You may turn in your Bibles to John chapter 19. John chapter 19. We'll read verses 17 to 30, and then our focus this morning will be specifically on verses 26 and 27, which is the third saying of our Savior from the cross. Just pick up reading in John 19 at verse 17.
And he bearing his cross went out to a place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side and Jesus in the center. Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. that many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Therefore, the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, Do not write, The King of the Jews, but he said, I am the King of the Jews.
Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. They said, therefore, among themselves, Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be, that the scripture might be fulfilled, which says, They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
Therefore the soldiers did these things. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing by, he said to his mother, Woman, behold your son. Then he said to the disciple, Behold your mother.
And from that hour, that disciple took her to his own home. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there, and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on Hyssop, and put it to his mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished.
And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father, we come now to consider this saying from the Savior on the cross, and we pray that you would help us to understand it, help us to make the practical application, help us to worship the Lord who said it.
How we praise you, God, that you have included us in your gracious covenant. How we praise you that you have saved us and caused us to see the glory of this passage, to see that Christ finished the work of redemption at Calvary, and he has purchased securely the salvation of all whom he died for. We give you praise and glory for these truths, and we pray now that you would guide us and instruct us, and we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Introduction
Well, today is obviously Mother's Day, so a hearty Happy Mother's Day. to all of the ladies here who have had children, who are having children, and who will have children. So we've covered all the tenses there. It's probably one of the most difficult jobs in the universe, and probably one of the most thankless jobs in the universe. And perhaps as we read in Mark chapter 3, you might have thought, boy, Jesus didn't really show a lot of respect and honor for his mother.
I mean, his mother, his earthly mother, and his brothers came, and they announced that they had arrived, and then Jesus says, nevertheless, those who do the will of my Father They are my mother, they are my brothers, they are my sisters. Well, Jesus did love his mother as this third saying from the cross evidences to us.
Seven Sayings from the Cross
There were a total of seven sayings when the Lord Jesus Christ was on the cross at Calvary in those final hours. The first was when he said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. Luke 23, verse 34. The second is when he said to the thief on the cross, today you will be with me in paradise.
That's Luke 23, verse 43. The third, as I've said, is here. Woman, behold your son. And to John, he said, behold your mother.
The fourth is when he cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me according to Matthew 27, verse 46. The fifth saying is, I thirst, here in John 19.28. The sixth is, it is finished, John 19.30. And then Luke 23.46 records, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.
So in this eleventh hour of our Lord Jesus Christ, as He utters these sayings, in a very real sense, we see what matters to Him. Now, of course, all of His words, the entirety of the Bible, matters to Him. But when a man comes to die, we ought to give attention to those things spoken in the last few minutes. And here, this third statement is very instructive for us.
Woman, behold your son. Then he said to the disciple, behold your mother. And from that hour, that disciple took her to his own home.
Three Observations from the Text
Now I want to look at three particular observations from our text this morning. The first is that it's an example. What Jesus does here serves as an example for each and every one of us. That we ought to honor our mother. that we ought to revere her, that we ought to respect her, that we ought to care for her.
And that when a man, a woman, a boy or a girl does not do that, they are actually inviting upon themselves the very wrath and fury of Almighty God. Secondly, we'll notice that this is an example of Christ's active obedience. What do I mean by active obedience? Well, Christ needed to perform all righteousness in order that we would have a perfect righteousness.
See, we are not just saved, we are saved by His death, but we're saved by His life as well. We not only need our sins removed, we need a righteousness that avails with God. That's what the act of obedience of Christ means, is that throughout His life, He always, always obeyed the law of God. Because we cannot, because we do not, we needed somebody to obey the law for us.
And Jesus does that. And here in this instance, it at least illustrates something of obedience to the fifth commandment in honoring one's mother. And then thirdly, we'll notice the sovereignty of Christ. It's an interesting fact in this historical narrative.
The one who looks to be the victim is actually in charge of the whole affair. He is the one that yields his life up. He is the one that gave himself for this. He is the one that, even on the cross, is exercising sovereign control over everything that is taking place.
And it's helpful for us to understand that.
First: An Example of Honoring One's Mother
But first of all, with reference to the example set by Christ, we have to say what it isn't. It isn't the Roman Catholic doctrine of Mary being a co-mediator with Jesus. Roman Catholicism teaches that Mary had a part in offering up her son for the sins of humanity. That she was a mediatrix, which is the female version of a mediator.
Well that is heresy. That is blasphemy. She did not join in the covenant of redemption made between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as a participant in this whole affair. If you go back for a moment to Luke chapter 1, when Mary is commissioned as a servant of the Lord, she rejoices in God her Savior.
Luke chapter 1, beginning in verse 46. Mary said, my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. She needed a Savior just as we need a Savior. She was a sinner saved by grace, albeit chosen for a remarkable task, nevertheless, she was a sinner saved by grace.
We don't want to exalt her, but we also want to devalue. I mean, certainly, she had a blessed role. In fact, that was one of the pronouncements made, that she was blessed among women, which actually was shared by Jael, who drove the tent peg into the head of Sisera. Back in Judges 5, she was celebrated as having been Blessed among women.
She served a particular task in the furthering of God's kingdom in the same manner that Mary does. She served the kingdom of God in advancing it specifically by bringing forth this son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Her biblical theology is excellent as well. Notice in verse 48, for he has regarded the lowly state of his maidservant.
For behold, henceforth, all generations will call me blessed. For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm." Reference to the prophet Isaiah, where the prophet declares that God will lay forth his holy arm in the sight of all the nations.
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.
She understood the promise made to Abraham was come to fruition in her own womb. The salvation of Israel had come through the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Roman Catholicism says that in this saying of our Lord from the cross, he was committing the church to the care of Mary. That's not what's going on here.
J.C. Ryle says, we surely need no stronger proof than we have here that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was never meant to be honored as divine, or to be prayed to, worshipped, and trusted in as the friend and patroness of sinners. Common sense points out that she who needed the care and protection of another was never likely to help men and women to heaven or to be in any sense a mediator between God and man. It is not too much to say however painful the assertion that of all the inventions of the Church of Rome, there never was one more utterly devoid of foundation, both in Scripture and reason, than the doctrine of Mary worship.
Jesus is not committing the Church to the care of Mary. Jesus, as a godly son, is committing the care of his mother into the hand of the beloved disciple John, so that she would know something of protection, care, sustenance that would no longer be available to her from Christ as he would be ascended on high to the right hand of God most high. So if it isn't that, it is certainly an example of her devotion. Remember Jesus said that the disciples would flee from him?
Mary's there at the cross. A.W. Pink says, after the days of his infancy and childhood, we see and hear little of Mary. During his public ministry, her life was lived in the background, but now when strikes the supreme hour of her son's agony, when the world has cast out the child of her womb, she stands there by the cross. baffled perhaps at the unprecedented scene, paralyzed at his sufferings, yet bound by the golden chain of love to the dying one, there she stands.
His disciples may desert him, his friends may forsake him, his nation may despise him, but his mother is there, where all might see her, near him in death as in birth. Who can fully appreciate the mother heart? It takes us a long time to learn this lesson, doesn't it? It takes us a long time to learn that there's precious few people who will always be there for us.
We like to think everybody loves us and will always be there for us. The disciples of Jesus deserted him. Do you think your friends are going to be there in your time of greatest need? I like to think they will be, but a case of biblical realism often invades my heart.
Your mom will be there. Jesus' mother was there. Some of you children, some of us as even adults, don't always get this fact. There are some exceptions, there are some wretched mothers out there, I grant that.
But as a general rule, mothers will always be there for you. And this scene illustrates that fact.
Mary's Devotion and Christ's Kindness
It also illustrates the kindness of the Savior. I purposefully read the larger context so we could see what was going on. He's suffering, isn't he? There's agony.
He's been betrayed. He's been delivered up. He's on the cross. And yet, he's concerned for his mother.
More than likely, since we haven't heard anything else about Joseph, he probably was dead by this time. Jesus' brothers, up until this point, were not converted. And so Jesus had been caring for Mary, and now that he is going back into heaven, he doesn't just conclude, oh, she can just function because, you know, that's the way it happened. He looks out for her concern.
He says to her, very specifically, woman, behold your son. Then he said to the disciple, behold your mother. And from that hour, that disciple took her to his own home. He didn't turn her over to the care of the state.
He didn't put her in a nursing home. He put her in the care of a beloved disciple for both her physical sustenance and for her spiritual well-being. He's not saying to his earthly brothers, I hate you, you're horrible, and I don't want you to care for your mom. But he is highlighting the principle that all things being equal, she ought to be with a believer.
Notice that he refers to her as woman, and people take that and say, wow, that's kind of offensive. He does that in John chapter 2 at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee. Woman, why do you come to me? My hour is not yet.
Well, remember that when Jesus embarked on his public ministry, she sort of passed from mother to disciple. She was always a disciple, but she had affirmed that role, or she had come into that role in its fullness. He is not being harsh. He is not being callous.
He is not being cold. He is being just the opposite. He is demonstrating care. He is demonstrating a transfer of responsibility.
And lo and behold, when we get to Acts 1, 12-14, Mary is with John, being cared for. So in the final hour of our Savior's life, as he utters things that are peculiar to various situations, sinners, the first saying, Father forgive them, to the specific sinner at his side, the thief, today you will be with me in paradise. And he cries out on his own behalf, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? When he says, I thirst, when he says, it is finished, when he says, Father, into your hands, all of these have a specific application.
And in this third saying, it illustrates his care and concern for his mother.
Practicing What He Preached
Now, if you want to be a godly man, a godly woman, a godly boy, a godly girl, you better love your mom. and esteem her, and respect her, and care for her, and as far as you're able to, provide for her. Jesus practiced what He preached. In Matthew 15, there's an instance where they come to indict the Savior. In fact, turn there to Matthew chapter 15.
Matthew 15 and the Fifth Commandment
Just so you can see it fleshed out that Jesus is practicing what He preached. Matthew chapter 15. Matthew 15, beginning in verse 1. Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?
For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread. He answered and said to them, Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? See the difference? He neglects the tradition of the elders.
Why do you transgress the commandment of God? And then he gives a concrete illustration or example of their transgression of the commandment of God. And out of the ten commandments, which they were guilty of breaking of, he goes to the fifth commandment. You know, when you do a study on biblical law, you will see that God takes parental authority very seriously.
He doesn't roll with the attitude of disobedience or disrespect. He doesn't think it's just a bit of childish folly for you to assert rebellion against the authority, which is your parents. In fact, in several instances in the Old Testament, honor your father and mother is conjoined with blasphemy against God. In fact, some reckon, we talk about the first table of the law being the first four commandments.
Many reckon that the first table of the law are the first five commandments. That honor your father and your mother is uniquely theological. So much so that when you disobey your parents, you are raising the fist at God most high. Notice verse 4, Matthew 15.
For God commanded, saying, Honor your father and your mother, and he who curses father or mother, let him be put to death. But you say, whoever says to his father or mother, whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God. Then he need not honor his father or mother. Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.
Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying, These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, and in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. Notice verse 5, But you say, Whoever says to his father or mother, Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God. Imagine if your parents were dependent upon your aid. And you happen to be a scribe or a Pharisee.
And you, with pious intention, send them a note instead of a check. And that note says, Dear Mom, Dear Dad, The Lord has laid it upon my heart to do a far more holy thing with the money that I should give to you. I'm going to take that money and I'm going to put it in the hat at the temple. Because that genuine gift to God and to his temple far surpasses your earthly support.
Now, it just so happens that if you were a scriber, a Pharisee, when you put that money into the hat, it somehow ended up in your pocket. but it had the most noble intention, the most pious surroundings. I want to further the kingdom. You further the kingdom by feeding your parents. I fear we've bought into this.
Something so mundane as making sure my mother or my father has food That doesn't really advance the kingdom of Christ. I'll write checks for missionaries in China. I'm not saying Chinese or missionaries in China don't need checks, but your parents do. That's what Jesus is saying here.
You think you're so holy and righteous and you've ripped off your parents? How dare you? This is, this is just an amazing application of Isaiah the prophet. These people draw near to me with their mouth, he says, and honor me with their lips.
Their heart is far from me. You're going to come into the temple. You're going to lay out all your gifts. You're going to celebrate and praise Yahweh.
And all the while, your mother is eating God's food because you're too cheap to give money to her. How dare you? Biblical religion is about honoring your parents. Biblical religion is about calling your mother.
I just read in James 2 this morning, pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God and the Father is what? Oh, that I go to China and I witness. Oh, that I give tracts to everybody in my workplace. Oh, but I give a lot of money at my church.
Biblical and undefiled religion is visiting widows and orphans in their distress. You know, some of us are so wicked, we'll go visit widow and orphans and still neglect our parents. There's nothing honoring about that attitude. Jesus flashes it out at the cross.
What's important to the Savior? A lot of things. And one of those things specifically is the temporal care of his own mother. Woman, behold, your son.
Then he said to the disciple, behold, your mother. And from that hour, that disciple took her to his own home. He's why I don't know who. It's a general rule when Jesus says, care for my mother, you care for his mother.
And that's what John did. And again, in Acts chapter 1, that's exactly what's going on. Now, we can imagine that when the brothers were converted, they all loved on her, they cared for her, all of that. We're sure of that.
James was a godly pastor, the half-brother of our Lord. He ministered in the church in Jerusalem. More than likely, she was well cared for and looked after.
Second: Christ's Active Obedience
As I said, this illustrates the active obedience of Christ. Jesus did this because we don't. Jesus did this because we don't. We rise up as young people and we actually think it's okay for us to reject and to rebel against parental authority.
Solomon has some hard words for that kind of a mindset. Actually, the words of Agur, the son of Jaqay, his utterance in Proverbs 30 verse 11, there is a generation that curses its father and does not bless its mother. we're in that generation. I mean, I'm sure there's been that throughout the generations, but that's one of the things, or one of the marks in our society. It's a lack of respect for parental authority.
I mean, that's the first thing he says in describing this wicked generation. He goes on from there. In other words, he equates. There is a generation that curses its father and does not bless its mother.
He equates that, or puts that on the same level as everything else he says. There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is not washed from its filthiness. There is a generation, oh how lofty are their eyes, and their eyelids are lifted up. There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and whose fangs are like knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.
You see all these bad guys in the street, or all these bad guys in the prison, or all the bad guys that reject authority? It began at home. And then in verse 17 of Proverbs 30, the eye that mocks his father and scorns obedience to his mother, the ravens of the valley will pick it out and the young eagles will eat it. It's terrifying.
If you're a wretch to your parents and you start seeing ravens overhead, you might want to shield your eyes according to the scripture. I don't know any of us who would look at this as something favorable. To have the ravens pick our eyes out and young eagles eating them. Oh, that's graphic.
That's a horrible picture. Yeah. And it illustrates a horrible crime. The rejection of parental authority.
See, Christ did what he did because we don't do what we're supposed to do. That's what the act of obedience of Christ is all about.
The Theological Basis of Active Obedience
In order for Christ to carry out the messianic task as God's Savior and as the race's last Adam and Redeemer for his people, he had to render personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience to God's law. That's the theological illustration. That's the illustration of the theology behind what Jesus is doing. The Bible is filled with expressed statements of his obedience on our behalf.
That's the whole point of Romans 5. There's a first Adam, there's a last Adam. All in Adam died, so all in Christ are made alive. See, God deals representatively with us.
He deals with us in Adam or in Christ. And in order for us to stand before God clothed in a righteousness not our own, that righteousness had to be fulfilled by our champion. That's what the Bible's about. It's about the hero.
It's about the Christ. It's about the Lord who always did what his father said. There was never a time when he didn't obey. There was never a time when he said no to the fifth commandment.
There was never a time that he let fly a word of rebellion or rejection against his mother, against his earthly father. What's it say when they find him at age 12 in Jerusalem as he's throwing down in the temple? They were concerned for him, and he said, didn't you know I had to be about my father's will? Nevertheless, he left and he continued in subjection to them.
We actually get this idea. You don't know what it's like submitting or obeying this person. What's it like for someone who is holy, harmless, and undefiled to submit to or be subject to people that aren't holy, that aren't harmless, and that aren't defiled? You think you've got it tough.
Well, it wasn't tough for Jesus. Psalm 40 was written of Christ. It's quoted in Hebrews. says, I delight to do your will, your laws within my heart. He always yielded obedience to the commandments of God.
The servant songs of Isaiah portray this would be the case. The declarations of Christ in his earthly ministry. My will is to do what? My need is to do the will of him who sent me.
Again, this area of submission to authority. I think we struggle with this. If we don't struggle with it as children of parents, we struggle with it as wives to husbands. We as husbands, we struggle with it with anybody over us.
And you know what it's all symptomatic of? The struggle with the authority of God. We live in a world of structure. We live in a world of order.
I realize there's bad government. We're not going to discuss all that right now. But as a general rule, according to Romans 13, if you're not being told to sin, you need to submit yourself to every lawful authority. Jesus did this because we don't do it.
The fact of his submission to authority. Where is he in this scene? He's on a Roman cross. That submission to authority illustrated, played out, vividly depicted for each and every one of us.
The active obedience of Christ is illustrated in this event through His obedience to the fifth commandment. He cares for and he tends to the physical needs of his mother. He doesn't yell at the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 15 and upbraid them for their violating the fifth commandment and then on the cross show no regard or concern whatsoever for his earthly mother. He is consistent.
He is relentlessly consistent. If the fifth commandment means enough to him to indict the scribes and Pharisees in a theological battle concerning obedience to God, he is going to be consistent in carrying out that obedience at the cross.
Third: The Sovereignty of Christ
And then thirdly and finally, we need to see in this not just a moral example. Not just a great example of Jesus. Oh, we should be like him. We should be.
It is that. not just a display of the active obedience of Christ. Though we should see that and praise him for it, it is a display of his absolute sovereignty. Notice verse 30. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished, and bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.
The Sovereign Laying Down of Life
Go back to John 10, 17 and 18. John 10, 17 and 18. Therefore, my Father loves me because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself.
I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from my Father. When we watch, when we look at, when we read the Passion Narrative, yes, see the heinousness of unbelieving Israel in delivering up their Messiah. See the culpability of the Roman government in carrying out the execution of an innocent man.
See those things to be sure, but see the sovereign Christ who wasn't caught unawares, who wasn't caught off guard, who wasn't operating according to contingency or a plan B, but who from beginning to end orchestrated this entire event so that you and I could go to heaven. That's what we need to see. We need to say hallelujah, what a savior. We need to see one who was willing to obey, who was willing to die, and who would rise again and ascend into the heavens to the right hand of the throat of God, where he must reign till all of his enemies are made his footstool.
If we come away from this and only focus on the guilt of man, and we see the heinousness of the participants, we've missed a very valuable part of it. Christ operated according to a higher plan. He was not bound by the laws of the Medes and the Persians. He was bound by the decree of God Most High.
And he would operate accordingly He would carry out the father's plan. He would render up that obedience and he would give his life. And so it would be said in verse 30, it is finished. And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.
He did this for the sake of his people.
Application
Well, brethren, let us learn in conclusion. I said it's not only example, but it certainly is example. I love what C.H. Spurgeon says about child's responsibility to the parent.
When I say child, you haven't stopped being a child. You're still your parent's child. One of my babies turned 18 yesterday. He's still my child.
He may be a man according to this world, but he's my child. And he better never forget that. I'm my mother's child. You're your mother's child.
There's never a time when you stop being a child. So we're not just saying, you little five-year-old, you little ten-year-old, you little twelve-year-old, this is for you. It's for every one of us. Spurgeon said fathers and mothers are the most natural agents for God to use in the salvation of their children.
I am sure that in my early youth, no teaching ever made such an impression upon my mind as the instruction of my mother. Neither can I conceive that to any child there can be one who will have such influence over the young heart as the mother who has so tenderly cared for her offspring. A man with a soul so dead as not to be moved by the sacred name of mother is creation's blot. Never could it be possible for any man to estimate what he owes to a godly mother.
How can I ever forget her tearful eye when she warned me to escape from the wrath to come? I thought her lip eloquent. Others might not think so, but they certainly were eloquent to me. How can I ever forget when she bowed her knee and with her arms about my neck prayed, O that my son might live before thee?
He says in another place that his own mother would testify to her children that if on the day of judgment you were found outside of Christ, I will stand with him in condemning you. Because I told you about Jesus and his salvation. But you know what? It's not just a godly mother.
You don't have the right to leave and say, well, my mother wasn't like C.H. Virgins. Honor your father and your mother. Not honor your godly father and your godly mother.
Not honor them as far as they're honorable. You have a duty under God to honor your parents. Now, that's language used of God. How do you honor God?
You pick and choose. Do you just harbor ill thoughts and disaffection and hardness of heart toward God? No. Better not.
You're not supposed to do that with your mom or your dad either. And in saying this and kind of focusing here on mothers, it's not saying, oh, go out and be a wretch to your fathers, you know, because they're just horrible guys. No. Honor parental authority.
There is an example here. Albert Barnes commented on this scene, what an example of filial attention, what a model to all children, and how lovely appears the dying Savior, thus remembering his afflicted mother, and making her welfare one of his last cares on the cross, and even when making atonement for the sins of the world. Sometimes we get busy, don't we? I haven't called my mom in two weeks, man!
I've been busy! Jesus is making atonement for the sins of the world, and he calls his mom. Isn't that amazing? We have no excuse.
We may say, oh, my mother, she's an unbeliever. Well, win her with your love. Show her what a Christian's all about. showing what care and concern and being like Jesus really looks like. And then secondly and finally, Robert Raymond makes a good point with reference to the active obedience of Christ.
With grateful praise, the Christian adores the Savior for his obedience to his father's will and law. Without it, there would be no salvation. There is an uprising, there is a movement among evangelical and reformed scholars today to attack the active obedience of Christ. We don't really need it.
All we need is his death. We don't need his life. That is an affront to the gospel. That it is being entertained in academic circles doesn't give me a lot of confidence in those academic circles.
I think the church is better served by a man named J. Gressa Machen, who on his dying bed said, I am thankful for the active obedience of Christ. He would echo Raymond's sentiments. Without it, there would be no salvation.
Praise God that he sent Christ. And if you don't know Christ today, the answer is not go home and call your mom. Go home and be a good guy or a good girl. The answer is not moral reform or trying to make it better.
The answer is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. That's your first order of importance. Look to the cross. Look to Christ.
Believe the Bible. Believe the Gospel. And you shall be saved. That's what's most meaningful.
Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we give You thanks for the Scriptures. We give You thanks for the Savior so clearly portrayed in our Bibles, God. We thank You for the act of obedience of Jesus. We thank You that He always fulfilled the law of God and that He died as a sacrifice and that He rose again and that all those who look to him in faith will have everlasting life.
God, truly, this is gospel. This is good news. And we would pray for each and every one of the mothers here that you would just encourage them and build them up and strengthen them and help them, God, to do that most wonderful task of rearing little ones for the kingdom of Jesus Christ. We know that you seek a godly offspring.
We know that blessed is the fruit of the womb, Lord, We know that these are good gifts from your hand, and we just pray that you'd help us as fathers and as mothers to exercise this stewardship in a godly and responsible manner. And I pray for each of the children, for each of us with parents, that we would take seriously what the Bible says concerning this issue of honor to our parents. Help us, God, to resolve to be more like our Lord Jesus Christ, to let our conduct be worthy of the gospel. Forgive us, Lord, for falling short.
Forgive us for living in neglect. Forgive us for our sins. And we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.