Instilling Biblical Truth

It's great to have you with us as we study God's Word together You know, as I look at this series, I realize that in my opinion, my opinion doesn't really matter to anybody but me anyway, but I think it's the best series that we've ever done topically when it comes to understanding God's call upon the family And our responsibility to glorify and honor the Lord's name As I look and see what God has for us, I begin to realize that there are so many Opportunities for us to grow in our walk with the Lord and to understand what God has for us

And we're trying to give you some of the basic foundations that will help fortify your family The foundations that once built upon, and they are built on over time And as you build upon them and you grow in your walk with the Lord You begin to see great and mighty things happening Now, some of you have already spoken to me about the things that God's doing in your family, and you're praising God for what's taking place And for that, I rejoice And I'm excited about what God is doing in us as a church that we might be able to truly stand for the truth of God's Holy word

But these foundations, yes, I will review them for you again because I would like to give you a quiz one time Just to see how well you would do, and to see how well you are able to build upon one foundation after another But the first foundation, of course, is the forgiving spirit How important it is to learn to forgive as God in Christ Jesus has forgiven us, right? And that's the kind of attitude that we are to have one to another. A forgiving spirit is the principle that we said was the principle of alliance, where I align my life with God's life

If you want to align your life with God's life, then align it after His des And the ab to forgive fallen sinners Because in your family, there's a lot of forgiveness that needs to take place We need to be able to over a transgression We need to be able to demonstrate the glory of a man is to overlook a transgression And that's what's something that all of us need to do But a forgiving spirit is foundation number one And foundation number two is over prayer That is, we are to have prayer Intric involved in every aspect of our family

That we as a family need to be people of prayer, that we need to be praying not just at mealtime, but praying all throughout life Because this is the principle of reliance, where we rely upon the Lord Demonstrate our desire to depend upon the Lord for everything, to trust Him for everything Listen, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it But so many of us are trying to make our house. A home You can't do that Only the Lord can, and so you must trust in Him al And then, of course, foundation number three was an understand mind

We all have the mind of Christ if we're born again, and therefore we have the ability to understand that which God has for us If the house is only built by the Lord, how does the Lord build the house? Proverbs 24: By wisdom a house is built By understand, it is established And by knowledge, all the rooms are filled with precious and pleasant riches That one verse alone is really the only verse you need for your family That's it Proverbs 24, 3, and 4 If you live that, that's all your family needs You need no other verse in Scripture, just that one

And to be able to dissect that and to break that down and understand what it is God wants you to learn through that verse or those two verses, that will take a lifetime Because wisdom, knowledge, or understanding the knowledge is what God wants for you and me as we seek to understand how to build our homes For the glory of his name And then foundation number four simply was a non-compromising life The principle of alliance, rel, then The principle of compliance, thank you, and then the principle simply that states def We defy sin We're against sin We refuse to compromise

We refuse to compromise our integrity We refuse to compromise our honesty We just want to live Truth That's it Live a life of integrity And then number five: a life of demonstrating faith The principle of appliance, where you put into action that which you say you believe You put it into operation And our faith needs to be in oper And then from there, the Nix foundation was an awe-inspiring leadership And that's the simple principle of suppliance, where we supply what is needed in our families by leading the way And then last week was the foundation of thirsting for Christ

That's the principle of allegiance because it's all about loyalty to Christ, loyalty to the God of Israel That's why Jeremiah the prophet tells us that my people have forsaken me, the well of living water, to hew for themselves broken cisterns that hold no water They have done two evils It is an evil thing to go after something else outside of the Christ to fill the thirsty soul of man And so many times we do that That's why we must thirst only for the Christ And so as we continue Our look at these different foundations

The next one is, and I wish I had time to spend a month of Sundays on each one of them to be able to break them down into greater detail for you, but we don't have the time to do that But hopefully, you'll be able to study the scripture on your own to be able to understand what God has for you But this last one, or this next principle, principle number eight, is instilling biblical truth Instilling biblical truth This is the principle of guidance, where you guide your family to understand the importance of truth Truth is everything Truth is all that we have

And if we don't build our families around the truth, And then instill biblical truth in them, then we can't expect them to live a life of truth We need to walk in truth Our Lord is truth, and therefore our lives must be centered around the truth of God's Holy Word Remember what Paul told Timothy way back in 2 Timothy chapter 2 When he said these words, You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also

He says, listen, the responsibility, Timothy, that you have is a great responsibility You have to entrust to faithful men the things that you've heard and seen in me But the resource to do that is grace And once you tap into that resource, which is grace To fulfill the responsibility which is great, the results are always glorious because then they will in turn be able to teach others also Well, all that is is the principle of disciple making Christ, Go into all the world and make disciples You baptize them, you teach them to observe all that I've commanded you

And so in our homes, we are in the process of instilling biblical truth into the lives of everybody in the family Wouldn it be great if everybody's family was committ to Living truth, what was committed to searching for truth, what was committed to obeying the truth Wouldn't it be great if that was the case? And that's why it's such a supreme foundation for the home That we live a life of truth and then impart that truth to those that we say we love and adore Now The comp for every foundation are wisdom, understand And knowledge Okay, Proverbs 24:3 and 4

Those are the components that are necessary in building your home Wisdom, understand And knowledge Now we've already gone over this in our foundation understand mind And so I won't go over that with you, but briefly to let you know that wisdom is the application of truth to life Understanding is a verification of that truth in life And knowledge is the clarification of that truth through life And those are the components that are necessary in building a foundation that glorifies the Lord

The consequences of that is that if by wisdom a house is built And through understanding it is established, and through knowledge the rooms are filled with precious and pleasant riches, then the consequences Center around the fact that my family will flourish, my family will be fortified, and my family will be fulfilled And I don't think there's anybody in the room who doesn't want a fulfilled family. I don't think there's anybody in the room that doesn't want a fortified home. I don't think There's anybody in the room that doesn't

Want a fort, a house that flourishes because it's built on the truth of God's Holy Word So, because we've already talked about that, I'm not going to go back and review that But what I want to give you is not just the components and the consequences, but the course of action we are to take as we seek As we seek to inst biblical truth in our family, truth must permeate the home And so, there, I want you to understand the book of Proverbs So, if you've got your Bible, turn with me to the book of Proverbs And this is where we'll begin our time together this evening

If wisdom is the application of truth to life, then you must ask for wisdom and aspire to wisdom If understand verifies truth in life, then you must value truth and venerate truth And if knowledge is that which clarifies truth, then you must crave knowledge and communicate knowledge You with me so far? I'll go back over it again. I'll go a little slower this time If wisdom applies truth to life, and only wisdom is that which builds the house, Then I must ask God for wisdom

Right? That makes sense, right? Turn me to James chapter one. I know I just told you to turn to Proverbs, but go back with me if you would just for a moment to James chapter 1 James says these words James chapter 1, verse number 1 James, the bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad, greetings Consider all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials Okay? Now, I don't want to talk to you about trials necessarily, but James says, cons it all joy When you encounter various trials Now, all of us encounter various trials

And your trial is different than my trial, and my trial is different than your trial And we can all go down the road about the different trials that we experienced And I can tell you what my trials are, and you can think, well, that's just not a very, very big trial at all And you can tell me what your trials are, and I'm, man, suck it up You're going to be okay No big deal It's all right But our trials to us Are still trials, right? And James says, Consider it all joy, brethren, when you fall into manifold, various kinds Of trials

Why? Says, know that the testing of your faith produces endurance There 's something happening to your faith And it's going to produce endurance, staying power, the ability to keep on keeping on And let endurance have its perfect result so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing In other words, what's happening in your life right now, and I't Know what's going on in your own personal life or your own family life, but whatever it is, James says, What's happening is to this To this end, that you will be complete and you will lack absolutely nothing

Isn't that great? God is going to do something in your own personal life that's going to keep you from lacking anything that you specifically need to be the man and woman God wants you to be And they say this, verse five But big but right, but if any Of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God That's very important Because we'll quote that verse, but we'll take it out of context Because the context specifically deals with trials It's not, well, I need wisdom on which route to take to get home No, that's not what it's about So I going to ask God for it Although, you can't ask God for that

Alright? That's not what James 1:5 was talking about Well, I need wisdom on who to marry Well, unless your marriage is going to be a trial, that's not what you're asking God for or asking God about So the bottom line is that you ask God for wisdom to understand the trial Because there's a trial that's happening in your life, and you need God to give you the wisdom to understand exactly what He's doing So, the context of James 1:5 is simply this: if any of you lacks wisdom concerning the trial that you are engaged in, now this is important, why? Because in a family, we all go through trials

And we have to be able to have the wisdom that God imparts to us to be able to live a life that helps our family understand trials Listen, if you're a father and you crumble under trials, you're going to have a hard time leading your family through difficult times Right? Of course you are Your wife needs an anchor And if you're going to be, what's the word I want to use? If you're going to be a floating device, And not an anchor, you know, you're not going be much help to your family Your wife needs somebody she can trust in, that she can grab a hold of

That's going to allow her to have stability But if you're the kind of guy that can't handle difficulties, that can't handle hardships, if you can't run with footmen, how will he ever be able to run with horses? That's what God told Jeremiah, right? You think that God would be a little bit more sensitive to Jeremiah? After all, he was a prophet, right? He was going to preach to people who didn't listen to what he was going to say So you think that God would be a little bit more sensitive to Jeremiah than he was and say, yeah, Jeremiah, I know it's so hard on you. I know it's difficult

Jeremiah, to be able to preach to people who won't listen You know, I'm so, I'm so, I'm so, that's just so bad No, he, Jeremiah, if you can't run the foot, how will you ever be able to run with the horses? Jeremiah, you got to get tough, man You got to be a man So many times, we just can't handle. dis and trials. I'm not trying to minimize your trial. I'm not trying to go back and say, you know what, your trial is just not that big a deal But the fact of the matter is, is that we have to be able to lead our families Through the fire

And if we can't do that, we're going to have a hard time leading our families in any other way Because leadership is always seen at its highest level when adversity is present Always Leadership always rises to the top Am difficulties So James says: Look, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God This is this Who gives to all gener? You know, God wants to give you so much wisdom in your trial He wants you to understand what's happening because you are going to app that truth to life That 's what wisdom is: the application of truth to life

But when you go to God and you ask Him for wisdom, He just can't wait to just flood it out on you, to generously give you wisdom Problem is, we don't ask We're too busy sitting in the corner crying Instead of going to God and asking, Lord, what do I do? How do I handle this hardship? How is it I'm supposed to lead my family through this difficulty? Lord, I need wisdom from you And God says, I want to give it to you generously, without reproach This is this And it will be given to him That's a promise But, another but he must ask in faith

What is faith? Believing in what God has already said, right? That's what God has already said So he must ask in faith without any doubting No doubting Don't doubt what God has already said Don't think for one moment you can go to God and ask Him for wisdom and doubt His word Because if you do, that's what he says For the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind, for that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord Wow, that's kind of hard nose, isn't it? That doesn't seem very nice

Why would God do that? Because he wants you to trust him He wants you to believe in him He wants you to come to him and ask him for wisdom because he just wants to pour it out so that you can understand what's going on in your life But if you go to him and you doubt his promises, his precepts, you doubt what he's already said, you're going to be like the The sea, the surf, tossed to and fro You're going to be so unst And what does the Bible say? For the man, that man, ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, un in how many ways? All his way

Do you see how important that is? You can 't miss that Because The Bible says you're unstable in every way possible, in all of your ways If you go to God and you doubt what He has already said, and yet you expect Him to give you wisdom, And wisdom comes from the mouth of God, right? That's why you receive nothing Wisdom, according to the book of Proverbs, we this in a moment, comes from the mouth of God Understanding from the mouth of God, know from the mouth of God, but you're going to God And saying, I doubt what comes from your mouth

So you're asking God for wisdom, but you what He's going to say to you through His Word That's why you must ask in faith without wavering Isn't that important? You see, we need to understand what God is doing in our lives and what God wants to do in us every single day Every one of us has Trials And whether you think someone else's is big or not, let me tell you something When you're in a trial, you think yours is pretty big And so you need to go to God, ask Him for wisdom, not doubting anything that He's going to tell you, because you're going to ask in faith

Believing what he's already said, and you're going to wait for him to generously bestow upon you the words that you need That's why God was so pleased, so pleased, when Solomon came to him and said, I need you to give me, Lord. A discerning spirit, a wise spirit, an understanding mind and heart, so that I can judge between right and wrong in my people. 2 Kings chapter 3 Why? Because he needed to be able to tr God to give him the wisdom he needed to make wise choices for the people of Israel The Bible says that God was so pleased

You ever think about that? That God is pleased when you ask Him for wisdom? God's pleased because that means you're willing to listen to what He has to say because wisdom comes from the mouth of God If you're willing to listen to what he has to say, he's pleased How great is that? And so If wisdom is the application of truth to life, I must ask for wisdom And then I must as after Wisdom Listen to what Proverbs chapter 3 says If you're still in Proverbs because you forgot to go to James, then go to Proverbs chapter 3

Because in Proverbs chapter 3, Solomon says this in verse number 13: How blessed is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding, for her prophet is better than the prophet of silver. and her gain better than fine gold She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire compares with her Long life is in her Right hand In her left hand are riches and honor Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happ are all Who hold fast to her That's wisdom That's understand

And therefore, I must aspire to that. I ask God for wisdom and I aspire for wisdom That's why the Bible says in Psalm 90: teach us the number of days that we might apply our hearts unto wisdom, right? Teach us to count the days That we might learn to apply our hearts unto wisdom So important Proverbs 24, verse number 14 Know that wisdom is thus for your soul If you find it, then there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off So, if wisdom builds the house and wisdom is the application of truth to life, then I truly must ask God for wisdom

And I must aspire after wisdom. I must seek wisdom. I must seek her as one searches for silver, according to the book of Proverbs, the second chapter, verse number six Next is understand If understand is the verification of truth in life, then I must value understand and I must venerate Understanding, that is, adore and honor understand. I must first of all value understand Listen to what Proverbs chapter 4 says Proverbs chapter 4, verse number 5 Sol says, Acquire wisdom Acquire understand Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth Do not forsake her She will guard you Love her

She will watch over you The beginning of wisdom is Acquire wisdom And with all your acquiring, get understanding Prize her She will exalt you She will honor you if you embrace her She will place on your head a garland of grace She will present you with a crown of beauty Hear, my son, accept my sayings, and the years of your life will be many Many, you must value, value understand It must be so precious to you Listen to what it says over in Proverbs chapter 16, verse number 16

Proverbs 16, verse number 16 says, How much better it is to get wisdom than gold, and to get understanding is to be chosen above silver Verse 22, understand is a fountain of life to the one who has it And then over in Proverbs 19, verse number 8 Proverbs 19, verse number 8, it says, He who gets wisdom loves his own soul Do you love your own soul? Then you need to get wisdom Wisdom and understanding For he who keeps understand will find good That 's great That's great Then over in Proverbs 23, verse number 23: buy truth, do not sell it, get wisdom, instruction, and understanding

Why? Because from truth comes wisdom Knowledge and understanding So, do all you can, whatever cost there is to you, be willing to expend it because you want to obtain tr Because truth embodies wisdom, understand, and knowledge But not only do you value it, and the question always comes for you and me: do we value understanding? If you do, then you will venerate In other words, you will worship understanding Isaiah 11, verse number 2 says this The shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit That's speaking of the Messiah, right? He's called the branch

And the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understand Why do you venerate understanding? Because our Lord embodies wisdom and understanding And so when you worship understand, you are worshiping the God Who is the God of understanding? So you venerate understand So important And then knowledge Remember, understand takes that which is leaning over and causes it to stand erect That's why the Bible says, by wisdom the house is built, by understanding it is established, it is fortified, right? It's leaning over But with an understanding mind, it stands erect

So many times our homes are leaning to the left or leaning to the right or leaning backwards They're not fortified That's because we don't have an understanding mind That's because we don't value it enough to venerate it as we should as children of the living God And then, knowledge, because knowledge Clarifies truth in life, and if that's the case, then I must crave knowledge and I must communicate knowledge

You ever ask yourself the question: how many people truly crave knowledge? Do you know that last week was our seventh week in this study? And we had 50% less People last week than we did week number one when we started So I have to ask the question: how much those people truly crave knowledge? They must not crave it that much They might crave watching the Lakers or the Dodgers, who will probably lose the C anyway Okay? But the fact of the matter is, we don't crave knowledge. 50% less in seven weeks

Can you imagine that? Where'd everybody go? What's wrong with them? Don't they want to hear the truth? Don't they care about the truth? You say that's not fair, Pastor Really? Nah, never about being fair. I am about being truthful though Right? Do you crave the truth? Do you long for the truth? Last week we talked about thirsting for Christ As newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby, are you kicking and screaming for the truth, for the pure milk of the word? You live an undistracted life, that all you want is to receive from God what He has to say

Very few people fall in that category But those who do experience the blessings and the j that God has for them Do you crave knowledge? We're not talking about a bunch of knowledge that puffs up We're talking about the knowledge that God has that fills the room with all kinds of precious and pleasant riches, right? I mean, doesn't everybody want that? Don't you want a home where every room is just Centered around the character qualities that last and that mean something. I would think that that would be everybody That they want that But so many people, they just don't care

And then you know what happens? Six months down the road, they call me and they say, Can you see me? Because my marriage is falling apart. I'll say Weren't you the one who skipped out on all those weeks that we were spending time together in Foundation of the Fortified Family? Yeah, yeah, I was kind of busy Yeah, yeah, I'm too busy to see you. I'm sorry Really? That just sounds so cool. I don't really say that. I'm just throwing that out at you

But you see that? And so we have to ask ourselves, do we really understand? Remember George Bashkerville? Some of you know George has had to move down to Irvine to live with his daughter and son-in-law because he's unable to live on his own But I remember George Batch said he said here every Sunday, same place, you know, ushered every week, took communion, was here for Who knows how long? And he used to always tell me, he says, You know, if I was able to know this stuff when my kids were young, how much better my family would be today

He says, but you know what? I'm learning it today. I'm learning it today He says, isn't it sad that when we're young, we really don't think we need it? But then when we need it, We're too old to enact it because we didn't live it while our children were young And he's right You know, we have young families in our church, and they want to raise their kids in the nurtured admonition of the Lord, and they want to do that

But, you know, when you get older in life and you look back, You're able to say, wow, man, gee, I wish I would have paid a little bit closer attention when the pastor spoke about that, or when I was able to learn about this and help my family Because then your children grow, they move out, then what? Right? And I don't mean to be hard-nosed Maybe I do. I don't know But the fact of the matter is that, you know, if someone doesn't tell you like it is, they're candy coating it for you. I'm not a candy coater That's the case. I'd worked out the beach someplace and sell candy corn

But the bottom line is, you don't candy coat stuff for people You got to give it to them Straight out of the chute, so they could understand exactly what they need to be doing. I'm concerned about families in our church. I'm concerned about husbands and wives loving one another in a way that honors Christ to model to their children what needs to be modeled to them. I'm concerned about children being raised in homes where parents live out the truth of God's word. I'm going to get to that here in a second. I to hurry

But you've got to crave it as newborn babes design pure muggle word And then you've got to communicate it You got to communicate knowledge Listen to what it says over in Proverbs 15, verse number 7. I love this Proverbs 15, verse number 7 It says this It says, the lips of the wise spread knowledge, but the hearts of fools are not so The lips of the wise spread knowledge In other words, they want to communicate the knowledge of who God is and what He's done, and they can't wait to do that That's the lips The wise

And remember, wisdom, understanding, knowledge, they're all kind of the same, and yet they're distinct, they're unique, they're different, but yet they all embody the same truth And you have to realize that we need to be able to communicate that knowledge So, how are you going to do that? If you're going to steal biblical truth, how are you going to communicate that knowledge? Turn with me to Psalm 78 Psalm 78 Psalm 7 is a psalm of As, who speaks about Israel's history And this is what he says Listen, O my people, to my instruction

Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us We will not conceal them from their children, but Tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and the strength and his wondrous works that he has done For he has established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel which he commanded our fathers Listen, if we're going to instill biblical truth in our families, it begins with a parental submission to truth. A parental submission to truth

That is, as parents, we submit to the ultimate authority, God Himself Listen, he says, listen, O my people Incline your ears to the words of my mouth You better pay attention because what's going to happen is He has commanded our fathers, and our fathers need to be able to tell to the generation to come, verse 4 The praises of the Lord, the power of the Lord, the plans of the Lord, and the purposes behind all that God has done But it begins with parental submission To the truth In other words, we can't expect our children to submit

To our authority, unless we submit to a higher authority, God and His Word You see, we are modeling to our children every day the importance of submission We follow what God says As we do that and we align ourselves under the authority of God and His Word, we model to our family the importance of doing what God has said That can't be emphasized enough That is so important Because our children need to understand authority and submission to authority They learned that from you and me as parents

And if we are unsubmissive to authority, God's holy word, then what we have done is taught our children that they can then become their own authority and they don't have to submit to a higher authority It begins with parental submission to the truth of God's holy word In other words, they need to see in action how it is mom and dad Follow what God says unquestionably, unreservedly, because they want to honor the Lord God of Israel Now, listen Invariably, and I've been doing pastoral ministry for over three decades When someone comes to me with a family problem

Invariably, it's because mom and dad are living again what God has said in His Word They are unwilling to submit to the Word of God And that has a supreme trickle-down effect into the lives of their children And once you get mom and dad on track to do what God says, no matter what No matter how inconvenient it might be, all of a sudden that begins to trickle down to the children and they begin to see that mom and dad are really serious about doing what God says They're really serious about submitting to what God says That's why AS begins with listen Listen carefully

Not just hear it, but obey it Follow my instruction because God has given a command in Israel that He's given to the fathers And the fathers now have to pass down that truth to their children But if they don't live in subjection to that truth, they can't effectively pass that truth down And the big breach that we have in families is that mom and dad are not submitting themselves to the truth of God's word Therefore, they have a hard time Passing that down to their children because they see duplicity in the lives of their parents They just can't get that And we can't blame them

So it begins with parental submission If we're going to communicate knowledge, Because we crave knowledge? If we're going to value understanding, because we venerate understanding, if we're going to ask God for wisdom and aspire to wisdom, then it begins with parental submission To all that God says That parental submission then effectively leads to spiritual inst Spiritual instruction, where you're able to instruct your children and teach them the truth of the word of the Lord And Deuteronomy 6 is one of the great chapters of the Bible about that and how you teach your children

If you go back there just for a moment, it says very simply these words. O 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 your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey In other words, God says, Look, you're embarking on the land of Canaan, you're embarking on a pagan land You're moving into an arena where nobody knows me

And if you want to survive, and if you want to be able to make it in that land, then you must learn to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind You must listen To what I have said, you must be careful to do what I have said Mom and dad, you must live sub to me You must do that Okay? And then he says, Hero is you, the Lord our God is one You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, with all your might In other words, if you're going to Spiritually instruct your children, you must be able to do it compellingly

And the only way you can do it compellingly is if you love the Lord your God with all that you have There is this compulsion, there is this drive, there is this force, there is this motivation that happens that compels me to instruct my children, that compels me to To guide my children into spiritual truth, that they might understand what God has for them That's because I love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength So I teach them compellingly, and I teach them Con, because it says, these words which I have commanded you today shall be on your heart

In other words, I am so convinced that what I'm telling you is true that they're on my heart, and my heart follows what God says And then I must teach them continually because you shall teach them diligently to your sons That word diligently means to sharpen Okay? So, how do you sharpen something that's dull? You keep rubbing it against that one thing that makes it sharper Which is the Word of God And so, if you want to sharpen your children, you teach them diligently, you teach them to sharpen them because they need to be at the cutting edge of God's holy word

So, you must teach them not just compellingly and convincingly, you must teach them continually, you must teach them creatively Listen to what it says You must teach them diligently to your sons, and you should talk with them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up That means that you're teaching your children as you go through life, as you walk through life The best way to teach your children, we talked about trials earlier, right? You want to teach your children how to handle a trial? Live through that trial with them

Show them what God is doing Explain to them that it's going be all right because God has a purpose, God has a plan And let me show you what He has to say about that so you can learn to trust the Lord as well That's very important You teach them creatively when you walk by the way and you sit by the side because you're teaching them as you go through life Because they are going to face life struggles, and as they face them, you walk them through those struggles And then you are to go on and you are to teach them Conspicuously

For it says, You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals On your forehead Those are the phylacteries that the Jewish rabbis or Jewish Orthodox Jews wear when they have them that hang from their forehead They wave back and forth in front of their eyes because they want to make sure that everything they see, they see through the grid of Scripture They had them tied around their wrists because they want to make sure that whatever their hands touch, it touches that which is pure and true and holy through the grid of Scripture That's living a conspicuous kind of life

And we teach our children in a conspicuous manner because we are aliens and strangers in a foreign land We're just passing through this place But parental submission will always lead to an effective spiritual instruction But if you want to ask why your instruction is falling on deaf ears, ask yourself: where am I as a parent not submitting to what God says in his word? And that spiritual instruction then le to a person demonstration of truth

It says, For he established a testimony in Jacob, this is Psalm 78, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers that they should teach them to their children how? Creatively, compellingly, conspicuously Those things we learn in Deuteronomy 6: that the generation to come might know, even children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their children Wow, what a legacy Isn't that the legacy you want for your family? It says that they should put their confidence in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments

That's the personal demonstration of the truth That I am going to keep the commandments of God And then there's going to be an essential admonition which says, and not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not prepare its heart And whose spirit was not faithful to God The sons of Ephraim were archers equipped with bows, yet they turned back in the day of battle They did not keep the covenant of God They refused to walk in his laws They forgot his deeds and his miracles which he had shown them And he wrought wonders before their fathers

In other words, he goes and reviews Israel's history and to help them understand that you can't be like your fathers There is always an essential admonition that must take place With in your family, there must be constant warnings to your children Constant Always warning them of impending judgment, always warning them of evil to come, always warning them about the consequences of sin You cannot live As an effective household without having warning signs throughout the house, so that you protect your children from harm And the book of Proverbs is the greatest book of warning ever written

And so, you understand the warnings that the scriptures give us when it comes to understanding how it is we are to live our lives Listen Is it not true? Is it not true that when John says, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth? That is the greatest of all joys on earth, the side of eternity Knowing that your children walk in truth That your rooms are filled with precious and pleasant riches We need, as parents, To be able to instill in the lives of our children the truth of God's holy wor Because one day we're going to be dead and gone

And they have responsibility to instill that truth into the lives of their children And the effectiveness of that communication that we have To spill over to the second and third and fourth generation is so important And I wonder, what is the condition of your family? I wonder how the foundations are being established in your home If there is a forgiving spirit, if there is prayer that overshadows everything In your family If there's that understanding mind that truly wants to live out the principles of God's word

If there's that non-compromising kind of life, is there that that That lifestyle of thirsting for God because you want your children to have a thirst for God Oh, my friends, this is so important It can't be reiterated enough that what you do in the walls of your home, how you live your life, is going to live with you forever And through your children and their children's children You must understand that And the only thing that matters Is how your life affects the life of your children That's really all that matters

You know how much money you make and where you go to school and where you live, that's really irrelevant But what is the effect upon your children? And you can begin that today You don't have to wait till tomorrow And you certainly can't change yesterday, can you? That's in the books It's over But boy, you certainly can change Thursday of this week, Friday this week, certainly can change Thanksgiving and Christmas this year By making sure that you instill truth on a regular basis in your family, by submitting to that truth as a parent

Providing the framework through which I teach my children the importance of submission, to have a sensitive he to the truth of God's word My prayer for you and me, and believe me, throughout this whole series, I've been praying for our church, praying that God does a work in the families that are here To listen to the word of the Lord, that God would strengthen families because you're in a war You're in a war every single day It's a horrendous battle, but it's a battle worth fighting because it truly is a noble fight for the glory and honor of God and his kingdom

May God give us the strength to accomplish all that He has for us as His children Let me pray with you Father, thank you for today, a chance to be in your word So many things yet to cover that we did not even begin to broach this even And yet, Lord, you are such a great and awesome God Our prayer, Father, is that you do a work in every family that's here You do a mighty work And that, Lord, you would cause each and every one of us to do a heart inventory

To look in the mirror, the mirror of your word, that we might experience a transformation from the inside out because of the power of your spirit, the power of your word, to live for your glory and honor Bring healing, Lord, to broken homes Bring healing to those who are hurting this evening We pray that, Lord, your Spirit would bring comfort to souls that are in distress And that, Lord, we would truly lean on you alone In Jesus' name, amen.