A Practical Charge to Parents and Children, Part 3

So today, as we begin our time in the word of the Lord, I wanna remind you what the ancient philosopher Plato said when he recorded these words, the life of the nation is the life of the family written large. The life of the nation is the life of the family written large. In other words, as the family goes, so goes the nation. I find it very interesting, I remember it quite vividly, that on February 6th, 1995, Newsweek on the cover had the words in bold letters, shame. And under it was this question, how do we bring back a sense of right and wrong?

That was a secular magazine asking the question of a nation, how do you bring back a sense of right and wrong? Because there's so much shame in the nation. In that Newsweek magazine was an article written by Kenneth Woodward. He was the religion editor for Newsweek from 1964 until he retired in 2002. In it, he had an article which was entitled, Whatever Happened to Sin? This is what he says, 90% of Americans say they believe in God, yet the urgent sense of personal sin has all but disappeared in the current upbeat style in American religion.

In earlier eras, ministers regularly exhorted congregations to humbly confess your sins. But the aging baby boomers who are rushing back to church do not want to hear sermons that might rattle their self-esteem. And many clergy who are competing in a buyer's market feel they cannot afford to alienate. In other words, he says, truth is no longer being presented. If truth is no longer being presented, then sin is no longer being confronted. If sin is no longer being confronted, then everybody going to church is leaving church feeling really good about the way they are living.

That's always a bad thing, not a good thing. And so, because of that, the family begins to deteriorate. And once the family begins to deteriorate, the nation begins to disintegrate. And that's exactly what has happened. So in answer to that, in 1996, Hillary Clinton, of course, you know who she is, wrote a book called, It Takes a Village. This was her answer to Kenneth Woodward's article and Newsweek's theme of shame and how to instill right and wrong in a nation. And in that book, she totally supplants the parental authority in the home.

In that book, she states unequivocally that the only answer simply is for child rearing to be a collective enterprise with government as the ultimate one in charge. That was in 1996. So you fast forward to 2021. And in 2021, our now president, Joe Biden, passed a bill that went through Congress, $400 billion worth. It's called the Universal Preschool and Affordable Care Act. And that bill is propositioned or positioned for the federal government to be the dominant voice in shaping curriculum and educational philosophy for children from age three through their college years.

So our government is going to spend $400 billion to make sure they indoctrinate our children into what they believe is the sense of right and wrong. When we know that what they say is wrong is right and what they say is right is wrong. It's unbelievable. So in 2023, just last year, our president was quoted by saying these words at the National School Teacher of the Year Award. He said, there is no such thing as someone else's child. Our nation's children are all our children. He could not be any more wrong than he is.

Your children, my children, are not the nation's children. They were given to you, they were given to me, and I and you are their caretakers, are their parents, the ones who are to raise them in the nurtured admonition of the Lord. So the psalmist says in Psalm 127, behold, children are a gift of the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward. Your child is a gift from God, not to the nation, not to our government, but to you. They are a gift and they are a reward. It's unfortunate that so many parents see their children as a disruption and not a delight.

Mainly because when they come, they disrupt your sleep. And they do, they keep you awake at night. They disrupt your one-time free time that you always used to have. Now it's no longer free, it's taken up by a child. They interrupt meal time, they disrupt all kinds of things. But they truly are a reward and a gift from God. And that lack of sleep and all the time they take, it really goes by so fast. Believe me, I have eight children, soon to be 20 grandchildren. Time goes by rapidly. It goes by in the blink of an eye.

One day you're changing diapers, the next day you're changing insurance carriers. It just never stops. And yet it goes by so briefly. And so many times we forget how quickly it goes by. Children are not a disruption. They are truly a delight. They're not an intrusion to your life. They are an infusion of real life. They are not, they are not a regret. They truly are a reward. And they're certainly not a burden, but they're the ultimate blessing. Your children, my children are given to us as a gift from the Lord.

He goes on to say, like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gates. The fact that they're the symbolism of arrows, how they're fit for the warrior. How do you handle, how do you handle this culture? You handle it by sharpening those arrows in such a way, because this really is the greatest time in the history of the world for your child to be born.

You might not think it that way, but it really is. There is no greater time to be born than today. And as a parent, to be able to sharpen that little arrow and to raise that child in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, so that one day you'll pull that bow back and shoot that arrow into this culture to make an impact, to make a dent, to make a severe impact, to change the course of a generation. That's why I love that verse in 1 Timothy 2, where it talks about how a woman shall be saved in childbearing if she continues in faith, love, sincerity, and self-restraint.

Why is that? How can a woman be saved in childbearing? She's preserved. It's simply in the context of how Eve was deceived and how Eve was the first to sin.

And yet, Adam's held responsible for the sin of the world. And yet, the Lord has given the woman, and not the man, but the woman, the opportunity to change the course of a generation. There is no higher calling in all the world than to be a mother. Why? Because you have that one opportunity to change the course of an entire generation. God has given you that privilege, and therefore, children are a blessing. And yet, we find ourselves fighting a war on our children. MacArthur's got a book, John MacArthur's got a book called The War on Children.

It is a must-read. If you don't have it, download Amazon Prime and get it by this afternoon. You can get it by tomorrow, okay? Don't do it while I'm preaching, but you can get it really, really quick. It's a must-read. It's called The War on Children because it's so important to understand because the Bible has the answer. And the Bible has the answer way back in the book of Deuteronomy, in a very familiar chapter about a nation that was to embark on a pagan culture, a culture filled with idolatry and filled with immorality.

And I always like to take issue with the people that say things are so bad today. Listen, they're not as bad today as they were in Genesis chapter six because the Lord had to destroy the world. It was so bad. He's going to destroy the world again, but we're not there yet because it's not as bad as it was in Genesis chapter six. It's going to get there, but it's not there yet. So much so that the Lord started over with Noah and his family. But the Lord has given us a script. He's given us the answer on how to raise our children and how to be the kind of families that make a unique and glorious impact on a culture that's idolatrous, filled with immorality, filled with all kinds of sinful behavior.

The Lord has given us a blueprint. So when Moses would speak to the children of Israel, he would tell them in Deuteronomy six, verse number 24, this is for your good and for your survival. This is the only way you're going to survive in a pagan culture. There's no other way. And if you don't get what Deuteronomy six says, you're going to struggle facing your culture, facing your community, facing your school, raising your children. But if you adhere to what Moses says to the children of Israel in Deuteronomy chapter six, then you are well on your way to not just survival, but the goodness and blessing of God.

And it's centered around four words, four words. The first word is hear, H-E-A-R. The second word is love.

The third word is teach. And the fourth word is worship. Four words that give you four principles. I'm going to cover them this week and next week. Four principles that are your survival kit in a pagan culture. Four words that we need to understand because the first word deals with our attention to truth.

The second word deals with our affection for truth. The third word deals with our articulation of truth.

And the fourth word deals with our adoration of truth. If you understand those principles and you enact those principles on a regular basis, great things are going to happen in your family. Remember, it was James Madison, James Madison, called the father of the American constitution who said these words. Here is what he said about our nation. We have staked the whole future of American civilization not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of our policies and our politics upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves according to the 10 commandments of God.

That's not some pulpit pounding preacher that said that. That's just the father of the American constitution who said that. In other words, in order for families to govern themselves, to police themselves, they must adhere to the 10 commandments of God. Those commandments are not obsolete. They are absolute. But we think them as obsolete, but they're not. Because it's the moral law of God and the moral law of God never changes because God never changes. Because the moral law of God is the description of who God is.

And when you come to know God, you want to follow through on what he says. And so those commandments are the basis of what Moses talks about as he reiterates the law of God right before he dies. He knows he can't enter the promised land. He knows because God has said, you're not going in, but you're gonna lead them to where they need to be. He's at that place. And so he gives them a reiteration of the law of God. He articulates everything they need to know to make them equipped to go into the land, a pagan land, that they might be able to be the kind of people God wants them to be.

And it begins with each and every individual family of that nation of Israel. They need to understand it. So these commandments are based on the fact that God is true and his word is true. A recent article came out and said that the majority of Americans no longer believe in absolute truth. In fact, 62% of people who call themselves evangelical Bible believers say there is no such thing as absolute truth. That's unfortunate because everything we do is based on truth, God's truth. And we must understand the truth of the living God.

So if you have your Bible, turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter six. This is where we're going to be this week and next week. Deuteronomy chapter six, it begins this way. Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it. So you and your son and your grandson might fear the Lord your God to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I command you all the days of your life and that your days may be prolonged.

Oh Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly just as the Lord, the God of our fathers has promised you in a land flowing with milk and honey. Verse four, hear, oh Israel, the Lord is our God. The Lord is one. That statement is monumental. We could spend weeks on hear, oh Israel, the Lord our God is one. What a powerful statement. But Moses begins by saying, listen, there must be an absolute attention to everything God has said in his word.

This is the attention to truth. You must listen carefully. You must listen completely. You must listen consciously. You must listen intently. You must come to understand everything that God has said. You must hear, oh Israel, that our Lord is one. You're going to go into a culture that believes in a plethora of gods. But there's only one God. He is the true and living God. He is the one who has called you. He is the one who's going to use you. He is the one that you adore, that you worship. But you need to hear him.

You need to listen to all that he has to say. Because once you stop listening, you stop learning. Once you stop learning, you'll stop loving. Once you stop loving him, you'll stop living for him. You must hear and listen to everything he says. This is absolutely crucial. Why? Listening is your highest form of worship. Ecclesiastes five, verse number one.

Guard your steps when you go to the house of the Lord. Why? Because you're going there to listen, to listen.

And we, as parents, teach our children how to listen, how to be good listeners, how to be good hearers, that they might come to understand exactly what you are saying and follow through on it. But we took you last week to Jeremiah chapter five because we wanted you to understand that in Jeremiah chapter five, God tells Jeremiah, listen, if you can find one person in all of Israel, in all of Jerusalem, who seeks justice and seeks truth, I will pardon the nation, just one. And Jeremiah couldn't find one because there wasn't any.

Not even one. So when you go to the book of Jeremiah and you come to the fifth chapter, at the end of that chapter, he says this. An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land. The prophets prophesied falsely and the priests rule on their own authority and my people love it so. Nobody wants to listen to truth anymore. They just want to listen to what makes them feel really, really good. So he goes on to say in chapter six, verse number 10. To whom shall I speak and give warning? That they may hear.

Behold, their ears are closed and they cannot listen. Behold, the word of the Lord has become a reproach to them. They have no delight in it. In other words, they're delighting in something else other than the word of the Lord because God's word has become a reproach to them. It goes against everything they want to do. So they take no delight in the word of the Lord. So he says in verse number 16 of chapter six, thus says the Lord, stand by the ways and see. Ask for the ancient paths where the good way is and walk in it and you will find rest for your souls.

But they said, we will not walk in it. Wow. And I said, I watched men over you saying, listen to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, we will not listen.

Therefore, hear O nations and know a congregation was among them, hear O earth. Behold, I'm bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their plans because they have not listened to my word. And as for my law, they have rejected it also. You see, Israel was designed to be God's spokesperson, but they could not be a spokespeople unless they knew exactly what God said. But they refused to listen.

They did not want to hear. They had made a commitment at Sinai. Oh yes, we will listen. Yes, we will obey. Yes, we will follow the word of the Lord. But Israel becomes the classic case of people who refuse to listen to their God. So when you come over to chapter 13, it says in verse 11, for as the waistband clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole household of Israel and the whole household of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord, that they might be for me a people for renown, for praise and for glory, but they did not listen.

He said, I made this people like a waistband. I wanted them to cling to me. I wanted to make them for praise and glory. I wanted to give them a name that would be a name that was renowned, but they would not listen.

Verse 15, listen and give heed and do not be haughty for the Lord has spoken, give glory to the Lord your God. You can't give glory to God unless you listen to God. And the reason you don't listen to God is because you're arrogant, you're prideful, you're haughty. He goes on to say these words in verse 17, but if you will not listen to it, my soul will sob in secret for such pride, Jeremiah says. Wow. So you move to Jeremiah chapter 17. In Jeremiah chapter 17, the Lord says, I want you to listen to me about the Sabbath.

I want you to understand what the Sabbath is. And so he says in verse 23, yet you did not listen or incline your ears, but stiffen their necks in order not to listen or take correction. Verse 24, but it will come about if you listen attentively to me, declares the Lord. Just listen to what I have to say. If you just perk up your ears, hear what I say, and follow through on what I say, there'll be great blessing that comes your way. Verse 27, but if you do not listen to me to keep the Sabbath day holy, but not carrying a load and coming in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem and not be quenched.

Then in chapter 25, and it goes on and on, verse four, and the Lord has sent to you all his servants, the prophets again and again, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear saying, turn now everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds and dwell on the land which the Lord has given you and your forefathers forever and ever. And do not go after other gods to serve them and to worship them. And do not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands and I will do you no harm, yet you have not listened to me, declares the Lord, in order that you might provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.

So Jeremiah over and over and over again, no wonder he's the weeping prophet. There's nobody who seeks truth. There's nobody who wants justice. There's nobody who wants to listen to the God of truth. No wonder he begins to weep over and over and over again until you come to chapter 35 again. And in chapter 35, he makes a comparison. He makes a comparison of a whole group of people called the Rechabites who are descendants of Jethro, Moses' father-in-law. They are not a part of Jacob's seed. They're really called strangers in the land.

But this group of people listened to their earthly father and did everything he said. So Jeremiah, to test them, brought them into the temple, poured out vials of wine and said, drink the wine. And they said, we cannot drink the wine. What do you mean you can't drink the wine? Because we made a promise to our father, our earthly father, that we will drink no wine, that we will build no houses, that we only live in tents. We will sow no seed, we'll plant no vineyards. We made that commitment 200 years ago and we've kept it exactly as we promised for 200 years without exception.

And Jeremiah uses that illustration to condemn Israel for their disobedience to their heavenly father. So he says these words in verse 12 of Jeremiah 35. Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah saying, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, go and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, will you not receive instruction by listening to my words, declares the Lord. The words of Jonadab, the son of Rehob, which he commanded his sons not to drink wine and are observed. So they do not drink wine to this day, for they have obeyed their father's command.

But I have spoken to you again and again, yet you have not listened to me. Also, I have sent to you all my servants, the prophets, sending them again and again saying, turn now every man from his evil way and amend your deeds and do not go after other gods to worship them. Then you will dwell in the land, which I have given to you and to your forefathers, but you have not inclined your ear to listen to me. Indeed, the sons of Jonadab, the son of Rehob, have observed the command of their father, which he commanded them, but this people has not listened to me.

Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I am bringing on Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, because I spoke to them, but they did not listen.

And I've called them, but they did not answer. That is just so sad. But in order for your family to survive in any culture, whether it was a culture in the land of Canaan or whether it's a culture in the land of Cavena, you need to hear everything that God says.

Be so attentive to the truth that you hear, you listen and you obey. The psalmist in Psalm 81, verse eight says, "'Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you. "'O Israel, if you would listen to me, "'let there be no strange God among you, "'nor shall you worship any foreign God. "'I, the Lord, am your God "'who brought you up from the land of Egypt. "'Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. "'But my people did not listen to my voice, "'and Israel did not obey me. "'So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart "'to walk in their own devices.

"'Oh, that my people would listen to me, "'that Israel would walk in my ways. "'I would quickly subdue their enemies "'and turn my hand against their adversaries. "'Those who hate the Lord would pretend obedience to him, "'and their time of punishment would be forever. "'But I would feed you with the finest of wheat "'and with honey from the rock, I would satisfy you.'" God says, listen, if you just listen to me, just obey me, just follow through, I will give you the finest of wheat.

I will satisfy all your needs, but you have to listen to all that I say. The book of Proverbs, the eighth chapter, Solomon says, blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my doorposts. For he who finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord. Earlier in chapter one, he said these words, verse 33, he who listens to me shall live securely and will be at ease from the dread of evil. Now, listening is where everything begins because faith cometh by hearing and hearing concerning the word about the Christ.

So you have to listen to hear what God says. And so when you become a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you can't stop listening, you can't stop hearing, you have to truly be engaged as to what your heavenly father says. That's why in that whole scenario with Martha and Mary and Luke chapter 10, when Martha's all upset because Mary's not helping her in the kitchen, and the Lord says, oh, Martha, Martha, you were worried about so very much, but there's only one thing that's really truly needful, and Mary has chosen the best part.

What's that? Sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening to what he has to say. We get so busy doing things that we forget about the importance of listening to the word of the Lord. That's why later on in Deuteronomy chapter 18, Moses says there's gonna come a prophet who is greater than he is, and you shall listen to him speaking to the Messiah himself who will come. So in the Mount of Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John surrounded by the Lord in all of his glory, along with Moses and Elijah, the voice that has come says this, this is my beloved son, listen to him, because that's what it entails, listening.

Are you a good listener? Do you hear well? Last week, a seven-year-old boy came up to me after our service, and he gave me his notes. His notes. I'm not sure we have seven adults who take notes. Maybe we do. Seven-year-old boy took notes on last week's sermon. He did a better job of summarizing my sermon than I could. So he says, point one, the knowledge of God makes you strong. True. Point two, the Bible is the most important thing. Point three, life is all about truth. Four, God is truth. Five, walk in truth.

Six, be committed to the truth. Seven, raise your children in truth. Seven-year-old boy. So now he gives the verses. Second Samuel 12, 18 to 23, David's son dies.

Proverbs 4, 1 to 4, father's instruction. Proverbs 22, 6, train up a child. Psalm 127, the Lord must build a house. Psalm 58, Jeremiah 5, 1 to 13, Proverbs 23, 23. Seven years old. Somebody's listening. Somebody's listening. And the point is, as I told him, as he gave me his notes, I said, this is great. All you have to do now is just do what the scripture says.

He said, I will. So I asked you this question. How well do you listen? Do you hear what the word of the Lord has said? It is so important. All throughout the book of Deuteronomy, throughout the book of Jeremiah, throughout the book of Isaiah, all the prophecies surrounded around Israel dealt with the fact that they were unwilling to listen and to hear what God had said to them. And therefore, they failed miserably in the land. So much so that all the judgment that God promised and pronounced would come upon them, and it did.

Exactly as he stated it. They stiffened their neck. They hardened their heart. So much so that when you come to 2 Chronicles 36, the last chapter in a Jewish Bible, the Jewish Bible ends with the destruction of the temple on the Temple Mount. Because Israel had hardened their hearts against the Lord and followed their kings into idolatry and immorality. And that's why the Jews today go to that Western Wall or go to that Waiting Wall or Wailing Wall, whatever you wanna call it. Why they go there and they do all those cantanktions, actions before the wall, praying fervently, why?

For the coming of their Messiah to save them from their sin, save them from their oppressors. Only, only they've missed their Messiah. He is going to come again. He is. But that's why, as I told you earlier, they bow toward that wall because it faces the Mount of Olives. And they know that in Zechariah chapter 14, when the Messiah comes, He splits the Mount of Olives. Not praying toward the temple, they're praying toward the Mount of Olives because the temple is too far down from where the Wailing Wall is or the Waiting Wall.

They're praying for the Lord to come. He will. And the Bible promises that He will save Israel. Because you know what? When He comes again, they will listen.

My prayer for us, as families, especially as fathers today. You know, as fathers, we have a huge responsibility to set the tone for our families, to be good listeners, to be able to hear what the word of the Lord says, to obey the word of the Lord, so that our children then will follow. You see, it's so important for us as fathers to model the way because our children are looking, watching, and listening. They wanna know what Dad does. Does Dad go to church? Does Dad read his Bible? Does Dad pray?

Does Dad believe in the sovereignty of God? So when tragedy comes and hardship comes, He gets us on our knees to trust God all the more. Is Dad that way? As fathers, we pave the way for our children to help them understand the importance of truth and to listen to all that God has to say. My prayer for me as a father, that I would be a good listener. I'd be attentive to the truth. My prayer for you, our church, that we as a church would be attentive to the truth, giving the truth our undivided attention whenever it's opened, whenever it's read, whenever it's spoken, that we'd be magnificent learners because we learned to listen well.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for today, the opportunity you give us to spend a little bit of time in your word. Our prayer, Father, is that you would go before us. And we would not be like Israel, who stiffened their neck and hearted their hearts to the truth of the word of God, but we'd be active listeners, willing, ready to hear the word of God and to follow through on all that you've said. Our prayer, Father, is that we would be obedient to your word and that, Lord, when you come again, as you most surely will, we would be found faithful in our service of the king.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen.