In this special Father’s Day sermon, Pastor Babij examines the exhortations given by the Psalmist to children in Psalm 34. Pastor Babij identifies and explains Four Things to Teach Children to Help Them Fear the Lord:
1. Teach the kind of living that gets God’s attention
2. Teach what makes God frown
3. Teach the kind of heart that keeps God near
4. Teach the blessedness promised to God-fearers
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okay let’s take our Bibles and turn to some 34.
and I do want to mention uh from last week if you were here last week that I just want to thank the thank the Lord for everybody who’s part who participated in giving me a dedication book uh on examining the end examining end times teaching a series that I did I guess in 2009 and uh and they put it together for me and uh put it in a book as a dedication so that that’s a labor in love because it takes a long time to do this it really does so I appreciate it very much and I pray that the Lord would use that uh for the people who that read it and uh thank you okay let’s look at Psalm 34. today I’m looking again it is Father’s day so I decided to again look at the wisdom literature of the word of God to give some instruction to Father specifically whether you are going to be a father whether you are a father in the middle of it whether you’re a father at the end of it or your kids are pretty much grown pretty much getting out of the house on their own you never really stop being a father you just you just go through different phases and you’re always you’re always an example and you’re always a teacher in some way and so the best place to go to find out uh what a father ought to be is the word of God but specifically in the wisdom literature because really that’s what it takes uh in this world it takes wisdom to live and it’s not just any kind of wisdom it’s God’s wisdom right and so we have to know what God’s wisdom is to be able to give it out to others especially to our own children so we’re going to be looking at Psalm 34 verses 11 through 18. remember it’s on the back of your bulletin it’s also you can use your Bible and follow along with me this morning but let’s have a word of prayer as we continue let’s pray father I thank you this morning Father for the word of God I thank you Father how much it has helped me in my own life especially in the area of fathering I would must admit Lord that most of us fathers really don’t have any idea what we’re doing in some respects but Lord when we come to the word of God things get clarified things get defined even Lord what we should teach becomes a matter of scripture and priority for our own lives and I pray Lord today of course we cannot exhaust the material but Lord I pray that we could at least introduce some of the things in the word of God that could help fathers uh teach their children the fear of the Lord and I pray this in your name amen now what I would like you to look directly at a few verses of our passage this morning specifically verse 11 and 12. where verse 11 says come you children listen to me and I will teach you the fear of the Lord now that is something where it is an admonition to come and they’re going to talk about a specific subject and that’s that subject is the fear of the Lord now most children most children love the thought of living a happy long and a good life most of us want that right well if you notice in verse number 12 it says who is the man who desires life and loves Length of days that he may see good that’s a question right the question is well how do I lay the foundation so I can have a happy and a good and a long life well the foundation to that is found in verse number 11 come and learn what the fear of the Lord is that’s how you know now even in uh verse number eight and nine of the same chapter it says o taste to see that the Lord is good verse 8 how blessed is the man who takes refuge in him verse number nine oh fear the lord you his Saints for those who fear Him there is no want so the fear of the Lord becomes a huge subject in the wisdom literature and make no mistake that the fear of the Lord needs to be taught it needs to be modeled it is not something that comes naturally we don’t get it from the world we don’t get it from our flesh we don’t get it from anywhere except in the word of God so it needs to be taught specifically when the human being is a child a tender shoot just sprouting up that’s when the word the fear of the Lord needs to be taught in fact the Bible says in Ecclesiastes at the end of the book it says here’s the whole duty of man fear God fear God and keep his Commandments and because everything is going to be brought before God in judgment so what is the fear of the Lord I’ve mentioned this before the fear of the Lord is important for unbelievers as well as believers the fear of the Lord includes at least two specific facts first it always includes the thought of Terror because God’s an awesome God it includes also the thought of being in awe of God or reverencing God a good working definition of the fear of God is to fear God is to be afraid enough to care what he has to say and to be humbled enough to submit to his authority it encompasses in that definition both fear and trembling and awe and reverence now for unbelievers the Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes that God has arranged everything in the world so people would fear Him in fact without turning there Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse 14 and 15 tells us this I know that everything God does will remain forever there is nothing to add to it there is nothing to take from it for God has so worked that men should fear Him so God has worked in the world so all Humanity will come to the place where that they would fear God now that doesn’t mean they will do that but God has designed it for that to happen it is the recognition that God is God and that people are human and ultimately man is responsible to his creator can’t get away from that in Scripture people must accept that they are dealing with a sovereign and an inscrutable deity the Lord knows everything about us he knows everything that takes place he’s designed everything he’s created everything and so when you look through Proverbs you’ll find that right in the beginning of Proverbs it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge fools despise wisdom and instruction and then if you go through Proverbs you’ll find all over the place how blessed is the man who fears the Lord Proverbs 28 verse 14 it says that means that the fear of God will keep one from a hardened heart for it says but he who hardens his heart will fall into Calamity and then Proverbs 14 2 He Who Walks In uprightness fears the Lord but he who is crooked in his ways despises him of course there the fear of God will keep one on the straight path and from despising God and walking in crooked ways and then Psalm excuse me Proverbs 19 verse 23 the fear of the Lord leads to life so that one may sleep satisfied Untouched by evil the fear of the Lord the fear of God will lead to a good and a satisfied life although not a troubled free life don’t get me wrong there don’t get the scripture wrong the Bible never ever promises a troubled free life a life without trials is non-existent so we are living this world but this the fear of the Lord when it is taught especially to young people because they are like sponges uh teach them then and if you don’t teach them them they will be taught but they will be taught from sources that will bend them in the wrong direction see be aware that there are at least three powerful things that are trying to capture the heart of our children the first one is the world system the world system with his thoughts its Trends its influences Upon Us cares nothing about the fear of the Lord tells us in Ephesians in which you formally walked according to the course of this world when somebody becomes a Christian they no longer walk according to the course of this world so the world has a tremendous impact and influence upon everyone its system its thoughts what they think is important a second thing that wants to capture our children’s heart is their own remaining corruption in their flesh the principle of sin that works within them their passions and desires if left alone they will do what Their passage passions and desires dictate but remember their passions and desires at least being led by the sinful flesh cares nothing about the fear of the Lord all they care about is satisfying themselves it says again in Ephesians chapter 2 among them we too all formally lived in the lust of our flesh indulging the desires of the Flesh and the mind and we’re by Nature children of Wrath even as the rest everybody is born with a sinful nature in fact the reason why there’s so much Mayhem and sin in the world it’s brought out in Romans chapter 3 because there is no fear of God before people’s eyes people do not fear God and then there’s a third thing that’s after our children and that is Satan himself Satan is pulling the Str strings behind the scene he’s the arch enemy that will never face our children in the direction of the fear of the Lord he’ll never do that he is laboring a very hard to get our kids while they are young so then they will rebel against the things of God as they get older again in Ephesians it says that they were walking according or they were walking according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit that now works is working in the sons of disobedience so that’s called in a theological way the triumvirate the three powerful things that have influence over every one of us and the one thing that can rest you from all those things is the fear of the Lord so Satan always promises greener grass on the other side of the fence he always makes sin look so very good and pleasurable and don’t forget children the word of God exposes who he is Satan is a liar he is a Deceiver he will never lead you down the path to fear the lord never matter of fact he won’t he will lead you to think he’s not even there he will lead you in that way so all these three things all these three things you can be led out of at least be aware of by learning how to fear God it will take deliberate instruction by those who fear the lord themselves coupled with little children who have all ears who are willing to listen now as we look this morning to the second part of Psalm 34 we’ll find here that we can glean some wisdom for instruction of our children and I think I believe that if you matter of fact I know that if you hear these instructions and practice them fathers will be able to equip their children to read the signs to read the signs at each fork in the road where one sign says this is God’s way and another sign says this is every other way you could take and that they would consistently know and desire to want to take God’s way it’s not a guarantee Proverbs are not guarantees that our children will follow the signs as posted if they don’t they will suffer the implications of foolish decisions and the consequences of their own sin but if they do they will be led into the promises that are given in our passage of scripture that they would desire all life that is joy-filled and a life that in some respects could be long and a Life that of course has God as its focus see that’s the life that brings blessing so Dad this morning specifically addressed the dads but applicable to all of us so that wherever you’re at today not a dad yet are in the middle of it at the end of it a grandfather a great grandfather I don’t know but wherever you are dads there are four things to teach your children that will help them to fear the lord here’s the first thing and I want you to direct your attention to verse number 13.
through 14 and that is this the first thing is teach your children the kind of living that gets God’s attention now of course in the context of Psalms he’s speaking to those who are living in the community of those who are called Saints in verse number uh nine he says oh fear ye saints that means those who are on the road to Desiring to follow God at least the nation Desiring to follow God the group of people Desiring to follow God and so he says first of all in verse number 13 listen dads if you’re going to teach the kind of living that gets God’s attention that you the first thing you have to do is you have to teach them character notice in verse number 13. it says this and the character has to do with several things and In this passage it has to do with the tongue speaking in verse 13 it says keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit now he’s talking about character there see in Proverbs the tongue is exposed as not only being capable of evil but also capable of good so see dad’s parents are to train their children to in the proper use of their tongue and the reason why the tongue or what a person says says a lot of things about what’s inside of them what’s in their heart in fact several Proverbs tells us indicates to us matter of fact many problems Proverbs tells us and indicates to us uh what the tongue is all about for example Proverbs 15 and verse 2 it says the tongue is the tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable but the mouth of fools Sprout folly the eyes of the Lord are in every place watching the evil and the good are smoothing or a soothing tongue is a tree of life but perversion in it crushes the spirit so the tongue is viewed there as a tongue that can be spewing out wisdom or can be spewing out Folly in each case one can crush the spirit in another case one could uplift the spirit and then in Proverbs Chapter 6 a well-known proverb where it says in chapter 6 verse 16 there are six things with six things which the Lord hates yes seven which are an Abomination to him and what is one of them haughty eyes and a lying tongue see God hates when people consistently lie without addressing that so proverbs 10 verse 20 also tells us the tongue of the righteous is a as Choice silver in the heart of the wicked is worth little the lips of the righteous feed many but fools die for lack of understanding all over the word of God we find that these Proverbs give a good sense on what character is by how someone actually speaks in fact another passage in Proverbs 12 it says there is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword but the tongue of the wise bring healing truthful lips will be established forever but a lying tongue is only for a moment all those found in the wisdom literature and that’s only a portion of them there are many more that could teach us about what pleases God what is good character when it comes to what we say how do we say it we come to the New Testament and we find in the Epistle of James a definition of the tongue it says and the tongue is a fire the very world of iniquity the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body and sets on fire the course of our life and it is set on fire by hell so the tongue has tremendous power in it power to bless power to crush so see how we teach our children to speak is important and how we speak is important first we have to train ourselves in Godly speech and then we can train our kids in Godly speech and some questions we can actually ask ourselves before we speak is things like what am I going to say if I’m saying something to someone what am I how am I going to say what I’m going to say is it kind is it true is it profitable for the person to hear this is it a wholesome thing that brings Grace to them is it necessary is the timing of what I’m going to say the right timing and of course why am I saying it in the first place am I saying it out of anger is it just a knee-jerk response to something that I’m upset about is it just coming from the flesh or have I stepped back and thought about what I was going to say and and then spoke in the right way so am I trying to esteem others higher than myself when I speak see there’s many things we can ask ourselves before we actually speak but I do want you to remember this particular proverb which I always try to remember especially when people talk a lot you know people who just can’t shut their trap they need this verse more than anything in Proverbs chapter 10 and verse number 19 it says when there are many words transgression is unavoidable oh you got that all right that means if you talk a lot you know what you’re bound to sin quickly so in other words a wise person a fool is even considered to be wise when they hold their tongue all right so to be a wise person is somebody who doesn’t just speak but they ask those questions and then if they find in those questions not good a good uh conclusion or result then they need to reevaluate they’re going to say pray about it and then proceed at a later time so dads we’re to teach our kids character and part of that character is teaching them how to speak when they speak wrongly why they shouldn’t be speaking that way next thing in verse number 14 back in Proverbs or Psalm chapter 34 is this that dads are to give instruction in in their in conduct in the conduct of a child it says in verse 14 depart from Evil and do good all right speak peace and pursue it in other words a child has to know what evil is to depart from it and then a child has to know what is the good thing to do and of course in doing that they would seek peace and pursue that peace but there is another passage that I’d like you to turn to quickly but you keep your hand there in Psalm 34 and that’s in Proverbs chapter 20.
Proverbs Chapter 20 and verse number 11.
and notice in verse number 11 and Proverbs chapter 20.
it says it is by his deeds that alad distinguishes himself if his conduct is pure and right so here in this passage of scripture very clearly it has to do with two things it’s not only speech and we’re not just it’s not scripture is not just teaching morality here because we’re talking about the fear of the Lord we’re talking about living before the eyes of God speech and now conduct so I want you to see what is specifically being brought out here in Proverbs concerning character how does the child make himself out in either a negative or a positive sense by his deeds or by his actions because that becomes the point in which we determine whether their actions are sinful or evil and need to be corrected or are there deeds and their deeds reveal a certain character something in their heart that needs to be dealt with or are there Deeds something they have been learning and putting into practice and their righteous Deeds that come from the heart well again Proverbs gives us help again on this particular point because in chapter 4 it teaches the child to control his being and it says several words several indications in chapter four if you like to turn there verse 20 of Proverbs it says this my son notice how it’s laid out here give attention to my words proverbs 4 20 incline your ear to my sayings verse 21 don’t do not let them depart from your sight keep them in the midst of your heart verse 22 for they are life to those who find them in health to all their body watch over your heart with all diligence for from it flow the Springs of Life put away from you a deceitful mouth put deceiving a speech far from you verse 25 let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you watch the path of your feet and all the ways and all your ways will be established verse 27 do not turn to the right nor to the left turn your foot from evil so see Proverbs chapter 4 reveals an important principle concerning character that is a heart taught in wisdom has a concentrated craving and a single-hearted Devotion to discovering and doing what is right specifically before the eyes of God and it does so in the midst of a powerful Drive of their own will and heart to go in the opposite direction because that’s the fight between the spirit and the flesh the flesh wants to go one way the spirit wants to go another way and there’s a fundamental fact about our own heart it doesn’t like to take orders from parents from Authority all authority figures and from ultimately God himself it doesn’t see the time will come when all of us when we it’ll be a time where we none of we won’t feel like doing the right thing we won’t feel like doing The Godly thing the responsible thing that we possibly have proposed in our heart months or years before and and that’s probably the most dangerous position any one of us could be in our life see there’s there’s a the reason for the danger is when you take a brief intermission and stop looking at the teaching of wisdom at the word of God you make yourself vulnerable to your own will and to your own affections for the Bible even tells us in Proverbs 28 he who trusts his own heart is a full today what’s the message of the world trust your own heart right follow your own heart follow your own thing no the Bible says if you follow your own heart and that’s a heart that’s not being Guided by wisdom the heart that’s not being Guided by the word of God that’s a heart left to itself if you listen to your own heart you are a fool the Bible says but He Who Walks wisely will be delivered see the wise person will have the alt the alternate understanding of what they should do before God so see all parents and fathers should make their children aware of the contents of Their Own Heart they have a sinful heart they are not little angels they are not one pastor’s put it like this they’re devils and diapers see the fragile human heart can sway us in the wrong direction it is the fear of the Lord that will govern the contents of their heart and only that now that leads to verse number 15 of Psalm 34.
and it’s this dad’s give your children instruction and godliness where it says this Psalm 34 verse 15 the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and the ears his ears are open to their cry so in other words listen here is someone who is conscious of they get up every day of their life realizing listen I live not necessarily before my parents before my teachers before those who are an authority over me I live before the eyes of God see that is a good way to live that’s that’s the way we all should live because you know what it doesn’t matter whether you’re in public or private your mind is going to be thinking about wait a minute everything I do I live before the eyes of God so God knows everything and that is a good place to live now if you notice here a Godly person is conscious that the Lord sees and the Lord hears at all times so godliness is really a constant belief in God as revealed in the word of God they think about God they for a Believer they want to understand more about God from reading the word of God and that’s why parents should be teaching their kids and the church ought to be teaching their kids and so parents should be teaching their kids as they bringing them the church that God is Holy that God is righteous that God is just that God is merciful that God is good and gracious and kind and generous and loving but he is also a god of wrath he will not let sin go unpunished he cannot his character will not let him so teach them to live before the eyes of the Lord and the Lord can hear them when they pray and when they reach out to him they have outward piety for God and there are people who have outward piety but they have no serious thought of God people have all the externals of religion no matter how good those people may be that doesn’t mean they’re Godly that means they’re religious so parents we ought to teach our kids never teach them religiosity or religiousness teach them godliness those are two different things godliness is really somebody who’s understanding who God is and living before him all right so we live before God who notices everything and so Dad teach your children this again I can’t get away from Proverbs 16 7 says when a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord he makes even his enemies be at peace with him proverbs so dads first of all teach your kids the kind of living that God gets God’s attention that leads to my next one teach your children the kind of living that causes God to frown look at Psalm 34 Verse 16.
so dads give your children instruction in the evil of sin it says in verse number 16 the face of the Lord is against evildoers to go to cut off the memory of them from the earth verse 17 the righteous cry and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles see the real twist that has come into the world is the twist of the sin that’s in someone’s heart that really leads to to evil and those people who are evil God is against them would you want to be have God against you now I think it’s the most foolish position a human being can want to put themselves right why would you want God against you see so teach them to think how sin has worked a twisted change it has worked and has left us in our affections as a house in disorder and confusion it has left us our understanding like the flickering light bulb that is insufficient to guide the way not knowing what is good not knowing what is evil see sin has so damaged our Wills that we have become like a rudderless ship tossed to and fro by every desire and passion choosing any way rather than God’s way according to scripture God is against those who are evil as I read before in Proverbs 6 there are sixteen six things that the Lord hates he also hates a heart that devises Wicked plans feed that rapidly run to do evil he hates those things so in other words teach them to think what sin has already done upon this Earth teach them that it casts Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden teach them that it brought the flood upon the whole world teach them that it caused fire to come down from Sodom and Gomorrah teach them it drowned pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea teach them that it destroyed the seven Wicked nation of Canaan teach them it scattered the 12 tribes of Israel Over the face of the globe teach them that it destroyed some three thousand plus Souls along with the Twin Towers and complex of buildings the Pentagon and I believe it was flight 92.
by hate-filled men insanely misuni misusing aircraft to as destructive explosives to accomplish diabolical goals teach them that there is real evil in the world there’s many things to be taught when it comes to evil also sin has added new words to our dictionary like agender that’s a word that means relates to a person who does not have a specific specific gender identity or Recon recognizable gender expression words like by gender relating to a person who has two gender identities or some combination of both or the word gender fluid relating to a person whose gender identity or gender expression is not fixed or shifts over time or depending on the situation so so these words are added only because people who do not fear God nor care about his definition of marriage one man and one woman what they wanted to impose their own gender distorting perverted definitions on the whole society that we all should now line up behind them and agree with them can’t do that if we forgot we have to take a stand When We Fear God and we have to say this is not the right way to look at life or relationships or marriage see sin has also nailed our sinless perfect obedient savior to an Old Rugged Cross so that Jesus the just could die for the unjust I like what we’re studying in Corinthians where it says the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age understood for if they understood it they would have not crucified the Lord of Glory see tell them what sin has done and tell them the story still continues to this day see we don’t have to do evil to No Evil and there are many things parents can teach when others commit evil Acts did you know that since 9 11 15 Terror attacks have happened on U.S soil by radical Islamic terrorists and many people have been killed in those plots from the Beltway Sniper attack in Washington DC to the University of North Carolina in 2006 through the Seattle Jewish Center shooting in 2006 to Little Rock military recruit Center shooting in 2009 to the Fort Hood Texas shooting in 2009 to of course the attempted bombing in Times Square in 2010 that was foiled by two Street vendors that never happened and then of course the Portland car bomb plot that was foiled by FBI in 2010 and then the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 where three were killed 200 injured the Oklahoma Vaughn food beheading in 2014 the Queens New York New York Hatchet attack between New York City the police officers were killed the Texas Art Show shooting in 2015 where a security guard was shot the Chattanooga recruiting center shootings in 2015 where five were killed the San Bernardino shootings in California where 14 were killed and of course just recently in Florida the shooting Massacre in Orlando at the pulse night club attended by the LGBT community 50 were killed or 49 killed in on the 25 injured something like that see those are evil evil things now we could either do one or two things we can protect our kids from all that we should protect our kids from some of it but some of it there’s a great teaching lessons and we could probably say to them listen I want to teach you what hate does when it comes to Prejudice being prejudiced towards a people group all right how evil that is and what it can produce and son it’s not or daughter it’s not about the color of anyone’s skin it’s about their sinful heart and that sin that’s in their hearts and our heart that’s why we need Jesus Christ to save us from the condemnation of our own sin that we can teach them that they these some of these people have believed lies in their religion and they think that the true and living God is pleased by what they’ve done because they have killed infidels and are going to get some blessing when they are in heaven not realizing that the truth of God words says that they will be held responsible for their evil acts and God will send them to hell they know that now see we did teach our kids that this is where evil leads to ultimate Evil leads to these things and there’s many different points along the way as it leads there but see that’s what we ought to teach our kids we ought to teach our kids that listen teach your children that the kind of living that causes God’s to frown is evil living sinful living and teach them this that people who do such things do not fear God they do not fear God they actually despise God and then back in Proverbs 34 there’s a third thing to teach our children fathers teach your children the kind of heart that keeps God near in verse number 18 see dads we need to give children Direction in the kind of heart God is near to look what it says in verse 18 the Lord is near to the Brokenhearted that’s who the Lord’s near to and the Brokenhearted mentioned here is the heart that is broken over sin broken because it has been an offense to God see God is concerned about the heart he’s concerned about the inner man and he is near to the person who in their heart sees their sin in all its ugliness and destruction and recognizes their need for cleansing for forgiveness and for restoration see that’s the kind of heart that God is near uh heart that is broken over their sin of course probably the the best example in scripture is of a kind of changed heart is found in the example of David King David after he sinned before God with bathsheb and committing adultery and then murder see David what he does is the knowledge that he has about God it moves him toward the lord and not away from the Lord because it says in that famous psalm in Psalm 51 it says this in verse 16. for you do not Delight in sacrifice otherwise I would give it you are not pleased with burnt offering verse 17 the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a broken and a contrite heart oh God you will not despise a heart like that that is the heart that draws God near to that person so dad’s we need to teach our children the knowledge of God that causes them to run with their sin to God and not away from him we have a tendency when we sin is to hide our sin right to cover our sin to run from our with our sin away from God but here David runs to God and he gets the blessing of God and then of course dads give your children Direction in the kind of spirit that God Saves in that same verse in verse number 18 it says the Lord is near to the Brokenhearted and then saves those who are crushed in spirit so dads teach that Our God Saves those who are contrite who in other words have a pulverized heart because it’s been ground down to nothing by sin so dads if you teach your children about the evil of sin well when they fall into it their heart will be broken over it and their spirits will be convicted of it and they will run to God not run from him for what for cleansing for forgiveness for restoration why because they know as David knew that God is a merciful god and he will if you come to him with your sin he will provide what is needed to take care of that sin but if we don’t then we’re left to ourselves so one last thing in verse number 19 onwards fathers teach your children the blessedness that is promised to those who fear the lord and what is that several things in verse number 19 dad’s reminder Children of the blessedness of God’s special Deliverance it says many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them all and then secondly that dads remind your children of the blessedness of God’s special Providence he keeps all his bones not one of them is broken that God specifically and in my new detail providentially Works within our life and then in verse 21 and 22 dads remind your children of the blessedness of God’s special Redemption verse number 21 evil shall slay the wicked and those who hate the righteous will be condemned verse 22 the Lord redeems the soul of his servants and none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned see that is the blessing of someone who is taught to fear God now if you teach them young if you put this in their heart while their children while they’re being formed while their mind has not made certain conclusions yet see they will have an alternate place to think they will know that even if they don’t come to know the Lord yet they will know they were taught the right way they will know that listen there is a way that you can live that honors God and and fears God and reverences God and there’s another way you can live that is just the opposite of that see God’s God is the love that follows and Associates Associates itself with sinning Souls that may be healed and restored as they run to him and why all this because of this reason and I and again Proverbs 16 6 says this by loving kindness and Truth iniquity is atoned for and by the fear of the Lord one keeps away from evil see that’s how I will keep away from Evil and it doesn’t just apply to Children it applies to every single one of us that every day of our life we need to learn and put into practice the fear that we have and the reverence that we have and the knowledge that has been given to us from the word of God and put that into practice and when we do all of us who have been Christians for a while realize that the end result is not lack of trouble but peace and joy that comes from God and blessedness to know that what God says in the word of God all of what God says is true and will come to pass just as he says it and so I can trust him so only by God’s mercy and Truth the god-man Jesus Christ send our sin away see the new birth places in us a reverential fear of God and a hatred of sin so that the and so sin is crowded out by a desire to live for the Lord the desire to live for God is greater than my the Lord is there is a hatred of sin where the fear of the Lord is there is an sin is abominated it is fought against it is prayed against it is watched against it is put to death in the soul until sin loses its power and grip there is an inestable and to be uh of being a child of God because you cannot be severed from God’s protecting love and I just say dad’s this morning get started you have a lot of learning to do you have a lot of teaching to do and the Lord though the Lord enables us to carry out all that is in the word of God and the spirit of God gives us the strength to be able to do what we have to do and I know this that even some of the things that you can’t take care of God seems to take care of it the things that I’ve missed God seems to have taught it somewhere else through maybe from other people and that’s why the church is so important too because it’s not just the parents it’s the people in the church who are also growing in the knowledge and wisdom of Jesus Christ who have input into the growth of your children and my children that is beneficial in the long run I’m so glad my kids still have long lasting relationships with Believers in our church and people that have moved on into other states and still have contact with them still see how they’re doing see still see see they’re walking the lord they’re still moving forward and and that’s an encouragement to me that’s an encourage should be an encouragement to you and I so see God knows how to design the process of sanctification and he does it with the word he does it with the church he does it by his Spirit but he doesn’t do it apart from those things so dad’s teach them the kind of living that God gets God’s attention teach them the kind of living that causes God to frown teach them the kind of heart that keeps God near and teach them the blessed blessedness that come presence teach them those things be consistent in your character in your language in your behavior in your forward movement and growing in godliness and believe me it has a tremendous powerful effect upon our children you know and even if we got saved later in our life and we weren’t able to do that now is your chance to be an example before your kids because that example is again the most powerful thing against what the world is communicating to them and they’ll they’ll know in the the bottom line is that my parents love the Lord they were not perfect but they loved the Lord and they tried to put into practice the word of God and if they have that that is a treasure they cannot get anywhere else and that’s treasure the negrated that’s a bigger treasure than the greatest inheritance financially you can give them or the most possessions you have to give them that giving them the understanding of what it means to live in the fear of God is the greatest treasure you can give them because it leads to Jesus Christ it leads to real Salvation And it leads to an un amen let’s pray Lord this morning as we conclude this day I ask you Lord I ask you Lord to be with fathers today Lord give them the boldness give them Lord the strength give them the wherewithal to say no to things so they can be a teacher and an example to their children I pray Lord Jesus that you would put in the heart of fathers a sincere desire to pursue what it means to live a God-fearing life and I pray Lord as they do that that they would grow in their knowledge of the word of God so they can dispel to their children the things they’re learning and as their children grow that they would be able to put into practice what they’re learning and I pray Lord that we would be able to communicate and pass on to our children the fear of God and I pray ultimately Lord the fear of God properly responded to would lead to Jesus Christ and and their conver the conversion of their soul and their desire to want to live for you with all their heart all their mind all their soul and all their strength and thank you Lord because we’ll give you the glory for not only what you have accomplished but what you’re going to accomplish yet in Christ I pray amen