Gospel Inspired Teaching

All right, let's pray and then we'll turn in our scriptures to Ephesians chapter 6, okay? Let's pray. Father, thanks again for another day. Thank you for the time of worship we've had together. Thank you for our fellowship. Again, we pray that in every way your name would be honored and glorified.

Especially help us as we think about our parenting, as we think about helping parents, as we are involved with children. We pray that you would guide us by your word today. In Jesus' name. Amen. Ephesians chapter 6, verse 4. Everybody turn there.

Ephesians 6, verse 4 says, As fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Now, we've noted already in past times together, we've noted that we all have a goal for our children. We want to produce independent, godly disciples who love God and serve God and who can handle life by handling God's word.

That's where I want to take them. That's where I want them to be when they leave home. And this text tells us there's a sidetrack we can take. If we're not careful, we can provoke our children to anger. That is, we can bring them up in such a way that they become angry in their lifestyle. It doesn't mean never do anything to displease or make your children angry.

It means, fathers, be careful that you don't do things that produce in them an angry lifestyle. And instead, it says, if we're going to make the goal, there are two rails to the track. Bring them up, first of all, in the discipline and in the instruction of the Lord. We've talked about discipline, the necessity of it, and so forth. But notice, it's not a monorail.

Some people, especially the parents of my generation, tended to react to what was going on in the greater culture, and that was under the influence of guys like a man by the name of Dr. Spock, not to be confused with the Spock on Star Trek. His name actually was Spock. Benjamin Spock was his name, whose books were very influential in the post-World War II generation and saying, don't spank your children, don't do all those things, and so forth.

And so Christians tended to react to that and say if you discipline your children they turn out all right And the issue is that not what the Bible says The Bible says it takes two tracks to reach the goal of a godly independent disciple who loves God and serves God And that is discipline and instruction. Discipline and teaching. Okay? Both of those are necessary. not one or the other and by the way teaching alone doesn't do it either discipline sees that the lessons are learned discipline is education with teeth all right so to understand this you've got to have both not one or the other but both are necessary if we're going to reach the goal that god has for us so we're going to finish this whole series up today with the with that second rail instruction.

We've talked one week already about gospel-inspired communication, about the different ways we communicate and the fact that we also need to be listeners. Now let's talk about teaching, teaching our children. And I've just broken this down into three questions that you can see there. The first is, why should you teach? Why should we teach? I've listed two things and I've forgotten one real important one.

The first reason why we should teach is Jesus or God commands it here. God commands it. I mean, that's just for no other reason. It's that God says it's important to teach. But one of the things that we have to see is that it is a it is a primary means of God's grace is a primary means of God's grace. Turn to first Peter chapter two, first Peter chapter two.

In 1 Peter chapter 2, the Apostle Peter left us with these words, having purified your souls by your obedience to truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart. Note, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and abiding word of God. For all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the grass.

The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you. Here the Apostle Peter says clearly that people are born again when the word is preached to them when the word is brought to them It is the word itself that plants the seed that brings about regeneration that changes a heart.

So, you know, we want our children to have changed hearts, to be transformed. And the way that happens, or one of the means that happens, is by teaching them. They're confronted with the word. It is the word that produces the new birth. The Holy Spirit does not bring new birth to anyone apart from the word of God. That's always the channel that he uses.

And so it's a primary means of grace that we have to take, that we have to use if our children are going to be transformed, if they're going to have new hearts, if their hearts of stone are going to be turned to hearts of flesh. Here's another reason why we ought to teach, because it builds in your children inner convictions. If the only thing you do is discipline your children, you will get compliance.

And they will comply until they get bigger, stronger, and smarter than you. Okay? And I've sat down with a number of families where the dad was basically an abuser, and he got compliance. But when his boys got bigger, stronger and smarter, the compliance ended. And teaching builds inner convictions. That is, that is the fact that when they leave, they're doing what God wants them to do, because they believe it's the right thing to do.

They believe that this is what Jesus would have them to do. Teaching builds inner convictions. All right. So what you're after here is that when they leave, they can understand the world, they can operate in this world, they can do what God wants them to do. something to do in this world because it's been built into them block by block, piece by piece.

They know the truth of the word of God. So it builds inner convictions. Those are some reasons why we ought to teach. Now, the next question is, how should you teach? OK, I think there are two basic ways to teach. Here's the here's the first one.

You can teach formally, formally. That is to say there are formal times for teaching whether it's sitting at the supper table the breakfast table or just carving out time to sit down and teach in the old days in many of our churches in early Baptist churches you learned your catechism my father my father grew up the Dutch Reformed Church and he had to learn his catechism There was a place for formal teaching where you learned the truth Set aside time for teaching. That also includes formal teaching by being here.

Taking formal times of teaching and using them. That is, you're here when the word of God is preached with your children. They are exposed to formal teaching. All right? And I think that's important. By the way, you know what I see happening a lot of times in churches today?

It's not happening here, but in a lot of churches, children are taken out of worship services until they're, I don't know, how old. We've bought into the culture that says mom and dad need to be by themselves and someone else takes care of the kids while we do the important things. And a lot of children are not exposed to formal teaching. They're taken out and done their things.

And there is a place for that. Don't get me wrong. I think there's a place for teaching children differently, but there's also a place for bringing them to the formal teaching of the Word of God. So you're coming to formal teaching and you have formal teaching. But then there is this method, and I think it's very important, and it's described for us in Deuteronomy 6.

Someone read Deuteronomy 6, verses 6 and 7. Deuteronomy 6, verses 6 and 7. all right here's teaching informally that is you're not setting aside certain times for teaching but you're teaching them as you walk along the way as they get up as they lay down it's the the bible describes here moses is describing here teaching your children in the everyday things of life and and the things that just happen in life when you're walking with them talking with them before they're going to bed when they're getting up when you're at the supper table at the breakfast table, all those sorts of things. And frankly, you know what I think?

I think most of the teaching of our children happens right here. Not the formal, but the informal. I think that's where most of it happens, because that's where... or your child says something, you know, why? Oh, you know, the why questions children ask. Why are people mean? Or why is there war?

All those sorts of things. What do I do when? What does God say about this? And those are the times when you are just teaching as you walk, as you talk. Those are very, very important because those are the times when you tend to connect life with the word of God. It's not abstract now.

It's right where they're living. And so it's very important to take those times, the informal times, to teach your children. I don't know. I can't say enough about this because this is where life connects with the word of God and this is where lessons are really learned. Don't neglect those times, okay? when your child is crying because their heart's been broken you don't walk up and say buck up boy I want you to be a man well you've got to lead him to that point you've got to teach him find out again we've talked about this why is he crying what's going on in his heart now you can teach him what's going on and what's happening and why he feels this way and what he ought to do about it those are the sorts of things that are very, very important.

I don't know. Anything in life. You know, when your girls start getting interested in boys, those are prime times for teaching. Especially you dads. That's when you really need to get involved. All right?

And so take those times. That's when you should teach. Now, what should you teach? I've given you a list here of 13 things. All right? And you know what?

There's a whole lot more you could teach. I just picked these things out because I think these are the things that I see could have a tendency that we need to emphasize in our culture today. But there's a whole lot more to teach. And so I'm just going to go through this. You can come up with your own list. you know there's certain things that I think need to be emphasized there's certain things that need to be emphasized more with girls than with boys there certain things that at certain stages of life there are different things you going to emphasize things that they need to know from the Word of God And again you understand where those things are as you living with your children and talking and understanding what's going on, and you can bring the Word of God to bear.

But here's some of the things you ought to teach. Obviously, the very first thing is the Gospel. We need to be teaching our kids the Gospel. I really think we need to move away from this whole thing of let's really push, push, push, until they come to the point and say, Jesus, please forgive me for my sins. And we can wipe our brow and say, okay, they're going to heaven.

The pressure's off. Let's get away from that. We just need to make the gospel the whole atmosphere of our home so that they're thinking in terms of righteousness and substitutionary atonement and all those sorts of things. Folks, let me tell you something. We've got to move away. And I'm preaching to the choir here because we've all been thinking this way for years. from getting away from my ask Jesus into my heart kind of stuff.

All right. I'm not saying that children can't be converted by saying that. I'm just saying, do they understand the gospel? That the gospel is about sinners alienated from God and therefore there has to be payment and a substitute payment was made so that when you put your faith in that substitute payment, that's your payment. He paid the price for you.

His righteousness becomes yours. Your unrighteousness is put on him. All that. We need to be teaching that. And you don't sit down in one period, in one supper and say, okay, I'm going to teach you the gospel now. It's the whole of your life that's centered around the gospel.

And you're teaching and teaching. And you know what? As you're doing that, that's the avenue that the Spirit is going to use to convert your children, if God so wills. And so that's what we need to be doing. And then what's very important about teaching the gospel, they understand that's the motivation for their obedience, that they don't grow up. Listen, I'm really on fire about this because, I don't know, there's just a friend of mine who's struggling right now.

You don't know him, and that's all I'm going to say. And the whole thing seems to be, okay, here's our son, he's doing this, what are the consequences? If he does this, should we do this, this, this, this, this? I'm getting the idea that all of life for this young man was, you know what? life's all about? Life's all about doing good. You've got to be good.

And if you're not good, here are the consequences And it just seems to be devoid of a gospel core And so we need to teach our children the gospel so they understand that I live my life to please my father I don my father loved me enough to send his son and I want to live for him And it's not about, okay, I got to do good or God's going to slap me. All right. It's got to be about the gospel.

The gospel has to be at the core of everything. And so I think that's very important that the gospel is part of everything in our family life. OK, it's part of everything in our family life. Your child is lying. OK, now you've got an opportunity to talk about or stealing, whatever the case may be. One of the things you can say is God says that's wrong.

Here are the consequences. OK, because I want to teach them. Here are consequences for your stealing. but then as I leave it at that I go on and say and you know what Jesus came to save you so that you don't want to steal anymore see there's always the gospel that has to come in it's so important here's another thing I think that's important to the whole gospel thing teach the purpose of limits why are there consequences and we need to be clear on something rules, punishments are never going to change a human heart you know what every household has to have its rules every household has its rules but always remember that the rules will never change a human heart so teach you need to teach the purpose of limits what are the purpose of limits number one, it shows me where I need help okay when our when our third grandson was a little guy we used to put a rock out on the sidewalk at our house called tyler's rock tyler's rock was out on the sidewalk and that was meant he couldn't go past that rock because past that rock was getting too close to the road and he was a little guy he was just you know just run out to the road so we put a rock on the sidewalk and said you can't go past that rock.

Now you know what? That he learned not to go past that rock, but it didn't change his heart from I don't want to run out on the road anymore. He still desperately wanted to do that But it showed him where he needed help okay And it kept him alive That all the limits can do So you teaching them the purpose of the limits is to show wow, where does your heart stray?

And how Jesus came to change your heart. Here's another reason for teaching limits, and that is life is made of limits. You know, I tell young people this oftentimes. You think that your parents are the worst bosses, the most overbearing people you've ever had, guess what? When you leave home, you're going to have more bosses than you know what to do with.

Life is about limits, right? You can't say, ah, I think I'll go to work at 9 today instead of 7. And unless they learn those limits now, they're not going to learn them later. And they might learn them later, but it will be terribly painful. So the purpose of limits is to help them understand that life is about limits. Okay?

Teach them attentiveness, obedience, and honor of parents. This has to do also with limits. Because if they don't learn to handle authority now, they won't handle it when they get out. Children who have made it their life's goal to disobey their parents, and parents who seem to have made it their life goal never to tell their children that that's not acceptable, that that's wrong, that God hates it.

Those are the kind of children who leave not thinking they have to obey anybody. Right? Now, I'm talking to folks who have made a sacrifice to come to church on Sunday afternoon. I'm not talking to people who have a problem with showing up at work on time and things like that and handling authority. But this is what we have to teach our children, that the world is full of authority figures.

And they're not going to come by this naturally. They're depraved, and we need to teach them. In the context of the gospel, we need to be teaching these things. And here's another, I think, really, really, really important thing. Teach them doctrine. Why teach doctrine?

We need to teach doctrine because all of life is fueled by worldview. Now when I say worldview, I'm talking about all of us go through life with spectacles on. No one's a neutral observer of the universe. We have a frame of reference. Now right now, you're just all blurry. I can't make out anything but flesh-colored blobs in several different colors.

That's all I see. I think Enola is waving, but I'm not sure. All right. And so worldview is the framework that we have that makes sense of everything. And we go through life interpreting life with this frame of reference. Doctrine is that frame of reference.

If they understand who God is and what he's like, why did God create the world? Why is the world the way it is? Why do people do what they do? What part does Jesus have to play in all that? All that is going to be the framework by which they interpret life, everything. And so it's very, very important that you teach them doctrine so that they have the proper equipment to interpret life the way it should be interpreted.

For example, you cannot make sense of this world apart from the fall. man fell into sin at the in the garden of eden and all of life has been a mess since then the world is broken now there's all kinds of other people out there giving them a different view that this is normal that the world is normal it's not normal it's broken and that's why there's so much heartache and to have any other explanation is to is to misinterpret the world and so as they understand those things, they will be able to understand life and you'll head them toward that goal. Teach them biblical values. What kind of heroes do your kids have?

Do you care what kind of heroes that they have? Do you care what they're picking up from the culture around them as to who's somebody they ought to imitate? Those are things you ought to pay attention to. Look at, someone read Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24. Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24. Go ahead. most beneficial but let me propose those who are close that he understands the unity that I am the Lord and that he shall satisfy me with justice and righteousness in the world All right.

There's supreme value right there. Do I supremely value Christ? Do I value God above all else? Or do I value other things? I have in there, be careful, beware of the world's four B's. What are the world's four B's?

Beauty, brains, brawn, and belongings. If you're not pretty, if you don't have a lot of brains, if you're not the best athlete, if you don't have a lot of stuff, you're nothing. Isn't that what the world is like? All right? Who always gets the clapping and stuff at graduation? It's the guy who scored the most goals, has the highest scoring in basketball in the history of the school or the prettiest girl and all that sort of thing.

You know, that's what the world says really is important. That's the values the world puts at us. And we've got to teach a counter view to that. We've got to teach our children biblical values, values that value God. And listen, you do this in whatever you do. Be honest.

Do you teach your girls that a quiet and submissive spirit is more important or is being a cheerleader and gorgeous more along your way of thinking? Or, you know, is it your son who are you teaching him to be a hard worker and you're teaching him to take responsibility? Or are you doing everything you can to make him the best athlete the school has ever seen?

I mean, face it, which is more important to you? You've got to, you're teaching by whatever you do and by whatever you, not just what you say, but what you do. And so it's really, really important that we teach them biblical, that the real thing, the things of value, that's what we're talking about, values. What is valuable in this world? And listen, does that mean it's wrong to be a good athlete or it's wrong to be the smartest kid in the class? no but it does mean this god hasn't gifted everybody the same right the valedictorian of the class great that's wonderful opportunity to serve and so forth but that's just you've been gifted that way it doesn make you better than someone else see and that not what the world says does it that not what the world says And we got to get over that Okay so teach them biblical values Teach them to be good stewards 1 Timothy 6 17 and 18 All right Whoever gets it first read it I'll give you five seconds and then call on somebody.

6, 17, and 18. Could go through 19, let me see. to be rich in good works, to be generous in what he should share. Thus, storing up treasures for themselves is a good foundation for the good steward, so that they may take hold of that which is good to God. All right. Teaching to be good stewards. Do you know what a good steward is, according to the Bible?

A good steward is someone who gives away a lot, who's generous. That's a good steward. A good steward is one who doesn't put his hope in money. A good steward is one who uses his money to store up riches in heaven. That's a good steward. Are we teaching our children that?

Or are we teaching them by our example that the best thing to do is to grasp everything you can get and hold on to it tightly? All right? They need to be good stewards. And not just good stewards of money and possessions, but good stewards of time and good stewards of the gifts that God has given them. But just being good stewards, the idea that they're stewards, not owners, and that they need to operate according to what God says.

That brings us to another point. And I think this is really important. Teach them to solve problems and to make decisions biblically. Teach them to solve problems biblically and to make decisions biblically. Do you teach them by word and by example that the Bible has the answer to every issue in life? it has the answer to every issue in life and so you teach them you've got to make a decision what are you going to do well let's see I've got to take into consideration what God has said I need to take into consideration what God has said he made me like I have to take into consideration is this an issue of conscience Does my conscience say it's okay to do this?

I would say this, and some of you, you know, who knows, next few years you may move. You may have a job offer somewhere. And you know what, I hope your kids would see you do this. Well, I'm not sure if we can move that. I'm not sure if I can take that job. Why not?

Because I don't know there's any Bible preaching, Bible believing church in that area. And if there isn't, then we can't move there. Do you ever think about that? That's the sort of things that we need to be saying. I need to be with a good people of God. And if there's no one in that congregation, either I'm going to go there and start one or we're not going.

Period. Okay. And you're teaching them. All right. I've got to make this decision biblically. All right.

Am I going to work all this overtime? Let's see, if I work this overtime, I won't be able to accomplish, as we talked about this last week, remember, I won't be able to do the things that God has told me to do as a parent, as a mother, as a father, as a member of the church. All right. Is this overtime just for a short period of time? Is it a long period?

What am I going to do? I've got to make a decision. How do I choose what job I'm going to do? OK, all those sorts of things. You're living before them and teaching them that the Bible has everything they need to make decisions and to solve problems. This is so important, folks.

For example, Matthew 18, 15 says this. If you have a problem with someone, what are you supposed to do? what does it say yeah go to him and show him his fault just between the two of you alright so is that how you're teaching them or do you come home and complain about somebody else that you have a problem with but you don't go talk to them or do you show by example that you go and talk to that person So you get it solved. And if it doesn't get solved there, you go to the next level.

All right. You've got to teach them. And by the way, you got to teach them that you solve problems. You don't run from them. All right. You don't run from them.

All those sorts of things. Do you teach them how to solve problems? By the way, what do you do? Your children have problems with each other, right? Do you say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Have you talked to your brother about that yet?

No, you're tattling to me. You go and talk to your brother first. You guys go get it settled. And you have to teach them how to settle those things. And maybe you have to come in and say, okay, let's do your side. I'll listen to your side.

This is what God says. All those things, everything you do, we pick up so much from our culture when it comes to solving problems and making decisions. is that there's so many Christians who don't have a clue how to do that biblically. Can I tell you something? And this is news to maybe some of you, but as the Lord gives me opportunity to minister in different churches, I am shocked, not shocked, but I'm amazed at how churches don't even, the church discipline dynamic in how to solve problems ever comes into play.

I was talking to someone one time, Yeah, this church member, you know, a pastor, pastor's son, right? He's starting to just turn away from the faith. And parents are telling me, yeah, when he was young, some church member just berated him. Just told him, we think you're so great because you're the pastor's kid. And they found him hiding under his dad's desk.

All right? now i know what would happen here if that would have gone on you know i would have responsibility to go talk to that person and tell them to repent but like that was just total news to these folks i asked a couple one time they're really struggling with this teenage son i said um well tell me this is is your son a member of your church now why would you tell me why would I ask that question? So son is being completely rebellious against his parents, doesn't want to do what they want to do, is involved in things he shouldn't. They've been pleading with him.

They've been talking to him and shown his sin. They've been trying to regain him and nothing's working. So why did I ask? Is your son a member of your church? What's that? It's not one of my sheep.

That's good. And what's the parents responsibility with this son who rebellious The church has become involved They done the first step They pleaded with him They tried everything to regain him And what He not listening I said is your son a member of the church You know what the response was I don know Okay. Now, that says volumes about teaching how to solve problems.

Okay. It says volumes about that. And just things like this. you know one sister wanted everything to do with them da da da and I said wait a minute you can never cut off a relationship with anybody until the church has had it say and officially made a pronouncement otherwise if someone professes to be a Christian you can never just cut them off and say I'm done I'm done with you you can't do that you can never do that unless the church you've gone through the steps and the church has made a pronouncement about that.

You see, and so this is so foreign to people. Why? Because they're picking up all this stuff from the culture rather than what the Bible says we ought to do to solve problems. Okay, and it's not just church discipline. That's not just it either. It's, you know, loving, being forbearing, being kind, being compassionate, all those sorts of things.

Okay, we need to keep going. Teach them to love and serve others. Philippians chapter 2, right? Put others' interests above your own. And then the two greatest commandments are what? Go ahead, Beck.

Yeah, we've been having lots of discussion on this recently. So to love God and love others. That's the two greatest commandments. All of life revolves around that. So therefore, if all of life revolves around that, then they need to learn to love and to serve others. Okay, when you're doing something at church and the church is going to do something, you bring your kids along.

Bring them along to help serve. Right? When there's a work day at church, bring them along. Okay? Here's one I think that's very, very important. Teach them to live by faith and not their feelings.

I think this is something that in a culture that is just, I don't know, awash in just emotionalism right it's just teach them to live by God's revealed will and not by their fleeting emotions I don't feel like doing that well what does God say yeah but if I do that dad if I do that then this will happen well you got to trust God God says you need to be kind and compassionate to that individual and you think that person is going to turn on you as a result You don't know that, but this is what God says. You're going to live by faith. You're going to live by your feelings.

You've got to determine what you're going to do, and I'm going to help you live by faith. Turn to Hebrews 11. This is one of my favorite examples of faith. By the way, Hebrews 11 is often misunderstood. Hebrews 11.1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. It does not mean that you believe in something no matter how impossible it seems.

The whole chapter then follows by telling you of things that people hoped for and that they were sure of that they didn't see, but God told them it was going to happen, even though they'd never seen it. So it's not, if you believe enough, it'll happen. That's not faith. Faith is, I believe what God says, even though it's a promise or I've never seen it.

For example, he talks about Noah. Noah had never seen a rainstorm the way God had described. Did he know it was coming? Yes. Why? Because God told him it was coming.

That was his assurance or that was his conviction of things not seen. All right. So look at Moses in verses 24 through 20. Well, verse 23. By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw that the child was beautiful and they were not afraid of the king's edict. By faith, Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. Now, do you see that? Here's Moses, the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. What was it? Okay, here it was. I'm going to leave my comfortable zone and be associated with people that are slaves and be mistreated with them.

Why? Because God has promised a reward. That's why. Now, this is seen. That's not. But he lived by faith.

He believed what God had promised, even though he couldn't see it. He had no idea how it was going to come about to be with these people that were mistreated for a reward as opposed to being with the elite and have a comfortable life, which you could see and handle and taste. And it very tangible And that is not But that what God said And so you live by faith All right Teach them to live by faith We talk a lot about living by faith as Christians We talk a lot about it.

What does that mean? It means I'm going to believe what God says, okay? Next one, teach them how to return good for evil. This is a big one, Romans 12, 21. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good, all right? So you teach them that.

You teach them how to deal with the bully by returning good for evil. You return good for evil. All right? You get in that habit. Here's another one. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 6.

1 Timothy chapter 6. Very, very important here. verse 6 now there is great gain in godliness with contentment for we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world but if we have food and clothing with these we will be content does that describe you mom and dad? does that describe you? I've got food and clothes that's good enough for me does that describe you we got to teach our children to be content wow what does that mean you know it starts when they're about this tall and and they they see the candy at eye level and they start begging you for candy and toys when you're in the store right what do you do with that if you give in all the time you're not teaching contentment and by the way if you got to have the fastest latest truck every year you're not teaching it either all right boy doesn't this dovetail with babylon real well lose your life lose your children live in babylon right okay so teach them how to be content teach them how to be content boy i think that's a big one today that is a big one today okay we're almost done teach them how to be good workers this is one of my again this is just coming from me I don't find anywhere where the Bible says really make a big deal out of this but the more people I talk to the more I The more I see that good workers are rare and hard to find.

People who show up and work hard. People who work for Christ and it doesn't matter what their boss is like. They're going to work hard. This is something that will stand out. This will be light in darkness. Teach them to be good workers.

What's the reference there? Proverbs chapter 6, right? Go to the ant, you slugger. See how she works. Sing it for me. Come on.

Most of you from the generation of Calvin Undone, you all know the song. And your parents, right? Go to the end, you sluggard. See how she labors all day. A little folding of the hands, right? A little sleep and poverty will strike you like a bandit.

Boy, if anybody needs to hear that's our culture, they need to see that. Last thing I would say is teach them to be good spouses Teach them to be good spouses How to be a husband who leads his wife who loves his wife who learns his wife Teach them how to be a wife who's submissive and glad about it. Right? Teach them about how to be parents who love their children. teach them those things.

Those are so important. And you know what? Part of this is, teach them how to find a spouse, a mate. Teach them how to find a mate. And make it clear from the very start, unbelievers are outside the pale, no matter what. Okay? it better to live alone than to live with someone and regret it it tough marry a believer and be a believing spouse so those are just some things we could for sake of your bodies we could add 13 more but we won But think about the things that your children need to learn.

Think about our culture and where the flashpoints are going to be and start teaching to those points. find out what is alluring to your children and start teaching to those areas and above all remember that you do not just teach by what you say you teach by what you do okay always remember that and you know what if you're seeking to be a follower of jesus and to be obedient to his commands and that is your heart then you're on a good path. Alright? You're on a good path.

Alright, very quickly, just for a few minutes, any questions? Alright well then let stand and we be dismissed in prayer Father, what a privilege it is to serve the living God and to know what it means to be related to you by grace. And Father, even though we have laid all these obligations down in terms of teaching, yet grace is the only thing that will motivate us as parents to do it.

We want to do it because we love you and we love our children. We want to do it because we want them to know that a feast has been spread before them, the feast of the gospel, where they can come and eat bread for free and drink milk and wine that they don't have to pay for. and that, Father, our teaching will lead them to Jesus and lead them to love Him and then to serve Him. So help us to be that and to do that, we pray.

Your grace abounds to us and we love You for it. Thank You for our time together in Your Word. In Jesus' name, Amen.