Deuteronomy chapter 21, and let's begin reading in verse 18. I promise you, I won't keep you as long as I did this morning. Deuteronomy chapter 21, and let's begin reading in verse 18. If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, And that when they have chastened him will not hearken unto them. Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place. And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die. So shall thou put evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear a stubborn and rebellious son." Shannon was just telling me back in the dining room that Remy was real sick yesterday. And he said he was praying and calling on the Lord. They have mercy upon him. That's good, ain't it? That young man has a tender conscience. He's aware of the Lord's chastening hand, and he's learning from it. I think the Lord's done a work of grace and is doing a work of grace in his heart. I want to look at a different situation here with this young man, a stubborn and rebellious son. These were good parents. You know, sometimes good parents have wicked children. Noah, remember Noah, a preacher of righteousness. He had a son by the name of Ham, probably a homosexual. Saw his father's nakedness and made light of it. Wicked man. Holy Samuel, the prophet, he had two sons. And they walk not in the ways of Samuel, their father. The scripture says that they took bribes and perverted judgment, corrupted society. David, the sweet son of Israel, had an absalom, tried to overthrow his kingdom, slept with David's concubines. Sometimes good parents have bad children. And sometimes bad men Bad parents have good children. Ammon was a king of Judah. Very, very wicked man. The scripture says he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. They killed him. They killed him. He's a wicked man. Had a son by the name of Josiah. Some of you remember him. He began to reign when his dad had died. He was eight. years old when he began to reign. And the Scripture said there was no king like him before him that sought the Lord with all his heart, all his might, and all his strength. And there was no king like him after him, forsaking the Lord. His dad was a wicked man. There was a king by the name of Ahaz. If you read the Scripture and you hear about Ahaz, you'll remember that name. He is a wicked man, too. A very wicked man. They killed him too. The Lord removes his hand and they kill you. He had a son by the name of Hezekiah. Remember him? The armies of Assyria came against him and he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord heard his prayer. And he sent his angel and killed 185,000 of those Assyrians. This man got sick and he prayed to the Lord that the Lord would heal him. And the Lord said, I'm going to heal you. He said, would you give me a sign? He said, what do you want? Do you want the clock to go forward? He said, no, I want it to go backwards. And the sign went backwards. That was this man. Had a wicked dad. There have been children raised by the same parents. Trained up the same way. taught the same way. One of the children turned out to be an asset to society, turned out to be a moral, respectable person, and another one of them turned out to be a drain on society, a wicked person. One thing we know about children, and the Bible tells us this, foolishness is bound in the heart of the child. Some more than others. Some to a greater degree than others. And in general, the rod of correction will drive that foolishness far from the child. But in general, that's not always true, is it? There are some exceptions, and the Bible allows for that, and that's what our text is talking about. These were good parents. There's no doubt in our minds, and this is one of the things sometimes that frustrates us today. The Lord is able to conquer the most rebellious child. He can subdue them if He's pleased. But He doesn't always do that, does He? He hasn't done it in the past, and He probably won't do it in the future. After we've prayed, after we've cried, after we've sought Him, Lord, would You subdue my children? Still, sometimes He's not pleased to do that. You can get frustrated about that. You can get angry about that, I doubt it will do much good. He's able, but he doesn't always do it. There's a wide range of personality in children. I've noticed that and you've noticed that. Some children have a nature that they're so submissive, you'd never whip that child with a belt. All you do is speak to that child and it breaks their heart. And you have others that are of such an attitude that you're always having to chasten them. You're always having to raise your voice. You're always having to guard and guide them, because if you don't, they're going to get in all kinds of trouble. There's a wide range of personality in children. There's some of them, they won't listen to a thing you say. You try to teach them. And even when they see tears in your eyes, and they know that they're breaking your heart, and even in the threat of death that was in our text, you know something? They don't care. They don't care. Some children grew up in society, and they live in society, and they're good neighbors. They're respectable. You thank God for them. And he has a brother or sister that grows up with him that corrupts society. It's not fit to live in a decent society. You and I hear a lot today about the part that genes play in a child's personality. I have no doubt that that's probably true. It plays a part probably in addictions. There are some young people that can take a drink, and they're alcoholics. They can take some pain medication or something, and they're dopeheads. There are some strange things that take place in our society. I know that. I don't know anything about genes, but there's no doubt that sometimes these things play a part in the young man or woman's personality. I don't know anything about that, but I do know something about this. And I think this is the crutch of the matter. When the Lord looked our first parents in the face, and he said, the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die, you and I are still learning the heartbreak and the horror of what that sentence meant. We see it in our world. We see it in our nation, we see it in our communities, we see it in our homes, and we see it in our own hearts, what it means to die, what it means to be dead in trespasses and sins, the death that sin brought. In our text, there's no doubt here that this mom and dad were good parents, not perfect parents. There is no such people. But they were good parents. Look at these two things. First one is this in our text. We know they were good parents because we're told here that they taught this child. Did you notice that in our text? He will not obey the voice of his father and the voice of his mother. He was a young man that his parents didn't leave him to themselves to make his own way. A son left to himself, the scripture says, brings his mother to shame. And there was no conflict here between the mother and the dad. They were both on the same page. The dad had taught him. He wouldn't listen to the dad. The mother had came and taught him the very same thing, and he wouldn't listen to her. So often in the home, there's a conflict between the mother and the dad. The dad may teach the child the right way, and the mother will come along and undermine the dad. But it wasn't so in this case here. The father taught him, and the mother taught him. They set him down when he was young and said, son, here is the right way to go. Son, the Lord, He is God. He is the only Redeemer and only Judge. We must come before Him someday. You must live for His glory. You must seek Him, avoid the evil and seek the good. They taught Him and brought Him up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. That's the first thing about these parents. They were good parents. They were good parents. Secondly, we know they were good parents for this reason. Notice the next step they took when the child refused instructions. They said there that we have chastened him. We have chastened him. We taught him. He wouldn't listen to us. So we took the next step. We chastened him. Why would they chasten him? They loved him. They loved him. Sometimes, I'll be honest, boy, you're tempted just to throw up your hands and say, why bother? You have drained me of my strength. You have stolen my comfort. You have upset the home. I'm just going to throw up my hands and I'm going to leave you to yourself, whatever you're going to do. Go ahead and do it. I don't care anymore. That's a big temptation to say that. But boy, they did. These were good parents. They chastened him because they loved him. Listen to this passage in Proverbs 13, 24. He that spareth his rod, hateth his side. But he that chastens him, he that loveth him, chastens him betimes, when it's needed, as often as it's needed. Why will he take time to correct his child? Because he loves him. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and he scourges every son whom he receiveth. Why? Because he loves him. If you're not partakers of chastening, then you're not a son. Good parents use the Lord God for their example. They have a good example in the heavenly Father, for the scripture said, what son is he whom the Father chastened not. They were good parents. They had a son, they taught him, and when he refused to listen, when he wouldn't obey, they took the next step. They chastened him. Something else about these parents also. Something else these parents did. They lived in the hope that their teaching and chastening would eventually direct their son in the right way. They lived in hope. Yes, he's disobedient to us. Yes, we're having to correct him. Yes, we're having to chasten him. It's hard on us and it's hard on him. But they lived in hope. This is what he needs. This is the best for it. Listen to what the scripture says in Proverbs 19, 18. Chasten thy son while there is hope for him. Chasten him while there's hope. If you wait until he's a teenager and you start trying to chasten him, too late. Too late. Chasten him while there's hope. Chasten him when he's little. Chastening him when he's ready to pull the lamp cord and lamp and table all over. Smack that little hand and say, no, no, no. We don't do that. You'll get hurt. If he reaches back, smack it again. If you don't smack his little hand now, he'll be smacking you when he's a teenager. Chastening him while there is hope. Correct his bad manners while he's a little child. That's what they sought to do with their child. They chastened him. We talk about chastening sometimes, but we always think of a belt or a switch, don't we? I think that's all my dear dad knew. He made me go cut the switch. I don't know if I ever told him this or not, but I should have. There's different ways of chastening. Won't you make me sit in a corner or make me write something 500 times? I will not do that. Why does it always have to be a switch? But chastening is correction. Chastening is getting the child's attention. It may be a timeout. It may be sitting on the couch. It may be an apology to some family member, but it gets the child's attention. It corrects the wrong that they've done. That's what the rod means. It doesn't always mean a board or a belt or a switch, but it's a correction of that attitude that was wrong. Chasten thy son while there is hope. And listen to this next line. Let not your soul spare because of his Crying. Boy, we're familiar with that, aren't we? I bet you when these parents went to Chaston, this young boy, I bet you he started screaming and crying. As soon as they reached for the belt, as soon as they told him, you've got to go sit on the couch, boy, he threw a fit. I remember when my dad used to get up, he'd take his belt off. And by the way, my dad never took his belt off. But what he used to do, If I pushed him that far, when he took his belt off, he used it. And when he took his belt off, that's when I'd start my big crying and yelling, oh, dad, don't whip me, don't whip me. And man, the tears would start rolling. That didn't work for my dad. You know what he did? He whipped me till I stopped crying and I stopped screaming. You know what happens if your kid is screaming at you while you're chasing him. You know probably what's happening. It's not hurting him. When it starts hurting, he'll stop screaming. My dad used to talk to me when he whipped me. He'd talk to me. He'd hit me one time with a belt or a switch. It wasn't that bad. I'm not talking about how he beat me. He never did. Well, there's a couple times There was a little blood on my legs when he got there with the switch. But he used to talk to me. Then he'd come around my backside with a belt, and oh, it stung. And he'd say, now, son, do you know why I did this? Well, after about the third or fourth whack, I started listening to him, and I started answering him. Before, I was too busy crying and screaming, trying to get him to quit. But then, yeah, I know, Dad, why you did it. Boy, you're coming up. You going to do that again, son? No, dad, I promise. I won't do it no more. Why did you do it to start with? It was my fault. Have I told you not? Yes, you've told me not to do it. He did not spare for my souls, crying and screaming like He was killing me. That's our problem sometimes, isn't it? No chastening for the present seems to be joyous but greedy. It's supposed to be greedy. It's supposed to humble the child. It's supposed to get his attention. Have you ever chastened your little child, especially if you had to do it in a crowd, and you didn't want to, but you had to raise your voice, you had to get their attention, and it's something that you had to handle in public, and you sat them down on the bench, and if you noticed how they sat there with their head down, they won't look up. They're ashamed. They're somewhat humiliated. That's really what chastening is supposed to do. When the Lord chastened Ephraim, He said, You have chastised me. And I was chastised. And I bore it in my body. And He said, I smote it on my thigh. And I was ashamed. That's what chastening does. It has a degree of humility in it. You see, the child gets proud and arrogant and will obey. Well, here comes the judgment. And boy, it humbles the child. It's supposed to do that, brothers and sisters. Afterwards, what does it do? Yields the peaceable fruits, the peaceable fruits of righteousness. It brings the parent and the child close together when the child is corrected. It makes the child feel more secure in the home. It makes the child feel like he's not running the show. Dad and Mom is. One of the ladies brought Brookie. I don't know if it was her mother. I don't know if it was Stacey. One of them had Brookie in her arms the other day and we started up through here and boy, her face got twisted up. She didn't want to be up here. She wanted to be back there. And them tears started rolling. And I thought any time, boy, she is going to scream. And she was ready to. She didn't know her dad was standing right behind her. And as soon as whoever was carrying her turned and handed her to Shane, her dad, I mean to tell you the wrinkles came out of that face. That face was all twisted up, it straightened up, the tears dried up. Why? She knew who had her. And you know what? She seemed so happy. She seemed so satisfied. A child left to themselves. That the parents don't love them and don't correct them. They're miserable children, aren't they? Look at the teenagers in our society, and they're absolutely miserable because the parents don't love them. And the parents don't love them because they've not taken time to correct them. And they've not taken time to correct them because it hurts me too bad. I've got a son. Poor thing. Bless his heart. He didn't learn it from me and his mother. But any time he has to correct one of his daughters, it just kills him. He tries to correct them, then turns right back around and he takes them down to Wal-Mart and buys them a toy. All of it's useless, isn't it? And they're miserable because of it. No chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but it's grievous. But afterwards, it yields the peaceable, Fruits of righteousness. Go into a hole. Go into a hole where children have been chastened, where they've been taught. And usually, usually, there's peace. There's peace with that child because they've been chastened. Notice something else about these parents. Not only did they teach Him, not only did they chasten Him, But in verse 20 tells us something about their long-suffering. These were good parents. Long-suffering. He said here in verse 20, And they said unto the elders of the city, This our son is stubborn, he is rebellious, he will not obey our voice, he is a glutton and a drunkard. This boy had established a pattern, hadn't he? A lifestyle. It wasn't these parents jumped up after he had committed one offense and said, boy, we're tired of you. We're going to, you know, it's time you be stoned to death. No, this was a pattern. They were so long suffering. They were so patient with this young man. They started by teaching him and then they had the chastening. And then they had to bear with him because he was such a rebel, he wouldn't hear what they were teaching, he wouldn't submit to the chaplain, but he went in the other direction. He began to drink until finally he was a drunkard. He began to overeat until finally he was a glutton. And how long they put up with that, I don't know. But night after night, he was in their prayer. Day after day. Tears was upon mom and dad's face because of this son. Long suffering, waiting, waiting for him to take heed to their teaching and their correction. But no, no. See, there's some people, there are some people, there are some children, will not receive correction. After everything you've done, they will not be corrected. There's nothing you can do about it. I say this with sorrow in my heart that there's been times in my young life that I looked at some parents and I condemned them in my thoughts because they had a unruly son or an unruly daughter. And I thought, why don't you take control of him? But brothers and sisters, sometimes there's no control in young adults. And that's the case here. What did they do? Verse 21, And all the men of this city shall stone him with stones, that he die. Can you imagine a young man pushing his parents to this extreme? Can you imagine that? This was a young man. He wasn't a seven or eight year old. Boy, he was a young man, now still living at home, probably in teenage years, 18 or 19, but he was a young man. He knew, he knew what was coming. He had heard of this before. And yet he was such a rebel and so stubborn. He wouldn't even turn in the face of the threat of being stoned. Boy, I'm glad we don't do this today, aren't you? This is another one of those laws that they had among them that was very rigid and strict. Peter says it's a yoke that neither we nor our fathers were able to bear. I'm glad we don't do this today, but you know something? God will. God will. You're here this afternoon and you're a young child. Let me encourage you to do this. Take heed that you honor your father and mother. Take heed that you respect your mom and your dad and listen to them, because God is going to require that at your hands someday. Listen to Proverbs chapter 20 and verse 20. Whoso curseth his father or his mother, His lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. That's what God says. We don't do it in our day. We take other measures. And sometimes our measures are extreme. But I'm telling you, not as extreme as God's measure. He takes seriously the children's attitude towards the pilgrim. Listen to Deuteronomy 27, 16. Cursed be he that setteth light, that treats with contempt his father and his mother. Cursed be he that does this. And all the people shall say, Amen. Listen to Proverbs 30, 17. The eye that mocks his father And the eye that despises his mother to obey her, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it. Honor your father and mother, that your days may be well upon the earth. There is a generation that curses their father, and doeth not bless their mother." Boy, we see a lot of that in our day, don't we? All over the place now, you hear of the disrespect among teenagers. I think it's in New York City, if I'm not mistaken. The school district in New York City just had to change their policy. They were expelling so many junior high and high school kids for cursing the teacher. that they had to remove that policy and change it. Now you're not expelled if you curse the teacher out anymore. Too many kids doing it have been expelled too many. There is a generation that curses their father and despises their mother. And brothers and sisters, we're living in it. We're living in it. We're reaping what we have sown in our society. And when children will not be taught, when children will not be corrected, when children will not be held accountable, it leads to a dangerous society. And that's where we're at today. Why did they do this? And this was drastic. This was drastic. Why did they do it? It wasn't just because of this young man's sins. It was a deterrent for other children. Look at what he said in the last portion of verse 21. So shall you put evil away from among you. That's one. That's one. Evil has to be punished. And number two, and all Israel shall hear and fear. Punishment is a deterrent, isn't it? It is. They've adopted the policy where my grandbabies go to school this year. If you say something to another child or you do something to another child, then the school bus driver, he tells you about it. School bus driver sent a message to me one day that one of my grandchildren had called, had told another little girl she stink. Well, you know what happened to my little granddaughter? She was marched down to that young girl's house and apologized. My wife and I were in the house Friday night, got a knock on the door about 8 o'clock or so. Here stood this young woman there, Shannon's friend, with her young boy. He had pinched my granddaughter's backside. And his mom made him come and apologize, and he stood there with his trembling lips and apologized. And the Word is now getting around. If you say something to somebody, or you hurt somebody, you're at least going to have to go to their house and apologize, and the Word is getting around, and it's starting to have some effect. I tell you, when we get in society where we're so lax and there's no responsibility anymore, not only will we suffer as a society, but I tell you this, and this is the thing that will happen. You will see the Lord's hand ceasing to work. Now just mark it down. Look at our history of the revivals that we've had in England and here in America. Every time that we've had a revival in our country, one of the evidences of it is children being obedient to their parents. It changes society. When the Lord moves His hand back and few people are being saved, it leads to rebellion in society. If children will not fear their parents, they're not going to fear God. Children who won't listen to their parents, they won't listen to God. You take a parent that teaches a child those consequences to their action, it just naturally translates towards heaven. If I've done this to my parents, if I've done this to my fellow man, then heaven's going to hold me accountable too. They've held me accountable, and heaven's going to hold me accountable. It's a deterrent, a deterrent for evil. Someday the Lord Jesus Christ is coming. Bless His name, He's coming. And He is going to put evil away. He is going to put it away from His people by changing these foul bodies. Never any sin anymore. No presence of sin. No sense of sin. will have a glorious body like unto His body, a glorious liberty free from sin, no more evil to molest us. He's not only going to do that. He's going to put evil in hell. He's going to put evil where it will never be seen again, never be known again. He's going to put it away. That's what He's about. Put it in a way. He'll put it away on the cross, or He'll put it away in a lake of fire. And then, He is going to create a new heaven and a new earth. And there's going to be nothing but righteousness. There's not going to be any rebellion. There's not going to be any stubbornness. There's not going to be any heartbreak. There's not going to be any family trials and tears. It's all going to be wonderful. But until that day, brothers and sisters, you and I have an awesome responsibility to those who are under our care. And those who are under our care have an awesome responsibility to obey, under God, to obey. May the Lord bless our few comments.