2 Timothy 3:1, 7
The Without-God Experiments
In this section, Paul was writing prophecy. In \\#1\\, Paul set the
time, "in the last days." We are living in the last days. Not only
so, but we are living in the last of the last days. In \\#7\\, Paul
made a prediction.
2Tim 3:7 (People will be) Ever learning, and
never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
In the last days, people will forever be learning, but what they
learn will not true. With all of the analyzing, reading,
researching, thinking, teaching, and testing that they will do, their
newly discovered nuggets of knowledge will mostly be bitter
falsehoods.
This is clearly seen in their "Without-God Experiments." The first
without-God experiment that I can think of that perpetrated upon the
United States was begun in the late 1800’s. The idea was that the
world could come into existence without God. Despite the
preposterousness of that notion, by the early to mid-1900’s, the idea
was firmly in place and remain so until this day.
The second without-God experiment struck more close to home. It was
the fraud that parents could rear their children without God. As with
the first without-God experiment, there was no single event that
sealed that notion into the hearts of the people, but a leading
proponent in the without-God experiment was a fellow by the name of
Dr. Benjamin Spock who wrote a book called "The Common Sense Book of
Baby and Child Care" in 1946.
That book sold 500,000 copies in the first six months. By the time of
Dr. Spock’s death in 1998, it had sold over 50 million copies. As of
2011, it had been translated into 39 languages.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Common_Sense_Book_of_Baby_and_
Child_Care
Today, Benjamin Spock’s book is the best-selling non-fictional book
of all time—second only to the Bible.
https://twelvetribes.org/publication/dr-spock-and-spanking
Interestingly by today’s standards, Dr. Spock’s book would probably
be classified as conservative. He did not say it was wrong to spank
a child, but he did advocate a psychological approach to child
rearing which has since blossomed into the just-let-the-child-grow-
out-of-it/you-don’t-have-the-right-to-correct-them-anyway movement of
today.
And how has the "Without-God Experiment" worked?
In the 1950’s, a new term was coined, "juvenile delinquent."
From 1950 to 1955, crimes committed by teenagers increased by 45%.
By 1960, a poll revealed America’s three greatest concerns: national
defense, world peace, and juvenile delinquency.
Juvenile arrests tripped in New York city from 1950 to 1959.
https://teachrock.org/wp-content/uploads/L018H01.pdf?x99112
In 1985, 340,000 juveniles charged with crimes.
In 2002, 630,000.
https://www.grin.com/document/210853
In 2011, there were 74 million juvenile delinquents.
In 2013, one in four children under the age of 18 was labeled a
Joinville delinquent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juvenile_delinquency_in_the_United_
States
How has the "Without-God Experiment" worked? FAILED. Failed
totally. Failed miserably.
So we will go back to what worked, right? the Bible and discipline?
No. In California last September, the socialist state of the union
passed SB 419 which goes into effect this year preventing a child
from being suspending or expelling a student for willful defiance.
Willful defiance is defined as "disrupting school by refusing to
follow valid authority."
Now, what do we do about it? Unfortunately, there is very little we
can do in person about the direction our nation is going, but there
is a lot we can do about the direction our family goes.
Let me share some thoughts.
I. Three truths parents need to know about AUTHORITY.
A. The three things:
1. All authority comes from God.
Romans 13:1 Let every soul be subject unto the
higher powers. For there is no power but of God:
the powers that be are ordained of God.
a. The word "power" means "authority."
b. All power or authority comes from God.
c. The Bible says so, but this is one we could figure out
even without the Bible.
d. It just makes sense that the One who created all
things is over all things.
e. There are two titles repeatedly used in the Bible that
acknowledge God’s authority: Master and Lord.
f. Anytime God is called by either of those titles,
either someone or the Bible itself is telling us that
God is in charge.
2. God has created a chain of authority.
Eph 5:22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own
husbands, as unto the Lord.
a. In the home, it goes God, husband, wife.
b. In government, it goes God, high officials, lower
officials, citizens.
c. In neither chain is the authority based on one’s
superiority.
(1) A policeman is no better than a citizen.
(2) A president is no better than a policeman.
(3) A father is no better than a child.
(4) A husband is no better than a wife.
d. The reason the authority chain is the way it is, is
because the sovereign God made it that way.
3. Authority has a rule that must be followed.
Matthew 8:9 For I am a man under authority,
having soldiers under me: and I say to this man,
Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he
cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth
it.
a. We should be under authority to be in authority.
b. Authority comes from God so the only thing we have
authority to do are the things that God wants done.
c. In order for us to know what God wants and to be in
our place within the chain, we must be under God’s
authority.
B. If you put these three facts together, you will see…
1. The only direction for parents to guide their children to
is toward God.
2. The only way to guide them there is to be under God’s
authority.
II. Three things parents need to do with AUTHORITY.
A. Parents need to know what God wants.
1. Whenever a statement like that is made, people begin to
say, "Know what God wants? We can’t know what God
wants."
2. Knowing what God wants is not that difficult.
a. Granted, there are certain things you cannot know
right now.
(1) God does not reveal the end of a journey before
you even begin the journey.
(2) In fact, God does not reveal the end of the
journey when you are 1/2 way through with the
journey—or 3/4’s way through the journey.
(3) Don’t worry about the end.
(4) Just find out where God wants you to start and
get started.
b. Trust God to reveal what you need to know when you
need to know it.
(1) I promise. You can trust God.
(2) If there is a party to be questioned, it is us
not Him.
(3) But if you will commit to God, God will commit
to you.
Pro 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;
and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall
direct thy paths.
3. Start your journey by:
a. Loving God with all of your heart.
b. Obey God with all of your might. Decide that if the
Bible or the Holy Ghost directs you to do something,
with all the ability you have, you will do it.
B. Establish some righteous rules. There are some rules for
making the rules.
1. The one making the rules must love those he leads more
than he loves himself.
a. God never gives authority to benefit the person with
authority.
b. God always gives authority so that the person with
authority can help those under authority.
Mark 10:44 And whosoever of you will be the
chiefest, shall be servant of all.
45 For even the Son of man came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister, and to give
his life a ransom for many.
c. No man is worthy of position God gives us and the
faith our family puts in us, but let’s at least try
to live a selfless life that gives to our family
instead of a selfish life that takes from them.
2. The man making the rules must obey the rules.
a. Few things stink more in politics than leaders passing
a law and then exempting themselves from it.
b. The only thing worse a husband holding his family to
standard he is not willing to live himself.
3. The man making the rules must remind and teach the rules.
a. Few people have been righteously executed without
knowing and understanding the wrong they did WHEN
the did it.
(1) Some have the notion that spanking is the only
form of action to take when a child does wrong.
(2) It is not and the Bible never said it was.
b. As parents, we lovingly and patiently teach our
children what God’s Word commands, why God commands
it, and what happens if we do and do not obey it.
c. Then we encourage and teach them to follow God.
(1) We use a stern rebuke, a gentle swat if they are
young, time outs, grounding, and denials of what
they disobeying to get.
(2) Along with that, we praise and reward them for
doing right along the way.
C. If there is stubborn, rebellious disobedience, we use our
authority to set them on the correct course.
1. In the Bible, that means using corporal punishment.
Pro 13:24 He that spareth his rod hateth his
son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him
betimes.
Pro 22:15 Foolishness is bound in the heart of
a child; but the rod of correction shall drive
it far from him.
Pro 23:13 Withhold not correction from the
child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he
shall not die.
14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt
deliver his soul from hell.
2. We do not spank them because we are angry or embarrassed
or because we want to or like it.
3. We spank them to help them learn that they must do right.
I am not trying to be a dictator or a militant or a fanatical pastor.
If you think I am reading into the Bible then ignore me; but if not,
listen to what I am about to say.
If you are a parent, God gave you the child or children you have.
1. He has a purpose for your child’s life, and He has entrusted
you with the earliest years of your child’s life to imprint
Him on your child’s soul.
2. The only way you can do that is to get into God’s chain of
command yourself.
3. It is the only way to get the power of God on your family.
a. Don’t you want that? Would you rather have a broken
family? One consumed on drugs and liquor? Children out of
wedlock? Kids in prison?
b. It is not enough to know that the world’s system is broken.
(1) You also need to know what system will work.
(2) God’s system will work.
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