Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3 and we'll begin our reading here in verse 12. Put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body, and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives. And be not bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in all things. For this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. I want to preach this morning a message titled, How to Keep Your Home Together. We live in a day and age where the home is being attacked by the devil and the world like never before. Many homes are falling apart. Sadly, divorce is becoming more and more commonplace, and even worse than that, people aren't getting married. They're not coming together. Sadly, children are not valued. They're not treasured. In fact, you hear the clamoring of the world that abortion is a woman's right to choose. Well, I'll tell you, I don't see how any It's not a good choice to exterminate life within the womb. And I think we live as a result of this mentality that's been prevalent since the 70s and has been really the propaganda around it has affected people so much. We live in a culture of death. When you don't value children and you don't love children in a society, you're going to be in bad shape. Sadly, many children who actually make it out of the womb are neglected. They're often left to themselves. They're not given any guidance. They're not given any moral training. And as the home goes, so goes the country and the culture. And I believe one of the reasons why our country is failing is because of the home life. So many homes are falling apart. We don't have a large church. I'm thankful for what we do have. But we will only be as strong as a church, as our families are. It is absolutely essential that you as husband and wife, You need to love one another. You need to be kind to one another. You need to understand the grave importance you have to train your children. And now the role that we as grandparents have, we have even a greater responsibility than perhaps any generation before us to influence our grandchildren. Interestingly enough, in a book that is so filled with doctrinal teaching, there is a lot of practical truth found in the book of Colossians, specifically in Colossians chapter 3. And I think in this chapter, you have some clear-cut guidelines and principles that will help us to keep our homes intact. so that we will know what it is to have a godly home, a happy home, one that honors Jesus Christ. So first of all, if you're going to keep your home together and keep it intact, Jesus Christ must have the preeminence. Look how He starts the chapter off. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. He's talking to people who are saved, who have been raised out of the deadness of their depravity. Come to know Jesus Christ. And since you've been risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. Seek the things that honor Christ. Verse 2, Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. Jesus Christ is to have the preeminence. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear. Then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. This is such a vital principle that has to be foundational in our homes. And that is Jesus Christ must be preeminent. He must be the most important person in the lives of husband, wife, and children. We are commanded to set our affections on things above. If we are to love our family as we ought, we have to first set our affections, our desires upon Jesus Christ. Our minds must think of ways in which to please Him and our actions must be governed by Him if we're going to keep our homes together. It's a very simple principle but difficult to implement. Because there are so many things that are vying for your attention, that are trying to distract you. And that's why He says, don't set your desires, your affections, your loves on earthly things. Set them upon Christ and what pleases Him. And everything that we do, we ought to be governed by this thought. Is this going to please the Lord? Is Jesus Christ pleased? with what I am now doing in my home, in my life. Well, it's sad indeed when you think of how many homes in our world where Jesus Christ is never even mentioned, except in a derogatory fashion, or if His name is taken in vain. So many children are growing up with no moral training, with no spiritual guidance, no gospel training, no gospel preaching. They don't understand anything about Jesus Christ. Husbands, wives, if you want to keep your home together, then you must seek to commune with the Lord and give Him an exalted place in your affections. It comes down to do you love the Lord? Have you been washed in the blood? Are you indwelt by the Spirit? Do you believe the promises of God? Do you believe the commands of God? Are you devoted to the One who consecrated His life for you? He gave Himself for you. Your life, in turn, is to be dedicated to Him. Without the Lord and the home, if you understand anything about the parable of the houses, one built on sand, one built on the rock, That's a parable dealing with Christ as the foundation of the Christian life. But the application can also go to the home. If your home's not built on Christ and on the principles of His Word, it's going to be washed away. And sadly, that's what's happening. There is little devotion in our world today to Jesus Christ. And if we as parents are not devoted to Christ, if our children do not see a daily example of us abiding in Christ, walking with Christ, obeying Christ, they're not going to follow our example. I'm going to tell you something. The Bible says, train up a child in the way he should go, that when he is old he'll not depart from it. The problem is, why do we have to train them from the youngest of ages? They're born depraved. Every child has a depraved nature. They gravitate towards sin. It's the one thing you don't have to teach your kids. It just comes natural to them. Rather, you've got to train them in the way of truth, in the way of godliness. We've got to abide in Christ and walk with Christ and agree with Jesus Christ. Verse 16 of Colossians 3. If Christ is exalted in the home, then His Word will be exalted. Notice, he says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. Not just knowledge about Jesus, but also application of that knowledge by walking in a manner that is wise. that agrees with the commands and the teachings of Jesus Christ. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord, and whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. I know that I hammer this point a lot. That if you're going to be successful as an individual Christian, and if you're going to be a successful mom or dad, parent, you've got to be connected to the Word of God. It's got to be in you. The Word of Christ has to be in you. You have to give it a sacred preeminence. God's Word. Not just the reading of it, but the application of it. Obedience to it. It has to be evident in our homes. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you. Let it guide you. If you're going to have a successful and God-honoring home, you've got to have a devotional life. Your children need to see you as one who believes the Word of God enough to read it. And then apply it. We went a few weeks ago when I was teaching in Deuteronomy about the blessings of obedience. It's so vital that you as a parent always have the Word of God as evident in your life and your daily activities. Wherever you go, whatever you do, you are to come under the authority of the Word. You need to quietly sit before the Lord and drink in His Word and drink in His fellowship. And if the Word is preeminent and Christ is being exalted, I also believe it will affect the music that you listen to, the atmosphere that you have in your home. I mean, let's face it, you can't say that you love Jesus Christ out of this side of your mouth and have Metallica playing for your kids to hear throughout the day. It's not going to work. It all goes together. You create an atmosphere in your home where Christ is preeminent, where His Word is important. Provide an example of godliness regulated by the Word in your church attendance, Bible reading, prayer, helping others, and strive to please the Lord in everything you do. This is real thanksgiving, by the way. And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. This is a real principle that kind of narrows things down. Everything you do, you ought to be able to give thanks to the Lord for it. Or you can't give thanks to the Lord going to the bar. You can't give thanks to the Lord by living an immoral life. So it really narrows things down when Jesus Christ has the preeminence. Secondly, if you're going to have a godly home, If you're going to keep it intact under the headship and the authority of Christ and His Word, if He is to have the preeminence, you've got to protect your home from the lust of the flesh. Look at verse 5. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupscience, and covetousness, which is idolatry. For which thing's sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience? In the which ye also walked in some time when ye lived in them, but now ye also put off all these." Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth, Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in the knowledge after the image of God that created him. Now that word mortify in verse 5 means to put to death. That's the only way you can deal with your old fleshly nature is kill it. Crucify it. Put it to death. We have to seek to put away anything from our homes that tend to promote and feed the lust of the flesh. That's pretty strong, isn't it? Don't be overcome. by the sins. He emphasizes sexual sin, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection. Don't be overcome by the sin of sexual immorality. Stay out of the way of temptation. Mom, dad, husband, wife, Be pure. Be faithful. Be devoted to one another. Let no one or nothing come between you. Put it away. Get rid of it. Don't engage in any activity that would bring division in your sacred union. It's holy. So you've got to mortify those things. Listen, our culture is saturated with sexual immorality. And it is bombarding people's minds and hearts every day. You've got to stop it. You've got to put it away. Don't approve of it. Don't engage in it. Don't be overcome by it. So he deals with something very basic, unlawful sexual activity. I take the narrowest view on this. The only thing that God counts is the covenant of marriage between a man and a wife. The Bible says in Hebrews 13 that the marriage bed is undefiled. Anything outside of that, that is sexual, is wrong. That's biblical, scriptural teaching. I think it's a terrible sin. to cheat on your husband or cheat on your wife. It's a wicked sin. It's wrong. It shouldn't be done physically and it shouldn't be done mentally. Don't let covetous... Also, he deals with other things. Covetousness, which is idolatry. You know what? So many families get into such deep debt because of covetousness. One of the number one reasons they have said for divorce is because of financial problems. Because people don't know how to manage money. They don't teach it in school. Parents, you better teach your children the value of work and the value of money. So that they don't, they get out of school, they go to college and at college they're saying, hey, sign up for this credit card. Oh yeah, great. How much is there on that? Oh, you start off with a $5,000 limit. Wow. And they start, Spending money on that thing before too long it $5,000 limit. Well. Mom. I wrote the I've got a $5,000 credit card. And they're saying I have to pay it. Why didn't they tell me that I thought it was just free money? Say a thing is a lot of people. don't know how to manage money at all. In your home, it's really this simple. Don't buy something you can't pay for. There it is, right there. But it comes down to covetousness. And here he calls it idolatry. Desiring something so much You're willing to do anything to get it, even if you can't pay for it. It's wrong. Proverbs 17, verse 1, "...better is a dry morsel and quietness therewith than a house full of sacrifices with strife." Proverbs 15, verse 27, "...he that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house, but he that hateth gifts shall live." all the rare jewel of Christian contentment. May we learn to practice it in our homes. It's rare when people are content. The Bible says we're to be content with food and raiment. All of us have a lot more than that, don't we? We have been blessed. Even the poorest people in America not only have clothes and food, a lot of them have cell phones. Listen, I've heard young people go, what am I going to do without a cell phone? I don't know, I live, I don't know how many years without one. A lot of years, probably 45, 50 years before I ever had a cell phone. But people have a lot of things and people aren't satisfied. Things become their idols. When you're driven by covetousness, when material things become your idol, you know what? You lose your sense of right and wrong and morality. And you'll pursue things that really are of very little value. What shall it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? So if our homes are going to be intact, you've got to get rid of sexual immorality. You've got to get rid of covetousness. Well, that's hard. Yeah, because it's part of you. It's part of human depravity. It's what people are naturally born with. And that's why he says, mortify. Put to death. Fight against it. Crucify it. And then he goes on and says, get rid of bad attitudes. You see, the Bible is so cutting, isn't it? The Bible just goes, the Scripture, maybe this is why people don't want to hear it preached in the day and age in which we live. They don't want anybody telling them, I've heard people say, I'm not going to, nobody's going to tell me what to do. You're not going to get anywhere with that attitude. I want the Lord to tell me what to do. Now, I know what to do. The hard part is actually doing it. But He says here, you've got to put away, put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Wow. A lot goes into having your home intact, doesn't it? It affects how you think. The attitudes that you exhibit. If you're angry all the time, and you're bitter about your circumstances, and you feel like you've been cheated by where you're at and what you have, and you have bitterness and you have jealousy and anger, that's going to affect your family. It's going to affect your children. Get your mind right. And learn how to talk to each other. I know from experience, that you and I can learn how to crucify these feelings of anger and bitterness. You ever been in the midst of an argument with your wife? Oh, am I the only one that's ever had an argument with my wife? You pious gas bags. Yeah, we've all had little, it's part of being married, all right? But you may be going back and forth, and the phone rings. Now in the old days, everybody answered the phone. Now today, I look at the caller ID, if it's somebody I don't know, I ain't gonna answer it. Well, the phone rings. And all of a sudden you're just as sweet as sugar pie. Hi. Oh, we're not doing nothing. Yeah. Oh, everything's great. Yeah. And you got honey and molasses dripping out of your mouth. You know how to talk to somebody else on a phone call. Learn how to talk to your spouse. Learn how to have the right kind of attitude. You've got to put off these wicked attitudes and you can't lie. Teach your children by what you say that you're not going to be a liar. Don't promise them things that you can't deliver on. Tell your kids the truth. and abide by it. And you know what? When your kids lie, they need to be punished because they have to understand that there are consequences for deceit. It brings a lot of heartache when people are deceitful. And don't tell me that your kids have never told a lie. That's a lie. They'll lie right to your face. I've told you the story about Josh, the time I caught him rummaging through the trash and he had junk all over him and I said, did you do that? And he goes, no. They do it. You got to teach them. These are principles that have to be found in our homes. if they're going to remain intact. Number one, Christ and His Word must be preeminent. Number two, you have got to put away things that you know will damage the relationships within your home. Attitudes and actions and words. Now next Sunday, And I expect everybody to be back next Sunday. I'm going to get into the other part of this. And that is love must permeate our homes. It is so important that we not only do away with the negative things, but that we also implement the positive. That's the thing about Scripture. It'll always tell you to put away things that are evil and wrong and harmful, but that's not all. You've got to replace those things with things that are God-honoring. So we'll get to that next Sunday, God willing. Let's all stand.