of your Bibles to 1 Peter 3. We want to begin reading at the 8th verse. Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another. Lovers, brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but confer a wise knowing that ye are there unto call, that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips, that they speak no guile. Let him eschew evil, and do good, let him seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? But if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happier ye. And be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Having a good conscience, that whereas they speak evil of you as of evildoers, They may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better if the will of God be so that ye suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, as asked the Lord's blessing on his word. Our Father, we pray that you will help us tonight as we study thy word together. We pray unto the wisdom and understanding that we need that this word might teach us that which we need to know if we are going to have Christian homes that will be honoring to thee. We thank thee that by thy grace that the Lord Jesus Christ was willing to pay the price of the cross of Calvary, that he was willing to suffer the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. And we do praise thee that we can come together now to study thy word and seek to have an understanding of what your will is for our life. We pray it all in our Savior's precious name. Amen. Continuing tonight with our studies in the Christian home and some of the problems that are being encountered there, and we're moving into a little more complicated area tonight, we begin our studies by looking first of all at the subject of responsibility, the problems that come in connection with the personal responsibility and the positional responsibility of the Lord's people in the Christian home. Then we talk about problems of relationship. Then we saw the problems of relativity and last week the problems of rejection. But tonight we want to talk about problems of responses. How does a parent respond to a disobedient child? How does a wife respond to a husband who demands that she stop coming to church? How does a husband respond to a wife in open rebellion against him? Everything that happens in the Christian home into one response right after another on the part of the individual family members who are there. These are the types of problems that we want to deal with tonight. In order to clarify some of the problems that you may encounter in reading books on the Christian home, I want to tell you first of all what I don't believe and give you the Bible basis for it. In the Christian bookstore, For example, in many other places you'll find some books by some godly men and women who advocate what we call unconditional submission. To put that another way, they say that children should always obey their parents. Wives should always obey their husbands under every condition. I don't believe that to be biblical. In fact, I find it extremely dangerous to teach that to wives and children. The arguments that these people put forth at great length are designed to show that if a wife believes God, if she submits to her husband, he'll never ask her to disobey the Bible. For example, if he asks her to go to a bar and drink with him, she's to agree to go. Because at the last minute, God will intervene, he'll change his mind, and he won't ask her to violate her convictions. And this is the way it's always supposed to happen if you follow their method. But may I say to you, with all due respect for Dr. John R. Rice and others like him who advocate this position, that it simply is not true. It doesn't work like that when it gets down to the practical experience of people in Christian homes. Several years ago I counseled a Christian girl who tried it. She loved the Lord, she attended a gospel-preaching church faithfully. She tried to be a submissive Christian wife. Her husband threatened her, he harassed her, he pushed her until finally she agreed to go with him to a nightclub where he was playing with a rock band. He said she didn't have to participate, all she had to do was go with him. And unless she did go with him, their marriage was coming to an end. Of course, as soon as she got there, he began to humiliate her. He began to demand that she drink and dance like everybody else. Said she was embarrassing in front of his friends. And she did it. She did it because her husband told her to do it. And within a matter of days, she was in a mental institution. Of course, you won't find any illustrations like that in the books and the tapes on unconditional submission. They don't ever use those examples. They say that God would never let it happen, but I say God would let it happen because he does let it happen. It's observable not only in that case, but in others that I've come in contact with through the years. If a parent tells a child to lie, that child should disobey his parent. If a husband tells his wife to steal, that woman should disobey her husband. No question about it. And if a parent tells a child not to pray, that child should disobey his parent. There's no such thing as unconditional submission taught in the Bible. As you have learned in recent weeks, if you didn't know it before, I preach submission and subjection as strongly and dogmatically as you'll ever hear it preached. But when it comes to the response of a wife or a child to a command to do wrong, subjection goes out the window. No wife, no child, should ever disobey a clear Bible teaching to obey anybody on the face of the earth under any circumstances. Let's find the Bible reason for that. Turn first of all to Colossians, chapter 3. First I'll show you the passage used in favor of unconditional submission, and then the one used against And watch in chapter 3, in verse 20. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. Now, those who advocate unconditional submission say, Don't you believe the Bible? When it says, all things, what does it mean if it doesn't mean what it says? And it says, Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. Now go back just a few pages to Ephesians 5, verse 24. Ephesians 5, verse 24, "...therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything." And here again they say, what does that mean? It does not mean everything, that's what it says. The answer is, if that were all the Bible had to say on this subject, the matter would be settled. If a parent told his child to go out and rob a bank, he should do it. If a husband told his wife to go kill an aggravating neighbor, she should do it. That is, if these were the only verses in the Bible. But a very important rule of Bible study is that a valid picture of the will of God can only be obtained by studying all that the Bible has to say on any given subject. For example, look at Ephesians 6, and verse 1. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Now, there you have the qualifying phrase, That's how children are to obey their parents in the Lord. We'll see it again if you'll turn back to Colossians chapter 3. Colossians 3.18. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. Again, you have that qualifying phrase, as it is fit in the Lord. For both wives and children, their subjection to their husband or their parent is qualified by those three little but all-important words in the Lord. Here again, if this were the only teaching on the subject, we would conclude that only saved husbands and saved parents must be submitted to it. But when we search the scriptures, we find that salvation is not in view here. The Bible speaks of submission to parents, to husbands, whether they be saved or lost. But this has to do with their willingness not to request anything that would cause a wife or a child to disobey the Bible. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. All right, turn to Acts 5, and we'll see a very plain statement to live by, no matter who you are. The fifth chapter of Acts, and reading verse 29. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than me." Now, that's a command that you won't find invalidated anywhere by any scripture in the Bible. We ought to obey God rather than me. Another scripture you need to see is Romans 3. The third chapter of Romans Now remember, we're talking about the fact that some teach that a wife or child should do wrong, if ordered to do so, in order to win their husband or win their parent. This is how you win them, by doing what they say unconditionally. That's what some people teach. But here in Romans 3, in verse 7, the Apostle Paul said that even in his day there were some people slandering him. He said, But if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory, why yet am I also judged as a sinner? And not, rather, as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say, Let us do evil that good may come, whose damnation is just. Paul said people were slandering him. They were saying that Paul taught that there are occasions when we should do evil to accomplish good. There were people even then saying that Paul taught that in his writings, that we should obey a wrong command in order to win somebody. Do evil that good may come. And the Apostle used some very strong language, as we see it here, to refute some ideas the Spirit of God inspired him to write. He said, "...whose damnation is just." The people who teach this led us to evil, to goodness. Of course, this is another way of saying what Dr. Bob Jones Sr. used to say, it's never right to do wrong to get a chance to do right. It's never right to disobey God to get a chance to submit to parents or husband. So this is the first point that I'm making to you tonight about how to respond in the Christian home. No husband, no wife, no child is ever to obey a demand from another member of the family to disobey the Bible. All right, at the beginning I said this gets a little complicated. For example, you're asked to steal. That's no problem, you don't steal. You're asked to drink liquor. That's no problem, you don't drink liquor because the Bible says not to do it. Anytime the Bible speaks plainly and absolutely, everything's simple. There's no decision really to be made. But suppose a child is sitting there reading the Bible. God says, read the Bible. His mother says, stop reading the Bible and clean up your room. Now this is not a time to disobey your parents. There are other times when you can read the Bible. What you do is clean up the room and then read the Bible in order to show them that you honor your father and mother, that you believe. What God says when he says, Children, obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right. Let's take another illustration. Say that a wife is getting ready to go to church. God says in his Word that people ought to go to church. Her husband says, I don't want you to go to church this morning. The question is, should she stay home? And the answer is, yes, she should. She should do it to demonstrate the fact that God says that a wife is to be in subjection to her husband. But she should do it only after she explains to him that she feels that it's wrong, and she's staying home for that one reason. Because God says to obey your husband. All right, then comes the evening service. Her husband says, I don't want you to go to church tonight. The question is, should she stay home? And the answer is, yes, she should. But this time she explains to him that she has been commanded by the Lord not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. And some arrangement is going to have to be made for her to obey that. Not that she is trying to disobey her husband, but because God says to do it. When does the night come? Her husband says, I don't want you to go to church tonight. Should she stay home? No, she shouldn't. She's already demonstrated her submissive attitude. She's explained that it's not rebellion, it's conviction. And now it's time to prove that she will live by these convictions, no matter what he says, no matter what he does. And very frequently there are wives with unsaved husbands, husbands around a fellowship with the Lord, who have this particular problem. He seems very determined to cause her to miss as many services as possible. The proper response, as I say, contains two ingredients. First of all, a good attitude, and second of all, unbending conviction. The good attitude is the most important. A husband needs to be very clearly aware that there's no personal animosity involved. If you mope around the house and scream at him and refuse to have anything to do with him, the whole purpose is defeated. And let me say this to you, ladies. If you're not pleasant to live with, you're out of fellowship with God. Just keep that in mind all the time. Any time you are unpleasant to live with, you are out of fellowship with the Lord. Notice what we read here in 1 Peter 3, verse 8. Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil, for railing for railing, But contrary lies blessing. God says don't render evil for evil in the marriage situation. Don't render argument for argument. But render a blessing. That's how you get to be a good testimony. You demonstrate it by having this good attitude that God is talking about. And you see, submission is an attitude of the heart. That's what we learned here in the early part of this passage. Submission is an attitude of the heart. It is willingly and cheerfully doing what God has given you to do. Now, if you can see some indication, if you can feel a conviction in your heart that missing a service because you're told to do it will help prove your submission, then by all means stay home. Stay with a good attitude. Stay with a loving spirit. Stay knowing that you're doing it for the glory of the Lord. This applies when your husband wants you to leave town. It applies when he wants you to miss church. It applies in many situations of life. It applies when he purposely interrupts your devotions, interrupts your prayers. It could be that he's testing you to see if you're the submissive wife that you claim to be. So good attitude is the very first and the most important ingredient. All right, but the second ingredient becomes important if he consistently takes advantage of you. Because in spite of the books you read, their husbands will do that. They'll try to take advantage of the fact that God says for wives to be in subjection to their husbands. You see, it's very important to demonstrate to your husband not only that you are a wife who believes in submission, but that you are also a wife who has some convictions when it comes to disobeying the plain commands of the word of God. You see, it is very possible to sit down with your ungodly husband and with a meek and quiet spirit tell him to get off your back. Not in those words, of course. You have to do it in a nice way. But it's something that sometimes needs to be done. If he keeps on pushing, just tell him that you love him, just tell him you want to obey him, because God says to do it. But you will not disobey God to obey him. That doesn't come with a package. That's where subjection goes right out the window. That means you're going to church regularly, at least two times preferably three times a week or more, never any less than two. If a wife comes to church on Sunday morning, just to send me school and church, that's not enough. Your husband needs to be as convinced of your convictions as he is of your submission. He needs to be reminded at least two times a week, and preferably more, that you will disobey him to obey the Lord if that's necessary. And I say to you again, don't set out to antagonize him. But don't let him find a new excuse every time to keep you away from assembling yourself together with the Lord's people. I say that because if coming to church is not important to you, it will never be important to him. An ungodly, antagonistic husband needs to see two characteristics in your life that are unmistakable. Number one, submission. Number two, conviction. All right, there's another response that's closely related to this. It applies to wives and children and husbands alike. Many times, as I said a moment ago, your mate or your parent will be testing Because the devil is very real, they will go out of their way to provoke you and try to prove that you are a hypocrite. It comforts their ungodliness if they can make you angry or rebellious or unhappy. It gives them some comfort to think, well, maybe you don't really have whatever it is that they don't have after all. Here in verse 10, 1 Peter 3, we read, For he that will love life, and see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile or hypocrisy. Let him eschew or put away evil, and do good. Let him seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil." Now, the Lord is working in every situation. And he is working on behalf of the one who is being obedient to him. The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. In every family relationship, it makes no difference whether it is wife or husband or or parent who is in the wrong. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil. That's why it's so important to do right, because his eyes are over the righteous, his ears are open to their prayer. And whenever we're doing right, we have the Lord on our side to accomplish whatever it is that needs to be accomplished in that relationship. Verse 13, Who is he that will harm you if you be followers of that which is good? The Lord Jesus predicted that a man's foes would be they of his own household. But when we suffer, we need to be very sure that we are suffering for our Savior and not for our sin. That's so often the case. Sometimes I counsel with children and wives who are being persecuted by their parents or by their husband, and I can understand why they are being persecuted. They have a bad attitude. Instead of being humble and submissive, they are proud and rebellious. And it's quite obvious that God is trying to work in their life through a very repressive husband or parent to get them straightened out. Verse 14, But if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happier ye, and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear, having a good conscience, that whereas they speak evil of you as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good manner of life in Christ. For it is better if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well-doing, than for evil He said, as long as you're going to be suffering anyway, you might as well be suffering for doing right. Suffer for well-doing with the Lord on your side than to suffer for evil doing. So I trust that you ladies can see the response that you're to give to a problem husband. It takes a lot of prayer and a lot of patience and a lot of wisdom to keep a good testimony, to keep a good attitude. Very difficult situation. You need to let him know that you'll go the second mile, you'll turn the other cheek, you'll give your cloak also, whatever it takes, in order to be a loving and submissive wife. But you need to make it equally clear that when he starts coming between you and the Lord, his right to leadership ends right there. That's the end. That's what you do with an ungodly husband. What about responses to a problem child? How should a Christian parent respond to a problem child? Let's turn for a moment to Colossians chapter 3 again. The third chapter of Colossians, reading verse 21. Provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged." Now I want to read that to you again because this is by far the greatest mistake of fathers and mothers. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. No person in authority over a child should ever provoke that child to anger. You see, some people can't stand a little power. If they get control over the life of someone else, they become vicious and arrogant and demanding. And this is especially true in the case of parents. But you remember what the Lord Jesus said. He said, You better not offend one of these little ones. He said that because they are more precious in the sight of God than you are. It's like that because they're too young and immature to respond as an adult. He has to give them special protection. And let me say this to you, children are not adults. Let me say that again, because simple as that may sound, there are very few people who understand that. Children are not adults. They need to be treated like children. When a little child comes to the table and you give him a glass of milk, that glass of milk is harder for him to handle than a bucket of milk would be for you. You stop and think about it. He's that much smaller in relationship to that glass that's set in front of him. And you see, it's an evil, it's an ungodly response to scream at that little fellow when he spills the milk. A screaming parent produces a nervous and an insecure child. It never fails. I wish that God had a special angel with a big stick to deal instantly with parents who yell at their children. Now, if you had an angel like that, I'd get a beating once in a while. But there's a good possibility that it would teach me to keep my mouth shut. which is something that we parents need to learn in many situations. You see, we have a Father. We have a Father in heaven, and he never screams at us. Wouldn't it be interesting if he did? I'll tell you what it would do. It would frighten you out of your wits if God in heaven suddenly started screaming at It would frighten us beyond imagination, and that's exactly what it does to a little child. They're not adults. They haven't spent 25 or 35 or 45 years getting accustomed to it. A yelling parent who is obviously full of wrath and out of control is a very traumatic experience for a little fellow. He can't understand that. He thinks to himself, if that's what godly authority is, wait until I can get away from godly authority. I don't need any of that. Those who expect little children to clean a room like an adult, those who expect little children to wash dishes like an adult, or clean the yard, or remember things, or act responsible, these people are victims of their own ignorance, and children are the ones that have to suffer. It takes maturity to be able to handle responsibility. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged." Now, let me say this to you, because it's very important. Never, never, never say to a child, you just don't try. Because let me tell you what that is. That's a lie. That's a lie, and they know it because they do try. They might not try as hard as they ought to. They might not try very much at all, but they try. And when you say that to them, they spot that thing and they say, that's a lie. Here's the authority figure in my life that's supposed to be the author of truth, saying something that obviously I know to be untrue. It's a terrible thing to say to a child You don't do a thing I tell you to do. That's not a lie. Any child does plenty of things that you tell them to do. And that's provoking them to anger. That's discouraging them to say things that they know are obviously untrue. You say it's an evil and wicked thing to take out your frustrations on children just because you're in a position to get away with it. And that's exactly what most parents do. when it comes to their children. And you know what it does. They realize you've told a lie, they realize you've spoken unjustly against them, and they begin to respond with comments pointing out how untrue it is, pointing out how unjustly you've treated them, and then you can take them in and give them a good spanking and pretend like it's because they were talking back. But they weren't talking back, you see. They're pointing out the fact that you said something that was not the truth. Something that should have been obvious to both of you. Our response to disobedient children is very simple. There are only two ingredients involved. Number one is love. Number two is chastisement. We should always speak to our children in calm, clear language. When we rebuke them, it should be evident that our blood pressure is very close to normal. When we instruct them, it should not be with a screaming fit that's been transformed into a lecture. The instructions that we give them ought to be clear. They should be concise. The love that we have for them should be unmistakable. And then if they insist on disobedience, They need to be spanked. He that spareth a rod hateth his son. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. Chasten thy son, father, his hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crime. Children need to be spanked, and they need to be spanked painfully. Painfully, but not brutally. They need to be spanked consistently, consistently but not without sufficient reason. And always with the end in view to correct them, to correct them and teach them that sin brings pain. By the way, it is a good idea to have the end in view whenever you are spanking your child. A child should never be pushed, they should never be slapped. Because those who do such things do them out of anger, and God says, anger resteth in the bosom of fools. Now, I don't know about you, but if I was a little fellow, I wouldn't want a fool beating on me. I want somebody with power and love and a sound mind. Now, listen very carefully, because this is so important. I've mentioned it to you before. But it needs to be mentioned many more times. The biblical chastisement, the only biblical chastisement that is commanded between parents and children, is spanking. God never instructs parents to do anything else. No standing in the corner, no going to bed without supper, no losing their allowance No cute little tricks that you've dreamed up to provoke them to anger and get them discouraged. The only biblical chastisement is spanking. Spanking that's painful enough to stop the offense. Now, it may be suitable to take away their allowance in order to pay for something they've stolen. It may be appropriate to make them do extra work because they've been lazy. Some practical lesson like this to teach some character. But there always ought to be a point in the Jason. I want to say to you again, it's an anti-biblical action to punish a child. Do not teach them that punishment is how you pay for the sins that you've committed. Because I'll tell you what that is, that's a false gospel. It teaches salvation by works. The Lord Jesus took all the punishment for sin, and we can take all the punishment the world has to offer, and it will never pay for a single sin that we have ever committed. No child can pay for his sin by being punished. Chastisement is a teaching work. It's a correcting work to prevent further disobedience. It's always that. It's never a punishment. So the response for a godly parent to a disobedient child is, number one, love, a kind, understanding, helpful attitude. Number two, chastisement, the route of correction applied with the end in view, when love fails to bring obedience in the life of that child. So we've spoken of responses of ungodly husbands, responses of disobedient children. Now we'll spend a moment on responses. to rebellious wives. Again, there are two ingredients. Number one is leadership. Number two is love. Leadership comes first because it comes first in the relationship between Christ and the Church. If the Lord Jesus Christ were not a God of strength and godly authority, his love would mean absolutely nothing. It wouldn't matter that he had this love unless he had this character, unless he is who he is. The value of his love is predicated on his character. I believe, when we think about problems of a Christian home, that a rebellious wife is by far the most serious problem. It's like that because the message of the entire Bible is that only God himself can adequately deal with a rebellious bride. He's the only one who knows how to do it. And what I'm about to say to you is, I believe, practical advice. I believe it's biblical advice, but I'm about to say some things that will shock some of you, I'm sure. It's important that we remember that God's ways are not our ways, neither are his thoughts our thoughts. First of all, a husband must use leadership to deal with a rebellious wife. A husband should set the example. This is a situation different from the one we were talking about a moment ago, where the wife is dealing with the ungodly husband. In this situation, the husband with a problem wife should never miss a service of any kind for any reason. A husband with a problem wife should never miss a service of any kind for any reason. If he has children in his home, he ought to bring them with him to every service without fail. And you see, it's like that because that rebellious wife should be forced at every opportunity to either sit home alone around the house, looking at the wall, or come to church with her family. She ought to have that set before her at every opportunity. Of course, every husband should pray more, study the Bible more, serve the Lord more than his wife. For the more rebellious she is, the more important this leadership becomes. It's important because ultimately it's the only possibility that God gives for ever bringing that wife to salvation. Now, let's say the man gets saved and his wife refuses to come to church with him. He should immediately begin a program of education. God's teacher was right. Over a period of months, at every opportunity, very patiently, very carefully, he has to sit down and explain to his wife the gospel. Just what this is that's changed his life. He needs to explain to her the demands that God makes on a Christian husband to be the leader in a home. But you know, when she's heard the gospel, when she's heard the place of a husband, as the Bible teaches, that over a period of time, there's only one place to go from there. That's a consistent life. It's the only hope of every woman. You can't keep cramming it down her throat. There's a saturation point that gets reached when she's heard the way of salvation, when she knows what God says about the right thing to do. There are two things to remember. A rebellious wife will never be one to the Lord Jesus by nagging her, number one, or number two, by giving in to her rebellion. Neither one of those will do her any good. As we saw earlier, she'll try to keep her husband at home. She'll find every excuse to prove that she doesn't really have any convictions about going to church and serving the Lord. She'll try to prove that you don't really mean what you say you believe. She'll try to keep her husband at home. She'll find every excuse to prove that she doesn't really have any convictions about going to church and serving the Lord. She'll try to prove that you don't really mean what you say you believe. And therefore, it's not so important that you go to church at all. The Bible very clearly commands a Christian husband not to divorce his unsaved wife. It's very clear. So after she's heard his testimony, it's only seeing it that's going to do any good. All right, next we want to think about the response to a saved rebellious wife, because that's equally a problem. It's a great problem because the Bible says that this is one of the contingencies of leadership in the Church. If a man does not know how to rule his own house well, how should he rule the Church of God? And here again it takes a mixture of love and leadership. These things need to be involved in the marriage. When we are talking about this, we are talking about a case where the wife knows the Lord, she claims to believe the Bible. There can be no doubt about the fact that the New Testament places the burden on the to control, in some measure at least, his wife's rebellion. Not by force, because we see in previous messages that the bridegroom never forces his bride. Even though he has the power to step in and move upon his church and force her, he doesn't do it. The heavenly bridegroom has three means of controlling the rebellion in his bride. Number one, there's his word. Number two, there are the circumstances. And number three, there is broken fellowship in that order. First he gives us the word, then he sends us the circumstances, then he breaks fellowship. We get out of fellowship with the Lord because of our rebellion. Now, if I am in rebellion against the Lord over a matter, the first thing that he tries to do in my life is correct me by his word. If I don't listen, then he moves into my circumstances. If I still don't listen, then the conscious fellowship of the Lord is broken in my life until I repent. I stay out of fellowship with the Lord until I repent. The book of Hebrews tells us this. It says that Moses was faithful in all his house. I suppose that means exactly what it says, that Moses did right in dealing with his family. Moses was faithful in all his house. If you return to Exodus chapter 4, we'll see that Moses had a rebellious wife. And if he was faithful in all his house, then he did the right thing in his dealing with the fourth chapter of Exodus. And if we look at the situation, we will find that Moses dealt with his bride with exactly the same three means that the Lord Jesus uses to control us. And the Lord said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt, for all the men are dead which sought thy life. And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand. And the Lord said unto Moses, when thou goest to return unto Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand. But I will harden his heart, that he will not let the people go. And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn. And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me. And if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. And it came to pass, by the way, in the end, that the Lord met him, Moses, and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah, his wife, took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him go, and his God let Moses go. Then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision. And the Lord said to Aaron, go into the wilderness to meet Moses. All right, now think very carefully with me about this story. Moses had two sons. He'd been down at the house of his father-in-law, Jethro, keeping sheep on the back side of the desert. He left the house at the command of God, returning to the land of Egypt. Now it's quite obvious from the story that Moses had given his wife his word. He said, I want you to circumcise my two sons. That's what God commanded us. He gave that command to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Our sons need to be circumcised like all the babies. And apparently what had happened was that she had rebelled. She had circumcised only one of the sons. And she left the other one uncircumcised, as we find here in the story. One son that was not circumcised. So they got down to Egypt and they stopped at a motel. We see that there in the 24th verse. They stopped at the motel and when they got there, Moses was in serious trouble. By some circumstances, the Lord sought to kill Moses. Not his wife, but Moses, because he was supposed to have his wife in subjection. Now, when she saw the circumstances that almost killed her husband, she circumcised the son in verse 25. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at his feet and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So God let him go. Because the circumcision had been performed just as he commanded, God let Moses live. The Lord preserved Moses. But you'll notice that even after hearing Moses' word on the subject, and seeing the circumstances, and carrying out the circumcision, his wife was still in rebellion. Verse 26. So they let him go. This was after the circumcision. Then she said all over again, A bloody husband thou art because of the circumcision. Still in rebellion. After his word, she was in rebellion. After the circumstances, she was still in rebellion, and that brought about the final step, broken fellowship. We see it there in verse 27a. And the Lord said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. Now, what was Moses doing out in the wilderness with Aaron? God said, It is better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and an angry woman. That's what he was doing out there. Now, the way I know about some of this story, this story about Moses who was faithful in all his house, he sent his rebellious wife home to daddy. You find that if you look over at Exodus 18, the 18th chapter of Exodus, and verse 1. When Jethro the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard all that God had done for Moses and for Israel as people, and that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt, then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah as Moses' wife after he had sent her back. Now, he didn't divorce her. He broke fellowship with her as a last resort. because she heard his word and she was in rebellion. She was unmoved by the circumstance that she was still in rebellion. As a last resort, he sent her back. He sent her back home to Jethro, her father. And now, after the children of Israel come out of Egypt, here comes Jethro bringing Moses' wife back to him. Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her back, and her two sons, of which the name of the one was Gershom, for he said, I have been an alien in a strange land. And the name of the other was Eliezer, for the God of my father said he was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh. And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at the Mount of Golg. And he said unto Moses, I thy father-in-law Jethro am come unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her." Now, Moses didn't divorce her, as I say, but he broke fellowship with her, apparently. It worked, because Moses was faithful in all his house, the Bible tells us that. Apparently it worked because we read in verse 27, "'And Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went his way into his own land.'" He didn't take his wife with him. He left her there with Moses. And you know, the amazing thing is that she was so meek and quiet that we never hear from her again during the last forty years of Moses' life. She must have learned something. Now, your rebellious wife may not have a daddy to go home to. But she'll wish she did if you spend enough time in the wilderness serving the Lord like Moses. You see, loneliness teaches all kinds of good lessons. If you don't believe it, just ignore God's word. Just ignore the circumstances that he sends to your life. Just get out of fellowship with the Lord. If you're saved, if you're really saved, it will do wonders for your abatement. is a terribly lonely condition. But you know what happens so often? And you see it time and time and time again, it's so sad. A man with a rebellious wife turns into a little weak-kneed, creepy, crawly thing. Then he tiptoes around the house with his hat in his hand, looking for some chores to do to keep his wife from exploding. That's the way it usually happens. when a man has a rebellious wife. But let me tell you something, brother. There is no satisfaction in exploding in an empty house. I mean, you can do that all day long. You can scream at the walls and the ceiling and the floor, the lamps, the tables. There is no satisfaction in that. She could have been in fellowship with her husband. She could have been in fellowship with him and gone down to the great battles that were to come for the Lord in the days that were ahead. Instead of staying home with her father-in-law, she could have been right there. Moses came home one night and said, Today I've been down to the court of Pharaoh. You'll never guess what the Lord's done. She could have been there when he said, Come on, get packed. Tomorrow we're going to walk through the Red Sea on dry ground. She could have called up one of her friends on the telephone and said, That's my husband up there on Mount Sinai talking to God. You know, the Bible says, There arose not a prophet since in Israel whom the Lord knew face to face. and all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do. And his wife missed the best part of it, because she was in rebellion. She was back down there in the backside of the desert, the place that Moses came out of, the place where he had already learned his lesson. God had gotten the rebellion out of his heart and sent him out to do a work. But she had to go back to the backside of the desert before she learned anything. You see, we can have no fellowship with the Lord when we are in rebellion. That's why lost people are lost. Sin has separated us from God. And God has to bring us into the hard places, the terrible places of life to show us our sin and our need, our utter helplessness apart from the Lord Jesus. But what a wonderful thing it is when we lay down our rebellion. When we see the sin that we have committed against our Heavenly Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus, when we come to him with a broken spirit, with a broken and contrite heart that he will not despise, and he saves us, he gives us the gift of eternal life, he brings us into his family, he exalts us in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That is the blessing of salvation. That's the blessing of a godly Christian home, when husband and wife lay down their rebellion and walk together in service for the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's close with a word of prayer. Our Father, we thank you tonight for the privilege of being here, studying thy word together. We trust in you to help us tonight to understand the things that we've heard, to consider them of something practical that can be applied to our life, that we might have a testimony for thee, that lost family members might be saved, that saved family members might get right, that we might have Christian homes that will honor and exalt and magnify the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray all these things in our Savior's precious name. Amen.