In the sermon 'Parents, Do Not Provoke, but Bring Them Up,' Scott Brown discusses Ephesians 6:1-4, emphasizing the dual commands to children to honor and obey their parents and to parents not to provoke their children to wrath. The sermon highlights the transformative power of the Holy Spirit in family life, stressing the need for parents to nurture and admonish their children in a spirit-filled manner. Brown warns against the dangers of separating God's commands from His love, which can lead to legalism or antinomianism. He outlines the importance of parents acting under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, embodying the fruits of the Spirit such as love, joy, peace, and patience in their parenting approach. The sermon underscores the spiritual nature of parenting, urging parents to behold Jesus Christ's face and be transformed into His image. Brown calls for parents to fulfill their responsibilities by rescuing their children from sin and rebellion, emphasizing the critical role of parents in the spiritual education and development of their children, which aligns with the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant.

Ephesians 6 verses 1 through 4. Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Honor your father and your mother which is the first commandment with promise that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. And you fathers do not provoke your children to wrath but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. Heavenly Father, we understand how desperate we can become living that life of the world, knowing that end, we will stand, we will stand alone.

And that time is unknown to us, but you know it, since you know everything. You created us. You created this world and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. As you know, we've taken a brief pause in our studies in the Gospel of John to have a short series on family life and to really speak of the power of the gospel in a family and what it really looks like, and to proclaim really again that there really is only one authority, and that is the Word of God, and there's only one Savior, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ, which really forms the whole structure of our understanding of family life and Last week we talked about the direct commands to Children and I had such a delight just talking to the children and looking into the eyeballs of children I I can't tell you what joy that was to look at these faces and There are two commands to children children.

You remember what they are honor and obey those two commands and I and let me just keep talking to you now about this children let your parents take you there let them take you there it'll bless you for the rest of your life They actually need your assistance to be brought to that place. But now we turn to parents, and so I want to, you know, lay my eyes particularly on parents, and I don't want to quit addressing children and everyone else, but we're in a passage of Scripture that really speaks of the power of the Holy Spirit in a family, and the general and grand assumption in this section of Ephesians is the power of the Holy Spirit in an individual in the church and in a family and in people who are our work workers and The discussion of the operation of the Holy Spirit begins in Ephesians 5 verse 18, and then the apostle begins to define and explain what it looks like when the power of God's Holy Spirit is at work in all these areas of life. And here we find ourselves speaking of the work of the Holy Spirit in parents.

Now in these commands and the focus of my message here this morning is is just one verse it's in verse 4 where where this there is this command to parents and God is telling both parents and children what to do in a very succinct way, but let me say what the apostle Paul does here with children and parents is a summation, it's a fulfillment of Deuteronomy 6, Deuteronomy 11, it's a fulfillment of God's command to Abraham in Genesis 19. It's it's a fulfillment of Psalm 78 It's a fulfillment of Psalm 127 and 128 and Psalm 145. It's a fulfillment of the last Prophecy in the Old Testament in Malachi Where a manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit is the hearts of fathers will turn toward their children and when the gospel comes children's hearts will turn toward their parents it really is such a wonderful picture that we see here and but so these commands tell parents what to do And the work of the Spirit here speaks of how you do these things, the way that these commands are meant to be performed. We're told what to do, but we're also told how and the how or the way is by the power of the Holy Spirit and You know, there's there's always a danger of Disconnecting the commands of God from the love of God disconnecting the commands of God from the character of God.

This is a great danger. We should never disconnect them at all. Every command of God is a command of love. All of his laws are laws of love. All of his laws are laws of the Spirit.

You know, Jesus said my words are spirit and they are life. They're not just wooden commands that you obey, they're actually life. So you can't really disconnect a law from love, and you can't disconnect a law from the spirit. So if you do, you find yourself in a very dead, cold, ugly form of legalism on the one hand or a very dead and horrible antinomianism on the other side. You're going to end up in one of those places if you follow the extremes, but God doesn't give us that.

And so this call to parenting really assumes an intimate connection with the Lord Jesus Christ. And so children are commanded to obey their parents in the Lord for this is right. That's what they do But how they do it is by the power of the holy spirit And the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self control And this really speaks of this progressive, transforming power of the Holy Spirit in a parent and in a child. It really comes from beholding the face of Jesus Christ and being transformed into his image. That's really the beginning of parenting.

And that's why the apostle has structured his comments to parents and children that way, so that you would know that the heart of this is the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ in your life. I mean, you can just go put it on you can just go do the stuff if you want But that's really not what the gospel calls us to do you know these are matters of the heart and You know in in in the heart you want to put to death the flesh, you want to mortify the flesh, and you want to look unto Jesus, the author and the perfecter of your faith. And that's why the raising of children is spiritual work, and I want to make that very clear here. In fact, there really are just three primary things I want to say this morning. First of all this is spiritual work.

This is work by the Holy Spirit parents. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. That's the first thing I want to say. And the second thing I want to say is there are two commands here that you need to obey. Those are the two things that I want to try to communicate here.

And, you know, this matter of the heart is so critical. I mean, you see this, you know, right at, in the place of what is probably the seminal passage of scripture for the raising of children for family life in Deuteronomy chapter 6. You know where Moses says, these things shall be in your heart and you shall teach them. He says, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart." By the way, that's the first commandment. Jesus quotes the Deuteronomy 6 and he's not just extracting this, he's talking about this whole life in your family, your whole life at work and everything like that.

You honor your father and mother, but you do it from the heart these words which I command you today shall be in your heart that really is the beginning of it all and you know when you're filled with the Holy Spirit you don't want to do your own thing and I would just say parents you know you don't want to do your own thing when you're raising your children you want to do what God commanded you to do and the Bible tells you what to do and I think you've heard me complain you may be hope from time to time about modern books on parenting, they don't tell you what to do. They just kind of talk about ethereal things that kind of dance around parenting, but they don't really they don't really repeat what God commanded parents to do. I think it's a terrible blind spot and we're actually in an era where people don't want the commands of God. They really just want to feel things. They don't want to do what God told them to do.

But God actually doesn't just want you to do what he tells you to do. He wants you to do with your whole heart. That's true Christianity. And so the call to be filled with the Spirit is really a call to Set your heart on the good shepherd and follow him in obedience. And when you're led by such a shepherd, you're going to lead your children by the spirit.

You know, like, let's see, if you just take the fruit of the Spirit, you can see how this is meant to work. These commands are meant to work by the power of the Spirit, which produces fruit. Well, you know what they are. Love, so you discipline in love. Joy, You do your work as a parent with joy, knowing that God has appointed you for that, even as hard as it is.

Peace. Your heart is at peace when you're a peacemaker, particularly if you're a mother and you've got children. You're like a shuttle diplomat, and you're always making peace. You have to. Patience, you speak out of patience.

Kindness, you correct your children with a tone of kindness. Goodness, you're drawing your children into a world of goodness. Faithfulness, you're consistent in your rules out of a heart of faithfulness gentleness you offer counsel in a spirit of gentleness self-control you administer the rod and every kind of discipline or service your children with self-control so you know love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. That's the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in a family. And so this all comes from beholding the face of Jesus Christ the most important thing parents can do is to behold the face of Jesus Christ and be transformed into his image that's the most important thing I mean you know you can write books about about parenting and marriage and all these things and they're very important because there are actually very specific things that God commands us to do but if you extract that From beholding the face of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit working within you and the manifestations of the Holy Spirit You've just gotten yourself into a lifestyle.

That's all you have just the lifestyle. We pick and choose your lifestyle But this is the life of Jesus Christianity is about the life of Jesus Working in you and I think that's the logic that the Apostle Paul is bringing to us and so all of all of all of our obedience to these commands you know ought to be seasoned by the work of the Holy Spirit you can see how this works in the passage if you've read Ephesians chapter 5. And you know when you're parenting your children you're really showing them this kingdom of love, this kingdom of Jesus. It's an everlasting kingdom, you know everlasting joy. It's the primary mark of this kingdom.

And so your parenting should reflect that, you know. You know, my heart, you know, goes out to parents with little children because those that's challenged all the time you know you're always having to fix your eyes on Jesus when you're parenting your children because you know all hell seems to break loose in your family. And you're there with the kingdom of Jesus to absorb the poisons and to redirect them. And so this critical matter of placing yourself under the authority of Jesus Christ, feeding upon Him, feeding your soul, enjoying Him, loving Him, being filled with the Holy Spirit is the primary matter that the apostle Paul is laying before us, before he tells us to obey. And they're both very, very important.

Now that's because God desires your work as parents to be something from another world not of yourselves but of God And that's why the apostle Paul when he was talking to the Corinthians, who really misunderstood so much about the Holy Spirit, but he said, he said, not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant. The Spirit gives life and then he says in verse 16 of that chapter, 2 Corinthians 3, but whenever anyone turns to the Lord the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there's freedom and we all with who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. Now if you are filled with the Spirit of God, then you are equipped to administer the laws of God.

Now, whether you're filled with the Spirit or not, you need to administer the laws of God but let just understand what the Apostle Paul is saying here and there are things that you should do and you must do them and don't forget this but there is a way that you should do them by the power of the Holy Spirit, by being filled with the Spirit. So there are things you must do, But there is a way that you should do them. And that's really the first matter that the apostle Paul addresses here. And, you know, the Lord would deliver every parent from doing the right thing the wrong way. Here's a problem.

Every parent often does the right thing the wrong way. And guess what? That was God's plan for children. You're your child, your parents are going to do things the right things in a wrong way. That's what they're going to do because they're sinners just like you are.

They need the mercy of God just as much as you do. So we don't want to say that, you know, children should only obey their parents when they do it the right way well that's not true the Bible makes that very clear so children don't wait around for your parents to do it exactly the right way but God has actually commanded them to do that that the right way and that's their problem. Okay, so there are two commands for parents here and I think these commands teach us something about parenting. One of the things that God has done by giving parents to children is that he gives children someone who will rescue them, who will actually save them from themselves, from their rebellion. You know, children, God gave you parents to save you from your rebellion and from your hardness of heart.

God gave you those parents to pull you out of the fire. And parents, you must understand that's your job. Don't consider it a frustration. That's your job. You know, this is a tough job, but somebody's got to do it, you know, and you're the one that's supposed to do it and And so these two you have two commands here and the first command is negative and the second is positive but they both really have to do with rescuing your children and the first is do not provoke and the second is bring them up and You know well well this passage of Scripture makes it very clear that children must obey their parents and they must honor their father and mother because there's a promise and a blessing for it.

They must do that. But God doesn't leave it there. There's a balance. Parents also have a tremendous responsibility here. And this verse makes it clear that they must rise to the occasion and they must do their part and he makes it very clear what he does not want and what he does want you to do with your children.

Now, Ephesians 6 4 tells us that fathers, and I think mothers are implied here, so I don't want to just speak to fathers. You know, in the previous verses you have the language of parents. I think that the Apostle is speaking of both but a father a father does stand in a particular role of authority in a family and so he addresses fathers directly, but there's something that that parents must Not do that They might do something harmful to their children and I and here's what I want all parents to ask Am I doing anything harmful to my children the apostle is forcing you to ask that question and He he's He's asking are you provoking them to anger? You know, are you neglect, are you doing something on the one hand, provoking them to anger? And then Are you neglecting something else, bringing them up in the training, the admonition of the Lord?

There are these two things that he's putting in the balance here. And you need to understand that if you do harmful things to your children, and you neglect the positive commands it's a very serious matter and so the Apostle Paul is pointing out these two pitfalls or they are both opportunities the provoking to anger and the neglecting to train. So I want to begin with provoking to anger. So let's talk about that for a while. And I just want to look all your parents in the eyeballs and say, Are you doing this?

You know, is there any way that you're doing this to provoke is to speak or act in such a way to make children feel resentful? There's a way that that parents can cause children to stumble. And it's the parents' fault here in this passage. You have to ask, is the behavior of my children partly my fault? You know, we all know how this works.

You know, sin begets sin. Somebody yells at you and you yell back at them. And guess what? Now you got two sinners. You have the one who yelled and the one who didn't respond with a gentle answer to turn away the wrath.

So now you have two people in the same boat because sin to get sin. And that happens with parents as well. And it's very dangerous for children to be caused to stumble. And parents are culpable. Jesus spoke of this.

He said, whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin or to stumble, it would be better for him if the millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Parents can cause children to stumble. Got that? Parents can cause children to stumble. Search your heart, you know, cry out that God would help us all to see how we've done that.

But it's very dangerous for parents to do that. Now parents have many opportunities to provoke children to wrath. And you know, you can you can read about this in history and I'm sure everyone in this room has experienced some level of wrong treatment from their parents and you know, even you know, Martin Luther. Experienced this and later in life Luther had a hard time praying our Father, because his father was so harsh, and he belittled him, and verbally abused him. And so because of that, because of the harshness of his own father, to help other fathers deal with their harshness, he suggested that whenever they picked up the rod to spank their children, that they would put an apple there to help them remember to give encouragement to the child as well, to have something of sweetness there so that they wouldn't be over harsh with their children, which is a temptation of all parents.

You know, John Calvin wrote that children should be fondly cherished. He said deal gently with them. So, okay, where's this all going? Here's where it's going. If you're a parent, don't automatically conclude, do not presume that your child is 100% at fault for their bad attitude.

Don't just automatically assume that. It may be that the child has been disappointed, hurt. Well, the biblical words here are provoke or exasperate. Provoke to wrath. Like an outside force came into that kid's life and it was you and you provoked them to wrath.

Okay? And in Colossians 3 it says that, you know, it uses a different word for the same kind of problem, and he says, don't discourage them. You know, there are things that parents can do to discourage their children and, you know, make them unnecessarily sullen or unmotivated or angry or or exasperated. And, you know, it's very important for parents to ask did my gentle answer turn away the wrath or did my harsh words incite the wrath that just kept on escalating. You ever notice how that works?

Wrath escalates. Sometimes the parents start the fire. Sometimes children start the fire. But somebody's got to stop it and God puts it in the seat of parents to stop it, to not provoke them to wrath. So, you know, are any of the problems that you're having with your children related to a fleshly or worldly or unspiritual or unloving or ungoverned way of doing it which is void of the fruit of the Spirit.

And has your interaction with them just come from the flesh and not from the Spirit? By has your interaction from them just been an automatic reaction and not carefully a reflection of the work of God in your heart toward them. So consider your parenting style and your way with words and if these things have caused your children to become so disheartened that maybe they don't care anymore you can just suck the motivation right out of a child if you treat him sinfully. We're all like that, but if your children lack motivation you must consider whether you have done anything yourself to cause that because The apostle makes it very clear that you can cause it. Now, most of the time, it's a combination of both, which means that both parents and children have to have a pattern of repentance to get through the problem.

You know, that's really the only way. Repentance is really the only way through any sinful situation. That's always the roadblock to every marital problem. It's confession or repentance and forgiveness. That's all it is.

You forget all the counselors. It really all comes down to that. Are you going to love somebody or not? Are you going to forgive them? Are you going to let them off the hook or not?

There's your marriage counseling for the day, for the month, for the year, for the rest of your life. There it is. That's pretty much all you need. Are you going to forgive your spouse for disappointing you well there are there are some common things that parents do to provoke their children to wrath I'm just gonna give you a list harshness not listening too quick to respond correcting an anger favoritism unreasonable expectations for success withholding affection a critical spirit cruelty belittling not taking enough time to resolve problems, breaking promises, no grace, no laughter, no joy, unforgiveness, making comparisons with other children, inconsistent discipline, rash discipline, not communicating not casting a holy vision for the family hypocrisy over indulgence over protection caring only about outward appearances in public no biblical understanding of sin and the gospel insensitivity to your own sin Insensitivity to your children's sin, disregarding their unique constitution. Blatant double standards.

Little time together as a family. And So the question that the apostle wants parents to ask is are you part of the problem or? Or are you manifesting? The power and the beauty of the Holy Spirit, you know, as you relate with your children. Are you glorifying God in your discipline?

How are you doing it? Now there are four ways I think that parents should respond when they're relating with their children and to help them. First cry out to God for help. Secondly, deal with their sin promptly, not rashly, not angrily, not unkindly, but deal with it promptly. Thirdly, identify the sin.

Fourthly, seek repentance and reconciliation. Now, when you're too busy and you're too frustrated and you've just let rebellion run on and you haven't been dealing with it, here's what you're gonna do. You know, I know firsthand. You snap, you ignore, and you yell. Those are the things that you do with your children.

Now children, guess what? This is going to happen to you. God planned it. You know, God gave you imperfect, inexperienced parents. You know, how many of your firstborn children, firstborn children?

Hey, guess what? Your parents are inexperienced and they get to learn on you. That's the way God planned it. He meant it that way. How about that?

Isn't that amazing? Well, I'll tell you, if I was designing the world, I'd design it different than that. But God, of course, is wise. So the first command is do not exasperate them, do not cause them to have wrath. And the second is, on the positive side, bring them up.

So do not exasperate, but bring them up. Both of these things, Under the power of the Holy Spirit by beholding the face of Jesus Christ Bring them up in other words do not neglect to bring them up Now this identifies another great danger with parents and that is neglecting the required rigors for training children And you know as you as you know as we've been going through this You know, these things are very clearly identified in the Word of God You know Moses said it really clearly in Deuteronomy 6 These things shall be in your heart. You shall love the Lord with all your heart soul strength in mind and you shall teach them diligently when you sit in the house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up." So parents have to ask, am I neglecting that? Am I neglecting to sing the praises of God and his greatness and the marvelous things He's has done like We are commanded to do in psalm 78 So There's this great danger training up. It's an all-consuming occupation Now if you have children, this must be your main business, not a side business.

It is the business of your life because this really is a fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant. Christians are fulfilling the Abrahamic covenant. And you know it's interesting if you read Genesis 18 verse 19 where God speaks of the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant it's all bound up in what fathers do do you know understand that the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant is dependent upon what fathers do in their households now we know that's not the only thing but That's why God makes it very clear that the purpose of Abraham's life was caught up in what he would do as a father. Genesis 18-19. For I have known him, this is God speaking, why did God know him?

Well he gives the answer. In order that he may command his children and his household after him. In other words, God knew Abraham so that all the families of the earth would be blessed so that he would command his children and his household after them that they keep the way of the Lord to do righteousness and justice and now get this last line that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him in other words the promise to Abraham that all the families of the earth will be blessed is executed through his commanding his children and his grandchildren because God God desires godly seed you know the prophet asked that question why Children God wants godly seed that's why and you bring your children up in the training in the admonition of the Lord And it's part of the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant It's part of the spread of the gospel throughout the whole the whole earth The gospel is spread in a lot of different ways But don't dare neglect the spread of the gospel in your own home. Your home should be the greatest gospel preaching station in the community because it's the first place that children hear the gospel.

It should be. If it's not, then you had negligent parents and things fall apart when you have negligent parents. George Whitfield explained it this way, every governor of a family ought to look upon himself as obliged to act in three capacities as a prophet to instruct, as a priest to pray for, and with, as a king to govern, direct, and provide for them. Every house, as it were, a little parish, every governor a priest, every family a flock, and if any of them perish through the governor's neglect, their blood, God will require at their hands." It really matters what parents do with their children. What parents do with their children always governs what happens in the church and in the nation.

And what children do with their parents has everything to do whether they'll be successful or not. If they don't honor and obey them they won't. What happens in your home is massively important and don't minimize it for a minute. You live in a wicked and perverse generation that says that the family really doesn't mean much even in evangelicalism in most churches you can hardly find a father who really sees himself the way that George Whitefield explained it. There are three important Greek words which describe a parent's responsibility.

You know I don't run around quoting Greek terms very much in my sermons, but there are these three critical terms that they would, you know, of course he's saying, you know, be careful not to discourage them, but take positive action. This is the positive action. Bring them up. You have these words listed in your outline. They're three words.

Bring them up. It means to nourish, to maturity. It means to rear up. And it's not just confined to, you know, giving your children food and clothing and shelter. It really has to do with every department of their life.

A husband's role with his wife is to nourish her. That same word is used here for children. In the same way that a husband nourishes his wife he's supposed to nourish his children. In other words, we like when you're nourishing someone you're giving them something tangible that feeds them, that fills them. And parents are required by God to fill their children's hearts with good things from the kingdom of heaven, from the Word of God, from the face of Jesus Christ.

And as they behold his face and they're filled with the Spirit and they give their children the things that God has commanded they're actually given something that has content it's meaty it's tangible you give something to your children The most important thing that you give to your children are words, the words of God. The world is always going to try to redefine everything, everything, using all kinds of terminology to redefine things that God has already defined. We live in a day where redefinitions of matters of sexuality, terminology from the LGBTQ movement that really is redefining and defiling people's understanding of the words that God uses. You know, people today, they want to use words like SSA. I'm same-sex attractive.

Well the Bible the Bible says it's def its Defiled passions the Bible says it's against nature. The Bible uses words like sodomy And when you start using alternative words your conscience is always skewed and disfigured The same thing is happening in terminology of social justice using terms that come out of liberation theology and social justice movements that are Marxist in their orientation. All these words get washed over the church and then nobody knows really what justice is in the Bible. We have to cleave to the words. It's the words of God that define everything and that's the most important thing.

When you're when you are bringing them up, you're bringing them up with words. Help them to love the words. It's the words that will hold them fast when the waves of the world are washing over them So they don't get swept away into words of defilement, and they will. And then you have to train and nurture the term paideia. This refers, again, it's another really very broad word.

It focuses on the cultivation of the mind and the morals and it it includes commands and appeals and reproofs and it also includes punishment this is these are the duties of parents And it's the same word that the writer of Hebrews uses in Hebrews 12 regarding fathers who discipline us for our good. They train us up. You know, Giving children restraints and commands is critical. And then admonish, the third word, nuthasea, which means to counsel, and it can include exhorting and admonishing. It's training by words, and it includes words of encouragement and correction, even blame and dealing with attitudes, and it can include discipline of various types including the use of the rod.

That's how this word seems to be used in the Bible. And so these three terms, bring them up, train and nurture and admonish. All of these refer to the total picture of spiritual education. And it's designed really to teach children everything. How to govern their passions, their affections, how to become a marriage partner, how to be a worker, how to be a church member, how to be a citizen, how to handle money, how to be a son, how to be a daughter, how to handle trouble, trials, how to be a grandmother and a grandfather and a mother.

This is the training in the admonition of the Lord, and God has given parents this great charge to do it in the power of the Holy Spirit, beholding the face of Jesus Christ. But let's don't miss The reality here is that the weight of Scripture is on the responsibility of parents to do this function with their children. And there's nothing in Scripture that really lets parents off the hook of the duties. You know the whole book of Proverbs illustrates this you know in dozens of ways. Well here's the short story on Proverbs.

Proverbs was written by a father, two fathers, to train their children. And it's a marvelous tool. It's possible, it's quite possible that when I turn my eyes back to children here which it will be the next time I preach on this I might walk us through the book of Proverbs I'm not sure yet there's just so much I want to communicate but there's so many beautiful things in Proverbs for children I mean that's why in Proverbs the book begins my son hear the instruction of your father and do not forsake the law of your mother, for they will be a graceful ornament on your head and chains about your neck." And in chapter 3 verses 1 through 6, my son, do not forget my law But let your heart keep my commands for length of days and long life and peace They will add to you My son keep my words and treasure my commands within you. Keep my commands and live, and my law is the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers, write them on the tablet of your heart." It's Proverbs 7, 1-4.

Proverbs 13-1, a wise son heeds his father's instruction but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke. He says in chapter 19 verse 18, chasing your son while there's hope and do not set your heart on His destruction. Well there's a time of hope, there's a window and actually it's a very small window of time when you have your children in your house. And let me just say when they are toddlers Is perhaps the most pivotal window of time that you have don't let rebellion get past the toddler stage Because you'll be dealing with it and it'll get worse and worse a child That does not learn to honor his parents within the first couple years of his life. Well, I'll just say it like this.

That kid's going to drive his mom and dad crazy. Okay. A lot of you parents, you know, you might have children who are driving you crazy. Some of it might have to do with you didn't get this done early enough well guess what you have to you know get on it okay securing honor is a responsibility of parents that children have Toward their children and to God I'm using this language, you know carefully securing honor God has put parents in Children's lives to secure the honor because they don't come by it naturally. They're not wise enough to give it.

You've got to help them. You've got to rescue them in the same way that that God rescued you through his son. Children need parents to rescue them from their sin. And you know this rescue job can be painful for the child. You know, the writer of Hebrews said that very clearly.

All, you know, all chastening does not seem to be joyful for the present, but painful children. Do you understand what I'm talking about? You know, your parents, it just, it just doesn't feel very good, you know, especially when they spank you, but or when they tell you you can't do something, you can't touch this, you can't go there, it doesn't feel good, right? You understand that? Yes, you do, absolutely.

It doesn't feel good, but it's good for you. It really is. Children, you have to understand how good it is for you. Help your parents. Help your parents accomplish this because it'll be good for you.

You know one of the most remarkable things happened in our church just a few months ago, little Joseph Espinosa, he pulled a cup of hot tea all over his face and got second-degree burns all over the place. It was urgent. In fact, we were having prayer week And we were praying here on Wednesday night and it happened right in the middle of prayer week and Abraham had to jet out of here and take his son to the hospital And I went and saw that boy in the hospital And it was terrifying actually, I mean he he was burned and the doctors were coming in About every four hours and Scraping his face with a cloth of soap and water Okay Just grinding it off every four hours. And you know, that doctor would walk in the room and that little boy would cry because he knew what was coming. Imagine that.

Imagine if that happened to you. I don't think there's any adult in here that wouldn't cringe big-time Probably ask for sedatives, right? But I mean these doctors coming in scraping. I'll never forget what his mother told me. She's holding her baby and She said we're all learning Like we never knew before that all chastening doesn't seem to be joyful but in the end it brings forth the peaceful fruit of righteousness and you know you can see that little boy today and his skin looks like a baby.

It's amazing. It's amazing. What a graphic illustration. I want to just bring some applications. There isn't any way I'm gonna finish all the applications I have, so at some point I'm just gonna dead stop and pick it up later on.

But I wanna give you some applications from this text. Okay? Are you wounded enough? Well, the Bible says that my job is to proclaim repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. So I'm, it doesn't break my heart if you're hurt, if you repent and you turn to Jesus, you know.

I hear some applications. Parents are responsible for this kind of environment in their home. Now some of these commands in Ephesians 6-1-4 are directed to children and some are directed to parents. But all of these commands here are the responsibility of parents to secure, because your children aren't wise enough to go get it themselves. So just recognize that's your job, you know.

Don't be exasperated by it, don't get mad, don't get discouraged about it. That's why God made you. When he made you a parent, he gave you the most wonderful job in the world. The most pivotal, the most far-reaching, the most powerful thing in the world is when a mother or a father rescues a child from their sin by confronting it. Don't despise, don't despise one piece of disobedience after another in your home, your mama's, please.

God created you for this. He meant this for you. You know, in a lot of ways, a mother, she dies to herself so that her children will die to their sin. There's nothing more important than you can do for a child than to help them in their disobedience. So don't despise it.

And of course it is the child's responsibility to honor and obey his parents. It's a child's responsibility to do that. Children, you must do that. And don't wait around for your children, your parents to be perfect. That is not going to happen.

But children can't do this on their own. After all, they are children and they're too immature. They're too selfish to want it. And they need the compassion of parents. Now, I want to talk about compassion because parents, by the power of the Holy Spirit are charged with God, by God, to have compassion on their children in their state.

You know, don't expect your 14-year-old to act anything but like a 14-year-old. Don't expect your 3-year-old to act anything but then but a three year old. What happens a lot of times is a 14 year old acts like a 14 year old and the 36 year old starts acting like a 14 year old. That happens. Or how about this?

The 30 year old starts acting like a three-year-old. That happens too. But God, you know, we ought to have compassion on our children and come to their rescue. Mercy demands it. Their natural inclination to sin requires it you know we passed on our fallen nature to them we put a poison pill in their nature that will that will take them to hell if we don't rescue them And we rescue them by dealing with their sin and helping them to realize how harmful and despicable sin is.

You know, parents must have compassion on their children. You know, this happened right at the very beginning, you know, Cain and Abel, and sin was crouching at the door of Cain's heart, and it devoured him. But God says, you must overcome it. You can overcome it. But they need our help and we must help.

We have a duty to perform. You know David spoke of this in Psalm 103 verses 13 and 14 as a father pities his children So the Lord pities those who fear him for he knows our frame. He remembers that we are about dust and I think that's a great Verse not just for parents but for children but parents for their children. Pity your children and their fallen state they they're fallen and they need your help. I love this verse I remember reading it when I was probably 20.

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you will revive me. You'll stretch out your hand and your right hand will save me." That's what parents do. They stretch out their hand in compassion. And they don't treat their children like they're an interruption, like their sin is some kind of a crashing in of their rights or their peace, you know, it's it's God put parents there to have compassion on their children. You know, the Bible says that that God snatched us out of the waters that were too powerful for us.

He came and he preached the Word of God to us and he actually changed our hearts. His Father drew us, Jesus' Father drew us to Jesus. And he saved us and he causes us to be born again. God does all these things to save his children from their sins and parents have a responsibility to be like that for their children, to rescue them in compassion. Why did he rescue you and me?

Because he had compassion on us. And we were so sinful, we were dead in our trespasses and sins. Dead! And He raised us from the dead. And your children are going to seem like that sometimes.

But God has given you a responsibility to bring them up in the training and the admonition of the Lord. What a blessing it is. And children need parents with a fierce commitment to obey the divine commands, and without it, the sinful inclinations of their hearts, which are constantly orc within them, will likely overcome them. And they themselves will be the losers because of your neglect. But perhaps if you reached out your hand and snatched them out of the waters of rebellion and disciplined them and brought them to repentance and held on to them until you secured it until they were happy again you would be setting a course for a completely different world a church full of obedient, happy people who honor one another and their own families and maybe a whole nation where people honor the Lord.

So I'll dead stop right here. I'm only about halfway through my applications, but I think you get the idea of what the Apostle is driving at. And it's really very simple that what he's driving at and you fathers do not provoke your children to wrath but bring them up in the training and the admonition of the Lord. Would you pray with me? Lord we thank you for your word.

It's such a holy testimony of truth and goodness. We thank you for how it rescues us from ourselves And I thank you for how it moves parents to rescue their children from themselves and from their narcissism and their rebellion and their sin And Lord we all know we all know that we are sinners in need of your mercy and your grace so I pray that you give parents such mercy toward their children. Amen.