This sermon emphasizes the importance of loving and respecting one's spouse, highlighting the sacrificial love husbands should have for their wives, the need for wives to submit to their husbands in the Lord, and the impact of a godly marriage on children. It also addresses the significance of obeying parents unless it goes against God's commandments, and the consequences of rejecting God's truth and commandments in family relationships.

Can we bow for a moment of prayer, please? Father, in mercy on every one of us, wash me in the blood of God, God the Son, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, that cleanseth us Christians from all sin, if we confess in true brokenness and repentance. Should there be the smallest reaction, thought, a word that was not utterly holy and Christlike in thine eyes, forgive me that I overlooked to confess in my baseness. Please forgive me, Lord, and wash me in that sacred blood of Christ, apart from which we have no hope in life or of eternal life. No preacher has any right to even think he could be so presumptuous as to stand and expect God to bless him or use him, but by the blood of Christ in cleansing and forgiveness, I pray that thou would make me a vessel meet for the Master's use. Outside of the blood, that's impossible, Lord, and it's beyond my comprehension how thou could stoop to men so unworthy, who at their best are just unprofitable servants. But we trust thy word, thy promises, explicitly and without wavering, and come as we are, through the blood of Christ, into the very presence and the holiest of holies. We can be no closer to God in heaven than we are on earth through the blood of Christ, right into the heart of God, right into the holiest of holies because of that blood and our faith in it. And so come in thy mercy, protect us from our only enemy, Satan, and the demons that followed him as his tail swept a third of the stars of heaven who rebelled against thee with him and were cast upon the earth. And now, our desperate demons, we would be very, very naive and fools to not ask for protection from that enemy. This earth is the battlefield between God and Satan for the souls of men, and I'm inclined to believe, Lord, the battle truly only begins when we're saved, as he holds himself against us to undermine us and destroy our efforts and to discourage us and to take our eyes off thee, and our faith doesn't function. So, Father, protect us from Satan and his demonic forces. Surround this building with the angels of God, with swords drawn to do battle against them and to keep us safe. Put a hedge around us, brood upon this building by the Holy Ghost. Come upon our hearts and take the most critical heart that thou hast seen and break it. Now, we ask all these things in the lovely name of Christ. Come fill with thy Holy Spirit, anoint, unctionize, take thy Holy Word and make it alive. Without thee we can do nothing. The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life to this book. Come give life to thy Word and to every heart, for we ask all these things in Christ's name. Amen. In Deuteronomy 6, verse 2, we read that thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, that thou mightest fear the Lord thy God 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 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 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. Children are an heritage of the Lord. Now, the title of my sermon tonight is simply, Our Children. The first children, the first children born to mankind were Cain and Abel. And we read in Genesis 4, verse 4, that the Lord had respect, the Lord had respect unto Abel. Verse 5, but unto Cain he had not respect, he had no respect. First children ever born to mankind, but unto Cain he had no respect. Verse 8, and Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and slew him. Slew him. Hebrews 11, verse 4, records that by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness. He obtained witness that he was righteous. He was righteous, but Cain, 1 John 3, verse 12 says, was of that wicked one. First children born to mankind, Cain was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works, 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, whether his works be pure and whether it be right. Proverbs 23, verse 24, the father of the righteous, the father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice, and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him. He that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him. Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bear thee shall rejoice, God says. But the foolish son, a foolish son is a grief to his father, God says, a grief to his father, bitterness, bitterness to her that bear him, Proverbs 17, verse 25. A foolish son is the heaviness of his mother, Proverbs 10, verse 1. A foolish son is the heaviness, that is, the sorrow and the grief in the Hebrew, of his mother. A foolish son is the calamity of his father, Proverbs 19, verse 13. A foolish son is the calamity. Now that Hebrew word is fearful. It is the devastation and the destruction of his father, God says, God says. A foolish son is the calamity, the devastation, and the destruction, the ruin, the ruin of his father, Proverbs 19, verse 13. But let us look for a moment. Let us look for a moment at God's solemn instructions, God's solemn instructions to a God-fearing father and mother. Let us look just for a moment at God's solemn instructions to a God-fearing father and mother. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it, Proverbs 22, verse 6. The rod and reproof, that is, correction, give wisdom, give wisdom. But a child left to himself, a child left to himself bringeth his mother to say, Proverbs 29, verse 15, 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, God says, not me. He that spareth the rod hateth, hateth his son, but he that loveth him chasteneth him. At times, he disciplines him at times. God condemned Eli, the high priest, in 1 Samuel 3, verse 13, because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. His sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not, Proverbs 13, verse 24. Correct thy son, correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest, yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul, Proverbs 29, verse 17, chasten thy son, that's disciplining him, while there is hope, God says, Proverbs 19, verse 18, and thou shalt deliver his soul from hell, Proverbs 23, verse 14. Hebrews 12, verse 7 asks, what son, what son is he, whom a father chasteneth not, that means doesn't correct or discipline. Verse 9, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence, that is respect. Verse 10, they verily for a few days, for a brief time, that's all we've got, parents. One of the greatest shocks you're going to have about children is how little time God gave you, and the moment it's gone. They for a few days, a brief time, they chastened us, that is disciplined, corrected us, instructed us, after their own pleasure, that is, as seemed best to them, they did their best. We've had fathers of our own flesh who corrected us, and we gave them reverence, respect. Paul wrote, but what if we didn't revere or respect them, as God has commanded us? Ephesians 6, verse 1, children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Colossians chapter 20, ye shall fear every man his mother and his father, ye shall fear, that is revere, every man his mother and his father. Leviticus 19, verse 3, honor thy father and thy mother, honor thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee, that it may go well with thee. Deuteronomy 5, verse 16, honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long. Exodus 20, verse 12, don't play the fool with God here, young man, don't play the fool with God, he's watching your heart. Samuel was a godly man, but Samuel's sons walked not in his ways. You can have a godly father, young girl, a godly father and mother. It doesn't mean you're going to choose to follow them. We have to look at every single scripture, not just isolated verses that we hold to, without looking at the rest of the scriptures, otherwise we've perverted in our understanding, unless you compare scripture to scripture on every subject. Samuel was a godly man, there's no doubt, one of the godliest they ever lived, but Samuel's sons walked not in his ways. 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. They hearkened not to the voice of their father. A fool despises his father's instructions, God says, but he that regardeth reproof is prudent. That's honorable and wise, the word prudent. A fool despises his father's instructions, but he that regardeth reproof, God says, is honorable, wise, prudent. Oh, hearken unto thy father, hearken unto thy father that begat thee. Proverbs 23, verse 22, poverty, poverty and shame shall be to him that refuses instruction. Proverbs 13, verse 18, he that refuses instruction, despises his own soul, your own worst enemy. Proverbs 15, verse 32, he that being often reproved, hardness his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. Proverbs 29, verse 1. Proverbs 20, verse 17, speaks of the eye that mocketh at his father, 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 wastes his father and chases away his mother is a son that causes shame and bringeth reproach. Proverbs 19, verse 26, he that wastes his father, what does that mean? It's almost incomprehensible. He that physically attacks his father and mother, how can that happen? I've lost track of how many times in the 48 years I've been preaching. Where I was called, I'm talking about godly homes now, that I could not believe what a child had done to his mother or father. As I saw a woman curled up in the corner, covered in blood, for one reason, she tried to stop her son from sin. You think you can't do that to your mother? Oh, just give sin a chance, young person. You won't comprehend what you will stoop to if you let sin enslave you, because the more you give yourself, the more you have to do it, and the deeper you go. You're never satisfied on the same level until you destroy it, and let someone try and stop you effectively. You won't believe who you do it to. I've been in home upon home. There was one tour I went on at every single home I stayed in. Within the homes, mostly preachers of conservative churches in this town, were aging, weeping, sorrowing to a child that had physically attacked somehow one member of the family or one of their parents. I couldn't believe it. I was so stunned that I was deeply affected for months at what is becoming of the world. I know a godly man, you would know his name, I dare not give it. I went there when he had pushed his son out the door, screaming, sobbing, get out, and don't ever come back till I die. Get out. Please don't ever come back till I'm dead. And as I looked at what he had done to his mother and somebody else, I couldn't judge that man. He that wastes his father and chases away his mother is a son that causes shame and bringeth reproach on that home. Proverbs 19 verse 26, Absalom hated his father David. You must know David was a man after God's own heart. You can never father a mother that are after God's own heart and hate them. Do what you choose to embrace and then become, because your choice embraced sin and evil and rejected godliness like Cain. Absalom hated his father David. 2 Samuel 16 verse 11, and David said to Abishel and to all his servants, behold my son which came of my bowels seeketh my life. And yet, yet the Bible proclaims that the glory of children, the glory of children are their fathers. The glory of children are their fathers, God says. Proverbs 17 verse 6, do you want me to show you a man that is a total tragedy in this world, no matter how he smiles? Take me to a man who is not the glory of his children. Do you want me to show you a truly tragic human? Take me to a father that is not what God says he should be, the glory of his children. That doesn't undermine the mother. That's God's way of, but listen, a woman, a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Proverbs 31 verse 30, her children, her children rise up and call her blessed. They know they're honored by God to have such a mother and they so respect and so worship God. You want to see my children when their mother's been disgusted in a positive light, they don't put on air, they don't put on some sort of front that's expected of them. There's something rises up that just begins to worship God publicly, that undoes, unnerves people as they speak of their mother. A woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Her children rise up and call her blessed, verse 28 says. But there is a generation that curseth their father and doth not bless their mother. Proverbs 30 verse 11, there is a generation that curseth their father and doth not bless their mother. I've come to think on a few occasions as I've gone through this world that God was particularly thinking of this generation. I'd be surprised if you weren't. There is a generation that curseth their father and doth not bless their mother. Proverbs 30 verse 11, who so curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. Proverbs 20 verse 20, you don't want to experience that, trust me, young man, young lady, you don't want to experience that. What God said or God lied, you say that's sacrilege. No, it's sacrilege not to say that, to even consider that God just played with words that he didn't mean in his holy book, in the light of all scriptures. Now Enoch's great grandson was Noah. Enoch's great grandson was Noah, who Genesis 6 verse 9 records also walked with God. Enoch walked with God in his three generations later. Enoch's great grandson, Noah, also walked with God, Genesis 6 verse 9. And Noah's children, Noah's children were named Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 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, Genesis 9 verse 25. I was once with a preacher in New York, a very large congregation. People had come from different parts and different states, and that auditorium was so overcrowded, filled with people. But I stayed with this one pastor, one of the pastors of the church, and he had a tribe, a large family, a good way out of the town, out into the countryside. Lovely home, lovely small holding. And I stayed in one of the lovely old buildings out there, and traveled in to the meeting every night with all the children, this lovely vehicle, big, long vehicle holding all the children. And I sat in the front seat with the father, this godly preacher. And we were listening to the children singing. Now, they harmonized. That means they had started singing from little ones, you know. The harmony was utterly beautiful. It was, and I just sensed the joy as these children were harmonizing together the hymns, the great old hymns of our faith. It was beautiful. And I said to him as there was a pause in the singing, oh brother, it's beautiful to hear your children sing like us, and to see it from their hearts. I sensed it from their heart. And then I said, brother, they're happy going to church, night after night like this, meeting after meeting. Look at them, they're full of joy, no anger, oh, I don't want to go to high school. And then I said, you know, brother, not every preacher, conservative evangelical, evangelical evangelism, not every preacher has all their children following God. Like this, singing, wanting to all be together. Many suffer, the children that serve the devil. As I said that, this man looked at me, the children heard what I said. And suddenly he burst out sobbing within seconds. Now, it wasn't a song, because he wasn't an emotional man. That's all there is to it. I was unnerved. Some of the children came forward of the older boys and daddy, they wanted me to pull up on the road. He was so broken and sobbing. And then we're driving on. And when he composed himself a little bit, tears pouring down his face. He said these words, brother, keep, oh, let me die. Please, God, let me die. And to live to see one of my children serving the devil. Oh, God, let me die. I beg you to live to see one of my children going to the devil's houses, to the devil's people feasting from the devil's tables, the things the devil feeds his children to satisfy. Oh, God, let me die. I, now, beloved, I was scared to look back at those children. It was like you couldn't, I don't know if they were breathing. There was a deathly hush in that car. As we all got out of the vehicle, there was no laughter. There was a deathly, deathly hush and soberness as they walked back into this big auditorium. We read in Genesis 5 verse 21, Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah. And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah. Now, I thought about that and went and made a long research. Many of our greatest theologians, of which you would be stunned, who made the comment on this, as I began to grasp it, almost word perfect. Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah. That is, from the time of and as a result of the birth of that child, Enoch sought God from that birth as he saw that child coming into this world. He sought God for a grace that staggers the world to this day, the way he walked with God. Oh, the privilege, the joy, the gratitude, the sense of responsibility to God who has entrusted us with not only a life but an eternal soul. The birth of a child, beloved, can and should draw us into a relationship with God, a dependence on God, equal to that which Enoch experienced from the time of and as a result of the birth of his son. I was in Cheyenne in Wyoming last year in some church, some fellowship, and they hired a building in the center of the town, a very beautiful park, and here was the park building. I don't know what it was, a town hall maybe. But I went for a walk in between the meetings and there were plaques all over the park, beautiful on bronze, but really profound statements as a preacher really can rejoice. So I ran back, got my pen, and I was writing things down which I've quoted, not necessarily Christian people who wrote them but words that truly came from profound thinkers who had experienced the values of life. So I saw one plaque. It says, the value of marriage is not that adults produce children but that children produce adults. The man's name was Peter DeVries. I don't know who he is, but there's truth in that. To anyone with integrity and common sense, even unsaved people, but especially if you're a billion miles starting point to this common sense with the Holy Ghost in you on what really is right. With such a godly father, with such a godly father as Enoch, it's no wonder that Methuselah also served God with all of his heart as the Bible teaches us. This year I was preaching in a church in Johannesburg. That's our biggest city in Africa, and I was in this church and they had some young people who I'd known since they were little boys, small little things. Their family, some of them take care of Jenny when I'm away. Now they grew up, as it happens in moments. Now they've gone to theological seminar, and they're out as preachers, young preachers, and they were asked to give a little testimony. Two minutes before I preached. One took about 30 minutes. Nonetheless, it's all right because I could have made an appeal. I was almost tempted to say, look, I'm not going to preach. Let's make an appeal. God is so spoken. Oh sure, he did right, but anyway he's got to learn that the watch is there for a purpose. Nonetheless, this one boy, his name was Jan Mostert. Jenny's close friends, especially the mommy, and all their homeschooling they did together to a great degree with our children. But anyway, Jan Mostert now, tall, this little boy suddenly who used to play with toys Here he is, grown man, through theological seminar, now out, and they let him preach, speak for two minutes. I don't know how long he took. These are these words. In the faculty, in the seminar, we were asked an examination question. Define holiness. What would you say? Separation from the world, the way we dress, lack of things, and other. Well, now this boy stood up and he said, he answered the question, writing the answer in this examination, when I think of holiness, I can only think of my father. I don't know how the examiner marked him for that wonderful definition because if he could have given Wesley, you know, a new name, and Finney on the word holiness, there's some magnificent definitions that are staggering and profound and heart-rending. All of these great men, the definition of the word holiness, if you want to just make a wonderful study, you go to all these great men of both sides of the spectrum, so long as they're godly and believe every word in this book to be divinely inspired. Now, I thought to myself, how many children would say that of their father? I would have given that boy 120% of what it meant to my heart. What a tragedy if a son or a daughter never ever thought or could never ever relate to the word holiness by thinking of their daddy, because it's possible. The next night, there was another young man. His name was Daniel Morea. Now, I remember that family walking into a church in Pretoria, the capital of Southern Africa, years ago. Oh, they're all wanting missionaries, they're out on a mission, but godly parents. And as they walked in, they stood up like a sore thumb. Everybody, my eyes, why just the way they dressed? The modesty and the godliness of their countenances. There was just something written across those children, the oldest now, and the godly father, the humility of the godliness of their father and their mother. I just looked at these people, and I looked at their family, and most people, I would say, looked in stark truth at a family walking in this generation that just was everything written across their lives. A god-fearing home, and the fruit of it. Nonetheless, this boy grew up, went to theological seminary, Bible school or something, and his name is Daniel Morea. Now, he was going to give two minutes. How do you tell your life in two minutes? It's actually awful. But anyway, he said, when I was a little boy, I walked past my father's room, his private room, where he had the Bible and all his books, and he prayed. And I was very small, but the door wasn't altogether shut, but I heard him weeping. And I stood at the door, and I pushed it a little bit open, scared, why did my daddy? He was on his knees with an open Bible. And I heard him crying and groaning to God for me. I listened, and I trembled as a little boy, and as the years went by, there were other occasions, not many, but I heard him groaning, groaning before God in agony. And I looked in, and there he was crying for me, crying to God desperately. I had to seek God from a boy because of my father's prayers. I had to seek God with all my heart and soul from a boy and through childhood to this day because of my father's prayers. I had no option. Terrifying if your children, unbroken-hearted, but they know of your prayers for them, not even aware of your agony for their souls. Abraham was called the friend of God. I love that. When I read it the first time, I said, oh God, I don't care what it costs. I don't care what you have to do to me. I beg you to do it. Before I die, God, those words can be said of me, the friend of God. That's a staggering statement. Abraham is called the friend of God, James 2, verse 23. And God said, 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, they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice. That is literally righteousness, to be righteous. 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 to be righteous. But Ephesians 6, verse 4, cautions us, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath. Oh, by the way, he's writing to Christians. That means to your anger and your loss of control, your failure, your sin, you bring anger. God isn't speaking about righteousness in the way you discipline or speak or train up or keep control of the house. God is speaking here about failure in a Christian's life that is the result of children rightfully becoming angry at religion, religious fathers and mothers, people who break their children while they profess and tell their children to follow God. Ye fathers, God warns to Christians, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. You know what Wesley said? This, the closest he can come to understand what God's saying in the light of its context is, let God bring them up through you. Let me bring them up. You see, Christianity is a staggering religion in this respect. It's not your attempt to be godly. It's your, to the degree you're yielded to God. To that degree, God is in control by the Holy Spirit, and he fulfills the law through you. He fulfills everything, not by your trying to keep the laws. To the degree you are totally yielded to God. To that degree, Christ-likeness spontaneously is seen in your life. 1 Corinthians 13 is not your own love. It suffers long in its kind. In every circumstance, it's a spontaneous reaction because it's a galpe love. It's not human. God doesn't expect you to do that, but he can do it through you. What God does expect to you and me when we say it is to completely yield. We totally yield as we soak ourselves in the book and seek grace to live. Yes. Yea, fathers, provoke not your children to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Colossians 3 verse 21. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger. You can, fathers. He's speaking to Christians through your failure, God, in its context as through you doing wrong. Lest they be discouraged. Now that Greek word is staggering. Don't crush their spirit. You can. Don't destroy your children. Through Christianity, wrongly perceive, interpret, and discern that there is nothing of what God. Be careful when you discipline your children. Lest they are crushed in spirit. God warns in Colossians 3 verse 21. I was a little boy. My daddy had built us a home. He was poor. He was so poor, it was tragic. But it was after the war. Most people in Southern Africa were poor after the war. Beginning, they tried that he would work like a slave and get a few more bricks. And on the Saturday and Sunday, he wasn't safe. He would try and build a few more layers of the house. And so the whole house stood, but it took him a few years. We walked into that home. Oh, we loved that home. How daddy had given us. I was so unshaved, but I so filled heart of gratitude. And so was mother, and so was my brother. And what daddy had done, we knew what it cost him to work like a slave, and then to work weekends, Saturday and Sunday, all day, for years to give us a home. Now we moved in this home, a new area where it wasn't so expensive, far out on the hills, overlooking beautiful valleys and mountains and rivers. It was wonderful. Later on, it became very valuable land. There was other little homes down the street that had been tarred, for new areas to be sublet. We were there, and I was standing with my daddy on the beautiful veranda, the front porch going down to the gardens and up to the road, holding my daddy's hand. My mother was standing beside him, and the man walked past our front gate. And he had been a little boy with my daddy at school. They'd kick ball together, little children together. There he stands with his son, also my age. We used to ride bicycle together with the other kids. But he's talking to my daddy, he's shouting down to my father. He didn't come from the gate down the steps, he's just shouting. And then there was some statement about children not behaving, you know, and this one or two statements. I think it was more light with my daddy. He wasn't in any way angry, just light statements. And this man turned and looked at the little boy, and he said with a loud voice, but with such, there was such a look in his face that even I stood there and began to tremble in shock. He knows not to play the fool with me. He knows, because when he is obeyed, I beat him, and I beat him, and I don't stop beating him until he crawls up the wall screaming. He knows not to play the fool with his father. Now, I looked at that little boy's face, the way he looked at his father, the fear. Three days later, he killed himself. That little boy committed suicide. He was unsaved, that father. God's writing to save people. You think it's not possible? You can crush their spirit, you can break their spirit, crush their spirit, destroy them, that they're affected for the rest of their lives if they don't do something like it. Oh, that man, by the way, they didn't put him in prison. Those days, those things didn't seem to happen, but he went through a taste of hell for the rest of his life, short life, by the way. As a teenager, he died. He never looked up. We watched him, and he went gray overnight, black rings, wrinkles, and he was bent, and he walked like this. He had killed his son with discipline. That was evil, sir, evil. In Psalm 103, verse 13, we read that a father, a father pitieth his children. I want to think about that. I'm abbreviating these long statements and just hitting the nail on the head, you know, discipline. We have three children, and I had to prayerfully, prayerfully, carefully, and sometimes tremblingly pray when I disciplined my children. Now, some children, you don't take a rod. God doesn't speak about a rod, sir. In its context, in the light of all scriptures, it's the only safe way to interpret any scripture. Or you're bordering on heresy, taking isolated verses and not looking. Anything contradicts your understanding. It's heretical of any scripture in the entire Bible, sir. The rod of correction, the concept in the entire context of Proverbs, which is basically where you get most of these statements, is speaking about a discipline that isn't hitting them until they're blue, to spare their soul from hell and while there's hope. No. To one child, sir, you just look at that child, and that child is so broken and so hurt, you don't have to take a rod and beat the child, that with one look is broken. Oh, little Samuel, not little anymore. There he was. My word, one look, that's all. Samuel was so wounded, so smashed that I used to get down on my knees and say, sorry for looking at you, sir. You didn't have to take a rod to beat a child like that. I mean, that's insanity. Now, Roy was different. Roy, it's not fair. Daddy's getting arthritis, and I'm young. And Roy, I have to. God says I'm wrong if I don't live. But I don't want to. You've got to give some children a spanking to the degree that they know, look, I'd better do something about it, or they have to endure this again and again. Oh, oh, beloved. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. They shock you. If it doesn't hurt you more than it's hurting your child, you're sinning. I'm convinced of that after many, many years of watching people and praying for them if they didn't come to me for counsel. If it doesn't hurt you more than it's hurting your child, and if your child doesn't know that, you sin, sir. I once beat Noel, my oldest boy. I was so tired, mentally so numb through the stress and pressures that come even on a preacher, and I unjustly disciplined him once, just once. And you know, for years I couldn't recover. For years I groaned, I wept before God. At times, especially the first three weeks of it, I said, God, I was so unjust. How could I possibly have disciplined him so severely? He didn't deserve that. How could I possibly have lost control? And all my exasperations was taken out on that child. It was something that he, he didn't deserve. I knew that. Others who watched me knew that. And I said, God, it's the look of the lady who worked for us in the domestic, it's her eyes condemned me. So badly I wept. I asked for forgiveness of that child so many times, but once especially when he was older. I said, oh, Daddy, I so, so, so wept about what I did unjustly. And I apologized to the children for a few things where I just, in my tiredness and exasperation, I didn't perceive the circumstances. The three of them sat in dead silence when I asked for forgiveness at some stage. Nolly was the first to stand up and said, Daddy, I don't remember that, but I do remember how I walked into other preachers' home and without exception, Daddy, I stood there watching to that father and mother and the children. And I, without exception of any other preachers' homes, Daddy, I thank God from my heart for my Daddy. I remember that. Children are wonderful, you know, but here I'm torturing myself and he's just thanking God for me and all my weaknesses. But my heart and the child knows your heart and he knows especially as you discipline how godly you are. I mean that, sir, even if it's a look. Moody disciplined his children. His children didn't sleep until late in the night and they heard this boom, boom, coming up the steps, here he comes. And there his one son who wrote a biography of his father, he said, we knew he would come. And he got beside the bed of the children he disciplined and he sobbed and asked for forgiveness if he was unjust and tried to explain his heart. That didn't make him a failure. It made him godly above other godly. Sir, pitieth, he that pitieth, as a father pitieth, there's something of a godliness behind that. But isn't in your life if that lacks, especially in discipline? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. Psalm 101 verse 2, that's a cry. I will walk, O God, by thy grace within my house in front of my family with a perfect heart. That's a lovely, I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. The just man walketh in his integrity and his children are blessed after him. In you want to look at the true context here and a man who's rightly related to God walks with such integrity in front of his children that his children are truly blessed through his life. They're blessed having such a father. Proverbs 20 verse 7, but he that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind, God said. Proverbs 11 verse 29, devastation, sorrows, that's death, that's the sword. He that troubleth his own house through his sin breaks down his family's happiness, breaks down their lives through sin shall inherit the wind. Oh, I saw a young boy beaten up that his eyes could hardly open by his daddy, punched, and sitting next to him was his mummy, her face just swollen up, cut in one place. And there they sit while I'm preaching. I went over, who did this to you and your son? My husband. Why? Because of you, Mr. Daniel. Because I brought this boy to hear you in preaching these nights at this conference. My boy went home and told his brothers and sisters, you see, my husband is godless. He doesn't want God or religion. The other children follow him. This child follows me in my pursuit of God. And as my son was relating with excitedness, and the other children were getting excited, and as he relayed what you had preached, and my husband just lost it. I went over to him and took him and threw him down and got on top of him and punched him and punched him. I will beat God out of you. I'll beat God out of you. You won't become like your mad mother. It's finished. I won't let you be follower. I'll beat God out of you. When I tried to intervene and the other children even tried, but he threw me down and he kicked me and he beat me. Well, the little boy grew and he became a jailbird. To this day, most of his life's in jail. And his father made this statement that reached me about how shamed he was having such a son. What shame this boy had brought on him. And he was disgraced. And I sent a message to him, to a man who knew that father. And I said in that little letter, what did you expect? You got what you wanted. When you said, I'll beat God out of you, what did you expect? You've got what you wanted. Don't talk about yourself being ashamed. He never allowed me to hear him until the day he died. And as he was dying, I sent another message to him. The same man knew them. I asked him, would you send him a message? They said, he's close to death. He's hanging on now. And I wrote, he read it to him in front of the family, by the way. I won't tell you what I said in that last letter, but I will tell you this. As they read those words, and he was dying, his last few breaths he heard, he shouted and wept. Oh God, oh God, what have I done with my son? Oh God, what have I done to my son? He died saying those words, they say. He that trobleth his own house, his family, shall inherit the wind, God says. Proverbs 11, shall end up with devastation and great sorrow. Don't doubt that now. And every wise woman buildeth her house that is constructively influencing them in a God-fearing way to pursue God. Now that word wise, you've got to always think of the book of Proverbs very differently to the rest of the scriptures, because the word wise always relates to God-fearing. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Every aspect of the word wisdom is relating not just to some wise academically, no, it's always in its context and must never be forgotten about someone pursuing God, someone who's truly following God, seeking grace from God to fulfill the things that God says come as a result. Now, this word wise, you're talking about a God-fearing woman in the context of Proverbs, not in some dictionary. Every wise woman, God-fearing woman, buildeth her house, there's a constructive influence on her family through the fear of God in her heart and the wisdom God gives her, that their lives are affected through a God-fearing mother to pursue God and the value she has from God. Every wise woman buildeth her house, her family. But the foolish, now the word foolish always without exception speaks of the godless, those who reject the wisdom of their father and mother, the discipline to bring them up in the fear of the Lord. Foolish, the foolish follow sin, the foolish mock at sin. It's always in the book of Proverbs, not the rest of the Bible. It's speaking about people who reject God. The foolish plucketh it down with their hands. Proverbs 14 verse 1, every wise woman buildeth her house, it's a God-fearing, but the foolish, the godless are those that miss out on everything that God intended, pluck it down. She destroys her family, she destroys their lives. You say this isn't what God's saying, I want you to go to any commentary on earth that was written by anybody concerning these verses to find out if I'm wrong. Beginning with Wesley, by the way, who made wonderful comments on this. Oh, fathers, mothers, listen, I beg you to these fearful warnings from God. 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 verses do not say that God will pass judgment upon our children because of our sins. I want to repeat that. These startling words, these startling verses do not say that God will pass judgment upon our children because of our sins. No, the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son, Ezekiel 18 verse 20. 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 believe that God's heart in brokenness warned in these verses. He warned us of the tragic result and the tragic influence of our lives upon our children if we are not pursuing God and reject God's commandments and do not seek grace to be all God asks of us. I do believe as the mother, so is her daughter, Ezekiel 16 verse 4. Thou showest kindness to thousands and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after into their nature. It isn't God's judgment, it's your influence, the tragic influence of a Godless life or a life pursuing religion without obeying God. Malachi 2 verse 15. I remember a woman, a minister's wife coming to me and wanting to have a private audience. I said, no, I cannot sit alone with a woman. I am so sorry, even if you're a preacher's wife. So they organized me to stay in this room in the pastorate where I stay, in one of the pastors, and in the division of the room to the dining hall, there were people sitting there, and so she and I weren't exactly alone. Trust me, don't ever sit alone with another woman, preacher, unless you have no option. Plead the blood of Christ. Be careful. Woman also, be careful. So she said, sir, we are the evangelical church of this entire community, deeply conservative, and everyone looks to us. They talk about our church as the lighthouse of the town, of the truth. Now my daughter grew up the leader of the youth, involved in everything. Oh, she was just everything. My joy. And a young man comes along, convinces us he loves the Lord, and the Bible, and his prayers, and desperately wants my daughter. Oh, he fought for her until she gave in, and the heart was won. And they haven't been married long, sir, and he wants a divorce now. And he is determined he's going to divorce her. He gets her after all this. Now he wants, she doesn't want him. Now, sir, you don't understand, but I want you to try. This is the end of my husband and I, my daughter divorcing. This will be the end of us. In this town, our daughter, it's the end of me, sir. I want your advice. What am I going to do to stop this boy? I said, lady, would you mind if I asked you a very, very personal question? Go ahead. Is it possible that it isn't his fault, it's her fault? Is it possible that he can't survive her? Is it possible that he can't live with her because of her faults, that it's not his fault but hers? You know, she pulled herself so straight up in shock that someone could say such a thing. Her eyes, her lips, looking at me in horror. Looking at me for at least a minute, she suddenly broke down sobbing to the degree that everybody rushed through. They thought she was dying. She fell on the floor sobbing, on her knees sobbing, crying out. And they eventually contained her. She looks again at me and she says in brokenness, oh brother, how very, very foolish I am and proud that I wouldn't admit this to myself. I'm so proud. I'm so ashamed. Deep down I've known it is her, totally her fault. And here I'm blaming him. Brother, the way she speaks to him, I said, what are you doing in my heart? What are you doing? You can't get away. The way she throws tantrums, unless she gets her way and he just has to bend and keep quiet and withdraw, wound it. Because she'll resort to anything until she gets it. Brother, but it's worse than that, Mr. Daniel. You see, it's my fault, not hers. But I can't check her. I can't help her. Because that's how I spoke to my husband. That's how she was raised to know what a mother of a preacher speaks to a Christian husband, is a Christian. That's how I taught her to be. She's like me. As the mother, so the daughter, God said. She says, I only now, sir, I only now for the first time in my married life realize what grace my husband has, that he endured and that he survived. This boy couldn't after three months. He can't, sir. Oh God, what have I done? What have I done, God? Let me leave all this. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. So ought men to love their wives as their own body. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husband as fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, be not bitter against them, on and on. I once memorized every single verse in the Bible, nearly 200 verses, just of what God says from Genesis 2. Not good that a man should be alone. I will make a help meet for him. So God calls a deep sleep to fall over. And right through every aspect of marriage, every facet. And I just quoted, and I didn't say one word apart from every facet of every single facet of marriage, whether it's divorce and remarriage or whatever, just put into categories. And when I preached it, it was like a bomb exploded. The anger that someone dared to preach what God says about marriage. It was like a bomb exploded in motion. You'll never be in this church again, young man. Six men said to me, an old man stood in front of me and said, listen, you keep quiet. He said, listen, that bush boy didn't do anything but quote God's word full stop and every single verse went into context. You want to know something? You're not saying to him, you'll never be in this church again. You're saying to God, I'll never let your word be preached from my pulpit again, you hypocrite. He walked away. I didn't need to defend myself. They just put their heads down and fled. As my only protection in life is the word of God. Otherwise they would have destroyed me a thousand times if it wasn't marriage. The staggering statement here, husbands, love your wives even as Christ loved them. There's no verse in the entire Bible with such a staggering commandment to any human, even as Christ loved the children and gave them to him. I want you to so love your wife that you would, without hesitation, die for her, for her well-being and that your children, everybody will know. I want you to be there. As Christ loved us and gave, I want you to be so loving your wife. You'd die for her. I knew a man, a very godly man, his name was Will Macfarlane. I've never met a more godly man. I've met godly men across the world whose books you have in your home, prayed with them, had privileges. But I never met a more godly man than Will Macfarlane. And as I've said these words across other countries, people have come up to me and scored and said, we said word perfect to our life. We've never met anyone. You just stand with that man who under his ministry once, your conscience wouldn't allow you to recover. The godliness of the holiness of God permeating through that face and those words and his conduct. I know people who stood with him for a few minutes and fell down in public to scream into God for mercy on their soul. And he didn't say one word about God. I've never known a man like that. Will Macfarlane, I went to Canada years ago in Vancouver and there was a place that they had on the beach on the holidays and on the Saturdays and Sundays where they had an elevated platform on the beach there. And there was a mission, missionaries, Mr. Macfarlane with his teams from Scotland and different places. They would have to endure the public's wrath because they stood there quoting the Bible on the beach front. And some of those young hippies, those days of hippies, you know, long hair, whatever they were, I don't know. They used to come with baskets of fruit and eggs literally for one reason. Waste, yes, but they throw, and police were watching because it's religion, evangelical. They just used to throw it. I knew one old young missionary world. She's an old now, but from Ireland, she said to me, she stood on that platform with Mr. Macfarlane and Mr. Macfarlane and the other missionaries from different parts of the world, sharing the gospel, you know, quoting scriptures. And she said one morning, she read this, no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. We're in for a time today. She went in, all of the workers were covered in eggs and fruit and everything, and she didn't have one egg on her. She said, my Lord protect us. That's how bad things were. Other people in Canada, you can't believe what they do to them, standing in the street corners or trying to witness on the street the animosity and aggressiveness and hatred of Christians who actually dare to try and impose the beliefs of God, the restrictions against sin in this generation. Oh, my. Nonetheless, one day, his wife, oh, she was godly. She was so godly, it's incomprehensible, full of arthritis. When I met her, she was bent. But they were telling me there in Canada that one day they were hurling them in abuse and swearing and cursing at them. They did it for fun. It was like a game to them, that all the scriptures were coming, and these godly people. And she offended them with certain scriptures. She didn't say, and just, that's all, just quoting scriptures. She had an amazing ability with scriptures. And a lot of these young fellows got up onto the stage, angry, screaming, and began to hit her. And she fell, and they began to kick her in the stomach and beat her, kicking her a couple, I don't know how many, kicking this poor woman. And the crowd, of course, aghast and screaming in shock that they went this far in their anger at being confronted about sin and hell and judgment of God upon non-repentant sinners. Well, they said that Mr. Macfarlane fell on top of her and screamed, weeping, kick me, kill me, but don't hurt her, I beg you. Kick me, beat me, I beg you, but don't hurt her. You know when God says, husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. And so it meant to love their wives as their own bodies, as if it's them, you're uncomfortable, you're hurting, you'll do anything to stop it, the suffering, the pain, you'll do anything. That's love. Let me tell you why I'm saying this, for your children's sake. The greatest gift you can ever give you a child is not a great inheritance or a good education. And I hate the memory of most of you, even if you did that. The greatest gift you could ever bestow on your child while you still have an opportunity is to show love in that house to your wife, and vice versa. And God's love, sir, I'm not talking about your own. So you look at him and pursuing him and soaked in the scriptures and seeking grace, which he's obliged to give you, otherwise he can't command a thing. If you seek grace to fulfill his commandments, God has a holy obligation. That's not sacred, it's sacred not to say that, sir, of a holy God and his commandments and his grace. And it will be there for you, you just got to wander with all your heart and soul. The greatest gift you could ever give your children is to love your wife and your husband and be willing to die for her well-being, to the smallest thing, sir, and that your children grow up in that atmosphere. I can tell you how holy a man is by the way he speaks to his wife. And I've never been wrong. A very godly man in your country said to me, one of the godliest your nation's ever known, I can tell you how holy a man is by his looking at his wife's countenance. One of the most famous preachers of your land said to me after I preached to him, just by looking at her countenance. So can your children by the way you speak to her. Love, sir, isn't a word. Love is God. Love God's asking for us as a result of a totally yielded life, not just a saved life. And the law is not thrown aside but fulfilled by Christ. What you couldn't fulfill in your own strength, only God can but will. To the degree you yielded to him and pursuing him with all your heart by soaking yourself in the scriptures and seeking grace to live in the light of the scriptures that God gives you. Especially in the home, sir, because if it doesn't work in the home, it doesn't work. Oh, by the way, just in closing, drawing in something I was singing about this afternoon. Obey thy father and thy mother and all things, but be careful until they tell you to disobey God. Don't believe that scripture cancels out the rest of God's commandments. If you defy God and call for compromise and rejection of God's commandments to a saved child. No, my father was very unsaved and his God was money. And my brother was one of the most prosperous little fellows in the world. His business was just flourishing. And he wanted to sell everything and go and preach for God's misery. And he knew his God. And daddy said, no, no, I forbid you. I will not allow you to destroy everything you put up. Most people in this world will never know what you know as a young man. You can't throw that away. And God must be with you the way he's honoring you. Can't you support these preachers? Because the way God's honoring you financially and in your business. And you look how young you are. No, I won't let you. And he says, listen, Dudley, the Bible says obey your father. He's got more wisdom than you through life's experience. My brother stood there with tears in his eyes, trembling, looking at my darling daddy. He wasn't saved as yet. He said, daddy, I will obey you in anything you ever tell me now that I'm saved. Until you tell me to disobey God. And daddy, there's two things I'm sure of in my life right now. One is that I'm saved. I have no doubt. The other is that God has impressed upon me in no uncertain way that I am to sell these businesses and not pursue money for the rest of my life and go and preach. And daddy, I can't defy God and lose out in God's purpose in my life. By obeying what I know is not God's word. Now, you may say that's not right. Let me tell you something. If your father wants to abuse you sexually, and I dislike that word, and I dislike it ever, this is the first time I've ever used that word in my life in the pulpit. But if you, your father wants to do things that many fathers it seems stoop to in this world, you don't obey your father. Common sense tells you that. For God's sake, don't tell me that you have to obey your father in that or in any defiance of God's commandments and his rejection of God's commandments in his godlessness. No, be careful of every single verse you ever embrace. Look in the light of the rest of the scriptures and use the common sense that God has given you and that God doesn't cancel out, sir. You obey your father until he tells you to defy God, reject God's commandments. Then don't tell me you obey him by submitting to perversions or evil or rejecting God's rule for your life. Listen, sir, you may disagree with me on that, but God have mercy upon you if you do, because there's something radically wrong with you mentally if you do. Why do I say this? Because I've seen ruined lives. I've seen people bury God's will, and I've watched them crawl for the rest of their lives in sorrow, and fathers and mothers try to stop them in what obviously was God's will. And so I speak, yes, and I get into trouble, yes. But you see, I care enough for the souls I preach to, to not let fear of man be a consequence of truth, stop me from caring and protecting every soul I preach to. In all the light I've been given, I've been given by God and his mercy. Truth, without comparing with all other truth concerning that facet of God's commandments, can be used of the devil, who, by the way, quoted scriptures word perfect in his attempt or thought of making Christ reject truth in the light of all scriptures. Now, there we are. Why did I preach this? Well, you tell, you ask God, because this was impressed on my heart very much to bring tonight. You ask God why he impressed this so much on my heart. Every single one of you. And by the way, if you need to go and say sorry to your child, if you don't do it first, be careful. What you don't do immediately, when God speaks, you're in danger of never, ever doing till you die. Be careful when God speaks. Don't think it's going to come again and again. And more and more, if it doesn't, it's the opposite. If you as a child need to go and say sorry to your father and mother, you go fast. You go fast to your wife, sir. You go fast to your husband, lady. You go fast to your children. You go fast and you ask God for grace to say the words that will make them forgive you and be healed where you failed badly through sin as a Christian. Oh, I tremble for what you're going to face if you don't, before you die. A critic will find fault. They did with Jesus Christ himself. Trying to catch him and wouldn't stop until they got. Another person embraces when God speaks to him. And God heals and God blesses. What are you? Can we stand, please? Father, take this message, write it in our hearts, and where there is a yieldedness to God and embracing of truth and a seeking of grace, give forgiveness, give healing, and give grace to live what they should and can as they ask their children, their wives, their mothers and fathers for another chance to prove Christ is real in their lives and able to make them what he wants of them and commands. So come Lord, give grace for everyone to do what the Holy Ghost really tells them and not through pride to bury it and destroy everything no matter what God does with what's left of life. And help, Lord, that every one of us will be astonished how this message comes back to us through our lives, even little children here tonight, as if they're in the meeting like a vengeance, the whole message. I dare to trust thee for such a thing that no people seem capable of believing God could do. I ask thee for my soul to do that, bring it back with a vengeance until we live it and as we live it. In Jesus Christ's name, amen. Can we remain standing for one moment? I want to read you just one thing that I left out. Oh, that there was such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always that it may be well with them and with their children. Deuteronomy 5, verse 29.