We're going to be looking today at Psalm 128. There are some scholars who believe that Psalm 128 is the second half, if you will, of what the author started in Psalm 127. We can't be too dogmatic about that, of course, but we do know that there seems to be a common theme running through, namely an emphasis on the family. And the author of Psalm 128 is going to remind us that for those who fear that his reverence God There is great blessing, not only on a family level, but even perhaps on a broader level in the nation itself, which is made up of families. So let's take a look together. We read Psalm 128. How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways, when you shall eat of the fruit of your hands, you will be happy and it will be well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine within your house, your children like olive plants around your table. Behold, for thus shall a man be blessed who fears the Lord. The Lord bless you from Zion, and may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. Indeed, may you see your children's children. Peace be upon Israel. Thank you, Brother Dan. He's absolutely right. That's the passage we're going to begin with and that's the passage we're going to end with as we look at a number of other passages in between as we focus on this subject of the family in the last of our mini-series on anthropology. What does God have to say about mankind? And our relationship to Him and our relationships to each other. So we hear the Word of God And now we want to focus on what does all that mean to us in terms of the meaning of it and its application as well. Nearly three decades ago, the Houston, Texas Police Department published a leaflet. This was interesting to me. The title of the leaflet was How to Ruin Your Children. They guaranteed it to be 99 percent effective. And part of it goes like this. Number one. Begin in infancy to give the child everything he wants. Number two, when he picks up bad words, laugh at him. Number three, never give him any spiritual training. Let him wait until he's 21 and then let him decide for himself. I'm sure that he'll be unbiased by the time he's 21. Number four, avoid using the word wrong. It might develop a serious guilt complex. Number five, pick up everything he leaves lying around so he will be experienced in throwing responsibility on everybody else. And that was three decades ago. Do you think that somehow even the secular world sees what's going on in the home and the family and says, I think we see the symptoms. of a real problem here. I was interested to read one Christian psychologist who said this about how to turn your children into drug addicts or alcoholics. Number one, spoil him or her. Give him everything he wants if you can afford it. Isn't that what the Houston Police Department says? Number two, when he does wrong, nag him, but never spank him. Number three, foster his dependence on you so that drugs or alcohol can replace you when he is older. And number four, always bail him out of trouble so he will like you. Number five, never let him or her suffer the consequences of his or her own behavior. And when you hear those, do you say to yourself, oh, yes, I've seen some of the consequences of those over the years of my life. But the real issue before us this morning is, but what does God say about how you do family His way? And that's going to be the focus of our attention. You might remember way back, just so long ago, on June 19th, when Brother Josh preached on Youth Sunday, on Father's Day, we were in the book of Titus. And you might remember Titus chapter 1 and verse 10, where the Apostle Paul moved by the Spirit of God to send this letter to Titus, says to him, you know, there are false teachers all over the place who are upsetting whole families. And nothing has changed. There's nothing new under the sun. Because you and I experience the same kind of thing. The blessings that America experienced early on due to the great influence of the Bible. You may have heard what Benjamin Franklin had to say. And the work of the Holy Spirit in our day now have been rejected or compromised to the point where it's trying to be pushed out of the mainstream of society. And so we find ourselves in the same kind of situation that Titus found himself in way back there on the island of Crete. And so what we're going to do this morning is we're going to do two things. to seek to help you as a family. First, we're going to look at the word of God and say, OK, what does God say about this? What should we do? And then secondly, at 11 a.m., we're going to invite you to go into that cooler room. Back there. And look at a presentation on how you can have meaningful times in the Bible with your family. Now, if you're thinking to yourself, well, you know, my children are grown up and gone and I don't really need to see that. Yes, you do. Because when you talk to your children or grandchildren, it'll be very good to say to them, you know, you can have meaningful times on a daily basis in the Scripture with your family like this, because you're going to hear some very good ideas and practical suggestions. So let's begin with the Bible. Are you ready? OK. That was pretty weak, but, you know, as we go along and it gets warmer, if I see that you're nodding off, I'll probably come down and tap you on the shoulder. But we'll see how that goes. What we're going to do is focus our attention on three biblical instructions for establishing solid family life. And rather than beginning in Psalm 128, where we're going to end, we're going to begin in Deuteronomy, Chapter six, because Deuteronomy, Chapter six really provides for us the biblical foundation for families. When you think about Adam and Eve and you think about what happened with Cain and Abel, And then you think about the only family that really survived those centuries afterwards was Noah and his family. And even after the flood was over and families again began to multiply on the face of the earth, there was Lot and his family. And even Abraham with Sarah, things didn't go exceedingly well. And that could be multiplied when you think about Jacob and his family. And so here in Deuteronomy chapter six, in the context of the book of Deuteronomy, all of those people who were slaves in Egypt, God had brought them out as a nation and he was going to establish them in the land. And you know what happened? They disobeyed him. And so all of them, except two, died in the wilderness, Joshua and Caleb. And even Moses, as God speaks through him to give this instruction in Deuteronomy chapter 6, you can read this in Deuteronomy chapter 1, he along with the new generation, they're standing on the eastern side of the Jordan River, looking over into the promised land. And God says this through Moses. Now, listen, when you go over there and you get planted in this new land, you've got to have this down. Because for you as an individual and the families that you establish and the nation that's going to be established, these are going to be foundational, crucial in order for you to survive and to prosper in that land. And so Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 4 in particular, where the Jews still recite this verse every day, the Shema of Israel, Moses gives us in these first 15 verses of Deuteronomy, chapter six, seven ways in which this foundation has to be established. The cornerstone and all the other building blocks of setting a solid foundation are laid out for us here in these verses and in verses one and two, he says this. First of all, you have to receive the truth. Verse one, Deuteronomy, chapter six, now this is the What's the word? Commandment. This is not the good advice or a simple suggestion by God. Here's the commandment. This is the commandment, the statutes, the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, so that you and your son and your grandson might fear. The Lord your God. Now, that's such an interesting word, of course, fear the Lord your God, that you might have such an awe and reverence for him that you won't be deterred from this path. I've shared with some of you that there was a detective in Cleveland, a believer. And during the 25 years that he served as a detective in Cleveland, he was the one that had to go into domestic situations and fill out the report that had to be submitted. Well, he kept his own statistics in addition to the report that he had to fill out. So when he was talking to family members, especially juveniles that were involved in this, he would say things to them like, are both your parents still here? They would say yes or no. He would write that down. Have you ever been spanked? Yes or no. He would write that down. And he kept these statistics over those 25 years. And you can get this at the library, by the way. He produced a book and a video called No Fear. And it's all about the fact that because there was a lack of discipline, because there was a focus on reality in terms of spiritual foundations, our homes in the US are crumbling. In fact, I recommended Dr. Max book to you. If you read the preface, the preface is written by a divorce attorney in the state of Illinois, where he talks about how divorce has escalated in the United States. I have to read you this one little statistic. According to the Wall Street Journal, there were 700 divorce lawyers practicing 10 years ago. Now there are 11,000. Because divorce is big business now. And so you can see how those symptoms that we talked about and the fabric of our society, namely families, are crumbling. And so what do you have to do? First and foremost, verses one and two, you have to receive the truth. This is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments. Verses three and four tell us that we have to obey the truth. O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you in a land flowing with milk and honey." And then verse 4 is what Israel, the Orthodox Jews, still say every day, even this day, Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad. Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one." And I trust that you did your reading for the week, and you got to that question about take your concordance and look up the word one, and you found out that it's the same word that's used of a cluster of grapes in Numbers chapter 13, so that our God is a plurality in unity. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit even contained in this verse. But you have to obey the truth and our obedience to truth. You and I, we have faith and we have obedience and it's based on revealed truth. It's not just something that we dream up or feel like doing. God has told us exactly what to do. And when we do what he says, there's a reaction. Either we say, oh, I don't I don't really want to do this because our heart isn't in it. Or it motivates us to say, now, why should I do this? And leads us to a relationship to God. And that's really what happens here in the verses that follow. If you look at verse 5, not only should you obey the truth, but you should embrace the God of truth. Verse 5 says, And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Now, this is what Jesus says is the greatest commandment. And so when God says, listen, you need to receive the truth, you need to obey the truth. But it's based on a relationship that you have with God, a relationship of love, because you've received the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. Now, you might say, yeah, but in the Old Testament, they didn't know about the Lord Jesus. But Abraham understood, didn't he? And all those who followed, he believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. He believed what God said, and he believed that God would vindicate, forgive him, and save him, even though the event was yet to take place in the future. And now we look back because what Jesus Christ has done affects all of eternity because He's the eternal God. He's the infinite God. Amazing, isn't it? Incarnated into human flesh to die for our sins. And yet the principle is the same. The truth is the same. that we should love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul, with all our might, so you have to embrace the God of truth. Now, if you put your finger there and turn to chapter 10, and read with me Deuteronomy 10, verse 16. Listen, circumcise then your heart and stiffen your neck no more. You see, in the Old Testament, the sacrifices and all the rituals that they went through, those were merely pedagogical tools, teaching tools to help them to understand what's going on here. But the sacrifices never took away their sins. Never, it never changed the human heart at all. Not at all. It simply granted them physical protection as an individual and physical protection as a nation so that they would have time in order to come to true faith in the real, true and living God. The same is true today. If you're here today and you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, the only reason that you're alive is because the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they're doing. That doesn't mean everybody's forgiven and saved. It doesn't mean that at all. It means that you've been granted time so that you can hear the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ and come to genuine faith and trust in Him. That's the point. That was true then. It's true today as well. And so God says to embrace the God of truth, a spiritual transformation needs to take place in every heart so that we have the motive for obeying God. Is that true of you? Have you come to know Christ as your Savior? You're sure that you're going to heaven today? You see, we receive the truth. We obey the truth. We embrace the God of truth. And not only that, it's reciprocal. As you embrace the God of truth, you are embraced by the truth of God. I think that's pretty clear in verse 6. Verse six says, and these words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart. Now, I don't think there's any way to overemphasize the importance of the word of God in the life of a believer. I want you to look at some of these verses that we have on the PowerPoint. Romans 10, 17 says, So faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. It's the Word of God energized by the Spirit of God that grants faith, brings faith to a person when we embrace it. And so we are, in a sense, embraced by the truth of God. Not only Romans 10.17, but when Peter was preaching to the house of Cornelius, they believed the message that he spoke. And when he was giving a reason for this in Acts chapter 11, this is what he said. The angel said this to me, and he will speak words to you by which you will be saved. How about that? Words by which you will be saved. See, the death of Christ, what meaning does it have unless we understand why he died? For us, because of our sin and these words, this explanation brings life to us and all your household. How about this? Psalm 1.1. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in His law, He meditates day and night because it's that Word that the Spirit of God uses to transform us from one level of glory to the next to make us more like the Lord Jesus Christ. And when that happens, you're like a tree, firmly planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither, and in whatever He does, He prospers. I can't remember. Yes, there's more. And how about Romans 12, 2 for the New Testament side? Be transformed, how? By the renewing of your mind. Well, how does your mind get renewed? You read the Word of God, you hear the Word of God, and you get God's perspective on the world and your life. And there's a transforming process that takes place. so that you're not conformed or crushed into the mold of this world. And by the way, if you think to yourself, well, you know, I just do what I want to do, and I'm really not all that concerned about what God wants me to do. You don't do what you want to do. You do what Satan wants you to do. And he's so slick, he makes you think that you're making those choices. No. He, using the world, is crushing you into that mold and God says, listen. In fact, Jesus said it himself. If the Son will make you free, you'll be free indeed. But until that happens, you're a slave to sin and under Satan's domain because the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 1 John 5, 19 says. So we're embraced by the truth of God. I think I have one more verse, right? Psalm 119 verse 11, your word I've treasured in my heart. Why? So that the word of God dwelling in me keeps me from sin and brings that liberation, that freedom that Jesus talked about in John chapter eight. So we are embraced by the God of truth. So we're laying these foundational building blocks, right? You personally, you receive the truth, you obey the truth, you embrace the God of truth, you're embraced by the truth of God. And now it's time to serve. OK, one, two, three, four, number five, verses seven through nine, you teach the truth. Look at verse seven. Oh, let me say something first about verse six, because verses six and seven are so interesting, the Hebrew words in construction. Very interesting. Verse 6, and these words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart. You notice what it says? It doesn't say in your mind. It says on your heart, and it has the idea of a crushing burden, something that's pushing down and you feel the weight of it on your heart. If you've ever used vice grips, that's the idea. The Word of God grips your heart And you are saying, wow, I've got to do something with this Word of God that I've received. So this is what you do. Verse 7, And you shall teach them diligently. In the Hebrew text, teach them diligently is all one word. And not only is it all one word, but it's a PL perfect, Brother Dan. Now, somebody's going to say, what's that mean? Well, the regular verb in Hebrew says something like I broke the vase. But when you use this form of the verb, it means I smashed it. It has an intensive idea. And not only that, because it's perfect, it means I have this intensive idea and it just continues along. And so to teach them diligently has the idea of not only repetition, because it's weighing on my heart and this intensive idea, but it also has the idea of being creative. Now, the reason I say that is because the verb means to whet the appetite, to cause someone to thirst or to hunger after something. And you know what the American proverb is, right? You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. And I teach my children the Bible and I read it to them, but they don't seem to care. Well, you can lead a horse to water and you can't make him drink, but you can feed him what? Salt. And if you feed him salt, he'll want to drink. That's the idea here. That you come up with creative ways to teach your children what the Word of God says. And look at verse 7. You shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up. Because of the intensive idea, it means that the Word of God, which is heavy on your heart and grips it like a vice grip, is permeating your mind and your thinking so that all aspects of life, as you go about daily life, you are teaching and relating things to the Word of God. I wanted to add something to this, but I can't add to the scriptures. When you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you fly a kite. Now, the reason I wanted to add that is because when my oldest son Ben was about five, we were out. This is when we lived in Indiana. We were out flying a kite one day and the wind was pretty strong. That's why it was a good day to fly a kite. But the string broke. And the kite went flying into the tree, and Ben started to cry. And I thought, oh, now what do I do? I'm a new dad. So what do you do when you walk by the way, when you fly the kite and the string breaks? So I said, Lord, so what do I do? And I said, well, let's go over to the tree. And the kite was up in the tree. And I said, you know, we should just pray that God will bring the kite down. So Ben, he just started to pray. And while he's praying, I'm thinking, OK, now what do I tell him when the kite doesn't come down? Do you know what happened? The wind changed and blew the kite out of the tree and it came down. And I went. Wow. Yeah, you know who had the greatest faith, right? You have to have faith like a little child. I learned something that day. You know, that's the idea here. that you as parents and grandparents and great grandparents, as you teach diligently, you're being creative, you're being repetitious, that your children are getting it and that you also are growing in faith and grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ because of what of what God says. You know, I thought about this in terms of the next verses, right? Verses eight and nine. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead and you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Now, a couple of weeks ago when I was looking at this passage, I emailed Brother Jeff Cran, who's pretty good with Hebrew. And I said, do you think that God actually meant I said, I know Jews wear the factories. They also call it the Teflon on their hands and across their head with a little box. Do you think that he really meant for that to be taken literally? And Brother Jeff said, yeah, I wear those. I said, why? And he said, because it's a great aid to the memory. So why do you think that God said to put the thing there so that it would be at the forefront of your thinking, that it would be the priority of your thoughts, the word of God and all the things that you do with your hands. Every time you do something, you see that. And it's a reminder that I'm doing this for God. I'm doing it with God's help. And I thought, so what about us non-Jewish people? You know, should we We have all these bands, you know, for cancer and everything else. Maybe we should wear a bunch of them that have verses on them. And he said, you know, I think that's a good idea. So that's a creative thing. And I thought, put it on the doorposts of your house. How about on your refrigerator? You have your children write their verses and you put it on the fridge. Maybe they'll even color a picture. I remember in one class, a little girl was coloring a picture and the teacher said, so what are you drawing? And she said, I'm drawing a picture of God. And the teacher said, well, no one knows what God looks like. And the little girl said, they will when I'm done. Well, that's a teaching opportunity, a teaching moment, right? To explain that. I also read about a little boy who was afraid of the dark, and one night his mother told him to go out on the back porch and bring her the broom. And the little boy turned to his mother and said, Mom, I don't want to go out there. It's dark. But the mother smiled reassuringly, and she said, You don't have to be afraid of the dark. Jesus is out there. It says in Psalm 56, verse 3, When I'm afraid, I will trust in Him. So He'll look after you and protect you. And he looked at his mother and said, Are you sure he's out there? And mom said, Well, yes, I'm sure he's out there. He's everywhere. He's always ready to help you when you need him. And so he went to the door and he kind of opened it and looked out and said, Jesus, if you're out there, would you hand me the broom, please? Now, that's a teaching moment, too, because it's an opportunity to say, you know, God tells us that he doesn't always deliver us from the problem. He takes us through the problem. Right. And so you and I have the opportunity as we receive the truth. as we have the truth affect us to teach the truth. And not only by our words, but verses 10 through 14 make it pretty clear that we need to model the truth as well. Then it shall come about, when the Lord your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you great and splendid cities, which you did not build, and houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, and ewen cisterns, which you did not dig, vineyards, and olive trees, which you did not plant, and you shall eat and be satisfied. Then watch yourself, lest you forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery." So the previous five ways that we've looked at in terms of laying this spiritual foundation, now number six is, listen, you know, this requires maintenance. Because you're going to go, you're going to enter this land and you're going to start living life and all of these things that God has given you. And it's very easy if these words aren't on your heart and if you're not teaching them diligently, it's very easy just to forget about it. Now, you know, I'm amazed when you think about this. We don't forget to change the oil in our car. It's necessary maintenance or tractor, as the case may be. We don't forget to put antifreeze in it in the wintertime. We don't forget to do maintenance on a house when it needs painting. But we forget spiritual things. And that's amazing to me, because all of those things aren't going to last. But your relationship with your children and your grandchildren and your great grandchildren, those are the eternal relationships. All those other things aren't going to to be around at all. So which is more important to you, the car, tractor or your children or grandchildren or great grandchildren? It's very much more necessary to keep the truth before them than it is to do these other things. Now, I'm not saying we don't do those other things, but the priority of maintaining that relationship and modeling the truth is what God emphasizes. And then God tells us in verse 15 that we have to respect the truth giver. Here's the reason, verse 15, for because the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God. Otherwise, the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled against you and he will wipe you off the face of the earth. And so the only way to keep this solid foundation is to keep your relationship with God fresh, to not forget. And so I wonder how you're doing in that area. How are you doing in the area of keeping your relationship with God fresh? so that the words are on your heart. You are receiving the truth. You are being embraced by the truth of God. How are you doing? And when you read the word jealous, don't think it means greed eyeing monster, because that has nothing to do with God. This is jealous in the purest sense of the term. He is concerned about you. He wants the best for you. And if you say, well, you know, it doesn't really matter all that much to me. Well, it matters to him. And He takes steps to do something about it, even when it doesn't matter to us if you really know Jesus Christ as your Savior. So when you go after other gods, He's jealous. And your God is what you give your mind and heart to. And that's why this passage says, listen, the foundation of all of this is crucial. Now, this really helps to lead to the second point because you get involved in life and all of these things can go by the wayside and you forget. And that's why not only do we have to have a solid foundation for the family, but we have to maintain the fight for the family. And that's our second point, the fight for family life. And I'd like you to turn to Psalm 11 and look at verse 3. This psalm of David in verse 3 reads, if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? It's an interesting word, foundations, that's used here. It's only used two times in the Old Testament here and in the book of Isaiah. But if you look at the context, look at verses 1 and 2. In the Lord, I take refuge. How can you say to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain? For behold, the wicked bend the bow. They make ready their arrow upon the string to shoot in darkness at the upright in heart. If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" And what David is reflecting upon is the fact that Saul has turned away from God. And he's the king of the nation. And all the things that a king is supposed to uphold, the king of Israel, the foundations of society and moral order, he's thrown it to the wind. He murdered the priest for Samuel chapter 22. Now he's trying to kill God's anointed king. So what can the righteous do when there's moral collapse? That's David's question here. Lord, what am I supposed to do when I see all these things around me crumbling? And you and I could say the same thing, because those symptoms I read to you earlier, we see that we see it happening before our very eyes. New York was the sixth state, right? to legalize same-sex marriage. And so the foundations of family continue to crumble. And we could echo what David says here in verse 3 and say, if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? Well, the answer is in verses 4-7. When you see the foundations begin to crumble around you, then the first thing you have to do is remember who's in control and who the real authority is. Verse 4 says, the Lord is in His holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold. His eyelids test the sons of men. And so for you and I, in the same way as we have this fight to maintain family life and to do what God has to say, believe me, it's a fight. And that's one of the reasons why we're doing what we're doing today in terms of looking at the Scriptures and saying, what does God say about this? And looking at some instruction about how we can use practical ideas to implement this in our homes. Now, I mentioned this before, but I think it's worth repeating. It's not just believers. Many unbelievers are seeing this as well. I want to read this quote to you. from Dr. Armand Nicolai of Harvard Medical School. He sees the trend to destroy the family as a devastating trend. He points to married women with children working outside the home, the tendency for families to move frequently, almost constantly, the dominance of television in the home, the lack of controls in society, the chaos of moral confusion, the lack of communication among families and divorce, And of all those things, this is what he says. They're threatening the very life which we live. And this is a quote. These trends will incapacitate the family, destroy its integrity and cause its members to suffer such crippling emotional conflict that they will become an intolerable burden to society. What about the future? First, the quality of family life will continue to deteriorate, producing a society with a higher incidence of mental illness than ever before. 95% of our hospital beds may be taken up by mentally ill patients. This illness will be characterized by a lack of self-control. We can expect the assassination of people in authority to be frequent occurrences. Crimes of violence will increase, even those within the family. The suicide rate will rise. Have you noticed that statistic? This continues to rise. As sexuality becomes more and more unlimited and separated from family and emotional commitment, the deadening effect will cause more bizarre experimentation and widespread perversion. Now, this was written quite a while before what New York did in the other six states. It's it's pretty frightening picture. And here's someone in a secular university saying, I think this is what's going to happen in light of what's going on in our society. And so you and I are engaged in a battle, a fight for the family. And so if you rush out and you go to grab a book and something will be a resource and a help, grab this book, Your Family, God's Way. But be careful you don't grab some books like This one pillars that support a fulfilling marriage. Written by someone who says he's a Christian, he says there are five pillars. Number one, security. Number two, communication. Number three, romance. Number four, touch. Number five, intimacy of spirit. Here's a quote from the book. If a woman truly wants to have meaningful communication with her husband, she must cultivate the right side of his brain. For the whole week, I've been trying to figure out how you do that. So I could tell my wife, now this is how you cultivate the right side of my brain. The only thing I could think of was maybe to hit me there. But I thought, I don't know if that's going to work. And then he says, the best way we know how to bond with a family is by going camping. How many of you like camping? Take a look around, huh? Two thirds of us are in deep trouble. I like camping. I mean, we camped last week at the Radisson. If we camp like that. But I'm reading this and I'm thinking, oh, how about if we just do what the Bible says? Could we vote for that? And let's first of all, have a right relationship with God as an individual and be filled with the spirit of God. And then how about if we know the word of God and put it into practice? Can we do those three things? It will be a solid foundation in this fight for the family. You see, the Bible says that what is most important in family is love for God, overruling love for self. That's the bottom line. So what's really important in family is the pursuit of the needs of others. rather than your own. And what really matters is having a submissive heart that cares more about the other true spiritual joy, gratitude, devotion to God and His kingdom and His purposes and His glory, true holiness and obedience to Scripture. Well, it's time to go back. OK, let's go back to Psalm 127 and Psalm 128. Brother Dan mentioned this, and I really think it's true. This is typical in the Bible. When you read Psalm 90, it says a psalm of Moses and then Psalm 91 has no title. It has no author. And oftentimes they're couplets that way. I think Psalm 20 and 21 are the same way. Psalm of David. And then 21 doesn't have an author. And so oftentimes, even though they were divided, they go together. I think that's true of these two Psalms, 127 and 128. The contents definitely go together. In Psalm 127, it says a song of ascents of Solomon. This is the middle of those song of ascents. It was either written by Solomon or by David for Solomon, one or the other. And isn't it interesting how it starts out, Psalm 127. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. You're trying to establish your home without the Lord Jesus Christ? It's vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors. Do you think work is more important than your family? God says, absolutely not. If you are unbalanced, obviously God is the God of work. He's the one that created it. Before the fall, He told Adam to work. But when it becomes unbalanced, it's a vain thing. To eat the bread of painful labors, God gives to His beloved even in his sleep. God enables and strengthens us even when we're sleeping. Then Psalm 127 says, Behold, children are a gift of the Lord. What did that say about abortion? The fruit of the womb is a reward like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They shall not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate. And the idea is that a man and his children are there to do business, to negotiate in the gate. Family life is good because they're working together. Now, Psalm 128 goes on and says, How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord. And so it begins in Psalm 127 with, listen, God has to be first. He has to be the ruler of the home. He has to be sovereign in all of these things. If you're trying to do it in your own strength and you're working from dusk until dark without any reference to God or giving him the honor and glory, it's all in vain. And when God gives you children, this is a blessing, this is from his hand. And so Psalm 128, how blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways. This is the way of blessing. And you'll notice in verses one through four of Psalm 128, that it's the emphasis is on the individual. How blessed is everyone, every one of you. When you, each one of you, shall eat the fruit of your hands, you will be happy, it will be well with you, your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house, your children like olive plants around your table. Behold, for thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord." I would like to take some of those statements and make them questions. Is God blessing your home? Do you personally worship the Lord? Are you enjoying family life? Verse 2 of Psalm 128 says, you will be happy and it will be well with you. Is that true? And how is your relationship with your wife? Verse 3, your wife shall be like a fruitful vine within your house. And are you enjoying your children and your grandchildren? Look at verses 5 and 6. The Lord bless you from Zion and may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life because the prosperity of the city is built on the foundation of those families. Indeed, may you see your children's children. Peace be upon Israel. May peace be upon the United States as it does these things. You probably heard that Woodrow Wilson was a president of the United States. Years before he became president of the U.S., he was the president of Princeton University. And he had the opportunity one day to speak to a parent's group, and this is what he said. I get many letters from you parents about your children. You want to know why we people up here in Princeton can't make more out of them and do more for them. Well, let me tell you the reason we can't. It may shock you just a little, but I'm not trying to be rude. The reason is that they are your sons reared in your homes, blood of your blood, bone of your bone. They have absorbed the ideals of your homes. You have formed and fashioned them. They are your sons. In those malleable, moldable years of their lives, you have forever left your imprint upon them." You see, whether It's Dr. Armand at Harvard Medical School, former President Woodrow Wilson. Even the world is able to see that the home is crucial to society and to the nation. So you have to have a solid foundation. And we looked at seven ways to lay that foundation. You have to realize there's a fight going on and you and I are engaged in that fight. But Psalm 127 and 128 tells us what the fix is. The fix? I would rather use the word felicity. The felicity of your home depends upon your relationship to God. Is He building your house? Or are you trying to do it in your own strength? Do you fear Him? Do you have a good relationship with your wife because of your faith and trust in Christ? I am fully convinced that of all the how-to books on how to do marriage and family, the Bible just says if your commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ is strong, those relationships can be cared for. That's where it begins. Now, wouldn't it be interesting to talk to somebody in another nation and get some input from them on what they think about all of this? I think it would because we get a fresh perspective. I read a letter that a couple from Czechoslovakia sent to Dr. John MacArthur about this very issue. And I'd like to end with this letter. Dear Brother MacArthur, I have to tell you how right you are in Bible teaching. The movements, the current movements in the United States are reminiscent of the situation behind the Iron Curtain countries. My wife and I had to flee Czechoslovakia in 1969. In our country, the great majority of women work and children begin in government schools when they are only a few months old. The impact on the family ties is horrible, as my wife and I know from our experience. The godless doctrine pumped into little children's souls brought up the most cynical generation we can imagine. Most young people do not believe in anything, not even God. My wife recently visited our country and returned with sadness in her heart. The godless system destroyed, in great part, the will of the people and produced a blindly obedient array of cynical, indifferent, disposable robots. What scares us most is that the same process we observed 25 to 30 years ago in Czechoslovakia is happening right now in the United States. The jargon that you hear from the media of this movement or that movement is exactly what we used to hear back then. We don't want to have to go through it the second time. We must tell you that this collapsing morality and growing indifference that we see all around us here in the United States were some of the reasons why we received Jesus Christ as our Savior several months ago. Dear brother, keep preaching the way you do. We will support you and pray that God will inspire you even more. Oh, it could never happen to us. It's happening to us. So how is the foundation of your life? Do you know Jesus Christ is your Savior and Lord? Is the Word of God a daily part of your life? Are you teaching? Your children, your grandchildren? Diligently. You know, this morning is a reality check. Don't say to me, oh, Pastor Ike, I will. Forget that. It's got to be now. Because today is the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time. Tomorrow isn't guaranteed. Has to be now. As Pastor Del comes to lead us in our closing hymn, if you don't know Christ as Savior, even while we're singing, we invite you to come and say, Pastor Ike, I want to know Jesus Christ as Savior. How do I do that? Or if there are other decisions that you have as a believer, we invite you to come and seek God's face to do his will.