Welcome to the Reign of Grace
radio broadcast. My name is Bill Parker. I'm the
pastor of the 13th Street Baptist Church in Ashland, Kentucky.
This program is sponsored by the members of Eager Avenue Grace
Church in Albany, Georgia, located at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany,
Georgia. I'll be bringing you a gospel
message of the sovereign grace and glory of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ from God's Holy Word. And now, the message. Today I'm going to be preaching
from the book of Ephesians, chapter 6. And I want to talk to you
today about this subject, obedience in the Lord. Now, when it comes
to the subject of obedience and good works, we always have to
remember to put things in their proper perspective. For example,
we must understand that salvation, eternal life, righteousness,
holiness, final glory are all by the sovereign, free, unmerited
grace of God in Christ. When it comes to the ground of
salvation, or the cause of salvation. Our works and our efforts, our
obedience, can never enter the picture. They must be totally
excluded from the ground the cause of salvation. The Bible
teaches plainly that we are sinners and we cannot be saved by our
works. From the very beginning when
Adam fell, that was taught. Adam and Eve, realizing their
nakedness, were ashamed, and they sought to cover their nakedness
by their fig leaf aprons, which was a way of symbolizing the
efforts of man to cover himself from the wrath of God, the just
wrath of God. But God removed those fig leaf
aprons, and in Genesis chapter 3 it says that He slew an animal,
He shed blood, and made them coats of skin, and that was a
great picture of how God saves sinners, how sinners are made
righteous before God. It's by the blood of a sacrifice,
an innocent sacrifice, and that picture's Christ, the Lamb of
God who was slain on the cross under the wrath of God for the
sins of his sheep. For without the shedding of blood
there is no remission of sins. and the coats of skin represent
his righteousness imputed, that is, the merit of the obedience
unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ that is laid to the charge
of the account of his people, so that our sins are forgiven
based only upon the blood of Christ. Our justification before
God is based only upon His righteousness imputed, and our works and our
efforts and our obedience have no part in that. Now, when many
people hear that, they become confused, and the response of
the natural man, lost man, is to say, well, then we don't have
to obey at all. You're saying that we can go
out and sin as much as we want to, that we don't even have to
be obedient people. They'll go on even to say that
you're saying that a person can be saved and not obey God, and
that is not what we're saying at all. What Paul is talking
about here in Ephesians chapter 6 is a dynamic that is a power
of grace to bring a sinner who's saved by grace to obedience.
But you see, as I said before, you have to put it in perspective.
Now let me do that for you by quoting in Ephesians chapter
2, a verse of scripture that's probably familiar to all of you,
or most of you. It's Ephesians chapter 2 and
verse 8, which says, For by grace are you saved through faith,
that is, by means of faith, and that not of yourselves, even
faith is not of ourselves. You see, salvation is not conditioned
on faith. Salvation is conditioned on Christ
and he fulfilled the condition, faith receives Christ. So, for
by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves,
not of works, verse 9, not of works, lest any man should boast. So it's not of works. Works would
give the sinner room to boast. But then verse 10 says something
that is very key here in the dynamic of grace. in the obedience
that we're going to talk about, obedience in the Lord. And it
says, for we are His workmanship, that is, the saved sinner is
the workmanship of God. In other words, if you're saved
by God's grace and power, you're not the work of your own hands,
but you're the work of God. And he says, created in Christ
Jesus, the creation of a saved sinner, is not by anyone but
Christ Jesus. Christ met the conditions, fulfilled
the requirements, and all righteousness for his people. So created in
Christ Jesus, and then it says, unto good works, not because
of good works, but unto good works wherein through God hath
foreordained that you should walk in them. So the works, the
obedience of a sinner saved by grace are not the cause or the
ground of salvation, they are the fruit, the result of salvation. The obedience of a saved sinner
is evidence of his relationship with Christ. It's evidence of
the grace of God that has been bestowed upon his heart. It's
evidence of the love of God that has been shed abroad in his heart.
It's evidence of the Holy Spirit's work in the new birth and the
impartation of spiritual life and graces. It's evidence of
faith. Do you believe the Lord Jesus
Christ? Do you believe in God? Well,
if you do, it will be evidence by obedience. Now, that's the
kind of obedience that we're going to talk about. Any sinner
who seeks to obey God, seeking to earn God's favor, to earn
salvation, or even to earn their rewards, as people say. That
is not obedience in the Lord. That's obedience in yourself.
That's the obedience of an unwilling slave for slavery. We'll talk about that in just
a moment. That's legalism and self-righteousness. But I want
to tell you about obedience in the Lord. Now, the Apostle Paul
has already spoken of one of the main relationships that we
have here on this earth in the marriage relationship. Back in
chapter 5, he spoke of the man and the woman, the husband and
the wife, and the marriage relationship. And what he's teaching here,
what the Holy Spirit is teaching through the Apostle Paul, is
this. That for a believer, every relationship
that a believer has here on this earth should be a reflection
of his relationship with Christ. The marriage relationship, for
example, one man, one woman, united together in one flesh,
and it's a picture, their marriage relationship is a picture of
Christ, who is the bridegroom, and the church, who is his bride.
The church is married to Christ. Paul wrote of that in Romans
chapter 7, when he said that in our consciences, before we
came to know Christ, we were married to the law. bringing
forth fruit unto death. That is, those of us who were
religious and trying to obey the law, we were doing that not
because of love and grace and gratitude, but out of legalism
and self-righteousness, bringing forth fruit unto death, under
the bondage of the law. But then we became married to
Christ, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. And that's
the relationship of Christ and His Church. Christ, who became
legally responsible for His bride. to pay all her debts. And that's
what he did on the cross of Calvary for his church, his bride. He
bought her lock, stock, and barrel, redeemed her from sin, from Satan,
from the curse of the law, paid the full price, and provided
the wedding garment of his righteousness for her. And she took on his
name, Jehovah Sikhanou, the Lord Our Righteousness. He's the head
of the church, the church of the body. And the marriage relationship
is to reflect that beautiful relationship of Christ in his
church. But it doesn't stop at the marriage relationship. All
other relationships should be a reflection of a believer's
relationship to Christ and his people. And he begins here in
Ephesians chapter 6 with the relationship of parents and children,
the home. You know, one of the greatest
sorrows and evidences of the breakdown of society is the breakdown
of the home. The home, the marriage between
the husband and the wife and then the children, the husband
being the head of the home, especially the spiritual head of the home,
the wife being his helpmate, equal partners in the marriage,
but the husband is the authority. Well, one of the things that
the Bible says in the last days will be one of the signs of the
last of the last days is that there will be a general pervading
disobedience and disrespect of children to parents. And Paul
recognized the need of this in his day. He says in verse 1,
children, obey your parents. And then he says this, now listen
to it very carefully. He doesn't say just children,
obey your parents. He says, children, obey your
parents in the Lord. And that's why I entitled this
message, Obedience in the Lord. Children, be obedient to your
parents. Honor your father and your mother.
He says, children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this
is right. Sometimes we get so confused
about motivations and inspiration. And people do not understand
the motivation and inspiration of grace. That's why people,
when they hear true grace preached, they always respond by saying,
well, you're saying we don't have to obey at all. In other
words, they're saying, that's a legal spirit. That's the spirit
of ignorance and darkness. It's really a satanic spirit.
Because really, they're saying this. They're saying, well, if
I cannot earn my way into God's favor and blessings, then I have
no reason to obey. And that is not right. Paul,
in Romans chapter 6, he began this when he defined the grace
of God so adequately in the first five chapters of Romans. He anticipated
an objection that would come from the self-righteous religious
legalist of his day. And what they would say is, well,
shall we sin then that grace may abound? In other words, if
God's grace so abundantly takes care of my sin, well, then should
I sin that grace may abound? And Paul answered, God forbid.
How shall we who are dead to sin, dead in Christ, you say,
justify? How shall we who are dead to
sin live any longer therein? You see, grace takes away the
legal motive, the mercenary motive. and replaces it with a better
motive. And that motive is love and gratitude. Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter
5, he said, the love of Christ constrains me. Why should we
obey God? Why should we obey our parents?
Why should husbands love their wives and wives be in submission
to their husbands? Why? He says it right here in
verse 1. Because it's right. What a concept. People today don't understand.
Do something just because it's right. You mean don't do it because
of what I get out of it or what I can earn from it? Do it because
it's right. And children, that's what he's
saying, obey your parents in the Lord for that is right. Now when he says obey your parents
in the Lord, he's telling you to look upon the obedience that
you give to your parents in the same way that you look upon as
your obedience unto the Lord. In other words, do not obey them
just because of what you can get out of them, but obey them
because they love you, and they care for you, and they're responsible
for you, and they take care of you. Do it because they love
you. That's right. And he says here,
children, obey your parents in the Lord. Now, sad to say, there
are abusive parents today. There are neglectful parents
today. There are parents, frankly, I would say to you, they had
no business of having children. They're abusive physically, emotionally,
mentally. There are even parents who command
or demand or expect their children to do things that are opposed
to God's Word, opposed to that which is right. And no child
is obligated to obey a sinful parent in that way. But when
your parents, when they follow the Lord, and when they tell
you to do that which is right and lawful, you're to obey them
because they love you, because of their position, you respect
them. That's what he's saying. Verse
2 he says, honor thy father and mother which is the first commandment
with promise. What he's talking about there,
back under the Ten Commandments that was the first commandment
given that had a promise attached to it and it had to do with long
life. It says in verse 3 that it may
be well with thee and that thou mayest live long on the earth.
Now that is not a certain promise of God that every obedient child
is going to live a long life. It is a promise that they will
live a productive life. It is what the Bible, what we
call in the Bible, an axiom. In other words, it's a general,
as a general rule, this is true. But back under the Old Covenant,
it had a very practical application. Because disobedient children,
and when we talk about disobedient children, we're not just talking
about children who act as children and need to be disciplined and
taught. But we're talking about those out and out rebels. who
live a life of disobedience and rebellion, under the law of Moses,
they were to be stoned. And so in order to keep from
suffering that penalty, they were to be obedient to their
children. But he says it this way, children, look at your relationship
with your father and your mother as you would your relationship
with Christ. And God is our Heavenly Father,
if we know Christ, all who are saved. Paul wrote about this
back in Romans chapter 8. When he said in verse 14, he
says, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are
the sons of God. Now, are you led by the Spirit
of God? Now, what does that mean? Well, are you led to see Christ
as your only way of salvation? Do you realize your sinfulness
and your depravity, your impotence to save yourself even by your
best works to be good or to obey the law? Do you see that there's
no hope for your salvation or your holiness or your righteousness
but in the blood and the righteousness of Christ, Christ and Him crucified? If you do, you're led of the
Spirit. Am I led of the Spirit? Well, am I led of the Word of
God? Do I follow His Word, His Word of truth, His Word of grace? His word of obedience, then you're
led of the Spirit of God. And then he goes on in verse
15, he says, for you have not received the spirit of bondage,
again, to fear, that is that legal fear, but you've received
the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. And so
we're to have respect and regard unto God our Father through Christ
and worship Him. Now we're not to worship our
parents, but we're to respect them as our parents. We're to
regard them as those who love us. And he says in verse 4, now
he goes to the fathers. And he especially goes to fathers
because infamously fathers are the stern ones in the family,
known as the disciplinarians. You know, many of you mothers
will probably use this term, talking to your children, just
wait until your father gets home. I'm not saying that's necessarily
right because I think mothers are to be disciplinarians too.
But listen to what he says here in verse 4. He says, and ye fathers,
Provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the
nurture and the admonition of the Lord. Now that is a very,
very serious responsibility. It's one that no father should
deny or neglect. He says you fathers, first of
all, provoke not your children to wrath. Don't just do things. Don't just say things or demand
things or set up rules. that are just for their rules
sake, just to assert your authority. In other words, when you make
the rules of the home, when you set forth the disciplines of
the home, when you make these statements, make sure they're
reasonable and that you're going to follow through. Don't just
do it in order to make them angry. Don't just provoke them. But
here's the mainstay of it. Here's the responsibility of
every father who knows the Lord. Now it's the responsibility of
every father, but those who do not know the Lord. will not understand
how to do this. That's why it's imperative that
fathers know Christ. It's imperative that they come
to God for salvation and seek his will and his way, his way
of grace, and pattern their homes and rule over their home by their
authority according to the Word of God in Christ, recognizing
that God is our supreme authority. God is our Heavenly Father through
Christ and we come to Him seeking His wisdom and His way. And so
he says here, bring them up in the nurture and admonition of
the Lord. Nurturing a child. In other words,
what he's saying here is that when you deal with your children
as they grow, to nurture them is to do for them in love that
which would enable them to grow as human beings. And especially,
teach them the Gospel. The gospel is their greatest
need. Do you realize that your children, they need Christ and
the salvation that God has given freely through him more than
they need food, water, and shelter. Now I know they need food, water,
and shelter, and any father who refuses to provide that for his
children, the scripture says, is worse than an infidel. So
never shirk your responsibility to care for your children physically,
to make sure that they have enough food, that they have a nice home
to live in, that they have clothes on their body, that they get
a good education. All of these things we want for
our children, but the number one need for our children is
the same as the number one need for ourselves, and that is the
salvation of our souls by the grace of God in Christ. And I'll
tell you what, the Father who does not take the responsibility
to lead his children and his wife and his whole family in
the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Admonition means encouragement. It means correction. It means
the proper discipline in the Lord. The father who shirks that
responsibility, oh, I'll tell you, he's going to be sorry one
day if that continues. Now, there's no guarantee that
when you raise your children right, that they'll respond in
a godly manner. There's no guarantee for that.
Somebody said, well, I did everything right, and they still grew up
to be rebels. Well, first of all, I doubt that you did everything
right, but you may have done the best you can, and that's
fine. There's no guarantee. You see, ultimately, it's all
in the hands of the Lord. We don't blame Him. The responsibility
is upon us. The responsibility is upon our
children as they grow and become responsible individuals. But
let me tell you something, fathers. Teach them right. Teach them
the scriptures. Make sure that you take them to worship where
the gospel is preached, where the gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace is preached. Don't take them to one of these
religious organizations where they exalt men and exalt themselves. Take them where they sing the
song of the redeemed, worthy is the lamb that was slain. Take
them where Christ and Him crucified is preached. Take them where
they can hear the gospel, which is the good news of salvation,
conditioned on the Lord Jesus Christ, who met those conditions,
who shed His blood as the full payment for all our sins, and
who brought forth an everlasting righteousness of infinite value,
whereby God could be just and justify the ungodly. Now let
me say this about this, about fathers and children, and mothers
too. You do not have to lie to your children. You know, we all
want to instill a sense of self-esteem as human beings within our children.
We want them to reach their full potential. We don't want them
to have a low self-esteem for where they become failures in
school or in their jobs or in their relationships. And we can
do that. We can instill a sense of self-esteem
in the sense of showing them that we love them, to show them
that they can accomplish things in this life concerning their
education, concerning their jobs, concerning their relationships,
to treat people right, teach them to share. But we don't have
to lie to them. And that's what a lot of people
do. You see, the Bible teaches that all of us are born in sin. That's our children too. David
spoke of that. He said, in sin did my mother
conceive me. We're born into this world spiritually
dead. That means we don't have the
spiritual eyes to see the glory of God in Christ. That means
we do not have the spiritual ears to hear the gospel, the
good news of salvation by God's grace. That means we don't have
a spiritual heart to know and to love and to understand. We
don't have a spiritual mind to understand the things of the
Spirit of God. That's our children now. They
are sinners. They're not born innocent in
the sense that they're born in some neutral state. David said
this, he said, I come forth from the womb speaking lies. And I've
heard people talk about, well, that's when they first cry, they're
telling the lies. I don't get into stuff like that
personally, but I'll tell you what I believe he means. He means
that we're born spiritually dead. He means that we're totally depraved. Our children are in need of salvation
by grace. and they must be taught the way
of salvation. That's the father's main goal
and main task, to lead them to Christ. Now you can't save them.
Fathers, you cannot save your children. You cannot even save
yourself. You can't save your wife. But
you can tell them the right way and pray that God will be merciful
to their souls. And that's what we want. Love
them enough to tell them the truth. Say son or daughter, You're
a sinner. You cannot be saved by your best
efforts to save yourself, by your best efforts to obey the
law. I love you and I want you to know that in order to be saved,
you must have mercy from God. You must be a recipient of the
grace of God in Christ. It takes the blood of the Son
of God incarnate to save any sinner from their sins. It takes
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, the very righteousness
of God revealed in the gospel, to justify any sinner before
God. There's not one sinner who has
been born into this world of Adam who was not born dead in
sin, for as in Adam all die. Born under the condemnation of
death, And the only way that a sinner can be saved, whether
it's a child or an adult, is by the sovereign grace of God
in Christ. And so you tell them, seek the
Lord. And then tell them this, don't
be so consumed with the things of this world. We want you to
do your best in school, in work, in your family, to have a good
home, to have nice things. But if you're so tied to this
world and so consumed with the things of this world, the physical,
the material, then you'll lose your own soul. Seek ye first,
Christ said in Matthew chapter 6, the kingdom of God and His
righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. Fathers,
tell your children who Christ is, what He did on the cross
to redeem His sheep, His people from their sin. Why He did it?
For the glory of God. as a just God and a Savior. And
where He is now, He died, He was buried, He arose again the
third day, He ascended unto heaven, He's now seated at the right
hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession for His
people. And He's coming again to judge this world and gather
His people together. Raise your children in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord. I hope this message has been
helpful to your understanding of the gospel, And I hope you'll
get a copy of it. Listen to the announcer and he'll
tell you how you can receive a copy of this message. The title
is, Obedience in the Lord. And I hope you'll join us next
week for another message from God's Word. We're glad you could join us
for today's message. If you would like to receive
a copy of this message, or if you would like more information
about Eager Avenue Grace Church, remember we are located at 1102
Eager Drive in Albany, Georgia. You can call us at 229-432-6969. or visit our Reign of Grace website
at www.rofgrace.com. Thank you, and may the Lord be
with you.