WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.379 Well, good morning. Please join me in your copy of God's Word in Proverbs chapter one. 00:00:09.380 --> 00:00:14.580 This morning, we're going to take some time to consider what it means to be a mother. 00:00:14.580 --> 00:00:18.120 What's at the core of that? What is the task ahead? 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:28.640 It is my intention today to be an encouragement to the mothers of our congregation by reminding you of your high calling in Jesus Christ. 00:00:29.519 --> 00:00:40.240 You may find some challenge in God's Word to us this morning, but I want you to know that I believe that the mothers of our church work very hard to excel in their disciple making. 00:00:40.659 --> 00:00:47.200 And this does not go unnoticed, right? Some of that work is happening even this morning. 00:00:47.640 --> 00:00:53.219 I am proud of each and every one of you and the work that you're doing with your kids. 00:00:53.219 --> 00:01:04.099 I know that your job as mothers can often seem mundane and unending, and it is always exhausting. 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:10.579 My wife has been out of town for the last couple of days, and so I'm especially feeling that this morning. 00:01:10.579 --> 00:01:20.739 But I want you to be encouraged to persist by grace, to train up your children as God will use you to yield fruit in their lives, right? 00:01:21.099 --> 00:01:27.659 Little things across time, God will be shaping your children's hearts. 00:01:27.659 --> 00:01:33.939 So with that in mind, let's take a look at Proverbs chapter 1, verses 7 through 9. 00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:37.399 Proverbs 1, verses 7 through 9. 00:01:38.739 --> 00:01:40.859 Beloved, this is God's Word to us. 00:01:41.939 --> 00:01:44.819 It was written for His glory and our good. 00:01:44.819 --> 00:01:54.559 We would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands, even if you're not a mother this morning. 00:01:56.359 --> 00:01:58.119 Proverbs 1, beginning in verse 7. 00:01:59.019 --> 00:02:02.819 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. 00:02:03.859 --> 00:02:06.500 Fools despise wisdom and instruction. 00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:12.680 Hear, my son, your father's instruction and forsake not your mother's teaching. 00:02:12.680 --> 00:02:19.340 For they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck. 00:02:20.819 --> 00:02:28.200 This morning, I want to draw your attention to five observations from Proverbs chapter 1, verses 7 through 9. 00:02:28.280 --> 00:02:33.700 I often give them to you in advance, but they're a little longer this morning, and so I'm just going to take them one at a time. 00:02:33.760 --> 00:02:34.960 And the first is this. 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:41.180 God is the originator and designer of the family. 00:02:42.680 --> 00:02:55.319 Solomon is the book of Proverbs author, and he took up him under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to instill wisdom in the everyday of God's people. 00:02:55.920 --> 00:03:03.980 The wisdom that he speaks of throughout the book is a wisdom founded in the fear of the Lord. 00:03:03.979 --> 00:03:06.799 So he begins his teaching with these words. 00:03:06.939 --> 00:03:12.339 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. 00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:17.120 Fools despise wisdom and instruction. 00:03:17.819 --> 00:03:22.319 So as this book is taken up, if we want to find ourselves wise and not foolish, 00:03:22.819 --> 00:03:30.459 we should pay attention to the beginning, the very foundation of that being the fear of the Lord. 00:03:30.460 --> 00:03:39.640 And he begins his instruction with a most important note concerning the source of wisdom, the family. 00:03:40.420 --> 00:03:48.140 He instructs his son to hear his father's instruction and to not abandon his mother's teaching. 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:55.840 So God, in his loving kindness toward mankind, created the family. 00:03:55.840 --> 00:03:59.719 He created this institution pre-fall. 00:03:59.900 --> 00:04:08.860 He meant it to be an instructive tool even before the fall, not as an afterthought, but as a preordained design. 00:04:09.780 --> 00:04:12.879 Reread in Genesis chapter 1, verse 27 and 28. 00:04:13.020 --> 00:04:14.780 So God created a man in his own image. 00:04:15.400 --> 00:04:18.740 And by the age of God, he created him male and female. 00:04:19.139 --> 00:04:20.360 He created them. 00:04:20.360 --> 00:04:27.660 It's going to get us in trouble these days, male and female to glorify God. 00:04:28.280 --> 00:04:29.240 And God blessed them. 00:04:29.780 --> 00:04:41.879 And God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. 00:04:41.879 --> 00:04:45.459 And it is noted for us in Genesis 2 and verse 24. 00:04:45.459 --> 00:04:55.300 Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh. 00:04:55.779 --> 00:05:04.779 The family was and is meant to be an institution itself with God mandated responsibilities. 00:05:05.420 --> 00:05:09.879 And we find today that the family is under great attack. 00:05:09.879 --> 00:05:17.420 There are myriad ways that the enemy is working to break down this first and central institution. 00:05:17.839 --> 00:05:26.120 So we will have to work, and I think especially hard, to defend the value of the family. 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:37.659 And I think that the most important way for us to do so is by taking up and exercising those responsibilities given specifically to the family. 00:05:37.660 --> 00:05:43.240 To recognize its good design and to exercise its good design. 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:47.160 To be different from the world in that way. 00:05:47.300 --> 00:05:54.360 To make a defense for its value by exercising the instruction given to us. 00:05:54.640 --> 00:06:02.500 So the family is originated by God, and it's given purpose by God. 00:06:02.500 --> 00:06:05.339 Second observation from the text. 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:09.980 The family was designed by God to be a school. 00:06:10.980 --> 00:06:12.100 Verse 8 says, 00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:17.560 Hear my son your father's instruction and forsake not your mother's teaching. 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:24.600 The assumption is that there is instruction and teaching happening in the life of the family. 00:06:24.600 --> 00:06:33.840 Beyond today's text, let's note together some other places in the scripture where God instructs parents to instruct their children. 00:06:34.460 --> 00:06:39.000 Places like Deuteronomy chapter 6 verses 4 through 7. 00:06:39.660 --> 00:06:43.320 Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 00:06:44.040 --> 00:06:48.500 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 00:06:48.500 --> 00:06:52.439 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 00:06:53.319 --> 00:07:04.800 You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise. 00:07:05.399 --> 00:07:14.899 This fear of the Lord is meant to be taught to our children diligently, consistently, ongoingly. 00:07:14.899 --> 00:07:25.000 And the text tells us in all of the walk of life, when you're sitting in your house and when you're walking by the way and when you're lying down and when you rise. 00:07:26.299 --> 00:07:29.739 Also, Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 4. 00:07:30.439 --> 00:07:31.199 Paul here writes, 00:07:31.319 --> 00:07:38.819 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. 00:07:39.620 --> 00:07:44.639 Here, Paul places the emphasis of raising children on fathers as the head of the household. 00:07:44.639 --> 00:07:51.159 But this does not exclude mothers as they are helpers of the fathers in this task. 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:57.180 In fact, the word here translated fathers could also be translated parents. 00:07:58.259 --> 00:08:02.599 And the Bible instructs children to be students. 00:08:03.319 --> 00:08:04.719 Children, listen to this. 00:08:05.319 --> 00:08:10.339 Not only in today's text, but also in places like Proverbs 23 and verse 22. 00:08:10.339 --> 00:08:16.679 Listen to your father who gave you life and do not dispose. 00:08:17.399 --> 00:08:17.839 Excuse me. 00:08:17.899 --> 00:08:19.899 Despise your mother or dispose of your mother. 00:08:20.060 --> 00:08:24.519 Despise your mother when she is old. 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:25.039 Right. 00:08:25.560 --> 00:08:27.500 And Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 1. 00:08:27.719 --> 00:08:33.360 Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. 00:08:33.459 --> 00:08:33.559 Right. 00:08:33.559 --> 00:08:39.039 This is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you in the land. 00:08:39.779 --> 00:08:44.479 So the family was designed by God to be a school. 00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:47.819 We teach our kids all kinds of things. 00:08:47.819 --> 00:08:48.119 Right. 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:48.779 We teach them. 00:08:49.079 --> 00:08:54.459 I hope you're teaching your kids how to load and unload the dishwasher and wipe off the table and sweep the floor. 00:08:54.619 --> 00:08:55.019 Yep. 00:08:55.019 --> 00:08:58.419 Put on their shoes and tie them. 00:08:58.519 --> 00:08:58.659 Right. 00:08:58.759 --> 00:09:00.840 Put their dirty clothes in the laundry. 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:01.919 These things matter. 00:09:02.059 --> 00:09:05.259 We want our kids to be successful in those things temporal. 00:09:06.120 --> 00:09:10.179 But moreover, we want them to be successful in things spiritual. 00:09:10.600 --> 00:09:10.740 Right. 00:09:10.779 --> 00:09:14.500 And we must then treat the family as a school. 00:09:14.500 --> 00:09:20.360 And we must be about the work of teaching them those things most important. 00:09:20.360 --> 00:09:24.820 This is why many of us believe in the benefits of homeschooling. 00:09:25.320 --> 00:09:28.820 But we want you to know that if you don't homeschool your kids, you are most welcome here. 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:32.320 We're not trying to be homogenous in that way. 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:44.480 But however, your children receive their educations, the responsibility of teaching them to have a proper fear of the Lord falls to parents. 00:09:44.700 --> 00:09:48.060 It's set squarely on the shoulders of parents. 00:09:48.059 --> 00:09:50.899 You cannot give away that responsibility. 00:09:51.299 --> 00:09:52.379 It is yours. 00:09:52.659 --> 00:09:53.359 And parents, hear me. 00:09:53.399 --> 00:10:01.599 I think on the last day you will be judged for how well or how poorly you taught your children to fear the Lord. 00:10:01.839 --> 00:10:09.379 This responsibility is a weighty one that God empowers for his glory. 00:10:10.839 --> 00:10:11.399 Third. 00:10:12.259 --> 00:10:13.979 Third observation from the text. 00:10:13.980 --> 00:10:19.000 First, the fear of the Lord is meant to be the theme of the family's curriculum. 00:10:19.379 --> 00:10:21.940 It's meant to be the theme of the family's curriculum. 00:10:21.940 --> 00:10:26.159 It's meant to inform every other thing that we teach our children. 00:10:26.800 --> 00:10:33.039 Again, to verse seven, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. 00:10:33.720 --> 00:10:38.460 You see, all education has at its foundation a worldview. 00:10:38.460 --> 00:10:42.639 You cannot remove worldview from education. 00:10:42.820 --> 00:10:47.500 You have to have a starting point by which to teach your kids. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:52.620 This little story illustrates that, I think, humorously, but I think it illustrates it. 00:10:53.280 --> 00:10:59.320 One day a teacher, thinking herself clever, asked her students, what holds the world up? 00:10:59.320 --> 00:11:07.500 A little boy quickly raised his hand and, upon being called upon, stated that the world sits on the back of a giant turtle. 00:11:08.100 --> 00:11:08.840 That's his worldview. 00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:14.740 The teacher smugly responded, well, if that's true, what holds the turtle up? 00:11:15.520 --> 00:11:17.620 The boy responded matter-of-factly. 00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:21.620 That turtle sits on the back of another turtle. 00:11:22.740 --> 00:11:25.760 The teacher said, well, what holds up that turtle? 00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:31.139 The boy simply answered, teacher, it's turtles all the way down. 00:11:34.039 --> 00:11:42.960 We have to make some assumptions, some presuppositions, right, to rightly build an education. 00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:45.559 It will be built on something, right? 00:11:45.700 --> 00:11:51.899 It will be built on the fear of the Lord or on secular humanism or on some other religious structure, 00:11:51.899 --> 00:11:55.519 but it has to be built on some kind of foundation. 00:11:56.480 --> 00:12:05.539 The Christian family is to be sure that the fear of the Lord sets as the base for all other education. 00:12:06.679 --> 00:12:14.120 Now, this phrase, fear of the Lord, does not mean that we are working to send our children cowering from God, right? 00:12:14.159 --> 00:12:19.399 This is not the point that they'd be so scared of him that they might be obedient. 00:12:19.399 --> 00:12:25.019 It carries rather the idea of reverence and humility. 00:12:25.620 --> 00:12:31.699 Think of this when you see this phrase again and again and again, particularly in the Hebrew, right? 00:12:31.740 --> 00:12:34.039 It's meant to be awe, reverence. 00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:37.539 This is God and I am not him. 00:12:38.039 --> 00:12:42.399 We need our children to understand that the universe does not revolve around them. 00:12:43.299 --> 00:12:46.179 They sure seem to think so, don't they? 00:12:46.179 --> 00:12:51.120 They need to understand that it revolves around the almighty God. 00:12:52.279 --> 00:13:02.779 A child that fears the Lord will recognize that they are a created being and they live in a created world and will, as such is true, 00:13:03.599 --> 00:13:07.959 desire to live in accord with the creator and sustainer of this world. 00:13:07.960 --> 00:13:18.940 They will see the world's goodness under God's rule and they will also see the world's brokenness in rejection of God as king, right? 00:13:18.980 --> 00:13:23.519 This is what it means to teach them to fear the Lord. 00:13:24.120 --> 00:13:28.100 Let me show you the importance of such a theme from a couple of Psalms. 00:13:28.100 --> 00:13:30.680 First, Psalm 31 and verse 19. 00:13:31.379 --> 00:13:42.920 Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you in the sight of the children of mankind. 00:13:44.060 --> 00:13:45.980 Psalm 112 and verse 1. 00:13:46.519 --> 00:13:47.500 Praise the Lord. 00:13:48.040 --> 00:13:53.779 Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments. 00:13:53.779 --> 00:13:57.480 And Psalm 115 and verse 13. 00:13:58.159 --> 00:14:03.600 The Lord will bless those who fear the Lord, both the small and the great. 00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:13.620 So you can see there is a promise of goodness and blessing from God for those who revere him and his ways. 00:14:14.299 --> 00:14:18.799 Don't we want our children to be declared blessed, right? 00:14:18.899 --> 00:14:21.799 I want that for my children. 00:14:21.799 --> 00:14:28.439 We want our children to understand that their sin has put them in a desperate position with the God of this world. 00:14:28.899 --> 00:14:36.479 We want our children to know that this God sent his son to live the perfectly obedient life that they could not live, right? 00:14:36.539 --> 00:14:46.539 They failed at it from day one to take their punishment on the cross for their disobedience and to be raised and ascended to rule forever. 00:14:46.539 --> 00:14:55.360 We want our children to believe that if they are to be saved, that they must throw themselves on the mercy of God in Jesus Christ. 00:14:55.719 --> 00:15:00.579 They must repent of their sin and place their faith in the person and work of Jesus. 00:15:00.580 --> 00:15:13.700 We want our children to live their lives by the power of the Spirit of Christ in a way that is pleasing to God so that he will be known and honored in the world. 00:15:13.700 --> 00:15:18.460 These things are of highest importance. 00:15:19.460 --> 00:15:23.980 John Piper, in a sermon on this very text, once said, 00:15:23.980 --> 00:15:35.240 The family isn't just a place where children learn to hold spoons and walk onto fate and say please and tie shoes and read and look both ways and cut grass and put on makeup and drive a car. 00:15:35.980 --> 00:15:46.120 The family is where all of this and more begins in God, is guided by God's word and is shown to be for the glory of God. 00:15:46.120 --> 00:15:56.039 The fear of God, the reverence of God, the standing in awe of God, the trusting of God, is what families are for. 00:15:57.120 --> 00:16:02.100 So the fear of the Lord is meant to be the theme of the family's curriculum. 00:16:03.399 --> 00:16:09.039 Number four, both father and mother are responsible for teaching. 00:16:09.039 --> 00:16:16.419 Hear my son, your father's instruction and forsake not your mother's teaching. 00:16:17.719 --> 00:16:22.500 Solomon tells his son to heed the teaching of both his father and his mother. 00:16:23.259 --> 00:16:30.740 In the normative family, both exist and both work to the great end of teaching children to fear the Lord. 00:16:32.199 --> 00:16:38.620 But in a world of death and severed relationship, not all families are normative. 00:16:39.039 --> 00:16:47.459 We represent many families that are not normative in this way and are not ideal in this sense. 00:16:48.259 --> 00:16:54.719 Some children are raised by single mothers and there is grace for this circumstance. 00:16:55.579 --> 00:16:58.699 Some children are raised by single fathers. 00:16:59.339 --> 00:17:02.240 There is grace for this circumstance. 00:17:02.539 --> 00:17:04.779 I was shown that grace over the last two days. 00:17:04.779 --> 00:17:09.599 Some children do not have God-fearing parents. 00:17:10.200 --> 00:17:12.000 There is grace for this. 00:17:12.940 --> 00:17:18.879 And most regularly, the means of said grace is the church. 00:17:19.299 --> 00:17:21.740 That second institution. 00:17:22.680 --> 00:17:28.279 God employs the efforts of the church to aid in the raising of children, right? 00:17:28.279 --> 00:17:33.359 Even a church who says to you, it's your responsibility, welcome children into our meeting together. 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:39.460 We want to, and I think we do, support the raising of kids in many, many ways. 00:17:40.420 --> 00:17:45.220 I want to show you this manifold grace from the life of Timothy. 00:17:46.039 --> 00:17:52.480 Timothy's father was a Greek and, as far as we know, not a follower of Jesus Christ. 00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:59.500 So he had a God-fearing mother and a God-fearing grandmother, but not a God-fearing father. 00:18:00.279 --> 00:18:04.000 But Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 1, verse 5, in writing to Timothy, 00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:10.380 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, 00:18:10.500 --> 00:18:14.920 and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well. 00:18:14.920 --> 00:18:20.900 And then he further instructs Timothy in 2 Timothy 3, verse 14 and following, 00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:24.759 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, 00:18:24.880 --> 00:18:27.100 knowing from whom you learned it, 00:18:27.220 --> 00:18:29.740 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, 00:18:29.800 --> 00:18:34.519 which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 00:18:35.480 --> 00:18:42.039 So God gave great grace to Timothy in giving great grace to Lois and Eunice. 00:18:42.039 --> 00:18:47.859 God also gave great grace in giving Timothy a spiritual father. 00:18:48.960 --> 00:18:54.859 In 1 Timothy 1, verse 2, Paul addressed his first letter to Timothy with these words, 00:18:54.960 --> 00:18:58.859 To Timothy, my true child in the faith. 00:18:59.899 --> 00:19:05.159 And Paul tells us that he instructed Timothy in the way of the Lord in 2 Timothy 3. 00:19:05.899 --> 00:19:06.299 He says, 00:19:06.299 --> 00:19:24.259 So Paul stepped in and served in this way as a spiritual father to Timothy. 00:19:24.259 --> 00:19:32.900 So today I want to exhort childless women or childless men to have spiritual children. 00:19:34.299 --> 00:19:37.359 Train those younger than you in the faith. 00:19:38.019 --> 00:19:41.660 Impart a fear of the Lord to someone else. 00:19:42.440 --> 00:19:50.519 We are meant to be disciple makers both within the house and without, outside of the house. 00:19:50.519 --> 00:19:55.519 Mothers, you provide many necessary things for your children. 00:19:56.220 --> 00:19:58.180 You keep them clothed and fed. 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:03.819 But your children do not need a perfectly clean house. 00:20:04.200 --> 00:20:07.059 This is not the high priority for children. 00:20:07.180 --> 00:20:09.480 In fact, they're the ones who are always taking it apart. 00:20:10.180 --> 00:20:13.879 They do not need the most exciting meals. 00:20:14.099 --> 00:20:16.879 They don't all have to be perfectly nutritious. 00:20:16.880 --> 00:20:24.540 What they do need is you and they need your careful instruction in the scripture. 00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:27.680 Let some of that other stuff go. 00:20:28.180 --> 00:20:36.940 Don't be so troubled by all of the perfect Pinterest photos that were posed for a moment before it got destroyed. 00:20:38.460 --> 00:20:43.120 Focus your attention on shaping the hearts of your children. 00:20:43.740 --> 00:20:46.180 The Lord will bless this work. 00:20:46.180 --> 00:20:49.740 Make that the priority of your efforts. 00:20:50.980 --> 00:20:52.160 Charles Spurgeon once said, 00:20:52.299 --> 00:20:58.160 Fathers and mothers are the most natural agents for God to use in the salvation of their children. 00:20:58.940 --> 00:21:06.420 I am sure that in my early youth, no teaching ever made such an impression upon my mind as the instruction of my mother. 00:21:07.779 --> 00:21:09.620 And he also said, and this is on your bulletin, 00:21:09.619 --> 00:21:13.879 And those who think that a woman detained at home by her little family is doing nothing, 00:21:14.519 --> 00:21:18.039 Think the reverse of what is true. 00:21:20.239 --> 00:21:21.359 Fifth and lastly, 00:21:22.199 --> 00:21:23.239 Last observation. 00:21:24.479 --> 00:21:29.000 Children who obey their parents are promised a reward. 00:21:29.000 --> 00:21:30.500 Children, 00:21:30.500 --> 00:21:30.500 00:21:30.500 --> 00:21:36.339 Children who obey their parents are promised a reward. 00:21:36.339 --> 00:21:38.539 Verse 9 says, 00:21:38.539 --> 00:21:40.179 For they, 00:21:40.599 --> 00:21:41.720 Solomon is referring to, 00:21:41.819 --> 00:21:50.220 Your father's instruction and your mother's teaching are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck. 00:21:50.220 --> 00:21:52.980 To the Israelites mind, 00:21:52.980 --> 00:21:59.620 No signs or badges of joy or glory were higher in worth than the garland around the head, 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.880 The gold chain around the neck, 00:22:01.900 --> 00:22:06.660 Because they were worn by kings and the favorites of kings. 00:22:06.839 --> 00:22:10.539 These were significant symbols of favor. 00:22:10.539 --> 00:22:17.220 This is the promise of a parent's instruction themed by the fear of the Lord. 00:22:17.339 --> 00:22:20.819 It is the favor of the Lord. 00:22:21.359 --> 00:22:22.539 What a blessing, 00:22:22.700 --> 00:22:22.940 Children, 00:22:23.099 --> 00:22:24.960 For us to have. 00:22:26.099 --> 00:22:28.579 The fifth commandment found in Exodus 20 verse 12 says, 00:22:28.920 --> 00:22:29.960 Honor your father and your mother, 00:22:30.519 --> 00:22:35.180 That your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 00:22:35.859 --> 00:22:38.559 Proverbs 14 verse 26 and 27 says, 00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:44.179 In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence and his children will have a refuge. 00:22:44.819 --> 00:22:51.319 The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life that one may turn away from the snares of death. 00:22:52.440 --> 00:22:54.480 And Proverbs 19 verse 23, 00:22:55.079 --> 00:23:00.819 The fear of the Lord leads to life and whoever has its rest satisfied, 00:23:01.179 --> 00:23:04.659 He will not be visited by harm. 00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:08.000 The instruction of your parents, 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:15.980 The instruction that's teaching you to fear the Lord is of great benefit to you. 00:23:17.279 --> 00:23:19.420 So our observations from this text, 00:23:19.880 --> 00:23:22.500 God is the originator of the family. 00:23:22.980 --> 00:23:25.740 The family was designed by God to be a school. 00:23:26.539 --> 00:23:30.079 The fear of the Lord is meant to be the theme of the family's curriculum. 00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:34.079 Both father and mother are responsible for teaching. 00:23:34.599 --> 00:23:38.859 And children who obey their parents are promised a reward. 00:23:39.859 --> 00:23:45.220 The task of raising children is a task fraught with challenges. 00:23:45.220 --> 00:23:49.220 At every turn in every single day. 00:23:49.220 --> 00:23:51.559 It is often said, 00:23:51.900 --> 00:23:53.500 The days are long, 00:23:53.500 --> 00:23:56.259 But the years are short. 00:23:56.500 --> 00:24:01.200 We have a precious few years with our little ones. 00:24:01.600 --> 00:24:03.200 We need to do the daily, 00:24:03.600 --> 00:24:04.600 Patient, 00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:07.400 Hard work of teaching them 00:24:07.400 --> 00:24:10.980 How to follow and fear the Lord. 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:12.240 Beloved, 00:24:12.320 --> 00:24:13.620 Be encouraged this morning 00:24:13.620 --> 00:24:18.600 Because our God provides for all that He commands. 00:24:18.700 --> 00:24:20.080 He does not give us a command, 00:24:20.220 --> 00:24:24.560 Give us a responsibility without providing the grace for it. 00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:28.220 I'm a father of young children. 00:24:28.619 --> 00:24:31.240 My youngest is about to turn five tomorrow. 00:24:31.940 --> 00:24:32.440 In fact, 00:24:32.519 --> 00:24:35.899 Our oldest will be 11 towards the end of the month. 00:24:36.339 --> 00:24:40.319 And there are still so many things that cause me just to tremble. 00:24:40.419 --> 00:24:43.240 I don't know what I'm doing most of the time. 00:24:44.159 --> 00:24:44.960 But thankfully, 00:24:45.139 --> 00:24:46.659 God provides grace. 00:24:46.899 --> 00:24:50.519 As we pick up the word and we try to apply it in their lives. 00:24:51.440 --> 00:24:53.359 Dads with preteen boys, 00:24:53.359 --> 00:24:57.240 I'm going to be talking to you a lot in the next couple of months. 00:24:57.979 --> 00:24:59.719 That's what I'm most afraid of. 00:25:00.619 --> 00:25:02.639 Cade's turning 11. 00:25:03.719 --> 00:25:07.079 There is much grace for our parenting. 00:25:07.459 --> 00:25:11.119 Plenteous, abundant grace for our parenting. 00:25:12.199 --> 00:25:16.219 May we be a church full of fathers and mothers who take up by grace 00:25:16.219 --> 00:25:20.159 Their God-given responsibility to instruct their children 00:25:20.159 --> 00:25:22.779 In awe and reverence of the Lord. 00:25:23.359 --> 00:25:27.979 May we be a church who helps by grace to equip parents for this task 00:25:27.979 --> 00:25:32.019 And who step into the gaps to help train children. 00:25:33.219 --> 00:25:36.519 May we be a church full of people who gladly submit ourselves 00:25:36.519 --> 00:25:38.959 To God's good word 00:25:38.959 --> 00:25:40.779 For his great glory 00:25:40.779 --> 00:25:42.059 In our world. 00:25:42.500 --> 00:25:43.240 Let's pray together. 00:25:43.240 --> 00:25:43.259 Let's pray together. 00:25:43.259 --> 00:25:43.259 00:25:43.259 --> 00:25:43.259 00:25:43.259 --> 00:25:43.259 00:25:43.259 --> 00:25:43.259 00:25:43.259 --> 00:25:43.259 00:25:43.259 --> 00:25:43.559 Let's pray together. 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:43.559 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:43.559 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:43.559 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:43.559 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:43.559 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:43.559 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:43.559 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:43.559 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:43.559 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:43.559 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:43.559 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:43.559 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:43.559 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:43.559 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:43.559 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:43.559 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:43.559 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:43.559 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:43.559 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:43.559 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:43.559 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:43.559 00:25:43.559 --> 00:26:13.539 Thank you.