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This is the voice of truth, the
voice of God's inebriate, absolute, eternal, unbroken, verbally inspired
word. The voice of truth is coming
to you from the Metropolitan Tabernacle of the First Baptist
Church of Algiers. We're located at 501 Opelousas
Avenue here on the West Bank in old New Orleans, Louisiana.
This is Pastor Albert Pindarver speaking, inviting you to stay
tuned to hear God's message by our late Pastor L.R. Shelton,
Sr. on the subject. Children and
heritage from the Lord, and this is number 184. That's children
and heritage from the Lord, number 184. Now, will your Bibles turn
to 127th Psalm? Will you? 127th Psalm. Except the Lord build the house,
they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the
city, the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain for you to
rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows,
for so he giveth his beloved sleep. Lo, children are an heritage
of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of
a mighty man, so are children of the youth. half is the man
that hath his quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed,
but they shall speak with the enemies in the gates." Now that's
what the psalmist thinks about the home and the children. We
notice in the third verse, the psalmist said, children are an
inheritance of the Lord. Children are the joy of the home. How often we think otherwise. Everywhere you turn today, you
hear the expression, children and dogs not wanted. You cannot
build a home without children. Children are a blessing to the
home. The fifth verse of the psalm
says, Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. I wish
every father and mother listening to me would weigh these words
carefully and begin to realize that children are of the Lord. I have never been able to understand
how a wife would fight against giving birth to children. and
raising children in their home. I have known mothers, not a few,
who would even curse the day that they became expectant mothers.
This will also hold good with the father or man of the home.
Listen again. Children are an inheritance of
the Lord. If we realize that great fact,
then we as fathers and mothers would feel the keen responsibility
of our children more keenly and accept it with a greater weight
of responsibility. I want to tell you, My friend,
one of the greatest joys and blessings of the home is for
Jehovah God to entrust in that home a baby, and make us as fathers
and mothers stewards of that child, to raise that child, to
train that child, to teach that child, and to plant that child
in Jehovah God, the Lord Jesus Christ. as its Savior and Lord. If we did, we would not have
the juvenile problem we have today. This great truth, in fact,
is brought out throughout the entire Bible, that children are
an heritage of the Lord. In Genesis 33, when Jacob came
to meet Esau, and when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women
and children, he said, Who are those with thee? And Jacob said,
these are the children which God hath graciously given thy
servant. Here Jacob recognized that his
children were the gift of Jehovah. When we realize this great fact,
our children become a part of us, and we feel the responsibility
of them. Our hearts long after them. and
we give our lives for them because God gave them to us. God giveth
and God taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
I know that it is so in my own case. It was so when I married. I recognize that God gave me
Shelton to me as my wife and as the mother of my children.
Before each child came into the world, we dedicated unto the
Lord. We recognize that God gave it to us. It was His. But it
was our responsibility, and God had entrusted that child to us
to love, cherish, nurture, and admonish as long as it was under
our roof. Also, we recognize that God was
holding us responsible for every action of that child, and also
for its salvation in Christ Jesus, our Lord. This truth is also
brought out in Genesis 48, 4, when Jacob was relating to Joseph
how God had blessed him. Jacob said unto Joseph, listen,
God Almighty said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful and
multiply thee, and I'll make of thee a multitude of people,
and I'll give this land unto thy seed after thee for an everlasting
possession." You know it is wonderful to recognize the hand of God
Almighty, the all-supplying, all-nourishing God in multiplying
your family and building your home. I wish every father and
mother would bow your heads, humble your hearts, and recognize
the Lord Jehovah God as the head of your home, as the one who
has given you your family, and would bow your knees unto him
as your Lord and Savior. You know that would be a mini
home made over today? Yes, it would. Yes, it would. This truth is also brought out
in Joshua 24, 3, when the Lord Jehovah spake to the children
of Israel and said, I took your father Abraham from the other
side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan,
multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac. I like that expression,
and I gave him Isaac. Mother, Dad, look at that child
by your side. Look at him intently. Behold
that little face and recognize that God gave you that child. Man, how could you mistreat,
misguide, or mislead that child? God gave you that child. I wish
you would recognize that fact. In the days of old, the Jewish
wife thought it was the curse of God upon her home if her womb
was barren. They looked upon children as
a gift of Jehovah. Let me give you two illustrations.
First, the life of Hannah as found in 1 Samuel. Because her
barrenness of womb, the scripture says, she was in bitterness of
soul and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore, and she vowed
a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look upon
the affliction of thy handmaid, and remember me, and not forget
thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thy handmaid a man-child,
then will I give him unto thee all the days of his life." Isn't
that not a great contrast to the average home today? The average
child is conceived in lust and born into a world not wanted.
This accounts for the juvenile problems we face today, the crime
among youth. We as fathers and mothers do
not feel the keen responsibility of our children as gifts from
God. Our orphanages are filled with
children not wanted. A few nights ago, yonder on the
roadside was a wrecked automobile, all smashed in. There were the cries of bleeding,
dying young people in that car. By the sight of their bleeding,
crushed bodies, were broken bottles of whiskey. When the father of
one of the girls was notified, and he came rushing to the wreck
in the spirit of a great excitement, he stood there looking at the
sight of blood and broken flask of liquor, and very angrily said,
I will prosecute the man who sold my daughter that liquor.
Returning home that night from the funeral home, he went to
his closet to get his drink of whiskey. And there in the closet
he found a note written by his daughter. Listen, here's what
it said. Dear Dad, I didn't think you
would mind us young people having some of your liquor tonight for
our party so we could have a good time. He was the man. That father never had recognized
that his beautiful daughter was a gift to the Lord to him. That
father thought only of his own lustful appetite, and cared nothing
for the responsibility of the life or soul of his child. Man, how do you stand today?
Do you treat your child as coming from the Lord? Hannah did, and
when the child came, listen, Hannah prayed and said, My heart
rejoiceth in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over mine
enemies, because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none
holy as the Lord, for there is none beside thee, neither is
there any rock like God." Then she goes on to say, "'I have
lent him to the Lord as long as he liveth.' He shall be lent
to the Lord. Isn't that a marvelous thing?
Isn't it a blessing to our hearts when we see our fathers and mothers
come to realize that our children are gifts of the Lord, and they
lend them back to the Lord? And isn't it wonderful to let
the Lord lead us and watch the Lord use them as he wills? That is the only way to build
a happy home. Now let's notice one other illustration,
as found in the first chapter of Luke. Here is a little home
up in the hill country in the city of Judea. There lived a
man and his wife by the name of Zacharias and Elizabeth. They were not blessed with children,
but they prayed earnestly, and God gave them a son. They took
it as coming from the Lord, and when he was born, they gave him
back to the Lord. Have you ever in your heart,
man, down on your knees, dedicated your children to the Lord? My
heart aches beyond words of description when I see a child mistreated
or abused or neglected or going hungry. How in the world a father
can take his money and spend it for liquor, or go off to a
gambling hell and lose it, then come back home and see his children
suffer for want of food, or run off and leave them? I do not
know. Man, I would do one of two things. I would get out on my knees and
ask God to break the power of sin over me and make me the man
a father ought to be, or I would take a gun and go to a brush
heap somewhere and blow my brains out. I would. That would also
hold good for a mother. Father, mother, give your child
a chance. I'm pleading for our children
over this nation this morning. They be given a chance to live
a decent life. I know the average home that
our children come from. I do. They're not wanted. In so many of our homes, we do
much welfare work in checking homes, broken homes, homes of
poverty, homes where there's nothing to eat, homes where there's
nothing for the necessities of life. And I have sat and cried
and wept, O Lord, give us fathers who will be men in this hour."
Now, let's notice one other great fact we face, and that is children
have to share in our blessings or curse. Father, if you could
realize this one fact, that your child would either be blessed
or cursed by every act of yours, it would make you sit up and
think. Thousands upon thousands of fathers and mothers have never
felt the responsibility of their children. You just take them
for granted. They're just so much of a problem
to you. And you have never realized that
you will carry them to heaven or to hell. Which one? Now let's face the fact of our
responsibility as parents in training our children. Ephesians
6, 4, And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but
bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Nurture and admonition referred
to care and discipline. To discipline a child is to bring
him unto the voice of authority and lead him to obey that voice. The word nurture also means feeding
or promoting growth in the child. This calls for nourishment, food,
clothing. I know in this day and time for
the average common family, it's a battle to live, but I firmly
believe with all my heart that there isn't a family regardless
of how poor, but if you're willing to accept the responsibility
for that child, God will lead you in supporting him in some
manner, if you have to beg for it. It may not be the best. It may not be what you would
like it to be, but if you'll Conserve your money. See if you
could manage better than you do. Throw your cigarettes away. Throw your liquor away. Throw
your nightlife away. Go home. Live for that home. I was talking to the man one
day up along that line. He said, I just, I don't have
it. And when we figured up his cigarette
bill and his showbill and his coke bill and other unnecessary
things in life, it came to around $50 a month that he was literally
thrown away, that he could clothe and feed his children much better
than he was doing. Nurture also means training,
rearing, educating. Here it would mean educating
in the Word of the Lord. How many of you fathers take
time out to sit down and talk to that boy or that girl? Does that child have a Bible
all his own? Have you set the example of reading
and studying the Bible in front of that child? Have you bowed
joyfully to the Lordship of Christ? And then with the voice of authority
you have led your child about his knee to your voice of authority,
or is there a divided voice in your home? Man, have you and
do you shirk your duty of exercising the voice of authority in your
home? I'm driving that home to you
now. You better listen. Man, have you And do you shirk
the duty of exercise and the voice of authority? Do you take
the road of least resistance and leave the responsibility
of the children to your wife? Do you, man, in your rebellion
against God, take the road of least resistance and let your
child have his own way and do as he or she pleases? If that's
the case, in your life, God help you, wretched man, it would be
better for you if you'd never been born. Let me ask you this
question. Do your children obey you when
you speak? Or have you thrown up your hands
and said, what's the use? I can't make them mind me. I
just have to let them go. God pity you, man. God have mercy
upon your poor soul. Man, let me plead with you, out
of a heart that loves you, to bow your knee to the Lordship
of Christ. Then ask God to give you the
voice of authority to control that child. Man, God has given
some of you good families. God's given you a good wife.
He's given you obedient children, but you don't appreciate them.
You still want to have your own way and go to hell. If that is
your attitude, It would be better for you if you'd never been born.
This is training up a child in the nurture and admonition of
the Lord. I have no sympathy whatsoever
with the modern-day teaching of controlling children. The
Bible says, spare the rod and spoil the child. I was brought
under subjection to my father, not only by his voice, but by
his rod. As I've often said, He raised
me under the stars and stripes. He praised the stripes and I
saw the stars. In other words, He raised me
under the rod and the voice of authority. I'll never cease to
praise my Lord that my Father's voice and His rod were the authority
in our home. And I learned obedience at His
feet. My Father was not cruel. I've
learned this, if you want your children to love you, make them
obey you. Our almshouses are filled with
aged people today, largely because their children do not want them. And the reason for that is that
they did not make their children obey them in the home. I know it's taught in our schools
and all books on child psychology today that we should not whip
a child, but should direct It's energy and nature. This is all contrary to the Word
of God. You cannot direct all the energy
and the nature of a child. Part of it has to be curved,
subdued, and brought under subjection. That will must be broken, and
the child must be taught obedience. Now you get that. I'll stand there because that's
God's Word. We have looked at the responsibility
of the parents, which always comes first. Now let's look at
the responsibility of the child in the home. Ephesians 6, 1 says,
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor thy father and mother.
which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be
well with thee, and that thou mayest live long on the earth."
Listen to Colossians 3.20, "'Children, obey your parents in all things,
for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.'" Listen to Exodus
20.12, "'Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may
be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. We
see from these scriptures that God enjoins upon every child
a vow in submission and obedience unto his parents. Let me say
it again, God's order of government and all, Christ is ahead of man,
man is ahead of woman, parents ahead of the children. This is
God's order of government and the rule of authority in the
home. If the home is built around God's government, then you'll
have a home worth living in. Satan has perverted the whole
government of the average home. You'll find children in disobedience
to their parents. You'll find the wife in disobedience
to her husband. You'll find the husband in disobedience
to the Lordship of Christ. This is Satan's masterpiece,
and you'll find the shoreline of time literally covered with
wrecked homes from the stormy blast of Satan. The only hope
for restoration is the grace of God, and it's never too late
to restore that home. One night some Years ago, I was
sitting in a distant city talking to a young man whose home had
literally been wrecked by Satan perverting the government of
that home. I was pleading with him, as the husband and head
of that home, to bow in absolute submission to the Lordship of
Christ, that he might bring his wife and children under subjection
to his voice of authority. Then he said to me, Well, Pastor,
it is too late. It was not the question of being
too late. It was the question of him first
bowing in submission and being obedient unto the Lordship of
Christ as his all-sufficient Savior and Lord, then the God
of heaven, according to his word and by his grace through the
power of his Holy Spirit. would work a transformation in
the home and build it upon the rock Christ and the eternal word
of God. I have faced this fact and I
know it to be true. No child ever gets saved until
he first learns obedience unto his parents. I do not care how
religious you are. I don't care what place you hold
in the church. If you never learn obedience
to your parents, you'll never get saved. If you've never learned
to obey your parents, it shows you've never been through the
house of Holy Spirit conviction. and been brought low to the place
of repentance. As long as a child rebels in
his heart against the voice of authority in that home, he rebels
against the Lordship of Christ. Now, my friend, that's true.
That's true. I don't care if it's before they
get married or after they get married. If that child rebels
against his or her father, they're gone. They never will be saved.
Never will. And you can find some old lopsided
preacher somewhere that's got itchy ears that'll sit down and
tell you, oh, you know, it's a great thing that you're out
from under the domination of your father. I've had them to
tell that over and over again are trying to win my children
away from Christ, to win other children away from their fathers
and mothers. Listen, to talk to an individual
in rebellion against his parents about trusting Jesus for salvation
is blasphemy to the nth degree. That's right. To say that that
child is saved who's never learned obedience is to talk nonsense. You're not saved. If you've never
learned obedience to your father, I don't care whether you're married
or single. You're not saved and never will
be until you learn obedience. You get that. 2 Timothy 3.1,
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come,
for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters,
proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents. We notice that one
of the prevalent sins in the closing days found in religious
life is disobedience to parents. Paul is not talking here about
the world. Paul is talking about the children
of church families. We are living in those days right
now. I have never seen as much rebellion in the hearts of children
of our church families in all my life. And these children belong
to our churches. They have been brought into the
church on the high-pressure decision days in Sunday school, training
unions, daily vacation Bible schools, and such like. They
have padded the church roads and were told that they were
saved. They have been brought into our trading unions to train
them for church membership when they have never been known Christ
as Lord and Savior. They have never known Holy Spirit
conviction. They are foreigners to repentance.
Therefore, they have missed Christ. They are disobedient unto their
parents. Their wills have never been broken. They cannot be taught the Bible.
As a whole, they do not love the Bible, cannot understand
the Bible. Why? Because they have never
been born again. Why have they not been born again? Why are they not saved? They
have never been awakened to the fact that they are lost sinners
and been brought to the place of repentance. Our present-day
so-called child evangelism is a farce. It's an abomination
in the sight of God. It makes the child of twofold
more the child of hell than it was before. So many churches
today are sending their children on Wednesday nights and Sunday
nights off to the movie and picture show in an adjoining room of
that church building for entertainment, and while the parents are supposed
to be hearing the gospel. I want to tell you, my friend,
we're facing the darkest hours we've ever faced with our children.
God help us in these hours. Will you pray with me? Oh, I
know I've been criticized because my children are this and that
and one and the other, one by one. May we pray that God will
awaken them and bring them to Christ. If the grace of God I
preach to you can save children, it can save yours. Man, mother,
don't let go. God can save your children for
Christ's sake. Let's pray, will you? Let's not
let our children go. Let's stay with them. This brings
to the close another broadcast. We want to thank you for your
letters and gifts that keep these messages coming out or going
out over the Voice of Truth program each week. Again, the title of
the message was, Children and Heritage from the Lord, and this
is number 184. You can order it by that number or by the title. You may have a free printed copy
simply by requesting it. All of the messages preached
here by Pastor L. R. Shelton Senior on this broadcast
are also available on cassette tape for $3 postpaid. This includes
the complete hour, the singing by the radio choir, the story,
the letter reading by Ms. Wylene, and then the 30-minute
message. And I'd like to mention, in closing,
our book of the month. We've been offering it now for
two or three weeks. It's The Marriage Ring by John
Angel James. What a gracious little book.
I've read it. I recommend it highly. I often say, if you're
not satisfied, I'll give you money back. Yes, take the money
out of my pocket and give it back to you. It's a gracious
little book for a gift for someone who's getting married, someone
who recently got married, or if you're just having problems
in the home. It answers many questions here.
It sells for $2.60. postpaid through December 31,
2000. That's the marriage ring by John
and Jill James. And we appreciate the opportunity
to bring you this old-time, old-fashioned gospel message. Yes, folks ask
me, Pastor, why do you call yourself old-fashioned? And I say it's
because we preach God's Word. Not much of that being done today.
No, we have so much easy-believing-ism in the land today. Folks making
a decision for Jesus, giving Jesus a heart. None of that means
anything, my friend. No, that's not a thing in the
world, but just the trick of Satan to keep our folks blinded.
But we preach here the awakening ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Coming up on a poor old lost sinner, blinded to his lost condition,
awakening to his lost condition, and then showing him his heart
and allowing him to repent. Come to the Lord, begging for
forgiveness. Yes, you know what repentance is? Taking the blame.
Have you ever taken the blame? blame, my friend. This is Pastor
Albert Pandora saying it's been good to have been with you. Let
me give you my mailing address. It's Radio Missions, Post Office
Box 6250, New Orleans, Louisiana, 70174. May the Lord's richest
blessings rest upon you. This is the Voice of Truth broadcast.
Children, an Heritage from the Lord, VOT #184
Series Practical Christian Living
| Sermon ID | 11501124641 |
| Duration | 29:25 |
| Date | |
| Category | Radio Broadcast |
| Bible Text | Psalm 127 |
| Language | English |
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