Please open your Bibles with me to Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians 6. And this morning we're going to be talking about, looking at what God's Word has to say about being a good dad, how to be a good dad. There's much to be discouraged about today as we look around at our culture and our society. The moral standards in our nation seem to be continually eroding and it's easy to become discouraged and to lose hope as we look at what is happening, especially in the definition of family and that God himself has made and designed in our culture continually and seems to systematically redefine and reject what God has made But we as Christians, we put our hope in God and not in our government or anything or anyone else for that matter. And so our hope can be secure and steadfast. But I am encouraged that at least as of today, in 2015, our nation still celebrates fatherhood. I hope that will continue. This is a common grace of God upon our land. This is a good thing to celebrate. And I'm not just saying that because I'm a dad and I get special treatment on Father's Day. Of course, all of us dads enjoy that aspect of it. But the family was designed by God. God is the one who created fatherhood. It was his idea. And he ultimately sets the standard. identifies himself as Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And all of his children, those who are followers of his through Christ, he calls them his children. And we can call him our Father. As John wrote, behold what manner of love the Father has given to us that we should be called the children of God. And the title of this sermon, How to Be a Good Dad, is a bit intimidating, especially with my two children sitting right up front here, you know? And honestly, if I was planning to just come up here and share my personal experience and opinion and ideas, I'd probably tell you it's probably not worth your time to sit around and listen to what I have to say. But what I have to say to you this morning is true because it is from God. It's His instruction about how to be a good dad. And so that's where my confidence is in what I'm telling you. It's not because it's some idea that I came up with, but I'm just teaching you and telling you what God has written in His Word for us about how to be a good dad, what it means to be a good dad, And because it's from God, therefore we cannot and we must not, we dare not ignore what God has to say on this subject. If we do, if we do ignore it, if we do neglect it, if we don't heed it, not only we will suffer, but our children will suffer the consequences of our failure to listen to God's word and to respond humbly and to obey it. God is the great architect of the family. And in his wisdom and according to his design, he has placed the father as the head of the household. And thankfully, God did not just tell dads to go figure it out. But in Ephesians 6, 4, the Spirit of God through the pen of Paul has instructed Christian fathers about how we are to be Christ-honoring dads. God himself tells us how to be good dads, what that looks like. The instruction is simple and straightforward and yet utterly impossible to keep on our own. It might not be encouraging at the outset of this to think about that, that it is impossible to obey any of God's commands as He intended us to without the power of His Spirit within us, and giving us the desire to obey, giving us the power to obey. But with God, all things are possible. And so, for Christian fathers this morning, that should be a word of encouragement to you, that with God all things are possible. God himself offers us this instruction and he also lends us, he offers to us his omnipotent power to complete it. And that's good news, of course. And this morning we're going to look at the command that's straightforward to us fathers that we must not do those things that provoke our children to anger. But instead we need to seek to faithfully and lovingly disciple and instruct our children who have been entrusted to us as fathers. We are to be good stewards of the children whom God has entrusted to our care. We should remember that ultimately our children, we talked about last week, belong to God. They're His. And He calls us and expects us to be faithful. Before we get any further into our sermon here this morning, I wanted to speak to those of you that are not fathers this morning. I know there's quite a few in our number here that are not. And I probably won't cover all of the categories here, but I wanted to give some of the main categories that you might fall into, a word of encouragement, a word of exhortation as far as how to listen to this and how to apply it to yourself. For wives and mothers, I would ask for you to, as you consider this role that the Lord has given to your husband, to pray for them and encourage them in this role that God has given them. And to be patient and gracious with them as they, many times, will stumble and fail in their seeking to be obedient to the Lord in this way. They need your encouragement. They need your prayers. They need your patience. And also, as to the mothers in particular, I would encourage you to take special note of these commands because these certainly have application to you in your role as a mother to your children. So it's not, you don't get a free pass on this. So just encourage you to listen along as well. To you children who are among us, I would like to encourage you to pray for your dad. And to be patient with him, as he seeks to be a godly father for you. Be forgiving, because he will need your forgiveness, as you need his. Submit yourself to God and his word. If you're a child in here, God's commandments to you are very clear and plain, straightforward. You're called to obey and to honor your parents, not just your fathers, your fathers and your mothers. For this is right, to honor them. And there's promise of long life and blessing that comes to those who obey that command. And children, seek to make your father's role and your mother's role a blessing and a joy to them. by obeying them, honoring them, and loving them, and realize that even when you don't understand why they're doing what they're doing, that they love you, and they know better than you, most of the time. To you single men and single women, to single men, pray for your dad, if he's alive, Pray for him. Pray for other dads in the midst, other dads that you know. Pray that if it's God's will for you to be a dad someday, that he would shape you and make you into a godly father. A Christ-like father. And remember too, that if it's not God's will for you to be married, or to have children, that you can be a good Christian man without being a husband or a dad. I can point one to you who is a good Christian man and was not married and did not have children. His name was Jesus. So let him be your example. To the single women, pray for your dads. Pray for other dads. Pray that if God wants you to be married and have children, that he will provide you with a husband who will be humble and a faithful father to your children. And pray that you will be the same as a mom. And to older parents, those of you that your children or some of your children have already left the nest, please continue to pray for them. Don't forget about your important role that you continue to have in their lives and also in your son-in-laws as they seek to carry out their God-given roles as husbands and fathers. Encourage them, help them, be patient with them. Help them to see the things that they can't see. Love them enough to talk to them. Pray for them. Teach them from your own experience and be willing to be vulnerable and acknowledge your own failures and give glory to God for the victories in your life. That was just some introductory things that I wanted to say to you before we turn and actually read here. Please follow along with me as I read from Ephesians chapter 6 verse 1. I'll be reading down through verse 4. The Apostle Paul writes, Children, obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment, with a promise, so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. So this morning, we're just going to split this text up into two parts. First part is that as fathers, we are not to provoke our children to anger. We're going to look at what that means, what that entails. The second part there is as fathers, we are to nourish our children. We're to nourish our children. Just a quick word on the context here is Paul's writing. This section starts back, really you can go back to verse 15 of chapter five. He talks there about being careful how we walk and not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time because the days are evil, verse 16. He says, So then, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. And what does that look like? Being filled with the Spirit? speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father. And be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. And that verse 21 really there is the hinge upon which basically the rest from verse 22 chapter 522 down through verse chapter 6 verse 9 where he's going to be addressing these various roles within the household and how Wives were to be subject to their husbands in the fear of Christ how children to be subject to their parents in the fear of Christ and how even slaves were to be subject to their masters in the fear of Christ. See that in 5.22, 6.1, and 6.5. He first addressed the ones who are under authority, but Paul doesn't stop there. He addresses then the husbands in 5.25, the fathers in 6.4, and the masters in 6.9. Both those under authority and those given the authority were all under the authority of Christ. And they all had various responsibilities to the Lord in their God-given roles. And so that's where we are here in 6.4. Obviously, as we read in 6.1-3, Paul had just finished addressing the children, explaining their roles to obey and to honor their parents. And now he turns and speaks to the father, to the fathers, and tells them what their responsibility is. The word for father here that's used in verse four can refer actually to both parents. Occasionally in Hebrews 11, 23, the word is used, same Greek word that's translated parents. And there's certainly application here for both mothers and fathers, as I've already pointed out. But back in verse 1, when he says, children obey your parents, Paul chooses to use a different word there, a different Greek word than he uses here in 6.4. And then in 6-2 when he talks about honor your father and mother is quoting from the Old Testament there That's the same word that he uses here at the beginning of verse 4. So For those reasons and others I believe the the primary address here is to the fathers But there's certainly again application to be made for mothers as well God has called the husband to be the head of his wife and he's called the wife to submit to that headship and And of course, he has many commands for the way that the husband is supposed to love and care for his wife. And God has also given the husband the primary role and responsibility of leading and training his children, too. Even though for most dads, a good amount of that training, that discipline will be delegated to the mom, especially as the father's out of the house, But the father is the one whom God lays the primary responsibility on for the training and the discipleship, the discipline of his children. Nevertheless, children, you children are required to obey and to honor both father and mother, not just father. That's made very clear in the beginning of this passage. So we need to remember that God is the one who created and designed the family and the roles that are in it. And regardless of how unpopular they might be, how chauvinistic that might sound to say that the man is the head of the wife and the wife is to submit to the husband, Guess what? This is God's. This is God's deal. It's his creation and he gets to define how things work in his world and in the families that he's made. So Paul begins his instruction to fathers with a prohibition. Don't do this. He tells fathers what they should not be doing. He tells them specifically, do not provoke your children to anger. This should not be characteristic of their parenting. And this might seem a bit too simple, kind of like, okay, isn't there more, Paul? Don't you have more to say here? And there is more, of course, that can be said and is said that you can find throughout scripture. As we read Deuteronomy 6 this morning, a clear command and exhortation to the Israelites, but certainly, again, application for fathers and parents today about the way we are to diligently teach our children. But God knows how people are. He knows our fallen, our sinful propensities, and specifically those of men and women, and that we each tend to have various Sins temptations that were tempted towards and so he specifically addresses this toward fathers for a reason We should know that as God is our father when he gives us the command he gives it to us for a reason There's a purpose and also as Christians get an encouragement is that when God gives us the command His command is our enablement. Does that make sense? When God commands us to do something, He intends to give us the power to do it. And that power comes through His Holy Spirit living in us, working in us, empowering us This specific Greek word behind this, provoke to anger, is only found one other place in the New Testament, in Romans 10, 19, which was also written by Paul. And in that passage, Paul is quoting Moses, who was recording God's statements about Israel and saying that in response to their unfaithfulness and idolatry, he would provoke the Israelites to anger. They had provoked him to anger and he would in turn provoke them to anger by extending his offer of salvation to the Gentiles. Now you might say, Matt, what are you talking about? You just said fathers aren't supposed to provoke their children to anger and now God is provoking his children to anger. Well, let's just think they're being provoked to anger because Gentiles are being saved. If your children get angry at you because you're sharing the gospel with your neighbors and they're getting saved, that's okay. Keep provoking them in that way. And correct them and explain why it's wrong for them to get provoked about that. Can you think of a prophet in the Old Testament that was provoked about the salvation of a certain pagan Gentile nation? Ended up in a certain large fish? Jonah? Remember? didn't want the people to repent. He was provoked to anger and disobedience because he didn't want to see people respond. So that's what's being addressed here that God would provoke them to anger. Anyway, I think you get the point. has the idea of making your children angry or provoking them to anger. A closely related word and idea is our English word, exasperate. And in a parallel passage, Paul gives a very similar command to fathers in Colossians 3.21. Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so they will not lose heart. That's a different Greek word, but a very similar in meaning. And the verb tense behind this word here for provoking, not to provoke them to anger, has the idea of an ongoing process. In other words, don't let your parenting, your fathering, be characterized by provoking your children to anger, doing things that embitter them, that frustrate them. As he said there in Colossians 3.21, you don't want them to lose heart. You don't want them to be discouraged and frustrated. They're in a weaker, lower position placed there by God. Be sensitive to that. So let's spend some time thinking about the variety of ways that we as fathers can provoke our children to anger. The Holy Spirit, who, again, knows the hearts and propensities of sinners, gives us this warning for a reason. The list that I have here was compiled from a number of different commentators on this passage, giving some suggestions and applications here. Two primary ones were Hendrickson and MacArthur. So here are some ways. You might want to jot these down. There's 12 of them. I won't say much about them because there's 12 of them But I don't think I have to say a whole lot about them because they're pretty Self-evident and if you need help, you might want to ask your kids. They might be able to help see you or your wife That might be a little safer Mediator there First of all by overprotection by overprotection Being too strict Can be an exasperating experience for your children we are called to protect them and yet we need to give them room to grow and to mature and That's a difficult process one which much wisdom is needed from the Lord by favoritism We see examples of this in Scripture right in the Old Testament different Men who favored one of their children over another. Think of Joseph and Jacob and all the trouble that that caused, remember? The animosity that was built up. By discouragement. Discouraging your kids. Always pointing out where they're failing and where they're falling short and never having an encouraging thing to say to them. That can provoke them to anger. It can be frustrating. How often do we seek to encourage our kids? Do we look for ways to encourage them? In quoting Hendrickson, he says here, by failure to make allowance for the fact that the child is growing up has a right to have ideas of his own and need not be an exact copy of his father to be a success. That kind of can hit us between the eyes, right? When our children are much different than we are. They like different things. They have different personality. That's okay. By neglect. By failing to sacrifice for our children. By making them feel unwanted. Like they're in the way of what we want to do. Our life. Not providing for their needs. That's all number five. Number six. By bitter words and outright physical cruelty. Physical and verbal abuse. Number seven. by pushing achievement beyond reasonable goals, having unrealistic expectations. That can be devastating. MacArthur shared a story in his commentator about a young lady that committed suicide because her mom would not relent the expectations. Whatever she did, it wasn't enough. this young lady, and eventually she committed suicide. She took her life. Don't want to do that. Number eight, by failing to allow our children to grow up at a normal pace, and instead punishing them for childish behavior, which we should understand to be normal for their age. Having, again, unrealistic expectations of what they should be able to do and not do at their age. Number nine, using our love as a tool of reward and punishment. Not loving them, withholding love when they don't do what we want them to do. We should never do that. Our love needs to be unconditional, like our Heavenly Father's love for us is unconditional. Number 10, inconsistency, not keeping our promises saying we're going to do something and never actually following through. It's not to say that plans don't change, but our kids do deserve an explanation. And they do deserve our every effort to keep the promises that we've made to them. Number 11, holding your kids to one standard and yourself to a different standard. That's one that we can fall into. Or you ever do this. I can't believe that you disobeyed in this same way the For all these times and then you notice that there's four fingers pointing back at you you're saying I I Think earlier today I sinned in that same way that I've sinned in a lot of those ways before and my wife has graciously forgiven me and my God has graciously forgiven me We need to be careful that we're not like that unmerciful servant, right? Choking somebody because they owe us a little bit of money. And God has forgiven us a debt that we can never, ever repay. We can do that with our children. Closely related to holding our children to one standard ourselves to another is hypocritical living Living a double life Acting one way at church and then acting completely different at home or around your unbelieving friends or at work Don't you think that your kids notice that? You think that they see the difference? Listen, we're all hypocrites to one degree or another. I'm not talking about the fact that we all fail and fall short of what we know God has called us to be. Obedient Christians who love the Lord and our faithful disciples all stumble in many ways. We all fall short. But we are to be growing in holiness. We are to be growing in faithfulness. And our children need to see an earnestness and a genuine love for the Lord and a following heart after Him that not only exists on Sunday morning, but that they see throughout the week in our lives. I think this can be one of the most damaging things to children. As fathers, we need to be diligent and thoroughly committed to a life that cannot be used by Satan or the child's own unbelieving heart to be a stumbling block to them. You know what I mean by that? You don't want your life to be a stumbling block to your child, that they have to look past you in a sense, that they have to look for other faithful Christians to see that what you say is actually true because they don't actually see it in your own life. That's a hard word for me to say. It's a hard word to live, but let us not live hypocritically before our children. The Lord can help us. And when we fail, not if, when we fail, we must not be afraid to repent to our children. and let them know how and where we have been failing as Christian fathers, as Christian parents. They know it already. They see it already. Are we willing to admit it? Are we willing to confess and humble ourselves? Don't let your pride get in the way. Kill your pride. Don't allow it to ruin your relationship with your children. that unique and that critical role that you have in their life as their father. If your children leave the home and reject your faith, let them not be allowed to use your hypocritical life as an excuse or justification for their sin. Your children can reject the faith, and yet they cannot deny the reality of your faith in Christ as you and your spouse live it out in your daily life. That is something that they cannot deny. That is a continual testimony before them of the reality of the gospel, the reality of your love for Christ. It's a message that cannot be silenced. And that's why I think Peter writes to wives of husbands that are disobedient to the word, and he says, you can win your husband without a word, as they observe your behavior. You can do that even with your children. But we will see, words are necessary too. When you give that kind of life to your child, when you live a life in dependence on the Lord, a life of integrity, a life of humility, this is an inheritance that you give to them like no other. It's worth far more than riches and wealth and everything that you could give to them. This inheritance of a genuine faith lived out before them. Isn't it worth all of your labors, pouring in your heart, your soul, your mind, your strength? Isn't it a worthy effort? Stephen Lawson, speaking of the great 17th century evangelist George Whitefield, had this to say about George Whitefield's ministry. He said, George Whitefield was possessed with a full persuasion of the truth, which in turn fueled his passion. His heart was like a blazing furnace, stoked by his belief in the gospel of grace. Such fervent convictions within Whitefield produced a power over his listeners' hearts. Even unbelievers were drawn to the force of his firm belief in the truth. David Hume, the Scottish philosopher and skeptic, was once challenged as he was seen going to hear George Whitefield preach. And they asked him, they asked this Scottish philosopher, this skeptic, I thought you did not believe in the gospel. To which Hume replied, I don't, but he does. He was drawn by George Whitefield's conviction of the truth. And what I want to ask you is do your words and life demonstrate that kind of conviction, that kind of commitment to the truth that even if Your children do not believe they cannot say that my dad does not believe the truth That's the one thing that they won't be able to say. I know I don't believe it, but I know that he does I've seen it. I've witnessed it. I could testify that He believes and loves the Lord My dad is the real thing he's not a hypocrite Your children will know you better than than anybody else besides your wife." Well, Paul doesn't only instruct the fathers as to what they should not be doing, but he also gives them instruction about what they should be doing, what they ought to be doing. And he says here, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Bring them up. Now, just a word about the Roman culture that the fathers lived in. that the children, that those he was writing to, there was something in the Roman world at that time which was called patrio potestas, which gave fathers in the Roman Empire absolute authority over their children. And Harold Hohner in his Commentary on Ephesians explained it this way, the father's control over his son was for life, not just his children. He could imprison his son, Scourge shame and punish him sell them into slavery up to three times I guess they put a limit a cap on that for some reason you can only sell your child in slavery three times after that Or have him killed The father had more power over his son than a master over his slave This was the culture in which Paul was writing these things and these fathers who had this kind of absolute authority over their children. He points out that though it was not quite as severe in Jewish and Greek context, nevertheless, in both of these cultures, the father ultimately had ultimate and absolute control over his children. But, take note of the contrast here. He says, but bring them up. So Paul says, stop doing this, don't let your parenting be characterized by provoking your children to anger, but instead start doing this. Let your parenting, your relationship with your children be characterized by these things. The Greek verb behind the bring up is found only one other place in the New Testament. And actually it's just a couple verses before this. You can look in your Bible there in chapter 5 verse 29. Paul says, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ also does the church. That word nourishes is the same word that Paul uses here. Fathers, bring up. Bring them up. Nourish. Stop provoking them. Don't provoke them to anger. Instead, nourish them. Care for them. In 5.29, Paul uses this word to talk about how we naturally care for our bodies, right? If you're sick, you get medicine, you take care of yourself, you nourish yourself. And Paul says that that's the way that husbands are supposed to care and nourish their wives. They're one with their wives, they're supposed to care for them, nourish them. There's a tenderness, there's an affection there. That's what Paul tells fathers. That's how you are to take care of your children Do not provoke them to anger Don't exasperate them can be translated as rear or to rear them to bring them up to nourish them one commentator translated as but rear them tenderly and Paul is using this idea as an antonym, the opposite of provoke them to anger. Stop provoking them to anger. Don't provoke, don't let your parenting be characterized by that. John Calvin, seeing this emphasis, gave this instruction on this word and he said, let them be fondly cherished. Let your children be fondly cherished. Does that kind of tender and compassionate care characterize your relationship with your children? Do you parent them in that way? I know that depending on your present relationship with your children, that might seem like a very strange idea and difficult to imagine having that kind of relationship with your children. But dads, this is what God has called us to. This is a command that we are expected to obey. And He has not left you without help. He has put His Spirit within you, and He will bear His precious fruit in your life, such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Does that characterize your relationship with your children? With your sons and daughters? It should. Love your children where they're at. Think of the way that your Heavenly Father deals with you, that He's so patient with you. In your fumblings, and in mine, in our failures. Are you patiently loving your children like that? Do you know your children? Do you know their likes and their dislikes? Do you know how to bless them? Do you know their needs? Do you know their strengths and their weaknesses? Do you know where they are prone to wander? Do you shepherd their hearts? Do you seek to help them to grow and mature in the areas where they are weak and most vulnerable? Do you empathize with them? Do you empathize in pain with them as they struggle with temptation? Does your heart ache with them as they face a broken world and their own depravity and propensity towards sin, toward pursuing that which is dishonoring to God and that which is self-destructive? We ought to ache with our children in that sense, care for them, empathize. Do you preach the gospel to your kids? Do you share Christ with them? Do you point them to Jesus Christ as their only hope of salvation? Do you take the opportunities when they fail and sin in the same ways again and again and again and tell them that they can be forgiven of those sins? That they don't have to be ultimately punished by God for those sins. They can be forgiven and cleansed and God can give them power to have victory over their sin. Do you tell them of what Jesus has done for you? And how he has changed you. That's what God told the Israelites again and again. Tell your children what I've done for you. Tell them how you were slaves in Egypt. And you were in misery and bondage. And tell them how great and awesome and powerful your God is. And how he rescued you and had mercy on you. Tell your children that. Judges records the sad story of a generation that grew up and didn't know the Lord. Because their fathers, their parents, they were unfaithful to communicate and pass it on and live that example before them. This nourishing care of a father for his children is to be characterized by two primary aspects. Discipline and instruction. That's what he says. Bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. These ideas are similar to one another, but they're not identical. Each one has some particular nuances that I wanted to point out to you. The word behind discipline, the Greek word paideia, It has the idea of training, upbringing, instruction, discipline. There's six occurrences of this word in the New Testament. And if you want to jot down Hebrews 12, 5 through 11, that same word discipline occurs four times in those verses. And it's talking about the discipline of the Lord. And the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, just like a father disciplines the son and daughter that he loves. And the other ones found in 2 Timothy 3.16 where it talks about scripture being inspired by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, for training in righteousness. That's the same word. So one commentator defined it in this way. Discipline, accordingly, may be described as training by means of rules and regulations, rewards, and when necessary, punishments. It refers primarily to what is done to the child. So that's this kind of comprehensive term of discipline, the things, the rewards, the rules, regulations, this whole system that a father is to set up. Another gentleman said it's training by act and by discipline. Where the other word there, instruction, deals primarily with verbal instruction. Verbal instruction. Paul writing to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 2 10 to 11 says you are witnesses and so is God how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behave toward you believers just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each of you as a father would his own child. Paul says that's characteristic of a father with his child exhorting encouraging imploring And the second word here, again, the instruction of the Lord, could be defined as admonition. In 1 Corinthians 10-11, this same word is used when Paul says, now these things happened to them, to Israel, as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. In Titus 3-10, Paul writes, reject a factious man after the first and second warning. So that word warning, and that word instruction in Corinthians, that's what Paul's talking about here. that as fathers we are to verbally instruct, we're to teach them the whole counsel of God, we're to tell them who they are before God, we're to tell them of their need for a Savior, we're to tell them of God's commandments, of God's righteousness and their accountability to Him. So again, it's primarily what is said to the child and then notice that it's it said here that the discipline and instruction of the Lord Of the Lord the father is doing the Lord's work in the life of this child you as a father are an ambassador for Christ as Paul says as though God were making his appeal in a sense. He's doing that through you as the father to your children and God loves your children more than you do. And ultimately, they belong to him. They're given to you by God, but you don't, you are not the primary owner of your children. God is. And he calls us as fathers to be good stewards of that. It's a great privilege, and it's a great responsibility. And we are to be like Christ in our instruction, in our discipline of our children. We are to be patient like the Lord is patient, kind like He is kind, faithful like He is faithful, slow to anger, compassionate, merciful, gracious, desiring our child's salvation and their good and willing to sacrifice for it. It's not about what we can get from our kids. It's about how can I use my position of leadership to serve my wife, to serve my child? What can I do for them? How can I help them? So we can see that the father's duty to his children are comprehensive. He has to train them in word and deed, by action and by instruction, by example and by teaching. This is the father's great calling and it will demand everything from him. For many, it will be the hardest and most demanding task that they will face, but its rewards are well worth it. I would commend the book of Proverbs to you, a great place to find wisdom and instruction from the Lord about what it means to be a good father. Proverbs 19.8 Discipline your son while there is hope and do not desire his death. Proverbs 29 15, the rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother. Proverbs 29 17, correct your son and he will give you comfort. He will also delight your soul. I would like to recommend a resource to you that's available, one that will go further into these details about what it means to be a good dad, how to lead your children. It's a book written by John MacArthur called Being a Dad Who Leads. And if you like audiobooks, or if you're willing to give it a try, they actually have it for free on Christianaudio.com this month, the month of June. You can download it for free, but you can also get the book at a regular bookstore. But I wanted to recommend that to you. It's a great book. If you're a Christian father this morning, I just want to encourage you to take courage. The Lord is with you, and he is with you to forgive you and to cleanse you. of your sinful failures and mine. He is with you to give you the humility that you will need to confess those failures to himself, to your wife, to your children. And he is with you to shape your heart and desires to be in keeping with the commands that we have been considering this morning. And he is with you to give you the power that you need and that you lack on your own to be this kind of father. Again, it's worth the effort. It's worth your blood, sweat, and tears. Aren't you going to be willing to give your effort, your heart and soul to this noble and worthy effort of fatherhood? God will help you. If you're not a Christian this morning, I must tell you that what I'm talking about here is impossible for you to be this kind of dad, because quite frankly, you lack the power. You don't have the Holy Spirit in your life. Even if you have some desires to be this kind of dad, you can't be this kind of dad. But there is good news for you because Jesus Christ died in your place for your sins, so that you might be forgiven of all those sins you've committed against him and against your family. Jesus offers the gift of righteousness, his own perfect life, in place of your sin-filled life. Today, this Father's Day, you have the opportunity to be given new life, eternal life, because God the Father was willing to send His own Son to die on the cross for your sins, so that you could be forgiven and become His child. If you've never done that, I want to challenge you to make this Father's Day the day that you become a child of the Lord God Almighty. who offers a free gift of salvation through Christ to any who come to Him, repent of their sins, and confess their need for a Savior. Jesus is willing to save. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this morning. Thank you for your Word. Thank you that it's clear. Lord, help us as we seek to put this into practice. Lord, help us to be the fathers that our children need, Lord, the fathers that you've commanded us to be. Lord, please honor your word. I pray that your spirit would do only what he can in our hearts, Lord. Pray you'd comfort those that are hurting, those that have failed, those that have experienced the consequences of the failures of others, Lord. I pray that your grace and your forgiveness would Meet every need here, Lord, and help us dads to be more like you.