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Grace is greater than all the sin. God is his name that we can abide. He'll bear the pain to wash it away. He'll be grateful we've got friends sometime. Our dear soul, we'll be together. Praise, praise, God's grace. Praise, praise, God's grace. Praise, praise, God's grace. Praise, praise, David and all the sin. Father, the Savior with justice, praise. Bring me this song of all who believe. You who are coming to see this grace. For long has spoken this grace to see. Praise, David, God's grace. Praise, Lord, and heaven, heaven, David's grace, God's grace. Praise, praise, David and all the sin. I just kind of blew up in my face this morning with the printer. I said, you know what? You just have to pay extra attention, which is why you're here anyway. You're here to pay attention. You're good, right? Just as a reminder real quick, I'll just go through a few things. Last week will be in Acts chapter 14 this week on Thursday. Also, the mega conference is still taking place. Pastor McGee will not be attending. The mega conference this year was very ill last week. He was just well enough to kind of make it to Red Hot. I'm sure he's still recovering. Pastor Dzarnsky will preach. He's preaching this morning and he'll be preaching Wednesday night. If you want to go out and see Pastor Dzarnsky, please do sign up in the back there. We'll go up there and have a good time. We've got a couple of solenoid things taking place. Really just to point out some news. One in Toronto. I'm assuming nobody's going at this point. It's kind of last minute. I don't want to squeeze it last minute. I have no promises to see what I can do. I bring it up because I'll be out of town, obviously. Next Sunday, I'll be here. So a week from this Thursday, I'll be out of town. Brother Caleb will be filling the pulpit on Thursday. If you look forward to that. Make sure you come out. Support him so he can preach. And then also that Sunday. Two weeks from today. Pastor, not Pastor, Brother Jake Thornton will be in the pulpit. He always does a great job. I believe he'll do a great job for us wherever I'm gone. Come on out. Don't shy away. Stay home and livestream it. Come on out. Support your church. Also we've got a mission strip coming up. We will be having chips and salsa after the Sunday evening service. That will do it for the announcements. Sing another song and then get ready to preach. Song number 404, When the Battle's Over. 404. We shall hear about this. We shall hear about the Davos life. Of course we will,musically, but we will not accept it. We will not accept our life. We will not accept our life. We will not accept our love. We will not accept our love. We shall never stop, yes, we shall never go, yes, we shall never go. When the light is over, we shall never frown. Let the future rise above you. Let it round, let it round. We're a bright and shining crowd. Round till the light is over, we shall never frown. Round till the light is over, let it round. Round till the light is over, let it round. Round till the light is over, let it round. Round till the light is over, let it round. Round till the light is over, let it round. Round till the light is over, let it round. Round till the light is over, let it round. When the light is over, we shall never frown. Let the future rise above you. Let it round, let it round. Let it round, let it shiny round. When the light is over, we shall never frown. Let the future rise above you. Round till the light is over, let it round. If I were brave in Greece, my home is home. I'll wear them to them, to them they stand, holding by these woods. And when the battle's over, we shall never crowd. Yes, we shall never crowd. Yes, we shall never crowd. And when the battle's over, we shall never crowd. And when the battle's over, we shall never crowd We shall never crowd. In accessible land, we shall never crowd We shall never crowd. Let's turn our Bibles to Deuteronomy 21, Deuteronomy 21, that's Deuteronomy 41, as always, I'm going to read the entire chapter, please follow along silently, as it leads to us from Deuteronomy chapter 41. Deuteronomy chapter number 21, the Bible reads, If one be found slain in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who art who hath slain him, then the elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure the cities that are round about him that is slain. And it shall be that the city which is next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take an heifer, which hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in yoke. And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer's neck there in the valley. And the priests of the sons of Levi shall come near, for then the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the Lord, and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried. And all the elders of that city that are next unto the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley, and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. Be merciful, O Lord, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel's charge, and the blood shall be forgiven them. So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the Lord. When thou goes forth to war against thine enemies, and the Lord thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive, and seest among them captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldst have her to thy wife, then thou shalt bring her home to thine house, and she shall shave her head and pare her nails, and she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off of her, and she shall remain in thine house, and shall bewail her father and her mother a full month, and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife, and it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will, thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not take merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her. If a man have two wives, one beloved and another hated, and they have borne them children, both the beloved and the hated, and if the firstborn be hers that was hated, then it shall be what he maketh his sons to inherit, that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn. But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath, for he is the beginning of his strength, and the right hand of the firstborn is his. If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them, then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of the city, unto the gate of the place, and they shall say unto the elders of the city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice, he is a glutton and a drunkard, and all the men in the city shall stone him with stones, that he die, so they shall put away evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear. And if a man hath committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, thou shalt hang him on a tree. His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day, for he that is hanged is the cursed of God, that thy land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance. Let's go ahead and have a quick word of prayer. Dear Lord, again, thank you for this time we have together, to come together in the beginning of our week for the preaching of the word of God. I pray you help us to be open and attentive unto it. Lord, you help us to be transformed, to be molded, to make new by your word, Lord, that we would not be conformed to this present world, but that we would accept your word as it is, the truth and the word of God. We ask these things in Christ's name, amen. So I'm going to focus just there towards the end of Deuteronomy 21, that last passage, of course, there's a lot of different things being covered in Deuteronomy 21, but if you look there in verse 18, it says, if a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and that when they have chastened him will not hearken unto them, then his father and mother shall lay hold on him and bring him out unto the elders of the city and on the gate of his place. And they shall say unto the elders of the city, this, our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard. And all the men of that city shall stone him with stones that he die. So obviously this is a very, you know, sometimes by some considered a very controversial portion of scripture. This is one that often, you know, the foolish and unlearned people of this world will throw in our face as saying, oh, look, the Bible teaches the stoning of children. Okay. Well, you know, if you actually read this passage with, you know, in its context and actually use your head when you're reading it and not just come to the scripture with, you know, an agenda to try to just attack the word of God, you know, you might see what's very obvious right here in the scripture, obviously it's not talking about stoning small children. I mean, come on. Okay. You say, prove it. Well, he says there, verse 20, they shall say to the elders of the city, this, our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey the voice, our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard. Okay. Those aren't necessarily sins that small children are, you know, guilty of. I mean, I understand there's an obesity epidemic in our country that's even affecting, you know, small children to, you know, but that's really not the fault of the children. It's not because, you know, the kids are just running off to McDonald's every chance they get, you know, against their parents' wishes and just gorging themselves and all kinds of junk food. It's usually because the parents are doing that to them. Okay. So to be a glutton, to be a drunkard, you know, these are sins that are, you know, prone, that adults are capable of. Children aren't really capable of this. Obviously they can be, they can be gluttons, but you know, drunkards, you know, if little kids are getting drunk, you know, if you walk in the room and little Johnny's got, you know, the, the bottle of whiskey and he's just tipping back, you know, I really don't think it's the child's fault at that point, you know, it's, you know, that's obviously not what it's talking about. You know, I know it's using the word son and it's using child, you know, it's using, you know, it's, it's referring to an adult child of these parents. Okay. And again, what's the problem with this young man is that he's stubborn and rebellious and then he's a glutton and a drunkard and he's not just being, and really he's not being stoned to death for the fact that he's a glutton and a drunkard. Okay. That is the problem. But why is it that this young man is to be taken in front of the city, in front of the elders of the city? Okay. So, you know, this wasn't just something parents could do in their backyard. You know, they had to have evidence, they had to have proof, they had to, it was basically like a trial. They had to come and show proof and say, Hey, you know what? We've, he will not obey our voice, right? Isn't that what it's saying here? That's the stipulation when they have chastened him at the end of verse 18 and will not hearken unto them. So the problem is, yes, that he's a glutton. Yes. The problem is that he's a drunkard, but the parents are trying to do something about it. They're not just like, well, you know, you got to sell your wild oats when you're a young man, just go out there and live, you know, you got to experiment in your twenties. You got to go make mistakes in your twenties so you can figure out, you know, your place in this world. You know, that's a, that's a wicked, ungodly, unbiblical philosophy that's out there. Okay. They're taking him and they're chasing him. They're not just these, you know, loose, you know, whatever, just letting the kids do whatever type of parents. They're not the cool parents who are just trying to be their children's best friend. They're actually trying to chase in him. They're saying, look, we came to him. We said, you're glutton. We said, you're, you're a drunkard. We've chastened him. You know, his father held them down and I beat him. That's what a chasing is. You know, the Bible says a rod for the back of a fool. Okay. Stripes cleanse the inward parts of the belly, that the blueness of a wound cleans it the way evil, right? And so do stripes the inward parts of the belly. It's talking about corporal punishment of physical beating, even of adults. Okay. That's what they're saying here. Look, we've beaten him, we've chastened him and we're trying to get it through his head that you can't just lay around and just be some lazy gluttonous drunkard. Okay. Obviously that is the sin, right? That he's guilty of being a glutton, being a drunkard. But the reason why he's being stoned is because he's stubborn and rebellious, okay? He's being, he's stubborn and rebellious because he's not listening to the voice of his parents. He's not hearkening, right? So they're beating him, then, you know, verse 19, the next step after the chastening, after the, you know, the trying to correct his behavior, verse 19, then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him and bring him out on the elders of the city, under the gate of his place. And they shall say unto the elders of the city, this, our son, is stubborn and rebellious. That's what they're saying. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard, but you know what? The reason why we're here today is because he's stubborn and rebellious and he won't obey our voice. And obviously, you know, this is probably something, this is something that is certainly prescribed in the word of God. I doubt this is something that was ever practiced. We don't really see any instances of scriptures, this actually being put into place. You know, we certainly don't see it taking place in, you know, society today, which might explain why we have a society that's filled with gluttons and drunkards, and not just young men, but all the way up, that we've just had generations of gluttons and drunkards. You know, this is probably why Israel, one of the reasons that they eventually, without, you know, without a lot of passage of time, quickly turned from the Lord and went into, you know, idolatry, and went into being, you know, idolaters and worshipping and fornicators and drunkards and all these things, because they don't practice these type of things. Look, the word of God is pure, the Bible says, the word of God is pure, enlightening the eyes. How love I thy law, it is my meditation all the day. There's nothing in the word of God that offends me. There's nothing in the word of God that I don't love. The law of the Lord is perfect, the Bible says, converting the soul. See, that seems kind of harsh. Well, you know, it's kind of harsh having to deal with the stubborn, rebellious, gluttonous, drunkard of a son, especially when it happens en masse. Obviously, this is a deterrent, you know, so that young men wouldn't grow up to be godless heathens, to grow up and be stubborn, rebellious, and to be drunkards. You know, so they would think twice before they get behind the wheel of some car when they're intoxicated and go out and kill innocent people that have done no wrong. You know, it would be a lot better if that drunk had just been stoned early on, stoned to death, I don't mean the other stoned, which is another thing that's, you know, it's great to drive around town now and every other stoplight have to sit there and smell pot emanating from people's cars on their commute home, or their commute to work. You know, they've got to get their head fixed before they go to work. It's ridiculous. Like we don't have enough problems with a bunch of drunks running around, you know, driving around on our highways and our frees, now we've got to deal with a bunch of potheads. Oh, it's not as dangerous. Well, you know, it's a lot less dangerous? Not smoking pot and getting behind the wheel of a car. You know, it might not be as bad as being a drunk, but you know, if we're so worried about doing what's best and being as safe as possible, how about we don't do either? Instead of, you know, it's either or type of thing. Well, it's not as bad. You know, if there was more of this going on, you know, maybe we wouldn't have such a backward society that we're living in. And obviously, you know, that's probably, this isn't going to change anything, me preaching about it. But you know what? This is what the Bible says. I'm here to preach the Bible. So my point this morning though, the title of the sermon is Stubborn and Rebellious. And I'm turning this passage to show us that God has severe consequences for people that are stubborn and rebellious. If you go through life, living a life of being a stubborn and rebellious person, mark it down, you will suffer consequences. You know, there might not be this, but there's going to be other things that happen in your life. There's going to be consequences that come into your life that you're not going to want to deal with. You know, and in the case of this young man that's being stoned to death, it sounds to me like it's too late. You know, the time to repent and get right was back when mom and dad were coming to you when they're, you know, beating you with the rod and telling you to go get a job and quit being such a drunk. That was the time to get right. By the time you're standing in front of, you know, the municipality, when you're standing before, you know, you're drugged down to the local courthouse and being charged with this, you know, it's kind of too late. You know, oh, I'm sorry, it won't happen again. It's like, well, you should have thought of that before you committed the crime. Okay? Look, if we go through life being stubborn, rebellious people, there will be consequences and there will be consequences that it's too late to feel sorry about that feeling bad about it isn't going to be good enough. There'll be consequences where what's done is done, permanent. There's no coming back from it. And you know, I've heard a lot of other preachers preach this. I don't know if anyone's ever pointed this out, but it's interesting that, you know, it also makes the point to prove that this is a very, to be done very publicly, to set an example to other people to not be like this young man. He says there in verse 21, all the men of the city shall stone him with stone. So it's not like the parents do it. All the men of the city come and do it and make a public example out of him that he die. So thou shall put evil away from among you, right? That's the whole point. And all Israel shall hear and fear. We're going to say, you know what? There's consequences for being stubborn and rebellious. And then verse 22, and if a man had committed a sin worthy of death, this is kind of the part that, you know, I don't often see brought into this passage, but it follows it immediately and he shall be put to death. Thou shall hang him on a tree. So being stubborn, rebellious, not being corrected, being a drunken and a glutton and not getting it right, not listening to your parents, you know, that's a public stoning according to the Bible. Okay. According to God's law, according to God's word. And not only that, if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, like the one we just read about, like the many other sins in the Bible that are punished with the death penalty, he shall be, thou shall hang him on a tree. So he's saying, you know what? Stone him and then put them up on a tree so everybody can see what happened. That's pretty gruesome. That's pretty horrific. You know, that would probably have a very strong impact on anybody that saw it. That would probably be burned into their mind. They would probably have that etched into their memory, you know, especially back then when people weren't so desensitized like they are today. Where blood and gore wasn't just something you saw on every other television program. Oh, did I say TV? Sorry. Did I hurt anyone's feelings by bringing up television? You know, when you're sitting there flipping through the channels and it's blood and gore, watching all the war movies, you know, playing all the video games where you're just sitting there slaughtering people wholesale, just sitting there staring down the sight to some gun, just blood going everywhere. When people, you know, before people were just completely desensitized, seeing a stoned broken body on a tree would have really made an impact. I don't know, today people would probably just be like, dude, this is going to go viral. Look how cool this is. You know, that's probably what would happen today because people just become so desensitized this type of thing. You say it's graphic. You say it's intense. Yeah, it's the word of God. And there's a purpose behind it for us to understand that God hates stubbornness and rebellious and rebelliousness even in his own people. Well, I'm a Christian so I can get away with it. Oh no. Uh, you know, to whomsoever much is given of him shall also much be required. The more you know, the more you understand, the more accountable you are to the word of God. You say, what's the big deal with stubbornness? Why has God come down so hard on it? Well, if you notice in the passage, it's stubbornness and rebellious, right? Stubbornness leads to rebellion. Stubbornness leads to rebellion. If a man have a son, excuse me, if a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, one just goes with the other. Look, you get stubborn people, you're going to end up with rebellious people. And this is something you see throughout scripture. If you would go over to Judges chapter number two, Judges chapter number two. And look, stubbornness and rebellion is something that can go from a person, it can infect a whole family, it can infect a church, it can infect an entire nation. That's why stubbornness and rebellion has to be rooted out. And that's why we have to stay on top of it in our own hearts. And that's why parents have to stay on top of it with their own children. You know, stubbornness and rebellion should not be tolerated. You know, this is why it's so important that parents get on the same page when it comes to child rearing. That they have the same standards, that a home doesn't have two different sets of rules. You know, there should be one set of rules, you know, and they should be biblical. And they should guard against breeding stubbornness and rebellion in the hearts of our children. Because if you do that, you know, there's going to be consequences. If children grow up stubborn and rebellious people, they rebel against their parents, they rebel against mom, they rebel against dad, then they come to church, you know, they look like they could just be anywhere else, they just tune out the preaching of the word of God, they don't want to listen, you know. And look, I'm not stupid, I know how teenagers are. You know, they go out of here, you know, they mock and they scoff the preaching, they mock and they scoff at other people in the church. They go out of here and, you know, they're stubborn and rebellious hearts, you know, they can keep doing that, keep that attitude and watch where it leads. Who else are they going to rebel against? Who else are they going to be stubborn against? You know, that stubborn and rebellious daughter is going to grow up to be a stubborn and rebellious wife. Who wants to marry that? No real man. I'll tell you who wants to marry that, a loser. You know, a guy who can't get any other girl, I guess you'll do. And she can just walk all over me because she's stubborn and rebellious. You know, the son that's going to grow up and be stubborn and rebellious, and be a stubborn and rebellious man, you know, he can go to work, be stubborn and rebellious and see how far that gets him. See how well he succeeds in the workplace. Get used to saying you want fries with that. Or get used to saying, hey, you know, are you hiring? Because people don't, you know, I know today and the economy we're living in, all you have to have is a pulse right now to get a job. You know, back, you know, I remember when you had, when you went to get a job, there were other applicants. Not every place was hiring and you had to have some credentials. You had to show up and, you know, have a good attitude. A lot of your, whether or not you were going to get hired was how you presented yourself in the interview. You know, hey, if we let our children just become stubborn and rebellious people, I'm not saying, you know, this is going to happen. They're not going to end up stoned and hung on a tree. But you know what? Their life just might serve as a warning to everybody else. Don't be like these people. God hates stubbornness and rebellion and he deals with it even in his own people. You're in Judges chapter 2, because look, this can affect a whole group of people. In fact, it did affect the entire nation of Israel. Verse 19, and it came to pass when the judge was dead that they returned and corrupted themselves more than their fathers. So he's kind of giving us, you know, a lead into the book of Judges, a synopsis, right? He's telling us, you know, these judges are changing hands and he's saying when one judge was dead, you know, they would rebel, God would raise up a deliverer, deliver them, Israel would get right with God, walk in his commandments for a season. That judge would die and then they would just go right back to their old ways. It came to pass, verse 19, when the judge was dead that they returned and corrupted themselves more than their fathers. More than their fathers. They were even more rebellious. You know, if we, as fathers, as parents, you know, if we brood and we're rebellious and we're stubborn, you know, our kids are going to pick up on that. And they're going to run to extremes with it. You know, we're just a little stubborn at church. We're just a little rebellious towards the preacher. We're just a little rebellious, you know, in our workplace. We're just a little rebellious towards our spouse. You know, our kids are watching and they're going to go, oh, I guess that's acceptable. And they will run to excess with it. It will get worse. Oh, you're making that up. You know, isn't that exactly what the Bible's showing us? I mean, are we all reading the same King James Bible? You know, I'm not just up here rattling my cage, folks. This is what the Bible says. He says, look, they corrupted themselves more than their fathers in following other gods to serve them. And to bow down unto them, they ceased not from their own doings nor from their stubborn way. Now, what was, now, how did God kind of just sum up what we were doing? He said they were stubborn. How did God sum up, you know, serving other gods, bowing down to them, not ceasing from their own doings, just being rebellious against him? How did he sum that up? They were stubborn. That's why he said, well, you're just stubborn. They're stiff-necked, right? And God was just like, oh, well, that's too bad. I'll go suck my thumb in the corner and hopefully they'll see how good I am and turn around and quit being so stubborn, right, because that's the God of the Bible. He just, you know, this little, he's just a doormat that we can just wipe our feet on, you know, and if he's lucky, we'll choose to serve him. You know, if he's lucky, we'll give God the time of day, right? Look, and this is what Christians, people who claim to believe the Bible and are saved, need to understand. You know, the Bible says you're bought with a price and you're not your own. Mortified, therefore, you're members. You know, and he's saying you're not your own. You know, you can't just get saved and then do whatever you want and not expect any consequences. And I think Christians get this in their head sometimes, that they're saved and now they can just do whatever they want and live however they want and, you know, and everything's going to be fine. Is that what happens in the story here in Judges? When they rebel, when they serve other gods, when they say, yeah, we know you're, we know we're God's people, Israel, but we're going to go ahead and just do our own thing. We're going to go ahead and just be stubborn. No, look at verse 20. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. Hot. I love how the Bible describes it. You never notice that when you get angry, you never just feel hot. I mean, I get all red veins stick out and it's like, ah, hot, right? That's how God's feeling. He's hot against Israel. He's burning up. God gets angry, folks. Oh, you should never be angry. We should never be upset. Well, you know, God gets upset. You know, sometimes it's good to get upset about things. There's some things that we should be upset about in this life. We should be upset about stubbornness. We should be upset about rebellion. We should get angry against it and want to root that out of ourselves. We should want to root that out of our children. We should want to root that out everywhere and anywhere we can in our lives. We should root out stubbornness and get rebellion out. It should make us angry. Instead of just sitting on our hands and saying, well, what can we do? Just the way it is. God gets angry and he said, because that this people had transgressed my covenant, which I commanded their fathers and have not hearkened to my voice. That's a description of rebellion, right? So again, you see, stubbornness and rebellion are just interwoven. You know, if you don't want to go along with God's program, you're a rebel. That's rebellion in your heart that's making you be stubborn. They go together. Go to Psalm 78, Psalm 78. You know, just all throughout scripture, God is dealing with stubborn people. God is dealing with rebellious people, you know, from Adam onward. He's having to make accommodations, change things, make laws. You know, he floods the whole earth and spares Noah and then he institutes the death penalty because he knows what's in the heart of man. He saw the violence that was in the earth and he says, I know man is going to be stubborn and rebellious and he's a sinner and I have to just put all these rules into place. You know why we have rules is because we need them. That's why parents, you know, good godly parents were putting good godly rules in place for their children. That's why they have them because they're needed because stubbornness and rebellion is in the heart of every single person. The Bible says that foolishness is bound in the heart of a child and look, it says it's bound folks and I know I bring this up all the time but people need to get this through their heads. It says bound in their heart. It's not, you know, it's not something you just kind of shoo away once. You know, sometimes people will get frustrated, they'll spank their children, they'll go, man, it's like it's not working. It's like it's because stubbornness and rebellion and foolishness in the heart of people and some more than others, honestly, it's not just some fly that you just shoo or you swat once and it's dead. It's bound in there, it's bound in their heart but the rod of correction shall drive it far from them. It's something that has to be driven out. I mean, think about that word driven, right? Think about, you know, a cattle drive. That's something you have to, you know, they have to drive those cattles the whole way. They don't just go, they don't just show the cows a map. Like, hey, this is where we're going, let's go, right? We'll stop for water on the way. You know, they're behind the cattle, right? And they got other guys and they're rounding them and constantly bringing them in, herding them in, getting where they're supposed to be and pushing them many miles over rough terrain, whatever. That's how foolishness is in the heart of a child. It's something that has to be driven out through the rod of correction, which, you know, and I know people have all these little cute interpretations about what that means but it's talking about a literal rod and it's talking about a literal spanking or what the word the Bible would use is beat. Of course, that has a different meaning today. We think about beat. You think about, you know, it's like we're dragging somebody, you know, it's like the L.A. riots is what you're thinking. Someone getting drug out of a truck and, you know, beaten or cops, you know, beating somebody down with a baton. That's not what the Bible means. It says beat. Okay? Obviously, you know, we're not talking about smacking children around or abusing them but instituting corporal punishment. And I know, you know, some of the older folks, the older generation understand exactly what I'm talking about. Remember, you know, who here went to school when they still spanked kids in school? Anybody? Yeah, several hands. Oh, so barbaric. So Stone Age. Well, I'm glad it was only in the last, you know, 20, 30, 40 years that we finally figured out to quit being like these Neanderthals or whatever. And look out and isn't it turning out great? Isn't society just getting better all the time? Now we have all these stubborn rebellious people running around. Now the stubborn and rebellious are raising even more stubborn and rebellious people. That's where there's a generation that is pure in their eyes that will not be cleansed from their evil. Who have teeth like knives to devour the poor from off the face of the earth. There is a generation, the Bible says. It's Proverbs. I'm just, you know, shooting from the hip this morning. But, you know, that's how you drive rebellious out. You punish it. You point it out and you punish it. You know, and some kids are more stubborn and rebellious than others. You know, some kids you can just say don't touch. They touch it once, they get a spanking and then from there on out it's like they're just a pleasure cruise. It's just like, oh, it's so much easier. Other kids dig in their heels and they fight you. It's a personality thing. You know, some kids are just more submissive, more prone to just want to please. Other kids, they want their own way. They want to flex their will. They want to be the boss. And you know, this is, I didn't even mean to get into this morning, but I know we've got young families and I know this is things that people have to deal with. So rather than, so let me just give some advice on this. You know, you want to know how to get your children under control is that you have to, you know, you have to make sure that the punishment outweighs their desire to do that, which is wrong. The fear of pain of a spanking has to outweigh their desire to do that, which is wrong. You know, you tell them, don't do this. They have to sit there and go, if I do this, is it worth the spanking I'm going to get? Because some people will. You know, again, I'm shooting from the hip. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes, because judgment against an evil work is not executed swiftly, therefore it is fully set in the hearts of the sons of men to do evil. And what he's saying is that men, they look at the punishment for the crime and they say, it's worth it. You know, a great example of this would be, you know, pedophilia, which is running rampant in our country and around the world. You know, it used to be punishable by death, but that's since been, you know, Congress passed a bill some years ago saying you can't put a pedophile to death, a child rapist. You can't execute a child rapist anymore in this country, right? So you say, what's the point? Well, that means that, you know, the pedophile, the child rapist, you know, has that desire, wants to do that, and he goes, hmm, if I do this and get caught, I guess I'll have to go sit in jail, you know, and finish my college degree. Or get a degree in the culinary arts, you know, like Jared from Subway. That's what he's doing. In an open cell with all the other chomos, you know, he's not has to worry about somebody else, you know, he's not has to worry about jailhouse justice, because they're protected in there too. And he gets a little 20 years, and while you're in there, you know, you can watch cable and eat food and get a degree and then we'll let you out. It's fully set in their heart because they weigh it out. You say, what has that got to do with child rearing? Well, let me show you. That's human nature. They say, I want to do something wrong, I want to do something bad, and if the punishment isn't, you know, doesn't fit the crime, they'll do it. You know, your child sits there and says, well, mom said only one cookie, but why did she make so many? You know, if she only made one, why did she make three dozen? I'll tell you why, because of dad, all right? I mean, mom, there's so many, right? And that little hand reaches up and grabs the second or third cookie, whatever it is. I don't know how many cookies you are allowing in your house. You know, let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. But they think, hmm, you know, if I do this, you know, mom's just going to yell it. I can handle getting yelled at. It's a cookie, after all. You know, if I eat this cookie, you know, mom's going to take away a toy. I've got a dozen other toys. Oh, oh, here's a real big one. She's going to send me to my room, ooh, with all my toys. Let me tell you another reason why I sent it, you know, time out is a bad idea, because you know what they're going to do? They're going to sit there and brood, and they're going to think about ways to get back. That's what they're going to do. Oh, I'll sneak the cookie next time. Kids think they're so sneaky. I'll take the extra pack of gummy bears, and then I'll stuff the wrapper under the mattress, and mom will never find it, even though she's the one that changes the sheets. Got to work on that game, kids. You got to be smarter than mom. Good luck with that, by the way. Right, but they weigh that out, and you put them in time out, and it's just, man, they just brood, they get angry, and they get upset, and they just think about how they're going to back. That's why spanking your children is the best way, because one, because it's what the Bible says, period. Thou shalt beat. It's the eleventh commandment. Thou shalt beat him with the rod. Spare not for his crying, for thou shalt deliver his soul from hell. You're going to teach him, hey, God is a God that punishes, just like your parents. And God's punishment is far more severe and permanent. But that's why if you spank, it's done with. It's over. And fellowship is instantly restored, right? You know, if we, it's just like with God. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It's one of the great things I love about being saved, you know, is I can just go to God, you know, and I don't have to go to some priest somewhere and have him tell me how many prayers or what to say or give me a bunch of beads to pray over. I can just drop down on my knees wherever I am and just say, Lord, and if I really mean it and if I'm sincere and just say, God, I'm sorry, please forgive me and whatever punishment I have, whatever consequences I have to suffer, I understand, but can we just have fellowship? And you know what? It's restored. It's forgiven right then and there. And then if you try to bring that same thing up with God, it's like he's just going, what are you talking about? It's dealt with. You know, I don't hang things over my kids' heads. I don't, you know, they do something wrong and I know that's shocking to you to think that my children are never doing anything wrong. On the rare occasion that they ever do anything wrong, we don't hold it over their head. You remember last week when you, you remember earlier today, you remember a few hours ago that thing I spanked you for over? We don't bring that up. Once they're punished, it's done. Now if they do it again, well that's a fresh, brand new infraction that will be dealt with on its own merit. And if we're having trouble getting our kids to mold into obedient children, it might be even as simple as the fact that one, we're either not spanking them, or two, we're not doing it the way we should be. It has to be more painful than their desire to do that which is wrong. That's why I never spank through the diaper, okay? And I didn't intend on going off on this morning, but I feel led to, okay? When we spank, let me just give you some practical advice. And by the way, it's legal. It's legal. People are like, oh, you're gonna get in trouble. No, this is legal, okay? That's why it's, you know, there's an implement, you know, plastic spoon, maybe get the stir sticks I've heard. You know, I've even considered making plexiglass paddles and just handing them out in church, having a paddle Sunday. Every visitor gets, every parent gets a plastic plexiglass paddle. I'm sure that would get me in the news, you know, because I've known other churches that got it and they had CNN show up, oh, you were handing out paddles, you spank kids here? It's like, yeah, hello, what do you think has, you know, gotten us to where we are as a society? It wasn't a bunch of stubborn, rebellious brats that got us to where we are in this country. It was a bunch of people that had some discipline and some self-control that were taught there were consequences early on in life that built this country. I'm going off. What was I saying? When we spank, we use an implement. You don't want to use the hand. I don't want my kids to be afraid of this. I want them to be afraid of the paddle that's hanging on the fridge. I want them to be afraid of the many white spoons that are littered about because you never know when it's gonna go down. You know, you always have one in every room, right? I want them to see that and think, oh, pain, oh, don't do, you know, don't be bad, be good. There's consequences, right? And then when it's time to use that implement, you know, one, try not, and this is a big ask, I understand sometimes, but do your best to not do it when you're angry. Calm down. If you find yourself angry and upset, you don't, it's not, spanking your children is not your opportunity to, you know, let some steam out, okay? That's not the point of spanking, for you to feel better about yourself. You know, maybe send them into the other room and let them know, I'll be in there in a minute. You know, that's the time out. You take a minute, I'll take a time out, and then we'll get together and have some sweet fellowship, okay? And then explain to them why, and look, this you have to explain to your children. You must explain to your children why they're being spanked. And they have to accept it. They must understand why they're being spanked. And they have to admit to it. If you find your children saying, oh, you spanked me for nothing, oh, it wasn't my fault, you're breeding stubbornness and rebellion in them. You're not going to drive them away. They need to understand why they're being spanked. So calmly and in a clear voice, explain to them what they did wrong and why they're going to spanking. And you know, maybe even explain to them how many they're going to get. I limit myself to three swats. I try to. Unless it's a serious infraction, but none of the kids have stole the car yet. Have they? Maybe my wife isn't telling me something, right? But when I spank them, I make sure it hurts. What do you think the point of us spanking is? Why do you think God has given us a padded, you know, part of our anatomy that's full of nerve endings? You know, and he's not, you know, spare not. He shall not die. The Bible says. It's not like you're going to kill your kid. You know, and another reason why we do on, you know, either through an undergarment or, you know, if they're wearing a diaper, the diaper comes down is so that it's a sting. It's not blunt like this because that's when you can do lasting damage. And I have to clarify these things because if I just get up and say, hey, the Bible spanks your kids and I don't explain a little of the practical aspect of it because spanking children has just become this lost art in our society. We have to reinvent the wheel because we have had a whole generations growing up now that never had, I was never spanked as a child, can you tell? I think I can remember one time, maybe, faintly, that my dad took a belt to my backside and I, you know what, that might not even have happened. My mom just said, all I know is when I left, you were in diapers and when I came back a few days later, you were potty trained. I don't know what your father did. But hey, you know, that's, I'm not saying that's what you should do, I'm just saying that's my, that might explain why I'm so wounded, so hurt, so traumatized, right? You know, I wish my parents would have, you know, and I don't want to besmirch my parents publicly but it would have been nice to have the discipline that my children are getting, to have learned early on, not to have to learn that from, you know, other adults that weren't my parents. I have to learn the hard way, the school of hard knocks is not what I want my children to enroll in. Okay? What was I saying? That's why it has to sting, that's why I have to, you know, preach this, it should sting, you don't want it to be blunt, you want it to sting, okay? It's one of these plastic things, that's why it's, if you spank through a diaper, you're going to have to spank so hard to make it hurt that you might even, you know, jar their vertebrae or something, and I know it's, I don't like talking about it, it's graphic, I know it's, we don't want to think about it, but you know, that's why it has to sting. Oh, what if they bruise? You know, well, blueness cleansed it the way evil, the Bible says, and you know, bruises go away, you get a little blue wound or whatever, I mean, how many guys are walking in the room right now that have bruises from work? Yeah, okay. Are you just debilitated? Just can't do anything? Just, I barely meet it here, I've got a bruise, you'll be fine, it'll go away. I've had more bruises, I've forgotten about more bruises than a lot of these kids have ever had. Okay? You know, probably a lot of other men in this room could say the same thing. You know, so why am I going off on that? Because that's how you drive stubbornness and rebellion and foolishness out of a child's heart. And if you don't do it, it's not going to go away on its own. It's going to be there. And then it's going to show up later. You know, the danger is that parents, they can tolerate so much stubborn, they'll tolerate it in their youth. They'll even think it's cute sometimes. We've all seen the video, they walk in with the camera, they're recording, there's just like flour everywhere, the kids are just covered, they look like they've been de-loused. You know, there's smeared peanut butter all over their sibling. And they're just like, aw, this is going in America's Funniest Home Videos, these crazy kids. If I saw that, I'd immediately think of the grocery bill. And I certainly wouldn't record it and be like, isn't that cute, look what they did. I mean, my kids have never done that. You know, and I'm thankful because I've heard horror stories about other people's kids that I've never, I'm like, that's totally foreign to me. Oh, just wait till they're two. Just wait till they're terrible twos. I don't know what that is. Never experienced it. And it's not because my kids skipped two years old. Like we fooled them. You know, it was one year last year and then on their birthday they were like, oh, you're three. You're three. They're really two. We'll tell them later. You're actually a year younger. We just didn't want to deal with terrible twos. No, it's because they never went through that phase because we were on them. And when I bring this up, it's like a whole other sermon in and of itself. But I haven't had to experience some of the horror stories I've heard. Look, my child has never climbed up the stove and poured oil all over it and thankfully not ignite themselves in order to try to get, you know, candy sprinkles. My kid has never taken all the condiments out of the fridge and poured them on the dog. You know, like, oh, ketchup goes on a hot dog. Ketchup dog. We have a dog. You know, my kids have never taken crayons and just, you know, and just covered the entire bottom half of a wall. And look, if you've dealt with stuff like that, you know, that's probably a sign that you have a bigger problem, that you need to get on this and start dealing with your kids. And I'm saying early, chasing thy son betimes, meaning often and early, before it gets set in their heart and then, you know, and then it's the proverbial rebellious teenager. That's the one I'm hearing about now. First I had to hear about all the two, all the terrible twos I'm going to have to deal with. Now everyone's warning me, oh, just wait till they're teenagers. And it's like, well, they're not going to be your teenagers. I mean, maybe that's the problem. And sometimes I just want to grab these people and think, and just shake them and say, you know, I know other families with teenagers that aren't like your kids. You know, I know other people that have raised teenagers that don't come to me and say that, that enjoy their teenagers, that have good teenagers. They don't come to me and go, oh, wait till they're teens, oh, you're going to have to deal with this. And look, I'm sure having teenagers, I'm not saying it's going to be a pleasure cruise, it's going to have its own waters that need to be navigated, but it's not like I'm just going to have to, you know, I'm just biting my nails and counting down to the days till my children just turn to these rebellious, stubborn little jerks called teenagers. Because I know plenty of other people that have teenagers right now, and that's not how I would describe their kids. I'd say they're pleasant, courteous, kind, respectful people that I enjoy being around, that are going to make great adults someday. Okay? And I know I'm going off this morning, I've got to finish this sermon, and I fully intend to, but the reason why God deals with stubbornness so much is because stubbornness leads to rebellion. We saw it there, I don't know where I had you go, but go to 1 Samuel, chapter number 15. 1 Samuel, chapter number 15. It says in Psalm 78, I think that's where you were, it says there in verse 8, and that they might not be as their fathers a stubborn and rebellious generation. That's why God appointed a law in Israel, verse 5. That's why he commanded our fathers in verse 5, that they should make them known to their children so they would not be as their fathers stubborn and rebellious. Again, it's another passage showing that stubbornness and rebellion just go together. You have to deal with stubbornness. We don't want stubbornness in our own lives. It is a form of rebellion, it leads to rebellion. People who hear the preaching of the word of God and they just dig in their heels, or they just get a bad attitude, that's rebellion folks, it's rebellion. Being stubborn isn't like the separate thing, that is rebellion, it's stubbornness and rebellion. The problem with stubbornness, the reason why it leads to rebellion is because stubbornness is an inability to admit you're wrong. That's what stubbornness is, I'm not wrong, well it's not me, it's their fault. That's a form of rebellion, that's how stubbornness manifests itself. Oh it's not us God, it's you, it's all your rules. You know, that's rebellion, where is it coming from? Stubbornness, an inability to admit you're wrong. And you see this in 1 Samuel chapter 15, I'll move through this quickly. When you have Saul, right, he's being sent to go and utterly destroy the Amalekites, right, verse 3, now go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have. Very clear instruction, isn't it? All. All means all. Does it sound like God wants everything destroyed? Because he goes on and says, all that they have, and spare not, but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep and camel and ass. He's like, kill the family and then get the pets. Everybody, nothing. And you say, oh that sounds pretty harsh, well you know, it just goes to show you some people can get so wicked that God just wants them destroyed, entire nations. And the Amalekites, and I don't have time to go through it, I'll explain it to everyone that's feeling overly sensitive this morning. But the Amalekites were wicked people, okay? Because God is not, you know, God is just. Once you understand that, that God is perfect and can't do anything wrong, and the Bible is God's word, you know, then maybe we can read through these tougher passages and just understand that, you know, God's doing right. Anyway, I've got to move through this, it's not the point. It says in verse 4, and Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Talaam, two hundred and thousand foot men and ten thousand men of Judah. Verse 7, and Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest unto Shur that is over against Egypt, and he took Agag, the king of Amalekites, alive. Now is that what he was supposed to do? Nope. He was supposed to destroy him. And utterly destroyed all the people at the edge of the sword, but Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, but God said all of the sheep. And of the oxen, he spared the best, but God said destroy them all. End of the fatlings and the lambs, and all that was good, and they would not utterly destroy them, but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly. Because that's easy, to get rid of the vile and the refuse, right? But sometimes it's hard to get rid of that which might, you know, in our eyes have value. You know, we start to reason things, right? That's what Saul's doing here. He's reasoning. Well, this is good. This isn't vile and refuse. This is useful. Sheep, it's oxen, it's fatlings, it's the king. I mean, it's kind of like a trophy, right? What's so bad about this? The problem is, is that's not what God told you to do, Saul. And you know, this is what people do. This is how stubborn it shows up. It's not, it doesn't just, they don't just go, I'm going to be stubborn on this one. They start to reason things in their own head. They start to come up with reasons why and excuses, and that's them being stubborn. And it's a form of rebellion. Verse 9, verse 10, Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king. For he has turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. Now let me point that out. What does it mean to follow God? To perform his commandments. You can't sit there and tell me that you're following God if you disregard his commandments. If you love me, keep my commandments. That's what Jesus said. You know, if we're going to follow God, that means we're going to do what God says, right? He has turned away from following me. How do you know, God? Because he hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel, and he cried to the Lord all night. So Samuel's kind of throwing a pity party. And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set him up a place, and has gone about and passed on and gone down to Gilgal. And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord, I have performed the commandment of the Lord. Yeah, but he was stubborn, because he didn't do what God said. But he said, but I've performed the commandment. Oh, did you? And I love the way Samuel answers this. And Samuel said, what meaneth this bleeding of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? You know, Saul, you're telling me you're doing what God said to do, then why do I hear all these sheep and oxen? Because you and I both know exactly what God said. He said to slay everything. So why am I hearing this? If you had kept the commandment of the Lord, you know, I wouldn't have to sit here and listen to these bleeding sheep and these oxen. You know, and it's just so funny sometimes, because when people are stubborn and rebellious, it seems like it's obvious to everyone else but them. It's just like, stubbornness and rebellion in people is just like, meh, meh, meh. It just emanates from people and their lives. Their lives are just like this bleeding, meh. Their bad attitudes, it's, it's, I'm telling you folks, it's all over people's face sometimes. You come and preach and people just glare at you. You know, or they just tune out, they just stop listening, start passing notes, start looking at their nails. Biting your nails is okay. Maybe I'm making you nervous. It's a bad habit. It could be worse though, right? But some people, it's like they show up and it's just like, you just look at them, you can just hear, meh, meh. Just rebellion bleeding out of their face. It's obvious to other people. Samuel's like, Samuel's not like, ooh, I guess you did. Like he's just some idiot that doesn't know what's going on. And this is how, isn't this exactly how kids are? They just, they're just like, no, I kept the commandment of the Lord. I did it. I did exactly what you said, because they're counting on you being stupid. And just going, oh, I guess you did, because obviously you're perfect in every way, can never do anything wrong, and I should just believe you, because you said so. You know, and the, and the foolish, ignorant, stubborn parent would just go, well, you know, I'm just going to ignore the bleeding. You know, but the guy who's going to actually do something about it is going to go, what's this mean then? What's this over here? What is this? And then Saul, and notice how Saul is just like, he's like, no, I did it, and then he just starts making excuses for why he didn't do what he's supposed to. They have brought them from the Amalekites for the people spared the best of the sheep and the ox and the sacrifice and the Lord thy God, and the rest we have utterly destroyed. Yeah, but you were supposed to destroy everything. That was what God said. And notice how it's, they have brought them. The people spared the best. It wasn't me, but you're the leader. The commandment was given to you. You were the one that was, that was, knew what was supposed to happen, and you didn't do it. Then Samuel said, Sihon, and I will tell you what the Lord had said to me this night, he said, Sihon. And Samuel said, when thou was little in thine own sight, what's thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed the king over Israel? Remember when Saul was anointed, they had to like, literally go dig him out of the stuff he was hiding, when they were going to ordain him as king, at his coronation or whatever you want to call it? They're like, where is he? And he was like, hiding in the luggage. He was like, back there with the camels and everything. They had to go find him and drag him up in front of anybody. He wasn't just like, here I am, of course I'm king, it makes perfect sense, it's about time you all see my finer qualities. No, he was little in his own sight. But when people are exalted out of due time, when they are exalted before they should be, it goes to their head. And they get puffed up, and they get prideful, and they think that they're just above anybody or anything, and that they can just do whatever they want, and that the rules don't apply to them. That's why I'm careful, and especially when my children turn teenagers, I'm not just going to start giving them a bunch of freedom. They can't handle it. A lot of times they can't handle it. You just start giving them free reign, you start letting them, oh, they're adults, now it's like, no they're not. Well they're 18, so? They can buy cigarettes. That's being an adult, being able to, you know, smoke and get scratch-off tickets. I gotta move on here. Then Samuel said, Sihon, he said, hey, you know, when you were little in your own sight, did he make the king over Israel? Verse 18, the Lord sent thee on a journey and said, go and utterly destroy the sinners of the Amalekites and fight against them till they be consumed. Therefore then didst not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil and didst evil in the sight of the Lord. He flew upon the spoil, like he just couldn't get to it quick enough. Oh, I finally get a little freedom, I can do whatever I want. And they'll just do the exact opposite of what they should be doing. And Saul said unto Samuel, and notice his response, yeah, I have obeyed. This is rebellion, folks. This is stubbornness. An inability to admit you're wrong. And this is something we all have to make sure we have the ability to do, to admit we're wrong, because you're all going to be wrong. Every single person in this room has been wrong. Yes, even me. That was supposed to be a joke, okay? Believe me, I know I'm wrong. Just ask my wife. Actually don't, she'll never bad mouth me to anybody. But you know what, I've been wrong, you've been wrong, we've all been wrong, we're all going to be wrong, because we're all sinners. None of us is perfect. You know, you're going to come in here and hear a sermon, it's just going to fall right on your lap. And you're going to be like, oh man, was Deacon following me around all week? No. There's this thing called the Holy Spirit, there's this thing called preaching through all the word of God, and you know, it's just a matter of time because we're all sinners. We're not, none of us is, you know, eventually it's going to land in our lap. And something's going to come down right down the pike and say, you're wrong. The question is how we handle it, that's what matters. You don't want to be like Saul, because this is stubbornness and rebellion. When people say, oh it's not my fault, that's stubbornness. When you're just clearly wrong, you're in the wrong, and you're just like, oh it wasn't me. That's stubbornness. It's rebellion. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord has sent me. I've done exactly what God said, and have brought Agag the king of Malekhek, and have utterly destroyed the Malekites. It's like you're admitting to the exact thing you did wrong, Saul. I have obeyed, and I brought Agag. It's like, hello? You know, it's like people just sometimes hear whatever they want, you know, and they just repeat it. Well that's how I heard it. Well that's not how it was said. But the people took of the spoil, the sheep and the ox, and the sheep of the things which they have utterly destroyed, to sacrifice the Lord thy God. Here's another thing that people like to do. Stubborn people. Blame shift. The people. Well it's their fault. It's not me. This is another form of stubbornness. Just saying, oh it wasn't me. I didn't do it. And this is why people that do this, they're so hard to correct. It's so hard to come to them and say, hey you know, you got a problem here. Because they'll just say, well it's not my fault. I mean how are you supposed to help somebody like that? It's never their fault. How can you help anybody like that? You can't. How can you help somebody who can't admit they have a problem? You can't. They have to be willing to say, you know what, you're right, I'm sorry. Let me work on that. Thanks for coming and pointing that out. You know, and I feel like sometimes people, when they get corrected, they feel like it's like I have some kind of a vendetta. Or like I enjoy it or something. Like I like getting up and having to deal with people's sins or having to go to people and point things out to them. Or make rules that rub people the wrong way. But you know, you got to have rules because people test them. People push boundaries. You know, and when people break the rules, when there's a problem and they're told, hey you did wrong, you're wrong here. And then they just say, it's not my fault. They blame shift. It's the people's fault. They did that. You know, it's hard to help people like that. Now notice how Samuel deals with this. And this is how, you know, people have to deal with people like this. You can't back down. And Samuel said, have the Lord great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifice as in obeying the voice of the Lord. He said, God doesn't care about what you saved. God doesn't care about Amalek. God's not interested in all the fatlings and the oxen. God just wants you to obey. That's all he wants. That's more important to him that you do what you're told than you just dreaming up all these excuses for why it's okay for you not obey. He's saying, look, does God have great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying? Which does God prefer? You disobeying his voice, but then having a bunch of sacrifices, having a bunch of spoil. Well, yeah, I know it didn't do what you said, God, but you know, I got this out of it. All God wants is for you to obey. He just wants you to do what you're told. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Let those words sink into your ears. Stubbornness and rebellion. Again, another passage where they're just hand in glove. They just go together like mac and cheese. It says that rebellion is as witchcraft and witchcraft was something that God put the death penalty on and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry, another thing that God put the death penalty on. God doesn't, you know, and I know this morning it might seem like God just puts the death penalty on everything, but he doesn't. It's a very short list. It just happens. We're looking at several of them and God's saying, you know what, your attitude, Saul, the way you're behaving, it's your rebellion is as bad as witchcraft. It's as bad as idolatry and it doesn't matter all the excuses and all the reasons you come up with and all the blame shifting you do, you're still responsible for your own actions. So you might as well just buck up and own it. Because thou has rejected the word of the Lord, he also has rejected thee from being king. Now he's like, okay, all right, I've heard all your excuses. I told you what you did wrong. I listened to what you had to say. You didn't accept responsibility. You just blame shift. You want to give us all these excuses why it's okay for you not to obey Saul. Now here's the consequences. You're rejected from being king. He didn't say, and if you do it again, there's going to be consequences. He said, no, we've already tried with you. There's already been, you know, the commandment was already given. You already failed. You already rebelled. Now let's talk about the consequences that come from rebellion. And now let's be rejected from being king. And now notice Saul's reaction, verse 24. And Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned. Now that there's consequences, oh, yeah, you're right, you're right. I've sinned. Whoops. Too late. I have transgressed against the commandment of the Lord. Yeah, we know. That's what we've been trying to tell you the whole time, Saul. And thy words, because I feared the people and obeyed the voice. He still can't help himself. Still another excuse. Oh, it was their fault. They did it. Well, it was because I feared them. But you're right, I've sinned. But it was because, you know, I was afraid of them. This is stubbornness. When people blame shift, make excuses, they don't, they can't just own it. You know, and it's, you know, a great picture of the exact opposite of this is David, right? David, when he's confronted about his sin, immediately owns it. And I won't, well, I'll just read to you. From 2 Samuel chapter 2, this is following David's sin with Bathsheba, right? Remember when he, when the time when the kings went forth to war, he was at, he tarried at home and then in the night when he's shiftless, when he should have been out battling on the field but he's at home taking it easy and he can't sleep at night because he's not doing any work. He goes out and he sees Bathsheba bathing and he commits adultery with her and then has Uriah killed by his own hand. He sends Uriah, he gives Uriah a message to take back to the battlefield and it's literally his own death warrant. I mean, that's, think about what he's doing. It'd be like me saying, having a sealed letter and say, hey, go take this to so-and-so and so-and-so reads it that says, kill this guy. That, I mean, what would you think of me? Pretty wicked dude. Well, why should we come? Well, I slept with his wife and I don't want him to find out. Excuse me, what? But that's what David did. David didn't just keep some sheep. David didn't just, you know, bogart a few oxen and keep a trophy called agag around. I mean, if you really want to think about it, you know, just humanly speaking, if we're going to compare the two sins of Saul and David, I mean, which one's really worse? It's clearly David. I mean, I don't know how you could say anything else, but you know what? David continued being king. You know why? Because when that prophet Nathan came to him and gave him that whole spiel and then finally said, and then Nathan said, thou art the man and he was confronted with this sin, just like Saul was. What did David do? Oh yeah, well, she was out on the thing where she shouldn't have been and she was bathing and I couldn't help it when I was just going out for a walk at night and you know, I'm just flashing and you know, I can't help it. I saw these things and after all, I'm the king and well, I mean, what would have been worse if Uriah knew I slept with, I mean, it just, all these excuses start pouring out of his mouth. All this blame shifting going on. You know what David did? He said, I sinned. That's it. Verse 13, and David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. Period. Well, he's confronted and he said, hey David, you didn't obey. You're stubborn. You're rebellious. He just said, I've sinned. I've sinned against the Lord. That's all he said. He didn't start offering excuses, start trying to blame other people why it's not his fault and Nathan said unto David, the Lord hath put away thy sin and thou shalt not die because he committed a sin worthy of death, adultery, or we're just covering them all this morning, all the death penalty sins, right, but God said, you know what? And there were consequences, right? Absalom, he said, you're not, the sword's not going to depart from your house. There's still consequences. The child of that union died, if you know the story. God took the child, you know, but David took it. He accepted his punishment and he got a lesser punishment. He should have died, according to God's law. He should have been drug out and stoned and hung on a tree as an example of you don't commit adultery. And look, adultery's a wicked sin, folks. It's horrible. It's not an affair. All the things that the world wants to dress it up as today, put a little bow in it and make it like it's cool and neat, set up websites where you can go find somebody to commit having an affair with. It's adultery and God commits, you know, puts the death penalty on it. That's what should have happened to David. But you know what? We see God give mercy there, and you know why I think it was? A lot of it was because of the fact that David just admitted to it. When he's finally confronted with it, as wicked as it was, he just said, I've sinned, and he just said, whatever the consequences, I have to accept it, busted. And God showed mercy. Whereas with Saul, it was just like, oh, I haven't done anything wrong, not me, I haven't done anything wrong. Oh, it was them, they did something wrong. And then finally, yeah, I did something wrong, but it was because. Just excuses right down the line where David's just like, I did it, it's wrong. You know, stubborn people, you know, they got rebellion in their heart. And they're just as sinful as anyone else. The difference is admitting to it. Admitting to it. The difference. And look, like I said, if you go to Proverbs, we'll wrap up in Proverbs, go to Proverbs chapter number one. I know I'm going a little long this morning. Correction is inevitable in your life. Like I said earlier, we're all sinners, you know, we're all going to get corrected at some point. Whether it's by the word of God, whether it's by, you know, our parents, some other authority in our lives, we will all be, well, it's a boss on the job. I could tell so many stories right now about me being corrected on the job. You know, and I had to learn some things the hard way, right? It's tempting. But what I'm saying is this, is that you will be corrected. Because no one in this room is perfect. No one. Everyone is going to be correct at some point. It's going to happen from this pulpit, I promise you. I promise you. Because I'm going to do my job as a preacher. And Paul told Timothy, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. He said, that's, Paul, speaking to his protege, a preacher, that's what Timothy was, a pastor and a preacher, saying here's your job, here's the job description, Timothy, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but will heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. You have to reprove, you have to rebuke, you have to exhort, because people are going to be rebellious and stubborn. You have to correct them. That's the job of the preacher. He has to approve it. The question is, when it comes, how are you going to handle it? You know, it's everybody else's fault. Or you say, yep, got me, let me fix that. Because isn't that the point of reproving and correcting and instructing? So people get it right and fix it? So they'll acknowledge the problem and fix it? No, it's so you can come here and I can just make you feel bad. That's the whole goal here. That's why I reprove and rebuke and exhort. Because God wants us to just bring you here and just degrade you or something. What do you think it is we're trying to do? Preaching doctrine, trying to get people right on doctrine, preaching things about godly living, preaching the commandments and the statutes and the standards of the word of God. Why do we do that? So people can get it right and fix it. You know, and it's going to step on toes. How are you going to handle it? Look at Proverbs chapter 1 verse 20, wisdom crieth without, it says in verse 20, she uttereth her voice in the streets, so wisdom is being personified as a woman. She crieth in the chief places of concourse, in the opening of the gates, in the city she uttereth her words, saying, I mean, wisdom and God's wisdom and the knowledge of God isn't hiding, it's in plain sight. Look, we have been given all things that pertain unto life and godliness right here in this book. If you read this book, you listen to preaching this book, you put it to practice in your life, you will live a godly and peaceable life. It's right here. Everything, all things that have been given to us, are pertain unto life and godliness right here in this book. You can live a happy, godly life by keeping God's commandments. Wisdom is in the chief places of concourse, it's in the gates, she's crying. She's not like, come find me, you know, hiding somewhere. God's not playing hide and seek with us, folks. He's saying, here's exactly what I want you to do, here's exactly how I want you to live your life. Now do it. Oh, I know, but this part over here kind of, it corrects me. Well then get it right. You know, and then we come out with all the excuses, how it's everybody, it's my parent's fault, they didn't raise me right. Well join the club, I'm at one. How long you simple ones will you love simplicity? That's where a lot of people go wrong today. They're too busy with simplicity, and simplicity has different meanings in the Bible, but here I think it's, let me bring it to the modern vernacular, stupid. How long you stupid people will you love stupidity? And don't a lot of people today just love stupidity? I mean, people are more interested in today in just the most shallow, vain, stupid entertainment than they are the word of God. They're more interested in just being on some feed, just scrolling, see, everyone got all sensitive about television earlier, now I'm picking on social media too, okay? So don't, you know, get mad at me about being imbalanced or something. You know, people are just, and look, I'm not against people, you know, blowing off some steam and taking in some, you know, half, you know, hopefully it's not some wicked stuff, you know, and obviously there's some terrible things you can get into on any device anywhere. But you know, people today are just obsessed with simplicity and just stupid things. People set their Bible aside and then it's just like hours of shorts, hours of Instagram, hours of TikTok. Man, I hope not. Hey, if you're on TikTok, I know a real famous preacher on TikTok. Two billion views and two billion mentions of Pastor Shelley on TikTok. That's more than Tom Brady, right? We saw the film yesterday. That's twice as much as Tom Brady. It's more than Bill Gates. I won't tell you why he's famous. Not for anything wrong, I'm gonna tell you that much. I'm gonna preach a whole another sermon right now, I'm not careful. Right, but people, they're just, they love simplicity. How long? And you know what people who love simplicity end up doing? They end up despising and scorning people that are wise. You know, their life starts getting messed up, their kids start going off, they start to, you know, things start getting out of whack and then it's just, it's the Saul maneuver. Oh, it's your fault, it's this part, it's blaming everybody else. Everybody else is the problem, it's not me. And meanwhile wisdom is just crying out. How long will you love simplicity? And scorners delight in their scorning. Scorners delight in scorning. And fools hate knowledge. Alright, just reading the Bible is so boring, going to church is just so boring. You fool. I just don't like learning things. You fool! You're being mean, no that's what the Bible says. It says fools hate knowledge and scorners love scorning. And what does he say in verse 23? Turn you at my reproof. Notice knowledge and reproof go together. Just like stubbornness and rebellion. How long are you going to hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof. You know what that tells me? That knowledge is reproof. Wisdom will correct you. That's what makes a person wise. Isn't that why we go to wise people for counsel so we don't make a mistake? You go to someone and say hey I need some advice so I don't do something wrong. That's what wisdom is, that's what knowledge is, it's reproof. They say don't do this, do this. Do what's right, don't do what's wrong. Turn you at my reproof. Behold I will pour out my spirit on you and make unto you my words. Because I have called and ye have reproofed, I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded. But ye have said it not all my counsel with none of my reproof. So what's the counsel? Reproof. Let's move along, verse 29. And they hate, for they hated knowledge. Neither did choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of my counsel and despise all my reproof. Do you just see out through this one passage? Knowledge is associated with reproof. Knowledge is associated with being corrected. Knowledge and counsel are you getting straightened out. You know and reproof involves you being told you're wrong. You're wrong. Get it right. Your approach, the way you're doing things, your philosophy, your attitude is wrong. And if that's us this morning, you know what the correct response is? I've sinned. Let me get it right. And don't be like Saul, because the consequences will come and then it will be too late. Go to Proverbs chapter 9. You know that's why churches who actually reprove or correct and exhort with all long suffering doctrine aren't that popular. You know why? Because most people don't like being told they're wrong. Most people don't like being told hey look your world view is not biblical, it's wrong. The way you're doing things with your children, it's not right, it's wrong. Your approach to life, your doctrine, whatever it is, when it's not lying with the word of God is wrong. And people don't like that. That's why the room isn't packed this morning. Or maybe it's my breath, I don't know. It's one of those two things. Might just be my big fat face. Or it could just be that people are stubborn and rebellious and don't like being told that they're wrong. My money's on the ladder. I own a mirror. But people that are sincere and love the Lord, they want to be told they're wrong. They want to be corrected. Look people that want to be corrected, that want to be straightened out, the sky's the limit. They will go far in the Christian life, I believe that. You know and they'll probably have a lot less heartache along the way. Because they'll be listening to wisdom. If they're the people that can be reproved, they can receive counsel and wisdom. Because that's what counsel and wisdom is, it's reproof. So if you're stubborn and rebellious and you can't receive it, then you're going to be a fool. And all you're going to love in life is scorning. And all you're going to be is simple. I love Psalm 141, I'm just going to read this to you and I'm almost done. It said, to let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness. I love this verse. And let him reprove me, it shall be an excellent oil which shall not break my head. Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness. That's someone with the right attitude. Some godly righteous person comes to me and says, hey, it's not permission to just come up and smack me after the service by the way. You said let the righteous smite me. You would like it. Obviously he's being figurative here. He's saying, let me be, let other people, godly righteous people, I mean if it comes down to it, they've got to grab me and just smack some sense into me, I'm going to say thank you. That was very kind of you. That was kind of you to grab me and shake me and say, hey, you're messing up, you're making a mess out of your life. Quit screwing up. Quit being so simple, quit loving, scorning and quit loving foolishness. Get it together, man. So that sounds mean. That's one of the most loving things you can do. Or just go, you know what, just go ahead, keep loving, scorning, quit being simple, keep being a fool and eat the fruit of your own way. Be filled with your own devices. And enjoy God's wrath coming down on your head. It shall be an excellent oil which shall not break my head. Look when you have a wise reprover upon an obedient ear, man, it's like an excellent oil. It's like being anointed. It'll give you a fragrance that people enjoy. You know, you take the time to deal with your children, to punish them, to encourage them, to love them, to instruct them, to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, it's like you're anointing their head with an oil. It's going to cause their face to shine, and they're going to go out into this world and other people are going to enjoy your kids. And not be one of these brats that people just can't wait to get away from. You know, some punk with a bad attitude is just like, I can't just, you know, don't want anything to do with them. Raise a kid that someone's going to be like, I want that son as my employee. I want that daughter as a daughter-in-law. I want that person as a part of my family. I want that person on my team. You know, it's like putting an excellent oil on their head. It's going to make them an attractive person to the world. And I don't mean physically. I'm talking they're going to want them on their side, right? Look the kid that can be brought up and corrected and instructed, his boss is going to appreciate that you did that. And you know what, the son's going to appreciate it because he's going to go far. He's not going to be one of those guys that just walks in late. You know, five, ten minutes late, what, it's not my fault. Who's traffic? Well, did you think traffic stopped? It's called Murphy Minutes. You always give time for Murphy. Don't forget your Murphy Minutes. The unexpected will happen, right? You know, it's so stupid. Now there's people today complaining about the fact that they can't show up late to work. This is where we're at in this country. They're time blind. Look it up. It's a thing now. They're not making accommodation for those that are time blind, that struggle with being to work on time. You know how they used to, you know, I'm sure there's still plenty of employers that handle it this way, but this is how it happened when I was growing up. If you showed up late, you got fired. You didn't have a job anymore. You forgot you were supposed to work that day. You didn't look at the schedule. No one held your hand and called you, like, are you coming to work today? Oh, work's at eight. You're going to be here? Your boss isn't going to be like, this is your wake up call. Don't forget there's traffic. Don't forget you got to brush your teeth and pour a cup of coffee and use the bathroom and do whatever else you want to do before you get to work. The boss isn't going to do that. He's just going to go, oh, you're five minutes late. Don't bother showing up. And tomorrow, in fact, go home now. You're fired. But I'm time blind. I struggle with getting to work on time. Well, you know, go cry to your parents about it. Go cry to your parents that they taught you that it's OK to just show up late or squeak in at the last minute. Well, work's at nine. I was here at 859 in 59 seconds. I was on time. Well, you know, great. You got us on a technicality. And we'll just all mark you down as a person who's just going to try and squeak by on technicalities. And when the promotion time comes around, we'll just pass you over. And you can just keep showing up at 859 in 59 seconds. And as soon as things get lean around here, you're going to have to start cutting some dead weight. You'll be the first to go. You know, that's some good advice I got. Let me give that to all the young people in the room that will be entering the workforce if they haven't already. Make yourself valuable, more valuable than the other guy. And it's not hard to do today when you have people that are time blind. The more and more these people are just coming up with all these weird, you know, handicaps or whatever, the things they're just pulling out of thin air, which are just huge glaring character flaws, the more that goes on, the more you're just going to shine like a bright star. Man, that guy's great. What's so great about him? He shows up 10 minutes early. Oh, is it all the technical skills that he has? Is this people's? No, he just shows up 10 minutes early. Can you believe that? And he's not standing by the clock, you know, the punch out clock going out of here. You know, he's willing to come in and work. That's the person that goes far because that's what they're looking for. I know I'm going all over the place this morning. Let's wind it down here. Let's wrap it up. Here in Proverbs 9, verse 7, he that reproveth a scorner geteth to himself shame. What's he saying? He's at a point in reproving a scorner. People who hate knowledge, people who hate reprove and correction instruction, who just love simplicity, that, you know, they love their scorning, you know, you go correct those people, it's just going to be a shame to you. You know, it's going to be like you wasted your time. And he that rebuketh a wicked man geteth himself a blot. The wicked guy is just going to turn around and punch you in the face or something. He's going to throw something at you. He's just going to lash out. Reprove not a scorner lest he hate thee. You know, there's some people that aren't even worth reproving. Pray you're not one of them. You know, pray you're not that parent that can't be told there's something wrong with your children. Your child's behavior is unacceptable, that they're doing things that you need to straighten out. Oh no, not my kid. Yes, your kid. Look if someone comes to me and has a legitimate concern about my child and their behavior, something I'm missing, and they point it out to me in a kind fashion, I'm going to thank that person. You know, if you hear someone else tell your kid, don't run, you see my kid's running and you say, hey, no running in here, I'm not going to go, don't you tell my kid not to run. But Deacon, you're the one who put it in the bulletin. Yeah, I know, but you don't tell my kids not to run. Well, it's like, who cares who tells them, they got to hear it. You know, don't let my kids know my wife doesn't have eyes in the back of her head. That's a lie we tell them, right, to keep them always guessing. Does mom see me? Yes, she does, right. Sometimes we're going to miss things with our kids, folks, and when people start bringing it to our attention, the right attitude is, thank you, it's an excellent oil. You know, it's not going to kill me. Maybe I have something to work on, I appreciate it, thanks for looking out for me. But if you're a scorner, if you approve it, you're just going to hate me. But the Bible says, rebuke, verse 8, a wise man and he will love thee. Wise people, when they get straightened out, they will love you. You go to somebody who has the right heart and the right attitude and you rebuke them, if they're wise, they will love you for it. That's why I don't get all upset when people get bent out of shape over the preaching or something like that, or they get rebuked or they get dealt with and then they just get all bent out of shape and get an attitude and leave, because they must not have been a wise person, they can't handle rebuke. That's why I appreciate people, you know, when you rebuke them and they love you for it. I say, well, they must be a wise person. That's what it tells me about them, because correction is inevitable. You know, the question is whether or not you're going to be stubborn and rebellious about it when it comes. Give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser. Teach a just man and he will increase in learning. Humility is a prerequisite for wisdom, folks. Humility is a prerequisite for wisdom, because you will not become wise in this world without being told you're wrong. You will not become wise without somebody straightening you out. You will not become wise without being reproved or rebuked in this life. It will not happen. And if you're somebody who just scorns and mocks, you know what, the people that actually have wisdom to impart will stop and they'll say, I'm not even going to waste my breath on you, because there's no point. But if you teach a just man, he'll increase in learning. Go to Proverbs 1 and we'll finish there, I promise. Humility is a prerequisite for wisdom because of the fact that wisdom comes through correction. And if you're a humble person, you'll be one who can receive correction. Takes humility to receive correction, doesn't it? Smite a scorner and a simple will beware. Reprove one that hath understanding and he will understand knowledge. Speak not in the ears of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of thy words. What did Jesus say? Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast you pearls before swine, lest they turn again and rend you. He's saying some people don't waste your breath on. You have some pearl of wisdom, some pearl of knowledge, some pearl of understanding that you're going to deliver in the form of rebuke or correction or instruction. Make sure you're not casting before swine or dogs because they won't appreciate it. Don't repu- reprove a scorner, don't rebuke someone that has no wisdom. The simple. Say why go on and on about stubbornness? Why is it so important? Why is it such a, an important subject? Because stubbornness leads to rebellion and rebellion leads to destruction. It does. Stubbornness will lead to rebellion and rebellion will lead to destruction. Look at Proverbs chapter 1 verse 31. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices. People scorn at wisdom, they scorn at knowledge, they refuse. Look at verse 30. They would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof. That's what wisdom said. I was out crying, I was in the marked chief places of the concourse, I was in the gates of the city, I was crying out and saying enter in all ye that are simple, stop delighting in your scorning. Wisdom was inviting them to come and become wise people to receive her reproof. But what did she say? They would none of my counsel. They despised all my reproof. And they lived a so-so life and you know things still turned out okay for them. You know and I just, the shame is that I didn't have an opportunity to just dispense all the pearls of wisdom that I had because it's all about me. No the problem is, is that when they reproved, when none of her counsel, they got destroyed. Look at verse 31. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. You know it's interesting the prosperity of fools. Fools can still prosper in this world. Fools can still go out there and have lots of nice things and get a big bank account and still be a fool. You know that's no measure of wisdom according to God's word. God has chosen the poor of this world rich in faith and prosperity of fools shall destroy them because they're too stupid to see that they got it wrong. Well I must be doing okay because you know I mean I got all this stuff and I got all this wealth. Isn't that what the world says? You know all these fools that are just driving around with all this stuff. I'm not saying if you have anything you're a fool but I'm just saying that's what fools do. They have some prosperity and they just think well you know who needs God? I don't need some preacher telling me what to do. I don't need to hear that book. I don't need to listen to that. Yeah well it's going to destroy you. Prosperity of fools shall destroy them. And it's you know here's the thing about it destruction has always come overnight. You know sometimes that road to destruction is a long and winding one but eventually that's where it leads. Just like with Saul and then it's too late. You've been rejected from being king. Oh it's too late. You had your chance. Look at verse 33 but whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of all evil. From fear of evil. You know maybe it's not going to be you know we're not you know we're not going to be living that worldly you know that entertaining life. But I'm going to be quiet from the fear of all evil. You know yeah maybe my kids are a little more sheltered. Like that's some. You know it's funny to hear that you know kids in this church have been made fun of by other kids in this church for being sheltered. Oh he's so sheltered. It's like when did that become something to mock? Idiot. What else are you supposed to do when there's a what do people do when there's a tornado ripping through town? Stand out in the yard. Oh I'm not one of these sheltered people. I'm not going to live some sheltered life. Yeah you're going to catch a two by four right through your skull. You're going to end up 30 feet in the air just twisted out of control before you get smashed up into whatever and drug through whatever. And then we'll see who looks so smart. Oh he's so sheltered. What are you so supposed to do when bombs are falling moron? Look anyone that makes fun of other Christian kids for being sheltered is an idiot and knows nothing about the world. Nothing about life and what it's really like. And they're in for a rude awakening. You know what that awakening is going to be? It's going to be a bomb going off in their life. That's what it's going to be. And they're going to go man I wish I was sheltered. You know there's plenty of people in this room that would probably say it would have been nice to have been sheltered from some things growing up. It would have been nice not to see and heard and experienced some things that some other kids will never see, hear, or experience. Because when there's spiritual bombs falling all around us right now, shelter your children and nuts to any fool who makes fun of that. I'd rather dwell safely and be quiet from fear of all evil. People want to scorn and love their scorning and love their simplicity, so be it. They can go ahead and be filled with their own devices. You know and if you make the decision which one you want to be, you decide what you want for your life. You know if you want to dwell safely, you want to hearken unto wisdom just to understand it's going to involve correction. It's going to involve reproof. It's going to require humility. And it's going to root out stubbornness and rebellion in our lives. Let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer. Dear Lord again thank you for this great warning in the word of God about the dangers of being stubborn, about the dangers of being rebellious. Lord search our hearts and know our thoughts we pray this morning. And Lord if there's some wicked way in us, if we're holding out, if we're hanging on to some sin or we're resisting your word in some way Lord I pray just show it to us. And thank you for your word, it's correcting. Thank you for godly influences in our lives that will stand up and preach it boldly Lord and proclaim and show us our sins. And Lord help us to be a tender hearted people who love you and are wise through an obedient ear. We ask these things in Christ's name, Amen. All right we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we go. Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Thank you.