wonderful God we serve. And He calls us to follow Him. Well, I want you to take your Bibles this morning and turn to Ephesians chapter number 6. Ephesians 6, we'll be here just for a moment. And I've already told you already, dads, that we're going to take it a little bit easier on you here this Father's Day morning. I don't know that I've ever on a Father's Day targeted our young people. And so I want to do that. We have many young people, many teenagers, many young children here and I'm going to ask you to fasten your seat belt just a little bit as we look at what the Bible has to say about honoring our Father honoring your father and of course if you're a mom here this will help you to help your children as we look straight from the Word of God very very simple message here this morning and of course as dads we have to train our children and and help them and as dads we need help I'll tell you that we need help and Ephesians chapter 6 and verse number 1 and 2 I'll read and then we'll get started here. Children obey your parents to the Lord for this is right. Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise. I don't know about you and what your strategy is when you have to buy a gift. I find that people are in three type categories. Either number one, when it's father's day or your birthday, they're in this category. What do you want? Hey, can you tell me, can you give me a list of the things that you want and they try to buy something you want or buy something you need? Maybe you're in that category. I'll ask you what category you're in in just a minute, okay, so you can be thinking about this. Category number two when it comes to gifts is people that They don't ask you what you want or what you need. They buy you something maybe you wouldn't buy yourself. And they think, well, this is cool. This is a cool gift. And this is kind of the category I'm in. Except that sometimes you run a risk. You know what I mean? You think, oh, my wife is going to love this. You know, this new tool chest. She's going to love it. You bring it home and what is this you run a risk you do you do get to surprise them that way right you get to surprise them because they have no clue because they didn't tell you anything you needed and then category number three is the people that Just don't do anything. Oh, is it Father's Day? Oh, man. I forgot. All right. That's the third category All right, so how many of you are in the first category? It's your wife's birthday, or Christmas, or father's day, and you say, hey, what do you want? Let me see your hand. All right, what is it? A few people. All right, good. That's nothing wrong with that category. At least you get them something that they want. How many of you are in category number two? You buy them something they maybe wouldn't buy themselves. Uh-oh, I'm real nervous right now. I'm afraid to ask you about a category three, because only a few hands went up in category one, and a few in category two. So let's forget about category three, and let's look at, One of the best gifts that you can give your father for Father's Day is this matter of honor and obedience that we find in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 2. Honor thy father. Now you may have heard this before. Maybe you haven't. If you haven't, you'll hear it for the first time. Do you know one of the best commentaries on the Word of God is the Word of God? I got to thinking as I thought about this matter of honor, thy father. I got to thinking about the book of Proverbs and I got to thinking about all the instruction that is given to sons from the book of Proverbs. And so I want to do two things this morning. What I want to do number one is I want us to see an explanation of honor as we look at the book of Proverbs. What is this matter of honor And then number two, if we have time, I want to look at an example in the Word of God of this matter of honor. So would you take your Bibles, we're going to do a little work this morning, we're going to page through the Scriptures and see what the Scripture has to say about this matter of honor. So I want you to take your Bibles this morning and I want you to turn to Proverbs chapter number one. Proverbs chapter number one, and I want to give you an explanation of honor. What does it mean to honor? What does it mean when it comes to honor? And again, this is not an exhaustive study. It's really some thoughts from the book of Proverbs as we look at it, and we'll look at a number of verses in this book. Proverbs chapter number one, and I want you to see this. Honor has to do with listening to his instruction. Listening to his instruction. Proverbs 1 and verse 8. The Bible says, My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother. They shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck. Turn over to chapter 2 and verse number 1. Chapter 2, verse 1. My son, if thou would receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee, so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding." Flip over to Proverbs 4 and verse number 1. Proverbs 4 and verse 1. Here, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to no understanding. Here, the instruction of a father. Proverbs 13. and verse number 1. Proverbs 13 and verse 1, the Bible says this, a wise son, how many of you are wise sons? A wise son heareth his father's instruction, but a scorner heareth not Rebuke. Proverbs 15, we're going to just read through the book here, two more verses under this truth. Proverbs 15 and verse 5, A fool despiseth his father's instruction, but he that regardeth reproof is prudent. And flip over to Proverbs 23 and verse number 22. Proverbs 23 and verse number 22, the Bible says this, Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old. I really don't need to say much more, do I? Then let the scripture speak for itself. The Bible tells us, the instruction is, to listen to your father's instruction. Sometimes it seems as young people grow a little bit older, something sometimes happens with their ears. You know, sometimes their ears have a tendency to not listen as much as maybe they did when they were younger, because why? Because mom or dad, they are older now. and I am much more wise. The scripture says, listen to the instruction of your father. Do you know, young people, your dad, your God gave you the dad that you have to help you. to help guide you in the right way. You may say sometimes, you know, sometimes it's not the most convenient time when my dad wants to give instruction. I remember many a time as a young person, it wasn't the most convenient time. We always ate dinner, and after dinner, we had family devotions, and sometimes after dinner, we would be outside playing, and every boy likes to go out and play, and we'd play football out on the street. I had three brothers. There were four of us, and we were half the team. I mean, we were half the number of players. If there was eight of us, we were half, four of us. And I remember many, many a time, as a young person, being outside in the middle of a game. I mean, this is exciting for a junior high boy, and we are having the time of our life. And my dad would come out to the porch, and he'd put his foot on the, we had a little ledge right there, a brick ledge, and he'd put his foot on the ledge, and he'd call us. He'd call us in order of our names. Started with Frank, Tim, Dan, Brian, let's go. My sister sometimes was out there, but she usually was roller skating or something. She didn't seem to be into anything like we were into it. And here we are in the middle of a football game. Down the street, a few houses down, or down the block, a few houses down, enough where we could hear him and we could see him. And by the way, he just put his foot on the ledge and he called, and he turned around and went back into the house. There wasn't any of this, well hold on, hey, hey, yo, yo, yo, yo, there wasn't any of that. there was, hey guys, we gotta go. And of course, try to explain family devotions to unsafe kids, teenagers, on the city block. It does not compute. They don't understand, does not compute. My youngest brother, we never told anybody, my youngest brother always tried to explain it to people and we usually left him there as we walked to the house. Sometimes it's not as convenient. Sometimes it's not when we have time. Sometimes we think, oh, what are we doing? But an admonition in the word of God is listen to the instruction. Sometimes things don't get communicated the best. I heard about a minister that was away on vacation and he learned that one of the young women in his church had just been married. He decided to send her a wire of congratulations and he thought immediately of a beautiful scripture verse, so he wired this message, read 1 John 4 and verse number 18. The telegraph operator at the other end, however, did not know the difference between 1 John the epistle and John the gospel. When she relayed the message, instead of writing, read 1 John 4, 18, she simply wrote, read John 4, 18. When the happy bride received the telegram, she rushed to the Bible to see what message her pastor had sent. Actually, 1 John 4, 18 would have been a beautiful message. It reads, But when she turned to John 4, 18, this is what she read. Listen, hear instruction. Why? Because it'll help you. Number two, look at Proverbs chapter three. Go back to Proverbs. We'll go back to the early Proverbs chapter three and verse number one. And I want you to see, number one, it's not just listen to his instruction, but obey his commands. Obey his commands. Proverbs three and verse one, the Bible says this, my son, forget not my law, But let thine heart keep my commandments. Let thine heart keep my commandments. Turn to Proverbs 4. Proverbs chapter 4, a few pages over. And verse number 20. My son, attend to my words, incline thy ear unto my sayings. Proverbs 6 and verse number 20. Proverbs 6 and verse 20. My son, Keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother. Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee. When thou sleepest, it shall keep thee. When thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life. And then it goes into the keep thee from the strange woman. What do we see? We see the admonition to obey, to know the word of God, to obey their parents. Proverbs 7 and verse 1. My son, keep my words and lay up my commandments with thee. Keep my commandment and live in my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. And then Proverbs 28 and verse number seven. The scripture says Proverbs 28 and verse number seven. Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son, but a companion of righteous men shameth his father. What do we see? We see the admonition to obey, and it's really, as we look at the Word of God, it is really, it is obedience to the Word of God as the Father communicates truth, that truth might be a law and it might be a lamb. How often do we make mistakes? How often do we think, oh, my parents don't know what they're talking about. And we say, hey, I'm going to do my thing. I'm going to do what I want. And what do we do? We run right into a brick wall. I've told my kids lots of times, you know, brick walls hurt. Have you ever run into a brick wall? Brick walls hurt. The Bible says the way of the transgressor is hard. And do you know what? God knew that. And that's why God gave you parents. He gave you parents to help guide you, to help teach you the commands of the Word of God, to teach you the truth of what God wants you to do. Ultimately, I know you have a will, you have a choice, you have a decision that you have to make. But honor, obedience, has to do with obeying the command. During the war between the states, General Lee one day sent word to Stonewall Jackson that the next time he rode in the direction of headquarters, the Commander-in-Chief would be glad to see him on a matter of no great importance. General Jackson received the message immediately. He prepared to leave the next morning. Rising very early, he rode the 8 miles to Lee's headquarters against a storm of wind and snow. When he arrived, he arrived just as Lee was finishing breakfast. Much surprised, Lee inquired why Jackson had come through such a storm. General Jackson replied, you said that you wished to see me. General Lee's slightest wish is a supreme command to me. You see, the general said, hey, come, when you're in the area, come by and see me. And he said, no, no, no. He said, I'm gonna go by and see him because his wish is my command. When we think about the aspect of obeying, we think about the aspects of doing what is said right away with a smile, obedience. God bless us, obedience. As a matter of fact, in Ephesians chapter 6, we read it already. How many of you want it to be well with you? Let me see your hands. How many of you want it to be well with you? Yes. How many of you want life to be rough and tough and awful and miserable? Let me see your hands. You know what I'm saying? We don't want things to be hard and difficult. No, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. You see, God put that commandment. He tacked a promise on to that. And you may think, and I've known many young people. You know what surprises me about some young people? Some of the most rebellious young people that I ever, as a youth pastor for a number of years, that I ever tried to encourage and help. Some of them say, they ain't doing my mama. I'm doing my own thing. I'm doing what I want to do. All right, well, you have a choice. You know what they ended up doing? They ended up joining the army. I used to chuckle. I was blunt with some of them. I'd say, well, that's kind of funny. You're going to do what your mom wants you to do. You're going to do what your church wants you to do. You're going to do your own thing, huh? Wait till you get in the army, and they tell you what time to get up and how to dress and what you're going to eat, and they tell you all kinds of stuff. It just was a little bit funny to me. Obedience. Obedience is what God commands. He commands obedience. Number three, we're looking at listening to his instructions, obey his commands. Now here's number three. And sometimes this can be a challenge. Number three is to receive his correction. How many of you like to be corrected? Maybe a couple. Yeah, we don't like... How many of you have never done anything wrong? You see, if I'm not perfect and I'm not going to do everything correctly, then what do I need in my life? Look at what the Bible says about correction. Proverbs, go back to Proverbs chapter 1. Proverbs chapter 1 and verse number 10. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. Verse 15. My son, walk not thou in the way with them, refrain thy foot from their path. Proverbs 3 and verse number 11. My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction. For whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth, even as a father the son in whom he delighteth." How many of you parents said, oh son, maybe in time of discipline, son, this hurts me more than it hurts you. Anybody ever say that? Yeah, I tell you, I never did got that because I was the one getting it. What do you mean it hurts you? It's hurting me. I don't see how it's hurting you. You ain't crying. You ain't going through the pain. But you know what, there's something about a father that loves a child that's burdened. And that inside, the inside burden, the weight that says, hey, I'm trying to help this child to do what's right. I remember when we first had Sarah, she was walking around getting into stuff like two-year-olds do. And I said to my wife, I said, man, these kids would kill themselves if it wasn't for a parent. You know, they go off the ledge. I mean, they just, everything's all, just go out in the middle of the street. What do they need? They need correction. They need guidance. And so do we in our Christian life, don't we? We need the guidance, and that's why we've got the Word of God. And though I think sometimes the reason why we have a hard time receiving correction is because often correction comes not from a heart of love. Often correction can be rough, and we can be abrasive, and we can be hard in our correction. But somebody knows you love them, they know you care about them. People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. And I think every parent that said, this hurts me more than it hurts you, was trying to communicate, hey, I love you, and I've got to correct you because I love you. Proverbs 10 and verse 1, read a couple more verses concerning this. Proverbs 10 and verse 1, the Proverbs of Solomon, a wise son maketh a glad father, but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. Proverbs 15 and verse number 20, a wise son maketh a glad father, but a foolish man despiseth his mother. We don't like to be corrected, but we often need correction. Do you know the Bible says that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for what? for doctrine, for reproof, for instruction, right? The Word of God corrects us. As we get into the mirror of the Word of God, as we look at the Word of God, the Word of God tells us areas, it shows us areas in our lives that we need God's help in fixing. God desires to bless us. God desires to open the windows of heaven and pour us out a blessing. God's thoughts are thoughts of peace and not of evil. And sometimes that correction aspect of things is what we need to help us to do what we're supposed to do. Two more, and then I want to show you an illustration from the Word of God. Go to Proverbs 17, and I've combined all of these. under one umbrella, and that is the umbrella, get his advice. You can honor him by getting his advice. We live in a society now where people are very independent, and people like to make up their mind to do something, and then they like to tell you this is what they're doing. Of course, as a pastor, I have people tell me that all the time. And if someone comes to me and says, hey, pastor, the Lord told me to do this, I'm pretty much, unless it's something against the word of God, I pretty much have to say, oh, okay. If someone comes to me and says, I'm thinking about this, pastor, what do you think? Then I might say, well, here are my thoughts on whatever particular subject it is. You know, young people can do the same thing. Young people, I think sometimes, by the way, parents, I think sometimes the philosophy that goes around that says, when they're 18, you just turn them loose and you wash your hands of it. I think 17, 18, 19-year-olds, this is a time when they need lots of direction, when they need lots of guidance, when they need lots of encouragement. And young people, I'll tell you this, it is easy sometimes to, I'm independent. I'm 15 now. I can make decisions. Make my own decisions at 15. You can make a lot of bad decisions too. And there's nothing wrong. I think sometimes people get the wrong opinion. They get the wrong view of mom and dad. Oh, they're trying to control me. Well, I don't know about that. I think they're trying to help you. I think if I pulled the parents here, the parents who are all of them would say, hey, I'm excited to have my kid just serve the Lord and fly, right? We want your kids to fly and to serve God with all your heart and soul. And sometimes there's a hesitancy to get advice. Proverbs 17 and verse number 21. He that begetteth a fool, dealeth it to his own sorrow, and the father of a fool hath no joy, the aspect of just doing things on your own. A foolish son is a grief, verse 25, to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him. Proverbs 19 and verse number 13. A foolish son is a calamity of his father, and the contentions of a wife, continual dropping. 19 and verse number 26. He that wasteth his father and chases away his mother is a son that causes shame and bringeth reproach. I don't need to hear what you have to say. I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do. And end up finding yourself more heartache and trouble. By the way, God works through human authorities. God works through human imperfect authorities. When a police officer pulls you over, I hope you stop. You say, but they're not saved. I hope you stop. You say, but they weren't living right. I saw them smoking a cigarette on the corner, and I'm against smoking cigarettes. I hope you stop. Why? Because it's God-ordained agent, the God-ordained authority that He's put in our lives. And young people, God has put an ordained authority in your life that's not perfect, that doesn't have all the answers, but that God will use to help you to be what He wants you to be, to help you to find God's will and to do it. And there's some others here. Let me read Proverbs 23, verse 26 real quick. And then I'll give you the last truth, and then I want to show you an illustration. Proverbs 23 and verse number 26. Here's the father. give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways." And then he's about to counsel him concerning a whore being a deep ditch, concerning the challenges that might come his way. But that aspect of a child saying to a parent, Hey, I'm going to give you my heart, which means what? I'm going to work. I'm going to let God work in my life through you as my father. I'm going to let God work in my life through you as my mother. And I know that you may give some advice. You may say some things that maybe go against what I'm thinking, but I'm going to believe God. I'm going to believe that God is big enough that he gave you to me as a parent, that God is big enough that he can work through my human authorities. By the way, let me say this, parents. If you have a problem with authority in your life, It'll come out if your kids don't see your response to authority. I remember being on a youth trip once, and we had a youth leader that was driving a bus, and he got pulled over by a police officer, and I was shocked with his response. I was shocked with how belligerent he was to the police officer. The God-ordained authority. I was just shocked, and I thought, wow. Here we are presenting the wrong view. The wrong view to have a relationship with authority in front of a bus full of teenagers. I was just shocked. God works through imperfect authorities. And then number five, as we look at this matter of honor, look at Proverbs 17 and verse number six. Proverbs 17 and verse number six. Number five is this. Find something good to say about him. You say, yeah, but he's got a lot of challenges. He sure does. And put him on your prayer list and pray for him. And you know the weaknesses and others maybe don't. But you do and you see and know weaknesses. But find something good to say about him. Proverbs 17 and verse 6. Children's children are the crown of old men and the glory of children are their fathers. Proverbs 19 and verse number 26. I think I've read that already. Proverbs 19, so let's go to 20, 20. Proverbs 20, 20, "...whoso curseth his father and his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness." And then Proverbs 30 and verse number 11. I know it's giving you lots of scriptures and I can send you these verses if you want them all. Proverbs 30 and verse number 11. There is a generation that cursed their father and doth not bless their mother. I think we're living in some of that today. The eye that mocketh at his father and despises to obey his mother. Verse 17, the ravens of the valley shall pluck it out and the young eagles shall eat it. Remember a number of years ago. talking to the supervisor of Euclid Township, and he said, you know what our number one challenge is now? This was a number of years ago. He said, children hurting parents. He said, I'm dealing with a case now where a child took a screwdriver and jammed it in his dad's eye, that interpersonal, you think, that's what we're reading. We're looking at a generation that doesn't bless, that doesn't appreciate. By the way, let me say this, young people, when they're laying in a pine box in the front of the church, they can't hear a word that you have to say. I think we ought to be thankful for the people that God puts in our lives. We really ought to. Now can I show you an illustration from 1 Samuel 17? Will you turn there real quick? 1 Samuel 17. We looked at an explanation of honor. Now I want to show you an example of honor from 1 Samuel chapter 17. 1 Samuel 17. I know this could be two separate messages, but I promise we'll be short here as we look at David, and we look at David's relationship with his father Jesse. Now 1 Samuel 17 is the story of David and Goliath, alright? It's the story of David and Goliath, and many of you are familiar with that, so we're going to pick up right in the middle, and we're going to pick up with a conversation that David is having with King Saul. King Saul is concerned, David you're just a teenager, you're just a youth, this dude Goliath has got armor, this guy's a trained soldier, and David I'm concerned about you, I'm concerned about the situation. And I want you to begin and follow along as I read in verse 34. And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion and a bear. and took a lamb out of the flock. And I went after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. Thy servants slew both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing hath defied the armies of the living God. Now I don't know, when I read this story, I read two separate occasions. A lion came, and a bear came. I wanna just ask you this question. Here you are, watching your father's sheep." That's what David said. The sheep were his father's. And a lion comes, and a lion takes one of the sheep. How many of you would be tempted to say, bye-bye, sheep? A big old grizzly comes, and here you are. The grizzly takes one of your father's sheep. Well, it's not mine. I didn't pay for him. I had nothing to do with these sheep. And the grizzly comes, and the temptation would be to say, bye-bye, sheepy. We got more sheepy where you came from, but not David. And I want you to see David's interest was for what? His interest was centered around what his fathers had told him to do, right? They were his father's sheep. And his father's sheep, his father's possession, was important to David. Pretty interesting, huh? As we look secondly, go back a little bit, now that obviously happened prior to this story, so he's telling a story in the past. So now look at the beginning of this story here, 1 Samuel 17, how David even got involved here to begin with. 1 Samuel 17 and verse 17. His brothers are out in battle with the Philistines, and Jesse comes. The father of David says, verse 17, Now Saul and the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elahs, that's where he was headed, fighting with the Philistines. And David said, I can't do this, man, I'm real busy. David said, men, me, why can't you send someone else? Do I have to do this? I mean, right now? I don't know what the Bible says. The Bible says what? And David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with the keeper and took and went as Jesse had commanded him. Now, think with me just for a minute about what would happen. David would go and he'd kill Goliath. He would lead the Israelites against the Philistines. And David now would have a name. And obviously it was that which God used to put David where David was supposed to be. So we can, can we say it this way? By obeying and following the instruction of his father, David found himself right in the center of God's will. He didn't complain. He didn't make excuses. He didn't give him 10 reasons why he wasn't the best man to call for the job. He got up early. His father said, do it. He got up early, and he did it. Now let me show you one other thought with regards to David that I find encouraging as we look at an example of honor. Look at 1 Samuel, the end of 1 Samuel 17. We're in the same chapter. Now we're going to the end of the story. Try to do this chronologically here. The end of the story, verse 54, David kills Goliath. Verse 54, he took the head of Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem. And he put his armor in his tent. And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? Who is this kid? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth, O king, I can't tell. I don't know. And the king said, Inquire thou whose son the stripling is. And David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine. Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. And Saul said to him, Whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant Jesse. The Bethlehemite. What do we see? We see him identifying with his father. We don't see him saying, well, why do you ask? Why do you want to know? No, we see him saying, I am the son of Jesse, thy servant. There was identification with his father. You look at this one chapter, and boy do we see, in my estimation, in 1 Samuel 17, an example of a young man that honored his father. I'll tell you this, young people, you have a lot of challenges in the day and age in which you live. One of the challenges will be for you to say, who am I going to allow to influence my life? Who am I going to listen to? We say it this way, who am I going to give my heart to? One of the reasons I'm not for teen dating is because we have young people that are immature, that are not ready for marriage, that are giving their heart to somebody. that has no business having their heart at all, and having that kind of influence in their life. Who you allow to influence you. Someone said it this way, your friends will determine your future. By the way, that's true for all of us. The influences that we have in our lives, they're either gonna help us in the will of the Lord, they're either gonna help us to be more godly, they're either gonna help us and encourage us in the things of the Lord, or they're gonna distract us. They're going to deter us from being what God wants us to be. Young people, honor your Father. He's not perfect. God commands you to do so, and God will bless you if you do so.