This sermon emphasizes the profound impact parents have on their children, highlighting the importance of godly parenting, discipline, and the influence of a father's actions on the family. It delves into the tragic consequences of sin within families, the need for wise and God-fearing parenting, and the responsibility parents have in shaping the spiritual well-being of their children for generations to come.

Deuteronomy 6 verse 2, that thou mightest fear, that thou mightest fear the LORD thy God to keep all his commandments, to keep all his commandments, thou and thy son and thy son's son, all the days of thy life. Verse 6, and these words, these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently, diligently unto thy children, thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children. Psalm 127 verse 3, lo children, children are an heritage of the LORD, children are an heritage of the LORD, that is they are entrusted to thee by God, they are entrusted to thee by God. Now the title, the title of my sermon tonight, the title of my sermon here tonight is simply, Our Children, Our Children. The first children, the first children born to mankind, the first children born to mankind were Cain and Abel, Cain and Abel, and we read in Genesis 4 verse 4 that the LORD, the LORD had respect unto Abel. Verse 5, but unto Cain, unto Cain he had not respect, he had no respect. Verse 8, and Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him, he killed him. Hebrews 11 verse 4 records that by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous. But Cain, Cain 1 John 3 verse 12 says was of that wicked one, the first children, the first children born to the family of mankind. Cain 1 John 3 verse 12 says was of that wicked one, and slew his brother, and wherefore slew he him, because his own works were evil, his own works were evil and his brothers righteous. In the New Testament in Jude verse 11 God condemns the wicked, God condemns the wicked who have gone the way of Cain, who have gone the way of Cain. In Proverbs 20 verse 11 we read even a child, even a child is known by his doings, even a child is known by his doings whether his work be pure, whether it be right. Proverbs 23 verse 24 the father, the father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice, and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him, thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice. But, but the foolish son, a foolish son is a grief to his father God says, a foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness, bitterness to her that bare him. Proverbs 17 verse 25 a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. Proverbs 10 verse 1 literally the sorrow, the shame and the grief. The Hebrew brings out a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. Proverbs 10 verse 1 a foolish son is the calamity of his father. Proverbs 19 verse 13 a foolish son is the calamity, that is in the Hebrew the devastation, the ruination and the destruction of his father God says. He is the ruination, the devastation, the destruction of his father. But, but let us look for a moment, let us look for a moment here tonight at God's solemn instructions. God's solemn instructions to a God fearing father and mother. Let us just take a moment here tonight to look at God's solemn instructions to a God fearing father and mother. Train up, train up a child in the way he should go. Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, when he is older he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22 verse 6. Foolishness, foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. But the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. Proverbs 22 verse 15. He that spareth the rod hateth his son. He that spareth the rod hateth, hateth his son. But he that loveth him, chasteneth him, disciplines him betimes. Proverbs 13 verse 24. God condemned Eli the high priest in 1 Samuel 3 verse 13. Because his sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not. Because his sons made themselves filthy, vile and he restrained them not. Proverbs 13 verse 24. Correct thy son and he shall give thee rest. Correct thy son, he shall give thee rest, yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul. Proverbs 29 verse 17. Chasten, that is discipline thy son while there is hope. While there is hope. And thou shalt deliver his soul from hell. Thou shalt deliver his soul from hell. Proverbs 23 verse 14. Hebrews 12 verse 7. Ask what son is he whom a father chasteneth not? Doesn't correct or discipline. What son is he whom a father chasteneth not? Proverbs 24 verse 9. We have had fathers of our own flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence. That is we respected them. They verily for a few days, for a brief time. That's all you've got parents. You think you've got long. Just a few days. God's giving you. They verily for a few days, for a very brief moment, chastened, that's disciplined, corrected, instructed us after their own pleasure. That is as seemed best to them. They did their best. We have had fathers of our own flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence. We respected them. But, but, what if we don't, what if we don't revere or respect them? What if we don't revere or respect them as God has commanded us? Ephesians 6 verse 1. Children, children, obey your parents. Obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. This is right. Children, obey your parents in all things for this, this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Colossians 3 verse 20. Ye shall fear, that is revere, every man his mother and his father. Ye shall fear, revere, every man his mother and his father. Leviticus 19 verse 3. Honour thy father, honour thy father and thy mother as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee, that it may go well with thee. Deuteronomy 5 verse 16. Honour, honour thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long. That thy days may be long. Don't play the fool with God. Don't play the fool with God. Samuel, Samuel was a godly man from a young boy. Samuel was godly, but Samuel's sons walked not in his ways. Samuel's sons walked not in his ways. 1 Samuel 8 verse 3. In 1 Samuel 2 verse 22, we read of how Eli, the high priest, eventually confronted his sons for their wickedness. Verse 25. Notwithstanding, they hearkened not unto the voice of their father. A fool despiseth his father's instructions. A fool, God says, despiseth his father's instructions, but he that regardeth reproof is prudent. That is honourable and wise, God says. A fool despiseth his father's instructions, but he that regardeth reproof is prudent. O hearken unto thy father that begat thee. Proverbs 23 verse 22. Poverty, poverty, poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction. Proverbs 13 verse 18. He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul. Proverbs 15 verse 32. And he that being often reproved, he that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed. And that without remedy, God said, O God lied. He that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed. God warns. And that without remedy, without remedy. Proverbs 29 verse 1. Proverbs 20 verse 7 speaks of the eye that mocketh at his father, the eye that mocketh at his father and despiseth to obey his mother. The eye that mocketh at his father and despiseth to obey his mother. A foolish man despiseth his mother. Proverbs 15 verse 20. He that wasteth his father physically attacks his father or mother, physically attacks them in sin. He that wasteth his father and chaseth away his mother is a son that causeth shame and bringeth reproach on that home and that family. Proverbs 19 verse 26. He that wasteth his father, you say that's not possible. Oh, I have been in so many homes in the 49 years I've preached across this world. Godly homes. I'm talking about godly homes. Some whose names you will know throughout Christendom. And I have been stunned. I have been shaken to the core and stunned as I have seen what children can do to their father and mother physically. Why? Because they try to stop them from their sin. You say you won't do that. Oh, you won't comprehend what you can do if you open your life to Satan, to his will, to what he holds out. You won't believe when someone who can really have the right to stop you tries to stop you. You won't believe what you'll stoop to if you play the fool with Satan, sir. You won't believe what you become, child. I was in the home of a man so known in this country, I'm scared to tell his name, scared to think of his name. He pushed his son out of the door screaming and sobbing, get out, get out, get out and don't ever come back, don't ever come back unless you repent and get saved. As I looked at what he had done to his mother, I couldn't judge that, father. Not only boys, but you can't believe what a girl can do to her father and mother if she's full of sin, let alone a boy. He that wastes, physically attacks his father and chases away his mother is a son that causes shame and bringeth reproach on that home and family, sir. Proverbs 19 verse 26, Absalom hated his father, Absalom hated his father David. You must know David was a man after God's own heart. God said that. You can have a father who's a man after God's own heart and hate him because of sin. Sin can make you uncomprehendably evil toward a man after God's own heart, child. Absalom hated his father, David. In 2 Samuel 16 verse 11, David said to Abasel and to all his servants, behold my son, my son which came from my bowels seeketh my life. He wanted to kill his father. He lived. His life was driven to kill his father. He was so evil. And yet the Bible, the Bible declares that the glory of children are their fathers. The glory of children, God says, are their fathers. Proverbs 17 verse 6, And a woman, a woman that feareth the Lord, a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Proverbs 31 verse 30, Her children, her children arise up and call her blessed. Proverbs 31 verse 28, You ought to see my children. I have three sons grown up now and their mother is very revered by many, many people in this world for her godliness, her books, her addresses to so many multitudes that God has reached through her life. But when their mother is praised in any circumstance, my children, it's like something that they don't have to do. They don't rehearse. They don't think it's expected. They just suddenly, that unnerves me and everyone, they just suddenly flow out praise to their mother. Everything in them like welling up just begins to praise God for their mother, the mother God gave them. Her children arise up, this woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised, God says. They call her blessed, God says. Proverbs 31 verse 28, But, but there is a generation that curseth their father. There is a generation that curseth their father and doth not bless their mother. And doth not bless their mother. Proverbs 31 verse 11, I've often wondered if God wasn't specifically thinking of this generation. I've often wondered, I think I would be deeply surprised if it isn't a sovereign God wasn't thinking particularly of this generation after what I've seen. There is a generation that curseth their father and doth not bless their mother. Proverbs 31 verse 11, But whoso curseth his father, God says, whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp, his lamp shall be put out. His lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. God said or God lied. You say that's sacrilege. No, it's sacrilege not to say that of God. Don't play the fool with this book. God's word. Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp, God warns, shall be put out into obscure darkness. I've seen that. I've seen that. You don't want to go that way, young person. You don't want to experience that, young person. Enoch's great-grandson, Enoch's great-grandson was Noah. Genesis 6 verse 9 records who also walked with God. Enoch walked with God. Now his great-grandson, Genesis 6 verse 9 records that he also walked with God. And Noah's children were named Shem, Ham and Japheth. Genesis 5 verse 32, But tragically, his second son Ham was wicked and committed shameful sin, which so shocked and grieved his father that he eventually cursed him. Cursed him. Genesis 9 verse 25, I was sitting with a man, a preacher in New York, who had a very large family. And he didn't stay in the city where the large auditorium where I was preaching. But I stayed with that particular preacher of that church, one of the preachers, and his family out on the small holding outside of the city, a good 35-40 minutes drive. So we would travel in the nights for me to preach into the town, into the city, to this church, this very large church. People had come from many, many parts to attend that conference. But as we were traveling now in the nights, the children would sing. Now they sang so beautifully, these large children. Oh, he had a large family. But they obviously harmonized from little babies almost together with daddy and mommy. And they were so beautifully singing that I thought to myself as I look back at their countenances, their faces full of joy as they sang in the beauty. Either they could go around the world. They're so wonderfully harmonizing. It's so uplifting. It was a joy. It was wonderful. And I looked at their faces, the joy as they sang together from the smallest to the oldest harmonizing. Somehow singing harmonizes you. Generally, I would say, if you're Christian. But there was a gap, a little bit of silence. And I turned to the father who was driving the vehicle. And I said, brother, you are really very blessed. I know many, many preachers whose children would not come to church like them. Look at their faces. They're all excited and full of joy. Not one of them angry that they've got to go to church because daddy's a preacher. I said, brother, you are blessed. I know some fathers, the children so serve the devil. They wouldn't go to church. And if they're forced, they're very unhappy. God's really, look at the way they sing. Look at their happiness together. They're excited about going to church, brother. Oh, God's blessed you. And giving you these children. You know, that man looked at me for a moment and then did something very startling. He suddenly, with a loud voice, just began to uncontrollably sob. He just sobbed and sobbed. And I thought the vehicle was going to turn over. The children come forward and pull the car off the road. And he just sat there sobbing. And I was very unnerved. And so was the whole family, all his children. And after a while he said, brother Keith, forgive me. I've never done this. This is not me. Forgive me. And he's sobbing. When you said that. About my children. And then he said these words. Oh, God. Oh, God. Let me die. I beg thee in Jesus Christ's name. I beg thee in Christ's name. Let me die. Now. Then to let me live to ever see one of my children ever going with the devil's children to the devil's houses. To eat what the devil serves his children from the devil's tables to satisfy them with sin and wickedness. Let me die, God. I beg thee, let me die. And to lift. And he sobbed again. After a good while, the car was able to go. I didn't turn and look at the children. I did not. I wondered if they were breathing. There was a deathly silence the whole way to the church. Deathly silence. When they got out of the vehicle with their violins and all the things they play in this little orchestra in a very sanctified way. They went laughing like they normally do and. Not one word. They just walked with their faces down into the church. Going home. Not one word. All the way home. Just deathly. Deadly silence. All the children. They were so unnerved. They were so shaken. That the very thought. Of one of them ever seeking sin. Caused their father to want death. I was shaken. Oh, I was shaken. We read in Genesis 5 verse 21 and Enoch. Enoch lived sixty and five years. Enoch lived sixty and five years and begat Methuselah. And Enoch walked with God. After. After he begat Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after. He begat Methuselah. Now I have made research into the Hebrew. I have made research in commentaries and from the greatest of theologians in the history of the church. Concerning this verse and I. They are in agreeance. From the time. Of. And as a result of. The birth of his first child. Enoch sought a grace to walk with God. That he would never have ever known. That literally to this day staggers the world. The walk he had with God by God's grace. From the time of and as a result of the birth of that child. Oh, the privilege, the joy. The gratitude, the sense of responsibility to God. Who has entrusted us with not only a life beloved, but an eternal soul. The birth. Of a child. Beloved can and should draw us. Into a relationship, a dependence on God. Equal to that which Enoch experienced. From the time of and as a result of the birth of his child. I was in Cyan in Wyoming preaching and there was this big park in the center of the town. And there was this large building that I preached and I walked around the park in between the services to be quiet and pray. And there were plaques all around on these bronze plaques with very notable and heart-rending statements. Not always by Christians, but one that I read is the value of marriage. The value of marriage. The value of marriage is not that adults produce children. But that children produce adults. The man's name is Peter De Vries. I don't know anything about him, but I thought that's worth quoting. Enoch walked with God, sir, from the time of as a result of the birth of his child. His life changed and staggers the world to this day. He found such a walk by grace through sense of responsibility and privilege God had given him. With such a godly father as Enoch. With such a godly father as Enoch, it is no wonder that Methuselah also served God with all his heart throughout his life. With such a godly father as Enoch, it's no wonder that Methuselah served God with all of his heart throughout his entire life. I was preaching on a tour. I have many tours across southern Africa of many, many, many years. And we speak to thousands and thousands, sometimes up to seven meetings a day. But I was speaking in one church in the nights in a series in one of these towns. And there was two young men that I had watched as children. They did homeschooling, the one with my little boy. And his mother and father did homeschooling, a lot of things were joined. But godly mother and father, yes. His name was Jan Mostert. Jan Mostert. Jan Mostert. Now he's grown up. He's a man, taller than me. Oh, one moment. That's all you see. And so I looked at this boy, knowing his background, remembering him as a child. They asked some of the young missionaries if they would give two-minute testimonies. Before I preached to all the people that had been coming from everywhere in the night. So, two minutes, that's quite something to ask a man to tell his whole life meaningfully in two minutes. But there you are. Well, the first young fellow took about 30 minutes. He forgot his watch and his conscience. But it wasn't wrong because that boy that night, I don't think he was ever allowed to do that again. We're very strict with young preachers. But when he finished, I felt I shouldn't even preach. I don't need to. God has so broken the hearts of young and old across that whole auditorium. The way God was with that boy, no wonder he didn't stop. And he just forgot himself. That night was rare and blessed. But anyway, the second night, they asked us, Jan Mostert, who did homeschooling with my son. And as they grew up together, the two families, as much as they could, fell asleep. But he stands up. Now, he's stuck to two minutes before I preach. And he said that he had just been through theological seminar, Bible school, with which to prepare and equip oneself to go out into full-time service, which is required by virtually all the missionary societies of the world, almost all. Because you do more damage than good if you go out without some training, theological. Oh, you've got to show. He had just finished theological training and gone out as a missionary. And the examiner, during his years at the Bible school, the theological seminar, in this one subject, he asked certain questions. But one of the questions set at the end of the term, for them to sit through examination now of all the lectures, one of the questions was, define holiness. Define holiness. Now, you can really get some very good definitions from John Wesley, even Charles Finney. You can go to Hudson Taylor. The word holiness, in essence, what it means in what God is actually saying, concerning the word holiness. This boy said that he answered the question, when I think of holiness, all I can think of is my Father. All I think of is my Father's life. I don't know how the examiner marked it, that I would have given him a thousand percent. But isn't it a tragedy to think that how many Christian homes a child couldn't say that of his Father. Couldn't stun the lecturer and others that hear it, that you'll never forget, you might forget all the examiners, what even their answers were and how perfect and what percentage, but that examiner will never forget what that child said. Who can? But the tragedy is how many parents, how many fathers, their children would never, never put that word, the only thing they can honestly think of, in practical outworking, experiential knowledge, is my Father. That would be a tragedy, don't you think? If one man's son could honestly attribute holiness to his daddy, couldn't all fathers have that influence? The next night, another young man that I watched grow up from a very God-fearing family, his name is Daniel Marais. I also saw him when he was a little thing. They walked in a church one day when I was preaching as a family, also a large family back in South Africa. And as they walked through the door, the entire church came to a standstill, dead silence, and I'm talking about a lot of people. Their countenances, the purity on those children's faces, their modesty of dress. There was something that shook every soul in that building as a family walked through the door. I looked even at the young people, not one was speaking. And not one was looking, condemning. That was a testimony. I watched that boy in different conferences as he got a bit older, who was there that first time he walked through with his son. I watched as he got a little bit older and he sang from his soul with such humility and yet such transparency and such anointing that it stirred our heart. Oh yes, Godly. Now he stood up, I think it was the third night, and he gave two minutes testimony. He said, when I was a child, when I was a little boy, I remember walking down the passage in our home and I stopped, because I heard in Daddy's office, Daddy's room, that he... I heard Daddy crying. And as a little boy I turned and I looked through the door and I saw my Daddy on his face, on the floor. And I was so unnerved as a child, I stood there. But then I heard him praying and he was praying for me. And he was weeping. He was weeping for my soul. For God to save my soul. To save me from sin. For God to somehow save me that the devil would not be able to put any seed in my heart because of the protection of salvation. And that my life would not be destroyed by sin. He was crying to God and weeping on his face to me. I was so unnerved when I was a little boy. I can't say that happened many times, but he said, there were other occasions over the next few years that I heard Daddy weeping and I stood. And I feared every time as I looked through and I saw Daddy weeping for us as children. Crying from his soul, sobbing before God and agonizing for his children to be saved. And not to have a life of sin and self. But to serve God, to walk with God, crying to God. And then he said these words, I had to seek God. I had no option. I had no choice. I had to seek God with all my heart and soul from a child because of my father's prayers. How many fathers pray like that? At the prayers. But the reason, that boy found Christ and serves Him now as a missionary. Now Abraham, Abraham was called the friend of God. I love that. When I was a young Christian reading through the Bible, saved for the first time, that shook my heart that God could call a man the friend of God. In James 2 verse 23, I remember saying to God, I don't know what it will cost, but it doesn't matter to me. Whatever it costs for thee to do in my life, please do it. That before I die, that can be said of me. If it could be said of that man, please God, do anything to me, but before I die, just let it be said once, that I'm not just saved. I'm a friend of God. I'm saved. Abraham was called a friend of God and God said these staggering words about him. God said these staggering words about him in Genesis 18 verse 19. I know him, I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice. That is literally in the Hebrew righteousness. To be righteous, I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him and they as a result will seek righteousness. To keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness, to be righteous literally. But Ephesians 6 verse 4, Ephesians 6 verse 4 cautions us ye fathers, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath. He's writing to Christians, not to one saved. Ye fathers, you can as Christians, as a result of your sin. That's the context, don't doubt it. Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Bring them up in the nurture and admonition. Wesley said that means, he said literally, let God bring them up through you. So yield yourself to Christ and as a result he so takes control that it's his life lived out through you, a totally yielded life, you see. It's not our attempts to be godly. It's to the degree we yielded to God that we're able to be spontaneously yielded to God that the divine nature is spontaneously seen in our every reaction. Spontaneously, no matter how trying the circumstances, God living out the fruit of the Spirit is Christ, sir. Don't doubt that. It's not love, all these things. The fruit is the Spirit, the evidence, the Holy Spirit's in control of your life is not gifts, it is love. It is Christ. 1 Corinthians 13, take away the word charity which means love and you'll have some understanding of what God's saying because it's agape love. It's not human love, he's asking you to that. Love suffereth along in its kind in every circumstance, especially in the home, sir, because if it doesn't work in the home, it doesn't work. Full stop. Don't ever doubt that now. Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath. You can through sin. The sinfulness of your attitude. Bring them up in the nurture and admonition. Let God bring them up through you by his Spirit. Colossians 3 verse 21, fathers, provoke not your children to anger lest they be discouraged. Now the Hebrew here is literally don't crush their spirit. You can. He's writing to Christians, don't destroy them. You can. Don't get so angry by your failures that they disqualify the credibility of Christianity and do not want the God of their father because of the father's sin and sinfulness and ugliness. The most ugly thing on earth in your life is to find a Christian that has no Christ-likeness because Christianity that doesn't reveal Christ-likeness is sacrilege and blasphemy. Don't doubt that now. Provoke not your children to anger. You can. And he's writing to saved people lest they be crushed in their spirit. Don't do that to them through your sin and the way you raise them. When I was a little boy, my daddy built us a beautiful home. He was poorly but he took every weekend of hard labor, a few more bricks, a bit more cement and after a few years he gave us a home and we loved it. One day standing on the stoop looking at the gardens appreciating what God had given us as a little boy I was holding daddy's hand and he was standing with his arm around my mother, my darling mother and there was a man who passed on the street over there as the gardens were landscaping up and there was this man walking and he had his little boy's hand in his hand and he also had moved into the neighborhood which was out, they couldn't afford affluent place later on it became affluent, that area but now he had also and he recognized daddy and they had been little boys together kicking ball and oh, he cries out to my father and so they're talking and mother's standing there, I'm standing there and there's his little boy holding his daddy's hand while I hold my daddy's hand I used to go and cycle with him with all the other children we were cycling after school and they somehow started talking about discipline and children who'd misbehave, you know don't obey, so there's discipline and it was I think a very light, and suddenly this man with a loud voice shook our hearts he looked at his little boy while he's holding his little boy's hand and he said he knows not to play the fool with this man don't you and the way he held that boy's hand he said he knows what I do, don't you I beat him and I don't stop beating him until he climbs the wall you won't play the fool with this man, will you I looked at that little boy's face the horror and he walked away my daddy burst out sobbing and he said, oh Maude Maude something terrible is going to happen to that boy three days later the boy committed suicide little boy those days they didn't jail you some are, but I remember as I grew up watching that man he never greeted daddy at the door as he passed he walked with his head down his back bent his eyes always swollen wrinkled broken he couldn't look up again I don't remember that man ever looking up because of what he did to his son that's an unsaved man but Paul is warning saved people you can crush their spirit though you're saved as a father pitieth his children as a father pitieth his children I love that, especially in discipline one must always look in the light of old scriptures not just in the light of isolated texts especially when you discipline them beloved we have these three children all big now and when they're small our little Lart Lummerky our late edition he came as a shock years after the other boys were grown but comes the third one my wife nearly died, we couldn't have children thereafter but God gave us this little Samuel now Samuel you just look at Samuel if he's doing anything questionable and you suffer because he just one look you don't need to take a rod and beat that that's insanity God's given you a common sense you're a thousand miles ahead of unsaved in knowing discernment you don't beat a child with a rod God isn't even speaking about a rod by the way if you really want to know you disagree with me oh he's not even speaking about the physical rod hammering till there's blue marks and you know you look at the rest of the scriptures you be careful with what you think God says he was probably the naughtiest boy that ever lived in history I doubt that there has ever been now you might I think a lot of people will agree with me that perhaps you Roy if the Guinness Book of Records had a way of discerning who really was the naughtiest boy that ever lived I wonder if it wouldn't be Roy now that boy he looked what can I do wrong now just get it through the spanking until they realize you've got to stop now I said Roy it's not fair daddy's getting arthritis and daddy has to beat you because otherwise God says I'm going to send you to hell so my boy I've just got to get it through to you five minutes later oh Roy here we go again Roy was unique and rare he told us years later he had put all sorts of things that I knew nothing about no wonder my hand was so anyway dear darling Roy but some child needs discipline but let me shock you if it doesn't hurt you more than it's hurting that child you're sinning you are sinning if that child doesn't know that this isn't hurting you to do this more than it hurts him now don't you dare doubt that there's a pity even a compassion when you but if you lose control Moody his son his eldest son wrote a book on Moody's life now there's a couple of biographies very good ones on Moody but if your son writes a biography of your life that's something things will come out and that boy said something startling but I was more shaken by what the son he said every time they had to be disciplined and they had to be disciplined that little tribe of his and publicly sometimes every single time daddy had to discipline the great dear Moody they knew it's no good going to sleep we've got to wait for daddy because he's going to come and kneel beside the bed every child he disciplined and sob and then suddenly they hear boom Moody was a very big man by the way coming up the steps up the old house here he comes and he gets down every single time throughout their childhood till they left Moody would kneel beside and begin to weep and he would say forgive me I had to discipline you to not disobey God but if I if I was wrong if I was impulsive if I was the whole circumstance of what was going on I please forgive me if I was wrong now you may say that's weakness no that made Moody great that in my estimate and someone with discernment and compassion for that brought greatness that those things bring greatness that lacked the word greatness cannot be attached to many God fearing men but to him yes to things like that I remember disciplining my one son and I was so tired I was numb from all the preaching you know and I misunderstood a lot of things of the circumstance there but I really beat that poor boy and he was small and while I was doing it something was condemning my heart and saying stop you know I wept for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks I wept God what have I done I was unjust I preached to others and God I was so unjust it was something of all my frustrations that would have been taken out it was far beyond what that child deserved I sinned God you know it took a few years for me to actually call that child I called all three boys as they were growing up and I saw time was running out and my Jenny was down the passage listening I didn't know she was listening but she knew something was going to come here the way I called the children looked at them and sat down and I said when daddy made mistakes through tiredness and circumstances you didn't know of how tired I was and I miscalculated I didn't understand fully that it really didn't warrant the way I disciplined you boys I made mistakes but I tried to be the best daddy that ever lived but daddy made mistakes I said no Lee I hit you when you were small I doubt you'll ever forget the way daddy hit you my boy I was wrong I aged because of that no I wept and wept and years it's haunted me but I'm asking all three of you for forgiveness where daddy failed where I wasn't right though I tried so hard to be careful and right my boys forgive daddy forgive daddy please forgive me there was deadly silence and then no only being the eldest then in his late teens he stood up and he says but daddy I don't think any of us know what daddy's talking about I don't think any of us remember anything about the things the way you say but I do say this daddy I remember from a child and throughout my whole teenage years going into other preachers homes to play with their children to befriend them there was not one home of a Christian daddy or a preacher that within a short while I didn't say from my heart as I looked at their daddies I didn't say to God thank you God this isn't my daddy thank you God for the daddy I've got all I remember is thanking God for your daddy and I know the same thing here I was tormenting myself for years for something they didn't even remember oh children that's just something they see the broader picture child as if they see your heart and that you just underwent permanent disgusting disgrace I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way I will walk within my house that's in front of my family with a perfect heart Psalm 101 verse 2 the just man the just man walketh in his integrity his children are blessed after him as a result of him seeking integrity in his life in front of them Proverbs 20 verse 7 but he that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind he that troubleth his family through sin breaks down that family's happiness through their sin he shall inherit the wind Proverbs 11 verse 29 he shall end up with great devastation and sorrows literally I remember preaching and I saw a young boy sitting in the front row very young boy his eyes were swollen his face had marks and he was weeping I looked at his mother sitting next to him her face had been beaten and she was weeping after the sermon I fled down to them and I walked up and I said lady who did this to you who did this to your son my husband I said why how could he because of you Mr. Daniel because of you you see this boy is the only one of the children that chose to follow the mother who serves God in our home my husband doesn't want God doesn't want anything to do with God hates the concept of God because the mother will follow the father and most of the children follow their father but this child comes to church with me this child and when we went home last night after your service this child was so excited about what you preached and the other children got excited and started getting drawn in and thrilled and enthralled and spoken to and my husband lost control as he saw the children intrigued and gripped by this boy and he threw him down in the ground and God started uncontrollably beating him with his fist I'll beat God out of you I'll beat God out of you you won't become a fanatic and a mad thing like your mother I'll beat God out of you I tried to stop him he threw me to the ground and kicked me and beat me and the other children who tried to stop him he beat me a little while went by and I heard that his son was in prison he had done such atrocious things he's still in prison a jailbird to this day after all his years and then I heard that this father said he's a disgrace to our home he's brought shame on us as a family I'm ashamed of this son and I wrote a letter he never allowed me to come near him until the day he died he wouldn't have me near him or his home but I knew a Christian who knew that family somehow through the working circumstance and I said to this Christian would you please take this letter to him would you read it to him yes ok he looked at me and screamed I'll beat God out of you what did you expect him to become what did you want you got what you wanted and now you're ashamed you made him reject the noble thing in life a child could pursue you got what you wanted later on he died very young and they sent a message to me that he was dying unsaved without God I said to the same man who had read that letter to him would you please try and get to him before he dies and read to him this letter if he's still alive just read it to him I won't tell you what I wrote there but that man came back to me tearfully and said brother as I read the letter he died and as he listened dying his last words as he listened to what was in the letter as tears rolled down his face he said oh God what have I done what have I done to my son what have I done to my he died and he died through his sin he destroys and breaks down his family his own house shall inherit the wind he shall end up with sorrow and devastation is what most of the commentators of any worth in the history of the church interpret this to be meaning contextually Proverbs 11 verse 29 every wise woman buildeth her house family but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands that is contextually in this don't doubt this destroys her family's life you can do that you must always know in Proverbs the word wise is attributed to godliness from the first to the last verse is not academic wisdom the beginning of wisdom the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom there's not one verse where the word wisdom and foolishness is always attributed to rejection of rejecting the wisdom that would come a deliberate conscious choice of rejecting light and rejecting God there's not one verse that the foolish is just the mistakes and wrong attitude no it talks of either good or bad through God the fear of God every wise woman that's God fearing woman build it that is constructively prayerfully with the anointing of God and the discernment God gives to a God given a life given over to God soaked in the Scriptures daily to be renewed by the Holy Ghost influence in every her action in her life outside of which she cannot be what God wants her to be this is looking in the broad picture of the Scriptures but the foolish that is those who reject God's Word who reject what God they through sin do what God says you shouldn't be shouldn't do they destroy their family they destroy their children's lives Proverbs 14 verse 1 fathers mothers listen I beg you fearfully to the warning of God in this book I the Lord thy God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me Exodus 20 verse 5 visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children Exodus 34 verse 7 now these startling words do not say that God will pass judgment upon our children because of our sins no no the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father neither so the father bear the iniquity of the son Ezekiel 18 verse 2 everyone shall die for his own iniquity Jeremiah 31 verse 30 I cannot believe that God will pass judgment upon our children because of our sins but I do believe with my soul that in these verses God's with a broken heart and sorrow warns us here warns us of the tragic influence of our lives upon our children and they upon their children as the mother so is their daughter Ezekiel 16 verse 4 Jeremiah 32 verse 8 though so is kindness unto thousands and recompense the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them the very nature it isn't what God chooses is what you choose Malachi 2 15 the reason given as to why God ordained the sacred covenant of marriage is the only verses in the entire Bible the center of the whole thing the last book of the in had I Old Testament it gives you the reason why God ordained the sacred covenant of marriage is that he might seek godly seed from your union literally meaning that you might raise for him God fearing children by this marriage children he entrusts to us which are the result of marriage that is not sin but this verse then continues therefore take heed to your spirit if you're not right with God husband or wife especially husband in the state one of the greatest theologians in the world history says that the meaning of this verse is literally let your spirit be controlled by my spirit in order to not destroy your children's lives that I entrust to you but to make them godly contextually in marriage so that your lives can produce what God expects you to produce in why he ordained why he ordained the sacred covenant I'm going to leave all this I'm going to leave all this all that there were such and heart in them all that there was such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always that it might be well with them and with their children after them oh that there was such an heart can you hear the heart of God in this book the warnings throb with love his harshest words throb with love his harshest words of judgment and the consequences of sin come from a broken heart not some God that doesn't care oh that there was such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always that it might be well with them and with their children after them can we stand please father take the message tonight and change our lives through thy word even the children sitting here who I know many of them grasps so much of this beyond our comprehension but I know it because it's God's Word everyone that's of understanding to the oldest saint or sinner in this building change our lives God as a result of this message forever and our course forever in Jesus Christ's name amen