The Legacy of a Godly Father!

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Welcome

Good Morning! I’m Pastor Wayne and I’d like to welcome you all to the gathering of Ephesus Baptist Church.Why did you choose to gather today?
We believe we are a called people! Called to worship and exalt our God among the nations in order that His glory may be spread over all the earth!
If you are visiting with us this morning, we want you to know that ...
We are all one family of faith: “giving our all to love God, love people, proclaim Jesus, and make disciples in our generation.”
We have a connect card in the pew in front of you. I invite you to take one and fill it out!
If you have prayer needs, you can let us know about those as well. I promise, our prayer team will lift you up soon. You can place those cards in the offering plate when it comes around.

Scripture Memory

Romans 8:31 ESV
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Opening Scripture Reading

Isaiah 63:15–64:8 ESV
15 Look down from heaven and see, from your holy and beautiful habitation. Where are your zeal and your might? The stirring of your inner parts and your compassion are held back from me. 16 For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name. 17 O Lord, why do you make us wander from your ways and harden our heart, so that we fear you not? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage. 18 Your holy people held possession for a little while; our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary. 19 We have become like those over whom you have never ruled, like those who are not called by your name. 1 Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence— 2 as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil— to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence! 3 When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. 4 From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him. 5 You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved? 6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. 7 There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities. 8 But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
Prayer of Invocation
Recognition of Father’s
Video

Introduction

Kids in Church:
A father was at the beach with his children when the four-year old ran up to him, grabbed his hand, and led him to the shore where a seagull lay dead in the sand. “Daddy, what happened to him?” the son asked. “He died and went to Heaven,” the Dad replied. The boy thought a moment and then said, “Did God throw him back down?”
After the baptism of his older brother, a young boy sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car. His father asked him three times what was wrong. Finally the boy replied, “That preacher said he wanted us brought up in a Christian home and I wanted to stay with you.”
A wife invited some people to dinner. At the table, she turned to their six-year old daughter and said, “Would you like to say the blessing?” “I wouldn’t know what to say,” the girl replied. “Just say what you hear Mommy say,” the wife answered. The daughter bowed her head and said, “Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?”
Today is Father’s Day and I believe God would very much like for us to examine one of the critical institutions he ordained, the family.
The family is the arena in which God’s glory is demonstrated in the right ordering of all things. It is where God’s gift of marriage and later of children is something that believers should receive with great gratitude.
I hope you would agree that the family is vital to our entire existence as humanity, but also as Christians.
Speaking both scripturally and culturally, the fact of the importance of healthy families should be blatantly obvious to even the casual observer; however, the reality is that we can so easily miss the obvious.
It is almost impossible for me to imagine how Israel could so easily miss the obvious.
How could Israel, God’s covenant people, a people who experienced the oppression of Egypt, a people who experienced the miracle of the Exodus, a people who heard God speaking to them from within a fire, a people who tasted the blessing of manna in the morning; How could they forget so quickly God’s goodness to them.
Seriously, how could a people who experienced all of these things, forget God so quickly!
Unfortunately, like ourselves, they were a part of sinful humanity and sometimes a symptom of our sinfulness is that we can completely miss the obvious.
I pray that after this morning no one under the sound of my voice will miss the obvious when it comes to Jesus Christ, the family, and our need for godly fathers and grandfathers.
Today, I have four observations to share with you about the legacy that a godly father can leave to their children. Before we turn to Deuteronomy 6, allow me to set the context for our passage.
If we are to correctly understand and interpret God’s Word we need to be sure that we are reading it in its proper context. Context is the key to interpreting Scripture.
To set the context, I want to quickly survey Israel’s history from the fall of Israel at the hands of Nebuchadnezzer back to our passage in Deuteronomy.
At the end of 2 Kings we see in Chapter 23:26-27 that God allowed the captivity of Israel and Judah, as well as the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.
Just two chapters later we see exactly what God said was going to happen, happen as Israel entered into their Babylonian Captivity.
2 Kings 23:26–27 ESV
26 Still the Lord did not turn from the burning of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. 27 And the Lord said, “I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.”
Two chapters later, we read in...
2 Kings 25:8–11 ESV
8 In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month—that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 And he burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. 10 And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. 11 And the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, together with the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile.
Prophecy fulfilled. Exactly what God said was going to happen; happened, as Israel entered into their Babylonian Captivity. But how did Israel get to this point?
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” - George Santayana
The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress (1905-1906) Vol. I, Reason in Common Sense
God allowed Israel and Judah to fall because of the wickedness of the king and the children of Israel.
Remember how Israel requested a king to rule over them in 1 Samuel so that they would be like all the other nations.
1 Samuel 8:4–7 ESV
4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah 5 and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.
God was the rightful King of Israel. Israel was supposed to be a theocracy not a monarchy.
Yet, we know from Scripture that God had not been the King of the Israelites hearts for quite some time.
If we trace Israel’s history back a little further to Judges 21:25 we see that everyone did what was right in his own eyes. They did not pay attention to God’s leadership over their lives.
Judges 21:25 ESV
25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
How did this lack of knowledge, this lack of respect for God, this lack of respect for His commandments and this lack of respect for His covenant become so widespread among the very people whom He chose to reveal Himself to?
Judges 2:6–10 ESV
6 When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. 7 And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel. 8 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. 9 And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. 10 And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.
There it is!
“And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.” - Judges 2:10
Somewhere along the way, as these great men and women of Israel’s history were taking the lands of Israel, serving and fighting for the Lord, there were children who were being neglected.
As godly as Joshua’s generation was, they failed to raise their children as God had commanded through Moses.
It is my belief that their children failed to embrace Yahweh because they didn’t see the example of nor hear the teaching of their parents.
Are our children embracing true Christianity because of our example and teaching? Or are they learning things without solid biblical guidance?
Christian Smith, lead researcher of the now famous, National Study of Youth and Religion, recently confirmed the fears of many when his research came to this conclusion,
The majority of American Teenagers appear to espouse rather inclusive, pluralistic, and individualistic views about religious truth, identity boundaries, and the need for religious congregation.
Our research suggests that religious congregations are losing out to school and the media for the time and attention of youth.
When it comes to the formation of the lives of youth, viewed sociologically, faith communities typically get a very small seat at the end of the table for a very limited period of time.
The youth-formation table is dominated structurally by more powerful and vocal actors. Hence…most teens know details about television characters and pop stars, but many are quite vague about Moses and Jesus.
Most youth are well versed about the dangers of drunk driving, AIDS, and drugs, but many haven’t a clue about their own faith traditions core ideas.
Many parents also clearly prioritize homework and sports over church or youth group attendance. The average youth participates in an average of 3.5 sports today, as opposed to 1.5 Sports 30 yrs ago.
If we as churches and as families keep doing what we’re doing, we’ll keep getting what we’ve got. And in our ignorance of these things we will raise our children as pagans rather than godly minded children.
What are we to do? Is there any hope to reverse the tide of culture? I believe God’s Word supplies us with much needed marching orders to turn the tide and restore our families.
Let’s continue to trace the Israelites example back to the time before Joshua’s generation entered into the Promised Land.
In the time we have left, I’d like to offer four observations from Deuteronomy 6:1-25 that if applied to our lives and homes, I believe can raise up a generation who loves the Lord. Each observation begins and ends with the Father who endeavors to leave a godly legacy with the help of a godly wife of course.
Four ways Dads can leave a godly legacy!

1. Fathers can leave a godly legacy by living a life of true godly Devotion before our children.

Deuteronomy 6:1–5 ESV
1 “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. 4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Deuteronomy Chapter 5 is the second giving of the Ten Commandments. In Chapter 6. Moses says that the commandments, the statutes, and the rules are given to us for a blessing.
To love God as commanded is to place oneself within the orbit of God’s saving grace because the Shema, the heart and core of the Old Testament law, was designed, as Paul said, to become...
Galatians 3:24 NASB95
24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.
Simply loving and obeying God as you live a life of worshipful faith before your children can make a world of difference in what they learn to value.
If we want them to value God and His word, then we must model a godly devotion before our children.
Fathers can leave a godly legacy by living a life of true godly Devotion before our children.

2. Fathers can leave a godly legacy by passionately teaching the great Doctrines of our faith to our children.

Deuteronomy 6:6–9 ESV
6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
We cannot expect our kids to learn the things of God from a few hours at church. It is not going to happen. In our homes we have to learn to model and teach the central tenets of our faith.
If kids can learn foreign language and complex math in elementary school, surely they should be challenged to learn the queen of science: Theology. Doctrine should be a priority in our homes.
Listen Dad’s and Grandad’s! God has called you to be the prophets, priests, and kings of your home. If we don’t teach our family to love the things of God, then the world will teach them the things of paganism and worldliness.
Fathers can leave a godly legacy by passionately teaching the great Doctrines of our faith to our children.

3. Fathers can leave a godly legacy by Disciplining our children to fear the Lord.

Deuteronomy 6:10–15 ESV
10 “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, 12 then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13 It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— 15 for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.
With privilege always comes responsibility, and Israel’s responsibility was to fear God and obey Him. Responsibility requires discipline.
Matthew 4:10 ESV
10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ”
Jesus quoting verse 13 knew that fear is equivalent to worship. What we worship we will serve.
When we cultivate a reverent and submissive heart through discipline, we will have an obedient will and won’t even want to mention the names of false gods.
Israel needed to remember that the Lord owned the land and that they were merely His “tenants.” Their inheritance in the land was God’s gift to His people, but if they disobeyed His covenant, they would forfeit the land and its blessings. And forfeit they did!
The Lord is jealous over His people and will not share their love and worship with any false god. We have to teach our kids to be disciplined in how they worship and serve our God! He doesn’t want our leftovers! He wants our best.
Do we teach our kids to fear or worship God?
Fathers can leave a godly legacy by Disciplining our children to fear the Lord.

4. Fathers can leave a godly legacy by Diligently guarding the hearts of our children.

Deuteronomy 6:16–25 ESV
16 “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. 17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. 18 And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers 19 by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised. 20 “When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. 23 And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. 24 And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. 25 And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’
1. What kind of God do your kids and grand kids know?
2. If we are not more diligent than others, then others will be diligent in our place.
Fathers can leave a godly legacy by Diligently guarding the hearts of our children.
Conclusion
Dr. Alistair Begg, commenting on the impact of his father upon him spiritually said,
“Every song I sang and nearly every verse I know and almost every conviction of my life today has been framed by the fact that I lived in the house of a worshiping dad.”
Dad, what will your kids remember? Will they remember the times you sang Christian songs in the car? Will they remember the times you helped them memorize Scripture on the way to school? Will they remember you putting a priority on living the Christian life and worshiping together on Sunday? Will they remember the way you resembled Christ to them as you loved them and your wife?
OR
Will they remember that for you this was one hour on a Sunday morning that did not matter the rest of the week? Will they remember the jokes you cracked about others at church, or the way you run down a deacon or a pastor? Will they remember that other worldly things occupied your attention rather than them?
If you died today, what kind of legacy will you have left? Are you going to put something else, your job, your hobby, your car, your boat before your responsibility to be a worshiping dad who biblically leads your family into spiritual health?
If so, then remember this: everything you do from your own selfish ambition is adding to the legacy that you are leaving for your children.
One day we will check out! One day we won't be around to be a blessing to our children anymore. No matter how old our kids may be, are we willing to squander another minute of leaving them a godly legacy to follow.
Invitation
Hymn of Invitation
Hymn No. 334
Blessed Assurance
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