The Horrible Sin of Rebellion

By David J. Stewart | June 2019

1st Samuel 15:23, “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.”

       One of the greatest men of God of the twentieth century was Evangelist John R. Rice (1895-1980). Brother Rice was 31 years older than Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001), who was a mentor to the young “Jackie Boy Hyles” (as he was nicknamed). These dear saints of God went across America preaching the Words of God in churches and evangelistic crusades, sharing 2,200 preaching meetings together. If you ever hopefully take the time to listen to Brother Rice's audio preaching, you'll hear the influence that is so prevalent in Dr. Hyles' awesome Bible-preaching.

I have a classic book in front of me titled, “Bobbed Hair, Bossy Wives And Women Preachers!” The book was written back in the good old days of the United States in 1941. Beginning on page 84, Dr. Rice states:

THE HORRIBLE SIN OF REBELLION

I hope you have seen by this time that my subject does not primarily deal with anybody's hair, weather a woman's should be long or a man's short. I am really dealing with the question of rebellion against God and His authority. It will be no trouble for you, dear woman, to let your hair grow, if you first settle the real question: Are you willing today to surrender absolutely to the will of God and to His authority in your life? You can be subject to your husband if first you wholly submit to God.

But may I speak here not only to women but to men and to every reader. Will you face this question of surrender today? Will you confess your rebellion and forsake it today and repent of it? Will you start out today to try to follow the will of God? First of all, there is the will of God as expressed in the Bible. Will you today take the Bible as the rule of your life? Will you honestly seek to know the will of God and to do it, as expressed in the precious Word of God?

Perhaps today God speaks to you also by the Holy Spirit. There is some personal leading, some clear path marked out by the Spirit that you ought to take. Or there is some sin that you should give up, or some work you should begin. Will you follow the leading of God, no matter where it leads you? Will you bow your will to His will today? Will you say as the Saviour said to His Father, “Nevertheless, not my will, but thing, be done”?

“The powers that be are ordained of God” (Rom. 13:1). Will you begin today to obey the law of the land, as carefully and meticulously as if God had spoken these laws from Heaven? Will you recognize the authority of God in the government?

It may be that your boss is rough, inconsiderate, perhaps incompetent. Perhaps you are a Christian and he is not. But will you say today by God's grace, “I will be a good Christian in obeying orders as if they were from Christ”?

Many a young man or woman, many a boy and girl will read this message. You are a Christian, perhaps, but you find it hard to submit to the will of your father or your mother. And yet it is the will of God. Will you submit to it today? I would pray to God to give me such a surrendered heart, and start out to do His will in the home.

In schools, in churches, in businesses, in homes there should be a new dedication of Christians to lives of obedience. Christians should submit themselves to their own government, to their bosses, to their teachers, to their fathers and to their husbands. It may be, Christian, that God wants something you are not willing to give. When I taught in Wayland Baptist College in Texas, a fine young man, a foreign mission volunteer student, came to me with his problems. He was engaged to be married. I knew the girl and knew him well. He said to me, “What shall I do, Mr. Rice?” My girl says that she loves me and wants to marry me, but that she cannot go to China. She says that it would break her mother's heart, and she cannot leave her home and her country even for me. If I will stay in this country she will marry me, but if I go to China I must go alone. What shall I do?”

I knew how he had felt the call of God to go to China. He had told me of his surrender and felt that he knew God had called him to take the gospel to that far-off land. So I said to him, “You don't need me to tell you what to do. I didn't die for you. I didn't save you. I didn't call you to preach the gospel. You need not ask me what to do. I think you already know what you must do if you are going to be happy.”

He bowed his head for a time and wept and then he said, “Yes, I know what to do! I want my girl if God is willing for me to have her and if He will turn her heart to go with me to China. But I belong to God and there is no use for me to say that I love Him if I am not willing to do what He says. To give up my sweetheart for China is not as much as Christ gave up for me. I know what to do!”

We prayed together that if it pleased God He would give the girl a willingness to go with him to China, but if not, that he might have courage to go alone, if that was God's will for him.

Does God want something you do not want to give? Maybe you have given up a dear baby that God took away. Perhaps there is a bitterness in your heart, a deadness. Perhaps you have never ceased to resent the loss of the one so dear to you. Oh, dear friend, today give up your will! Bow your head to the will of God and let Him have His way. In the long run you are certain to have such peace and joy as you can never know in disobedience and rebellion.

It may be God has called you to preach. You have in mind a great and happy career. So had I. It may be already that the future seems to promise glowing and wonderful things, success, prosperity, friends or even fame. So it seemed to me that night in 1921 in the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago. I was a graduate student in the University of Chicago. I had a contract as a college teacher for the following year. The future looked, oh, so bright! But when I led a drunken bum to the Lord, God seemed to speak to my heart and say that that was the way of joy and usefulness for me. And so with some trembling and many doubts and fears, I gave myself up to do the will of God wherever it led me; to poverty, to obscurity, to sickness, to loss of friends, to a hard life, and then to an obscure grave. I say, I faced it all in my heart, but I took the long look and with all my heart I presented my body as a living sacrifice to God. I said with Isaiah, “Here am I; send me” (Isa. 6:8). Will you surrender to the call of God today? Perhaps God does not call you to preach, but he calls you to come out and be separate. He wants you to leave the worldly ways. He wants you to leave the primrose path you have been traveling. he wants you to come out and be separate and touch not the unclean thing. He wants you to give up certain friends, certain ways of living, and put yourself on the altar as an out-and-out Christian. Is that too hard for you?

It was not too hard for Paul. He called himself the bond salve of Jesus Christ. He said, “None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). There were shipwrecks, beatings, stonings, the hate of his Jewish people, with his life in danger again and again, yet Paul did not waver. He bore in his body the scars of the Lord Jesus. He fought the lions at Ephesus. he lived in chains until their rattle and weight must have been as familiar as the beating of his own heart.

“Paul the aged” lived alone. No wife, no child. He had no time to marry in his eager concern to get out the gospel. In the prison he urged Timothy to come before winter, and “bring the cloke.” Paul suffered the loss of all things and counted them dung that he might find the Christ and be found in Him And it is not too much to ask of any person if they love the Lord Jesus. If you love Him, then keep His commandments, surrender yourself to His dear will.

And in the generations that are gone, people died at the stake and died singing, because they loved the Lord Jesus. Missionaries went to the lepers, expecting to contract the terrible disease themselves, as they did. Missionaries have died in the blackness of Africa or in the burning sands of the South Sea Islands. They have been beheaded in China. They have been shipped to Siberia from Russia. Is it too much to ask of Christians that they submit now to the will of God in every detail.

Rev. Joseph P. Boone, a dear Southern Baptist Minister, told me how he struggled with God when it was clear to his soul that God had called him to preach the gospel, to spend his life in soulwinning. He had planned to be a lawyer; the prospects for the future were bright. His soul shrank from giving up his rosy dreams. When he analyzed his attitude and found he was in rebellion against the will of God, he said he was desperately ashamed. To think that after God had saved him, had kept him out of Hell, had given him a home in Heaven, a new heart and a wonderful peace, he would now refuse to do the will of God about anything. Convicted of the sin of his rebellion, he went into his room at Baylor University where he was a student and locked the door. He said, “God helping me, I will never leave this room until this question is settled and settled right.” Either they will carry me out in a casket or I will go out of here surrendered to whatever plan God has for me. He owns me, body and soul. He deserves the best of my love, my service. He shall have it or I will die before I leave this room!”

He threw himself across the bed and wept out his heart until peace came and he could say, not only with his submitted will, but with a glad, and voluntary surrender,

“I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord,
Over mountain or plain or sea;
I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord,
I'll be what you want me to be.”1

1Used by permission of Homer A. Rodenheaver, copyright owner.

And when he told me the story, he testified that the yoke of the Lord is easy and His burden light. And he told of the sweet rest of soul and His burden light. And he told of the sweet rest of soul that he had found in a life surrendered to the will of God.

SOURCE: Dr. John R. Rice - “Bobbed Hair, Bossy Wives And Women Preachers,” pages 84-88; Sword of The Lord Publishers ©1941.

What an important writing by Dr. Rice. My dear reader, have you ever truly humbled yourself before God? I mean total surrender, willing to do whatever God's will for your life is! Countless marriages could be saved if wives would simply surrender to their own husband. Wives are commanded to wholly submit to their “OWN HUSBANDS, AS UNTO THE LORD.” Ephesians 5:22, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.” Even in the heathen world, there is always a chain of command. Everybody cannot be in charge. If there were all chiefs and no Indians, then who would lead? Who would follow? Anything with two heads is a monster! God's plan for marriage is that the man is in charge, and the wife is commanded to be in subjection to her own husband.

Countless churches could be salvaged, if their pastors would submit to God's one authority in the inspired King James Bible, instead of recognizing dozens of Bible perversions as being from the Lord. For any church to sanction dozens of Bible versions is the same as having no authority in a marriage or home, where anything goes—this Bible, that Bible, this gospel, that gospel—come one come all. Rebellion is epidemic across the United States today. Wives rebel against their husbands, which is why there are so many divorces and broken homes. Children rebel against their parents. Citizens rebel against the laws and local police. Men rebel against God. Pastors rebel against the King James Bible. There is much rebellion in marriages today, and in our homes and schools.

Young people have lost their respect for authority, because “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him” (Proverbs 22:15). Brother Lester Roloff (1914-1982) talks about this truth in his wonderful sermon titled, The Lack Of Wisdom, which I highly recommend. Brother Roloff is right, babies are dumb! They are helpless, totally vulnerable, just laying there in their crib and mindless, lacking wisdom. As they grow, children must be taught wisdom, and disciplined to drive foolishness from them the Bible says. Many (but not all) criminals incarcerated in prison will testify that they grew up without proper parental discipline in the home. Proverbs 29:15, “The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.” The Scripture says that parents who fail to discipline their children hate them! Proverbs 13:24, “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.” A good and loving parent disciplines properly their child as often as deemed necessary, because they love and care about that child, and want them to grow up to be a responsible and happy adult. I am not condoning abuse, God forbid. God put that padded area in the back of every human being for a reason—for spankings!

The Holy Bible says that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness as the sin of idolatry. Rebellion and stubbornness are sins that go hand in hand. 1st Samuel 15:23, “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” Listen to what Moses said to the Jews in the Wilderness. Deuteronomy 31:27, “For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death?” The Bible says that Satan works in rebellious hearts. Ephesians 2:1-2, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” Acts 5:3, “But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?” Although a believer cannot be demon-possessed, Satan can fill the heart of a rebellious believer, as we see with Ananias. The apostle Peter said that Satan filled his heart to lie. Proverbs 4:23, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”

It is a horrible feeling, to be the husband of a lazy wife who is a slacker. Since she has no boss to ensure that she does her duties as a mother and a wife, if she refuses to cooperate to do her job, the husband has no choice but to step in. Effectively, a husband is his wife's only boss. Who else is going to correct her? But what happens when a wife punishes the husband for having to become a boss, because she is irresponsible, and a slacker? What is such a husband to do—when his wife leaves out the door, goes to friends houses to stay, goes to women's shelters and church shelters, back to her mother, and anywhere she can find someone to feel sorry for her—because she is rebellious, lazy and refuses to attend to her children, husband and home? Woe unto that rebellious woman!

“A rebellious wife is never a happy wife.”
—Pastor Jack Hyles, a quote from the life-changing sermon series, “WOMAN, THE COMPLETER.”

Jacob's Mother Was to Blame for Ruining the Family

If you think about it, Rebecca ruined her son Jacob! Abraham and Sarah were given a son from God, named Isaac. Abraham sent his servant to find a wife for Isaac, and her name was Sarah. I am partial toward that tradition by the way, of parents picking a wife for their son. Parents are much wiser and know what to look for, and what warning signs to see. I wish to God that my parents had chosen a wife for me when I was a young man, because I chose very poorly. Albeit, I am grateful to God for the opportunity and privilege to be married and have four children. Sadly, my wife quit and divorced me in 2006, and I have lived alone since, often giving her money voluntarily and overcoming her evil with my good (Romans 12:21). She refuses to apologize for anything, still 13 years later in 2019, blaming me and others for her failures in the marriage. That hinders us from reuniting.

I want you to consider dear reader that the thought hadn't entered into Jacob's mind to deceive Jacob his father, nor to betray Esau his brother, until his ungodly mother like the serpent in Eden put that evil thought into Jacob's mind. Read the following disturbing words, in which Rebekah sinfully orders her son to deceive his own father and betray his own brother...

Genesis 27:6, “And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the LORD before my death. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee. Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth: And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death. And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man: My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing. And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them.”

Had Jacob been right with God, he never would have obeyed his mother's evil words, because she was telling him to disobey God by sinning against his own father and brother. Shame on Rebekah! What a wicked thing she did. Rebekah said to Jacob, “Upon me be thy curse.” She knew she was bringing a curse upon her own son, Jacob. She didn't care! The ungodly crowd of Jews who wanted Jesus executed said the same thing in Matthew 27:25, “Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.” And so it was in 70 AD when Rome annihilated Jerusalem, leaving no stone unturned and scattering the Jews throughout the world unto this very day nearly 2,000 years later!

As a consequence of her rebellion, Rebekah never saw Jacob again! She was never able to behold her grandchildren, not even one time until her death. Rebekah had to suffer the consequences of dying a bitter old woman, without her grandchildren by her side. Jacob's mother Rebekah did evil in the sight of the Lord. She knowingly and willingly lied, stirring up her son to deceive his father and betray his brother, influencing Jacob to dishonor God, which is what an ungodly woman does! Rebekah conspired and manipulated her own family to get her rebellious way! THIS IS THE HORRIBLE SIN OF REBELLION!
 

Haman's Wife Was To Blame For the Hanging of Her Husband and Ten Sons

Read this ladies, about the dangers of having a BIG MOUTH! Esther 5:14 and 9:25, “Then said Zeresh his wife and all his friends unto him, Let a gallows be made of fifty cubits high, and tomorrow speak thou unto the king that Mordecai may be hanged thereon: then go thou in merrily with the king unto the banquet. And the thing pleased Haman; and he caused the gallows to be made. ... But when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.Talk about poetic justice! Zeresh suggested that her husband Haman build a gallows 75 feet high to hand the Christian Mordecai, and then all their friends agreed with the idea, but it horribly backfired, causing her husband with all ten of her sons to be hanged instead on those gallows! This ought to be a lesson to you dear reader about the potential dangers of taking ungodly advice from family members and friends!

If Zeresh had been wise, she would have advised her husband Haman to let the matter go, and not seek to hurt anyone, lest it return evil upon the family. She was a fool, stirring up Haman, as did Jezebel her husband, Ahab. 1st Kings 21:25, “But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.” Remember ladies, you have more power over your husband than God's Word does! We see this truth evidenced when Eve turned away Adam's heart from obeying God's commandment not to eat the forbidden fruit. 1st Peter 3:1, “Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.” Be wise ladies concerning your tongue; refrain from stirring up your husband to do evil, lest evil return upon you as well.

And may I also humbly point out, those so-called “FRIENDS” (Esther 5:14b) who went along with Zeresh's evil idea to build a gallows 75 feet tall to hang an innocent man upon, who stirred up Haman to do evil, didn't suffer anything! When Haman was dead, and Zeresh's ten sons were all dead, those false “FRIENDS” went their merry way, like the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Psalms 1:1, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.”

Think about this sobering lesson dear friend—Zeresh went through the jaws of death TEN TIMES to give birth to her ten precious sons, and yet in just one foolish moment her BIG MOUTH caused all ten of those sons to be put to death! Think about all the diligent effort invested in raising them, the hundreds of nights being awoken by their cries from a crib, and the thousands of hours spent caring for her ten beloved sons over 20 years—all for nought! By running her wicked mouth, Zeresh forfeited the dozens of grandchildren she would have had when her sons married and became fathers. No doubt she would have had many dozens of grandchildren, all saying: “I wuv you gwanma!” Now she has no children at all, who are all dead because of HER BIG MOUTH!!! Zeresh stirred up her husband, Haman, to do evil against an innocent man, Mordecai, and it backfired upon their family. THIS IS THE HORRIBLE SIN OF REBELLION!
 

Humble Yourself As a Servant Ladies!

Very few women nowadays have a Biblical mindset that the husband is in charge, and the wife is his servant. A lot of woman get upset at the very mention of the word “servant.” Genesis 2:18, “And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” Jesus taught that the “GREATEST” person among any group is the servant! Matthew 23:11, “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.” Jesus didn't say that the “greatest” person is the leader or pastor or big shot, but the humble servant. That is what the word “minister” means in the Word of God—“a servant.” Mark 10:43, “But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister.” When it comes to authority in a marriage and home, there is no 50/50 division—THE MAN IS IN CHARGE! If you don't believe that—whether you be a man or woman—get right with God!

I was in an ABC Store one day and heard an ungodly song over the radio (by reprobate Janet Jackson) called, “What Have You Done For Me Lately?” What a horrible rebellious attitude for a woman to have! If you read most dating profiles by women online, who are seeking a man to marry, they say selfish things like: “I want a man to make me feel complete” or “I want a man who desires to fulfil my every need.” I am not exaggerating the least bit. Such women have it all backwards. Pastor Jack Hyles has a wonderful sermon series titled, “WOMAN THE COMPLETER.”

If any single woman reading my article is looking for a husband, and you ever post a dating profile online, kindly mention that you believe a man is in charge of his own home, and you want to be a servant to your future husband. You'll probably have 700 men responding to your profile! When a woman says that she “wants a man to complete her,” she is all backwards in her thinking, and certainly would not make a good wife! Any woman who resents the idea of a wife waiting on her husband is “turned aside after Satan.” 1st Timothy 5:14-15, “I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. For some are already turned aside after Satan.” A woman's proper place is in the home!

Ladies, if your marriage is suffering, go to your husband and humble yourself. Ask him what he would like to see changed in your attitude or habits. Ask him if you are pleasing to him. Unless you have a drunken bum or a tyrant for a husband, any good man (even if unsaved) will respond favorably to a humble wife. Many rebellious wives attempt to manipulate a husband, demanding that he submit to her instead, but most men will not budge an inch to such rebellion in a wife (which type of standoff often leads to a divorce). That is not God's way ladies. Titus 2:3-5, “The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.” Husbands ought to humble themselves too, but the wife absolutely MUST humble herself FIRST. There is no other way ladies, that is how life works, and the way God made men. THE MIRACLE OF MUTUAL SUBMISSION (an awesome life-changing MP3 by Pastor Jack Hyles). Blessed is the man who has a good wife who humbles herself and wants to please him.

God's way is submission to God-ordained authority. Children are to obey their own parents. Wives are to obey their own husbands. Citizens are to obey their own government. All men are to obey God. Rebellion is a horrible sin. Thank you for reading this article.

END OF ARTICLE


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