In the sermon titled 'The Home That Fears the Lord' by Mike Davenport, the speaker explores the significance of fearing the Lord as outlined in Psalm 128. The sermon breaks down the chapter into three main points: the blessings that result from a home that fears the Lord, the burden of responsibility that resides with the man, and the benediction that rests on such a home. Davenport emphasizes that fearing the Lord brings blessings to everyone who walks in His ways, manifesting as happiness, prosperity, and a fruitful family life. He highlights the man's role in leading his family with reverence for God, drawing on examples from scripture. The sermon also explores the deeper manifestations of the fear of God, including a hatred of sin, carefulness not to offend God or man, and a commitment to God's ways. Ultimately, the sermon calls for a godly home life, urging families to embody the principles of fearing the Lord and walking in His commandments, promising blessings upon the household and the church community.

Psalm 128. Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy and it shall be well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.

The Lord bless you out of Zion and may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life. Yes, may you see your children's children peace be upon Israel. Let's pray. Thanks for today Heavenly Father. Thank you that we could meet together.

Thank you for Michael. Thank you for the preacher. I pray you bless the message. I pray you bless our response to the message as we start a new week in Jesus' name, amen. Well, there's a few of you who are here today who had the privilege of being at the conference the last few days, and there are some who didn't have that, but you are aware that the focus of the conference was on the fear of God, the fear of God.

And it was interesting as we came to Tuesday morning, I called Scott on Monday night or maybe it was a text and said, hey, I think with having just a few people here on Sunday, Maybe the focus Tuesday morning should be on the fear of God as we think forward to the conference rather than many gathering Tuesday morning and not even be here on Sunday morning because they're in Asheville. So Scott why don't you why don't you focus on the fear of God? And let's talk about that on Tuesday morning. So that morning, as I sat there, Scott began handing some some handouts. I look at the top and it said Psalm one twenty eight.

And I'm thinking, I don't remember telling him that I was going to be preaching Sunday morning on Psalm 128 and I'm like where did you get the Psalm 128? I'm thinking maybe I did tell him I don't remember and he said well I'm gonna preach on that on Thursday night. It's like, oh, OK, wow. I mean, that's what I was planning on preaching on, on Sunday morning as well. So those who were there at the conference who maybe didn't have plans on being back, I don't want to apologize because it's the Word of God but you will hear again from Psalm 128.

And Psalm 128 does have to do with the fear of God. Matthew Henry said set up the worship of God in your houses. The charge of a family is important. Why should you not instruct them as Jehoshaphat did his subjects in the book of the law of the Lord. But be consistent.

Do not recommend one thing and practice another. Begin with yourselves. Seek the Lord God of Israel. Then call upon children and servants to follow your example." And so the title I've given given the sermon is the home that fears the Lord The home that fears the Lord and Lord willing will look at it under three headings as we break this Chapter down The first is the blessings that result in a home that fears the Lord. The blessings that result in a home that fears the Lord.

Secondly, the burden of responsibility that resides with the man. The burden of responsibility that resides with the man. The burden of responsibility that resides with the man. And then lastly, the benediction that rests on a home that fears the Lord. The benediction that rests on a home that fears the Lord, the benediction that rests on a home that fears the Lord.

So first the blessings that result in a home that fears the Lord. Verse 1, Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways. God here extends Blessings to those who fear Him. And notice, not just some, but everyone, every single one who fears the Lord, blessings are his, blessings are hers. None who fear Jehovah do so in vain.

Second Chronicles 16, 9 says, for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him. In taking note of the actions of men, God sees and weighs the heart. He knows those who are marked by a right fear of Him. Now what is this fear And what does it look like? Well, Wilhelmus Abrakel defines godly or filial fear the following way.

Filial fear is a holy inclination of the heart generated by God in the hearts of his children, whereby they, out of reverence for God, take careful pains not to displease God, and earnestly endeavor to please Him in all things." So it's a holy inclination of heart. I used this example in a message I gave yesterday at the conference of some of the hills at the conference is they're pretty steep and you can see some of the kids as they start to go down you can see their weight start to go forward and If they're not careful, they fall flat on their faces because of that incline. There's an inclination, a sloping, and it's an inclination of the heart that's given by God to number one, not displease God in doing the things he says do not do, but also pleasing him in doing the things he has asked. Now the fear of God manifests itself in the believer's life in the following manner, and this list is not exhaustive whatsoever. More could be added.

But first it manifests itself in a hatred of sin. We read in Proverbs 8.13, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. But it also is manifested in departure from evil. It's not just a hatred of it, but an actual departure from evil. Proverbs 16 6 by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil.

Third manifestation is freedom from following men. In Nehemiah 5.15 it says, but the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people and took from them bread and wine besides forty shekels of silver. Yes, even their servants bore rule over the people, but I did not do so because of the fear of God. Nehemiah didn't fall into the patterns of those governors that had come before him. Why?

Because he feared the Lord. Fourthly, another manifestation is the carefulness not to offend God or man. Carefulness not to offend God or man. Listen to the short exhortations Peter lumps together in his first epistle chapter 2 verse 17 honor all people love the brotherhood fear God honor the king The fear of the Lord is coupled. It's sandwiched right in between.

Honor all people. Love the brotherhood, honor the king. So there's a carefulness to not offend God or man. Fifthly, a strict attentiveness, strict attentiveness to the worship of God. When God killed Nadab and Abihu for bringing strange fire that he had not asked for.

Moses shared with Eli the following in Leviticus 10.3. This is what the Lord spoke saying, by those who come near me I must be regarded as holy, and before all people I must be glorified." They lacked the fear of the Lord, and They dishonored the Lord before the people, saying that God doesn't really care about how we worship. And so a fear of Him will bring a strict attentiveness to the worship of God and how God wants to be worshiped. And then, sixthly, a manifestation of the fear of the Lord in our lives would be withholding nothing from God if he should require it. Withholding nothing from God if he should require it.

So that it may be said of you and of me as it was of Abraham, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." But not only is this blessed one marked by fear of the Lord, this believer we read also is one who walks in the ways of God. And these two traits, these two characteristics of fearing God and walking in His ways cannot be separated. The fear of the Lord is the root out of which grows the fruit of walking in the ways of Jehovah. Psalm 25, 9b12 and 14. Say the humble, he teaches his way.

Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way he chooses. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear him, and he will show them his covenant." And so we see this one who fears the Lord. The Lord teaches that one the ways that God chooses. The secret of the Lord is with them and he will show them his covenant, his teaching, his covenant, his ways belong to that one who fears him.

This is a man who cries out like the psalmist in Psalm 86 11. Teach me your way, O Lord. I will walk in your truth. Unite my heart to fear your name. So here's this uniting of hearts.

Lord, I want the uniting of my heart and my feet to come together. Unite them that my heart might fear you and I will walk in your ways. So what does it mean to actually walk in the ways of God? What does the psalmist mean? Well, it is the essence of the law as held forth by Moses in Exodus 10, 12, and 13 where it says, and now Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways and to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and to keep the commandments of the Lord and his statutes which I commanded you today for your good.

So walking in his ways means that guided by the fear of God and a love for him, we strive to serve him with the entirety of our heart and to keep all of the commandments he has given us. It is to forsake our own ways and to choose his ways. Remember that from Isaiah 50, your ways are not my ways and your thoughts are not my thoughts. Forsake those ways, forsake those thoughts and embrace God's thoughts and embrace His ways. If you are not walking according to the word of God, then the fear of God is not before your eyes.

Let me say that again. If you are not walking according to the Word of God, then the fear of God is not before your eyes." The Puritan William Gernall put it like this, cowards never won heaven. Say not that thou hast royal blood running in thy veins, and art begotten of God, except thou canst Prove thy royal pedigree by this heroic spirit to dare to be holy despite men and devils. To one such as this belong all the blessings that we find here in this passage to one who fears God, to one who trusts in God, to one who obeys God. So verses two and three, When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy and it shall be well with you.

Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house. Your children like olive plants all around your table. David says in Psalm 61, 5, you, oh God, have given me the heritage of those who fear your name. You've given to me the heritage. There is a heritage.

There are these blessings that belong to those who fear God. So what is this heritage? What are these blessings? Well the blessings of God that are here stated in verses 2 and 3 have relation to the Dominion mandate given to Adam at creation as well as the curse given after the sin in the garden. In other words, these blessings here have to do with what Men and women are in their very essence.

Please note with me Genesis 1, 28. Then God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over everything that moves on the earth." Then in chapter 3 verses 16 and 19, we see the results of Adam's first sin. To the woman, the Lord said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception. In pain you shall bring forth children.

Your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you Then to Adam he said because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I Commanded you saying you shall not eat of it Cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life, both thorns and thistles that shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you shall return." So what are here described in Psalm 128 verses 2 and 3 are God's blessings to us in conjunction with the dominion mandate, and they stand in stark contrast with that which the curse has brought upon us. It seems as though God is telling us here in Psalm 128 that the Christian man will know the fruits or the benefits that spring forth from the fulfilling of the dominion mandate in spite of the effects of sin that are present in the world because of the curse.

God said to subdue the earth, to take dominion of it. Well, the curse has made that work hard with the introduction of thorns and thistles, thus necessitating the abundance of sweat, the abundance of toil. But God here speaks blessing to the man who fears him and walks according to his word. He says first that the man will eat what his labor has provided. The psalmist uses the word when.

When. It is simply a matter of time. And secondly that when he does he will be happy and it will be well with him. God will bless that man's physical labors with joy and with satisfaction. Listen to the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 2, 24 and 25.

Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good and his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God. For who can eat or who can have enjoyment more than I? For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in his sight." So here's a man good in the sight of God And God says, I will let you enjoy the fruit of those labors. You will enjoy eating and drinking.

Again, Solomon addresses the blessing of God in this matter in 3, 12, and 13. I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice and to do good in their lives and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor. It is the gift of God. And again, Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 5, 19 and 20, here is what I have seen. It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun, all the days of his life which God gives him, for it is his heritage.

As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor. This is the gift of God. It's a gift of God. It's a blessing for men to have the blessings of all the fruit of their labor, to enjoy it when you eat, or when you labor, you will eat. Not if, or maybe sometimes, but when.

When you labor, you will eat the labor of your hands. Before we leave this point, do notice that it is also a blessing of God to actually have employment. God commands, he commands that we labor six days a week. The labor of the six days is as much a holy part of the command of God as is resting on one day, this day. We can actually see here in this passage that God's blessing upon this man who fears him then is to give him employment and to give him fruit from that employment.

Well the other portion of the dominion mandate given to us in Genesis involves being fruitful and multiplying. Once again, the curse has made that work difficult with the introduction of pain and sorrow in pregnancy and in the bearing of a child. The curse also affects how the woman views her role in the home in relation to her husband. God once again speaks blessing to those who fear God and walk according to the Word. It says here that the wife of this man who fears God will be a fruitful vine.

Finding contentment in the very heart of the home, and that his offspring will be like olive plants gathered around his table. So before we actually Look at the wife as a vine and the children as olive plants. First, consider with me how the Psalms, at least in two places, describe the man who fears the Lord. Because we will see here how the woman is described and how the children are described. But how does the psalmist describe the man who fears the Lord?

Psalm 1, 2 and 3. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a what? Like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper. Psalm 52 verse 8, but I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.

I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever. So here the psalmist describes the man as a tree planted by the river of water. The psalmist himself describes himself, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. So with this image that the psalmist gives us elsewhere of the man as an olive tree, we come to the description of his wife. The Hebrew word here where it says the wife shall be like a fruitful vine.

The word fruitful in Hebrew is the same word used by Moses back in Genesis when writing about the dominion mandate given by the Creator. And it's actually translated being defined as bearing fruit, being fruitful. So the Spirit's use of the word vine in the description of the wife I find very interesting. First, this word in the Hebrew in vine is a masculine noun. It's actually a masculine noun, not a feminine noun.

Secondly, the root word for vine in the Hebrew language denotes bending. Bending. Bending, bending. When you take these two facts and add them to what you know of the growth and production of vines as witnessed in nature, I think an image will arise in your minds. An image of a vine supported by a stronger and more stable object than itself, the two becoming almost one, reaching out seemingly in every direction full of flowers and full of fruit.

Note also that the wife described here is described in the very heart of your house. In the very heart of your house. The old King James Version renders it, by the sides of thine house. So in the very heart or by the sides of thine house. Whichever phrase you prefer to use, and I think an argument can be made for either, the idea is that the woman is intimately tied to the home.

Whether she finds her planting at the center of the home, its very heart, or whether she can be described as planted at the sides of the home so that from whatever vantage point you look at this man's home you see her fingerprints, her presence, her influence. I think a case can be made for either, and they are both beautiful pictures. Next in this verse, we have the description of the children as olive plants. As olive plants. The picture is of fruitful, peace-bearing, fragrant, and evergreen olive plants.

It's interesting that the Hebrew word for plants here finds its root in the Hebrew word for planted, the actual verb, planted. And it's that same planted that we run across back in Psalm 1. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. This comes from the same root word, olive plants. And I say it's interesting because the use of this slightly different word in Hebrew from other plant or plantings, it highlights the idea of a cutting or a transplant, as if to suggest it was taken from a larger tree or that it finds its beginning in another.

Eerdmans, the New Bible Dictionary, has this to say about olive trees. In many parts of Palestine, the olive is still often the only tree of any size in the immediate locality. The cultivated olive grows to about 20 feet in height with a contorted trunk and numerous branches. The tree develops slowly but often attains an age of several centuries if left undisturbed, if cut down as many as five new trunks thus come into being." It's a beautiful picture. Back when I was 17 and I had the privilege of being there in Israel, we went to the Garden of Gethsemane.

What is thought to be that? There on the sides of Jerusalem, looking down at the city. And there are beautiful olive plants there, olive trees, should I say. And those olive trees, the people there who take you on a tour through that garden will tell you that the age of these trees is such that some of them may have been there when Jesus was there with his disciples. That's the case of the olive tree.

But it's interesting that it says, if cut down, as many as five new trunks Come thus into being So so here's the picture that the psalmist gives us this is what a family that fears God looks like A husband or father who himself is an olive tree whose roots are deep in the rich soil of the Word of God, refreshed by the water of the Spirit, bearing spiritual fruit appropriate to the season and prospering in everything he puts his hands to. His wife is a fruitful vine. The two now become one as she, like a vine, is intertwined with the life and the mission of her husband of vine Needing the strength and support of the tree yet in her own God appointed calling becoming fruitful Finding strength and sustenance in the very heart and center of the house and it is from this industrious vine that the fruitfulness is experienced by those of the household first as well as others outside of the home even as we see from Proverbs 31. And lastly, we see the children, all whom God has seen fit by His sovereign hand to place under their care by birth or by adoption, receiving the fruit of the parents' labors, both physically and spiritually, as little olive plants, carefully nurtured and nourished by What the tree and the vine can supply there around the table, partakers of the blessings God has seen fit to pour out in copious measures upon this man who fears Jehovah and walks in his ways." Well having seen the the blessings that result in a home that fears the Lord we now turn to the second point the burden of responsibility that resides with the man.

The burden of responsibility that resides with the man. Verse 4, behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. Thus shall the man be blessed." It was interesting Tuesday morning Scott kind of described this psalm as an hourglass psalm. Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord And here is what the family looks like and then the hourglass narrows as it rests upon this man that behold thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. And then it starts to broaden again as it talks about Zion, as it talks about your children's children.

But this particular verse here right in the middle of the psalm provides me a reason to stop and to directly speak to the men under the sound of my voice. Men, young men, and boys, please note verse 4. Behold, In other words, take note. Let your eyes not miss this. Behold.

Thus, in this way, With these things shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord." God holds out the promises of blessing tied directly to obedience, and he does so specifically to the man. And this is not unusual. It is the way God intended it. Note the following passages with me. Psalm 78, which is a contemplation of Asaph in that psalm, it says, give ear, O my people, to my law, incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us we will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and His strength and His wonderful works that He has done. For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel which he commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children. How about Ephesians 6, 4? Who was Ephesians 6, 4 directed at?

And you fathers do not provoke your children to wrath, but you fathers bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. You husbands, You fathers, do you take this responsibility seriously? God placed this responsibility upon your shoulders. How is it with your wife? How is it with your children?

Are you ready to give an account to God? Note the expectations that God had of Abraham in Genesis 18-19. For I have known Abraham in order that he may command his children and his household after him that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him. God had promised blessings upon Abraham. He expected Abraham to be one who feared the Lord and walked in his ways.

But these blessings had an expectation. God said, I've called Abraham that he may command his family, his children, his household after him to do what? To keep the way of the Lord and to do righteousness and justice. Do you see the progress in this verse? It flows like Psalm 128.

God calls a man to himself with the expectations that the man will himself fear the Lord as well as lead his family in the ways of the Lord in order that God may bring to pass the blessings he has in store. And you young men, you young men, don't think that this is just for husbands and fathers. You need to cultivate the fear of the Lord now. Now. Solomon tells us in Proverbs 1-7 that the fear of the Lord is the very first step in gaining wisdom and understanding.

Remember young men, You are becoming today what you will one day be. Okay? This very day you are becoming what one day you will be. So as you contemplate the state of your soul and life, what's the forecast? What's the forecast?

If you're becoming today what you will one day be what's that look like? What's the forecast are you a young man who fears the Lord? If you do not fear God now what makes you think that you will exercise the needed authority to lead your family in the ways of the Lord? You cannot lead someone somewhere that you have not been or are not willing to go yourself. So having dealt with the blessings that reside in a home that fears the Lord and the burden that resides upon the man of the house.

We now turn to the third and final point, the benediction, the benediction that rests on a home that fears the Lord. Verses five and six, The Lord bless you out of Zion, and may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life. Yes, may you see your children's children. Peace be upon Israel." These verses chronicle for us the continued blessings of God upon a house that fears him. We've already read some of the blessings that come upon that house, but these are written more in the form or fashion of a benediction pronounced.

And whereas the earlier blessings tended to focus within the walls of home life, the focus of these final verses tend to be more on the blessings that the family who fears the Lord actually receives through the church and through the rising generation. The psalmist first directs us by way of reminder to know that we receive these blessings from the hand of God who rules in Mount Zion. The Lord bless you out of Mount Zion. It is from his throne that God blesses his people. It is by his sovereign hand and willing heart that he graciously showers his blessings upon those who fear him.

He is the author of all such blessings. And Zion, here mentioned as the place from whence these blessings flow Reminds us of the covenantal aspect of these blessings God has covenanted to be faithful to those who would walk in his ways. Psalm 115 11 through 15. You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield.

The Lord has been mindful of us. He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron he will bless those who fear the Lord both small and great and then a benediction here may the Lord give you increase more and more You and your children may you be blessed by the Lord who made heaven and earth. The first of two blessings issued through a benediction is that the man who leads his family in the fear of God would see the good of Jerusalem.

He would see the good of the church. The Hebrew word here for good refers to beauty, joy, prosperity. The blessing spoken of is beholding the beauty, the joy, and the prosperity of Christ's bride all the days of your life, experiencing these things as you gather with the church each Sunday. Oh, to behold and to partake of such a blessing, to see the Church of God in a flourishing condition has this not been our experience here in this place. Psalm 48 12 through 14 says walk walk about Zion and go all around her count her towers mark well her bulwarks consider her palaces that you may tell it to the generation following.

For this is our God, our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even to death. Do you recall Isaiah 33 20 through 22? Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet home, a Tabernacle that will not be taken down Not one of its stakes will ever be removed nor will any of its cords be broken.

But there the majestic Lord will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams for the Lord is our judge the Lord is our lawgiver the Lord is our King he will save us the second of these blessings is seen in the connection of the rising generations And yet this truly is seen in their relation to the Church of Christ. It seems to indicate that peace is brought into the home when the church flourishes. And peace is brought into the church when the home flourishes. God's Israel, his church, his bride, knows true peace when God by his grace pours out his blessings on a congregation made up of those who fear him and walk in His commandments even within the walls of their houses. Listen to the words of Richard Baxter as he described the transforming power of the gospel in both the church and home in Kitterminster.

He says, to the praise of my gracious master, the church, The church at Kitterminster became so full on the Lord's Day that we had to build galleries to contain all the people. Our weekly meetings also were always full. On the Lord's Day, all disorder became quite banished out of the town. As you passed along the streets on the Sabbath morning, You might hear a hundred households singing psalms at their family worship. In a word, when I came to Kitterminster, there was only about one family in a whole street that worshiped God and called upon His name.

When I left, there were some streets where not a family did not do so. And though we had 600 communicants, 600 communicants, those who partook of the Lord's Supper, there were not 12 in whose salvation I had not perfect confidence." Do you see the blessings? It came to the home and it came to the church. Such as on Sunday mornings, family worship was being conducted. You could hear it going down the streets.

And then the people would gather there at the worship of God, and it was full. And such were the hearts of the people that Baxter said, of all these people, 600, there were not even 12 where I struggled with having confidence in their state, their spiritual state. Well, quickly, applications, applications of Psalm 128. Number one, are you in the place of blessing? Are you in the place of blessing?

Are you walking in the fear of God and in the ways of his? Commandments or Are you marching to the beat of the world's drum? Paul tells us this in Philippians 3, 13 and 14, one thing I do, one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the gold for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. One, one thing I do. Are one thing I do.

Are you a one thing I do man? Follow Paul's example. Be a one thing I do man. Follow Christ with an undivided heart. Secondly, are you redefining what God has defined as blessing?

Are you redefining what God has defined as a blessing? Are you taking delight in the things God considers important? Are you chasing other forms of blessing? 1 Timothy 6.3 says, godliness with contentment is great gain. Oh, for a heart like the psalmist who understood rightly the blessing of God, that it was far better to be a mere doorkeeper in the house of God for a day than to dwell in the tents of the wicked for a thousand such days.

Let us be careful as to what God calls a blessing, laboring six days, enjoying the labor of those. A woman in the heart of her home, a fruitful vine, and our children as olive plants all around the table. Is that what your idea of blessing is? Third, what do you do if it seems like God has failed to bless you with these particular things in spite of your perceived faithfulness to walk in his ways. What do you do if it seems like God has failed to bless you with these things in spite of your perceived faithfulness to walk in His ways.

We do, after all, live in a day when many preach a health and wealth gospel as if God were some heavenly vending machine, that if you push all the correct buttons, you will get the expected and anticipated response. John Calvin has this reminder for us. The divine blessing is promised to us upon earth in such a way as that it may not engross our thoughts and keep them from groveling in the dust, for it is not meat that our hope of the life to come should be stifled. This is the reason why we do not at all times equally enjoy the benefits of God. When we walk around as if God's blessings, even here in Psalm 128, only have to do with the food on the table, with our working, and with the fruitfulness of our wives' womb.

He's saying we miss it. We stifle what God has for us. The bigger picture. It is in such times that we need to teach our hearts to respond like the prophet Habakkuk in Habakkuk 3 17 and 18. Though the fig tree May not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food, Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls.

Yet, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation." Fourthly, are you minimizing, are you minimizing the importance of a godly home life? Are you minimizing the importance of a godly home life? Listen to the words of Jonathan Edwards given in his farewell sermon found in the works of Jonathan Edwards, volume 1, page 206. These are words that he leaves with the people that he will never preach to again, and he feels the need to stress the following.

We have had great disputes about how the church ought to be regulated. And indeed, the subject of these disputes was of great importance. But the due regulation of your families is of no less and in some respects of much greater importance. Every Christian family ought to be, as it were, a little church consecrated to Christ and wholly influenced and governed by his rules. And family education and order are some of the chief means of grace.

If these fail, if these fail, all other means are likely to prove ineffectual. If these are duly maintained, all the means of grace will be likely to prosper and be successful. Let me now therefore once more, before I finally cease to speak to this congregation, repeat and earnestly press the council which I have often urged on the heads of families while I was their pastor to great painfulness in teaching, warning and directing their children, bringing them up in the training and admonition of the Lord, beginning early where there is yet opportunity, and maintaining constant diligence in labors of this kind. Remember that as you would not have all your instructions and counsels ineffectual, there must be government as well as instruction, which must be maintained with an even hand and steady resolution as a guard to the religion and morals of your family and the support of its good order. Take heed that it not be with any of you as it was with Eli of old, who reproved his Children, but restrained them not.

And that by this means you do not bring the like curse on your families as he did on his. Those were some of the last words that Jonathan Edwards gave to that congregation there. Are you minimizing home life? And then the last, I don't have this in my notes, but this is something that God has placed upon my heart. All of the Psalms, all of the Bible is written to point us to Christ.

Do you see Christ in this passage? Blessed is that man who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways. That was our Savior. Perfectly, perfectly feared the Lord, perfectly walked in His ways. This man has a bride.

He has children. And he is eating of the labor of his hands. Isaiah 53 tells us that he will see the labors of his soul and what? Be satisfied. Our Lord and Savior is eating from the labor of His own work.

His bride, the church, is a fruitful vine. She is bringing forth children to Jesus Christ as olive plants that will appear around that table at the great feast. It is Jesus Christ who brings the blessings of God from one generation to the next, such that peace comes upon Israel. This is a beautiful picture of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Well, may God grant us homes that fear Him, dads, moms, and children.

Amen. Oh, Father, we thank You for Your goodness to us, Your mercy. We thank You for Jesus Christ. We pray, oh Lord, that You would grant us such homes, that we would be a people who fear you, who walk in your ways, who see blessings as you see them and receive these blessings because of obedience of Fearing you and walking in your ways. Oh God bless us out of Zion May we see the prosperity of Jerusalem And may we see our children's children, both physically and spiritually, and may we see all of these blessings that Christ brings to His church.

In His great name we pray. Amen.