I don't know why I put welcome up there, I guess it's just a habit. I do want you to feel welcome at Sunday school. We thank God that you come, that we can discuss and that we can learn from your word. Our catechism question this week is number 70. And that is what is forbidden in the fifth, that should be fifth, not 50th commandment, fifth commandment. My typing is getting better, you can tell. If you wouldn't, read the answer with me. The fifth commandment, forbid it the neglect of or doing anything against the honor and duty which belongeth to everyone in their several places and relations. Our memory verse is taken from that section. I did not write it down, but if you'll turn your Bibles to Matthew 15, four through six. I thought I made a slide up for that. Let me check further down. Yeah, there we go. I do have it up there. Our memory verse is Matthew 15, four through six. If you would read it with me. For God said, honor your father and mother, And he who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death. But you say, whoever shall say to his father or mother, anything of mine, you might have been helped by and been given to God. He is not to honor his father or his mother, and thus you invalidated the word of God for the sake of tradition. The Hebrew word there for honor is kabod, and I'm not sure I'm saying that right, so let me write it on the board. Well, we don't have a board anymore. Kabod is K-A-B-E-D, is that how you say it? It's a Hebrew word. It means to make heavy or to weigh, and I think Brother John has mentioned that before. And the command could read, recognize the God-appointed positions of parents and give them the weight and priority they deserve in your life. What that simply means is you're to value them, you're to show them esteem and respect, And guess what men if you're married that also includes your mother-in-law, so don't talk bad about it Okay You thought you're going to get away with something there, right? This this commandment if you see there is a Curse there it says but I He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death. This is under the law and this is Jesus actually talking to the scribes and Pharisees because they were actually saying that they were given the money to support their parents to the church and they actually weren't giving it to the church synagogue and they were actually stealing from God and lying to man and they weren't even honoring their parents. So that's the reason why he brought this up because if you are A religious leader in the Jewish faith, you should be keeping the law, and they were not. They were not setting the example, and they were corrupt. Paul wrote in Romans 1380, he says, oh, no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. He had just finished writing in Romans 12, one and two, he says, to be a living sacrifice and to speak truth and humility, to be kindly affectionate, repay evil for no evil, overcoming evil with good, and submitting to ordained authorities in a godly manner. So this commandment actually goes farther than just parents. It is going to esteem, to honor, to show respect horizontally, not just to those in office, but to your neighbor, to your friends. It goes to that. It's not just to parents. This is something that God want to make sure because God says he has no favor with anyone. He has no respect. He says, what the Bible says, he's no respecter of a person. So, understand that we are to love God first, and then horizontally we are to esteem others before we esteem ourself. Okay? Any questions on that? Let's go back. I think we covered that. The one thing that this is, I do want to cover that, the commandment is foundational for family and society. If you look at the United States today, the one thing that the, I want to say government, the government is part of the problem. One thing that society is trying to do is take away the family. They take the husband out of the home to support the wife and the kids. instead of allowing the husband to stay in the home. And if they're both working, then they should subsidize the family in order to help them make it in life. Because some people do need help. We aren't born rich. Some people are. I wasn't. But that's OK. We're to, as a church and as a body of believers, we are to help those that are less fortunate than us. And we're not to we're not to take and hold it over them either once we help someone We shouldn't be out there bragging about what we do or don't do if we're doing that then we're doing it for the wrong purpose So it is foundational for the family and society Once the family goes You can see what society looks like now Look at the United States There are so many evils out there. Our children are being taught to be agnostics or atheists. They're taught that they are not men or women. They're butchering them. They're abusing. I mean, you can just take and make a long list of things that are happening. And it's all because we do not honor our father and our mother. which goes to honoring those that we live with, those that we work with, and those that are in positions of authority. So it is important that we understand. Ephesians 5, 15 through 17 and 21, it says, therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of our time, that should be O-U-R, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is, and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. When we take Christ out of the equation, then we do not have the respect and the love that we should have for each other. Any questions on that fifth commandment? Okay? Our scriptures this week, Malachi 3, 16-18, John 1, 6-13, and Hebrews 12, 7-11. The unifying theme is the discipline of God our Father is proof of our adoption. Brother John did a great job last week on going through the process because God chooses those that he is going to save. He chose Israel, beginning with Abraham, And he chose us Through Christ and we are adopted right? That's what the Bible says And now we're one group those that are believers in Christ That's the reason why it says there is neither Jew nor Greek Okay Malachi is one of the Part of the Tanakh. Anybody know what the Tanakh is? You're right. I had heard it and I had forgot all about it, so I had to look it back up. But you're right. It is the abbreviation, somebody called it an acronym, I'm not sure if that's what you want to use, but it's derived from the initial letters of the three main divisions of the Jewish Bible, or Jewish Hebrew Bible. I just listed up there and it does break it down there as far as what books are part of the Torah, the Nivim and the Ketuvim, if that's how you say it. So, it's good that you know these are terms that we use. It's good to know what they mean. Malachi was written some hundred years, I think, after the Jews returned from captivity with Babylon. Somewhere around 450 to 430 B.C. is what the information I have that I found. I want to try and do a little bit here. Key themes of Malachi is God's love for Israel, and that's in Malachi 1, chapters 1 and 2. And if you look at Malachi, it's kind of like an argument between God and Israel. There's disputes going on, and there's actually six disputes. And the first dispute is in Malachi 1, 2 through 5. And God is saying to his people that he still loves them. Remember, they've just come out of captivity with Babylon. They've allowed to go back to Jerusalem, where Nehemiah and Ezra rebuilt the wall and the temple, right? So they are living in an area that's destitute. The people that returned are no better than the people that were in captivity. They still are not honoring God. And God is going through and He's saying, look, I still love you. And they are trying to say, well, how do you love us? And he says, well, look, I chose Jacob. I hated Esau. I chose Jacob and the ancestors that are in the lineage of Christ. But I chose Jacob. And then he has blessed the families. And even in captivity, he has blessed them and he has allowed them to go back to Jerusalem. The problem is, is that they are In sin, they are marrying, and we'll get into that in a few minutes, they're marrying out of their religion into false faiths. They are doubting God, and they are suspicious of him, and they do not think that he is faithful, which is a real problem. The second dispute comes out of Malachi 1.6. and it goes all the way through chapter two, verse nine, and exposes the problem in the temple. And he is saying to them, how have we despised you? And that's the people answering back to them. Because he's saying, you have defiled my temple, and you have despised me. Anybody remember that time era? What were they doing as far as despising the temple? offerings, what did Jesus do when he went into the temple? He threw them out of the temple, the money changers and the people that were dealing with animals. Yes, yes, exactly. Yeah, they were taken instead of given to animals without blemish. They were either blind, or one-legged, or two-legged, or three-legged. I've never seen a one-legged, but they were cripples. They were not what God says. Yeah, they were supposed to be perfect. So they weren't giving God his deserved Yes. Brother John says they weren't giving God his weight, right? His honor, his glory. So they were not honoring God's commandment as far as how to give, and they were not giving God his honor. The third dispute is in Malachi 2, verses 10 through 16, and God is accusing them of Treachery against their wives. What they were doing, God has never supported divorce, if you remember. And Moses allowed divorce only because of the sin of the people. So what they were doing is they were marrying people of different faiths, and they were bringing in these false gods into their homes, and they were worshiping these false gods. So, and then they started just divorcing their wives without any good reason. They had no reason to divorce her, but they just wanted to divorce her and remarry someone and bring them into the home. They were doing this. And in the last three, the second set of disputes that starts in Malachi 2, 17, three through five, Israelites were accusing God of neglect. And they were saying, where is the God of justice? Where is the God of justice? Isn't that something? People were not treating the Israelites right. They were in an area that had just been returned to them and they had come back out of slavery, but it was corrupt and it was not safe. So they were saying, these things are going on, why don't you do something about it? So it's like not taking the blame for their self, because God said, if you keep my commandments, I will bless you. That's a promise. You keep my commandments, I will bless you. I will bless the land that you're in. You will have plenty. So they were not doing this. The next dispute, God asked them to take and return to him. And they said, how? How? How do we do this? If you remember when Malachi, Malachi, when Nehemiah and Ezra went back to build the temple and stuff, the Jews were supposed to give one-tenth of their income annually to support the temple and the priest. They weren't doing that. Well, these people here were not doing it either. So they were actually not obeying Leviticus 27.30 and Deuteronomy 12.6, which is laid out in the Torah. That's what we just said, the Torah is part of the Tanakh. The final dispute that they have is the people were accusing God saying that it is pointless to serve him. They said the wicked people that are succeeding in life, these people seem to be doing well, but you're not doing anything against them that we can do better. So God says in Malachi 3, 16 through 18, which is actually part of our verse, God says that he has a fateful remnant. And if you remember, God has always dealt with a remnant. A remnant is a small group of people. In the United States, we have, what, 300 and something million people? I have no idea. I'm sorry. Is it growing by the second? I thought our birth rates were going down. Oh, you're talking about immigration. Okay. Well, that's true. Didn't think of it that way. My chain of command, I mean my chain of thought just got lost there. That's okay. So there's a faithful remnant. So out of 300 and something million people, how many Christians are in the United States? We have no way of knowing, but I can tell you it's not 325 million. There's a remnant, and God has always used that. God has always relied on that remnant to pray, to witness, and to be faithful. That's the things that he asked us to do, right? Pray, be faithful, and to witness. So if we do that, God will grow our nation, God will bless our nation, not because the United States deserves it, but because of his people. Okay? Remember the promise he made? If you keep my commandments, I will bless you, I will bless your land, I will bless your wealth. So, that promise applies to us also. So, whenever we start looking at Malachi and you try and figure out how does that figure into adoption, the Jewish people were God's choice in the Old Testament to bring forth his word and Reveal him to a pagan world, wasn't it? and because of their unfaithfulness and Because they did not keep his promises. They had to he had to chastise them. He had to discipline them and this kind of ties into our text in Hebrews But it's always God does it for restoration? God always gives these things to bring us back to Him. Okay? He wants to restore our walk with Him. And the thing that we have to do is repent, right? All right, any questions on Malachi? I know I kind of went through some history there and some other things, but it's a good chapter or a good book to read. It gives you a good viewpoint of what God is looking at and how we do not take our responsibilities as his people. Any questions, comments? Y'all are quiet today. Okay, to knock. John 6, sorry, John 1, 6 through 13. Why don't we read that instead of me talking and not reading it. So, Mark, you got yours open there? John? Have you? Okay. Yeah. Rosie, that's Nia. Okay, Rosie, will you read? If you don't mind, John 1, 6 through 13. Yes, the gospel John. Yes. He himself was not the light. He came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made for him. The world did not criticize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God. Children born not of natural descent, Lord, of human decision, Okay. Thank you. Okay. Verses six through eight, God provides a witness. Who's that witness? John the Baptist. And he's a witness of the Messiah. And the Messiah was the promised one, the incarnate Christ. Verse 9 goes into the light, enlightens every man. I found a quote by Carson. It says, it, meaning the light, it shines on every man and divides the race. Those who hate the light respond as the world does. That's in verse 10. And verse 10 says, he was born in the world and the world did not know him. They flee lest their deeds should be exposed by the light. But some receive this revelation and thereby testify that their deeds have been done through God. And John's gospel is repeatedly the case that the light shines on all and forces a distinction. So if God shines his light on all, what distinction is made? If God shines His light on all, how does that make a distinction? Does everyone take advantage of the light? What effect does it have? Does all receive the light? No, not everyone receives the light, because some reject the light, right? So, yeah, in John's gospel is repeatedly the case that the light shines on all and forces a distinction. 319 through 21, just to make and clarify that. And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men love the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God. So not everyone accepts the light, do they? They prefer the darkness, in other words, the sin that they're in. That's the condition that you and I are in before we became a Christian, right? Before God opened the knowledge to us that we needed a savior and that we believed and were saved. So this is what he's talking about. Not everyone comes to the light. They prefer the darkness and they reject him. In verse 10, John uses the word world, and what does a world refer to? He uses it 78 times in the Gospel of John. The world. What? I'm sorry. It is humanity. It is the earth. It is the world. But in this instance, We're talking about a world system. I'm sorry? I'm sorry. Society? Society is part of it, but we are talking about a world system. Who is the god of this world? Satan. So when he's referencing, and you see the word world in John, he is referencing Satan because he is the god of this world at this time. God is the creator, but God has allowed Satan to rule this world for a time, a short period of time before he is cast into the lake of fire. I put a note there, it's ironic that Jesus created all things, including the world, yet the world does not know him. That's ironic, isn't it? He came into his own and his own received him not, that's what we just read in John. Not just the world, but those that were in his community, those that knew him, were probably his worst enemies because he was the son of Joseph to them. They did not recognize him as the Christ, the incarnate one. In verse 11, Jesus not only was rejected by the world, there's two ways or two things that I think you need to take away. One is make sure you're not rejecting Christ. And two, don't be surprised if your witness of Jesus Christ is rejected. How many of y'all told somebody about Jesus Christ this week? Don't hold your hand up. Don't want to see it. Don't want to see it. But if you did, did everybody accept that witness? They didn't, did they? Did that stop you from being a witness to someone else? I hope not. Guess what? Can you save them? I can't. God is the one that opens hearts, right? The Holy Spirit will use you to be a witness to those that are in your community, at work, wherever you meet. And if you witness to them, God will take and be the effectual thing that opens their heart. The Holy Spirit will. You can't do a thing except be faithful. and being that witness. So don't let your rejection by people stop you from continuing to be a witness for Christ. It is a race, as they say. It's not a 50-yard or 100-yard dash. It's a marathon. So we have to be consistent in how we do things. And that's what Hebrews has shown us. We've got to be faithful. We've got to show endurance, right? The new life requires a new birth, and that's in John 1, 13, and in 3, 1 through 8. In verse 12, those that believe God gives to them, he gave the right to become children of God. Verse 13 states that this new birth is not a man but of God. Whoever believes, and that's a present tense for this, and this is a quote, that Jesus is the Christ has been born, that's perfect tense of God. In other words, believing in Christ is evidence that God has given you new life through the new birth. John Stock comments on that verse in its verb tenses. It shows clearly that believing is the consequence, not the cause, of the new birth. Our present continuing activity of believing is the result, and therefore the evidence, of our past experience of new birth by which we became and remain God's children. What does all that mean? For me, it kind of says, which came first, the chicken or the egg? Did you believe first or were you saved first? They kind of go together, don't they? There is an evidence that you're saved by the way you walk, right? And your belief in Christ saves you. So I put a couple of quotes there, Acts 13, 48. And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. Appointed to eternal life. Predestination. What's the other word we use? Election. For a while, in Sunday school, I never taught that. And when I was out in First Baptist in Linden, I was teaching a class and it started dealing with, it was in Romans, and I had not ever believed in election or predestination. But when I started reading and going through it, I had to take and teach what the Bible said, and I had to teach what scripture was saying, and it changed my viewpoint on election and predestination. And a lot of people in my class were kind of upset, but that's okay. And in a good Southern Baptist church, a lot of people don't believe that. But you know what? It's there, and it's true. Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not as a result of works, that no one should boast. Okay, so, so far in Malachi, we have a chosen people. In John, we have people that believe and those that do not believe. And if we believe, then we're called children of God. So the adoption is evident throughout scripture. 10.03, we'll try and get through some of this. I don't think we're gonna make it through all of it. The biggest thing that I see on TV these days is these preachers that get up there, name it and claim it. If you become a Christian, God's going to make you rich. If you do this, he's going to make you rich. When you start hearing stuff like this, I hope you turn the TV off. Because it is an abomination to me that any preacher will get up there and make a statement like that. For a couple reasons. We have seen throughout the history of the Old Testament, and even in the New Testament, that those whom God loves, he disciplines. So this name it and claim it stuff is not true. It's false teaching. So just remember that and don't send your money to these people. They want your money. They don't want your salvation because they don't care about that. They want your money because they're going to get rich and you're going to be poor. But Paul reminds us, Hebrews 12, seven through 11, and I'm gonna get somebody to read that in just a minute, that the motivation of discipline is God's love. So let's read Hebrews 12, seven through 11. Ryan, you mind reading that for us? which all become forsakers in our religion of children and not sons. Furthermore, we have earthly fathers who discipline us, and we respect them, shall not much rather be subject to the father of spirits and limbs. But they have disciplined us for a short time, as seemed best to them. But he disciplines us for our good, so we may share his goodness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful. Okay, in verse 5, I'm going to go back because our text is 7-11, but I want to read 5. And you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons. My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him. I just wanted to bring this up because we're actually dealing with discipline here, and I think it's important that we key in on a verse that actually highlights this, and then Paul actually discusses it from there. I wrote some scriptures up here in Proverbs. It says, whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid. These are God's words, not mine. So don't blame me, I'm only the messenger. Proverbs 6.23, for this command is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and correction and instruction are the way to life. And in Proverbs 13.1, a wise son heeds his father's instruction, but a mocker does not respond to rebukes. As a kid, I wasn't sure how smart my father was. You know, when you're cocky and young, you think you know everything. Nobody's ever gone through that, right? I'm glad nobody raised their hands. So we all learn to appreciate our father's wisdom as we grow older, don't we? We learn to communicate better with our father. He disciplines us. I remember having to go out and get my own switch to be whipped whenever I got a whipping. I'm not sure how many I had, I forgot. But he wore out a tree probably whipping me. But he never did it out of bitterness or hate, because he was a Christian. He always did it for instruction and for correcting. So I love my father for that. I may not have understood that at the time, but I do love him for that. So it shouldn't surprise us as Christians that we are going to be disciplined. Should it? Or should it? Why would we be disciplined? Okay. He loves us. We do need correction. So we are corrected because of sin, right? And God will correct us until we either repent or die. Okay, hopefully it's not die, but we have to repent whenever God corrects us. I mean, that's why he is correcting us to follow him and to walk and draw closer to him. What's the other reason we would be disciplined? To make us holier, okay. I think I have it up there somewhere. Yes, God's discipline is always for instruction, correction, and reproof. Okay. And it's always for restoration. Think about that. Church discipline and I've as a deacon, and as an elder, I've had to go through this process with individuals, has always been not to condemn the individual, but to restore them to fellowship with the church, the body of Christ. That is the intent for church discipline. If God loves us that much that that he wants to correct us and to reprove us and to Give us instruction proper instruction. Then we as a body whenever we're in those positions of Elder should be willing to show discipline in that same manner. So Hopefully Whenever you do, I hope you never come under church discipline, but if you do, then this is what it's about. Don't take it that someone hates you, but take it that someone loves you enough that correction should be done. And that's the way God is, and that's the way we should treat each other. Verse eight, but if you are without discipline, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. If you're a Christian, and please think of where I'm coming from, if you're a Christian and you've never been disciplined, you've never been reproved, think of who you are in Christ, okay? I have been disciplined by God many times because of my sin or because he is trying to teach me something. But if you've never had discipline, think about your relationship with Jesus Christ. If you've never had discipline, what, I mean, that would almost, I mean, to me, is you're not of Christ. That's exactly. Yeah. Um, if you, if, and, and Paul uses, I say Paul because I believe he wrote Hebrews. Um, Paul says, if, if we have earthly fathers that discipline us, then how much more should we love God for discipline us? So we need to understand that this is going to happen, uh, either because of our sin or because God wants to, um, Teach us something. He wants to draw us closer to Him. He wants us to be more sanctified. He wants us to be more holy. These are reasons why He would do it. I put in there 2 Corinthians 13, 5. It says, test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves, or do not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed you fail to test. So if you examine yourself and you do not find that you are a Christian, then you have a way of correcting where you're at in Christ. Because he is trying for you to understand that, hey, you're not my child, but I'm drawing you. I'm wanting you to become a Christian. So I've opened this door for you that you may find Jesus Christ as your personal savior. So I think the Holy Spirit is working like that. Any comments on that? Verse nine, we went through that. Verse 10, he disciplines us for our good. God's discipline is not punitive, it's not to shame you, it's not to hurt us, it's not to seek revenge, and it's not an outlet for anger on his part. The goal is correction. Spurgeon wrote, faith sees that in her worst sorrow there is nothing penal. There is not a drop of God's wrath in it. It is all sent in God's love. And in true words, discipline is not fun. Been there, done that. But it is rewarding in the fact that God is When he gets through with you, it yields a peaceful fruit of righteousness. I like the term there. Isaiah 32, 17, and the work of righteousness will be peace and the service of righteousness, quietness, and confidence forever. James 3, 17, but the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, And I put reasonable, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And then a word train, that's a continuous process. But what it should do, it should give us confidence in Christ. that he is working in us and that it is not of us that we have come to know him, but it's of what God has done for us and the grace that he has shown and extended to each one of those that he has called. Okay. Any questions on any part of that? I know we went through the last part kind of quick. I'm glad we don't spend two hours, because we could probably talk for two hours, but you probably wouldn't want to listen for two hours. But it is a good section to go through, and Brother John actually did a super job in going through it. All right, any questions? Any comments? OK. Alex, you want to close us in prayer?