Instructing Our Children After Us to Keep the Way of the LORD - Genesis Part 40

Now today we are going to be talking about children and young people and the reason for that is quite simple.

It's because we're in a series on the book of Genesis and in our passage for today, God talks about children and young people. Now, you know, I've been mentoring a small group of our younger staff and one of the things we've been talking about is preaching. And one of the things I've been trying to get across to them is that we, what I call this, preaching the passage.

And you say, what is that? Well, what I mean by that is that when we're doing verse by verse expository Bible teaching like we do here at McLean, we let the passage determine the topic for the message. In other words, if the passage is all about salvation, then we preach a salvation message. If the passage is all about money, then we preach a money message. If the passage is all about personal holiness, then we preach a personal holiness message.

You get the point. We preach the passage. And when we do this week after week after week, over time, God's people get a well-balanced diet of spiritual truth. Now, today we are going to preach the passage. And the passage today is all about instructing our children after us to keep the way of the Lord. So, are you ready? Okay. We're in Genesis chapter 18.

But before we dig in, why don't we do a tiny bit of review. If you remember, here in Genesis 18, we saw that three men showed up one day and visited Abraham when he was living in Hebron, a little town just south of Jerusalem. We also learned that two of these men were angels in human form who would leave here and go on down to Sodom and Gomorrah. And the third man, we learned, was Jehovah God Himself in a theophany.

A theophany is just a fancy theological word for an appearance of God Himself in human form. And why had God come to visit Abraham in human form? Well, He had come to announce the impending pregnancy of Sarah. Genesis 18, verse 10, and the Lord said to Abraham, I will surely return to you at this time next year, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.

And indeed, this is exactly what happened. Now, there's where we've been, so why don't we pick up now here in Genesis chapter 18, verse 16. Then the three men rose from lunch and looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham was walking with them to send them on their way. But as the two angels and Abraham and the Lord were all walking together, the Lord spoke. And here's what He said. He said to the two angels, verse 17, shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do.

What's He talking about? He's talking about destroying Sodom and Gomorrah before, God says, Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and through him all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. For I have chosen him because I know that he will instruct his, what? His children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice in order that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has promised him. Now, what we want to do today is talk about this question. Did Abraham, quote, instruct his children and his household, his grandchildren after him, his great grandchildren to keep the way of the Lord?

Well, let's look and see. Why don't we start with his son, Isaac? Genesis 21, verse 4 says that Abraham circumcised Isaac when he was eight days old. This was a sign that God had told Abraham to perform on every male descendant as an indicator that they were part of a special covenant with God. And certainly when Isaac was old enough to notice this, Abraham explained to him what it meant. Second of all, we have Genesis 22 where God tested Abraham by telling him to offer Isaac as a burnt offering. Now, we have to remember here in Genesis 22, Isaac was a teenager by now. That's why in verse 7 of this chapter as they were going up the mountain, Isaac said, Father, the wood and the fire are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?

Well, the point was, he was the lamb for the burnt offering. I don't know if Abraham told him that, but the Bible says, Then they came to the place where the Lord had told Abraham. And Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood and tied up his son Isaac and laid him on the altar. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. Now friends, Abraham knew that Isaac could not die because God's covenant with Abraham was to be fulfilled through Isaac. So he knew Isaac had to live and have children of his own and yet I am absolutely convinced that in obedience to God, Abraham was going to take that knife and he was going to plunge it right into his son if God hadn't stopped him.

Why? Well, because Abraham had thought about this overnight and Hebrews chapter 11 verse 19 says that Abraham reasoned that God could raise Isaac from the dead if he had to, to keep his promise. Well, Abraham's reasoning was not exactly God's plan, but at least he had the general idea. Now we know God stepped in and stopped Abraham from doing it. But you know, when he untied Isaac, I'm sure Isaac had a couple questions. Like, what was that all about? And what was that knife all about?

And why would you do something like this? And I'm sure Abraham sat down and talked to him about the sovereignty of God and the omnipotence of God and the will of God and how God has to be number one in your life, not even your own son and about how we obey God, whether we understand or not. And finally in Isaac's life, we read Genesis 25 verse 21. When Isaac's wife, Rebekah, was unable to have children, Isaac prayed to the Lord on Rebekah's behalf and the Lord answered his prayer and Rebekah conceived. Now, how did Isaac know that this was the way for a godly man to handle this problem? Well, certainly because his father Abraham said, hey son, your mother Sarah had this very same issue and here's what I did as a godly man and God honored it.

This is what you need to do. The point is, did Abraham instruct his son in the way of the Lord? Of course he did. How about his grandson Jacob? The Bible tells us Abraham lived until Jacob, his grandson, was 15 years old. You think Abraham instructed his grandson in the way of the Lord?

Well, Genesis 48 verse 21 says, Then Jacob, Abraham's grandson, said to his son Joseph, Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you back, they were in Egypt at the time, will bring you back to the land of your fathers. Now, how did Jacob learn about God's promise to give the land of Canaan to Abraham's descendants? Well, he learned about it because Abraham told him. And Abraham also told him that God had predicted they were going to Egypt for a while, but that they were coming back. You see Abraham's fingerprints all over his grandson. And how about his great-grandson Joseph? Joseph said in Genesis 50, Then Joseph said to his brothers, I am about to die, but God will surely take care of you and bring you up from the land of Egypt to the land he promised by oath to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Friends, by the time of Joseph's death in Genesis 50, Abraham has been dead for over 200 years and yet here his descendants are still repeating God's promises and still going on strong for the Lord. The question we asked was, Did Abraham instruct his children and his grandchildren after him to keep the way of the Lord?

And the answer is, you betcha he did. Now, that's as far as we want to go in our passage because we want to stop now and we want to ask our most important question. And all of our friends at Loudoun and at Prince William and at Bethesda and down in the edge and around the world on the Internet campus and all you guys here at Tysons, we all know what the question is. Yes, yes? Okay, so we're going to really do this. Yes? Alright, come on now. You know it really helps to take a deep breath first. Here we go, take it in.

One, two, three. You say, Lon, you know what? That is so corny. Are you going to keep doing that the rest of your ministry? Yes. Absolutely. You say, well, we'll put up with it I guess. You say, hey, that's a great story about Abraham but I really appreciate Abraham pouring his life into his children, his grandchildren like that but whatever does that make to me?

Well, we're going to talk about that. William Bennett who was the former federal drug policy czar said and I quote, we must develop a fair appreciation for the limitations of government effort on behalf of children. He went on to say government obviously cannot fill a child's emotional needs. Government is not a father or a mother. Government has never raised a child and it never will, end of quote.

Now, Mr. Bennett is right and let me tell you why he's right. He's right because God never ordained government to do what Abraham did. He never ordained government to raise up children to walk in the way of the Lord and keep the way of the Lord.

He never ordained government, Ephesians 6, 4, to raise children in the nurture and the instruction of the Lord. God ordained fathers and mothers to do this. And he ordained the church to help fathers and mothers do this. Now, if you're here today and you're a parent, I would assume that you're automatically somewhat interested in the rest of what I'm going to say about this. But even if you're here and you're not a parent, that doesn't mean that what I'm about to say doesn't apply to you for two reasons. Reason number one is that one day you might be a parent and the best time to develop a philosophy of how to raise children is before you have any. And number two, even if you never become a parent, we still have a responsibility as a church family to spiritually develop the thousands and thousands of children that God has given us here. And friends, down through the centuries, some of the most effective children's workers in history have been people who never had children of their own. That doesn't make you exempt. So there's something in the so what here for everybody.

So listen up. When I think about this idea of instructing our children after us to keep the way of the Lord, I can't help but think about Moses. I think we all know the story of Moses basically. Moses was born in Egypt. He was set adrift in the Nile River by his mother. He was found by Pharaoh's daughter and raised in the palace of Egypt as her son. And this went on for the first 40 years of Moses' life. But don't forget, the Bible tells us that for the first five or ten years of Moses' life, his mother, a woman named Jochebed, was his nurse. Now watch what happens. Hebrews 11 verse 24, By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing instead to endure ill-treatment with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, because he, Moses, considered reproach for the sake of Christ the Messiah to be greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt.

Why? Since he was looking ahead to the reward that God had for him. Now folks, my question is, where did Moses learn all this spiritual truth?

Huh? Where did he learn, number one, that the Hebrew people were the people of God? Where did he learn, number two, that the Hebrew people were his people by natural birth? Where did he learn, number three, that the goings-on in the palace of Egypt were sin?

Where did he learn, number four, that there was a Christ, there was a Messiah worth standing up for, even if it meant suffering reproach? And finally, where did he learn that God has a future reward for anyone who's willing to stand up for Christ and suffer reproach? Where did he learn all that? Well, let me tell you for sure where he didn't learn it. He didn't learn it from Pharaoh's daughter, I can tell you that. And he didn't learn it from his idolatrous teachers in the palace. And he didn't learn it from all of his buddies in the capital city. You say, well, I know where he learned it. He learned it from reading the Bible.

No. No, he didn't. You say, well, how do you know that? Well, I know that because there was no Bible. Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. And he didn't write them for 40 more years.

There was no Bible. We all know how he learned these truths, don't we? He learned them from his mother. His mother during those five to ten years poured bucket load after bucket load of spiritual truth into that little boy's life. And even though for the next 30 years of his life, those spiritual truths were never nurtured. They were never cultivated.

They were never reinforced in the palace of Egypt. Still, the Word of God is so powerful that when it is implanted in a child's life, even with 30 years of neglect, doesn't matter. Those truths erupted in his life at age 40 and transformed his life.

You say, Lon, what's the point? The point is that one of the greatest mistakes we make as followers of Christ is that we underestimate what little children can learn about God and the impact it can have on their lives. Proverbs 22 6, train up a child, God says, in the way he or she should go.

And when he gets old, he will not depart from it. That truth will come flying back into his life or her life. Friends, this is why the prodigal son returned home. This is why Franklin Graham came back to the Lord. This is why Joseph lived for God and did what was righteous in Egypt, even though for 13 years there was no other believer around watching him or encouraging him because he had had spiritual truth poured into his life as a child. And this is why Timothy was such a great servant of God. Because as Paul says, 2 Timothy 3 verse 15, he says, from what? Say the next word. From infancy, Timothy, you have known the Holy Scriptures.

Why? Paul says because your mother and your grandmother, Lois and Eunice, poured it into you. That's how you learned it. Train up a child in the way he should go and when he gets old, he will not depart from it.

This is the promise of God and God keeps his promises. Now, if you're a parent, I'd like to give you a few practical suggestions about how we can raise up a child in the way he or she should go biblically. These are just a few suggestions. Number one, have Christian music always playing in your house.

Not XM radio or Sirius radio, not the 60s channel or the 70s channel. Christian music. Number two, pray with your children every night from the time they're infants. And when they get old enough to know how to begin speaking and praying, get down on your knees and teach them how to pray. Number three, put Scripture on the walls of your home so that no matter where your child walks in your home, the Word of God is going into their life. Number four, read Bible stories to your children more often than you read anything else. There's nothing wrong with Goodnight Moon or Curious George, but your children ought to be hearing the Bible read to them more than they hear Curious George. Number five, memorize Scripture with your children from the age of one or two. You say, what?

One or two? Children can't memorize Scripture at one or two. Don't tell me that. My oldest son, James, who's 35 years old now, before he was three years old, he knew more than 50 verses of Scripture that he could pop off just like this by memory because I worked with him and he learned them. Don't tell me your children can't memorize Scripture. They can.

Don't underestimate them. Pour the Word of God in their life. Get your child to Kid's Quest every single week that you're in town and to Awana every single Sunday night. Now you can't get into Awana right now because at all of our campuses we are chock-a-block full and we don't even have any room. But when we re-register in the fall, Awana is all about Scripture memory.

Get your child registered. You say, well, Lon, I'm sorry, but I'm tired on Sunday night. Well, you know what? When I was raising my three boys, I was tired too. I preached six services on Sunday morning, one on Saturday night, and I would go home, flop down and want to watch the football game just like you. But at 4.30 I got my lazy body up and I said, all right, kids, let's go over your verses.

We're heading into Awana. You know why? I'll tell you.

It's very simple. Because I realized, friends, as you should, football will always be there. When you become old, you can take a nap anytime you want on Sunday. But your children, you got one shot at them. Get your body up and invest in those children, not you. Amen?

I got a couple more for you. Reward your children for having their quiet time. Yes, even monetarily reward them for having their quiet time. It's a lot better than hearing a judge say to your child, will the defendant please rise?

It's better. And make sure you get your teenager to the rock, to Sunday morning, to small group, to winter camp, to summer camp. In our house, there was no choice.

When the junior and senior high was doing something, our boys were there. No discussion. You say, whoa, wait a minute. What about this idea that I should impress God, impress church on my children like this when they're young? My friends, that is the biggest lie of Satan ever perpetrated on the human race. And it's completely opposite of what God says. God says, Deuteronomy 6, 6, these words I command you this day shall be on your heart and you shall teach them.

What's the next word? Diligently to your children, which means you press these truths on your children. You say, yeah, but Lon, if I do that and press them on it like that, won't they grow up to hate church and resent God? No.

Look here. No. Not if you, as their parents, are living authentic, godly, Christian lives at home. Now, yes, you press church on your children and then you go home and live like the devil in front of them, you'll make them cynical and jaded about God and church. But you press the things of God on your children and then you go home and you live those things out to the best of your ability and your children will grow up to love God and to love church and to serve Christ. Do you understand what I'm saying? Amen? Alright. You say, well, Lon, all this is great.

I don't have any children. Oh, that's wonderful. That's wonderful. Because that means you have more time to get involved in Kid's Quest and The Rock and serve other people's children.

It's wonderful. You know the evangelist, great evangelist D.L. Moody, who personally led a million people to Christ according to his biographer and his life. He came to Christ as a teenager in Boston and then he quickly moved to Chicago, but he had no theological training.

He had only been through the third grade. He was a little rough around the edges. And so the churches in Chicago, no church would allow him to minister to adults. So as a result, he started ministering to children. He would go around the squalid streets of Chicago and recruit children to come to church with him on Sunday. And then on Sunday, he would get up early and go from house to house to house, waking these children up while their parents were still sleeping the alcohol off. And he would get them dressed and he would bring them to church and fill pew after pew after pew with these children. The church called them Moody's ruffians.

But you know what? Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of those children came to Christ and went on to serve the Lord as pastors and as missionaries and as Christian workers all over the world. And later on when Moody himself became a world famous evangelist ministering to adults, he wrote a letter to his friend B.F. Jacobs, who by the way was the founder of the modern Sunday school movement here in America. And here's what he said to Jacobs and I quote. He said, Jacobs, sometimes I wonder if you will not get more out of your life than mine.

I work for the salvation of men and women who have grown up to years of maturity in sin and evil habits. I perhaps reach one out of ten. And even then, I'm not sure that the one out of ten I think I've reached will stick. But Jacobs, you work with them when they're young.

Before these habits are formed, you are sowing seed in the most fertile soil and it will last there and spring up there. Indeed, he says, nine out of ten that you reach will stand fast and be true to God. End of quote.

And he's right. You know, my middle son Justin, when he was four, walked by my bedroom one Sunday night and stopped and looked in. I was in the bedroom. And said to me, hey, daddy, he said, will you help me ask Jesus in my life? And I said, oh, of course.

Come on in. And I learned that what had happened is that morning in Sunday school here at McLean Bible Church, his Sunday school teacher had told him about Jesus and about salvation and about heaven and about eternal life and about the need to ask Jesus into your heart. And so I got down on my knees with my son right by our bed and we prayed together. He was four years old and he asked Jesus Christ into his life.

My son Justin today is 32 years old and it still is sticking to this day. Praise the Lord for that. And it happened when he was four. Don't tell me a four year old can't receive Christ and it's not genuine.

And friends, I learned another lesson here. Don't you ever underestimate the impact of a godly Sunday school teacher in the life of a child. Or a godly teenage worker in the life of a teenager. We must never do that.

And if you have no children, it doesn't matter. You can be one of these workers and still impact children and young people for Christ. So let me conclude and say today we preached the passage. The passage was about instructing our children after us to keep the way of the Lord. And if you're here and you're a parent and God's blessed you with children then I hope today's message will be a compelling reminder that the highest duty and the greatest duty listen to me now that you have for your children is not to clothe them or to feed them or to house them or even to educate them. The greatest and highest duty you have for your children is to spend, as Paul says, and be spent for them implanting the Word of God into their hearts. Your children are going to grow up and I want to tell you something. Their success is not going to depend on whether they had a Mustang growing up or whether they lived in the biggest house growing up or whether they had the finest clothes growing up. And it's not even going to depend on their education because there are people in our world that have all of this and their life is an absolute disaster. It's going to depend, their success, on the Word of God planted in their heart. So don't get your priorities wrong.

Let's major on the majors here. And it's going to cost you something as a parent to do this. As Paul said, you're going to have to spend and be spent on your children. But hey, when they grow up to walk with Christ and you see them doing the same thing with your grandchildren, oh my friend, it's going to be so worth it.

I promise you. And if you're here today and you don't have any children or maybe your children are all grown, hey, one of the greatest contributions that you can make to the work of God here on earth is to become a volunteer in Kids Quest and work with children, somebody else's children, and help implant the Word of God into their life. And if you're not already serving the Lord in some way here at McLean, I want you to go out in the lobby and talk to the people at our Kids Quest booth. We can use you. I don't care what skill you've got, we can use you in Kids Quest.

Or to go out and talk to the folks out there at the Rock booth. Maybe you want to work with teenagers. You say, Lon, teenagers are scary. They are scary.

But you know what? The truth of the matter is they're more scared of you than you are of them. And all they want is somebody to love on them. You love on a teenager and I promise you, they'll love on you back.

Don't you worry about how scary they are. You just go love on them. Whether it's teenagers or children, hey, if you're not already doing something here, I really want to challenge you to get involved in serving Christ by serving young people and putting the Word of God in their hearts. And let me just say, as a parent or even as a person that volunteers to work with young people, if you're willing to change your priorities to spend and be spent for them, I want to thank you on their behalf, your children's behalf for doing that. They may be too young to thank you right now. But there will be a day they'll grow up and they will thank you. So until that day, I'm going to thank you for them.

Because they're going to grow up and say, wow, I can't believe you did that for me. But man, thank you so much. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thanks for talking to us today about a very cogent subject in our world. Yes, Lord, many of us here are tempted every single day to major on the minors. Our world doesn't call them the minors. Our world says they're the most important thing. Money and fame and power and resources and notoriety and giving our children all the material things that the world says they need.

But Lord, those are the minors. The major is spiritual truth. So help us major on the major and make the priority changes we need to do that.

Help us spend and be spent for our children and worry about ourselves later. Use the Word of God today to challenge us, Father, for the sake of our children and our grandchildren. And wouldn't it be great if you could punch Gabriel in the side and look at each one of us and say, I know that that person right there, they are going to instruct their children and their household after them in the way of the Lord.

I know that, Gabriel. Lord, make us those people for the sake of our children and our children's children. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. And what do God's people say? Amen. Amen.