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welcome to everyone it's good to be back in the house of our God on this Lord's Day you can turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 128 for our call to worship Psalm 128 I'll begin reading in verse 1 a song of a sense blessed is every one who fears the Lord who walks in his ways when you eat the labor of your hands you shall be happy and it shall be well with you your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house your children like olive plants all around your table behold thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord the Lord bless you out of Zion and may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life yes may you see children your children's children peace be upon Israel amen well please turn in your handbook to number 145 that's psalm 145 Diaz in Delta will stand and sing together [Music] [Music] yes [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] amen well let us pray blessed God and holy father again it's a joy for us to gather in your house on this Lord's Day evening we give praise to you for the the glory manifested in the created order we give praise to you for your sovereignty and Providence the way that you look after all your creatures you govern us and all of our actions and God we praise you on these days of rest as we reflect upon the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ we thank you for the redemptive work of the Savior on behalf of his people we thank you for the gospel of our salvation that Christ Jesus came into this world sinners to save that the second person of the Blessed Trinity would take on our humanity with all of the essential properties and common infirmities thereof and yet without sin that he would had identify with us in such a way as to save us from our sins we praise you for his law keeping we praise you for his sacrificial work at the cross we praise you for that resurrection from the dead and for his current session now at your right hand and god we pray that our hearts would be drawn out to love and to worship and to adore you even Father Son and Holy Spirit we ask now that you would forgive us for our sins as we look upon the scripture as we see your your revelation we see that you are in fact a holy God the God whose eye is too pure to prove any evil we see our own waywardness and our own prone mist wander that proneness to leave the God that we love we confess our remaining corruption we confess that transgression against your holy law that lack of conformity to that law and we would ask now that you would cleanse us in that precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ how we thank you that there is that fountain open for sin and uncleanness and how we thank you that you have dealt so mercifully and so graciously and so kindly with us and even now Lord God we pray for others that have not come to the Savior those who have not believed the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ we pray that you would work in their hearts here and elsewhere and as your gospel goes forth throughout the world we pray that it would run swiftly and be glorified that it would publish the purpose for which you send it and that it would not return unto you void and God may you encourage your people your Saints and your churches with that blessed truth that reality that Jesus Christ is building his church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it as well father encourage us from the book of Revelation where there is a great multitude in that heavenly kingdom we know it's from every tribe and tongue and people and nation and so God we pray that you would let the nation's be glad through the preaching of your gospel and the salvation of sinners in these lands we do think of the persecuted church we know there are so many that do not have what we take for granted and we would pray for those God's suffering in other countries we pray for the nation of China and the increased oppression and persecution of the people of God there we pray that you would protect those that we love and those that we pray for and and support and we pray father for Christians at large in that country that they would continue to be faithful that they would continue to persevere even while the government is is opposing them we also pray for those nations steep in Islam we know they are not friendly to the people of God and we would pray that you would be merciful in those lands that your saints your suffering Saints would take fresh courage and realize that that God has even over such occurrences and we pray for gospel preaching to go forth in those lands for your glory and for the salvation of sinners we think of the church in Islamabad thanking you for the faithful Ministry of Pastor Daniel we pray for that flock that you would continue to protect them and God use them for your glory in that part of the world and our Father we pray for our church specifically we pray for those who are unable to be with us we just commit the sick to you and to the word of your grace and pray that you would uphold each one we remember mr. and mrs. bolt tonight we just ask that you would undertake on their behalf that you would grant them health and strength and vigor a body and just cause them to be able to return to to normal functions in their own lives be with the new Feld's as well God be with that family and just encourage and strengthen them and also be with our dear sister Bev we just thank you for her her spirit her love for the Savior her love for the scriptures the old and new testaments and God we do pray that you would continue with us now help us to take every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ may your spirit be at work in our hearts may we enjoy communion with you and communion with one another and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord amen well you can turn with me again in your him books to number 560 that is 5 6-0 will stand as we sing together [Music] [Music] you may turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 3 for our scripture reading while you're turning there I would like to make an observation on the Apostles Creed that we just saying Catholic there is used in its best sense it simply means universal it doesn't refer to the Roman Catholic institution but rather the word simply means universal speaking of the elect of God in all ages from every tribe tongue people and nation well beginning in Genesis chapter 3 at verse 1 we read now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made and he said to the woman has God indeed said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden and the woman said to the serpent we may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God has said you shall not eat it nor shall you touch it lest you die then the serpent said to the woman you will not surely die for God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be open and you will be like God knowing good and evil so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise she took of its fruit and ate she also gave to her husband with her and he ate then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings and they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him where are you so he said I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself and he said who told you that what you were naked have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat then the man said the woman whom you gave to be with me she gave up the tree and gave me of the tree and I a and the Lord God said to the woman what is this you have done the woman said the serpent deceived me and I ate so the Lord God said to the serpent because you have done this you worm or cursed or cursed more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field on your belly you shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life and I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel to the woman he said I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception in pain you shall bring forth children your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you then to Adam he said because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you saying you shall not eat of it cursed is the ground for your sake in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you and you shall eat the herb of the field in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground for out of it you were taken for dust you are and to dust you shall return and Adam called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all living also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them then the Lord God said Behold the man has become like one of us to know good and evil and now lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever therefore the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken so he drove out the man and he placed cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the Tree of Life amen well obviously this is a sad account of the history of mankind in the fall in to sin Adam's rebellion and transgression against the living and true God certainly Eve was deceived by the devil the devil launched a direct assault against her an attack against the the veracity the validity of God's Holy Word and of course she took the fruit she gave it to her husband who was standing there and he ate and thus we in Adam all of us died but by virtue of the war the second atom the Lord Jesus Christ we live but in this particular instance we notice when God comes to deal with Adam and Eve we want to notice in the first place that God is not asking these questions for himself God is an omniscient being God knows all things these questions are for Adam and Eve secondly we ought to observe the blame-shifting that they go through with reference to this particular transgression Adam in the first place tries to blame God the woman you gave me what's the supposition if you hadn't had given me this woman I wouldn't be in this mess but he not only blames God he blames the woman he is charged with and tasked with protecting her caring for her loving her and also protecting the garden it was Adams job to make sure no foul thing came into the garden the serpent obviously did that so he blames Eve God and Eve and then Eve passes the buck it was the Serpent's fault I think we can trace the history of mankind in terms of the in terms of this sort of victim mentality right to this particular instance it's never our fault it's always somebody else well here's the origination of that and then we see thirdly God's curse upon the serpent and this curse upon the serpent is the first promise of the gospel it is the first promise of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ notice what God says because you have done this verse 14 you were cursed more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field on your belly you shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life then God said I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel so we are taught from genesis 3:15 to look for a deliverer a redeemer a champion and that one would be born would be a man ultimately born of a woman that deliverer would accomplish redemption through suffering and he would accomplish Redemption even through death I think that is a reference here when he says he shall bruise your head that is the death dealt blow that Jesus renders to the devil on the cross but you shall bruise his heel the particular language with reference to the snake here it's a poisonous snake if a poisonous snake well bites the heel of a curse and that person dies so this is a reference to the fact that the Savior would indeed need redeem his people through his own suffering and death there's a lot going on in genesis 3:15 the rest of the Bible essentially is amplification an explanation of genesis 3:15 well let us pray our Father we thank you for this your word and we thank you for the these early chapters of Genesis that explains so much of the human situation as well explains so much concerning the graciousness of God and your initiative to save sinners by Jesus Christ our Lord how we thank you for this deliverer how we thank you for this blessed one the seed of the woman that crushed the head of the devil at the cross we give praise and glory unto you for these things and we give praise and glory unto you for giving us the grace to be participants in these great things and we praise you through Jesus Christ our Lord amen well you can turn with me for our final him before the preaching the 87a at Psalm 87 alpha will stand as we sing together [Music] well please turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 6 Deuteronomy chapter 6 we're gonna have a topical survey tonight on the subject of family worship the the the practice of family worship is certainly seen in the Bible however there's no specific command that says you must worship as families at 6:00 p.m. every single night the fact that you ought to do this is obvious how you choose to do this is up to you but it is something that is instrumental in the formation of our children and our grandchildren I want to read beginning in Deuteronomy chapter 6 at verse 1 now this is the commandment and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you that you may observe them in the land which you were crossing over to possess that you may fear the Lord your God to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I command you you and your son and your grandson all the days of your life and that your days may be prolonged therefore here o Israel and be careful to observe it that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your father's has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey here o Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your strength and these words which I command you today shall be in your heart you shall teach them diligently to your children and shalt talk of them when you sit in your house when you walk by the way when you lie down and when you rise up you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates so it shall be when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which he swore to your father's to Abraham Isaac and Jacob to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build houses full of all good things which you did not fill hewn out Wells which you did not dig vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant when you have eaten in her full than beware lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage you shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him and she'll take oaths in his name you shall not go after other gods the gods of the peoples who are all around you for the Lord your God is a jealous god among you lest the anger of the Lord your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth you shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted in a NASA you shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God his testimonies and his statutes which he has commanded you and you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord that it may be well with you and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the Lord swore to your father's to cast out all your enemies from before you as the Lord has spoken when your son asks you in time to come saying what is the meaning of the testimonies the statutes and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you then you shall say to your son we were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and the Lord showed signs and wonders before our eyes great and severe against Egypt Pharaoh and all his household then he brought us out from there that he might bring us in to give us the land of which he swore to our fathers and the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes to fear the Lord our God for our good always that he might preserve us alive as it is this day then it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all these Commandments before the Lord our God as he has commanded us amen will let us ask God's blessing upon our time father thank you for the written word and thank you for its profitability in our own hearts and lives and God I pray for us as parents and his grandparents that we would take seriously these things spoken in Scripture concerning our responsibility toward children and grandchildren give us wisdom give us help give us strength give us that perseverance with reference to these things and God we pray in a special way for our little ones that they would rise up and call you blessed that they would believe that gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that they would know the Lord they would fear the Lord that they would walk in communion with you all their days be merciful to them and to that end we pray that would grant us all the holy spirit now and again the forgiveness of sins that we may receive with thankful hearts your word of truth and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord amen well as I said this will be a topical survey there's not one particular text that says this is how you do family worship and a lot of the things that I will say is by way of encouragement and suggestion I cannot bind anybody's conscience where the Bible does not remember last week we looked at proverbs 30 in the prohibition of verse 6 do not add to his words lest he rebuked you and you be found a liar we cannot add to the Word of God we simply survey what is and then by God's grace we seek to implement these things in our own home again by way of encouragement and suggestion and hopefully helpful things for us to consider as we move through Scripture now I want to look first at the biblical warrant for family worship and then secondly the elements of family worship and the Old Testament is going to there's more more in the Old Testament one because it's much larger than the New Testament but to what we find in the Old Testament is much of normal day-in and day-out life you have that a bit in the book of Acts but it's sort of a flyover it's the history of the church in terms of the making of disciples and planting churches you certainly have day-to-day life in the gospel narrative but the focus of that is of course our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the bulk of the New Testament are epistles to churches or to men giving instructions so there's a bit there we will look at but first we want to survey the Old Testament data with reference to family worship the first passage is Abraham in Genesis chapter 18 Genesis chapter 18 we looked at this recently on our Wednesday night Bible study so we won't spend a whole long time a lot of time here but this whole section in chapters 18 and 19 we're dealing with the overthrow of sodom and gomorrah and here in 1816 it says then the men rose from there and looked towards Sodom and Abraham went with them to send them on the way and the Lord said shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him Abraham is described as a friend of God later in Genesis chapter 20 he's referred to as a prophet of God and as a result God doesn't hide things from him God tells his friend God tells the Prophet so that he knows what is going to happen he rehearses in this soliloquy what he has already established by way of covenant or promised to Abraham notice in verse 18 since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him that refers back to Genesis chapter 12 when God calls Abram out of her the Chaldeans he then goes to Haran and then he comes into the promised land notice what he says specifically in verse 19 he says for I have known him in order that he may command his children and his household after him that they keep the way of the Lord to do righteousness and justice that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him so he commends Abraham for this reality that Abraham has instituted family religion Abraham has commanded his children Abraham has as well commanded his servants we see that they all submit to the Rite of circumcision which indicates that Abraham had in fact catechized taught instructed his family including his servants on the ways of Jehovah and these persons willingly subjected themselves to these particular rites here specifically he commanded his children house all to keep the way of Yahweh to keep the way of God Almighty as well he commanded them to do righteousness and justice we're all very familiar with Micah 6:8 it says he has shown you O man what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God well the tap roots of that is here in Genesis 18 and the instruction given by Abraham to his family very specifically to do righteousness and justice this is replicated Deuteronomy 10 hosea chapter 12 zechariah chapter 7 and then matthew 23:23 Jesus says you you tithe the mint in the anise and the cumin but you neglect the weightier matters of the law justice mercy and faith well these are the sorts of things that Abraham instructed his children he didn't expect that they would just come upon these things but rather he took the time to educate that now as we've studied in the book of Genesis Abraham was a man with a lot of responsibility Abraham was a man who had a lot of business he was a man that had a lot of irons in the fire and nevertheless he found the time to instruct his children in these ways it is simply unacceptable for men and our generation to say I don't have the time to bring up my children in the training and admonition of the Lord I don't have the time to do what God has commanded me to do that is unacceptable as we move through these particular examples when we get to the book of Joshua for instance I know as a as a matter of fact that none of us are involved in conquering other peoples I know that none of us are going into enemy territory and killing people and breaking things that is precisely what Joshua's job was and yet he's able to say as for me and my house we will serve the Lord so in all of his busyness and all of his activity in all of the ability or rather that that the task of dispossessing the land of the canaanites he nevertheless found the time to sit his children down and instruct them in the fear of God when we say things like I'm too busy that is never an acceptable response if you are too busy change things fix things rework things do not neglect that which is most important now your jobs are in fact important some of you have very important jobs you're doing great things but you cannot neglect the great thing of rearing children that is the most monumental task any of us will ever know is to have children and to try to formulate them or form them to be decent profitable human beings trusting hoping and praying that God in His mercy and grace will save them will grant them faith and repentance that they may close with Christ we can't ensure that but we can do our job in presenting the material and the data to that so if you ever think I'm too busy for this think about Abraham think about Joshua well again for I have known him order that he may command his children and his household after him that they keep the way of the Lord to do righteousness and justice that the Lord may bring to Abraham what do you spoken to him turn back to Deuteronomy chapter 6 Deuteronomy chapter 6 you see the emphasis there you're not supposed to forget your kids with reference to God's covenant with Israel the children weren't spoken to the children were included the children were to be instructed and they were to be formed in shape according to the Word of the Living God you have the central confession of Israel's faith in verses 4 & 5 it's called the Shema Shema simply means hear or listen in Hebrew and so that Shema says hear o Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your strength and then notice the necessity to internalize this truth verse 6 and these words which I command you today shall be in your heart you don't just put them on your fridge you don't put them on your bumper sticker rather you internalize them this is the word of the Living God this goes to the heart of man this needs to be embraced this needs to be received this needs to be responded to and acted upon but notice as well there was a necessity to instruct children verse 7 you shall teach that not just teach that but teach them diligently this takes time it takes effort it takes energy it takes creativity in terms of home schedules and all that sort of thing you shall teach them diligently doesn't mean and I'll warn everybody not warned but encourage you don't read three-hour Puritans sermons to five-year-olds that's not smart that's how it diligently means they're ok kids sit down for three hours we're gonna read Thomas Manton on first Peter 3 no that's probably not the way to go about it they are kids diligent there doesn't mean you know work through all of Spurgeon sermons on your kids each and every night I mean come on you you did that that's a that's an extreme that the diligently does not entail but he says you shall teach them diligently to your children and then notice you shall talk of when you sit in your house when you walk by the way when you lie down and when you rise up so you see there is this need for diligence with reference to passing on this data concerning God's law to these children but as well there are these times of instruction during formal formal times look what it says you shall teach them diligently to your children that's a formal session where children are sat down and we as parents instruct them concerning the will and word of God but then there's these informal sessions as well and that's what the tax goes on to say and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house when you walk by the way when you lie down and when you rise up in other words this ought to be the subject matter not just for that particular time of the day when you have family worship that formal time but informally when you're walking at the zoo and you see the giraffe you you are amazed that the glory of God in the way that he that he made the giraffe I mean you bring all of creation to bear upon the children's conscience is in terms of God's handiwork see those informal times go a long way in the in the formation of our children we we give them that raw data with reference to the formal times but then these informal times as well but it doesn't stop there in terms of the Word of God and it's pervasive influence upon all of all of life notice what's verse 8 says you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates so there is an individual commitment to the truth verse 8 and then a societal application of God's law in verse 9 in other words the Word of God is so important the Word of God is absolutely crucial that it be that it is our responsibility under duty and our command to pass that word on to our young people in our own hearts and their own lives and then with reference to society and then of course notice in verses 20 to 25 says when your son asks you in time to come saying what is the meaning of the testimonies the statutes and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you then you shall say to your son I don't know no that's not what you say you tell him the significance of the Exodus in our new covenant era you tell him the significance of the cross you teach them this you teach them law in gospel you pass on to them the data of God's Holy Word this the assumption is is that at some point the son is gonna ask how do we get from point A to point B and you as the father need to tell the son in theological language you need to tell the son how God delivered you from Egypt brought you out of that bondage and gave us this land by a promise to Abraham and we have received it and God has blessed us and we are thankful and grateful to him you see all of life is brought to bear with reference to the scripture notice in the third place the practice of Joshua in Joshua chapter 24 Joshua 24 is a covenant ratification ceremony at Shechem and essentially what Joshua is exhorting Israel on is how they're supposed to retain the land the Book of Joshua is basically about entering into the land then conquering the land or dispossessing the Canaanites dividing up the land and then the latter chapters deal with retaining keeping holding on to that land and so this ratification ceremony Joshua traces the history of Israel how they got from point A to point B and then he starts to make application and stipulation and in verse 14 he says now therefore fear the Lord serve him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which your father's served on the other side of the river and in Egypt serve the Lord that's legit isn't it that's consistent this is equivalent to Romans chapter 12 you know you're you're supposed to glorify God you're supposed to present your bodies as a living sacrifice unto God Paul says this is your rational or reasonable service in other words if God has redeemed you through the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ he then asked you to present your bodies as living sacrifices and this is rational this is reasonable this is this is legit this is what you ought to respond with and the same as the case here he says put away the false gods and serve Yahweh verse 14 now notice in verse 15 and if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve whether the gods which your father's served that were on the other sides of the river or the gods of the amorite sin whose land you dwell now we need to understand that Josh was not actually giving them a choice he's not actually saying well you know that's an option you have option a and you have option B I would like that you take option B which is serve y'all way but but you know those other options are available no he's laying down the gauntlet he sounds like Elijah will sound on Mount Carmel how long will you falter between two opinions or halt between two opinions if if Y always God than servant if bale is God then serve Him Joshua is essentially telling them you need to fish or cut bait with the obvious emphasis on fish a and then notice how he ends this particular exhortation he says at the end but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord not just me but me and my house we will serve the Lord Matthew Henry comments with reference to the busyness of Joshua he says Joshua was a ruler a judge in Israel yet he did not make his necessary application to public affairs an excuse for the neglect of family religion he didn't do that well you know honey I was out cutting heads off all day I just don't have the energy at the time of the wherewithal to catalyze the little ones no you didn't do that now I realize all of us have seasons where we're busier than others and I realize there's providential hindrance I realized there's accidents I realized this sickness I realized there's a whole lot of things that can go wrong in a given day but if the overarching trajectory of your life is that you're too busy to obey God at this most rudimentary level then you've got problems and you need to repent I say that as a brother I say it would love I say it with affection and with a genuine desire to see our children be taught the will and word of God most high this church is going to fold if the young people don't rise up confess the Lord Jesus Christ and do what they're supposed to do we have a leg Seanna heritage that we hopefully will pass on to our young people that they have a good church where the gospel is preached where the Lord God has loved and proclaimed and one of the people of God love each other that's something we ought to be striving for and shooting for in our own experience so Joshua was a busy man but he found time to teach his family fourthly in terms of the Old Testament we have the Assumption in the Psalms the assumption in the Psalms you could turn to Psalm 20 and so I saw him 22 Psalm 22 again just a survey of some relevant passages dealing with family worship Psalm 22 verses 30 and 31 this of course is the psalm of the Cross first half of the song deals with Jesus on the cross the latter half of the psalm deals with the exaltation of Jesus Christ after his resurrection his ascension on I his session at the right hand of the Father and in verses 30 and 31 we read a posterity shall serve Him it will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation they will come and declare his righteousness to a people who will be born that he has done this see Israel accepted that in the the faithful obviously the believers that the the true religionists in Israel accepted that blessed responsibility to pass on information to their children turn to Psalm 78 Psalm 78 another passage where it's assumed that the people of God are teaching their children the Word of God Psalm 78 verses 4 to 7 Psalm 78 verse 4 we will not hide them from their children telling to the generation to calm the praises of the Lord and to strengthen his wonderful works that he has done for he has established or he established a testimony and Jacob and appointed a law in Israel which he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children that the generation to come might know them the children who would be born that they may arise and declare them to their children that they may set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep his Commandments and may not be like their fathers a stubborn and rebellious generation a generation that did not set it's hard to write and whose spirit was not faithful to God see the blessed privilege and task and brethren you know this as well as I do there's nothing better than spending time with your kids and the word and in prayer and in singing this isn't the drudgery or the hardship of the Christian law I got to read the Bible of my kids that's a bad attitude if I may suggest I got to spend this time teaching my kids the best things in the world is that that nobody says that I I hope brethren this is a blessed blessed privilege that we have notice in Psalm 145 we sang this at the very outset of worship that Psalm 145 emphasizes or highlights this reality as well Psalm 145 verse 4 one generation shall praise your works to another and shall declare your mighty adds so we see the purpose for Abraham Genesis 18 the command for Israel Deuteronomy 6 the practice of Joshua Joshua 24 the assumption of the Psalms and there are others to be sure fifth the emphasis in the Proverbs we don't spend a lot of time here because we've spent some time going through proverbs and what's one of the techniques that Solomon employs on many many occasions my son my son my son my son my son he's instructing his sons in the way of God he's instructing his sons concerning the things of the Lord he's instructing his sons with reference to life in God's world he's giving them those principles he's giving them those nuggets of wisdom he's giving them those things because it's his responsibility and as well it is his blessed privilege now I want to consider finally before we move to the New Testament one negative example in one example that may be negative but we're just not sure that negative example is Eli in 1st Samuel chapter 2 you can turn there First Samuel chapter 2 in other words as you read your Bible follow Joshua don't fall over Eli Eli is not sort of the paradigm of he didn't get the father-of-the-year cup that's that's for sure or if he did he shouldn't have First Samuel chapters two and three noticed the sinful actions of CS I'm sorry Eli's sons verses 13 to 17 in 1st Samuel 2 for Samuel to 13 and the priest's custom with the people was that when any man offered a sacrifice the priests servant would come with a 3-pronged flesh hook in his hand while the meat was boiling then he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or caldron or pot and the priest would take for himself all that the flesh Hooke brought up so they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there also before they burned the fat the priests servant would come and say to the man who sacrifice give meat for roasting to the priest for he will not take boiled meat from you but raw but if the manner and if the man said to him they should really burn the fat first then you may take as much as your heart desires he would then answer him no but you must give it now and if not I will take it by force therefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord four men aboard the offering of the Lord it's terrible right these are priests of the house of God there to facilitate the sacrificial system and yet what they're concerned with is their share what they're concerned with is extorting the worshiper extorting the people of God and threatening them that's really not the qualities of a priesthood that that one should would one should grave and then notice they lay with women according to verse 22 now Eli was very old and he heard everything his sons did to all Israel and how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting yeah these are just wretched specimens of human beings they're bad dudes the source of this is in verse 12 notice the sons of Eli were corrupt they did not know the Lord now Eli cannot make his sons know the Lord savingly but the fact that they engaged in these particular practices would indicate that he didn't give them that bare-bones information that they desperately needed and that is validated by God's revelation later 2 samuel in 1st Samuel 3 notice what God says to Samuel in verse 13 he says for I have told him that I will judge us out forever for the iniquity which he knows because his sons made themselves vile and he did not restrain them and therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever or ever or forever see see Eli was negligent Eli was ignorant Eli was wretched in the way that he went about parenting his children now turn over to First Samuel chapter 8 First Samuel chapter 8 verses 1 to 3 first samuel 8 verse 1 now it came to pass when samuel was old that he made his sons judges over israel the name of his firstborn was joel in the name of his second Abijah they were judges in Beersheba but his sons did not walk in his ways they turned aside after dishonest gain took bribes and perverted justice Steve this morning referred to that instance where Israel craves a king like the nations around them that's chapter 8 they saw the oppressive Ness of Samuel sons they saw the wretchedness of Samuel sons and that evoked from them this desire to be like the nations around them but in this instance we don't know whether it was his negligence we see where God says specifically to Samuel concerning Eli that he did not restrain them we don't know about Samuel there are instances and seasons and times where parents do their best but parents are not sovereign parents do not have the ability to change the heart parents do not have the ability to make their children a certain way turn to Deuteronomy 21 and I'm going somewhere with this point Deuteronomy 21 verse 18 if a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother and who when they have chastened him these parents did their job they have chastened him there are instances and there are seasons and there are times when parents do their job now no parent does their job perfectly we understand that right that's why Jesus came into this world sinners to save he died for our bad parenting he died for our sin in the soul and the domestic spirit sphere or realm but there are parents who have tried parents who have chastened their their children parents that have brought the word to bear upon that parents that have catechized parents that have done all this and yet their children go straight our job as the standards by is not to judge the parents oh well you know those parents get a terrible job in raising those children and look how they turned out wait a minute these people chasing their son they got to the end of the rope with him and they had to turn him over to to the elders in the city and then ultimately he would be stoned to death because he was incorrigible rebel he was an adult son and he was a glutton and he was a drunkard but the parents did chasing him we need to be very cautious brethren of looking at a child who has gone astray and immediately concluding that his parents were lazy his parents were negligent or his parents didn't do their job that is not our call the story of the prodigal son who's the father of that boy that goes astray it's God Almighty is it not yes everybody with me the boy wants the share of his of his father's inheritance he goes out and he squanders it he goes out and he wastes it do you think the townspeople said oh that father was terrible look at how his son turned out probably but in the story of the prodigal son the father is of course God you see we have to be careful about slinging these accusations where it is none of our business in the first place but secondly we don't know we don't know what people are doing in their homes we don't know that they're not catechizing they're not instructing they're not teaching they're not slapping their children to church we have to be very careful so with reference to Samuel we're not sure the sons turned out terribly but we don't know what what sort of restraint he saw it to exercise on them so those are some Old Testament passages turn with me to the New Testament we have two commands by the Apostle Paul and we have two illustrations in the life of Timothy in Ephesians chapter six verse four you father's do not provoke your children to wrath but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord and then in Colossians 3:21 fathers do not provoke your children lest they become discouraged so in both instances fathers and mothers it's not a case where mothers can provoke their children to wrath mothers can you know be terrorist to that no no no no not at all but he's addressing the father as the the head of the household but he says to them do not provoke them to wrath do not break their spirits do not exasperate them do not drive the wind out of their sails see it's not just a matter of didactic instruction there supposed to be this this context of love this context of affection this context of of delighting in your children and your children delighting in you that that's what every every creature should aspire to every one of us who are parents or grandparents should want we want our children to love us and we want to love them that's that's good so Paul's prohibition is don't provoke them to wrath don't exasperate them don't lay things upon them that they simply cannot bear and certainly don't let them get away with murder either you've got to be a disciplinarian but you don't want to break their spirit you want to drive out the sin but you don't want to drive out their humanity but then by way of a positive exhortation he tells them in verse 4 but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord now you can freely teach your children you know to be auto-mechanics you can teach them how to be electricians you can teach them to be plumbers all that stuff is great and I highly suggest that we prepare sons and daughters for life in this world but it's the training and admonition of the Lord it's teaching them the fear of God it's teaching them about Yahweh it's being like Abraham it's like being like Joshua it's like being being like the Solomon in the book of you see there is this emphasis with reference to the sphere that Paul indicates bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord the word training emphasizes action so by way of example we ought to set good examples for our children an admonition emphasizes words other words were supposed to give them verbal instruction were supposed to give them the content of the gospel we mentioned this morning in our confession study we cannot preach the gospel by our actions we cannot preach the gospel by our virtue we have to preach the gospel in propositional form we have to tell them that Jesus lived Jesus died Jesus was raised and all who believed on Jesus will be saved that is crucial we can't demonstrate those things in our virtuous life and we can't demonstrate them by way of example so while example is absolutely crucial words are absolutely crucial as well and you might say well I'm not really bright myself with reference to these things if you can say Jesus lived Jesus died Jesus was raised believe on Jesus you have successfully explained the gospel this ain't rocket science brethren it's not something that requires a PhD or a Bible School certificate it just requires basic familiarity with the fundamentals of the faith I mean a three-year-old doesn't ask well how is the Trinity function the way the Bible says explain how there's one one substance and 3.3 year-olds don't do that thankfully 13 year-olds might so you better get smarter as they grow up right you better you better learn more to stay ahead of the game but the bottom line is is that Paul says we need to bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord two examples in the life of Timothy notice in 2nd Timothy 1 2nd Timothy chapter 1 verse 3 I thank God whom I serve with a pure conscience as my forefathers did as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day greatly desiring to see you be mindful of your tears that I may be filled with joy when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and am I am persuaded is in you also you see his grandmother and his mother taught him the scriptures and if we miss it there we better get it when we get to second Timothy 3:15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus praise God Almighty that Timothy's parents took seriously the responsibility to teach and instruct him in the things of God remember that scene in the book of Acts when Tim Paul first meets Timothy Paul hears about Timothy meets Timothy and wants to take Timothy with him I've always been amazed by that if the Apostle Paul wants you on you're on his team you're doing pretty well if a man of the calibre of Paul the Apostle says I want Timothy then Timothy has been reared well God's grace is obvious in his life and Timothy is indeed walking with the Lord so those are some lines of evidence for the biblical warrant for family worship now in terms of the elements of family worship I would suggest in the first place there ought to be a commitment to public worship there ought to be a commitment to public worship okay I'm gonna argue in a moment or at least encourage in a moment that at home you should read you should pray you should say and doesn't have to contain all those elements to be sure but there ought to be a commitment to public worship Yahweh loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob there is an emphasis in scripture on corporate worship and one of the best gifts we can give to our children is to teach them how important church is he said well that sounds self-serving coming from a pastor who you know has a vested interest in this no it's biblical it's what scripture says Hebrews chapter 10 dates were not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as is the custom of song this is not an invention by you no cravenly wicked sinful greedy pastors that just want to have you know people in their churches this is an emphasis from beginning to end in God's holy word he is assembling a vast multitude of sinners from every tribe tongue people in Asia to be what when we get into heaven the church triumphant it is all those peoples before the throne of God confessing that salvation belongs to the Lord or to our God and to the lamb who sits upon the throne there needs to be that commitment to family worship that we demonstrate to our children we ought to appreciate the centrality of the church in God's redemptive plan can people be saved on their own reading their Bibles yes but does God emphasize the place of the church in the maturation process of his people absolutely positively he does he speaks concerning the dignity of the church if Jesus shed his blood for her certainly we can show up consistently certainly we can show up regularly doesn't Paul tell those Ephesian elders in acts 20 Shepherd the Church of God which he purchased with his own blood if the blood of Christ was the means by which the people of God are purchased doesn't that highlight the intrinsic dignity and worth of those people not because of them but because of what Christ has done the church is a dignified organization because of her master first Timothy chapter 3 underscores there the dignity of the church first Timothy 3:14 these things I write to you though I hope to come to you shortly but if I am delayed I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself notice how he describes the church in the house of God ok kids we're gonna serve the Lord but we're not going to go to his house we're gonna I'm gonna teach you the ways of Yahweh but we're not going to go to his house wouldn't that be an odd thing why wouldn't we go to his house dad why wouldn't we go to his house mom well because there's a bunch of hip credits there exactly that's precisely where they need to be because hypocrites need forgiveness hypocrites need salvation if their total hypocrites hypocrites mean to go to the hospital or go to the church the way that a sick person needs to go to the hospital that's never a good argument to not go to church well all that all the hypocrites are there and I think we have a fundamentally miss myths perception or conception about hypocrite if somebody is be moaning and lamenting their sin in private before God they're not a hypocrite they're confessing their transgression before God just because you're a sinner doesn't necessarily mean you're a hypocrite no not I'm not saying you know being a sinner is okay that's not what I'm suggesting but there are people that sin and they confess it they forsake it they may stumble again but by God's grace to get back up that's not a hypocrite that's a sick person that needs to the continual medicine of the doctor wouldn't say oh you terrible wretch no we'd say good on you that you're you're applying or you're appealing to the to the doctor but notice how you describes it it's the house of God the Church of the Living God the pillar and ground of the truth if we want to instill in our children a love for God's truth we need to instill in them a love for God's Word and church just because there's bad things that happen in the church doesn't mean the church is back that's a logical fallacy too right just because some you know fool takes a gun and goes into a shopping mall and shoots a bunch of people doesn't mean there's a problem with guns it means there's a problem with that fool just because fools mess up in the church doesn't mean we get rid of Church how did we get to this point of such irrationality oh this guy sinned in the church never go to church what how does that follow it doesn't follow and yet this has found its way into the hearts of multitudes my point is is that if you as a husband or as a father or mother want to instill in your children something instill in them a respect for God's church we have in second London confession 22:6 God is to be worshiped everywhere in spirit and in truth as in private families daily and in secret each one by himself so more solemnly in the public assemblies which are not carelessly nor willfully to be neglected or forsaken when God by His Word or Providence calleth thereto Terry Johnson says simply the first and primary key to your family spiritual health is a commitment to the weekly public worship services of the church again I think that we just immediately say Oh family worship okay we gotta read we got to pray we this yeah but you've got to set a pattern and set forth the context and and show how important it is to come to church secondly there ought to be this appreciation of and an attempt at the sanctification of the Lord's Day see that touches on family worship that touches on the the ethos the the atmosphere in one's home the biblical theology of the Sabbath is set forth in many places Genesis chapter 2 is where it begins we see it all throughout Scripture we see the the change of the day and the New Testament we don't have the time unless you all want to go for it we can go till about 8:00 and I can give you the biblical theology of Sabbath I'm not getting a great big boost of confidence that I should do that so I won't but I'm sure you can find stuff on the internet from our church with reference to the Sabbath but there is a biblical theology of it and then there's the blessing of it Francis turret and made this observation he said experience teaches - well that license and the negligence of sacred things grows more and more where a proper regard is not shown for the lord's day many may go that sounds like legalism it's an amazing thing whenever we talk about actually doing what God says were legal lists that's not legalism that's not legalism legalism is a bad thing but wanting to obey God that's not legalism it's a good thing vos in his biblical theology makes this observation he says the sabbath quote has faithfully accompanied the people of god on their march through the ages I like that that's a very excellent endorsement of this so we ought to have first a commitment to public worship second a sanctification of the Lord's Day and then thirdly what the Puritan we call the use of a family altar again it doesn't have to be you know for hours if it is I would HIGHLY encourage you to change your life you actually need to go to work and you need to work harder you need to give more hours to your employer if you're reading your long Puritan sermons to your kids so that's the corrective to what I said earlier but reading scripture law gospel teach them what God's commandments are teach them how to use those Commandments and teach them that in light of the brokenness of the commandments of the broken commandment on the part of the children how they need Christ we need to be familiar with those two main emphases in Scripture law and gospel we need to teach those things repetitively to our children they need to understand what the cross is all about they need to understand what the act of obedience of Jesus is and the passive obedience of Jesus is they may not get it all at once but you take time to explain to them how what Christ brought out on the cross and in his life satisfied for everything we need in terms of sinfulness we need to make sure that the Scriptures are central you are certainly free to sing I think everybody got a free handbook not too long ago right we got rid of the old and we brought in the new and hopefully all of you took those home because that's a great thing too I'm not again saying thou must sing to him have a song right now I'm not saying that but it's a great way to teach your kids hence it's a great way to get doctrine in them and it's just a great thing to sing hymns the other day I was in there singing away and Mike and his sons knocked on the door though man they probably thought this was you know a nutcase sitting in there just singing away you know I go through this new hymn book I'm sure take me takes me longer to figure out the hand but you start looking at them you just want to sing it's a good thing right it's not a bad thing how dare you sing hymns and psalms that's good kids like that too you can do that that's a great thing as well prayer you know there's people out there said well we shouldn't encourage children to pray because they might be unbelievers it's intriguing simon magus what does Peter tell him pray pray I've heard that argument you know many times in my life over the years I've always been you just blown away by it why wouldn't I teach my child to pray why wouldn't I teach my child to call upon the name of the Lord God Most High why wouldn't I teach my child to ask for forgiveness of sins or to teach my child to ask for help and assistance by God to do the things that he's supposed to do prayer ought to be in a vital place and in family worship it's a great time to pray for the church it's a great time to pray for the needs of the people in the church it's a great time to pray for the missionary enterprise it's a great time to pray for the various things that are happening throughout the world it's great time for family to come together and to worship the true and living God together well in conclusion we ought to recognize the importance of family worship charles bridges says on proverbs 13:20 - that's where a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children Bridges says if there is no earthly substance to leave yet a church in the house a family altar the record of holy example and instruction and above all a store of believing prayer laid up for accomplishment when we shall be silent in the grave will be an inheritance to our children of inestimable value great great observation secondly with reference to the implementation of Family Worship if you're not doing this I would highly encourage you to do this feel the weight of those examples in the scripture and start just teach just tell just talk Terry Johnson again it's a book called the Family Worship book he says remember there is nothing to getting started like actually getting started Wow that's profound isn't it it's like that with everything right I've always been amazed you know like reach a sermon or you know when you talk to people you say oh you need to read your Bible I haven't been reading my Bible then read it don't agonize confess it if it's sin confess it to God and start you don't have to say you know wallow in self-pity for six months saying well I haven't been reading the Bible to have them in prayer just do it why does 90 no things better than Christians at times just do what you're supposed to do but back to Johnson remember there is nothing to getting started like actually getting started doesn't sound helpful we're making a point like everything else that is valuable but requires discipline and sacrifice I eat losing weight stopping drinking getting an education staying married attending worship services it finally comes down to doing it start do it that's what he says that I've got to give him a hearty Amen on that one if you are practicing family worship then by God's grace persevere it does pay rich dividends it is a blessing you may not always see it when they're little and you're in the trenches but when your kids rise up and they confess saving faith in Jesus Christ and they're able to quote Westminster Shorter Catechism on what is justification something they learned when they were little children that's a blessing and an encouragement and something that we ought to be longing for and then in terms of some practical benefits first it's a means by which we are able to obey God with reference to teaching our children formal times and informal times there ought to be formal times set seasons where we sit and worship with our kids secondly it's a means by which children are prepared to sit in the services of the church say well that's very pragmatic yeah and it's a good thing we ought not to have it be the case that that a kid can't sit for an hour I mean we are running into that problem left and right aren't we we have you know everybody's fidgety not just kids anymore you hear oh you go you guys have an hour-long sermon at your church too bad for you it was 20 minutes so we can get back to doing those things that we want to do that's the prevailing ideal out there today hour-long sermons are no longer than norm it used to be two hours sermons I've got Puritan sermons in there and I read them I think how in the world did people sit through these things how did they sit through these hour-and-a-half sermons because they weren't so easily distracted by every shining thing that appeared there's phones there's computers there's TV there's everything vying for the attention sit them down tell them to put everything away and to pay attention that helpfully or hopefully will prepare them so that on Sunday you tell them to put things down and sit and pay attention as well it's a means by which familial closeness is fostered there's nothing better is there than to worship God with your family I'm not preaching up here I want you all to be miserable and unhappy and you know just have bad lives no this is how happiness is found it's doing what God calls us to do as well it's a means by which a kingdom emphasis is maintained what are we told in Matthew chapter 6 seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness Family Worship as a means by which we orient children to that Kingdom principle and then as well it's a means by which children hear the gospel for the salvation of their souls that is most crucial they need that data they need that Fator that set of facts they need the truth concerning Jesus Christ and him crucified well hopefully you will be encouraged and hopefully you will pursue this if you are not and that by God's grace you'll keep doing it if you are and that your children will ultimately benefit they will call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and they will happily be worshipping God for the rest of their lives well let us pray our Father we thank you for your word we thank you for the clarity of it on this subject and I pray that you would encourage and strengthen all of our hearts help us to persevere in these things and help us to find great joy in these things for God it is a delight to see little children learning the scriptures to see little children understanding the truth as it is in Jesus we ask that you would go with us now we pray for your blessing upon us in this coming week and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord amen we'll close with a brief time of meditation you