Amen. Please be seated. We'll dismiss the little ones to go with Mrs. Shore to the creche. And if you want, please open your Bibles to Job chapter 1. It is Father's Day. And so I was praying, asking the Lord for a Father's Day message, asking for wisdom about who He wanted me to preach on and what He wanted me to preach on. I'm confident this morning that God's brought us to this passage, and Job's a great example. As we think about a father this morning, as you come to Job chapter 1, and you look at verses 1 and 2, it says, There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright. And one that feared God, and eschewed evil. And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters." Right there, that qualifies Job this morning for what we're going to think about. Seven sons and three daughters. I think last night, that's a lot. You know, seven sons, three daughters. Then I thought, you know, if I had two more sons, and if I had two more daughters, I'd actually have seven sons and three daughters. So then it didn't seem like as much. Job, obviously, he's a father. And in fact, God took Job's first family, as we read the rest of the story, we're not going to read it today, but all his children die. But at the end of the trial, God gives back to Job seven sons and three daughters, the same as God had. And I thought, my dad lost his wife and three boys in a car accident. God gave back to my dad two boys and a girl. So, I thought that was kind of interesting. God gave back three to my father as well, but threw in a girl, I guess for good measure. Alright? But here he is, he's a good example to us, because he is a father. But not just a father, but he's a righteous father, a godly father. And we've already read that in verse 1, but let's continue reading at verse 6. It says, It was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth? a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and is sheweth evil." Well, the Word of God is very accurate. It already told us that in verse 1, but now it tells us that from the mouth of God. It's interesting. God says to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? There's nobody like him. I mean, talk about being an example. This man is a premier righteous man. I mean, to think that the Holy God, looking down and looking at this man, said, here is a man that has a testimony of righteousness. I didn't just use him there as an example of righteousness in the Word of God, I used him elsewhere in the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel is given a prophecy to the children of Israel and saying judgment is coming. And God said in Ezekiel 14 verse 14, Noah, we look at Noah in his generation, a righteous man. And by the way, Noah would be a good message this morning too because he saved his family. And it really goes along well with what we're going to look at as we look at the life of Job, but how he impacted his boys. His boys were saved and their spouses were saved. So Noah, Though these three men, Noah, then it says Daniel. Well, Daniel was the one that purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's meat. Daniel was an upright man. I mean, he's the one that the angel comes and says, you know, beloved of God, you know, I mean, it's a very special servant of the Lord as well. So you got Noah, then you've got Daniel, then it says, and Job. We're in it. We are going to look at Job. though they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God." It's an interesting statement. It's almost like God's three righteous men. He says, Noah, Daniel, Job. Even if these men were there, these most righteous men, most holy men, even if they were there by their prayer, by their intercession, by their impact, they could only deliver themselves by their righteousness. That's how much God's wrath was against in that situation. God repeated that in verse 20. It says again, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it as I live, sayeth the Lord God. They shall deliver neither son nor daughter. They shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. Interesting that God would even consider delivering, and that again has to do with our message today, children because of the righteousness of their father. I mean, that's incredible to think about, but in that case, the judgment was so extreme, God said even if those guys were there, they couldn't even deliver their kids. But what we're going to look at today really has a lot to do with that idea of the impact that we have upon our home as godly men. I want to preach a message this morning. Be a godly father. And you might be sitting here thinking, well, I'm not a father, or I'm a woman, or I'm a child, and you think, well, what's in this message for me? But what I want us to consider this morning as we think about this idea of being a godly father is that no matter where God's put you in your home, whether you're a child or an adult in your home, mom and dad, that you can have an impact, a spiritual impact for the Lord in your family. I'm going to preach it to men this morning, I'm going to preach it to fathers this morning, but I want you to make the application in your own mind as you listen to it. So are you a godly father this morning as you think about it? Are you a godly father? Are you having a positive spiritual impact upon your family? Think about your impact into your home, your effect in your home. What impact are you having today for the Lord? So let's pray and ask God for His grace this morning as we come to this passage and just pray that He'll speak to our hearts. Father, we're thankful for the Word of God. We're thankful for the time that we can spend in it this morning. Father, I pray that as we look at Job as an example of a godly father and what a godly father does, I just pray Lord, that you challenge our hearts, I pray. Father, we need this. Father, we need this out of our belly, flowing rivers of living water into our families, into our homes, and being poured out for these that need the nurture and the care of God. And Father, those that we're so concerned about. And Father, if we're here today, we don't care about a family or hearts in a sorry state indeed, but Father, those of us that do care, do desire that by the grace of God, we make a difference. I just pray, God, for these precious truths that we see in the life of Job to speak to our hearts this morning so that we can know that by the grace of God, we can have an impact in our home for God. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. All right. So first thing this morning as we look at being a godly father, a godly father has a sanctifying influence upon his children. A godly father is a sanctifying influence upon his children. It says in verse 5, And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent, and he sanctified them. We're not told a lot about the lives of these children, but they're apparently adult children, they're away from home, they're having this feast that's taking place, and so they're not right there under the watch care of Job, but Job sends and he sanctifies them, we're going to look at how he does that, he sanctifies them by giving an offering, he sanctifies them by interceding with God for them, he's a mediator for his family. He's a prayer warrior for his family. He's a godly man. We've looked at it already in the Word of God, and you think about the impact that this righteous man had, the man that God looked at and said, look at this guy. There's nobody like him. He's a righteous man. You think about the impact that that man had just by his testimony among his children as they saw their dad as a God-fearing man, as they saw their dad as a man that honored God, worshiped God, loved God, consistently lived for God. You know, Paul, the Apostle Paul, in the book of 1 Corinthians, in chapter 7, he taught that one saved person, spouse, one saved spouse, in a family has a sanctifying impact upon that family, even if there's just one. And again, if this could be, you know, just a child in the family, this could be, it could be applied below that, but specifically Paul speaking about a husband or a wife that is saved and the impact that they have. And so the word of God says in 1 Corinthians 7 verse 13, it says, the woman which hath a husband that believeth not, And if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him." So, one's gotten saved, the other's not saved, and Paul's saying, stay together. As long as that unbeliever stays with that person, don't depart, don't separate. And obviously the Bible speaks clearly about when you seek to find a spouse, you marry somebody that's saved. You marry somebody that loves God and honors God, because there's that like-mindedness, that unity. But it happens at times, we're witnessing to people, I mean, we've seen this week a situation that we trust is going to bear fruit in the life of a young man that's trusted Jesus Christ as his Savior. But somebody gets saved where they're at. I mean, they didn't have Christ in them helping them make wise decisions, so when they get saved, there's all this baggage, you could say, that's there. Part of that might be a relationship that was established before salvation. And Paul's saying, don't separate, and here's why. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband. Else were your children unclean, but now are they holy. But if the unbelieving depart, let them depart. A brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God hath called us to peace. And so you read that and you think, well, what's that mean? I sanctify my children. I sanctify my spouse. They're not saved. They haven't accepted Christ as their Savior. That child hasn't accepted Christ yet as their Savior. That's what Paul's speaking about. It's about dwelling with somebody that's unsaved. So what is the sanctification he's speaking about? I believe he's speaking about this. As they look at your life, That there is a fear of God that's put into their heart because they see an example of Christ right by them. As they hear you pray or don't hear you pray, as you intercede for them, that that is extending God's mercy to them. That that is setting them apart from the rest of the world that may not have somebody else interceding for them. And that's what Paul applies it to. As he gets down to verse 16, For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou wilt save thy husband? Or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou wilt save thy wife? You don't know, but that testimony, that sanctifying influence is going to lead by the grace of God to the heart of that person that you care more about than anybody else in the world, and that that person is going to obey the Lord Jesus Christ and get saved, and there's the sanctification that takes place, truly, as somebody accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior. And so it's that ministry that we have as believing parents, as we pray. We talked this morning in Sunday school, as in Adam, all die. Our kids are born in Adam. We don't have saved kids. We don't believe like a lot of false religions that somehow sprinkling a bit of water or doing something to a child when they're born somehow merits favor with God and that they have the grace of God at work in their life. They're unsaved. But we as godly parents begin to pray and ask God, please help us to see this child saved. And then we pray, God, help us to raise these children for you. God, help them to be holy. Help them to be set apart. Help them to make wise decisions. We plead the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ for them as we'll see Job doing in just a second, but we are having that sanctifying ministry upon them. Hudson Taylor, the great English missionary, his testimony of his salvation has a lot to do with his mom. As he read this story, according to WholesomeWords.org, his conversion occurred in this way. On the afternoon of a holiday, whilst looking over some booklets and tracts in his father's library, he came across one which appeared more attractive than the others. He glanced at it and then sat down to read the story, resolving to omit the application. When he took up the tract, as he himself testified, he was in an utterly unconcerned state, had made up his mind to lay it down whenever it became prosy. At the time when he was perusing the little gospel message, his mother was on her knees in her bedroom, 70 miles distant, pleading with God for the conversion of her only boy. Whilst on a visit to some friends, at the time alluded to, she became so burdened and exercised about Hudson's spiritual and eternal welfare that she turned the key in her bedroom door and on bended knee resolved that she would not leave the room until the Lord had saved her. Interesting, isn't it? I mean the Spirit of God is working in Hudson Taylor's life at the exact same moment that this godly mom is pleading for her son. It's almost like those stories of what the Lord Jesus Christ talked about as the father or the mother came to Jesus and at the moment that Christ gave them testimony that he was healed, they were healed and they inquired about it. And so Hudson Taylor gets saved, he tells his sister Amelia, which by the way, I believe Amelia had been interceding for her brother as well, she had written it in her journal, that she was praying for her brother. But he tells Amelia, he says, don't tell mom, I want to tell mom. So he opens the door to his mom and says, I got saved. And she says, I know. I mean, he says, did Amelia tell you? No, she had the witness of God's spirit in her heart. It's the same as what you read when you read about James Stewart's conversion as well. James Stewart was a Scot that early 19-teens, was a young footballer that we'll read about his conversion right here that God used for revival in Europe. But James Stewart, He quotes, first of all, in his biography, the verse, What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? That's a powerful statement, isn't it? I mean, somebody could be very wealthy. Somebody could buy the finest of things. And you might go through life thinking, I wish I could afford that. If I could just afford that, I'd be happy. But somebody could have the greatest of wealth in the world. But they can't buy heaven's real estate. They can't buy everlasting life. We've been talking on Thursday nights about the New Jerusalem. They can't pay to get entrance through the pearly gates. They can't pay to get access into that place and to eat of the tree of life. And so this question in the heart of James Stewart troubled him. All night and into the following day, this question haunted him. Finally, even as he is in the midst of thousands of people, he felt as though he were rushing to hell. He's playing football in front of large crowds. Every time he started toward the goal with the ball, Finally, he cried out in his heart, God, God, don't damn my soul. The moment the referee blows the whistle, I'll get saved. And true to his word, as soon as the game was over, James knelt where he was in his football talks and gave his entire life to the Lord Jesus, claiming salvation from sin through his precious shed blood. I hurried out of the stadium, he remembers, passed the crowd, ran home to mother to tell her the wonderful news. When she opened the door, I cried, mother, I'm saved, I'm saved, and burst into tears. I was astonished at my mother's lack of excitement. She said quietly, yes, I know. God told me that you would be saved this week. My mother had prayed through and had received the witness of the spirit that her prayers were answered. I mean, how many biographies do we have? I wonder today about the Wesley brothers and their godly mother that prayed for her sons, or what other men or women of impact have been impacted because they had somebody like Job in their family that looked at their kids and said, Oh God, please, I pray for my kids. What kind of a sanctifying blessing are you sending to your children from near or far? So a godly father has a sanctifying influence. Then the godly father sacrifices for the spiritual needs of his children. He sacrifices for the spiritual needs of his children. It says in our text that he rose up early in the morning. It was the first thing in the heart of Job as he woke up that he was burdened to get himself out of bed, to get himself to that place of prayer and to begin to intercede for his children. There's times where you or I might get up early to do something. I know when we took our trip to Ireland for men's camp, we had to be down to pick up Bernard at six in the morning, got to our plane at eight. because of the importance of the responsibility. I set an alarm. I'm thinking, I got to get up. I don't want to be late. I want to be there. And got myself motivated, got myself out of bed so I could be there. Back in the States, some of you know I'm a hunter. I fish as well, and I enjoy that. But if you want to get into a good position, you've got to get up early. You've got to walk out while it's still dark, and you've got to get into your stand. And if that's important to you, you get out of bed. Sometimes in New York City, my wife and I, we're in ministry there in New York City, and to beat traffic, it's important that you get up early and you get out of town because it takes two hours to get out of town on a good day. And so you get on the road. And what I want us to think about just now is how important is it for you to get out of bed to pray? See, if it's really important, then it's going to be something that we set our clock and say, by God's grace, I want to get up in the morning because I want to seek God for my kids. I want to seek God for my family. I want to seek God for my church. I want to seek God for our ministry. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible says, he rose early to pray. And the Bible says in Mark 1.35, And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. You say, oh Lord, and you could think, there's a lot of excuses I think that we could give to ourselves, and we could say, well, I'm tired. I'm tired. I mean, I've been burning the candle at both ends, and I've got to get caught up. But Jesus Christ, you look at Him, you think, was He tired? He was in all points tempted like as we are, the Bible says, yet without sin. We know He slept, He slept in the boat. We know He gets weary like we're weary. But He didn't get up to that morning and say, well, if I wasn't tired, I'd get out of bed to pray. If I wasn't tired, was our Lord busy? Think about him just, I mean, 24-7, he couldn't get into a place alone because the multitude would seek him, they'd find him. He'd try to hide in a house, he couldn't be hid because there were people that were seeking after him. And we can say again today, you know, we're busy. Our generation is busier probably than any generation. We've got electric lights, we've got internet, we've got technology, we've got schedules, we've got transportation that can get us from here to the moon or wherever we need to go, right? And so there's things about it, we look at life and say, but I'm so busy, I'm so busy, life's pressing. And was it Luther? Did you quote this recently? Somebody quote this? I read it in a book I was reading by Ian Bounds on prayer. I think it was Luther that said to somebody, I've got so much to do today, I must rise early and spend the first three hours in prayer. Where's that generation? I mean, does that... I mean, that seems like from another world, such a foreign concept to think that there would be godly men that are so burdened to say, I just, I got to get there, it doesn't matter how busy I am, I've got to spend that time with the Lord. You can look at the Lord Jesus and, you know what, was He godly? He was perfectly sinless. He didn't have to get to that place of prayer for sanctification. He was doing well spiritually. And I know there's a vast difference between us and the Lord Jesus Christ today, but we could kind of think this, well, you know, I'm doing pretty well spiritually. I'm faithful to church. I'm witnessing. I'm doing these things for the Lord. You know, I'm doing pretty good. Why should I get up early to pray? And so we could have these excuses. But then the Lord Jesus Christ, in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out and departed into a solitary place in their prayer. And I just wonder this morning how different our families would be, how different our community would be, how different our society would be, how different our country would be, if by the grace of God there'd be a generation that said, you know what, I gotta get up early today because I need to pray. I need to seek the face of God. And so a godly father's sacrifice, that takes sacrifice, doesn't it? I mean, who doesn't like to, you can go see mom, you're alright. Oh, it fell asleep. It fell asleep, buddy. Yeah. Okay. Do you want to take him to the crutch? It's okay. I used to sit in church, and this is... I shouldn't tell this to the kids, but here I am. I'm going to tell it. My dad would be up preaching. I'd sit like this, and I'd put a hymnal across my leg, and I'd put another hymnal on top of it. And by the end of the service, my leg would not only be asleep, it may be asleep up to here. I mean, a surgeon could perform surgery, and I would have been fine. But then you get that tingling sensation. I think that's what he just found out about. And so, he'll be alright. He'll be alright. I think we're at sacrificing. It costs, doesn't it? I mean, who doesn't want to sleep? I mean, to be honest, I wanted to sleep more this morning. You know, if you're honest, you probably did too. And we can be lazy, and we can make excuses, and we can say, well, you know, I've been staying up late, or whatever. But when we get serious about the things of God, there's something that in our hearts says, you know what, it's too important, I've got to get up and I've got to pray. Especially when we see our family going, if I could just be, I don't want to say it too strong, but basically going to hell. See, how many Christian families in the United States are seeing their children grow up and they go out into the world? And they go out into the world and everyone's saying, well, what's the problem? Are we not teaching the truth? What is it? But I wonder if it's this, we're not praying, that we're not begging God, saying, God, awaken the heart of this young person. Awaken the heart that only You can awaken. So a godly father's sacrifice is just going to cost, if we do that for God, it's going to cost us, but it's worth paying as a godly father. Then a godly father cares for the spiritual needs of all his children. A godly father cares for the spiritual needs of all his children. It says he offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. Okay, Job was a patriarch. He's back in the days where they would offer a sacrifice. He's the spiritual head of his home, and he's offering that sacrifice to God. And that sacrifice represented what God accepted, a blood offering, just like the story of Cain and Abel. God didn't accept Cain's offering because it was free of the field, but he accepted Abel's offering because it was a blood sacrifice. And so this godly father is offering that sacrifice that God accepts, a blood sacrifice. And be like us this morning, pleading the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ in the mercy of God and saying, Savior, you died for my child. You shed your blood for them. You shed your blood not for just their salvation, but their sanctification. I beg you to give mercy to my children. That's like what Job was doing as he offered that sacrifice. But it says he offered that sacrifice according to the number of what? them all." It's an interesting statement. It just means that there was nobody in that group that Job looked at and thought, they don't need it or they're too hard to get it. Of the seven boys and three kids that Job felt as father, that he had a spiritual ministry for each and every one of those kids and that he cared for them. He didn't leave a single one out. As we think about that this morning, let me just ask, and let me apply it broadly to our families, not just to our children, but is there anybody in your family that's too hard for you to intercede for? Is there anybody in your family that is too rebellious against God, has hardened their heart too greatly against God, that is too resistant to the gospel that you can't bow the knee and say, God, please, in your mercy, I pray that you reach them too. In the mercy of God, you can't say, God, give me an opportunity that I could minister the gospel to them or share something with them about Christ so that they could have a sanctifying influence upon them as well. As you think about that this morning, if you won't pray for them, if you're not interceding for them, why? Is there a reason that you look at and say, you know, they can't be saved or they can't have the mercy of God? Because I got asked this morning, are they harder than the Jesus-hater, killer, and persecutor of Christians, Saul of Tarsus? The Bible says in 1 Timothy 1.16, Paul said, Howbeit for this cause I obtain mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. When Paul got saved, If we saw Saul pre-conversion in our church, we'd see him binding us, we'd see him whipping us, we'd see him mocking us, we'd see him cursing us, we'd see him standing with the judges and saying, yes, sentence them to death. That was Saul pre-conversion. But God saved him. And Saul said, I got saved for a testimony to anybody. You might look in your heart today, you might be unsaved, and you think, I am so, I can't get saved. But Paul got saved. And so if Saul can get saved, anybody can get saved. The Bible, Saul, Paul wrote the book of Colossians. And as he wrote to the Colossians, he says to them, and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. That means brought to himself. You might look at your life and say, I'm an enemy of God by wicked works. I've done so many great things against God. My heart is so hard against God. My life has been lived in opposition to Christ. And Paul's writing to people like that, and he's saying, that was you. You were enemies with Christ, but now God has reconciled, that God has brought you to Himself, in the body of His flesh, through death, to present you holy, and unblameable, and unreprovable in His sight. Brother Washer this morning had two of us standing up here, and on this side, the person had on all the things of the devil, and sin, and judgment, and death. On this side, the love of God, and the righteousness, and the justification, the holiness that God gives. And it's just what that verse said, that you were an enemy, you were against God, but now by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, He's reconciled you. He's made you holy. and unreprovable in whose sight? In His sight. So that God would look down and say, have you considered my servant, a righteous man, that God could see that in us even today or in the life of that family member that we're not praying about, we're not burdened about, we don't care about, because we think there's no possible way I could have a sanctifying influence upon them. You know, Adonai Judson, we've talked about different men that served God this morning, but Adonai Judson that went to Burma, and ends up writing the Burmese Bible that's still used today, ends up having a huge spiritual impact in that country, the modern-day country of Myanmar. But Adenan Judson was an atheist, and he had friends that were atheists, and basically they kind of packed it together against God. He grew up in the home of a minister, I'm not sure how evangelical his upbringing was, but they believed in God, they feared God, but not Judson. But he went off into the world, and he's coming back on a trip, and he stops at an inn, and the innkeeper says, we've only got one room, and the room next to that has a person that's dying in it. And you'll hear them. And Judson was so tired, he said, doesn't matter, just give me the keys, that's not going to bother me. And so he goes into that room, and there in that room, he hears the cries of the dying man all through the night, and finally the cries cease. And the next day, he says, as he's going out, he asks the innkeeper, what about that man? He said he died. Who was he? And who he was was a friend that Judson had covenanted together in their atheism, in their hard-heartedness against God. But he listened to the agonized screams of that man in his death. And God used that to bring Adonai Judson to himself. God can save. Let's be encouraged. Today, we're praying that Fraser would come. He's not here this morning. We'll find out. what's happened, but God saves. Our heart needs to be encouraged. One of the glorious things about this week, and I got to see it, you didn't get to see it, but I watched a man trust Jesus Christ as his Savior. God saves. Jesus Christ could save today, but we ought to be looking at our family and saying, God, they're not too hard. No matter who it is in my family, God, I'm going to pray for that person. I'm going to have a sanctifying influence upon that person because I'm going to care for the spiritual needs of all, as a godly father cares for the spiritual needs of all his children. Then a godly father understands the potential for failure in his children. A godly father understands the potential for failure in his children. For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned. It's not that Job knew that his sons had failed, or even that he necessarily was worried that they would fail, but he knew the potential for failure. We have hope that, again, as a godly father, that Job had reached the heart of his children, that as he lived that example before them, that they had seen Christ in him. But there was a concern in his heart for these children that, again, we trust that he'd raised up, as Proverbs 22.6 says, train up a child in the way he should go. And when he is old, he will not depart from it. You know, that's our hope as godly parents, isn't it? As we seek to God, help us to raise godly kids, and as we seek to teach them the truth of the Word of God, that by God's grace, as we aim them, like the Bible says, as arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so our children of the youth, that we're directing them, that God, by your grace, we want them to hit those godly targets for you. But there's a soberness in our hearts and if you ask my wife this morning what's her greatest fear, her greatest fear likely is that her kids would grow up and turn their back on the Lord. There ought to be that soberness in our hearts as parents to think it's only by the grace of God that we can raise godly children. And so as parents we recognize in our children's life that there's a potential for failure and that burdens us to intercede for them and to pray for them. As a youth pastor and as a school disciplinarian at one point in our ministry in New York City, And my wife and I, we've been married just a couple of years, but we often had to go to parents and confront them and say, there's a problem with your child and it needs to be addressed. But what we found is this, so often rather than the parents taking our side with godly leadership and saying, we agree with you against our child, that so often the parent would agree with the child against the spiritual authority. And it grieved us. As a young married couple, we said to ourselves, God, help us never to do that. If a spiritual authority sees a problem in the life of my child, God, help me to agree with that spiritual authority against my child. Because understanding there's a potential for failure. So easy. Parents are very quick, all excuse, excuse, excuse, excuse. And the child hears that and thinks, that's okay, I've got mom and dad on my back. They don't really care if I mess up or whatever, and they'll defend me. And parents ought to have that heart that says, Oh God, I understand today my kids aren't perfect. My kids are going to fail. I acknowledge their failure. There's no excuse for their failure anymore than there's any excuse for sin in my life. And God, by your grace, I'm going to agree with God against them and understand them. And you can think about this this morning as we think about this point. It's only really as we understand the potential for failure in our children that we get motivated to get on our knees for God and say, God do something in their life. Why would Job, I mean this whole verse, doesn't it become pointless if Job's children can't fail? If there's no potential for failure, there's no motivation to go to the prayer closet and to get on your knees and to begin to say to God, oh God, by your grace, please, I understand they gotta live their life, they gotta make their decisions, but by the grace that God you give me, I wanna make the biggest impact I can upon them. And so Job let that burden, as he thought in his heart, oh God, it may be that they have sinned against thee. That motivated Job to get him to that place of prayer. And so a godly father understands the potential for failure in his children. Are you aware that your children could fail and that it's only the grace of God that's going to keep them? And how we need to... And you think of that verse, I sought for a man among them that should make up a hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it. Then it says, but I found none. But see, does God, when He sees your family, does He look and go, wow, praise God for that godly mom that has a sanctifying influence. She's living a holy life. She's praying. She's interceding. Look at that godly father. Look at his heart for his children. Look at his burden to see them do what's right. Look how he protects his home. Look at the things that he gets rid of out of the house. So those things aren't there as a stumbling block to his kids. Having that sanctifying influence upon his family, a godly father understands the potential for failure in his children. And then a godly father cares about the heart of his children. Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Job didn't just look at the outside and say, well, they look pretty good. He didn't just look at them and say, well, at least they I mean, they give the idea that they reverence God, or that as he looks on the outward part, he looked at their heart and he said, oh God, it may be that they've sinned in their heart. Somewhere I can't see, somewhere I can't perceive, somewhere God that you alone have the ability to see. Mack, our three-year-old, Mack. He loves Bobops. Bobops are robots. So he likes robots. There are some interesting robots you see coming out nowadays. I've seen this mule that the government made and this thing can actually run. I don't know if you've seen it. It doesn't look like a... You know, the whole evolution thing kind of goes out the window because, I mean, no flesh, no life, no intelligence, no anything. But man's done it, you know, they've made this thing that can jump up and down and kind of look like that. But what you can't see when you see a robot, a lot of times, maybe sometimes you can't, what you can't see is what controls it. All the wiring, all the memory boards or the artificial intelligence that's put into that robot, but that's what controls it. That's what makes it. What you see doesn't matter. What matters is what's in it. You know, this morning, I praise God you're here in church, and I praise God our children are in church, and I praise God sometimes we look at young people and say, praise God that they're faithful and they've got a good spirit, they've got a good attitude, but you know what we can't see? We can't see the heart. but it's the heart that is the control center for life. It's the heart that everything flows out of that, and the potential for danger is great. Without God's help, the heart is deceitful, the heart is wicked. As the Bible says in Jeremiah 17, 9, the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked who can know it. Our heart is deceitful. Our heart is something that, by the grace of God, we gotta go to God and say, even our own heart, God, help my heart to be right. Help the words of my mouth, the meditations of my heart to be acceptable and I say that even as we watch over our own soul, that there's a burden to say, oh God, help my heart to be right. But then we think of the responsibility of reaching the heart of our kids. You know, again, that's our burden, isn't it, as parents that, like Solomon, we'd say, as he did, my son, give me thine heart and let thine heart observe my ways. But God, it's not enough to reach the outright, outside the conformity and the submission to outward rules, but God is the heart. I was traveling with a man in Scotland from the United States, he was over here on a trip, and he said what I've heard a lot of times, with regard to what's called fundamentalism in the States. He said, see the problem with fundamentalism, he said, was all the rules. And see kids grew up and they had rules, rules, rules, and they rebelled. And I said to him, you know what I believe the problem was? It was not the rules, it's the relationship. It said they were taught, do this and that pleases God, do this and it pleases God, but they weren't taught prayer, they weren't taught purity, they weren't taught the love of God, they weren't taught the relationship with God, and that intimacy with God, and that dependence upon God, and they got rules, but they didn't get relationship. And what is that? That's conformity, and it's not heart. You know, again, what do we need to be burdened about as parents? God, I want to reach the heart of my kids. As a church, what are we burdened about? Do we want a bunch of people that come to church and can't keep the rules? I mean, do it right. We're burdened that people have a heart for God, a burden for God, that would look at the unsaved and say, my heart weeps like Christ weeps because that person needs Christ. That would get burdened to see the souls of men as God does because they have the heart even of the Lord Jesus Christ. So a godly father cares about the heart of the children. Do you want to close those doors? There's starting to be a bit more activity, Logan. A godly father never stops active involvement in the spiritual well-being of his children, is the last thing. A godly father never stops active involvement in the spiritual well-being of his children, because it says at the last verse, thus did Job continually. See, it wasn't a one-off for Job. It wasn't that this was an unusual day. This is going to be an unusual day because the devil is going to attack on this day as Job has never seen it. Can I say this? Isn't it a good thing that Job was where he was when it happened? Isn't it good that this was a pattern in Job's life, so that Job didn't get attacked by the devil and look back and say, I wish I'd prayed, I wish I'd been burdened, I wish I'd done more for my kids. Yes, my kids are dead, but by the grace of God, trusting God, they were sanctified by my influence. And so you look at that, and Job, it was continual, it was day after day after day getting up and being burdened about the well-being of his children. And my wife said to me, just Thursday I think it was, that completes 10 years of homeschooling as we end it. 10 years? 15 left, don't tell her. Okay, I figured it out. 25 years of homeschooling. If God allows us to see it, right now we'll have children in our home for 30 years or longer. That's a big chunk of life. 30 years, and that's saying when they get done with their teen years, they move out, right? That may not happen. We're going to have teenagers in our home for 20 of those years, and then we enter the grandparent-parent stage, you know? That sanctifying influence that grandparents have, just like parents have upon their grandkids. That's a long time. My Grandma Shore, God has given me godly grandparents on both sides. Terry used to know my Grandma and Grandpa Roth, and godly love the Lord, and I love them to death. But my Grandma and Grandpa Shore, when we'd be out there, we didn't get to see them very often because they're out in Colorado. We're in ministry, so we didn't have all that grandparent time. We get out there once a year. Usually we see them once a year for a couple of weeks. And what stands out in my mind as a young person, when I think about Grandma and Grandpa Shore, was the family altar that we had. I mean, that was common. We had prayer. When we were at Grandma and Grandpa's house, we had prayer as a family in the living room. And what I remember in particular is hearing my grandma weep for her grandkids. I mean, that's... Something that sticks with you. And as I tell you, I credit that to what God, some of the things God did in my life. A grandma that weeps, I mean a grandma that really is burdened. But you know, Aunt Bonnie that's going to be here, and my mom and dad, they're going to be here as well. But if you ask them, what do you remember about Grandma Short, they'd also tell you her prayer life. Her going out in the woods and praying. Where's that generation? I mean, isn't there something in your heart that just cries out and says, God, where is that generation? I mean, we read about Job, and it's such a common thing. Job just, I mean, every day, continually, he gets up, he goes out, he prays for his kids, he's burdened for his kids. It's the first thing on his heart in the mornings, he gets up. I'm going to have a sanctifying influence upon my family. And again, in your heart, don't you just cry out today and say, God, where is that person today? that is having that kind of impact for God. I shared stories about those children that were saved because they had a mom that was godly, loved God, and was burdened. There's stories, I'm sure, I'm sure in heaven will know the impact that parents had upon their children. because of their sanctifying influence. I just wonder today, what is our impact for God? Are we having that positive spiritual influence in our home? A godly father has a sanctifying influence upon his children. Praying, witnessing even to them if they're lost, encouraging them in godliness, encouraging them, hey, get in your Bible, read your Bible, living it in front of them so that they see it. And then a godly father sacrifices for the spiritual needs of his children. When's the last time it cost you to be a godly dad? that you paid through lack of sleep or energy or effort because you're concerned about the spiritual needs of your children. A godly father cares for the spiritual needs of all his children. You know, is there any child that we look at and just go, well, there's just no way. Or do we say, God, by your grace, God, by your mercy. A godly father understands the potential for failure in his children. Look in and say, you know, even good kids fail. By the way, kids, when you sin, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. He cleanses us from all unrighteousness. There is victory. But as a godly dad, understanding the potential for failure is there, so I'm going to pray. A godly father cares about not just the actions of his child, but the heart of his child, teaching them to trust, love, and follow the Lord. And then a godly father never stops active involvement. You know, we can't just start well. When my kids were young, I prayed every day. And I did this for a long time. I prayed every day. God, wisdom for parenting. Wisdom for parenting. But the longer you parent, the easier it is to forget, God, I need wisdom for parenting. And just continue on for the Lord. As faithfully as we did when they were little, until they were out of the home and then beyond, I just continue to pray for them. So God, help us to be godly fathers. Let's pray. Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would take the truth and drive it deep into our heart. Father, I praise you for godly fathers. I praise you for godly mothers. I praise you for godly sons and daughters. Father, no matter where somebody today finds themselves in their family, the truth is they can have a sanctifying influence upon their family. And so I pray, Spirit of God, that they do that. I pray, Spirit of God, that they make that definite decision right now in their heart that maybe they haven't been the sanctifying person they ought to be for their home, but by the grace of God, they're going to be that person. That they're going to pay, they're going to sacrifice to be that person. That they're going to care not just about the outward, but the inward in the hearts of their children or in the hearts of their loved one. That they desire that person to love God with their heart. And Father, it may be this morning, that in somebody's heart they're thinking, I'm not saved. And Father, we think of that verse again. What shall man give in exchange for his soul? Father, they can't buy their way out of hell. They can't buy their way into heaven. And Father, right now in their heart, I just pray that they'd humble their heart and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. We do praise You that You save souls. We do praise You, the God that You're working. And thank You for working in our hearts even this morning. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.