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Faith and the Rearing of Children, Proverbs 6:23,24
This morning, our Lord willing, we are going to dwell for a time in God’s house, the house where wisdom and prudence dwell and receive from the houseowner instruction.
For in that house are many proverbs given to us that we may know the way of life.
And on that way the houseowner provides light that our way may be bright and that upon this way we may not stumble.
So, to ensure that we remain upright upon that way we are given two proverbs found in God’s Holy Book and numbered as:
Proverbs 6:23,24, For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. LET THAT SOAK IN!
Now introducing these thoughts three prior proverbs tell of the admonition by a father to his son to keep his commandment, to forsake not the law of his mother, to bind them without end upon his heart, tying them about his neck, knowing that they shall lead him, in sleep, when he is awake, and they shall even talk to him.
This passage is a forerunner of the admonition given in Hebrews 10:38 which tells us …the just shall live by faith and that includes a faith in the aforementioned proverbs, which are the Word of God.
This not only means living eternally but it means living day after day by faith which is what the message of this proverb’s father requires.
It is a life lived according to the Word of God on a daily basis, a life as a doer of the Word.
It is the way of life of a believer.
It is not the way of life of one who does not believe God.
Those who have preached God’s Word proclaim plainly that faith without works is dead, being alone.
Faith is verified by action, by works.
If there is faith there will be works.
If a seed is planted grain will result, flowers will bloom, trees will grow.
If no grain shoots forth from the soil, if no flowers bloom, if no trees grow then no seed was planted.
Our God is a God of cause and effect.
Faith and works are like sowing and reaping.
One follows the other as surely as the sunset follows the sunrise.
I believe one of the greatest works of faith has to do with the rearing of children which this proverbs father verifies by the preponderance of wisdom devoted to it.
Faith includes believing all of God’s word about rearing children, not that part of it which makes you comfortable but also that part of it that goes against the grain.
A father and a mother who believe God’s word about child rearing will rear their children in accord with God’s word.
Why did you bring a child into this world?
Was it for the glory of God or for the glory of men.
If it was for the glory of men go ahead and rear him or her according to the world but if it was for the glory of God, and for the conformance to the image of Christ then rearing him or her in accordance with God’s Word is an absolute must!
Do you desire to exhibit your faith before men as a testimony to God’s word?
You may say I wish to preach the gospel as a Pastor or an evangelist.
I wish to teach Sunday school, I wish to reach men and women for Christ in a faraway mission field, I wish to write books to lead men to Christ. And if you do these things your faith is the catalyst for such action. Your faith is the mover to do those works for without faith you cannot do these and please God. But can you say that those efforts are greater than exercising your faith in the home with regard to your children? Does God respect faith exercised on a foreign mission field differently than he does faith exercised by a father or a mother in the rearing of children?
I think not!
How does a mother’s faith show itself in works?
It shows itself in works when a mother obeys God’s word explicitly in the rearing of her children.
It shows itself in works when she, as the lawgiver, gives laws to her children in accord with the commandments of the father.
It shows itself in works as she submits to her husband as the commandment giver in the home.
It shows itself in works when a father brings into the home commandments totally in accord and driven by the Word of God.
So many times, we confine faith to what we consider religious things, to what takes place at church, to what takes place on Sunday.
But that is the devil’s deceit.
The devil does not mind you going to church, the devil does not mind you carrying a Bible around, but the devil does mind when what’s in that Bible causes you to work, causes you to be a doer.
The devil does mind when what’s in that Bible directs you in the rearing of your children.
The devil does mind when your faith is put into action in the home.
God expects us to take our faith to our homes, to our work, to our recreation.
For the just shall live by faith, and that is 365/24/7!
For without faith it is impossible to please God and whatever is not of faith is sin.
God’s intention is to take out a people for His name.
And I believe that that people will come from homes that are led by a father and a mother who have faith to believe God’s word in the rearing of their children.
This is verified as we study the book of Proverbs and see a proverbs father in chapter six who is a man of faith and a man who intends for his son to be a man of faith.
He knows God’s intention is to take out a people for his name and this father gets on board God’s will in the rearing of his son for he desires that his son be a part of that people.
By knowing God’s word in the matter, he knows which way God is going and he intends to go with him.
He therefore provides his son with commandments and law that will continually be bound upon his heart and tied about his neck.
And he tells his son what his commandment means to be:
Proverbs 6:23,24, For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
Reproofs of instruction are given to prepare the son for what will come later.
Reproofs are a way of life so get used to it!
Preparing for what God says will come later is an act of faith.
For God knows the heart of this son.
And this father knows the heart of this son because this father knows God and knows God’s word.
This father knows that the evil woman, the strange woman, is just around the corner of this young man’s life.
He is preparing his son for the inevitables of life.
If you don’t think that this event is inevitable in your son’s life just look around.
This father does not live in a dream world of hoping that his son will not fall, a dream world that does not exist, but lives in the real world where sin desires to do its job on a young man.
And only the sword of God will be his effective defense!
This father intends to arm his son with that sword which will defend against the lust of the flesh.
For the wise father knows that the first danger in a young man lies in the flesh.
So, this father prepares his son to face the weapon of the evil woman, the strange woman, the woman who will ensnare a young man with flattery.
Flattery is to compliment the complexion as clear when in fact it is blemished.
Flattery takes place at the bathroom mirror in the putting on of makeup.
Flattery takes that which the heart knows is not right and spins it until it appears right.
This proverbs father intends for the lamp of his commandments and the light of his mother’s law to prepare the son for the inevitables of this life.
He explains here that one of the purposes of commandment and law is concerning what takes place in a son’s heart as he grows to manhood.
Time marches on and time will bring manhood.
This is one of the inevitables of life that this father prepares for.
So, getting a son ready to keep him from the evil woman, to keep him from the strange woman starts early in the son’s life.
This is a teaching in separation.
And this is not a wait until he is in his teen age years instruction.
It is not so much as even thinking about the evil woman or saying anything about the evil woman but it is about giving him the tools to keep him from anything evil, including the strange woman.
It is about equipping his son with the character it will take to keep him from anything evil.
Flattery is mentioned first for flattery is a powerful weapon amongst the evil for it caters to the deceitful heart.
The natural man desires flattery to puff him up.
To flatter another is to make smooth, to soothe, to appease, to take out the kinks, to extend, to strain, to stretch.
Flattery means to smooth out the bumps.
Flattery means to flatten that which is not flat.
It is to make something appear smooth that is not smooth.
Demagogues use flattery to gain power and favor.
The spin of the politicians is flattery to gain votes.
Giving passing grades when failing grades were earned is flattery to perhaps gain favor from parents.
Trying to raise self-esteem in another without concrete achievement is flattery.
Flattery is puffing up greater, that which a person has already puffed up in his own heart.
Flattery is fanning the flames of self-love.
It is playing on the pride that a person already has so the person will have more pride and will like you for helping him have more pride.
For the prideful are proud of their pride.
Now, what will keep the son from this?
What will provide a hedge around the heart of the son to prevent flattery of the evil woman from doing its job?
The lamp of the commandments and the light of the law based upon the Word of God, that were provided though the reproofs that he was given in the home, will provide the needed hedge.
The lamp and the light will provide the son with that which will allow him to discern flattering lips for an eventuality of his life is to hear flattering lips.
Flattering lips cater to a heart that does not know it is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
Flattering lips look for a heart that thinks of itself more highly than it ought to think.
For flattery fans the flame of self-love.
And self-love is realized in a child who does not learn the way of reproof.
Without reproof as a way of life self-love is always built up.
Self-love is that which is always encouraged in one who is left to himself for self-study always results in a wrong view of one’s self.
Only Bible study will reveal to you what you are, and you are for certain what God says you are.
Therefore, in reality you are poor, and you are needy.
You are poor, in need of the riches and light of God.
But the evil woman, the strange woman with her flattering tongue disagrees with what God says.
So, the commandments and law given in the home are to meet the inevitables of this life.
They will keep the son from the evil woman and they will provide him with a right view of himself to combat the view that the evil woman brings.
For flattery will have no power on a man who sees himself as God sees him.
When Satan tempts and doubts and fears assail, |