therefore
saw her weeping, the Jews also weeping, which came with her,
He groaned in the Spirit and was troubled. And He said, Where
have you laid Him? And they said unto Him, Lord,
come and see. Here's two words, a two-word verse in the Scriptures
that just amazes me. John 11, 35. Jesus wept. He wept. Why was Christ weeping? Look here in verse 36. And the
Jews said, Behold, how he loved him. Oh, how he loved Lazarus. And how he loved Mary, who was
weeping. And how he loved Martha, who
was broken hearted. Those Jews were wrong. They said
Mary was running to go to the tomb. They knew she was running.
And they said, Oh, look how he loved him. Oh, the Lord loved
Lazarus. The Lord loved Mary and Martha
too. Behold how Christ loves his people. What a love, what
a love to live for them, to die for them, to weep with them, to be touched with the feeling
of our infirmities and to be so long suffering with us. There's a horrible fable. There's a slogan used so terribly
abused. Jesus loves you. Jesus loves
you. They write it on cars, in the
sky, on pamphlets, anything they can do. God doesn't love everybody. Outside
of Christ, outside of being in Him, that's a lie. But if you're
in Him, if the Lord puts you in Him, if you are His sheep,
and you can be brought into remembrance of Him, of Christ, to His love
for His bride. What a wonderful moment that
is. What joy that is to see His love, to know the love of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. What a blessing. Now back in
our text, Ephesians 6, we see Christ the obedient Son
of God that was taught and given the covenant to love That covenant
of grace before time was, and he was a faithful servant. Look
here in verse 5. Servants, be obedient to them
that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling,
in singleness of your heart, one-track mind, as unto Christ. In this precept here, we're instructed
to be obedient, honoring, faithful servants. You ever had a job? Did you ever
take an extra break? Did you ever go to the bathroom
when you didn't need to go to the bathroom? It's called a time thief. We haven't been good servants, have
we? Christ fulfilled this for His people. He fulfilled it for
His people. Turn over to Isaiah 42. Isaiah
42, verse 1. Isaiah 42-1, Behold My servant,
whom I uphold, Mine elect. He's saying, My child, this is
the One chosen. And we were chosen. If we were
elect, it's going to be in Him. Elect in Him. Chosen in Him.
In whom My soul delighteth. The Father delights in His obedient
Son. I have put My Spirit upon Him.
I've taught Him well. I've raised him up. He shall
bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up,
nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed
shall he not break, and a smoking flax shall he not quench. He's moved to love. A tenderness
with us bruised reeds. I'm just a smoking flax. He treats
us gently, doesn't He? He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. What a loving and obedient servant. But did He do this with singleness
of heart? Look here in verse 4. He shall not fail nor be discouraged
till He has set judgment in the earth and the isles shall wait
for His law. Christ was not discouraged in
doing the will of His Father. That's to be a good servant.
It's not just to do what you're told. to do it happily. Have good attitudes when we do
it. How often do we read about these disciples being discouraged?
Lord, how are we going to feed this many people? Oh, we ought
to send them away. How often do we read in the Old
Testament these prophets praying to the Lord in discouragement?
Moses said, Lord, these people, children of Israel, are about
to stone me. They're going to dry up a thirst.
They're going to kill me. How often do I come to my Lord's
throne in discouragement?" It's not a good servant, is it? Christ,
our substitute, did not doubt. He was not discouraged, and He
did not fail. We always look at those bold
statements that Paul made throughout Romans. Here's one. Christ didn't fail. He came to
save His people, and they're plumb saved. And ain't nobody
going to take them out of His hand ever. God says so. He shall not fail. He ain't gonna
be discouraged. He shall not fail till he set
judgment in the earth and the isles shall wait for his law. That is the servant of God. His
servant, his elect. And Lord also told us there in
Isaiah, he shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather
the lambs within his arms and carry them in his bosoms and
he shall gently lead Gently lead those that are with young." That's an obedient child that
obeys in love and serves in love. Back in our text. Ephesians 6
verse 9. And ye masters, do the same things
unto them, unto your servants, forbearing, threatening, Knowing
that your master also is in heaven, neither is their respective persons
with him. Christ the Son of God, Christ
the Servant of God, is Christ the Master. He's the Lord." And
he watched the defeat of the disciples. He said, you call
me Master and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. He said, you
hit the nail on the head. I am. In Matthew 28, that great
commission He gives for His ascension, He begins, "...with all power
is given unto Me in heaven and in earth." He's the Master. He is the Lord. Turn over one
book there to the right, Philippians. Philippians 2, verse 6. Philippians 2, 6. who being in the form of God
thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He is the Son
of 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.
He laid down his life in love for his people. Wherefore God
also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is
above every name. He is a master and Lord of all.
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in
heaven and things in earth and things under the earth. and that
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. The obedient Son of God, instructed
to love His people, became the willing servant of God and He
is risen. The work's finished. What's left
to do? It's done. He sits on His throne,
the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and He loves His bride. He intercedes for His bride. Ruling and reigning all things
just for His people. That's what Paul is being used
to teach us here in Ephesians 6. Christ is the one thing needful. Do I need to be a good child?
I ought to. Do I need to be a good father? I surely ought to. Good
servant and good master? Yeah. But that ain't going to
earn us salvation. That ain't going to earn us favor
with God. He's not a respecter of persons. He's a respecter
of Christ. With that general call, whenever
Christ was baptized, the heavens opened and the Father spoke audibly
and said, This is my Son in whom I am well pleased. I want to
make God happy. You ain't going to do it outside of Christ. What
salvation? That effectual call. That Mount
of Transfiguration. He said, This is my Son in whom
I am well pleased. And then the command came. Hear
ye Him. Hear Him. See in Him an obedient child, obedient in love, a faithful
servant, a good and faithful servant, and the Master of all,
the Lord of all. That's our constraint, knowing
Him, what He did for His people, the hell-deserving people that
are not those things. He fulfilled it for us. Everything
required of you, I'm going to do it for you. That's our motivation
as children, as fathers, as servants, and as masters, as bosses. He's
our motivation. Now that we have this understanding,
like that eunuch, Philip, came and talked. He said, scoot over,
let me show you. I'll show you what that means.
Now that we see the love of God in Christ for His sheep, for
His people, That love constrains us. Here's how we apply it in
our walk in this world. Look here in Ephesians 6, verse
1. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Physical children. Practical
application. How does this hit you? As long
as what mom and dad says is according to God's Word, you obey it. It's the right thing to do. That's
doing the right thing. And you honor them. Look here
in verse 2. Honor thy father and mother,
which is the first commandment with promise. Here's a commandment
that in Exodus 12 had a promise attached to it. You honor your
father and your mother, and you're going to have a long life to
live on this earth, and you'll have a better life to live. Mom
and Dad say, brush your teeth. Floss. That's going to save you
a lot of time, money, and pain whenever you're grown up. There's
a whole lot of diseases that start in the mouth and work throughout
the body. They're not saying this to make themselves happy.
Brush your teeth. You'll have a longer, happier
life. Practically. You children of the kingdom of
heaven. You children of God. Obey and honor your heavenly
father and your life on this earth will be easier and better. Our final day is appointed. But
the Lord says in His Word, your life will be extended. And I
believe Him. I believe. Verse 4, And ye fathers, provoke
not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord. Us earthly believing fathers,
don't push your children to wrath. What's that? The wrath of this
world. Get all you can, can all you
get, and then bury the can in the backyard. Well, you got a
big job up in L.A., boy, you better take it. Oh, you got to
go to New York City? London? That's fancy to go to
college over in England, isn't it? Don't push them to that. You promote love. You nurture
them in the Word. And you admonish them in the
Word of God. Remember what admonish means
for another day? It's to put in mind and to gently instruct. What's the best way I can show
my children that the gospel is important to me? It should be
important to them. What's the best way I can show
them? For them to see it take priority in my life. Gospel of
God takes priority in my home, at mealtime, in trials especially,
and in the attendance of public worship. Read Bruce's article from the
bulletin today. That's the same thing we looked at as a believing
spouse and an unbelieving spouse. They walk in this world that
the Lord may use that to make them come here, the preaching
of the gospel, and that's how He saves folks. They may see Christ in you and
want to know who you know. I heard a son say that one time
about his father. He said, I want to know what
he knows. I want to know the God that man
knows. Spiritually, you older ones in
the faith, you fathers, as Paul told Timothy, you point young
believers to Christ, you nurture them, and you gently instruct
them. What's the best way to do that?
You encourage them to attend service faithfully. The Lord
sent you to nurture. You that are strong in the faith,
he sent you to nurture, not to plant. The Lord sent you to gently
put them in mind, not to water. Here's where the Lord's going
to speak to his people. First week of July up in Rescue, the
Lord's going to speak to his people up there. That's where
he's going to be. I tell you about it. Verse 5, Ephesians 6, verse 5.
Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according
to the flesh, and with fear and trembling, in singleness of your
heart as unto Christ. Not with thy service as man-pleasers,
but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the
heart. You that have jobs, you work
as unto the Lord. Whatever is put in your hand,
not just when the boss is looking, I service. Ma'am, please. Oh,
here comes the boss. That was always the opposite
for me. I'd work as hard as I could and as soon as I started messing
up, that's when the boss showed up. Always worked backwards,
didn't I? Kept me humble. We work as unto
the Lord, as if Christ himself was standing right there across
from me saying, sweep these floors. That's how we ought to sweep
floors. You honor your employers. The Lord gave you that job. And
He rules and reigns in the heart of your managers and your bosses
and your employers too, same as He does everybody else on
earth. Now you spiritual servants, if the Lord's put something in
your hand to do, my dad said, you hit it like you live, hard
and fast. You put all yourself into it.
Give it all you got. I should strive in study and
in prayer to go just as hard as I can. To serve as if the
Lord told me, you sit down and read this. You pray. Like his disciples, I feel so
many times, the Lord said, you sit here and pray. We're going
to pray together. And then he'd come back and he
said, you couldn't even make it an hour? Glad he's my faithful servant. Verse 9, And ye masters, do the
same things unto them, forbearing threatening, knowing that your
master also is in heaven, neither is there respect of persons with
him. You bosses, and anyone that knows Christ that may someday
be a boss, you treat your employees like you'd like to be treated.
Don't threaten to fire them over every little thing. Physically,
that will work out good for you. that you lead in a gracious spirit
just as Christ our Lord led us and embraced us in His bosom." There's a lot more in this text
here. A whole lot more. Good instruction for us. But
I think that's all I'm going to cover today. Lord will come
back here at another time and look at each of these. But next
week I want to look at the whole armor of God. So often we quote
this, don't we? And I saw a little tiny fellow,
you all know, you've seen on the news a whole bunch, a general.
He wouldn't take his own body armor off. He'd come out of the
helicopter and he'd stick his arms out. And those guys that
worked for him would run up and they'd take his helmet off of
him and they'd take his body armor off of him. I looked at
my general, I worked for, and I said, don't you get no ideas.
You can take your own stuff off. But in the old times, in the
medieval times, and all those big coats, chain mail and all
that, you don't put the armor on by yourself. It's got to be put on you. A
servant has to put the armor on you to prepare you for battle. I pray the Lord be with us.