In his sermon 'Lovers of Children,' Scott Brown explores the teachings from Titus chapter 2, emphasizing the importance of sound doctrine and the practical roles of older men and women in the church community. The sermon highlights the pivotal role of mothers in shaping future generations through love, prayer, and teaching. Brown connects the Apostle Paul's writing in Titus as a foundational guide for Christian living, underscoring the transformative power of Jesus Christ in turning sorrow into joy and providing a new way of life. He addresses the role of mothers as compassionate nurturers, emphasizing the critical influence they have on their children's faith and development. The sermon outlines seven ways to love children, including loving one's husband, being a homemaker, continually learning about love, treating children as blessings, being a good teacher, preparing them for the future, and showing them their identity in Christ. Brown encourages the congregation to view children as a blessing rather than a burden, and to raise them with a sense of purpose and direction, instilling in them the values of courage, faith, and resilience.

Please open your Bibles to Titus chapter 2 and find verse 1. Titus 2 verse 1. This is the inerrant, all-sufficient, sweeter-than-honey word of God. Titus chapter 2 verse 1, but as for you speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine, that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience. The older women likewise, that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.

The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Let's pray. Lord, come and teach us your ways. So many of these ways that we'll talk about today, so many have been walking in them. Refresh us again, make us even better at them.

Help us Lord and come and edify your church and bring your truth. Lord keep us from error help us oh Lord to walk in these ancient words amen. Please be seated. Before we really dive into this text, I want to sort of frame the picture here. You know, in these three chapters of Titus, there are so many directives, you know, direct commands for men and women, young men and young women and everybody and they're speaking of the transformations that take place in life remember Paul is at the end of his life his time is short he's going to be executed soon His head is going to come off.

And he knows it. And the Apostle Paul is writing this letter at the end of his life. And he's really seeking, I think, to secure the church. In some sense, Timothy and Titus is Paul's last will and testament to the Church of Jesus Christ. And so he writes this very short letter, but it's just jam-packed with almost everything that you need for the Christian life, to operate your family, to operate as a man, operate as a woman, operate in the church, how to think about everything.

So it's really a pivotal book. But in the midst of all of these commands I and I think it's very critical that we understand this very practical commands there there really is a theme of the letter and we don't want to keep our eye get our eyes off of it and that is that this reality of true faith and the enjoyment of it the abundance of it and it really it really describes the energy for the journey, the goodness of Jesus Christ raining down on us people, let me prove it to you, how Jesus Christ, he changes your life, he turns your sorrow into laughter and your weeping into rejoicing. That's what Jesus Christ does. And what comes out of it? Well, it comes out of it as a very different way of living.

And so in chapter one, verse one, this life is according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledgement of the truth which accords with godliness. This is a picture of people, they know they've been elected, not because of their own works, not because of their own righteousness, and they've acknowledged, they've gladly acknowledged the truth which makes for godliness and they're thrilled, they're thrilled in this way. They, in verse 2, in hope of eternal life which God has promised so you have this you're caught in this life this web of trial and difficulty but you're forward-thinking in confidence It's that kind of a atmosphere that the apostle Paul is casting. In verse two, it's a disclosure of what they received, what happened to them. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.

And then the deliverance from bondage, really the bondage of a culture, The culture where all cretins are always liars, evil, beasts, and lazy glutton's delivered from a culture like that and they're no longer under the influence of what he calls fables not giving heed to Jewish fables. All the fake all the fake fables that people present. They've been delivered from all of that. They have a source of truth. They know how to live.

They have a rock to stand on. It's really a very thrilling thing. And then when you get to chapter 2 verse 11, it's all as a result of grace for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lust and we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present age and this new life that we've been given and then verse 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious of appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people zealous for good works that's the underpinning you know you can get lost in all the commands there's so many I haven't counted them There are dozens of commands in these these three short chapters but you can't forget what the apostle what what the whole context of this is and it's really about the sufficiency of Jesus Christ for your life and you know if you're not a Christian here today don't ignore what God is calling you to. This is such a wonderful thing.

The release from guilt, how about that? Deliverance from condemnation, that's what's being offered here. The removal of the threat of hell, the remarkable journey of having a new life, you know, changing your old ways, removal of corruption, breaking the power of sin. This is what Jesus Christ has done. You must be born again.

Be born again if you're not. Why? Because God is so good, and he places you in a discipleship community under the ministry of his word you must be born again it's it's so important if you're still if you're lagging if you're if you're delaying don't delay any longer there's This is what God has for you. And he will fill you with the Holy Spirit and you'll never be the same. And he'll actually give you one of the greatest blessings of your whole life, he'll give you a community, a like-minded community who's going in the same direction, who love Jesus and they want to walk with him.

And they're learning how to hate their sin, all of us together wherever we're at. So this is sort of the framing of this great and very, very short letter. Well, to the text here, last week we talked about just this one issue, lover of husbands. The older women should teach the younger women to be lovers of their husbands. And today I want to focus on lovers of their children.

And this just brings up the whole matter of a mother, a mother at home. I was I was rereading sections of a book that I bought many many years ago, Deborah and I read it, called The Mother at Home by JC Abbott and in the book he tells a story of theological students, 120 theological students, they're preparing for the ministry. And he asked if they had godly mothers. 100 out of 120 of them reported that it was their mother's faithfulness. It was their mother's prayers.

It was their mother's patience. It was their mother's teaching that carried them. Some of them went through periods of rebellion, but it was their mother. It was their mother that held them tight all the way through. And I think that's why it said over and over again, the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.

Mothers are so critical. Everything falls apart without mothers and you know this was the story of John Newton, who wrote Amazing Grace. He had a wonderful mother. When John Newton forsook God, he forsook his friends at home, he wandered from home, he became a wicked man, a slave trader, he remembered his mother's prayers. He writes that he never could forget her prayers and he says that even when he was with guilty friends in midnight revelry and rebellion, he felt his mother's hand on his head.

It's so important to have mothers like this. The mothers of Israel, they're here in this church. I'm so grateful for you. So this is an admonition to love children. Doesn't it seem strange that there'd be a command to love your children?

How ridiculous is that? Is there a woman that doesn't love her children? When you hold that baby and that baby looks into your eyes in the first months and years, you cannot help but to love that baby. Isaiah 49, 15 says that, can a mother forget her children? Can a woman forget her nursing child and not have compassion on the son of her womb.

Then he says, surely they may forget because some women do forget. But then he says, but I have not forgotten you. I've inscribed you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are continually before me. Well, that's what happens with a godly mother.

But the instinctive quality of a mother is to love. You know, a while back, I wrote a catechism called the catechism on the family what is a family question 143 in the catechism what is what instinctive quality do women possess that thrives in motherhood are you ready for the answer the quality of a compassionate nurturer And there's lots of scripture that backs that up. So this morning I want to sort of throw more wood on the fire to even kindle the flame of your love for your children. I know you love your children but fires need continued fuel so I'm hoping to throw some more fuel on the fire of your love for your children. You fathers as well.

It's important that the church love children. Remember Jesus Christ loved children. Let the children come unto me. And you know this this also should be a children love in church as well. We have so many cute children in this church.

It's it's very fun to watch them. So this instruction in Titus it's a it's a pattern for all people, all churches, all cultures. It is a normative pattern and that's why it is true the family really is the center of society. Richard Baxter said a holy well-governed family is a means to make a holy church. William Gooshe, a family is like a little church and a little commonwealth.

Thomas Brooks, family instruction is the very foundation of all reformation. I know you believe that. And we've really set our minds on these things. Paul, or Titus, was left on the island of Crete to set things in order. Things are always going out of order.

Did you ever notice everything returns to jungle and you're having to recalibrate? You're always gotta get your machete out and hack back the jungle. In your heart, in your family, if you're a businessman, in your business, okay? The jungle is always growing back. And so this is written to this man, to Titus, to set these things in order which are lacking.

And frankly, what's said here, it creates a true counterculture, a real counterculture. And in many ways, it's a subversion of the social order around you. This here is a subversion. That's why John MacArthur says this is one of the most hated verses in the whole Bible, and it's hated by both men and women but the radicality of this is almost non-existent today except in little pockets and you know what this is one of the pockets This kind of radicality is being lived out here. Now, Titus 2 is really a gold mine of culture-shaping commands.

And it speaks of the powerful influence of older women on younger women. And what they do is they plant seeds, and they multiply the plants, and they create fruit that lasts. That's what happens in a home. And it goes on for generations. And mankind really hangs in the balance.

So it begins here with what older women are doing in the church. The older women, mature women who have experience, they're teaching the younger women. And there's a different flow in the very text here. The outline that you have in front of you is a little bit different than the precise flow of the text. But the flow of the text is this.

The older women should teach the younger women love your husband, love your children, be self-controlled or discreet, be pure, be homemakers, be good, and be obedient to husbands. That's the list in this text. I'm going to depart from this list a little bit. But I just want us to understand that being a mother to children is such a pivotal task. It's the hardest task in the world to raise children.

And young mothers, you know, They mostly feel unproductive. And it's easy to lose sight of what they're doing, the value of raising eternal souls. And many of them, they feel like they failed at the end of the day. Can I have a witness on that? And they didn't get their list done.

She feels like her checklist just didn't make, didn't happen. And because you had dirty diapers, you had spilled milk, you had messes, you had interscene warfare, you had selfishness, you know, had all kinds of things, things break and, you know, it can be very, very hard and kids are crying and you got three of them and they're all little and it's not easy at all. So years ago I read this book called How Can I Feel Productive as a Mom? You notice how short it is? It's perfect for a busy mom.

But I love this book. But Esther Engelsman, she says this, I could never figure out if I should be cooking cleaning playing snuggling relaxing or sleeping no matter which I choose I felt like you should have used my time for something better Would I ever feel productive as a mom? Do you feel productive as a mom? She says motherhood is not efficient work. She says that, and I think this is brilliant, she says that God's call in your life is not to get things done but to use your time well And using your time well means manifesting the fruit of the spirit through the interscene warfare through the squabbles, through the spilled milk, through the messes, through the dirty diapers and all those things.

To use your time well in those things. Here's what she says, your children are not keeping you from your work. They are your work. You see the reality shift? That might be helpful.

She says, but why is it important that we shift from trying to get things done to trying to use time well? She says focusing on using time well gives you a positive attitude toward the work of motherhood. When you're trying your best to get things done your children feel like an interruption to your real work. Whether they are behaving or being naughty, They get in the way of checking off the next task, and it's easy to resent them when the next task is your main goal. But when your priority is to use time well, then spending time on your children is not an interruption but it's the best way you can use your time.

I hope that's comforting to you all who are raising little kids. And she makes it clear that the things that interrupt you can seem so senseless. But she says keeping God's commands is more important than getting things done. Your child is sick and it slows you down. God designed a different use of your time.

She says, I may check off 15 tasks off my list, but if I do it at the expense of reading the Bible to my daughter, disciplining her, or cuddling with her before bed, what did I really accomplish? I got a lot done, but I didn't make the best use of my time because I didn't do the right tasks. I didn't contribute to my goal of the salvation and sanctification of my family. So, I think that's really helpful when you think about how do you love your children? How do you do that?

Be filled with the Holy Spirit and meet whatever tasks comes at you and getting things done is not your number one priority but it's to be filled with the Spirit of God. So I've got this list of seven ways you can love your children and I'd like to pound through them. You have them in front of you and the first way to love your children is to love your husband. One of the most powerful ways you can love your children is by loving your husband and you are his helper and you are his companion. Last week I gave eight ways that wives can love their husbands.

First, understand him. He's a man. Second, respect him. Third, encourage and inspire him. Fourth, follow and trust him.

Fifth, help him. You are his helper. Sixth, stop constant criticism. Seventh, maintain affection. Eighth, focus on your own behavior rather than on his.

You can only change yourself. So now what we have here is that love love is is something that is That is done in physical things physical deeds now the second not just love your husband If you want to love your children love your husband Be a keeper at home, that's number two be a keeper at home This word is translated in different ways, the same basic thrust. Keeper at home, homemaker, home. It's the idea of a home builder. It's the idea of a mother who's focused on her home.

When we get to 1 Timothy chapter 5 verse 14, there's a companion word, home ruler, home despot, word home ruler home despot oikos despoteo you know she's she's the home she's the commander of the home and she's like the chief executive officer and and chief operating officer in the home while daily overseeing her children. Proverbs 31 27 says it like this, she watches over the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. She's a home-centered woman. That's the whole idea. If you look at the Proverbs 31 woman, I was tempted to just go through Proverbs 31 in an entire message here this morning, but What you learn about the Proverbs 31, she's not homebound, but she is home centered.

Everything she does brings resources and priority into the home. She's home focused and she's focused on her husband. Her husband safely trusts in her. And so a wife is given a privilege of building a home, building a wonderful home. And this is what this is the realm of responsibility that God has given you is to build a home.

The moment you get married that's what you start doing and what a blessing it is to go be a home builder. Praise God for such a great task. And then she's a learner. She must keep learning about love. We see in the text that older women are to be teachers of good things and they are to teach the younger women how to love their husbands.

And I want to emphasize this again is that we need to be taught how to love love doesn't come naturally we need to continue we are we keep learning how to love Love is sometimes lost and we need to get back to it. Here's what's really easy, it's easy to learn how to hate. It's easy to learn how to be disappointed in somebody, but we need to be taught to learn how to love. I had questions about this this week. How does a woman love her husband?

And what you find here is that older women have to be teachers of women how to love. In other words, they need to change the way that younger women think about love. Just let that sit for a second. God is here and older women are here to change the ways that you think about love. Not from their own heads but from the word of God.

In other words, older women are charged to inculcate, to impress on the minds of younger women how to love their children and love their husbands. In this way, you know, older women are really designed to be change agents in the Church of Jesus Christ. And what they're doing, what they're charged to do in this list, they're charged to focus the younger women on the very closest things in their lives, the very most important things. It's a, I don't know if, I'm not confident it's an exhaustive list, but it's the list that makes the greatest impact in a woman's life. And I think that's why the list is the way it is.

It really narrows the focus of a woman so she's not spending her energies all over the place. It's an authoritative list. It's a normative list for older women to teach. And you know what is love? Well the fruit of the Spirit is love.

God is love. You love one another the way that God loves you. Love is patient. Love is kind. Voddy Bakkam defined love like this, an act of the will accompanied by emotion that leads to action on behalf of its object.

That's a great definition, I like it, I'll read it again. Love is an act of the will accompanied by emotion that leads to action on behalf of its object. We often think wrongly about love. Discipline is part of love. The Bible makes that very, very clear.

In Proverbs 22, 15, Solomon says, foolishness is bound up in the heart of the child, and the rod of correction will drive it far from him. It's very important. Part of love is driving foolishness out of the hearts of children because they are foolish and they grow up foolish. In Hebrews 27, 7-11 we learn that God disciplines those he loves and he does it for their good. Proverbs 13, 24 says that a mother or a father that doesn't discipline their children hates them.

He who spares the rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him promptly. Proverbs 13 verse 24. So it's not a small thing for a child to disregard a mother. All you children, I hope you hear this, are you listening to me children? It's not a small thing when you disregard the law of your mother.

And you mothers don't think that your child is too young to obey. Your child is not too young to obey. In the book that I referred to earlier, J.C. Abbott's book, The Mother at Home, he says never give a command that you do not expect to be obeyed. He says a mother should never allow her authority to be disregarded.

He says, Don't punish unless they intentionally disobeyed. Don't punish for accidents. I think that's good advice. When you spank, inflict pain that will be remembered. Now, something for fathers to remember.

Your mother's authority must be supported by you. If your children are dishonoring their mother, then you need to take action. And you need to stop that business. And maybe your wife is a little too soft-hearted and she lets it happen, the husband needs to step in. But the wife needs to understand she has complete authority just like her husband does in the home.

But love is what God says is love and biblical love includes correction and it also includes formation because discipline isn't primarily for punishment it's for transformation. The biblical discipline and the use of the rod is not the same thing as getting thrown in the slammer. The intent is for restoration. That's why you use the rod. You don't just use the rod to punish.

You use the rod to restore. That's why God commanded it. And so if you do use the rod, then you're not done until there's restoration. Take the time, whatever it might be. You might not be getting everything done in your task list, but getting to restoration is the most important part of the discipline that you bring to your children.

So keep learning about love. Keep learning how to love. We all need that and next is treat them as a blessing treat them as a blessing Psalm 128 verse 3 says that children those children they're like all the plants around your table and they are a blessing and you know children children are not incidental they really are blessings that God gives Psalm 127 paints this beautiful picture It says that the Lord builds the house, the Lord guards the city, and the Lord gives children. And here's what he says, children are a heritage from the Lord. That means they're a blessing.

The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate Do you see you see the blessing of children? I think how do you how do you think about your children?

Maybe you just need to have a little recalibration right now, but how are your children just a big hassle? To you, maybe you've drifted in that direction They're a blessing they are a blessing And when you get up in the morning and you greet them and you lead them during the day, when you look into their eyes you should think that they are a blessing. You know it's a great sadness to see our culture that doesn't want children and the plummeting birth rates. The rising generations don't want children, but guess what? The rising generation in this church wants children, okay?

Praise God for, you know, being a cultural aberration. And we're headed into dangerous times in what people have called this demographic winter. And people don't want the hassle of children. If you're young and you're thinking, I don't know if I want to spend so much time that it takes, it takes a lot of time with children. You're not thinking like God thinks.

Learn to think like God. I saw this funny headline last week. Here's the headline. Couple worries having a baby would cut into time they could spend sitting on the couch staring at their phones. Okay, enough said.

Somebody when we were in Bible study somebody had told us about a report that it cost 303 thousand dollars to raise a child I'm just gonna tell you that's a lie They've never heard of goodwill but like this is a this is a global disease and you're here in this church and you're curing that global disease right here in this church. And I praise God for you. I really do. It's such a... Children are not interruptions.

They are instruments in your life and their life, in the life of the church, in the life of the world, for God's purposes in the world. They are a seedbed for the next generation. They are so critical. Okay so treat them as a blessing. Number five, be a good teacher.

Be a good teacher. Mothers are teachers. That's very plain in Scripture. There's this where I can't wait to get to this in 2 Timothy 3, 14-16, where you have Timothy's mother and grandmother. What a couple of inspiring women.

I'll just read it. But you, speaking to Timothy, but you Timothy must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, that from childhood you have known the holy scriptures, Which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Jesus Christ and He speaks of the fact that his Timothy's mother and grandmother taught him the scriptures since he was a child and Paul's telling Timothy don't you forget what those women taught you. I'm tempted to read the catechism again I'm gonna do it. Question, what other duties are required of parents toward their children? There are many.

To bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. To lead them to love God with all their heart, soul, and strength. And to love their neighbors themselves. To proclaim the great deeds of God to them to direct them to seek Christ's kingdom and righteousness to bind and seal God's testimony in their hearts to raise them to walk in the truth to call them to fear God and keep his commandments to equip them to rebuild what sin has destroyed to seek that which to seek so that they may be signs and wonders in this evil day to launch them as arrows to contend with their enemies in the gates Lots of things God has commanded mothers and fathers to teach their children. But faith isn't reinvented in every generation.

It's passed on. It's handed down. It's like the passing of a baton. It's like the passing of a baton. It's like the passing of a torch from one generation to the next.

That's what you're doing. It's the most important thing you do with your life if you have kids, is to pass that torch. And you don't need to be wealthy to do that. And it's critical. It's critical.

And the sixth, prepare them for the future. Well that's really kind of a takeoff and launch them as arrows. A young mother should be taught that her children are arrows to be sent out. They are a stewardship in her life. Parents aren't owners, they're stewards.

They have their children for a specific period of time, and then they're launched. You're not raising your children to you know to stay under your skirts. You're raising your children to leave and cleave and create a whole new life, a whole new world. Psalm 127, 4, they are like arrows in the hand of a warrior. Proverbs 22 6 train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from from it.

Paul says to the Ephesian Church bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. A mother's goal is to launch her children and she needs to have wisdom for the moment for all that. Children are aimed lives, They are aimed. Those kids in your house, you are aiming them in a direction. Be very careful what direction you're aiming them.

The affections you give them will cause the aiming of that direction. And parents need to be very, very judicious about what affections they create in their children, what kind of experiences they allow their children to cultivate. If they cultivate foolish or ridiculous affections, then they're going to go in that direction. But you should not be aiming your children in directions like that. I want to just make a comment about raising sons.

Many of you are raising sons. Praise God. You need to understand what you're doing. God made sons to rule. God made sons to build things.

God made sons to break things. God made sons to fix things. And your task as a mother is to raise a fearless man This is his creation order design he is a dominion taker teach him to take dominion Joshua 1 9 be strong and courageous for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Every son needs to have that in his heart. First Kings 2, 2 and 3, be strong, show yourself a man and keep the charge of the Lord your God.

1 Corinthians 16 13, be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. That's what you're raising a boy for and you need to just recognize whatever he has in his hands need to be needs to be expanded and improved and you're there to help him do it. He should be improving everything around him. He should be improving everything around him. And you've got him when he's very, very young.

And fathers, of course, have a significant role, improving his room, his clothing, his attitude, his habits. Now let me say this, when your son falls down and gets an owie, Do not kiss his owie. Now I'm gonna receive a lot of flack from this. I know. You're gonna wanna kiss his owie, okay?

But some of you moms need to say to him, shake it off buddy, you're gonna be okay. You're not gonna die. It's a little blood, you're gonna heal, okay? Now, I don't wanna try to suck all the compassion out of a woman here, because every woman is going to want to kiss her son's owie. OK?

But just be careful. Be careful that you're not raising a wimp. Tell him to get back in the game. And don't... Be careful to shield him from all risk.

Be careful to shield him from failure. There's a lot of failure. You need to train your sons for failure and how to get through failure. We've created sort of a culture of manhood that the only thing that matters is safety and boldness is treated as suspicion. This can be a problem for a boy who's actually being raised to rule and to be ahead.

Look at the Apostle Paul. He's a great example. Would you say that the Apostle Paul was risk averse? The apostle Paul was not risk averse. There were times that he fled when somebody was coming after him but remember what he did in Lystra?

He gets dragged out of the city, he's stoned, he's left for dead and everybody in his life I'm sure would be saying get really far from that city he walks back into the city okay there's this this is a bold man I was just I was just listening to Arnold Alomar's biography of George Whitfield when I was driving a tractor yesterday and the hey the fearlessness of Whitefield and the Wesley's I mean they were getting pummeled and they were telling their young ministers charge the fire okay and you don't you don't build strong men you don't build strong families, you don't build strong churches, you don't build strong nations by being risk averse. There's a word in the Bible that describes soft men. It's in 1 Corinthians 9 and it's malachia. And this is really a list of sins that true believers are delivered from, but there are two words. The first word is soft, which is translated homosexual in your Bible, and then the next word is a different word for sodomite.

Neither fornicators nor idolaters nor homosexuals, that's Malachia, soft. They're talking about soft people and these are kind of like the bubble-wrapped men. Aristotle described it as the deliberate avoidance of pain, the deficiency of resistance to the difficulties that most men withstand. He said, it's cowardice dressed in the clothing of comfort. And it's precisely what a culture of safetyism manufactures.

So it can be unhelpful. Don't raise your sons to fear failure. Raise your sons to be courageous. When they face a problem, when they face a problem you should tell your son, son this is your finest hour, rise to the occasion. This is what God, this is what godly men should be doing.

You, you know what, you you want to raise a son who can stand steady when everything is unraveling around him. I guarantee you, stuff is gonna unravel around him. And it'll happen multiple times in his life in different ways. And you need to raise a son who's not afraid to fail. And you need to raise a son who's not afraid to get hurt.

Enough said on that one? On raising daughters, well, daughters should be raised to do the things that women are called to do. And these things that we're dealing with here in Titus too are really critical. Women are different creatures. They have a different nature.

And they should be trained to do what women do. And they should be trained to be helpers and keepers at home and chaste and modest. They are not to be teachers in the church. There's much that we get. When we get to 1 Timothy 2.11, I'll really elaborate on this whole matter of women teaching in the church and outside the church.

I'll develop that in some level of detail but you got to wait until we get to Timothy's, to Paul's letter to Timothy. And then finally Prepare them for the future then show them who they are. If you want to love your children, they need to know who they are. They need to understand they have a fallen nature. And it's deadly.

It's deadly. It's everlastingly deadly. It's not just temporarily deadly, It's both. But their greatest enemy is their fallen nature. And every mother needs to instruct her son and her daughter.

David said it like this in Psalm 51, 5, In sin my mother conceived me. Genesis 8, 21, the heart is inclined toward evil from youth. They come out that way. Children are sinners. They need grace.

They are not just innocent beings. They actually need their nature to change by the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's really their only hope. They need to know that unless you're converted and become like little children you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. They need to understand that they must be born again and they need to understand why they must be born again and there's so many reasons why you must be born again But one of those reasons is to escape everlasting darkness and they need to understand that that's a reality.

And I don't think that means that you throw that up in their face every time you talk to them. Please don't misunderstand me about that. But mothers these are ways that you can love your children. I realize I realize I'm you know preaching to the choir in many ways because this is a church that's filled with women that are loving their children just like this and all I want to say this morning is excel still more it's a great work don't don't tire in the work don't get tired of your children they really really are a blessing in your life and you are a blessing in their life. So love your husband, be a home builder, keep learning about love, treat them as a blessing, be a good teacher, prepare them for the future, and show them who they are.

And one more thing, last week when I was running out the door to preach on how to love your husband she said don't forget to tell them to make it fun and I say that to you mothers as well don't forget to make it fun God is really it's the oil of gladness often that's the engine of motherhood and fatherhood. Let's pray. Lord again we're we're so grateful for your words pray that you would help us to fall in line with your ways your ways are pleasant ways all your paths are peace You are a tree of life to those who embrace you and all who lay hold of you will be blessed. Amen.